What understanding, love and sport can do for us

This week is Inter Faith Week, a celebration that aims to strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels, to increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, and to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.

For us at Salaam Peace, this is a key week for our organisation as it was born out of a national tragedy: the 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Building a project at the back of a terrible event

A week after this life-changing event, I was on my way to 10 Downing Street for a reception with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for outstanding work in the community.

I remember entering the tube and everybody looking at me, with people breaking into sweat, grabbing rails and checking out for the next station.

What nobody knew is that I was a British Muslim with Indian heritage who had contributed to his community since 1987, at the age of 12.

Almost 38 years later, I am still active but I will never forget how hard it hit me being treated like a terrorist in the city I loved.

In 2006 contacted some friends from the Met Police and the army and I used my role at Leyton Orient to set up the Eid Cup – an event to bring communities together using the power of sport and food.

An imam opened the day educating over 500 people (of which 60% were non-Muslim) about respect, understanding and living a peaceful life by outlining the fact that terror and extremist acts have no place in Islam.

Leading by example

These principles formed the basis of Salaam Peace.

Our vision was to have an organisation that welcomed all, regardless of gender, social standing or class, faith (or the lack of it) or cultural traditions.

It's based on the Eastern/Indian philosophy of master/pupil and guru/student approach, that’s user-led by a team of staff and volunteers that are a product of our work.

Our mission is simple yet robust, “be the change in the community you want to see”, which is about every person taking ownership of social injustice and addressing it through action.

Our chief operating officer, Azi Mohammed, aged 26 and former Sport England intern, is a prime example of our job.
 

Azi began his journey as a participant with Salaam Peace in 2011.

Unaided, he found a source of funding aged 13 and in 2013 he began volunteering at a Friday morning breakfast tennis club at a local primary school.

Alongside his educational achievements, which included a first class degree from King's College in London, Azi attained a huge portfolio of qualifications and awards including The Diana Award and he successfully completed a summer internship at Sport England.

This role planted the seeds of a relationship with Salaam Peace and since joining the team full time in the summer of 2020, Azi has raised over £650,000 and implemented many processes to ensure the organisation remains a leader in the sector.

This year we had a weekly core engagement of more than 1500 toddlers, children, young people, adults and older citizens, which shows that our community is growing and we believe that sport and education are our primary tools for engagement with our groups.

Our reach cuts across many perceived challenges and we set our standards based on the values of respect, understanding, hard work, community spirit, action (as opposed to reaction), assimilation and family.

Mohammed X's story

One person who’s benefited from Salaam Peace’s work is Mohammed X.

I met Mohammed during his final months as an inmate at Pentonville Prison in 2009. 

When inmates' release date gets close many people come to speak to them and Mohammed and I connected at a Friday prayer in Leyton in mid-2009.

Salaam Peace was just getting started and I invited Mohammed to come to a group gym session and to a football game – Mohammed’s two favourite pastimes.

There, Mohammed met with some people from Salaam Peace who made him feel welcome and introduced him into a community of varied faiths and cultures.

We aimed at making the football sessions engaging and along with success on the pitch, friendships were built.

Mohammed began volunteering and supporting Salaam Peace’s work in East London and never was he singled out for his previous offences.

He openly shared that anti-British values, substance misuse and dealing had been a key part of his life before prison, a time when he got caught up in a cycle of hate and money-grabbing.

Mohammed had also bought into a frenzy of extreme Muslim views and drugs that gave him easy money.

But everything changed thanks to Salaam Peace.

Through our organisation, Mohammed was exposed to real role models – people who’d lead by example, saying little but doing so much and who introduced him to truthful Islamic values of community, respect, understanding and giving to the people that needed it most.

Mohammed now lives in Spain with his family and works for the Spanish equivalent to the NHS – a very different picture to what his life could have looked like had it not been for understanding, love and sport.