British Muslims yesterday  led an outpouring of grief for slain aid worker Alan Henning, with some identifying a “watershed moment” in the fight against radicalisation and the recruitment of fighters for Iraq and Syria.

Thousands attended an interfaith service in taxi driver Henning’s Greater Manchester hometown.

Henning, 47, was snatched from an aid convoy last year and executed by Islamic State (IS) militants in a video posted on the Internet on Friday.

Muslim Council of Britain head Shuja Shafi said the murder was all the more “despicable and offensive” because it was timed to coincide with the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival.

“It is quite clear that the murderers of Alan Henning have no regard for Islam or for the Muslims around the world who pleaded for his life,” he said in a statement.

Parliamentarian and former Labour government minister Sadiq Khan excoriated Henning’s killers as “evil fanatics shamelessly abusing the name of our peaceful religion”. 

There was a fresh avalanche of condemnation for Islamic State on a Twitter site with the hashtag #notinmyname set up to give a platform for moderate Muslims to try and deter fellow Britons from joining the estimated 500, some still in their teens, who are believed to have journeyed to battlefields in Iraq and Syria.

Writing in The Guardian newspaper, Sara Khan from counter-extremism group Inspire, nominated the killing of Henning as a “watershed moment” in the fight against radicalisation.

“My faith has been hijacked by extremists,” she said. “I believe Alan’s death could lead to a watershed moment ... the single horrendous act to open the eyes of some radicalised people in our country who may have been contemplating joining Isis (Islamic State).” 

Federation of Muslim Organisations chief Suleman Nagdi, who attended a vigil for Henning, told The Observer newspaper that “there is nothing Islamic about these individuals nor is it a state”.

He asked: “Who is living closer to the message of the Qur’an? Is it Isis or is it someone like Alan Henning?”

 

 

 

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