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Hate campaign discovered against south London Ahmadiyya Islamic minority
1:20pm Thursday 14th October 2010
Exclusive By Omar Oakes »
An international hate campaign by Islamic fundamentalists against a minority sect has spread to Britain and is causing a dangerous rift in south London’s Muslim community.
The situation has been likened to the “beginnings of the Holocaust” by a leading expert who is urging the police to act.
Lord Avebury, the long-serving vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, said the extremist views were being imported from Pakistan and compared the vilification of Ahmadiyya Muslims with the beginnings of the Holocaust.
Our investigation has revealed shocking examples of Ahmadi residents, businessmen and politicians being demonised and ostracised by UK Islamic fundamentalist group Khatme Nabuwat (KN).
Ahmadi-owned businesses have been boycotted and face ruin, while employers have been pressurised into sacking Ahmadi workers.
The hate campaign even infected the General Election result after a campaign to discourage Muslims voting for an Ahmadi Liberal Democrat candidate in Tooting.
There are an estimated 13,000 Ahmadi Muslims living and working in south west London, who were drawn to the area after its first mosque was built in Southfields.
Ahmadiyya Muslims differ from mainstream Islam by believing the second coming of the Messiah has already happened and is embodied by their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
Their two main mosques are the London Mosque, built in 1926 in Gressenhall Road, Southfields, and the massive Bait-ul-Fatah mosque in Morden, built in 2003 – which their website claims is the largest mosque in Western Europe.
Since then, many Ahmadis who have fled religious persecution in Pakistan have come to live in Merton, Wandsworth, Kingston and Lambeth.
Since being established in 1884, the movement is followed by 160m people in 190 countries worldwide and actively promotes humanitarian efforts under the motto: “Love for all, hatred for none”.
They have a highly active public relations team, which within the past year has promoted community initiatives on behalf of the entire Muslim community, such as an advertising campaign launched in February on London’s bus network.
Lord Avebury, the long-serving vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, said the extremist views were being imported from Pakistan and compared the vilification of Ahmadiyya Muslims with the beginnings of the Holocaust.
Our investigation has revealed shocking examples of Ahmadi residents, businessmen and politicians being demonised and ostracised by UK Islamic fundamentalist group Khatme Nabuwat (KN).
Ahmadi-owned businesses have been boycotted and face ruin, while employers have been pressurised into sacking Ahmadi workers.
The hate campaign even infected the General Election result after a campaign to discourage Muslims voting for an Ahmadi Liberal Democrat candidate in Tooting.
There are an estimated 13,000 Ahmadi Muslims living and working in south west London, who were drawn to the area after its first mosque was built in Southfields.
Their two main mosques are the London Mosque, built in 1926 in Gressenhall Road, Southfields, and the massive Bait-ul-Fatah mosque in Morden, built in 2003 – which their website claims is the largest mosque in Western Europe.
Since then, many Ahmadis who have fled religious persecution in Pakistan have come to live in Merton, Wandsworth, Kingston and Lambeth.
Since being established in 1884, the movement is followed by 160m people in 190 countries worldwide and actively promotes humanitarian efforts under the motto: “Love for all, hatred for none”.
They have a highly active public relations team, which within the past year has promoted community initiatives on behalf of the entire Muslim community, such as an advertising campaign launched in February on London’s bus network.
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