UK Muslim convention to be used as 'a rallying call for peace'

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities

One of Britain's oldest Muslim communities will use its annual gathering this weekend to show how it could provide a model for other Muslims of how to live in perfect harmony with others.

This weekend, 30,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community will gather for the biggest annual gathering of UK Muslims. This is the 42nd Annual Ahmadiyya Muslim Convention to take place in Britain and will be based in a huge temporary village of 200 marquees at a site near Alton, Hampshire on July 25-27.

Khalifa Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who is based in London, will invite the world to reflect on the true message of all religions, including Islam.

It will be a rallying call for peace, to be replicated by Ahmadi Muslims in 190 countries across the world.

Mr Rafiq Hayat, president of the UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said the UK Government, which earlier this year launched a fund to support work that helps individuals, organisations and communities to tackle violent extremist influences, should first look at the good practices that already exist in Muslim communities such as the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

MEP Baroness Nicholson and several MPs from across the political spectrum will be attending the event, including Liberal Democrat Ed Davey, Labour/Co-operative Party's Alan Keen, Conservatives Jeremy Hunt and Stephen Hammond and Labour's Patrick Hall.

Mr Hayat said: "Tolerance and understanding can only spring from mutual understanding and from banishing ignorance. Unfortunately, many of the religious preachers spread fear and loathing through ignorance.

"Ahmadi Muslims are victims of the invectives of such preachers simply because we stand by our motto: Love for All, Hatred for None. This is an alien concept for the extremists.

"It is only by championing the true peaceful message of Islam we can hope to defeat extremism. The Qur'anic injunction, that there should be no compulsion in religion, seems to be forgotten and ignored by the extremists.

"We have also been reminding Muslims of the need for loyalty to one's country and good citizenship for over 100 years, as it is an integral part of Islam. That is why our mosques are centres of peace and promote social cohesion."

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is one of the oldest in Britain - it built the first mosque in London in 1924 and in 2003 built Western Europe's biggest mosque in Morden, Surrey.

The community is among the forerunners of interfaith dialogue and in raising funds for charity, and is seen as a 'model' community of Muslims.

It also claims to be the most dynamic denomination in modern Islamic history, having spread to 190 countries in a century. The community is entirely driven by its mission to practice Islam as a religion of peace and inclusivity.