A very warm welcome to Number 10 Downing Street. As-salamu alaykum. It’s really great to have you here for this Eid al Adha commemoration. Tonight I want to say something about the importance of Eid; I want to say something about the enormous contribution that British Muslims make to our country; and I want to say something about the work that we’re all doing as a country to help Muslims around the world.
But before I say that I want to say something about what a difficult Eid I know it has beenbecause of the terrible events in Iraq and Syria and the appalling brutality of ISIL. But in themidst of this brutality and the awful beheading of British hardworking good, compassionatemen like Alan Henning and David Haines, in the midst of all that, something has emerged inour country which makes me incredibly proud. And that has been the response of BritishMuslims who have stood up and stood together and said: “These appalling events are notbeing done in my name.” And I felt so proud of British Muslims in everything that you have saidand everything that you have done. And let us say again tonight that these people in Iraq andSyria doing these appalling things, they have nothing to do with the great religion of Islam, areligion of peace, a religion that inspires daily acts of kindness and generosity.
And that leads me to what I wanted to say about Eid. Because I’m not a scholar of any religionbut what I love about Eid is it demonstrates how close together our religions are. Because ofcourse we’re thinking of sacrifice, and we’re thinking of compassion. We’re thinking of themoment that Abraham showed his readiness to sacrifice to God because he was prepared togive up his son. But God said, “No, you must take a lamb instead.”
This is the same in my Bible as it is in your Quran. But what I love with what you have donewith the festival of Eid is that you’ve taken it one stage further and said that that lamb shouldbe sacrificed in 3 ways: for family, for friends and neighbours, and then a third for those thatare neediest in our society and in our country. And I think that lesson of sacrifice andcompassion that I understand at the heart of Eid is so important and something that shouldbring all our religions and our communities together.
The second thing I wanted to say is just about the contribution that British Muslims make inour country. I’ve spoken about the extraordinary outpouring there’s been about theseappalling events in Syria and Iraq, but we shouldn’t be surprised about that because BritishMuslim communities are immensely proud of being British and they give an enormous amountto our country. British Muslims are actually the most generous, charitable givers that thereare of any community in Britain, and that’s something to be immensely proud of as well as allthe contributions to the arts, to literature, to music, to sport.
Before my conference speech I met an absolutely sensational British Muslim woman whonot only ran 2 superb restaurants but was also a teacher, was also a Conservative councillor andwas also the mother of 5 brilliant children, all of whom I met. And that made me think aboutthe hardworking people in British Muslim communities who are absolutely standing up for thevalues that make this country great: values of enterprise, values of family, values ofcommunity, values of hard work. And that is what we’re celebrating tonight.
Third and final thing is just to say a word about what we’re doing as a country to help Muslimswho are suffering around the world. And I think perhaps we don’t say enough about this, and Ithink perhaps we need to say more in all our communities to demonstrate to people who carepassionately about the suffering people go through about what a generous andcompassionate nation this is. We see these appalling problems in Syria with so manyrefugees and so many people suffering. Britain is the second largest bilateral donor of anycountry in the world. We’re always the first to step up and step forward, and we should beproud of that.
I’ve just been chairing a meeting today about how we respond to the appalling crisis of Ebolain West Africa, where Muslims and Christians are suffering alongside each other with thisappalling affliction. Of course America has taken some great steps but Britain again is thesecond country in the world, spending ￡125 million to help people in West Africa. We’resending ships. We’re sending helicopters. We’re sending doctors. We’re building 700 beds tohelp those people. If you look at who funds the Palestinian authority, again, Britain is one ofthe most generous donors, not just to help with aid but also to help with governance and withexpertise so that Palestine can have the statehood that it so richly deserves.
So in all these areas we should celebrate what we do, what British Muslims do but what ourwhole country does for those who suffer around the world. We made a promise to the people ofthe world, the poorest of the world, that we would spend 0.7% of our GDP on aid anddevelopment, and we’re one of the few countries in the world that has kept that promise. Andthat is helping Muslims all over the world, whether in Syria, whether in Africa, whether in EastAsia, all over the world. And I think we should be proud of that.
So, thank you for coming tonight. Thank you for your contribution to our country. I hope thatwith all the difficulties of Eid we should celebrate the enormous number of people who’vemade the pilgrimage to the Holy City. And so it only remains for me to say Eid Mubarak.Thank you.
