Lambeth Palace Revokes Interfaith Honor Awarded to Pakistani Cleric Over Past Praise for Osama Bin Laden

The Archbishop of Canterbury has formally rescinded a major interfaith honor previously conferred upon a prominent Pakistani Muslim cleric, following widespread outrage regarding historic remarks in which he praised the founder of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden.

The cleric, Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, had been presented with the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation during the Lambeth Awards ceremony held at Lambeth Palace in London. The distinction was presented to him and his wife by Dame Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in recognition of his standing as a promoter of religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue in Pakistan.

However, the celebratory event quickly triggered intense public scrutiny and criticism after past public declarations made by Ashrafi in 2007 came to light. Lambeth Palace found itself facing mounting backlash when it was revealed that the Pakistani cleric had openly expressed admiration for Bin Laden, the chief architect behind the catastrophic terror attacks on the United States.

In his 2007 statements, Ashrafi had characterized Bin Laden as an individual who was actively fighting on behalf of Islam against British, American, and Russian forces. Furthermore, reports highlighted that the cleric had expressed a desire to bestow upon the militant leader the revered Islamic title "Saifullah," an Arabic term translating to the "Sword of God."

The timing of the initial award presentation added to the gravity of the controversy. The recognition was bestowed during a commemorative period marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a coordinated assault orchestrated by Bin Laden's network that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people on American soil.

Addressing the controversy, Ashrafi spoke to the BBC, strongly rejecting the accusations and asserting that his past statements had been entirely stripped of their proper context. He argued that he was being subjected to an unfair and targeted campaign aimed at discrediting his public standing and his interfaith record.

According to Ashrafi, his commentary regarding Bin Laden in 2007 had been made in the specific context of widespread anger and distress across the Muslim world. This widespread resentment, he explained, had been provoked by the British government's decision to grant a knighthood to Sir Salman Rushdie, the renowned author of the controversial novel *The Satanic Verses*.

Despite the public outcry over his comparison, Ashrafi continued to defend the parallels he drew at the time between a celebrated literary author and a globally designated terrorist mastermind held responsible for the mass murder of thousands of innocent civilians.

The controversy surrounding Ashrafi has not been limited exclusively to his past praise of Bin Laden, as critics have also drawn attention to his contentious positions regarding religious freedom and legal frameworks within Pakistan.

When justifying the initial decision to honor Ashrafi, Lambeth Palace had pointed to his high-profile intervention during 2012 in the case of Rimsha Masih. In that widely reported incident, Ashrafi had actively stepped in to assist a young Pakistani Christian girl who had been falsely accused of committing blasphemy.

Notwithstanding his intervention in that specific case, Ashrafi has consistently maintained a supportive stance toward Pakistan's strict blasphemy legislation. Since the late 1980s, these laws have served as the basis for the prosecution of approximately 2,000 individuals across the country.

Legal records and rights monitors show that Pakistan's blasphemy statutes have fallen disproportionately on vulnerable religious minority groups, particularly Christians and members of the Ahmadiyya community. Nonetheless, significant numbers of individuals from the majority Sunni Muslim population have also faced formal charges under the legislation.

In defense of his position, Ashrafi claimed that the blasphemy laws perform a vital public function and actually serve to save lives. He maintained that having a formal statutory mechanism in place prevents ordinary citizens from taking justice into their own hands and engaging in fatal vigilantism.

Conversely, international rights organizations offer a starkly critical assessment of the statutes and their social consequences. Human Rights Watch noted last year that Pakistan's blasphemy laws serve to entrench systemic religious discrimination and are frequently exploited to target impoverished individuals and minority communities during unlawful property seizures and forced evictions.

The human rights watchdog has repeatedly pressed the Pakistani authorities to implement comprehensive and urgent reforms to the blasphemy laws, warning that the current legal framework continues to be actively weaponized to persecute and dispossess marginalized segments of society.

In light of the resurfaced remarks praising Bin Laden and the ensuing global condemnation, the Archbishop of Canterbury moved to cancel the interfaith accolade, marking a decisive end to the cleric's controversial recognition by Lambeth Palace.