After the warnings about “sleepwalking” into a Third World War issued last month by the leader of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Tilford-based community is holding a conference this weekend on the ‘World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace’.

This Sunday’s event marks the tenth anniversary of the radio station Voice of Islam.

Rafiq Ahmed Hayat, the community’s UK president, spoke to the Herald about how to achieve peace and the obstacles in its path.

“If governments really wanted peace they could achieve it, but they want power,” he said.

“In the past, countries colonised others by walking in and taking over, but now China builds roads and infrastructure in countries and takes over by that means and the West does it with war.”

He spoke with the US/Iran war in mind, before suggesting that social media makes citizens accept what governments are doing.

“People are gullible,” he said.

“As long as the media throws enough in their direction they will believe it. Think of Brexit and the promise of saving the NHS millions: that remained in people’s minds, but it was false.

“And we have seen this in the US which has gone from a balanced power to an extremely right-wing one with no respect for life.”

Faith and learning about each other is the solution, he believes, but there is a lot of misunderstanding about faith.

He added: “Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia exist people do not understand these faiths. If they bothered to find out more they would have a different view.

“There are three major Abrahamic faiths – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – and God didn’t give a different message to each of them.

“The message is the same – love each other. It is the politicians – of whatever faith – who give religion a bad name.

“The wars they embark on are about power and resources not faith. All faith roads lead to God and faith makes us into decent human beings.

“We have to make sure that society is built on justice, and community and faith are part of the moral structure of any society. “

“I have been through the skinhead era – I was beaten up by some – I remember the National Front, Enoch Powell and his ‘rivers of blood’ speech,” said Rafiq, who moved to the UK in the 1960s.

“When I first came here London had mostly an indigenous population and it has changed to a cosmopolitan city with an almost magical element of peace. It’s the most peaceful place in the world! Generally, people understand each other in London.

“When I was first in London, I worked with two ladies who were against everyone. They would say ‘these Asians have come over here and taken our jobs’, and I said ‘I’m one of them’.

“They replied ‘no, you’re different’, but I told them I wasn’t. I was just the same as the others. The thing is they had got to know the real person. And that is what works – it breaks down barriers.”