Maz Saleem, whose father was murdered in an Islamophobic terror attack by a white supremacist in April 2013, says Britain has failed to learn the lessons from his murder.
I forgave the man who murdered my father. But Britain still hasn’t faced the truth about why he was killed.
My father, Haji Mohammed Saleem, was not just a victim of “racism”. He was the victim of an Islamophobic terrorist attack. That distinction matters.
Because the man who killed him, Pavlo Lapshyn, wasn’t acting alone in ideology. He was part of a wider campaign of terror planting bombs outside mosques and targeting Muslim communities.
This was terrorism. Yet more than a decade later, that truth is still softened, avoided and diluted. And while we avoid it, the problem is growing.
Across Britain today, Muslim women are being targeted on the streets. Sikh women are being attacked. Bangladeshis and other communities are facing abuse in public – not occasionally, but increasingly.
This isn’t random.
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It’s the result of a political and social climate that is becoming more hostile, more divided, and more dangerous.
When figures like Nigel Farage gain influence, it sends a message — that some communities are acceptable targets. And those messages don’t stay in politics. They show up in real life.
I know that personally. I was attacked on the London Underground for wearing a keffiyah by a Zionist. And instead of being protected, I had to fight for justice in a system that failed me. That’s the reality many people face.
So why did I forgive my father’s killer?
Because I refused to let hatred define me. Forgiveness wasn’t weakness. It was resistance. But forgiveness does not mean silence. And it certainly does not mean ignoring what is happening now.
Because what we are seeing today – the rise in Islamophobia, the normalisation of hate, the division of communities – is exactly what my father’s murder warned us about. And we didn’t listen.
Let me be clear. I stand against anti-Semitism. I support Judaism. But I do not support Zionism or any form of oppression.
We cannot fight hatred selectively. We cannot choose which communities deserve protection. Justice must apply to everyone – or it means nothing.
Globally, we are becoming more divided. From Palestine to Iran to Syria, lines are being drawn, and people are being pushed into opposing sides. But division is not the answer. Unity is.
My father’s death should have been a turning point. Instead, it became something we moved on from. And now, we are seeing the consequences.
If we continue to ignore Islamophobic terrorism, downplay racism, and allow political narratives to divide us, then we are not just failing victims. We are allowing it to happen again.
I forgave my father’s killer. But I will not stay silent while the conditions that led to his murder are repeated.
