Talha Ahmad, Missionary, Slovenia
The Slovenian Book Fair is a trade fair that takes place every year in the capital city, Ljubljana. This year, the book fair took place at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre. It is a traditional and the most established book festival in Slovenia, attracting around 100 publishing houses and thousands of visitors each year.
The 38th Slovenian Book Fair took place from 22 to 27 November 2022, which allowed various publishers to showcase and demonstrate their products to a wide range of visitors from all over the country. There were various exhibitions, lectures, debates, presentations of new books and shows for children.
This year, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Slovenia was represented at the book fair as Islam International Publications. Last year, Jamaat Slovenia was able to publish eight new books in the Slovenian language and all of these books were presented at this year’s book fair. The books included Life of Muhammad, Ten Proofs for the Existence of God, Islam and Human Rights, Some Distinctive Features of Islam, Relationship between Religion and Politics in Islam, World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace, and Islam and Freedom of Conscience.
During the book fair, visitors took a special interest in the English translation of the Holy Quran and the Slovenian translation of the book Life of Muhammad. This year’s book fair served as a perfect platform for Jamaat Slovenia to spread the true message of Islam. Due to the presence of a large number of people, the preparation for the exhibition stall was done with great enthusiasm. Several posters and brochures were displayed to educate and inform visitors about Islam. Several hundred books were sold and more than a thousand flyers were distributed.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya has already been participating in this book fair since 2015, which led a lot of visitors to our exhibition stall to discuss Islam. These discussions turned out to be very fruitful, as a lot of visitors openly expressed their changed and positive views about Islam.