Tahir Mahmood Khan, Norway Correspondent
The 36th Jalsa Salana of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Norway was held on 17 and 18 August, at the Baitul-Nasr Mosque in Oslo.
This year’s Jalsa Salana was a great success with an overall attendance of over 1,000 people from 13 different countries.
This year, Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa appointed Imam Raja Burhan Ahmad Taaley as his representative.
The Jalsa officially commenced with the flag hoisting ceremony at 11:30am. The Liwa-e-Ahmadiyyat was hoisted by Imam Raja Burhan Ahmad Sahib followed by silent prayer, which marked the official start of the 36th Jalsa Salana of Norway.
The first formal session started on Saturday, 17 August at 11am local time. The inaugural speech, after the recitation of the Holy Quran and nazm, was delivered by Zahoor Ahmad Choudry Sahib, Amir Jamaat Norway. In his speech, he spoke on the purpose of Jalsa. He shed light on the purpose of Jalsa and highlighted what the Promised Messiahas intended for these Jalsas.
The next speech was by Imam Haroon Ahmad Choudhry on the topic of Blessings of Khilafat. He took the audience through the 111 years history of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya and expressed that we should be grateful for Khilafat.
The third and last speech of this session was delivered by Mr Faisal Suhel, Secretary Tabligh for Norway, who mentioned various aspects of Islam’s truth from the Bible.
The second session started at 3pm local time with the recitation of the Holy Quran.
The first speech of this session was delivered by Imam Shahid Mahmood Kahloon, Missionary-in-Charge and Vice President of AMJ Norway. The topic of his speech was The Purpose of Life is to Worship Allah. In his speech, he said:
“When an object fulfils its purpose, it holds high value in the eyes of its creator, but if the object stops functioning, it loses its value. Humans have also been created with a purpose, which is to worship Allah.”
The next speech was by Imam Tahir Mahmood Khan who delivered a speech on the signs of mubahilla (prayer duel) where he talked in great depth about them in their historical context.
The last speech of the day was delivered by Imam Yasir Fawzi on the life of Hazrat Chaudhry Fateh Muhammad Sayyal.
Sunday, 18 August was the second and last day of the Jalsa. The first session started with the recitation of the Holy Quran and a poem. The first speech of the session was about the Promised Messiah’sas enthusiasm for tabligh by Syed Shan Ahmad, General Secretary AMJ Norway.
Following this was a speech delivered by Syed Kamal Yousuf Sahib, Sadr Qaza Board AMJ Norway, on The Importance of the Five Daily Prayers.
The final speech of this session was by Mr Noor Ahmad Truls Bolstad on the six articles of faith.
The final session started at 3pm with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by a poem. This was followed by the prize distribution ceremony of The Abdul Salam Award and Amin ceremony. Imam Raja Burhan Ahmad distributed prizes to those children who had completed the reading of the Holy Quran in the previous year.
After this, a speech was delivered by Amir of Norway, Zahoor Ahmad Chaudary Sahib, thanking all the attendees of the Jalsa for their support in making this Jalsa Salana successful.
This year, 14 guests from different political parties were invited at the final session. All guests had the opportunity to address the attendees. They congratulated the Norwegian Jamaat on this Jalsa Salana and extended their gratitude on being invited to such a convention where the message of peace and love was being spread.
The concluding speech was delivered by Imam Raja Burhan Ahmad on the topic of Khilafat. He shared many faith-inspiring stories, which motivated and inspired many of the listenered.
After his speech, Imam Raja Burhan Ahmad led everyone in silent prayer, and upon this, the 36th Jalsa Salana Norway came to its successful end.