A community campaigner has broken his silence over the hatred committed by Muslims against each other.

The recent disagreements during the Eid period saw Faz Patel being abused – an incident which he has now reported to the police and has been logged as a hate crime.

He said it was time the community woke-up to the growing hatred between those who adhere to different Islamic schools of thought.

The resentment rears its head during the processions to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet and during Eid periods. He said: “I have always tried to remain neutral and worked hard to make sure communities are united.

"It has never made any difference which religion they have been from - Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Jewish – I have always worked with them all.

“The recent incident though shocked me. I did not know the hatred ran so deep between Muslims themselves. There are people out there who want to do nothing more than to instil hatred between Muslims themselves.

“I did Eid on two days, Sunday and Monday. Because I celebrated Eid on a different day I was told I was wrong.

“This was done online and it shocked me.

“I have reported it to the police and they have logged it as a hate crime. Just because you celebrated Eid on a different day does not mean it was wrong.

“Anyone who taunts your religious beliefs should be classed as a hate crime.

“My family is made-up of those who follow Deobandi and Barelvis schools of thought.

 “All my life I have tackled hate crime against Muslims from far-right groups but we need to look at ourselves too.”

He said it was about time someone spoke out as some youngsters were simply following in the footsteps of those before them. 

“These type of ideas are poisoning young people’s minds. I have met people from both schools of thought and it is sad when people call each other ‘Kufar’.

“Rather than inciting hatred against Barelvi, Wahhabi and Shias or any religion for that matter we should be promoting love and unity between communities.”

He said the blame did not lie with religious leaders. “Most of the imams are very good however, individual people should stop inciting hatred. A little hatred can lead to many things.

“If we don’t make changes we will find the future will be fraught with issues. We should be teaching everyone to promote unity.”

Hating other human beings is hateful in itself

Abdul Hamid Qureshi from the Lancashire Council of Mosques said, “I would not agree there is more hatred than before.

“Yes, there are differences that exist between Muslims and the issue of the moon sighting is a small issue but it seems to have a bigger impact.

“There are a wide range of views. However, with these differences if anyone spreads hate then that is a repulsive thing.

“I condemn that. This is a transgression of Islamic ruling that the point of difference can exist sometimes.

“You can’t use such issues as an excuse to promote hate. Whether within the  Muslim community or outside.

“Hating other human beings is hateful in itself.

“Faz is right in a sense. 

“I think people have more access to information and it is communicated more. Anybody who uses languages that causes hate for anyone else is causing a dis-service to Islam.

“Islam if you look at it is a very broad faith and there are a range of views.”

On the issue of Eid being celebrated on different days he said: “A lot of people understand how we addressed this issue very badly.

“It is a non-issue thing but has been made an issue but I think it can be resolved more amicably in the future.”