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Sheikh Nuru Mohammed hails from Ghana but these days, he is the imam or resident head at the Al-Abbas Islamic Center in Birmingham, United Kingdom. About one in five people who live in Birmingham are Muslim, making it one of Europe’s most religiously diverse cities.
Religious diversity still does not spare the Islamic community the resentment of many who hold onto the idea that Britain is being Islamized to destruction. Inherent in that thought is that Islam and British identity are at odds or that is no room for positive syncretism.
Mohammed understands this and the responsibility it places on Muslims in Birmingham and the UK to be the best they could be. So, on behalf of his center, Mohammed opened up the mosque he heads to become a COVID-19 vaccination center. Al-Abbas was the first Islamic congregational premises to do this in the entire United Kingdom after the government rolled out a national vaccination program.