The headline across the world said it all, “Muslim mayor elected in London,” or “London gets its first Muslim mayor”. For Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, this is not really a new thing. His religion has been used against him, by his opponents and by his fellow Muslims during the elections. In fact, he used it too, against a fellow Muslim years ago, when fighting to lead Tooting, the area that he grew up in.
The fact is this, London has now elected Khan as its mayor, with an overwhelming mandate; he was elected with over 57 percent of the votes. Khan is the first Muslim head of any European capital. That cannot be denied. But his religion doesn’t define him, even though his opponents sought to draw him out on it. Political rivals, including British Prime Minister David Cameron called him out for his stand on Islamic extremism, claiming that he sympathised with terror groups. Sadiq
Khan denounced these “Trump-style attacks”, as he termed
them, on coming to power two days
ago. His rivals’ claims couldn’t be
far from the truth, but they were
based on certain truths.
Khan’s brother in law was a
spokesperson for al-Mujahiroun,
his own brothers were affiliated
to Hizb ut-Tahrir, another extremist
organization. Throughout the
2000s he shared the dais on many
occasions with radical extremists.
His friend, popular author and columnist Maajid Nawaz,
wrote recently that Khan exercised “poor judgment in surrounding
himself with Islamists and Muslim extremists.”
Nawaz went further to suggest that while Khan was by no
means radical, he just did this to garner votes.
Sadiq Khan is the son of a Pakistani bus driver, who then
worked as a human rights lawyer until 2005, when he decided
to get into politics. He tried to get into Parliament and worked
on the campaigns of Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, the former
and the current head of the Labour party, respectively.
Khan is now the mayor of London, a minority community
leader and a beacon of light in these troubled times. The UK is
heading towards an important juncture in its history, when it
holds a referendum on June 23 on whether it stays in the European
Union or opts out. Europe, and the UK, are also facing
a massive refugee crisis, as refugees from war-torn countries
and economically backward countries are heading over into
the EU, for a better life. As a Muslim, Khan can change the
views of those who look at every single refugee, all Muslim, as
a threat to their country. Yes, there are many orthodox refugees
who judge their surroundings and those who live in it, by how
close they are to Islam. But there are also others who assimilate
and integrate into society. Khan can be a beacon of light
for those people and make them realise that everyone can aspire
to lead someday. As the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has
a task ahead of him. He has to grapple with rising pollution
issues, solve a housing crisis, create more jobs for Londoners
and sort out transportation issues.
For Muslim extremists, Khan is not really Muslim enough.
He supports marriage equality for example. For the Tories,
he’s Muslim first and will remain so. But for London, Sadiq
Khan is their mayor. That’s probably the best description of
them all.
