Qibla cola comes after the launch of Mecca Cola (left) and Zam Zam cola (right)

LONDON, February 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – After the launch of Zamzam cola and Mecca Cola, a new cola drink was launched Tuesday in the U.K, like it's counterparts donning an Islamic tag; Qibla Cola.

The launch was aimed at the Muslim community in the U.K., in a bit to counter the growing monopoly of major U.S. brands, its founder has said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Qibla is an Islamic term which means the direction in which all Muslims turn their faces in prayers and that direction is towards the Ka'abah (a square stone building in the great mosque) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Qibla Cola has been created by a company in the town of Derby, central England, to provide an alternative version of the popular soft drink for Muslims and consumers who do not want to support the Coca-Cola Company, AFP said.

Ten percent of profits from every two-liter bottle sold will go to the Muslim charity Islamic Aid, which specializes in delivering projects to some of the world's most deprived communities.

"Muslims are increasingly questioning the role some major multinationals play in our societies. They ask, should the money of the oppressed go to the oppressors?" Zahida Parveen, founder of the Qibla Cola company, said in a statement.

"Muslims are increasingly seeking out alternative products and we have already witnessed huge demand within the UK and overseas markets for a product of this nature," she said.

Mecca Cola, was launched last November by a French Business man of Tunisian origins, Tawfik Mathlouthi.

His aim was to create a competing product to Coke that would satisfy the needs of Arab speakers in Europe and elsewhere for soft drinks, while providing jobs and economic growth. Borne aloft by Muslims in France desirous of boycotting American brands, to protest policies in the Middle East, the company he created delivered more than a million bottles by early December.

Now, orders for the liter-and-a-half bottles with labels whose bright red and sweeping white script evoke those of Coke are pouring in from around the world - from Britain, Belgium and Germany - together with bids from companies wanting to become local distributors.

In the United Arab Emirates, a regional drink called Star Cola has seen sales explode. In Iran, Zam Zam Cola, which replaced Pepsi there when the government of Ayatollah Khomeini drove out American businesses, is struggling to satisfy demand - to the point that when  Mathlouthi approached it as a possible supplier for Mecca-Cola, the Iranians turned him away.

This past summer, Zam Zam delivered more than 10 million bottles to sweltering Saudi Arabia after a Saudi boycott of Coke and Pepsi.

In August,  Zam Zam's director Ahmad-Haddad Moghaddam told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that his beverage could quench the thirst of the two million Muslims  expected this month on their annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest spot Makkah.

Two million pilgrims are going to come to Makkah. We have just established ourselves in Saudi Arabia, where we delivered Saturday 300,000 bottles, and we hope that during the next Hajj (pilgrimage) the faithful will refresh themselves with our products", Moghaddam said at the time.

Zam Zam, named after Makkah's Zamzam holy spring water, was founded in 1954 and was for a long time the Iranian partner of Pepsi Cola until their contract was terminated after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.