Archbishop of Canterbury Rescinds Interfaith Honour from Pakistani Cleric Over Bin Laden Comments

The Archbishop of Canterbury has officially rescinded a prestigious interfaith cooperation award presented to a Pakistani Muslim cleric following widespread outcry over historical remarks in which he praised the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The controversy centers on Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, who had been granted the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation during an official Lambeth Awards ceremony held at Lambeth Palace in London. The honour was formally presented to Ashrafi by Dame Sarah Mullally on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office.

Adding to the sensitivity of the presentation, the ceremony took place during the commemorations marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Those attacks, orchestrated by bin Laden, claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people and reshaped global security and international relations.

Shortly after the award was bestowed, Lambeth Palace encountered intense public criticism as archival statements made by Ashrafi in 2007 were brought back into the spotlight. In those past comments, the cleric had spoken positively about bin Laden, characterizing him as an individual who had fought on behalf of Islam against British, American, and Russian forces.

Further scrutiny revealed that Ashrafi had previously suggested bestowing upon bin Laden the revered honorific title of Saifullah, an Arabic phrase translating to the "Sword of God." The resurfacing of these statements prompted deep questions regarding the vetting process and the appropriateness of celebrating the cleric as a champion of reconciliation.

Responding to the controversy, Ashrafi spoke to the BBC to push back against the backlash, asserting that his historical comments had been stripped of their original context. He claimed that the subsequent outcry and withdrawal of the award constituted an unfair campaign directed against his reputation and broader record.

Ashrafi explained that his 2007 remarks regarding bin Laden were made strictly in reaction to the anger and hurt experienced across the Muslim world at the time. This collective grievance, he stated, had been triggered by the British government’s decision to award a knighthood to Sir Salman Rushdie, the author of the controversial novel *The Satanic Verses*.

Despite the widespread condemnation of his historical statements, the cleric continued to defend the parallel he had drawn between a celebrated author and a militant leader responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians, maintaining that his reaction was justified given the circumstances of that period.

When Lambeth Palace initially announced the honour, the Archbishop's office highlighted Ashrafi’s prominent role in fostering cross-cultural understanding. Official citations described him as an outstanding ambassador for interfaith harmony in Pakistan who possessed an established reputation for encouraging religious tolerance.

A central element in the Church of England's initial decision to recognize Ashrafi was his high-profile intervention in 2012 on behalf of Rimsha Masih. Masih, a young Christian girl in Pakistan, had faced potentially catastrophic consequences after being falsely accused of blasphemy before Ashrafi stepped in to support her case.

However, critics pointed out that Ashrafi’s broader track record on human rights and religious freedom remains deeply complicated. Despite his individual intervention in the Masih case, the cleric has consistently voiced support for Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy legal framework, which has drawn extensive international condemnation.

Since the late 1980s, an estimated 2,000 individuals have faced criminal prosecution under Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes. While these laws have affected members of the majority Sunni Muslim population, they have fallen with disproportionate severity upon religious minority groups, particularly Pakistani Christians and Ahmadis.

In defending his endorsement of the controversial statutes, Ashrafi has claimed that Pakistan's blasphemy laws serve an essential protective function. He maintained that having formalized statutory mechanisms in place helps save human lives by preventing citizens from taking punitive action into their own hands through vigilante violence.

This perspective stands in stark contrast to the assessments provided by prominent international monitors. Human Rights Watch noted in a report last year that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws actively perpetuate systemic religious discrimination and are frequently exploited to target vulnerable minorities and low-income individuals in unlawful land grabs and forced evictions.

Human Rights Watch has consistently urged the Pakistani government to enact urgent legal reforms to overhaul the blasphemy statutes. The rights organization warned that without meaningful structural changes, the laws will continue to be weaponized as tools of intimidation and violence against marginalized religious communities across the country.