Seamus Coleman made it clear that "as a Dad as a Son as a Husband as a Brother" whose grown up "knowing what's right & wrong" he won't be playing for Ireland against Israel. Fair play Sheamie!
How many players will follow his good example & also boycott the match?
Wholeheartedly agree. Standing up for Palestine from inside the party in power takes real courage and delivers real change. Anyone can shout from the outside as an independent. But doing the hard, patient work from within—that’s how you move policy.
@5Pillarsuk and @themuslimvoteuk – You are tearing apart communities in the UK.
You are endorsing candidates with NO track record on Palestine and muslim causes over candidates who have.
You haven’t done your homework on Preston. You haven't door knocked or campaigned in Preston.
Labour-led Preston City Council, were the first council in the UK to speak out specifically against Anti-Palestinian Racism.
Preston Labour has done more than most nationally to raise awareness of the genocide being committed in Palestine. Preston Labour have stood firmly against all forms of hate and division.
Stop trying to be relevant "Up North" from your ivory tower.
@5Pillarsuk and @themuslimvoteuk – You are tearing apart communities in the UK.
You are endorsing candidates with NO track record on Palestine and muslim causes over candidates who have.
You haven’t done your homework on Preston. You haven't door knocked or campaigned in Preston.
Labour-led Preston City Council, were the first council in the UK to speak out specifically against Anti-Palestinian Racism.
Preston Labour has done more than most nationally to raise awareness of the genocide being committed in Palestine. Preston Labour have stood firmly against all forms of hate and division.
Stop trying to be relevant "Up North" from your ivory tower.
Only in Britain can someone cited in Neo-Nazi and mass child murderer Anders Breivik's manifesto continue to have a flourishing career as a public commentator, and then accuse other people of racism for opposing genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Absolute clown world.
From Babar Ahmad: My Dad My Hero Ashfaq Ahmad Has Returned to Allah - Funeral Sat 18 April 2026, London SW12 9AW - Details below.
My dad, my hero, Ashfaq Ahmad, returned to Allah three nights ago on Tuesday 14 April 2026 in a London hospital. He was 91.
Dad's janazah prayer is on Saturday 18 April 2026 at 1pm in Balham Mosque, UK postcode SW12 9AW. Janazah details are at the end of this message but first some words about Dad's life.
His wife, my mum Sabiha Ahmad, died on 4 January 2026. So in the space of three months, I have lost both parents.
On 28 March Dad fell in his house and bumped his head, causing a bleed to his brain. He was admitted to hospital in a coma. The doctors told us he won't wake up from this and he will die in hospital.
I begged Allah, as did many others, to allow my Dad to see me once more. In an absolute miracle, Allah answered my dua.
Three days after the injury, Dad opened his eyes to me and said my name.
Sadly, after this his condition got worse and he passed away peacefully with family members around him reciting the Quran and making dua for him.
Dad was a happy, jolly, smiling man. Always singing, laughing, telling jokes, playing pranks and making people laugh.
He was an exceptionally good-hearted person. He never complained, never spoke badly about others, never took part in gossip.
He was a simple man who was happy with little, always showing appreciation for anything that was done for him. He worked hard. He was honest and always spoke the truth.
He was gentle and loving towards children. He would give children his full attention, listen to them and enjoy their stories.
Everyone who met him loved him. He was like a universal father to all my friends, and others.
Despite his outward love of humour and cricket, he was deeply religious. He would pray five times a day, the minute the time entered. Often, he would have to repeat his prayer because he prayed it a few minutes early by mistake as he was so eager to pray.
He would recite the Quran every morning after Fajr and do his morning duas regularly. He had multiple little dua books which he kept in every room of his house.
He would recite Surah Kahf every Thursday after Maghrib so he would not miss his Friday reward.
Despite being 91, a heart patient and a diabetic with multiple health problems, Dad fasted every day this Ramadan. He almost completed reciting the whole Quran this Ramadan.
My Dad was an ordinary man who lived a simple life for the first 70 years of his life. But in 2004, his life changed when I was arrested and held in prison without charge.
Suddenly, this simple man became a superhero. He travelled around the UK campaigning for me, gave media interviews and lectures for me, he attended public and private meetings, he gave evidence before the UK Parliament, and he came weekly to visit me in prison for many years.
