Imams and Muslim youth from around the UK drove to Manchester, England on Tuesday in a display of solidarity after the city’s deadly terror attack.
Zishan Ahmad, an imam at London’s Baitul Futuh Mosque, made the 8-hour round trip to pay tribute to the victims at a vigil outside Manchester City Hall.
He joined about 50 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association — and hundreds of others who attended the solemn event.
For Ahmad, seeing a city being shaken up by tragedy is all too familiar.
“I as a Londoner experienced the same thing this great city of Manchester is experiencing,” Ahmad said, referring to the attack near UK’s Parliament in March that left four dead.
“For this reason I have come up here to show my support and convey the true message of Islam, which condemns such barbaric attacks,” he added.
The AMYA members held banners that read “Love for all, hatred for none.”
Ahmad said this motto “signifies the basis starting point that Islam requires of a Muslim.”
For Ahmad, the vigil was an experience that brought people together.
“People were approaching us, hugging us,” Ahmad said. “It allowed us to show the local community and world at large that terrorists have nothing to do with Islam.”