Thousands back petition urging Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally to resign amid 9/11 firestorm
A petition calling for Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally’s resignation has received thousands of backers after the Anglican leader gave an award to a Muslim cleric who praised 9/11 terror mastermind Osama bin Laden on the anniversary of the world-changing event.
A Change.org petition calling for the Church of England leader’s resignation gained traction over the weekend after petition creator Emma Ash provided an update Friday. The petition was initially created eight months ago when Mullally became the first female leader of the Church of England.
“Since this petition launched, a further incident has raised serious questions about [judgment], due diligence, accountability, and the place given to survivor voices at the highest level of the Church of England,” Ash wrote. “On Friday 11th September 2026, the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Archbishop of Canterbury presented the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation to Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi.”
As explained by Ash, “Ashrafi had previously attracted controversy for remarks concerning Osama bin Laden. In 2007, he said that bin Laden ‘must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah,’ meaning ‘Sword of God.’ His representatives dispute suggestions that the remarks amounted to an endorsement of bin Laden.”
The Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally presented the award to Ashrafi, a Muslim cleric, on Sept. 11 and touted for his support for religious minorities in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, especially the Asian country’s Christian population.
While the Church of England withdrew the award nearly a week later, Ash insisted that the incident raises a "serious question": “What due diligence was undertaken before presenting such an honour, particularly on the 25th anniversary of 9/11?”
"This controversy adds to wider concerns about scrutiny at the highest level of the Church and whether those who have experienced abuse, terrorism, and institutional failure are being properly heard," Ash added.
In a subsequent update on Sunday, Ash said 3,000 more signatures had been added since she updated the petition over the weekend. As of Monday afternoon, the petition has secured more than 3,700 signatures.
Ash laid out several additional concerns about the leadership of the Church of England in the original petition, including national media reporting on "exposed serious and unresolved safeguarding" concerns.
“While some of these failures arose during her tenure as Bishop of London, they remain unresolved and continue to carry ongoing consequences now that she holds the Church’s most senior office,” the petition added.
One specific cause of concern listed in the petition is “the testimony of Michelle Burns,” who formerly served on the Diocese of London’s Safeguarding Team and “spoke publicly about the severe personal harm that she experienced after raising safeguarding concerns.”
Another concern noted in the petition is “the death of Father Alan Griffin,” cited as a symbol of “wider failures in care, safeguarding, and accountability within the Diocese of London during the Archbishop of Canterbury’s tenure as Bishop of London.”
A separate petition formulated by Ash that calls for an independent inquiry into the Diocese of London details how Griffin was “named in an internal diocesan safeguarding document despite there being no accuser, no complaint, or investigation.”
Griffin’s death by suicide in August 2020 was a factor that caused the Rev. Paul Williamson, an Anglican priest, to object to Mullally’s confirmation during her election service earlier this year. Williamson maintained that Griffin’s suicide was caused by “a prolonged period of suffering, resulting from the false allegations of a sexual nature.”
“More people will die. More people will become ill. And they’ve already got blood on their hands,” Burns said, as quoted in the petition. The petition included similar rhetoric, noting: “Survivors have spoken out. Whistle-blowers have raised the alarm. A priest has died.”
Ash’s petition also mentions an unnamed abuse survivor who “lodged a formal safeguarding complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) relating to actions taken by the current Archbishop of Canterbury during her tenure as the Bishop of London in the handling of an abuse allegation” and warned of “the damaging impact of the mishandling of safeguarding disclosure and the treatment of survivors once they come forward.”
Identifying “safeguarding failures” as a source of “lasting trauma” and “broken trust,” the petition highlighted questions about “whether survivor voices, including those affected by terrorism and institutional failure, are being heard with seriousness and sensitivity that they deserve” while accusing the archbishop of sending a “devastating message to survivors, clergy, and the public: that safeguarding harm can be endured rather than confronted.”
“The Archbishop of Canterbury must command moral authority and confidence from survivors. That confidence has now been irreparably damaged,” the petition concluded.
