‘My caliphate promotes love, not hate’: The 24-year-old imam on a mission to change the way the world sees Islam

Most would agree that the best weapon in the fight against Islamophobia is education. But for Adeel Shah, as he tells Sam Hancock, a change of heart can come from the simplest conversation

Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association pay their respects in Parliament Square a week after the Westminster terror attack (PA)

The day after the Westminster attack in 2017, Adeel Shah, along with 500 other Ahmadiyya Muslims, went to the bridge where Khalid Masood had killed five people, wearing a blue T-shirt with the slogan: “I’m a Muslim, ask me anything.” Shah and his “brothers and sisters” stood in a line, held hands and encouraged people to ask them questions about Islam – about the religion Masood had claimed to commit this act of terror in the name of. Press from all around the world captured the historic move made by the Ahmadiyya community – and it was met with both understanding and hostility.

“On that day, when we decided it was necessary to go and visit Westminster and teach people the truth about being a Muslim, I was holding a banner which had the motto of our community on it – ‘Love for all, hatred for none’ – and a person came up to me and said: ‘Why are you here?’ It was very clear from the way he asked that he didn’t really want to know why I was there at all, rather he wanted me – for us – to go away,” Shah tells me, when we meet in between prayers in the (currently) quiet Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, the largest in Britain.

“But then, what happened was that he was actually open to hearing me out. I spoke about our humanity projects and the work we do. And explained that it isn’t just local: it’s international. And he was so happy, in fact, that he gave me a hug.”