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Multi-faith celebration pays tribute to British aid worker Alan Henning Multi-faith celebration pays tribute to British aid worker Alan Henning
(35 minutes later)
The family of Alan Henning have attended a multi-faith celebration of his life in Manchester, a week after he was murdered by Islamist terrorists as part of their propaganda war against the west. Hundreds of well-wishers have joined Alan Henning’s family for a multi-faith celebration of his life, nine days after the Salford taxi driver was murdered by Islamist terrorists as part of their propaganda war against the west.
His widow, Barbara, and their children Adam and Lucy, were among a dozen relatives who came to the packed event at the British Muslim Heritage Centre on Sunday night, along with MPs and speakers from the Jewish, Islamic and Christian communities in Manchester. His widow, Barbara, and their children Adam and Lucy cried as they listened to warm tributes from friends, MPs and representatives from Greater Manchester’s Jewish, Islamic and Christian communities.
“We are here to remember a hero,” said Dr Usman Chaudhary, opening the service. “A local hero, a national hero and we would say also, a world hero. A hero who left the comforts of his own home for no other reason than to help the destitute and needy refugees of Syria. A hero who put the needs of others before his own. And that hero, ladies and gentleman, is Alan Henning. We are also here to celebrate Alan’s life, to be inspired so that more of us can be just like him.” “We are here to remember a hero,” said Dr Usman Chaudhary, opening the service at the British Muslim Heritage Centre, a grade II* listed building in south Manchester which originally housed a seminary for nonconformist Christian ministers.
Henning, a taxi driver from Salford, set off on a convoy to Syria just before Christmas last year motivated not by religious faith, but compassion, the event heard. One of his friends, Dr Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar, condemned those who sought to divide Christians from Muslims, “to spout hatred and bigotry” and foster what she called a “them versus us” approach. She said: “To those that would seek to divide us at a time that we are all hurting, at a time that a father, brother, husband and friend has been taken from us, I would say: take a leaf out of Alan’s book.” Chaudhary said Henning was “a hero who left the comforts of his own home for no other reason than to help the destitute and needy refugees of Syria. A hero who put the needs of others before his own.”
David Arnold, a representative of Manchester’s Jewish community, said: “All too often we regard people of different faiths as different from us. But despite many differences, within Christianity, Judaism and Islam there is much that we share. And Alan shared those values. Above all is the obligation of each of us to faithfully serve our Creator, and be of service to all humankind. We all understand, as Alan understood, that all human life is not just precious, but sacred.” Henning, known as “Gadget” or “Gadge” because he was brilliant at fixing things, was kidnapped by Isis militants soon after crossing into Syria on a humanitarian aid mission on 27 December last year. A non-Muslim, he was motivated not by religious faith but compassion, the event heard.
Asim Hussain, imam at Manchester Central Mosque, said: “There is nothing that can divide us or separate us. Not Isil, no evil ideology. This will not destroy us, it will make us stronger.” One of his friends, Dr Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar, condemned those who sought to use his murder to divide Christians from Muslims, “to spout hatred and bigotry” and foster what she called a “them versus us” approach. David Arnold, a representative of Manchester’s Jewish community, said Christianity, Judaism and Islam had shared values which Henning demonstrated: “We all understand, as Alan understood, that all human life is not just precious but sacred.”
Mark Davies, bishop of Middleton, representing Greater Manchester’s Christian community, said: “Alan has made a difference for more people than we will ever know. He has been the difference and he has made the difference. His legacy must inspire us all together to go from this place and be the difference we long to see, in our homes, in our communities and across the world.” Asim Hussain, the imam at Manchester Central mosque, said: “Alan was an individual who embodies more Islamic values than the entire Isis put together. That’s what makes him our hero.”
Tony Lloyd, police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester, said: “Alan was a great man. He was brought into greatness by chance, his own personality. His greatness brings us together. In the end his greatness will defeat the evil that took his life.” A video was played showing Henning in an ambulance on his way to Syria, with voiceovers from refugee children thanking his family for his sacrifice.
Majid Freeman, an aid worker from Leicester who went on two convoys to Syria with Henning, including the final one, said: “Alan was a beautiful, genuine human being inside and out. He went to Syria to help at a time when the whole international community had abandoned them. The international community leaders were paying mere lip service while Alan and many other aid workers were actually feeding these people, sheltering them, giving them aid, taking nappies for the babies, ambulances and generators for the hospitals, sweets and toys for the children and so much more.” Majid Freeman, an aid worker from Leicester who accompanied him on that final convoy, said: “Alan was a beautiful, genuine human being inside and out. He went to Syria to help at a time when the whole international community had abandoned them.
The British Muslim Heritage Centre in Whalley Range was a fitting venue for the multi-faith event. Built in 1843 as the Lancashire Independent College, it trained nonconformist ministers for the Congregational Church at a time when they were excluded from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. “The international community leaders were paying mere lip service while Alan and many other aid workers were actually feeding these people, sheltering them, giving them aid, taking nappies for the babies, ambulances and generators for the hospitals, sweets and toys for the children and so much more.”
A fund set up a week ago by Henning’s friends, with the blessing of his widow, Barbara, has so far raised almost £30,000 for his children. Islam-Zulfiqar paid affectionate tribute to the Gadge his friends remembered – a “class-A snorer” who was relentlessly, infectiously upbeat in his mission to help Syria’s children. “I remember him ringing me several times to help facilitate a bucket collection at a local supermarket,” she recalled. “When I said: ‘Gadge, I’m really busy,’ he said: ‘Come on, get your skates on, the children of Syria are waiting. They don’t understand the pressure we are under. They just need sorting.’”
Barbara Henning smiled as Yasmine Nahlawi, a Syrian-born academic from Rethink Rebuild Society, an organisation for Manchester’s Syrian community, said she wished Henning had visited Syria before the war.
“I wish he could have strolled through the streets of Syrian cities and villages and seen how people would have argued over who would get to invite him over for dinner, or how taxi drivers would have refused to take fares from him as a gesture of welcome to our country.”
Other speakers included the Greater Manchester MPs John Leech and Yasmin Qureshi and the police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd. All wore yellow flowers or ribbons in their lapels: yellow having first been used as a symbol of hope and then sorrow when Henning’s kidnap and subsequent murder were made public by the release of Isis propaganda videos.
A fund set up a week ago by Henning’s friends has so far raised almost £30,000 for his children.