Has everyone seen the photo of the Archbishop of Canterbury presenting an award to Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi? If not, please have a look

[TheStateWeAreIn]

I don’t know what to say really, I just want as many women on MN as possible to see this picture.

Particularly Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi‘s wife.

There’s so much going on there.

(I know there’s another thread about the award and it’s subsequent withdrawal, I just wanted to start a thread to focus on the photo)

I would like to have seen a picture of the Archbishop and the Iman shaking hands. Now that would really have shown a positive relationship between two religions. I doubt that that picture exists however, though of course if the Archbishop were a man there would be no issue about a handshake.

You have reminded me of a situation whereby a man came into the seminar room where I was teaching and shook hands with everyone except the one other woman present and me. He raised his hand to us in a bit of a wave. At the time, I accepted this was an acceptable expression of his religion (being tolerant), but the other woman said afterwards that she felt excluded by his actions and singled out as different as he had done this multiple occasions during their studies when she was the only female present. It started me puzzling on the contradictions and tensions within equality and diversity.

It's as if the whole of Europe has collapsed into an orgy of masochism and guilt and self-loathing. The rot set in when the left got control of the universities. She's a product of a culture that hates itself and that teaches its people to hate their own and history and identity.

this is one of those situations where it will eventually get to an employment tribunal. Which Protected characteristic would win over the other?

I think it’s broader than the AoC too, the same mindset is seen in so many places.

nope not fine at all, just commenting that I already had a poor view of her.

I wonder how we'd feel about boatloads of Afghan women crossing the Channel. Somewhat differently, I'd imagine, and there would be minimal debate about the validity of their asylum claims.

Exactly. Makes EDI training interesting…

No man has been beaten to death for not wearing a headcovering.
Thousands of women have

Mahsa Amini would like a word
but the Iranian police beat her to death for choosing to uncover her hair

Yup, that fat fuck absolutely nailed it. It's all the fault of feminists.

Are you super concerned about the Catholic Church too OP? They have these women…not in leadership positions, but they have to wear coverings over their head and long skirts…seriously sometime women when they get married in a Christian church wear this thing could a veil and …yeah royalty do this too..it covers head and face and body…but get this….the flipping floor too…they have to cover the floor! Don’t get me started about contraception, abortion or protection from STDs like HIV…all not ok ….it’s shocking. Then they don’t le5 you divorce…you are married for LIFE wow it’s a shocker

When I first saw that photo I thought it was AI purposely created for posting on Twitter on profiles with bulldogs and Union Jacks on them. If it’s real, it’s utterly baffling. Two leaders of respective religions - one claiming some sort of superiority in terms of ‘equality’ because they’ve ‘allowed’ women to be in charge, the other religion deigning to accept something off a woman I assume he wouldn’t shake the hand of while his wife stands passively between them looking anonymous, generic and unreadable.

That the woman behind the veil could be a doctor or a university lecturer, makes the shrouding and acceptance of that shrouding by all involved in the photo, all the more disconcerting. I’m an atheist. Religions of all shades disturb me when it comes to my Feminism. I would like to talk to that woman in the middle and hear what she has to say. I don’t think I will agree with her viewpoint but I would love her to have a voice in society that is not mediated via male members of her family. in all my years on this planet I have yet to hear a convincing argument as to why the shrouding is anything other than disempowering to women.

Are you comparing women who temporarily wear religious clothing in a religious setting to people who wear it all the time? No catholic I know wears a habit. Nuns do as part of their uniform but don’t have any sanction if they remove it.

a) becoming a nun is the choice of the individual
b) no order of nuns forces face coverings
c) veils are worn for a matter of minutes at the start of a wedding service before being removed
d) catholics do not beat women to death for not wearing them

I read the first post, skimmed through the thread & wondered why posters were talking about the man's wife being present. Looked again at the photo & realised that I hadn't noticed the 'shadow person'. The religious garb does it's job, the woman no longer exists.
I have nothing polite to say about those men.

Because the cult teachings of Wahhabism are becoming dominant on a global scale.

Imagine if the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (hardline Mormons) increasingly became the dominant branch of Christianity.

I agree with what you are saying. It is extraordinary and ridiculous.

.

Yes, it’s everywhere, absolutely everywhere. This is just a visually perfect representation of it.

What amazes me is how many people think history has finished. They think, that’s it now, we’re going to have a western liberal democracy forever, no matter what we do, who or what we tolerate, who we give power to.

The complete contradiction between Islamic values and those of western liberal democracy just seems to be an irrelevance to some people. They just think we can pat ourselves on the back at how tolerant we are as we wait for women’s rights, gay rights and democracy in this country to be slowly eroded.

Look how quickly some people have gone from horror at images of women under the Taliban a few years back to the kneejerk initial responses to my post earlier on trying to defend this photo. I find it all very scary.

This is from the caption accompanying the photo on Flickr that someone linked upthread

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi and his wife are presented with The Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation by The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury for his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan at The Lambeth Awards 2026 held at Lambeth Palace. Friday 11th September 2026

This Pakistan?

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/07/17/pakistan-court-to-review-ruling-in-forced-conversion-child-marriage-case/

“One year ago in July 2025, Maria [Shahbaz] was abducted. She was forced into a marriage with a 30-year-old man. She was forcibly converted and she remains with the abductor today,”

Maria was 13 years old.

I'm sorry, I know it's off thread. I can't remember how I stumbled across this story and, frankly, I wish I hadn't. I hope Sarah Mullally found a moment to have a word.

Yes she’ll be fine. It’s not her I’m worried about.

Although actually, I don’t think she’ll be AofC for very long.

Aah no they use laundries and mother and baby homes..

In 2026?

Women of Muslim faith don't wear it all the time

Are you following the laws in the US requiring women to continue carry dead and decaying babies? You think the choice of covering yourself is worse?

Sorry what has that got to do with the Uk?