Political history was made in East Hampshire when the Christian chairman of the district council asked an Imam to lead her Civic Service.

Cllr Catherine Clark broke half a century of tradition on July 25 by opting to host her service in an Islamic ceremony.

The service was led by fellow district and Whitehill town councillor, Adeel Shah, at the Jalsa Salana site in East Worldham in a possible UK first.

Civic services usually take place in churches or cathedrals and are presided by a vicar or priest but Catherine wanted to do something “out of the norm”.

And the Ahmadiyya community embraced the invitation with councillors and civic figures from afar as Chichester, Havant and further afield travelling to Oakland Farm for a ceremony which included readings of the Koran, Islamic poetry and a sermon.

Cllr Clark said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better service as they’ve gone above and beyond.

“This is also shows a statement of unit and respect within the East Hampshire community.”

Cllr Clark was joined on stage by Rafiq Hayat, UK president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, at the historic event.

“It’s a very unique event and I think it’s the first time ever we’ve done something like this at Jalsa Salana,” said the latter.

Guests were treated to lamb korma, split bean dahl and aloo gobhi before learning more about Ahmadiyya and its history.

Prayers, poems and speeches were read out in English, Urdu and Arabic before Cllr Clark and Mr Hayat gave speeches.

The latter educated guests on Jihad, highlighting its meaning of “struggle” or “strife to purify yourself of wrongdoing” with the term often being misused.

The event took place on the eve of the three-day Jalsa Salana convention which attracted more than 43,000 Muslims from across the world.