by Jules Gomes, Middle East Forum
Pakistani religious leader bestowed ‘Sword of God’ title on Osama bin Laden in response to Rushdie knighthood
The archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, has withdrawn a prestigious honor conferred on a Muslim cleric who opposes the repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy and child marriage laws and who has accused Jews and Christians of conspiring to destroy nuclear-capable Pakistan.
Mullally bestowed the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation on Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi at Lambeth Palace on September 11, 2026. Ashrafi has also honored Osama bin Laden and endorsed suicide attacks. The archbishop withdrew the award on September 17 after a backlash on social media.
A photograph published by Lambeth Palace shows Mullally posing with Ashrafi, and with two women who appear to be Ashrafi’s wife and daughter. The cleric’s wife is clad in a full black burka; the daughter is wearing a face veil. Lambeth Palace praised Ashrafi for “his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan.”
Ashrafi belongs to the Deobandi sect of Islam, which informs much of the Taliban’s religious foundation. He heads the Pakistan Ulema Council, which opposes the repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. These laws have resulted in the imprisonment and killing of hundreds of Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs, and reformist Muslims.
Ashrafi said the Pakistan Ulema Council supports the “judicious use of blasphemy law but will never allow repeal of the law on flimsy grounds or under international pressure,” after police arrested a mentally disabled 11-year-old Christian girl for allegedly desecrating the Qur’an in 2012. “The legislation related to blasphemy cannot be annulled or amended. Any bid to transform Pakistan into a liberal country will be foiled,” Ashrafi said.
In a high-profile case, the Pakistani Taliban assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s only Christian state minister, in 2011, after he urged repealing the death penalty for blasphemy. Earlier, Punjab’s governor Salman Taseer’s bodyguard assassinated him for defending Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
In 2023, a mob of 1,200 men torched 22 churches and attacked 91 Christian homes, businesses, and graveyards in Jaranwala, Punjab, after accusations of blasphemy against two Christian residents. Ashrafi apologized, saying that “the attackers have shamed us.”
“Archbishop Mullally could hardly have made a more tone-deaf choice,” Nuriyah Khan, a British-Pakistani women’s rights activist, said. “Pakistani Christians live under blasphemy laws that Ashrafi openly supports. While he may claim he opposes their misuse, the reality in Pakistan remains that a mere accusation alone can cost someone their life.”