Arshad Mehmood Khan, Secretary Ishaat Glasgow
On 7 May 2022, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Glasgow held a virtual Eid reception. Like every year, local Scottish Muslim and non-Muslim guests, politicians and community leaders were invited to this online event.
A committee was formed a month ago and different tasks were allocated to each member to start work on. The chairman of the committee was Ahmed Owusu-Konadu Sahib. The programme was broadcast live via YouTube, Zoom and Facebook and had an audience of more than 500 participants worldwide, from all walks of life.
Ahmed Owusu-Konadu Sahib, Outreach Secretary of Jamaat Glasgow welcomed all guests. This was followed by a short introduction of Eid celebrations and the holy month of Ramadan by Rawahuddin Arif Khan Sahib, a missionary. A video introduction of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was played to the audience.
After this, Yousuf Ashraf Sahib, Assistant President of Glasgow Jamaat, gave a presentation titled, “The Year in Focus (Ramadan and Charity)”. He presented pictures and details of where our community in Scotland has been involved in charitable works.
Rt Hon Kirsten Oswald, MP for East Renfrewshire remarked:
“Your community is doing incredible work for the community by helping them donate so many essential items to local communities and homeless shelters for a long time. I have not seen these examples anywhere in any community group, and I respect your caliph, whose leadership always positively drives you to serve the human race.”
Rt Hon Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central is our old friend who also joined. She always supports our projects, highlighting the importance of peace.
A video on some of the works of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa was then shown, highlighting his efforts for establishing world peace.
Hon Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, who attended our event for the first time, thanked the Jamaat for holding such an important event. He conveyed Eid greetings to all and showed great interest in the topic.
HRH Naa Tsotsoo Soyoo I, Queen Mother and President NCGU UK and Ireland also joined the programme and conveyed Eid greetings to everyone and echoed the sentiment of the need for all to follow the teachings of the Jamaat as we always promote peace.
After this, Ayyaz Mahmood Khan Sahib, a missionary, delivered a speech and highlighted how the world could follow the peaceful teachings of Islam to maintain harmony and freedom, especially in relation to the Ukraine-Russian war.
This was followed by an interesting question and answer session where Ayyaz Mahmood Khan Sahib answered the questions.
The vote of thanks was delivered by Mohammad Ahsan Ahmad Sahib, President of Jamaat Scotland, where he thanked all guests for attending the session. He also thanked the organisers for holding a successful event.
After the event, attendees and speakers tweeted in appreciation of the programme and thus the message of Islam Ahmadiyyat reached thousands in Scotland and worldwide.