In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview for the Religious Reader, Hafiz was critical of those in Muslim and non-Muslim communities who see the army as a singular ‘killing machine’.

For Hafiz, the opposite is true: “[The armed forces] brings out a sense of responsibility and spirituality you might not see in the general public. They see issues like life and death far more clearly than those on the street. So I always say to people that soldiers are the best humanitarians I’ve met.

Again, people might be confused, but primarily their role is to their country, provide peace and security.”

The transition from prison to armed forces chaplaincy was not always easy, but he has no regrets: “In 2005, I was appointed as the first Muslim chaplain to the armed forces. At that time, I was a chaplain in the prison service and I saw the post advertised and thought it would be a very interesting and important role.

The war in Iraq was at its peak, Afghanistan was beginning to pick up again. The War on Terror was on everyone’s mind and I thought what better place to be engaged as a Muslim,” Hafiz said.

But the career change did not meet universal approval, as some reacted with confusion: “Not everyone patted me on the back and said ‘Yes, Asim, this is something you should do’ – there were some challenges. People did not understand what my role was going to be about. My peers were worried about me going to work for the armed forces.”

There was an ignorance about what the armed forces do and my argument to them was ‘I’m not joining the armed forces to condemn or condone war.

That’s not necessarily my job. Just because someone joins the armed forces, does not mean, they are less human. They still have families, children, they have hobbies and some are religious, and they need that support.’”

Hafiz wanted to help his fellow Muslim in the armed forces (a number that now stands at approximately 650), with pastoral care, spiritual and religious guidance. The importance of the latter proved vital, as Muslims now receive guidance within the institution, rather than say, at a mosque, with individuals unaware of the context of their job.

The advice given could of a religious and non-religious nature, as Hafiz explained: “Sometimes soldiers will come to me for a variety of reasons. It can be as simple as what time do I pray? Or something more complicated – Can I keep a beard while I’m in the army? Can I fast and be on operations at the same time? Or do I choose between the two? Or it might be family or financial problems. Or issues with the chain of command.”

Australia

With the outbreak of war, Australia sent its air force, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) overseas to assist. Throughout the war effort, RAAF soldiers flew on missions with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Australia, with other British Dominions had adopted the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) to swell RAF ranks.

In spite of racist regulations that discouraged ‘non-European’ servicemen, at least 3,000 Aboriginal and 850 Torres Strait Islanders joined the Australian war effort.

Australian troops took heavy casualties in their Greek campaign; but the main focus of their war effort from 1942 was to fight Japan. Nearly 600,000 served overseas and almost 40,000 died. Twenty Australian soldiers received our highest military honour the Victoria Cross.

Canada

Canada declared war on Nazi Germany on September 10, 1939. Prime Minister William Lyon McKenzie King maintained that the overseas contribution would be voluntary.

Yet the Canadian armed forces were ill-prepared for war. The regular army had just 4,500 men; backed by over 50,000 semi-trained reservists. Its air force and naval capacity looked meek.

Three years into the war and Canada committed 250,000 soldiers overseas.

Domestically, many young Norwegians trained as fighter pilots in Canada. Canadian soldiers assisted Britain in Hong Kong and helped secure Sicily, Italy in 1943. The Canadian contribution during D-Day involved air and sea support. At the cost of hundreds of lives. Conscription only took place during the final year of the war.

In total, 6,000 First Nations soldiers in Canada’s armed forces in both world wars.

Nepal

The Gurkhas of Nepal have been a feature of British Army life for nearly 200 years. During both world wars around 200,000 Gurkhas fought beside their British counterparts. In the Second World War alone, Gurkha forces experienced 32,000 casualties.

Havildar Lachhiman Gurung VC (1917-2010) received the Victoria Cross for his bravery in impossible circumstances when facing down a larger Japanese army. When a grenade left Gurung badly injured, he continued to fire his rifle and inspire his fellow Gurkhas to hold the position in what proved an important victory.

New Zealand

Unlike Australia, New Zealand declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3, 1939. A year later and conscription intensified their war contributions. With the climax of this global war, 12,000 New Zealanders (of whom 27 per cent died) had served with the RAF and almost 10,000 served in the Royal Navy. The RAF formed its own New Zealand squadrons to complement those in ordinary RAF squadrons.

In total, 140,000 men and women contributed to New Zealand’s war effort. The country sadly boasts the highest ratio of killed per million of population in the Commonwealth (6,684).

One of the most celebrated units in New Zealand’s military during this period was the 28^th Maori Battalion. Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu elevated the valour of the battalion in 1943 after receiving the Victoria Cross. In total, 16,000 Maori contributed to the war effort.

South Africa

The outbreak of war created a sense of divide among many Afrikaners, though South Africa remained a British territory, many held cultural ties to Germany.

The coalition government had competing ideas about moving forward. Prime Minister Herzog pressed for neutrality but resigned, allowing coalition partner J C Smuts to enter the war as British allies.

During the battle of El Alamein in North Africa, more than 1,200 soldiers (of different ethnicities) came from South Africa. An extensive ‘roll of honour’ details the names of individuals who fought in WW2. Other campaigns took South African troops to Italy. Over 700 troops died cleaning up the last pockets of German resistance in Italy as the war concluded. In total, estimates put the total number of South African fatalities at 9,000.

Join us at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden around the ‘Celebration of the Cultural, Ethnic and Religious Diversity of Our Armed Forces.’ This will take place on the 12^th of June, between 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm at the mosque and also present will be the Muslim chaplain to the Armed Forces and the Adviser on Muslim Communities to the Ministry of Defence.

If you would like to attend, please e-mail Joanne on Joanne@faith-matters.org

After the murder on the streets of Woolwich of Lee Rigby in May 2013, it became clear to us that a lot of work needed to be undertaken to ensure that a wide range of communities engage with our armed forces and that communities tackle some of the perceptions that may affect their views of our armed forces.

We are aware that some people do not agree with conflict and they have strong reasons for not engaging with our armed forces. We also understand that some conflicts may have affected perceptions of our armed forces and the booklet below addresses some of these issues.In fact, our engagement with this project showed us an institution that is undertaking a process of change to be reflective of the communities it serves and protects, yet it conducts the will of Parliament and our serving men and women are led by the will and decisions of politicians. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that, for example, there are over 840 serving soldiers in our armed forces who are also Muslims and this is a fact that is not highlighted enough, nor is the fact that there are serving soldiers from a variety of different faith groups. Many of these soldiers from our armed forces served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia and helped in ensuring that civilians were protected and that refugees were also protected in their plight to safety, sometimes from genocide, as in Bosnia.

Whilst we understand that serving men and women in our armed forces go into conflict areas and sometimes have to do so with force, there are also a range of other functions that our armed forces undertake. The Building our Futures Together project is therefore an opportunity for interested members of communities to engage in dialogue with and be aware of the diversity of serving soldiers in our armed forces; and for our armed forces partners, it is a chance to reach out, confront some stereotypes and listen to the views of different communities.

We therefore hope that the booklet below can be a resource for you if you are looking to hold engagement sessions between serving members of our armed forces and community groups. If nothing else, we hope that inspires you to want to ask questions and to want to find out more. You will be surprised as we were, as to the willingness of our armed forces to engage and to be part of wider discussions.

Finally, the last thing we all want, is to see such brutality and murder on our streets where a young man simply walking the streets of our capital is killed just because he has served in the armed forces. Such hate should never again have a part to play in our capital and we hope that the Building Our Futures Together project, can play a small part in reducing such threats in the future.

(A full statement from the Director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, can be found in the booklet. Fiyaz Mughal can be contacted for press interviews through info@faith-matters.co.uk)