Atif Ahmed Zahid, Regional Missionary, South Australia
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Adelaide has started a special campaign to convey the message of Islam Ahmadiyyat in regional towns across Australia.
On 4 July 2021, members of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Adelaide South gathered at Noor mosque for Fajr prayer. After prayers, Atif Ahmed Zahid Sahib, a missionary gave some advice to the members on various matters related to tabligh and led the silent prayer, and then the journey for a small town of Mylor began. Mylor is situated in Adelaide Hills on the outskirts of Adelaide. The total population of the town is around 1100.
The exhibition and bookstall was set up in the main market area. In the exhibition, translations of the Holy Quran in 10 different languages were displayed along with a variety of literature, such as Life of Muhammad, The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace and Islam’s Response to Contemporary Issues, etc.
At 9 am, the exhibition was opened for the public. Due to the extreme cold weather and heavy rain not many people came to visit the market. Some of the Jamaat members were very disappointed at this. Atif Ahmed Zahid Sahib advised the members to engage themselves in prayers and recite to recite durood sharif.
By the grace of Allah and with the blessings of durood sharif, within few minutes, the rain stopped and the sun came out and people started coming to the market in large numbers. Very quickly the Jamaat’s exhibition and bookstall became the busiest stall in the market, alhamdulillah.
More than 200 people visited the market and around 100 people from different walks of life visited the exhibition and bookstall.
Atif Ahmed Zahid Sahib along with Jamaat members gave them a brief introduction to Islam Ahmadiyyat. Apart from the introduction, detailed discussions about the religion of Islam were held with many visitors. The most common questions of discussion were:
• The existence of God
• Purpose of life
• The concept of Jihad
• Women rights in Islam
• Freedom of religion
• Service to humanity
The local councillor of Adelaide Hills area, Mr Leith Mudge also visited our bookstall and appreciated the efforts of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya in promoting peace, love and interfaith harmony. He also gave an interview to MTA, in which he said:
“It is great to see this Muslim community coming and talking about their faith and trying to spread peace. So, it was great to hear from them today.”
He also took some pictures of the exhibition and later in the afternoon shared them on his Facebook page with the following message:
“I dropped in early this afternoon to the Mylor Market and caught up with the members of the Muslim Community who had a stall spreading a message of peace […]”
At the exhibition, it was observed that many people were scared to touch a copy of the Holy Quran. They were under the false assumption that they were not allowed to hold or read the Holy Quran. It was explained to them that the Holy Quran is a universal book and contains guidance for all of mankind. Furthermore, they were informed that for the benefit of mankind Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya has translated the Holy Quran in more than seventy languages of the world.
A person came to visit the exhibition and the missionary explained to him that Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya is a law-abiding community and its members are loyal citizens of their respective countries, and in order to express our love for Australia and to inculcate this teaching into our members, we celebrate Australia Day every year across the country. Coincidently, that person was one of the organizers of the Australia Day event for the town of Mylor. He invited Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya to the next year’s Australia Day event and requested us to organize a similar Quran exhibition at the event. In this way, God Almighty Himself opened new avenues of tabligh for the Jamaat, alhamdulillah.
The event was very successful. One copy of the Holy Quran, eight copies of The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam, three copies of World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace, five copies of Selected verses of the Holy Quran and other pamphlets were distributed among different people and thus the message of true Islam was conveyed to many people.