Mohammed Ishak Mogul, 61,  is deputy chairman of Thamesdown Islamic Association and chairman of Swindon Muslim Council. Both organisations have joined other community groups to promote harmony in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, and to condemn violence unequivocally. Mr Mogul, a business consultant, is married, a father and grandfather, and lives in West Swindon

UNITY, believes Mohammed Ishak Mogul, is the sole way not only to end violence but also to prevent it from beginning. “We need to bring about a group of people, including the Muslim leaders, to sit together and develop an action plan on how to address it.

“You cannot be in a situation where you say we are going to deal with this issue but we are going to keep the community that’s most affected by it out of it, and we’re going to react to it in a negative way. That doesn’t help.

“I hear people saying shut down mosques, stop Muslim immigration and so on. All that does is create more negativity. What you want to do is bring the people who can actually help the organisations on board.

“We’re talking about the police cuts, we’re talking about surveillance cuts, we’re talking about a lot of things which we are limited in what we can do.

“Wouldn’t it be prudent, then, to seek the help of the very community that itself wants to get rid of this?

“If you can prevent hatred from being implanted, you don’t need to have a cure for it.”

Mr Mogul’s common sense approach extends to other issues.

“When we look at the plight of refugees in the world now, the millions who are living in camps, let’s think about them as to who they are — as humans — rather than just as refugees.

“These are people who have lived in their homes for hundreds of years. These are business people, professional people, and if you were given an opportunity, wouldn’t you want to go back to that home of yours? Wouldn’t you want to go back to that society of yours?”

Mr Mogul is originally from Nairobi in Kenya.

“I came here when I was a wee lad – to Walthamstow in East London, where I grew up and got my education.

“My father had moved to East Africa in his younger days and that was home until the independence came.

“It was a British colony so we were British subjects. When independence came people were given the choice either to take on local nationality or to keep the British nationality. I think my father decided that it was time to move on and start afresh.

“My parents were from the Asian sub-continent. They were there before the India-Pakistan separation.

“My father was an industrial engineer who worked for the British railway and various other organisations in Kenya.

“I admired him a lot and I think I learned a lot from him. His name — Haq — equates to right. It means, ‘You’re rightful’. He was always out there, helping people. I saw him having friends of all different faiths.

“He was constantly helping people and always doing charity work. His motto in life was one I think everyone should adopt, which was, ‘Tell the truth, be kind and be there for the people around you rather than taking’.”

Mr Mogul was equally inspired by his mother, whose name, Barkat, equates to ‘blessings’. Both parents instilled the values and faith he holds dear.

“One of the things I think was most hurtful in my life, not in a sinister way, was when I lost my mother and people came to pay their condolences. A particular gentleman – I don’t think he meant it in a hurtful manner – said, ‘My condolences, you’ve lost your blessings’. That stunned me for a minute.

“I had to sit down and think about it. It hit me. I felt exposed. But I quickly remembered one thing, which is that mothers are angels in training, and when they move on, they are always there for you.

“My mother wouldn’t tolerate me or anyone hurting anybody. It didn’t matter who they were. If a person was in need it was our duty to go and help them. That is the faith.”

An early ambition was to be a doctor, but a childhood electronics project enticed Mr Mogul towards science and technology.

“Only the other day in the attic I found tons and tons of New Scientist magazines from back in the 1970s.”

Mr Mogul studied computer programming in London before embarking on a career in technology.

He moved to Swindon in 2001 to set up a factory for Motorola and fell in love with the town.

“I think Swindon is an excellent pace. It’s a place where you find very caring and loving people who have a good approach to society.”

During his time at Motorola he was given a prestigious industry award honouring his commitment to diversity and inclusion.

His principles are informed by his faith, and he scorns those who betray that faith with hatred.

“They’re not my faith at all. My faith really says that you have to strive for freedom. You have to consider that freedom is a natural given right. You have to strive for having unity in society. That is a key thing for us. You cannot turn around and distort and destroy communities. My religion brings communities together.”

He refers to the Koran to prove the point.

“It says that whoever kills an innocent human, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved the entire mankind. How can that religion turn around and tell you to kill?

“In fact, I would question if there’s any religion anywhere in the world today that actually endorses the killing of innocent people. There can’t be, and if Islam ever had any notion of endorsing such a thing, it wouldn’t have two billion people around the world practising it.”

Mr Mogul is appalled by all religious conflict, but is especially disturbed by conflicts between Christianity, Judaism and Islam – faiths which share countless principles.

“You could say they are cousins and there is no cause for these religions to differ. Our messages are the same.

“Shouldn’t we be working together to make this world a better place rather than destroying it and tearing it apart?”