Having been deprived of his absence for many a month, Minhaj-ul-Qur’an London overflowed with people from all cities who gathered together to spend a few but invaluable hours in the presence of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri on 27th June. This meeting was held shortly after the historic launch of the Anti-Terror curriculum; the first of its kind providing academics with a resource to theologically refute any extremist or radicalism ideologies, which are becoming alarmingly popular in the society.

This focus on education is apparent in the upcoming Mega Project, which aims to create a culture of education amongst the community, working to establish interfaith relations as well as stressing the true principles of Islam in letter and spirit. It was announced that this project, starting in Bradford under the guidance of Allama Azal Saeedi, has now transformed as an international project, supervised by the Central Committee of Lahore, Markaz, guided by Dr Hassan Mohiuddin Qadri and Shaykh-ul-Islam himself. This is undoubtedly a huge achievement as the commitment to this project cannot be undertaken by a single man alone, and so, Shaykh ul Islam stressed the importance of all committees taking this project as their own and becoming involved in its successful development.

Furthermore, Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri emphasised that this would perhaps become the first location outside of Pakistan where a university campus would be established, as the freedom to create such campuses had only recently been granted to Minhaj-ul-Qur’an in July. Not only will it become a central hub of education, but it will also become the headquarters of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an UK with immediate effect, thus holding an important role in the structure of the organisation.

Dr Qadri once again reiterated that committees would need to be formed, with representatives from North, Midlands, South and Scotland Zones to ensure that continuous progress of the project is achieved as planned. He also rejected the idea of having a single madrassah or a mosque entity, stating that this was not the way forward, and though a given, should not be the main focus of the Mega Project. Instead, education, a missing element amongst the Muslims needed to be embedded throughout the foundations of the project, giving a visionary message of Minhaj-ul-Qur’an by providing a high standard of educational and residential facilities.

We commit to work together to make this iconic project a great success under the guidance of Shaykh ul Islam.