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Buses With ‘Praise Allah’ Slogans Allowed, But Advert Featuring The Lord Got Banned During Christmas – Campaign Angers Christian Groups

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 00:49 PST, May 9, 2016

Hundreds of public transport buses in Britain will soon be seen with adverts praising Allah. The “Subhan Allah” campaign has angered some Christian groups in the country because not so long ago, an advert featuring the Lord’s Prayer was banned from UK cinemas.

Buses in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester, and Bradford will soon carry banner advertisements which have “Subhan Allah” scrolled on them, reported the Express. The term means “Glory be to God” in Arabic. The advert has been sponsored by Islamic Relief, the country’s biggest Muslim charity. While the group insists the advertisements are meant to help victims of Syria’s civil war, other religious groups claim the campaign is a strong attempt to portray Islam in a positive light. A few of the Christian groups are preparing to oppose the campaign, especially because last year, in the run-up to Christmas, an advert featuring the Lord’s Prayer was banned from cinemas across the country.

Last year, an advert which featured the Archbishop of Canterbury along with a variety of parishioners reciting the Lord’s Prayer was supposed to be aired before the movie screenings of the latest Star Wars movie. However, despite the advert being cleared by cinema advertising regulators, Odeon, Cineworld, and Vue chains – which control 80 percent of screens around the country – theaters refused to show the advert because they believed it “carries the risk of upsetting, or offending, audiences.” Apparently, they noted that all promotional messages should be devoid of religious connotations. All the advertising material intended to be screened on the silver screen has to first clear a censor board in the U.K. prior to it running before, during the interval, or after the screening of movies. Additionally, all the promotional material is slapped with a content rating just like the movies.

Incidentally, while the cinemas have strict censorship, Transport for London does not have any rules against religious advertising. Nonetheless, when a Christian group tried to put up advertisements against gays way back in 2012, former London Mayor Boris Johnson stepped in and prevented the adverts from going up on the buses.

The Islamic charity group has decided to put up the “Subhan Allah” adverts on buses that ply in areas with large Muslim communities. The campaign has been set to coincide with the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims across the world follow strict fasts, and the month is filled with religious activities, including mass prayers.

However, the charity group is more interested in the suggestions pertaining to charity and donations that are clearly outlined in the Holy Quran. The religious book of the Muslim asks devout Muslims to donate generously throughout the year, but many people really loosen their purse strings during Ramadan since the month is considered very holy. Additionally, Muslims strongly believe that any good deed committed during Ramadan is graciously rewarded. The book clearly asks Muslims to donate 2.5 percent of their income to the poor and needy. The practice is referred to as Zakat.

The Islamic charity group shared it wants to channelize the negativity, hatred, and anger of the youth about the war in Syria into humanitarian work. The group feels educating the young generation will help them stay away from the extremist groups, reported the Independent.

Speaking about the campaign, Imran Madden, the UK director of Islamic Relief, said, “In a sense this could be called a climate change campaign because we want to change the negative climate around international aid and around the Muslim community in this country. International aid has helped halve the number of people living in extreme poverty in the past 15 years, and British Muslims are an incredibly generous community who give over £100 million to international aid charities in Ramadan.”

A total of 640 buses will carry the “Subhan Allah” slogan from May 23. Incidentally, the city of London recently elected its first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, on Thursday.

[Image via Claudio Divizia / Shutterstock.com]

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