BOYS who led prayers throughout Ramadan have been praised by a mosque leader .

Fraz Ahmad, Takreem Ahmad, Sarmad Anwar and Hud Anwar have been taking the lead at the Al Mahdi Mosque during the Holy Month, which started on June 17 and ended today.

Mohammed Iqbal, the president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association Bradford North, which meets at the mosque in Reece Way, Bradford, said Ramadan was a time when Muslims were expected to concentrate on their personal spiritual development.

"During this Ramadan the Muslim community of Bradford has not only had to face the year-on-year turmoil in the Muslim world, they have also been under the political and media spotlight after a misguided family of 12 travelled from Bradford to Syria, apparently to join ISIS," he said.

Dr Iqbal said one of the issues raised by independent commentators was that people attracted to extremist ideologies wanted to safeguard their Muslim identity and felt they were not welcome in Britain, which he said was nonsense in Bradford.

"The young Ahmadi children, like all our members are proud British citizens and proud Muslims.

"These children have memorised large sections of the Holy Quran and come from ordinary working families.

"Ask their teachers and they will tell you that these children are exemplary students who do not have any confusion about their Islamic and British identity.

"We hope more and more communities across our district will follow the good example of these children and represent the most positive aspects of living in Bradford and Britain."