The Al Hakam team has spent the past few months working on the Jalsa Salana UK Special issue; the issue you are now reading. As this was our first experience of producing a Jalsa number, it has left us all much better informed about what it takes to hold the three-day Jalsa; it has been a faith-inspiring experience. We feel honoured and humbled to not only have witnessed what goes on behind the scenes, but also to have shared it with you; through this special issue and also the last few issues where we reported on the build-up of Jalsa Salana.
The extremely rich legacy of the institution of Jalsa Salana, spread over a century and three decades, remained our focus as we worked on the Jalsa Salana UK number. Our young generation needs to be made aware of how, with its humble beginnings, the Jalsa Salana spread out of Qadian and has now reached the corners of the earth. This one aspect in itself is a great sign of the truthfulness of a Jamaat that was told by its opponents that only a few years would pass after its inception that no one would even remember that this Jamaat ever existed.
What we witness now is quite the opposite. The names of such claimants are not even known to the world, but Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya is known all around the world as a crier calling to the One God, the teachings of the Holy Prophetsa of Islam and to global peace and harmony.
Every Jalsa, especially the Markazi Jalsa Salana of UK, sees people from all walks of life, from all parts of the world attending the proceedings and appreciating the efforts of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in establishing peace. Many non-Muslim visitors have very clearly said that if the world were to turn to Islam, Ahmadiyyat would be their only choice.
The Jalsa Salana UK also has the blessed honour to be the largest gathering of Muslims under one roof assembled in the name of love, peace, harmony and the basis of all three; the Unity of the One God.
There are a number of exhibitions and hubs by various departments of the Jamaat in Hadiqatul Mahdi to provide the attendees an insight into the magnificent work being done by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat across the globe. During the breaks that fall between the sessions of Jalsa Salana, the attendees get an opportunity to go from marquee to marquee to be entertained (in the most positive meaning of the term) by these displays of what the Jamaat actually strives for – only a glimpse it may be.
MTA International, through its live coverage, will be bringing to you the flavour and feel of the atmosphere here that thrives with knowledge, fraternity and a spiritual uplift.
Thousands of our readers will get to read this Jalsa Special issue of Al Hakam here in Hadiqatul Mahdi. Yet hundreds of thousands will read it in their homes in different parts of the world. Wherever you are, we have made a humble attempt to make you feel a part of the legacy that spans over 127 years of success, prosperity, magnificence and grandeur; the legacy we know as the Jalsa Salana.