An Islamic activist has been sent pages of the Koran with graffiti scrawled on them.
Mohammed Salim, of Letchworth Avenue, Rochdale, received three pages of the Muslim holy book graffitied with the words “crap”, “paper” and “toilet”. The abusive mail was posted anonymously from Canada, addressed to “Allah Hoo Hoo Salim” and arrived at Mr Salim’s family home on Monday.
The father of 11 said: “I am absolutely furious. Unfortunately, this just seems to be the world we live in now. People have no respect for anything any more. Obviously, whoever has sent this simply wants to upset me and it is extremely disrespectful to defile the Holy Koran in this way. It is just sickening.”
Mr Salim is well-known in Rochdale for his religious work and views. He has previously stood as the Islam Zinda parliamentary candidate for Rochdale, a party with an explicit religious policy. Mr Salim has also publicly criticised the war in Iraq, while he staged a three-week hunger strike outside Rochdale Town Hall in protest against Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses.
He added: “I am very active in the Islamic community, but I didn’t know anyone had heard of me in Canada, so I suppose in a very strange way it is flattering. I have been sent abuse many times before and sometimes I do worry that people will take it a step too far and that my family could be in danger.”