Bradford, UK - Members of Bradford’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community will head to one of the UK’s largest Islamic conventions to make a pledge of peace this weekend.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association worshippers will publicly pledge to adopt non-violence and reject all forms of extremism – just weeks after 86 people were massacred and more than 100 injured in terror attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, Pakistan.
Several members of the Bradford Ahmadi mosque, in Rees Way, off Otley Road, Bradford, lost friends and family members in the tragedy.
Dr Mohammed Iqbal, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in Bradford, said: “Those who murder in the name of Allah, and those who incite others to hatred, are not only enemies of Islam but of all of humanity.
“Through Ahmadiyya, the renaissance of Islam has begun and it is through purity of faith and enlightened thinking – not intolerance and prejudice. That the beauty of our faith will be seen.”
More than 30,000 people from 80 countries are expected at the annual Jalsa Salana, in Hampshire, from Friday to Sunday. It is a formal gathering of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which was initiated by its founder Mirza Ghulan Ahmad in 1891.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the supreme head of the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim community, who will address the convention over all three days, said: “Those who love and yearn for peace should stand united against terror and jihadist violence.
“Extremists are creating havoc and seek to destroy those who disagree with their dogma.
“We will continue to respond with patience and prayer and never give up our belief and trust in God. We are a community of peace, even in the face of such adversity.”