The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement Blog

This valuable article uses just the name "Ahmadiyya". To avoid an obvious ambiguity, it should have said "Lahore Ahmadiyya".

I also felt that it makes little or no mention of the picture and interpretation of Islam presented from these Missions. The present-day antipathy to Islam is due mostly to the type of picture of Islam being presented by its adherents. In a recent briefing document about the Woking Muslim Mission, I made the following points.

The key points of the Woking Muslim Mission’s philosophy were:

• Allah is God of all, and not God of Muslims only. He is fair and just to all, to Muslims as well as non-Muslims. He favours anyone who does good. Salvation cannot be obtained merely by holding some belief or calling yourself as a member of some religion.
• Islam is not meant for Muslims only. It must be pre­sented to the wider public to show what contribution it can make to the general society and how it can benefit everyone.
• Hardest efforts must be made to correct misconcep­tions about Islam and clear away the wrong impressions and fears that have been handed down over the centuries.
• Islam is what is taught in the Holy Quran, and which was practised by the Prophet Muhammad. Islam is not the cultural practices of Muslim communities of various countries.
• The practice of Islam can be adapted to life in Britain, and there is no conflict between being a Muslim and being a British person who is loyal to the best traditions of this country.

Even though the Woking Muslim Mission came to an end in 1968, the picture of Islam presented by it is needed now more than ever before in order to improve the relationship of Muslims with the wider community. What the Woking Muslim Mission wanted Muslims to do was:

• Communicate and interact with the wider society and be a part of it, not withdraw from it and live in isolation.
• Present Islam to others in a spirit of friendship and sym­pathy, not hostility or superiority.
• Show tolerance to other faiths, and reject extremism and fanaticism.
• Promote understanding and exchange of ideas with other communities.
• Respond to criticism against Islam in a dignified, temper­ate and lawful way.
• Rise above internal sectarianism and work together for the common cause of Islam.

An entirely unique contribution of the Woking Muslim Mission was to bring Muslims of different sects together to worship in an atmosphere of unity, and to work together for the common, twin causes of presenting Islam to the world and the moral and social reform of the Muslim community.

(Formatting note: The above points are meant to be bulleted lists but the bullets are not appearing despite the html tags being correct!)