He inspired others with his hope, dignity, patience, courage and dedication for 11 long years. He fought for me like a hero. Because he was a hero. My hero.
He outlived all his siblings, most of his friends and his wife. Born in 1934, he was a relic from a different era.
A light has gone out in the world today and the world is darker today with his passing.
I feel so blessed and I am so grateful to Allah that he chose this beautiful man to be my dad. I will never heal from this loss, I will just learn to live with it.
Please honour this hero, my dad, by attending his janazah and burial on Sat 18 April 2026 (details below) as we lay him to rest alongside his wife, my mum, whom he dearly missed.
FUNERAL NOTICE: ASHFAQ AHMAD, Father of Babar Ahmad - SAT 18 APRIL 2026
Beloved husband of the late Sabiha Ahmad, father-in-law, beloved grandfather, hero to many.
Date: Saturday 18 April 2026
Time: After Zuhr 1pm (men can view body downstairs from 12pm onwards)
Address: Balham Mosque, 47A Balham High Road, London SW12 9AW (parking nearby in Waitrose and Sainsburys)
Burial: 2.30pm Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery, Garth Road, Morden SM4 4NW - please do NOT go to Morden Cemetery nearby at the big roundabout. Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery is on Google Maps.
Our family will be at Balham Mosque from 12pm midday on Saturday 18 April to meet visitors. Ladies will be there until 3pm to receive condolences.
Please do your best to attend and bid farewell to our dear father, this beautiful 91 year old man who inspired so many in his life with his character and struggles.
O Allah! Have mercy on my father, forgive him and gift him the rank of the shaheed for the pain he endured in his life and the patience he endured for 11 long years when his son was taken away from him.
Fill his grave with light and joy, protect him from punishment in the grave and let him enter Jannatul Firdous without account with the martyrs and prophets on the Day of Judgement.
May Allah forgive him, have mercy on him, accept him as a shaheed on account of his struggles, widen his grave and admit him with our dear mother and family into Jannatul-Firdous without account. May Allah grant sabr to his family to bear his loss until we are reunited with him.
Condolences:
I will be receiving male visitors for condolences from 7pm to 9.30pm on Friday 17 April downstairs in Gatton Road Mosque, Gatton Road, London SW17 0EX. (Men only)
If you know my family, kindly contact them for the condolence address for ladies.
Donations:
After my mother died on 4 January 2026 we launched this campaign to build a school for poor children in Pakistan, in my parents' name, with the Read Foundation charity. My father donated to this cause and every day in Ramadan he would ask me how far the campaign total had reached.
If you wish to do something for my father and mother and if either of them touched your lives in any way, kindly leave a donation on this page https://t.co/Dhi6J708ES.
If you met or knew my father or were inspired by him, please share a memory of him or leave a dua for him below.
Babar Ahmad
@omarsuleiman@YasirQadhi can I get a retweet of this please, so more people attend Dad's janazah, may Allah reward you.
What an awful man Tony Blair has begun. A zealot.
He led us into the Iraq war under false pretences. Hundreds of thousands of people died. After Saddam fell, Iraq exploded into terrorism.
Now he tells us not to question Netanyahu’s wars.
He quotes dubious polling here.
And offers not a single criticism of anything Netenyahu has done.
With 1 million people fleeing their homes in Lebanon. 70,000 dead in Gaza, including 20,000 children.
All 36 hospitals bombs.
He has no criticism.
The Iran war is tanking the global economy. And began when an American Tomahawk cruise missile bombed an all girls school. Killing around 160, 7 to 12 year olds. He asks you not to question these wars. He asks you to question the people that question the wars.
Britain has a patriotism problem. And it involves the very rich:
Ex-Prince Andrew passed confidential trade documents Epstein
Sir Jim Ratcliffe offshores his wealth to avoid paying billions in tax.
Peter Mandelson is investigated for passing market sensitive information to Epstein
Remember, while the powerful get us fighting each other we forget to focus on them.
In C4's 'Palestine Action, The Truth behind the ban' Israel friend & arms lobbyists Lord Walney attacks regular pro Palestine marches
The reporter points out the organisers may say opposing the slaughter of civilians on this scale demands regular protests. Watch his reaction