Traveling Blog by Aden: OVER 400,000 PEOPLE JOIN AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMAAT

Saturday, July 25, 2009

OVER 400,000 PEOPLE JOIN AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMAAT

The second day of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Jalsa Salana concluded earlier today at Hadeeqatul Mahdi in Alton. The highlight of the day was the annual report of the Jamaat which was delivered by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad in which he stated that globally a total of 416,010 persons had joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat during the past twelve months.

During the past year His Holiness confirmed that Ahmadiyyat had spread to two new countries which were Serbia and Lithuania. This meant that the Jamaat had now been established in 195 countries of the world. Further, 1321 local branches of the Jamaat had been established worldwide. 399 Mosques had been constructed to date during the past year of which 164 were converted buildings, whilst 235 were purpose built.


The Head of the Jamaat spoke of the Waqf-e-Nau scheme which was established in 1987. Under the scheme Ahmadi parents dedicated the lives of their children prior to birth for the service of Ahmadiyyat. Initially the target had been to have 5,000 children dedicated under this scheme but to date the total had reached 39,081 children. In the past year 1945 children had been born as Waqf-e-Nau.

His Holiness commented on the success of the Tahir Heart Institute which is fast becoming known as one of the leading Cardiac Centres in Pakistan. In the past 18months 65,000 patients had been treated at the Centre, with over 7,500 surgical procedures and 125 bypasses taking place.

The Jamaat continued to offer its services in Africa, currently there were 36 hospitals run by the Jamaat and many schools. Furthermore he reported that so far the Jamaat had installed 370 water pumps in various remote parts of Africa. Huge amounts of money was raised through the charity Humanity First which was then used for charitable projects and disaster relief worldwide.

In an address made earlier in the day His Holiness spoke about the importance of women in Islam and the respect they were afforded. He said that one aspect of Islamic faith was the wearing of Hijab which some European countries, notably France, continued to object to. Commenting upon this, he said:

“Recently an Ahmadi girl who is training to be a journalist wrote to a newspaper and said that Europe and the Western States claim to be free and liberated and yet on the other hand they are trying to implement measures that would stop me and other Muslims from observing Pardah which we do freely and with pride. How can this be freedom?”

His Holiness went on to say that according to a tradition of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) paradise lay at the feet of a person’s mother. However His Holiness clarified that this was only the case when the mother taught her child between right and wrong and herself was an example to the child. If the mother fulfilled this duty then truly paradise would lie at her feet.

The Jalsa was addressed by a number of eminent guests including the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling MP who brought greetings from David Cameron and the rest of the Tory party. He said that he truly appreciated the fact that the Jamaat ‘looked outwards and not inwards’ and also its vast charitable efforts. Tom Cox who served as an MP for many years called himself a member of the Jamaat because he said he shared its principles of tolerance, peace and love for all. Other distinguished guests congratulated the Jamaat on another successful event in which the true purpose was to develop peace and brotherhood between all.

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