An elderly British woman using a mobility scooter went out of her way to show her support and love for Muslims in the wake of the terrorist attack on Finsbury Mosque in London this week.
Traveling across the city, Julie Simpson visited Finsbury Mosque to personally apologize on behalf of the English and Christian communities. She felt a burden to assure Imam Mohammed Mahmoud that the white terrorist does not represent her, England or Christians, assuring the imam that she loves him and his community.
A video of her heartfelt apology has gone viral, and it's almost certain to bring tears to your eyes
"It rips my heart out, it literally rips my heart out," Simpson says in the video.
She tells Imam Mahmoud that when she turned the TV on and saw the horrible news, she felt powerless.
"I was crying, I was crying all the time. I thought to myself, what could I do?" she says.
So, she got on her mobility scooter and crossed the city to share her condolences and message of love for the Muslim community.
"I came here because people who done this are not English. They are not Christian. In fact - God forgive me - they are animals. They are pigs," she says.
"Muslim, English, in the Quran and in the Bible, it says 'love your brother like you would love yourself', yeah. Would you do that to your brother?", she says. "My friends, I am so, so sorry. I am so sorry for this. I am."
She also insists that Imam Mahmoud share her message with the family of the victims.
Imam Mahmoud tells her, she doesn't need to apologize
"You don't have to apologize because he doesn't represent you. This criminal doesn't represent you and he doesn't represent Britain. They're a fringe group of criminals and extremists. Likewise Isis, they're a fringe group of extremists, and they don't represent Muslims. These people don't represent the great people of Britain," the imam can be seen saying in response.
London has shown solidarity with its Muslim community in the wake of the attack
Police in the United Kingdom >charged the white attacker with "terrorism offenses" after he drove a van into worshippers leaving the mosque on Monday.
Eight people were injured by the 47-year-old attacker. One man also died of a heart attack at the scene. Witnesses said the driver yelled that he wanted to "kill all Muslims."
British Prime Minister Theresa May quickly announced that the police were treating the incident "as a potential terrorist attack." May added she will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee – a cross-departmental crisis committee that discusses the response to national emergencies – regarding this attack.
London's mayor Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim, also condemned the incident as a "horrific terrorist attack on innocent people."
While the mainstream media and many Western leaders often associate terrorism primarily with Islam, leaders and police in the UK were quick to condemn the white attacker as a terrorist, reminding the world that terrorism doesn't have an ethnicity or religion.