Asad Shah death: Shopkeeper's funeral attracts hundreds of people

The funeral of the Glasgow man who died after he was attacked outside his shop was held yesterday.

Mourners with Asad Shah's coffin. Picture: John Devlin

Hundreds of people gathered to remember Asad Shah at the Bait-Ur-Rahman Mosque at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Centre in the west of the city.

The 40-year-old was found injured outside his convenience store in Shawlands on the evening of 24 March.

Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, has appeared in court charged with murder.

Police said both men were Muslims and described the incident as “religiously prejudiced”.

Shah, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, was born in Rabwah, Pakistan, and moved to Glasgow in 1998 to join his father in business.

Prayers were led at the hour-long service by Mansoor Shah, vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK.

Inside the hall at the mosque a message reads: “Love For All Hatred For None”.

Abdul Abid, president of the Ahmadiyya community in Scotland, said: “We are sad a very popular man of our community is not with us any more. I don’t know how we will survive without him. He was a polite, gentle person.”

In Pakistan, Ahmadis are marginalised and can be targeted for their beliefs. Several hundred of Scotland’s 77,000-strong Muslim population are believed to belong to the movement.

In a tribute to Shah, his family said he treated everyone “with the utmost kindness and respect”.

They said: “He was a brilliant man, recognising that the differences between people are vastly outweighed by our similarities.

“And he didn’t just talk about this, he lived it each and every day, in his beloved community of Shawlands and his country of Scotland.”

The shopkeeper’s death shocked his community, who came together for a silent vigil and to lay floral tributes in his memory. An online fundraising campaign set up to support his family has raised more than £100,000.

Abid said: “More than 6,000 people contributed towards the fund – a clear sign that he was a very good person.”

Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who last week chaired an event at Glasgow Central Mosque calling for unity – see main piece, left – said: “If anything positive is to come of the sad death of Asad Shah it is that there must be a legacy of unity against sectarianism.”

Shah was killed just hours after he posted an Easter message of goodwill on Facebook.