Church of England Venue Hosts Hijab and Niqab Catwalk Days After Archbishop Award Was Withdrawn

A Church of England venue in the heart of London has found itself at the centre of another heated row after hosting a fashion show featuring models in hijabs and niqabs, shortly after Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally presented an interfaith award to a Pakistani Muslim cleric whose past remarks about Osama bin Laden later triggered a backlash.

St John's Church in Hyde Park hosted Modest Fashion Week on 12 September, with footage showing a catwalk featuring women wearing Islamic dress.

The event came just one day after Mullally presented the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation to Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi at Lambeth Palace. The award was withdrawn days later after his previous comments came to light.

St John's Church Turned Into a Modest Fashion Runway

The event at St John's Church was billed by organisers as a celebration of modest fashion, bringing together designers, brands, entrepreneurs, media figures and fashion enthusiasts for runway shows and networking.

Footage shared online by watchdog group Subversive Force showed women walking the runway in hijabs and niqabs.

The organisation questioned the decision to hold the event inside a Church of England building, writing that 'No mosque in Britain would ever host the equivalent event'.

The criticism quickly became part of a wider online debate about the use of church buildings for events connected to other religious traditions. The video also featured commentary attacking the Church of England and accusing it of attempting to accommodate Islam.

Fashion Show Followed Archbishop's Controversial Award

The timing gave the fashion show an added layer of controversy.

On 11 September, Dame Sarah Mullally presented Ashrafi with the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation at Lambeth Palace. The Church said the honour recognised his longstanding support for religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly the Christian community.

The ceremony took place on the 25th anniversary of the 11 September attacks.

Soon afterwards, previous remarks attributed to Ashrafi resurfaced. In 2007, he had said he would give Osama bin Laden the title Saifullah, meaning 'Sword of God', in the context of protests over Salman Rushdie receiving a British knighthood. Ashrafi's spokesperson later said the comments had been reported without their proper context and were not an endorsement of bin Laden.

Lambeth Palace subsequently announced that the award had been withdrawn after reconsidering the earlier comments.

Church Defended Interfaith Work Amid Backlash

The Church of England has framed the award controversy around its longstanding commitment to interfaith dialogue, while acknowledging that Ashrafi's previous comments had changed the circumstances surrounding the honour.

In its statement, Lambeth Palace said engaging with people across deeply held differences remained a principle of interfaith cooperation. It also stressed that the award had originally recognised Ashrafi's work supporting religious minorities, including Christians in Pakistan.

Ashrafi's representatives likewise rejected the suggestion that his 2007 remarks amounted to support for bin Laden, saying they arose from a comparison involving the controversy surrounding Rushdie's knighthood.

The fashion show itself was organised separately from the Archbishop's award ceremony and was presented by organisers as a fashion industry event rather than a Church of England religious service.