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Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims: Sacranie
Secretary-General of Muslim Council of Britain said they don't accept Baitul Futuh complex built by Ahmadiyyas as a mosque because they are not Muslims.
The opening of the largest mosque in Europe by the Ahmaddiya community in southwest London has been affected by criticism from a section of the traditional Muslims. The mosque can accommodate 10,000 people for prayers and has cost around £15 million, all through donations and is called Baitul Futuh complex.
The critics among the traditional Muslims say that it has not been constructed by true Muslims and the building should not be called mosque. Complete with 15-metre diameter dome and minarets 36m and 23m high, the mosque will take 1600 worshippers in each of its two prayer rooms plus thousands in community and meeting halls.
This is more than twice the capacity of the big mosques in Birmingham and in London's Regent Park. The Ahmadis who have been in Britain since 1913 have mostly come from the Indian subcontinent and have done extremely well. They are now over 40,000 in Britain.
Rafiq Hayat, Ahmadis' President in UK, said a comparison could be made between the Ahmaddiya community and its relationship with traditional Islam and Christianity and its relationship to Judaism. However, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Iqbal Sacranie said: "Our view was very clear. They (Ahmaddiyas) are not Muslims and they are outside the field of Islam. This is because Muslims believe there is one God and the Prophet Mohammad is the final and last messenger of God.
Sacranie said: "We believe the founder (of Ahmaddiyas) was an impostor. He claimed that he was a prophet and a messiah. No person can be a Muslim unless he believes in the article of faith that Mohammad is the last messenger of God."
Hayat, however, said that adherents were fully entitled to call themselves Muslims and that the community condemned all forms of extremism. It was being "small minded" to criticise the community.
