Adam Kelwick, the imam who meets anti-Muslim protesters

Over the past week, Adam Kelwick has experienced moments of great anxiety, but also of beauty and hope. Amid far-right violence targeting mosques across the UK, sparked by the murder of three girls in Southport on 29 July, the Liverpool imam has, against all odds, managed to engage with protesters.

“We don’t agree on everything, he admits after a meeting with them on August 8. But we felt like we were being pitted against each other.” The next day, seeing on social media that the person he had met the day before was no longer calling for a demonstration, the imam felt a great relief. “Looks like we solved the problem.”

“Reach out”

The imam’s work seemed to have borne fruit. It all started on Saturday, August 3, when a photo of him went viral on social media. He was seen, wearing a white chechia on his head, his eyes closed and his features imbued with a deep smile, hugging a protester.

It was the day before, in Liverpool. That evening, the Abdullah-Quilliam mosque, where he preaches, had been designated as a target by the extreme right. In reaction, around 200 anti-racist demonstrators, according to the British newspaper The Guardianhad gathered in front of the building to protect the place of worship. On the other side of the street, behind a police barrier, about thirty hostile demonstrators were gathered.

Twice the imam asked the police if he could cross the street to talk to them. “They didn’t allow me because the situation was too tense,” he remembers. After a while, Adam Kelwick went to see the police chief. “I explained to him how important it was for our community to reach out to the protesters and show them that we wanted to listen to them.” And the police finally agreed.

Accompanied by other worshipers, the imam crossed the street and smiled at the demonstrators while offering them hamburgers. “The first people I talked to ignored me, like I didn’t exist. They looked me straight in the eye, I thought, ‘OK, you have your reasons, you’re upset.’ And I moved on to the next people.” After a while, some of them finally accepted the dishes he offered them. And from there, everyone started talking.

“Above all, we wanted to listen to them, insists the imam. They had a lot of anger and discontent to release.” The protesters said, for example, that immigration was too high, that they were afraid for their children, and that the police were acting badly. “Every time I tried to explain that we had the same concerns.”

Invite protesters to the mosque

Then he invited them to the mosque. “If you are serious about solving these problems, he told themthat’s good, I have a mosque full of volunteers. Bring your friends, we’ll sit down together and think about these topics, because they concern us all. The appointment was made, some said they would come. As for those who ignored it, “They are also in my prayersconcludes the imam. And they are also welcome at the mosque.”

Less than a week later, the event is announced. Above a visual titled: “Is Islam a threat to Britain?” Adam Kelwick elaborates on X: “We are opening our doors to the people of Liverpool, especially those who demonstrated against us last week.”

Where did he find the strength to cross that street and bridge the distance that separated him from far-right demonstrators? Simply in his Muslim faith, he replies. The one who divides his time between his work as an imam and humanitarian action evokes the Prophet of Islam. “He taught us that we must respond to evil deeds with good deeds,” he insists, quoting a verse from the Koran: “Repel evil with what is better; and behold, he whom you had rejected with animosity becomes a warm friend.” (Quran 41:34).

Adam Kelwick’s voice rings out in the joyful tone of obviousness. : “The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.”

For a week now, he has been receiving messages from imams in the country asking him how to reproduce what he did. “It’s really not very difficult, he told them. The first thing to do is to look at the other person as a human being. Then you have to talk to them and listen to them. And if there is food in the equation, it makes things even easier.”

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6.5% of Muslims in England and Wales

England and Wales now have just under four million Muslims, or 6.5% of the population. This makes Islam the second largest religion in both nations.

Less than half of the population (46%) declared themselves Christian in 2021. Those “without religion” come next, accounting for 37%.

London remains the most religiously diverse region in England in 2021, with more than a quarter of all residents reporting a religion other than Christianity.