Taxi driver admits killing Scottish Muslim over beliefs

A Muslim taxi driver has admitted to killing a fellow Muslim shopkeeper in Glasgow for “disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad.”

Asad Shah had posted a message to his Facebook account hours before he was brutally murdered, wishing his customers “Good Friday and a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation… Let’s follow the real footstep of beloved holy Jesus Christ and get the real success in both worlds.”

Around 9 p.m. he was attacked in the street outside his shop and stabbed at least 30 times.

But on Wednesday, the man charged with the murder, 32-year-old Tanveer Ahmed, said that he didn’t kill Shah over his Facebook post. Rather, he said, it was because Shah was an Ahmadi Muslim, and had “disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.”

“Mr Shah claimed to be a prophet,” he said in a statement. “If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world.”

Shah was one of an estimated 500 Ahmadi Muslims in Scotland out of some ten million worldwide. The movement believes that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is the messiah and a prophet, rejecting the orthodox Muslim view that Muhammad was the only prophet, as stated in the Quran. The Ahmadis are known for their commitment to nonviolence and interfaith respect.

They are persecuted in many Muslim nations and are not recognized as Muslims in Pakistan.

A Muslim group had already labeled Shah a “false prophet” in two video posts in November 2014, and was said to have received death threats.

Ahmed, his accused killed, who made no plea in Glasgow’s High Court on Wednesday, said in his statement: “I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.