Faran Rabbani, USA Correspondent
On 17 and 18 May 2023, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya USA headlined an international peace conference hosted by Universidad de La Salle in Bogotá, Colombia. The historic event drew approximately 700 people from across Colombia and other countries. Entitled “Simposio Colombiano por la Paz” (Colombia Symposium on Peace), the inaugural event hosted many prominent dignitaries, including members of the current Colombian Government, members of the current and former Colombia Congress, including chief organiser Professor Ricaurte Losada Valderrama (previous Senator of Colombia from 1990-1995) and Professor Adriana Patricia Lopez, Vice Director of the University of La Salle, over 35 professors from host and surrounding universities from various academic disciplines, and over 50 members of the Colombia National Police Academy.
Imam Julían Arturo Zapata Feliciano, Director of Centro Cultural Islámico in Colombia, one of the conference’s chief organisers, invited representatives from diverse faith communities and countries to participate in the proceedings.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Colombia participated in the conference as one of the headline presentations. Amjad Mahmood Khan Sahib, Secretary Umur-e-Kharija of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya USA, presented two papers entitled, “The Nine Islamic Principles to Achieve Peace” and “Refugees, Human Rights, and Peace: An Islamic Perspective,” the former of which featured in an official book of the proceedings entitled, La Paz Total: Un Imposible Transitorio por el Cual Se Debe Trabajar (“Total Peace: A Transitory Impossibility For Which One Must Work”), and the latter of which featured as a stand-alone lecture. The content highlighted the various pronouncements on peace, justice, and compassion delivered at past events by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa.
Abdul Sattar Khan Sahib, National President of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Colombia, featured in several of the conference sessions and separately convened with the Academic Director, Christian James Diaz, and various faculty heads of the Universidad de La Salle to discuss the importance of studying Islam at university. He gifted copies of the Holy Quran (with Spanish translation), along with various Jamaat books in Spanish.
Approximately 1,500 pieces of Jamaat literature were shared with all attendees.