Wessex Jamaat Resident Alim, Sheikh Fazle Abbas Datoo was invited by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth City Council to offer a prayer at the full council meeting held in public on 25th January, 2011 in the Guildhall Council Chamber.
It is customary for the Council to start its work with recitation of a prayer and that is generally given by the Dean of Portsmouth Cathedral. However, the Lord Mayor, Councillor Paula Riches, was keen to involve other religious groups as well in an effort towards greater inclusion. She had duly informed all councillors of her wishes to initiate a new tradition of inviting other faiths to conduct prayers whilst at the same time continuing the tradition of the prayer from the Christian faith. She felt that this showed how Portsmouth was inclusive and respectful of the various religious traditions in the community.
This was the first time another religion besides Christianity was invited to recite the prayer.
After the prayer delivered by the Right Revd. David Brindley of Portsmouth Cathedral, Sheikh Fazle Abbas began reciting the prayer and as he did so, Councillor Malcolm Hey left the City Council chamber. Mr Hey said it was not appropriate for a Muslim to deliver prayers at the start of a full council meeting. Mr Hey, who sits on the Portsmouth Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), re-joined the meeting straight after the prayer. He said: "I'm a Christian, not a Muslim, and I do not believe we are praying to the same god."
As a result of the Councillors action, a Special Meeting of the Education Committee was called by the Cabinet Member for Education to discuss how to handle the situation because SACRE which develops, implements and monitors religious education in schools and having one of its members not show respect to other faiths does suggest a level of inconsistency. The Committee was going to suspend Councillor Hey's membership of the Portsmouth SACRE. Councillor Terry Hall, chair of this Committee said that the decision by Councillor Hey had caused harm to community relations. She said that to do nothing could lead people to believe that she condoned Councillor Hey's actions.
However, at this meeting Councillor Hall reported that she had received a letter from Mr Roshan Gangji, President of the Wessex Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat. In his letter the President asked the Cabinet Member to consider alternatives rather than suspension. Councillor Hall read out the letter at the meeting which highlighted that Councillor Hey should be forgiven. In his letter, the President of the Community said: "We have a responsibility to each other. What has happened is at best an aberration and we need to give thought to create space for deeper understanding. We need to ponder whether suspension will create a change of attitude. I very much doubt it. 'I humbly request to perhaps consider what Jesus (Peace be upon him), whom we revere greatly as a prophet, would do if faced with such a situation because that is exactly what Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would do: to show compassion and to forgive the aberration."
As a result of this intervention by the Muslims, the Education Committee of the Council recommended that Councillor Malcolm Hey not be suspended and that a letter of thanks be sent to the Wessex Jamaat for continued contributions in fostering good community relations.
Sheikh Fazle Abbas Datoo commenting on this said: "Our response was full of grace and compassion. We have to show through our behaviour and our actions that Islam is a religion of respect, affection and love. And only through this can we bring about the change in our communities. We thus become living examples of what we want in our communities and show a path that could achieve this vision, Inshallah."
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