THIS week, I sat to explain to my young grandchildren why I was fasting.
I explained what it means to be hungry, impoverished, in need. I explained what it means to think of others first.
Yet, soon after, my heart bled as once again the streets of our great country had the blood of innocent men, women and children spilt on them, in Manchester and last night in London [Saturday].
No words of mine can console the families of those that lost their loved ones in London and Manchester. How can I console a mother who has lost her child? However I know that I must carry on fighting extremism by spreading love and humanity amongst society.
It gives me hope for the future as I see our young children from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association both in Keighley and across the country coming out collecting for the families of the victims on behalf of the British Red Cross.
As our Prime Minister stated today [Sunday] extremism cannot be tolerated, freedom of speech does not give anyone a licence to preach hate and pollute young minds with evil venom. Hate speech cannot be ignored, whether it is online or by hate preachers in mosques. We each have a responsibility to be the eyes and ears of the security services and ensure we fulfil our national responsibility to help protect our country.
The worldwide Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, made it very clear in 2016 that if the authorities were not already doing so, they needed to monitor mosques for signs of hate speech leading to radicalisation. Those preaching peace have nothing to fear from such scrutiny.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is itself no stranger to extremism, having experienced first-hand violent extremism incited by fanatical clerics here in Yorkshire in the 1980s.
The ideology of hate is not a new one, albeit the current form presents itself as violent murderous acts. It has been breeding for decades, imported by radical clerics from abroad.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those that have lost loved ones and the injured, as well as huge gratitude to our security services for dealing so promptly and decisively with the attackers.
AZIZ RAHMAN
Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Keighley president
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