ON THURSDAY, November 12 I came home very happy.

The Muslim Burial Ground at Horsell Common, near Woking, had been renovated, but more than that the plot of land where the Muslim soldiers who laid down their lives for this country during the two wars had been turned into a Peace Garden.

Its opening ceremony was performed by His Royal Highness, the Earl of Wessex.

Because of our association’s struggle to ensure proper burials for the fallen Muslims during the First World War I was chosen to meet his HRH, but that happiness was short-lived.

The following day as the events unfolded in Paris, it seemed as if someone had bulldozed our Peace Garden and struck a dagger in my breast.

There are no words which can express the horror and disgust at the heinous crime committed in Paris last Friday.

There are no words strong enough to denounce the mass murder of the innocent men and women going about their daily lives.

There are no words which can convey the evil of the perpetrators.

Whoever perpetrates such acts and where ever those deeds are committed must be condemned in the strongest terms.

The Holy Quran commands Muslims to promote good and denounce evil.

It says: “And from among you there should be a party who invite to good and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong.” (3:104).

So let every Muslim hearken to this call and let us all join together to oppose all acts which bring the name of our holy religion, nay the whole of humanity, into disrepute.

The attack in Paris is said to be in retaliation for the bombing of Islamic countries by the Western powers, including France.

But this is not what Islam teaches. The Holy Prophet said: “Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them.

“Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil.”

Here the Holy Prophet is also telling Muslims not to blindly follow others who may preach hatred and extremism but to think for themselves.

But more than that he instructs Muslims to ignore those who do them harm and not to retaliate.

Over a century ago, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who was the founder of the Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam, put forward the idea of reconciliation between each and all communities.

His purpose was to create peace and harmony in the world and to avoid the kind of carnage seen in Paris.

But politicians would have none of it.

I invite sincere people of all religions, races and creeds to join together in opposing all those who kill innocent women and children whether they do it in the name of democracy or in the name of Islam.

SHAHID AZIZ National President Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Chiseldon