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British Muslim peace concert held in London today

A peace concert in London today aims to focus British Muslims on the bloody conflict in Darfur but also symbolizes efforts to unite the community amid widespread suspicion of Islam, organizers say.

"This is really something monumental, it has never been done before," said Sami Yusuf, a 27-year-old British star who often sings about Islam and is due to top the bill at Wembley Arena in northwest London.

Although he has not yet cracked the charts here, Yusuf is highly popular among young Muslims worldwide and has a fan base from Bangladesh in Britain's second-largest city of Birmingham in west central England.

More needs to be done on Darfur because "this is an issue between Muslims, Muslims killing Muslims, some people think it's shameful that people haven't really stood up," he said. "This is a great opportunity for British Muslims to really do something."

Jehangir Malik, from British charity Islamic Relief, said when launching the event in August that he wanted to see "our own equivalent of Live 8" -- the series of worldwide concerts organized ahead of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 calling for increased aid to poor countries.

All profits from the event will go to Islamic Relief to help fund its work in Darfur.

Sami Yusuf's record label, Awakening, says that they are expecting a capacity crowd of 12,000 for the concert.

Like him, the other artists taking part combine music with faith.

Outlandish, a Danish hip-hop outfit featuring Muslims and Christians, are appearing, as is Kareem Salama, a Muslim American country singer, who poses in a Stetson hat on the cover of his latest album.

Canadian stars The Sound Of Reason and Hamza Robertson, a young English convert to Islam, are also on the bill.

The event also has official support -- the Foreign Office helped to organize a trip for Sami Yusuf and celebrities to visit refugee camps in Darfur earlier this year.

A message from Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to be played at the venue before the concert starts, as well as one from the leader of the main opposition Conservatives, David Cameron.

The UN says that some 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced as a result of the conflict in Darfur, which has been going on for over four years.

Sami Yusuf hopes that the event will help alleviate the suffering as well as countering the often negative presentation of Islam in some sections of the British media.

"I'm really happy of what is happening with this event, of all the media attention," he said.
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