An imam has spoken out after a Blackburn man who collects and safely disposes of sacred Islamic texts was "confronted" in a street in Birmingham.

The incident happened on Saturday, June 11, when the worker from the Islamic Literature Collection organisation was stopped by several men during one of his collections in the West Midlands.

A Blackburn Imam has now also spoken out saying he has "inspected the work" and "all items are correctly disposed of in accordance with shariah (Islamic) law".

Police are said to be looking into the incident after a complaint was made.

According to Islamic tradition, one is not permitted to throw away Qurans and other Islamic literature; books must be buried.

The Islamic Literature Service travels to locations across the country and people can hand over their old books and other scared texts for safe disposal or redistribution. For this, the organisation charges £2.50 per kg.

In a TikTok video shared extensively and posted this week, a man can be seen asking a worker from the Islamic Literature Collection service what he does with sacred texts.

He tells the man: "You provide a public service to the Ummah and you charge a fee. What do you do with the collections?”

He is told it goes for "sorting, redistribution and burial", and the worker attempts to further explains the process.

Not content with the answer the man, who it is believed from another organisation from Halifax which carries out a similar service, asks "where it is buried?" to which the worker says he is "unable to divulge".

The worker says he has "nothing to hide" and "does not want to argue," and says his organisation tells people "if you trust us then use the service".

A further video sees a heated exchange with the man, named as Khurshid, following the worker who says "you cannot say anything without any evidence".

It is believed more people turned up before the worker left in his van.

A message posted by Mufti Abdullah Bismillah, Imam of Masjide Noorul Islam, Audley Range, Blackburn was shared this week and responded to the allegations made in the TikTok videos.

He said: “I have inspected the work undertaken by Islamic Literature Collection and can confirm all items are correctly disposed of in accordance with shariah (Islamic Law).

“Furthermore, I will continue to monitor the work undertaken by them to ensure all items are dealt with correctly.”

Khurshid who features in the video was contacted and asked why he had stopped the worker.

He told us: “All I wanted to know was where the literature is buried. This was my question. And if you wish to give them to us we can bury them for you.”

West Midlands Police have been contacted for comment.