A British Muslim charity has been forced to defend itself after it ran an outdoor campaign on busses in five UK cities that ran the slogan ‘God is Great’.
The charity, Islamic Relief, is running the bus OOH campaign that says “Subhan Allah’ which translates to ‘God is Great’ or ‘Glory to God’.
The campaign’s critics aren’t so much angry that it’s an Islamic slogan (and is basically calling for donations to charity) but that similar Christian campaigns had been banned by regulators. Of note, was a campaign last Christmas by ChurchAds.net that featured a nativity scene which was banned for being too religious and contained the Lord’s prayer.
However, a spokesperson for Islamic Relief, Martin Cottingham, said the comparison was unfair as basically it was just another charity attempting to raise funds and wasn’t spruiking or trying to convert people to Islam.
Cottingham told the UK’s The Independent: “A lot of Christian charities have fundraising campaigns around Christmas, as it’s a time when people give generously. Ramadan is very much in parallel with that. It’s a time when Muslim charities would want to appeal to their community.”
“I am a Christian, and I’ve worked here for five years. When the Lord’s Prayer controversy was rife, not one of my Muslim colleagues were offended by that campaign. They thought it was a shame that it didn’t get an audience, and I would hope that people would be open-minded about this campaign in the same way.”
