Atif Ahmed Zahid, Missionary, Australia
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Adelaide West, Australia visited the town of Mylor on 5 September 2021 for a Holy Quran exhibition and a visit to the local church. The regional town of Mylor is around an hour drive from the Mahmood mosque in Adelaide.
A total of six Jamaat members participated in this tabligh programme. The Holy Quran exhibition and a bookstall were set up at the Sunday market from 9 am to 1 pm. Many Australians spent time at the stall and engaged in small discussion for several minutes about the Holy Quran, Islam and Ahmadiyyat. The most common topic of discussions were shariah law, the concept of jihad in Islam, freedom of religion and women rights in Islam.
The Holy Quran exhibition and bookstall was very successful and was visited by around 30 people from different walks of life.
On the same day, three Jamaat members led by the missionary, Atif Ahmad Zahid Sahib, attended the Sunday service in the local Uniting Church.
The delegate met the priest and more than 20 local church members after the service during the morning tea. They warmly welcomed the Jamaat members and many of them engaged with the Jamaat members in discussions on various topics related to religion and current affairs. The discussions helped to convey the peaceful message of Islam Ahmadiyyat to the local church members.
One particular conversation that took place with a couple of people was their concern about their youth not being actively attached to the Church and moving away from religion. They were very impressed to learn about the engagement of the youth in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat and their attachment with religion from very early on and that most of the youth are strongly attached to Islam and regularly attend mosques and other community programmes. They even requested the Jamaat members to visit the church again and to have a sitting with their youth members.
A couple of women from the church expressed their strong desire to visit the mosque as they had not experienced being inside a mosque before. The contact details were exchanged and they will be invited to future Jamaat events, insha-Allah.
Below are some of the comments from church members.
Reverend Ian Dow said:
“It is great to be together as people of faith, people of peace, working together. I do wish you all well in your mission of being a peaceful community in Adelaide and the surrounds of Adelaide. We hope to be able to partner with you in something as well.”
A local member of the church, Sue Williams expressed:
“When three young people walked into the service this morning as visitors, it certainly gladdened our hearts. It surprised us and got even better because when we got into a conversation over morning tea and discovered what group they belong to and how they were prepared to visit and reach out to other churches that was very hearting. We all had a very interesting and worthwhile conversation with them. I am hoping that perhaps from the meeting this morning we can extend some kind of further contact in the future.”