The most popular and listened to naat singer of the Asian sub continent came to Southall on Friday.

The mehfil-e-naat event was organised by Jamia Masjid Islamic Centre, on Townsend Road, Southall.

Due to the appeal of the guest and the large number of people expected it had to be organised at the Southall Community Centre on Merrick Road.

The first part of the event, which started after 7 pm, was mostly naats by local people followed by a speech by Imam Naeemi on what exactly a Muslim naat is.

He described it as a religious hymn (without music) in the praise of only one person, the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh).

The community centre was completely full, the main hall with men and the side hall with women.

Al Haaj Muhammad Owais Raza Qadri arrived at exactly Maghrib time and led the prayers. His first words were aimed at the people not participating in the prayers.

He advised them to go to the nearest mosque, perform ablution and offer prayers. Only then will they truly gain the benefit of the naats.

Although he had been suffering from a cold for 5 days, he uplifted the audience with his 90 minutes of magic.

After the performance, he stayed around a short while to shake hands with the devoted audience and to be photographed with them.