Lambeth Place withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-17 · by Y. Áine Fox

Quick Summary

Lambeth Palace has withdrawn a recent award given to Pakistani cleric Hafiz Mohammad Kifayatullah Ashrafi after it was revealed that in 2007, he stated he would grant Osama bin Laden an honorary title for waging jihad against non-Muslims. The withdrawal came following criticism from the National Secular Society and amidst controversy over the timing of the award, which coincided with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Ashrafi’s spokesperson defended his comments as a rhetorical example comparing to other controversial honors, asserting that bin Laden never received the actual title.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-17, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, awarded Tahir Ashrafi a prize for "Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation" on September 11, 2023, exactly 25 years after the 9/11 attacks. However, it was later revealed that in 2007, Mr. Ashrafi's Pakistan Ulema Council had honored Osama Bin Laden with a religious title meaning "Sword of Allah" as retaliation for Salman Rushdie being knighted by Britain. This led to significant backlash from critics and the award was subsequently withdrawn by Lambeth Palace. The National Secular Society called the initial award ceremony "obscene." Mr. Ashrafi's office maintained that his comments were taken out of context, stating they came during protests in Pakistan against Rushdie's knighthood.

Written for “Archbishop Withdraws Controversial Award” on 2026-09-18, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Score -0.35 Confidence high
Leaning score -0.35 for article 16628 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-09-17

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
7
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
0%
0 of 7 hedged
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject
Correction & hedging signals
67.1
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
4
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-17 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Archbishop Withdraws Controversial Award
Politics · 4 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Lambeth Palace withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks same event · 100%
Evening Standard · 0.96 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 20 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the identical incident of Lambeth Place (likely a typo for Lambeth Palace) withdrawing an award from a Muslim cleric due to past remarks about Osama bin Laden, with consistent details including dates and context.”
Archbishop of Canterbury forced to withdraw controversial award given on anniversary of 9/11 to Muslim cleric who praised Bin Laden same event · 95%
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the Archbishop of Canterbury withdrawing an award given to Tahir Ashrafi on the anniversary of September 11, due to his past remarks praising Osama bin Laden.”
Archbishop of Canterbury under fire after giving 'Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation' award to Muslim cleric who praised Bin Laden - on anniversary of 9/11 different event · 85%
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Article A describes the Archbishop of Canterbury presenting an award to Tahir Ashrafi on the anniversary of 9/11, while Article B reports that the award was later withdrawn due to controversy.”

Publisher

Evening Standard · 806 article(s) · 8 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Y. Áine Fox
3 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, the imam said he would give bin Laden – the orchestrator of the September 11 terror attacks – the title Saifullah, which means “Sword of God”, for “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels”.
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Lambeth Palace withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks
🔮 In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, Ashrafi said he would give bin Laden – the orchestrator of the September 11 terror attacks – the title Saifullah, which means “Sword of God”, for “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels”.
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Lambeth Place withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks
🔮 The Government has a neutral position on the Bill and MPs will vote according to their consciences, rather than along party lines.
2026-09-07 · assertive framing · Third of public back assisted dying law only with more palliative funding – poll
More on this subject from Y. Áine Fox
Lambeth Palace withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks
2026-09-17 · Evening Standard · 96% similar
All 3 articles by Y. Áine Fox →

Topics

Islamic Lambeth Palace Muslims Pakistan Pakistan Ulema Council

Subjects

Ashrafi PERSON · 5× Lambeth Palace ORG · 2× bin Laden PERSON · 2× Islamic NORP · 1× Muslims NORP · 1× NSS ORG · 1× Pakistan GPE · 1× Pakistan Ulema Council ORG · 1× Saifullah PERSON · 1× The National Secular Society ORG · 1×

Narrative

In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, Ashrafi said he would give bin Laden – the orchestrator of the September 11 terror attacks – the title Saifullah, which means “Sword of God”, for “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels”.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-17
🔮 In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, Ashrafi said he would give bin Laden – the orchestrator of the September 11 terror attacks – the title Saifullah, which means “Sword of God”, for “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels”.
2026-09-17 · Evening Standard
Lambeth Place withdraws award to Muslim cleric over Osama bin Laden remarks · assertive framing

Claims (7 extracted, 0 hedged)

In 2007, as head of the Pakistan Ulema Council group of Islamic clerics and scholars, Ashrafi said he would give bin Laden – the orchestrator of the September 11 terror attacks – the title Saifullah, which means “Sword of God”, for “serving Muslims by waging jihad against infidels”. asserted
which → say → infidels
A caption accompanying an image of Mr Ashrafi receiving his award last week said he was being recognised “for his outstanding work as an ambassador of interfaith harmony in Pakistan”. asserted
he → accompany → Pakistan
The National Secular Society (NSS) branded the award presentation “obscene, and almost beyond parody”, having taken place on the anniversary of the terror attack that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, including 67 British citizens. asserted
that → brand → citizens
Lambeth Palace said: “Previous comments made by Imam Ashrafi have come to light that have led Lambeth Palace to reconsider this award and we can now confirm today that the award has been withdrawn.” asserted
award → say → award
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Ashrafi said his remarks were being reported “without their proper context”. asserted
remarks → say → context
Mr Ashrafi told the Press Association he had been “giving an example” at the time to demonstrate the equivalence in offence caused to the Muslim community by the awarding of an honour to Mr Rushdie. asserted
he → tell → Rushdie
He insisted the title had not actually been bestowed on bin Laden. asserted
title → insist → Laden
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