‘Spread honey, not hate’: New UK multi-arts Muslim festival wants to engage segregated communities

Photo: Muslims attend Friday prayers at Manchester Central Mosque where they prayed for the victims and injured in the Manchester Arena bombing, and also recited a a special Prayer for Manchester on May 26, 2017 in Manchester, England. Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Last year, three terrorist attacks targeting the public in London and Manchester were perpetrated by Muslims who were mostly British. After the Manchester Arena attack on May 22 that killed 23 people, including the suicide bomber, Greater Manchester Police reported a 130 percent rise in hate crime, including a 500 percent surge in Islamophobic-related hate crime compared with the same period a year earlier.

One Manchester resident decided she needed to do something to address the “real problems” of “hatred and divisions”.

“I’ve spent the last 15 years promoting peace and harmony, connecting communities and in particular tackling hatred aimed at Muslims,” said Qaisra Shahraz, whose deep community involvement includes being a trustee of Manchester Multi Faith Centre, Co-Chair of Faith Network 4 Manchester, We Stand Together Executive Member of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester and a partner of the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding.