'We are moving in the right direction' - Birmingham Imam positive in Islamophobia Awareness Month

A Birmingham Imam believes communities are moving in the right direction as Islamophobia Awareness Month returns for 2024. Mohammad Asad, of Birmingham Central Mosque, said although it seemed the problem was rising, society was uniting.

Islamophobia Awareness Month aims to raise awareness of discrimination and showcase the positive contributions made by Muslims in society. Founded in 2012, the non-profit organisation announced this year's theme as Seeds of Change, showing how small actions can lead to big change.

Mohammed has organised many community projects such as autism-friendly spaces in his Mosque. During lockdown, he organised food parcels for people self-isolating and welfare packs for NHS heroes at hospitals.

READ MORE: Islamophobia Awareness Month 2024 wants to inspire seeds of change

He said: "Raising awareness of Islamophobia is really important, it may seem it is on the rise but there are more people reporting it.

"There are a lot of positive outcomes of raising awareness as we are able to educate each other about our similarities and respect differences and boundaries. So there is more reporting and people coming forth and understanding.

"Things are moving at a steady pace in the right direction. People are creating opportunities to understand each other better. Even with the Southport incident, what we saw was people come out to help the Mosques.

"This never happened before and it is the result of years of hard work. It's people uniting in understanding."

According to IAM, Home Office data ending March 2024 showed 38 per cent of recorded religious hate crimes in England and Wales were against Muslims. More than 70 per cent of young Muslims in the UK who claimed they experienced mental health struggles, also revealed they had been victims of Islamophobia.

Supt Wayne Carter, the West Midlands force's lead for hate crime, previously said: "Hate has no place in the West Midlands and we will investigate all reported crimes where people are targeted just because of who they are. We have seen a slight rise in the reporting of hate crime that’s been generated online.

"Policing takes all reports of hate crime seriously, because we know that they have a devastating impact on not only individual victims but also targeted communities. While we'd prefer victims to come to us directly, experience tells us that for a variety of reasons, some people do not want to speak with officers preferring to report crimes anonymously or not at all.

"If you have been a victim of hate crime or witnessed an incident, you can report this in many ways. You can contact us online, by phone or at a network of third party reporting centres across the West Midlands.

"These are places within the community where you can report a hate crime. Anyone who has been subjected to hate crime can should call 999 if you are in danger, threats have been made against you or if a crime is in progress.

"For non-emergencies, call 101 or contact us through our Live Chat."