London buses to carry ‘praise Allah’ adverts during Ramadan

London buses will carry adverts praising Allah as part of a drive by Britain’s biggest Muslim charity to help victims of the Syrian civil war during Ramadan.

Islamic Relief said it hoped the posters, which bear the words “Subhan Allah”, meaning “Glory be to God” in Arabic, will portray Islam and international aid in a positive light.

The adverts will be carried in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester and Bradford later this month.

Charity leaders hope it will encourage generous donations during the religious festival, which is expected to begin on June 6.

Organisers added they hoped the campaign will help young Muslims to focus on humanitarian work.

Imran Madden, the UK director of Islamic Relief, said: “In a sense this could be called a climate change campaign because we want to change the negative climate around international aid and around the Muslim community in this country.

“International aid has helped halve the number of people living in extreme poverty in the past 15 years, and British Muslims are an incredibly generous community who give over £100 million to international aid charities in Ramadan.”

It comes as London has just elected Sadiq Khan as the city’s first Muslim mayor following a historic victory over Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith.

The capital is home to about half of Britain’s estimated three million Muslims.

Transport for London, which regulates the advertisements appearing on the city’s buses, does not allow posters linked to a “political party or campaign” but does not prevent religious ads.

Former mayor Boris Johnson scrapped adverts by a Christian charity on buses after it was accused of claiming to “cure” gay people.

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