The 52nd Jalsa Salana of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya UK starts this afternoon in Hadiqatul Mahdi, Hampshire, England.
The Jalsa proceedings are due to commence with the opening session that will follow the Friday Sermon of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa at 13:00 GMT.
Jalsa Salana UK comprises five sessions in the men’s Jalsa Gah while women’s Jalsa Gah have their own sessions during the course of these three days. On the second day, Huzoor’s address to the Lajna in their marquee is relayed live in the men’s marquee. The Friday Sermon and the complete proceedings from the sessions of Jalsa, including Huzoor’s address to the Lajna are shown live on MTA.
The highlight of the Jalsa Salana UK are the addresses to be delivered by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa: the Friday Sermon, the opening address, address to the Lajna in their marquee, the one in the men’s marquee on the second day and the concluding address on Sunday – the third and final day.
A selection of scholars of the Jamaat are also due to address the congregation on a variety of topics. The list of speeches and speakers is given below:
Existence of God in the Context of Acceptance of Prayers (Mubashir A Kahlon Sahib); Spiritual Revolution Created by the Holy Quran (Dr Sir Iftikhar A Ayaz Sahib); The Holy Prophet’ssa Patience and Steadfastness (Bilal Atkinson Sahib); The Kindness of the Promised Messiahas towards his Opponents (Dr Zahid Khan Sahib); Establishment of Global Unity through Khilafat (Ataul Mujeeb Rashed Sahib); Ahmadiyyat, a Frotress of Peace (Rafiq A Hayat Sahib) and The Role of Parents in Pious Upbringing of Children (Raja Munir Ahmad Khan Sahib). The speeches will be spread over the course of the three days of Jalsa.
“The transmission of MTA International,” says Muniruddin Shams Sahib, Managing Director of MTA International, “started in 1992, and it is since then that MTA has had the honour to relay the proceedings of Jalsa Salana UK live to the worldwide audience”.
“I remember when it all started, almost all services had to be hired from various companies. Now, MTA has its own facilities and we have to rely very little on outside companies. This is all by the grace of Allah and Huzoor’saa prayers and guidance.”
Munir Odeh Sahib, MTA’s Director Production, feels humbled to narrate how Huzooraa has guided MTA in every matter of its affairs. “In 2014, Huzoor asked why MTA did not have its own uplink facility. It was quite clear from what Huzoor said that he wanted MTA to have one,” recalls Munir Odeh Sahib. “We did our research and presented it to Huzooraa. Huzooraa even met the engineer from the company that we were to go ahead with, visited the van with the dish to examine the test that was being carried out and then gave us a go-ahead. So we now have our own uplink facility that enables us to go live from wherever Huzoor is.”
Qaasid Muin Ahmad Sahib, from Programming Department of MTA International told Al Hakam that special programmes are prepared every year for the special Jalsa Broadcast. “This year’s theme for our MTA broadcast is The Place of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in the World. As soon as the theme was approved by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa in January, we started planning for our programmes. Over the past six months, Programming and Production departments have been working on preparing the programmes that will, Insha-Allah, be shown during these three days of our Jalsa Special broadcast. We have a whole range of documentaries produced around the theme and also a number of discussion programmes that will be shown live from our Hadiqatul Mahdi studios. All this will be shown between breaks of Jalsa sessions.”
Umar Safir Sahib, Director of MTA Africa, told Al Hakam that 12 channels from across the African continent will be showing various parts of the Jalsa Broadcast at various timings during the three days. Channels from the Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Uganda, Rwanda and Mali have happily agreed to have the live feed played as part of their broadcasts.
Another highlight of this year’s Jalsa transmission is the live web-stream in French which is to go live on www.mta.tv/fr. “The live web-stream in French will have programmes specially produced for the Francophone audience. Channels from Burkina Faso and Mali will be broadcasting our feed live. Viewers can also access it at www.youtube.com/mtafrancais”, says Adnan Haider Sahib who is in charge of the French webstream.
The county of Hampshire, also known as the county of Jane Austen, is now better known as the home of the Jalsa Salana UK. During and around the Jalsa period, drivers on motorways around the county of Hampshire can witness road-signs leading to Hadiqatul Mahdi; not to mention the thousands of vehicles heading towards it.
All departments have worked tirelessly over the past few months to build this tent city in the heart of the beautiful landscape of Surrey. It may seem like only three days, but for Ahmadis, it is a source of inspiration for the whole year; for a lifetime in fact.