Such is the intolerance that there were protests by Sunni Muslims against the building of an Ahmadiyya mosque in Walsall, in the West Midlands. "This was the time when minarets were banned in Switzerland, and at the same time there were photographs showing hundreds of bearded men in Walsall with placards saying ‘no mosque'," says Hayat. There are also problems at universities, with radicalised students boycotting Ahmadi on campus and even making death threats. "You'd be surprised how radicalised some of our universities are," Hayat remarks. 

Most British Muslims, he says, are open-minded, but he adds: "Foreign-born imams are a huge problem, and they're all Saudi-funded. The Saudis control all the strings in Pakistan, the Saudis are the major cause of conflict, including the syllabus being exported to Islamic schools here."

Any problems the Ahmadiyya face in Britain are minor compared to those in Pakistan, where attacks are frequent. In May 2010, gunmen opened fire on one of their mosques in Lahore, killing 86 people. So they have to take security precautions in Britain. "We had 7/7 and every week we hear of police bringing people to courts," Hayat laments. 

But none of this deters them from their peace conferences and their charity collections for the British forces, which they will do again this year. They feel honour-bound. As Dr Nazir points out, they want to display their appreciation for Britain. "The poppy is about showing your loyalty. We like it here, everyone is free," he says. "This is a lovely country."