A Statement of Conscience on October 7 I will not start by saying ‘as a Muslim’ or ‘as an imam’, but as a human being. On October 7, over 1,200 innocent people were killed in a single day. Families were shot in their homes. Young people out dancing were hunted across open fields. Over 250 people, including children and the elderly, were dragged into Gaza as hostages. I think of a mother hiding in a safe room with her baby’s mouth covered. I think of a father listening as the line went quiet. I think of families who waited month after month for someone to come home, only to receive a coffin. I didn’t need my faith to recognize the evil of what happened. My heart told me first. But I’m a Muslim and an imam, and I owe the world one honest sentence: what was done that day was a crime against God. God teaches that whoever kills one innocent soul, it is as if he had killed all humanity. This day has an author: Yahya Sinwar. He planned it, ordered it, and knew what would follow. Every death of that day and war he started rests on him and Hamas leaders who sat in tunnels and foreign hotels and called slaughter a victory. It rests on every Palestinian leader who cheered, excused, handed out sweets, or said nothing. They chose this. They own it. But Sinwar did not invent himself. He was the fruit of a tree planted almost a century ago by the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas named itself in its founding charter as the Brotherhood’s branch in Palestine. The Brotherhood’s poison is slow. It arrives through study circles, youth camps, charity boxes, and kind words to lonely young men. Drop by drop, it teaches him that his religion is a political party, his neighbour is his enemy, the Jew is the cause of his sorrow, and God is pleased by rage. By the time the gun arrives, the soul is already taken. I have seen this poison in mosques where sermons became rallies and young men could recite slogans but not sit still for a verse on mercy. Every people that let the Brotherhood in has paid in blood and ruined generations. It has never built anything it did not first set on fire. Behind Hamas stands another hand: the IRGC. It was the IRGC’s money, weapons, and training that turned a hateful idea into an army. One calls itself Sunni and the other Shia, and they may curse each other’s creeds, but they are united in what they worship. It is not God. It is power. The same IRGC that armed the killers of October 7 shoots Iranian girls for showing their hair, hangs young men for asking to be free, and has left graves from Tehran to Damascus to Beirut. They speak in God’s name. So did Pharaoh speak in the name of heaven. So let me say this clearly. Hamas and the IRGC are not merely enemies of Islam. That would be too small a charge, as if their crime were only against us. They are enemies of God. God is the Giver of life, yet they deal in death. God calls Himself the Most Merciful, yet they have made cruelty a sacrament. God honoured the children of Adam, yet they look at a child and see a target or a shield. To murder what God created and sign His name to it is the oldest blasphemy. And we Muslims have been too quiet. Some of us were afraid. Some told ourselves it was not our business. Some, God forgive them, felt something other than horror that morning and never confessed it. Silence was the soil this poison grew in. I will not add to it. So on this anniversary, let us say plainly what our scripture already says. The Jews are not our enemies. They are our cousins in Abraham, and their dead were created by the same God who created us. Today belongs to them: the murdered, the hostages, and families who still set a place at the table. To them I say: I am sorry for what was done to you by men who used the words of my prayers. You’re not alone in your grief or remembrance. The enemies of God are those who murder in His name. We know their names. It is time we said them from our own pulpits, in our own voices, before they speak for us again. Imam Tawhidi

A flypast over a rugby Test match in South Africa has caused alarm after video footage appeared to show the tail of one of the planes almost touching the stadium roof. 🔗: telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2…

Laurence Fox delivering a master class at the Oxford Union! You can almost hear the collective sphincters chirping!!! 😂💪

amzn.eu/d/04G8VYgv Lots of interest in the movie @CitizenVMovie especially after @elonmusk used X to beat the censors. If you want to read about Vigilante justice, check out the Vigilant Series. Book 1 “RETRIBUTION”, it’s gritty and violent, will make an awesome movie.

Day 1 of a 3 week reset to try to alleviate the torture of tinnitus. Typically lousy night’s sleep but up and out getting the first day light in my eyes. Blustery dog walk then a protein rich breakfast. I’m limited to just 3 coffees which will be the tough part! 🥴#tinnitus

This speech, made this evening, may be of interest to those who prefer a fact-based, rather than an emotion-based, approach to the economy

RT @s_birrell: I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can…

Cycling 250km to Five dams in Five days.

I’m about to set off on Day Two of my Dambusters Challenge cycling around 46km today. Can you share this and see if I can reach 6,000 followers before the end of the day please🙏🏻 Ps @LUFC #MOT🏆

And I’m off… 5 dams, over 200km, in five days. This is my 2025 Challenge for the @RAFBF supporting the @RoyalAirForce & @aircadets family. Please support me if you can👍 bit.ly/4hiTQq8

The Twilight of Nicola Sturgeon My review of Frankly jkrowling.com/in-my-own-word…

I’m sure I’m not the only one but I really miss this lady. Our Queen Elizabeth II, encapsulated, for me, what it is to be proudly British. Her Majesty appears in my 4th book of the Vigilant series (working title Groom) and I hope I capture a little of her intelligence and light.

I had the honour of hanging out with the fabulous human beings that are @UpsDownsTheatre who won a @prideofscot award on Monday evening. The smiles and joy were infectious from the cast and the proud Mums and Dads. Inspiring and humbling in equal measure. Just wonderful! ❤️😊

A shop I'd like to highlight is No Alibis Bookstore, Botanic Ave, Queen's, #Belfast! Been there lots to take photos and sign my book! Thanks so much to David and John for stocking it and to the team for being so friendly to me! #IndependentBookshopWeek

Nominations open today to celebrate the nation's unsung heroes at the Pride of Britain Awards 2025. Good Morning Britain’s Young Fundraiser of the Year is among the honours up for grabs. Here's how you can nominate: itv.com/goodmorningbritain/a…

🌺🕊️ We are deeply saddened to share that WW2 veteran Havildar-Major Rajinder Singh Dhatt passed away on 21 May 2025, at 103. Born in Punjab in 1921, he joined the Indian Army in 1941 and served in the Far East campaign during WW2.🕊️ #LestWeForget 📰 Source: Eastern Eye

I’m offering one reader the chance to be in my next novel. You could be: – A hero who saves the day – A villain with a twisted secret – Or… a body that turns up with a very suspicious past Drop a comment below and share this post! Winner will be announced in my newsletter.