Sadiq Khan attends the signing ceremony for the newly elected Mayor of London, in Southwark Cathedral, London, Britain. PHOTO: REUTERS
London’s newly-elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, has invited Donald Trump to London to introduce him to Britain’s Muslims.
The offer signifies a thawing of the relationship between the two men, which had been rather frigid since Khan’s victory earlier this month.
During his presidential campaign Trump pledged to impose a ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. However, the Republican presidential candidate said that Khan, the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London, could be an exception.
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In an interview with HuffPost UK, Khan said that his mission was to prove to Trump that Muslims are not the “bad people” he sees on the TV news and are instead crucial in the fight against extremism.
Khan who earlier rejected Trump’s offer to exclude him from the ban on Muslims entering the United States, highlighted that both the UK and the US had seen “huge benefits” from immigration.
He also pointed out that Trump himself was of migrant roots, adding “But for immigration, what would America be like today?”
Further, Khan warned that Trump’s “ignorant” view of Islam could make both Britain and the US less safe.
“It risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists. "Donald Trump and those around him think that Western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam - London has proved him wrong."
However, in an interview with the Huffington Post, Khan extended an invitation to Trump, saying he hoped to inform him better.
“So my point to Donald Trump is: if it is the case that your views on Islam are ignorant, if it is the case that you have not met Muslims who are compatible with, comfortable with Western values, to all purposes ‘normal’ – come to London.
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“There are literally hundreds of thousands of Londoners who are Muslim and Western. Meet my family, meet me, meet my friends, meet other Londoners and hopefully that will reassure that it’s possible.”
Mr Khan’s remarks towards the mogul were more conciliatory than those made by his Tory predecessor, Boris Johnson, who said he was cautious about inviting him to London
“I wouldn’t want to expose Londoners to an unnecessary risk of meeting Donald Trump.”
This article originally appeared on Huffington Post
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