Kashif Virk, Missionary, Sweden
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Sweden took part in this year’s “Almedalsveckan”, the most famous social and political event in Sweden that gathers major representatives from political parties and NGOs. This year’s event was visited by more than 40,000 people.
Almedalsveckan is held on Gotland, which is the largest island in Sweden. The ferry journey to Gotland takes about three hours and the event’s duration is five days.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Sweden took part and promoted the Jamaat’s #FrågaEnMuslim (Ask A Muslim) campaign. With permission from Amir Sahib Sweden, Wasim Zaffar Sahib, three missionaries embarked on this journey, including the Missionary-in-charge, Agha Yahya Khan Sahib, Rizwan Ahmad Afzal Sahib and my humble self. The journey started in Gothenburg on 4 July.
The caravan which was used carried the messages “The Messiah Has Come”, “Ask A Muslim”, and “Islam in The Media”. By the grace of Allah, it attracted the attention of bystanders wherever it went.
In this year’s programme in Almedalsveckan, many events had topics which were related to Islam in one way or another. For example, punishment for apostasy, religious free schools and so-called honour violence. In one of these events, a Christian apologetic misrepresented Islam by misquoting verses of the Holy Quran. We happened to be nearby at just that moment and were able to respond to the speaker and present the true message of Islam to the audience. This left the speaker dumbfounded.
We also visited one stall which had a theme of criticising injustices in Muslim countries. As we visited the stall and discussed with the organisers that what is happening in the Muslim world does not represent the true teachings of Islam, the screen of their stall started showing a video where Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa was speaking at a conference on religious freedom in the UK. This was yet another sign of Divine intervention, and we were thus able to present the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community more effectively.
During our stay, we met with representatives from different political parties and NGOs and presented Islam’s true teachings. Our stall received much positive feedback from visitors and two members of parliament also came to visit it. We also highlighted our stalls on different social media platforms.
The readers of Al Hakam are requested to pray that may Allah the Almighty enables us to spread the true teachings of Islam in Sweden. Amin.