The Muslims in Athens celebrated the birthday of Islam’s prophet Muhammad (Eid Milad un Nabi) on October 8th holding banners and chanting. The large religious procession, mainly made up of Pakistanis, from Kotzia Square. Some of the participants held flags of the Islamist organization Dawat-e-Islami.

Αυτή την Ελλάδα θα παραδώσουμε στις επόμενες γενιές.

Πομπή Πακιστανών για το Eid Milad un Nabi στο κέντρο της Αθήνας (9/10) https://t.co/uFMcyQVnzE pic.twitter.com/6BAoCeTdAe

— Σταυροφόρος (@stavroforos_) October 9, 2022

While Dawat-e-Islami claims to be a non-political and non-violent religious group inspired by Sufi tradition, and so far there’s no evidence of its direct involvement as a group in any terrorist act, this isn’t the first time the group’s name has come up in a terrorism investigation. In fact, there have been multiple incidents in the past where its followers went on to carry out terrorist attacks.

The last time Dawat-e-Islami’s name came up during an investigation into a terrorist attack was back in 2020 when a Pakistani terrorist named Zaheer Hassan Mehmood carried out a stabbing attack on September 25th outside the former headquarters of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Two people were wounded in the stabbing attack and the terrorist was arrested.

During the investigation of the attack, French authorities discovered that Zaheer claimed that his religious guide was Maulana Ilyas Qadri, the leader of Dawat-e-Islami.

They alternate: “Labaik Allahuma Labaik, la sharika” which means “I am at Your service, O Allah. All praise, thanks, and blessings. All dominion to You”…

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