One of Britain’s leading Muslim women’s groups has called on the leaders of Birmingham central mosque to resign after she said they dismissed the group’s concerns about domestic violence and forced marriages.
The mosque’s chairman, Labour councillor Muhammad Afzal, who had been lined up to become Birmingham’s lord mayor, withdrew from the running on Monday evening after the head of the Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWN), Shaista Gohir, complained to the mosque about comments she said Afzal and vice-chair Muhammad Sarwar had made to her.
Birmingham central mosque – one of the biggest mosques in Europe – issued a statement denying all of Gohir’s claims and said it respected the MWN “as they work in addressing complex and often hidden issues within the Muslim communities and beyond”. Afzal said he “completely and totally” refuted the claim he made the comments. [The Guardian] Read more
