Christian left 'horrified' at Archbishop of Canterbury after revoking award to Islamic cleric who praised Osama Bin Laden

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Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said he would give Osama Bin Laden the title 'Saifullah', which means 'Sword of God'

A Christian has hit out at the "horrifying" mishap by the Archbishop of Canterbury after she was forced to revoke an award given to an Islamic cleric who praised 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

Speaking to GB News, writer Andy Jones hit out at Britain's church leaders for "crawling around on their hands and knees for third world belief systems".

Archbishop Dame Sarah Mullally bestowed the honour on Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi last Friday, before the revelation surfaced.

In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, the cleric gave the terrorist a title of "Saifullah" for "serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels".

Following an urgent review of the award, Lambeth Palace said that "previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that" led them to "reconsider this award", and "we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn".

Reacting to the incident, Mr Jones told GB News that it is "horrifying" to see as a Christian.

He said: "I'm absolutely horrified. I wear my faith quite quietly, I attend church every Sunday whenever I can, and the thing I find utterly strange is how embarrassed our church leaders are to even talk about Christianity, or even live any Christian values.

"The last Archbishop only five minutes ago had to resign for covering up child abuse, and then our current Archbishop has reached out with this completely unnecessary friendship award on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 no less, for an individual that praised Osama bin laden, and recently called October the 7th Massacre leaders 'freedom fighters'."

Mr Jones argued that despite all of this, the Archbishop has remained "silent" on the "massacres of Christians in Nigeria".

He told GB News: "This is an individual Archbishop who says that she's going to fight against misogyny wherever she sees it. Well, she's done nothing but welcome a man that praised October the 7th, where women were massacred and raped at a music festival.

"And as we see here, she cares so much about misogyny that she's got no problem having a photo taken next to a woman who's wrapped like a sarcophagus because she's not allowed to show her own face or even her eyes in a place of worship. I'm completely astonished."

The writer hit out at how our country's church leaders "can't talk about Jesus or our Christian values".

He argued: "All they want to do is crawl around on their hands and knees for third world belief systems which absolutely hate us. we forget, tens of thousands of Christians have been massacred in Nigeria over the last five or six years, of which our Archbishop has said absolutely nothing about.

"And let's be clear, that this is the same Islamic extremist views that this gentleman holds, and at best, they wouldn't allow her in a place of worship as a female, and at worst they'd massacre on her own church steps, as we've seen in Nigeria. I find it utterly shameful and embarrassing."

Mr Jones called for the Archbishop to resign over the incident, branding the decision to hand the award to Mr Ashrafi in the first place "obscene".

He told GB News: "This is all on the first page of Google. This man's name is so specific, it's easy to find this, it wasn't in some sort of dusty old textbook.

"And we see it in other instances where these white leaders are so desperate to adopt a pet, preferably one with interest in robes and a beard to make themselves look woke and progressive, but actually progressive to them is driving in reverse to a religion which doesn't allow free speech, doesn't allow elections, doesn't allow rights of women, and punishes those that leave the faith with the sentence of death.

"This is nothing to do with Christianity. This is obscene, and she should go today."

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Ashrafi said: "His comparison was not an endorsement of Bin Laden.

"Our position against terrorism, extremism, suicide attacks and the killing of innocent people is clear and unequivocal. We have consistently worked for peace, moderation and interfaith harmony."

A Lambeth Palace spokesman told GB News: "It is a longstanding principle of interfaith dialogue and co-operation that we must engage with one another across deeply-held differences, and that remains the case.

"However, previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm that the award has been withdrawn."