A coalition of British Muslim organizations condemned a peace agreement signed by Muslims and Jews last February, describing the moderate Muslim leaders who signed the pact as “self-appointed Muslims“ who do not represent the wider Muslim community.
The joint statement issued by the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPACUK) condemned the Drumlanrig Accords, highlighting the growing divide between more hardline and more moderate Islamic factions in the United Kingdom and raising questions about which leaders really represent British Muslims.
The British government's website announced the “landmark agreement“ signed on February 11th at Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland. The pact “establishes a structured framework for sustained Muslim-Jewish collaboration, fostering deeper understanding and shared responsibility.“
MPACUK then signed and issued a counterstatement rejecting the pact while blaming the Muslim signatories for failing “to consult widely“ with grassroots Islamic bodies “before they signed these Accords with the Chief Rabbi [Ephraim Mirvis], a staunch Zionist,“ further declaring that “Normalization with Zionism is the Ultimate Treachery.“
The statement went on to condemn the key Muslim signatories, Imam Sayed Razawi and Imam Qari Asim MBE, warning the British government not to “select Muslims by holding them up as key leaders representing the Muslim community when this is far from the truth.“
Sayed Razawi is an eminent Sufi scholar, chief imam of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society, and associate at the Project on Shi’ism and Global Affairs at Harvard University. Qari Asim is the senior imam at Makkah Mosque in Leeds, which the Islam Channel named the UK’s model mosque. He is also the Chair of Mosques at the Imams National Advisory Board.
MPACUK stressed that it cannot acknowledge the pact with Chief Rabbi Mirvis, who “has made public statements supporting Israel despite the horrific actions of the Israeli Occupation Forces.“
“This is even more so when Israeli leaders, Knesset members, Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., and the defense minister have made genocidal statements against Christians and Muslims only because they are Palestinian Arabs,“ the statement also claimed.
According to the pact, the “basis for reconciliation and mutual respect exists within both Jewish and Islamic sacred texts, which stress shared values of monotheism, compassion, and justice.“ It aims “to develop and strengthen joint educational initiatives addressing Islamophobia and Antisemitism (sic).“
“Drawing upon the Qur’ān and the Torah, we reaffirm values such as Sulh (reconciliation), Rahmah (compassion), Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and Derech Eretz (dignity),“ the pact also said.
Muslim and Jewish leaders later presented a copy of the accord to King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.
“At a time of deep division and uncertainty, these Accords represent a bold step towards rebuilding trust,“ Mirvis said after meeting King Charles III.
“They do not ignore our differences, but they reaffirm our shared humanity and our shared future. If we allow only the voices of division to shape our world, then we surrender to a bleak future.“ Mirvis added.
Senior rabbis from the Reform, Liberal, Orthodox, Sephardi, and Masorti branches of Judaism signed the Drumlanrig Accords. A British Jewish news outlet compared the pact to the Abraham Accords, which normalized ties between Israel and some Arab states, such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
