Community commitment

Pride in Oldham nominees, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association. Standing, Ahmad Mustafa (left) and Zakiullah. Seated, Laiq Khan (left) and Ahsan Ahmed

WHILE most people are running inside for cover on a rainy day, Laiq Khan and his team are out in the community.

Whether it is cleaning the streets on a cold and wet New Year's Day in Oldham town centre, or braving the mud to help plant 1,000 trees at Snipe Clough in Oldham, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association's North-West branch are always out on the streets of Oldham doing their bit in their neighbourhood.

Their other activities have included donating Christmas presents to children in hospital and having blood donation drives.

There are currently thought to be as many as 20 million Ahmadi Muslims - with the largest number in Pakistan.

While some of them were born and brought up here, others are now living safely and comfortably after fleeing persecution in their native Pakistan.

This is because the Ahmadis are regarded as heretics by mainstream Muslims. Muslims believe in the coming of a reformer, the Messiah (or Mahdi) in the latter days. Ahmadi Muslims believe this saviour was Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who lived in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent in the 1800s.

They believe he was a prophet subordinate to the prophet Muhammad, bringing no new law, only reforming Muslims and calling them to the true interpretation of Islam and the Qur'an.

The belief that Ahmadis are non-Muslim is widespread globally and the murder of Ahmadis is widespread in the subcontinent, particularly Pakistan.

Despite this, the AMYA carry on regardless and continue to do hard work in their communities without wanting anything in return.

Group leader of the North West branch Laiq Khan Laiq lives in Glodwick and is studying IT at college, while holding a job as a bus driver.

He said: "Thank you to those who considered us for a nomination. We want to work more and more for the betterment of Oldham people and the community. We will keep on doing as much as we can. We will carry on helping other people in different ways."