Knife bin installed in Sheffield mosque as Imam issues plea to save lives

South Yorkshire Police has installed the blade bin at the Madina Masjid Mosque in Sharrow in the hope of reducing the number of people walking the streets armed with knives and guns.

Weapons can be disposed of in the bin in confidence and will be disposed of by the police.

Earlier this week, Imam Shaykh Sadaqat Hussain delivered a powerful speech in the mosque about gun and knife crime, gang culture and drugs.

Imam Hussain urged people to recognise ‘the value of a human life’.

He said: “There’s no hiding from this, day in day out we see killings, stabbings, murders on our streets. Whether it be locally here in Sheffield or Bradford, Birmingham, London, Manchester, this is now becoming norm, becoming a norm that people are taking out other people.

“‘Taking him out’ and seeing this as trivial, something very small, sadly this is how it has become now.”

Issuing a warning to those living the ‘gangster’ lifestyle in Sheffield, he said: “How long can you live this lifestyle? It will catch up with you one day. It will come to an end.”

He warned they will either end up in a cell or a grave.

The Imam added: “Gangsters are not men, bad boys are not men, a real man does nor carry bullets, a real man does not walk around with a knife in his hand, a real man does not go around looking for trouble.”

He urged anyone recognising the signs that someone could be ‘falling prey’ to criminality to ‘act accordingly’ and offer advice and guidance to help them change their ways.

“If you don’t act there’s another drug dealer on the streets, another wannabe gangster on the streets. You may be the victim of that gunshot, that knife crime. It might end your life. This is why we all have a responsibility,” he said.

He said ‘we all have a part to play’ in changing the lives of young people heading down the wrong path in life.

The Imam said: “If we want to save our community, our neighbourhood, our city, then we all have a part to play.”

In an appeal to the city, including professionals, he said: “If we do not play our part in the right way then we will see more and more killings, more and more murders, this will continue.

“If you guys have suggestions, bring them forward. We need to work in a way collective way to rid this from within our neighbourhoods and society. We need to end this.”

In a message to those involved in criminality he said it it not too late to change their ways.

“There is time to come back,” he said.

To pass on information about gun and knife crime, call South Yorkshire Police on 101.

Information can also be passed to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

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