Nadim Vanderman, UK Tabligh Office
On Saturday, 8 June, hundreds of Ahmadis gathered at Westminster for the launch of the leaflet campaign, Stop World War 3.
Around 300 people attended with the help of London Jamaats, Majlis Ansarullah UK and Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya UK. Special posters and banners were created containing the messages of “Stop WW3”, “WW3 is on the horizon”, “Today the Fifth Successor Alerts Us of WW3” and “We Stand On The Brink of WW3, One Man Tells Us How to Turn Back”. Members were given t-shirts to publicise the message.
At 11am the campaign was launched with tilawat followed by short talks by Farooq Aftab Sahib, Usman Ahmad Sahib, Shakil Butt Sahib and Ibrahim Ikhlaf Sahib, National Secretary Tabligh.
Ibrahim Ikhlaf Sahib said, “It is our duty to advise mankind to establish a relationship with God the Almighty and through this to establish justice … The outcome of justice is peace … We should reflect on the words of our Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his helper) who has been warning the world of the possibility of world war.”
A silent prayer was then offered.
After the formal session ended, members went to different areas to distribute leaflets. Approximately 11,000 leaflets were distributed on the day. Feedback was generally good and the message was well received by the public. The leaflet campaign will now move to cities and regions throughout the country.
There was media presence from MTA, Voice of Islam and the Review of Religions. In addition, Pakistani television stations A1, Aaj and GEO were present.
The event was heavily promoted on social media with #StopWW3. Following a successful trend by the sheer blessings of Allah the Almighty, Huzoor’s name (Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad) was used since various quotes of Huzoor’s speeches on the topic of the looming world war were used as tweets.
By the sheer blessings of Allah Almighty, both of these hashtags trended amongst the top topics in the UK and Pakistan. The topics started trending right away in Pakistan, while it started trending in the UK as soon as the event commenced in Westminster. It continued to trend for around 2 hours in the UK, and for around 8 hours in Pakistan. Both the terms also were top two trends in London, Faisalabad, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
More than 40,000 tweets with the two terms were posted by 950 participants within 8 hours, Alhamdolillah. Those participating included missionaries from across the world. There was participation from the UK, Pakistan, Germany, Canada, USA, India, Jordan and many more countries. The tweets were potentially viewed by tens of thousands of people around the world.
The Stop WW3 campaign was launched in February 2019 by the National Tabligh Department with the guidance of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa. It is based on the warnings given by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmadaa that the world is heading towards a third world war.
“Every person, in every part of the world, needs to take individual responsibility towards establishing peace. Conflicts continue to ignite and burn throughout the world and so let us not be in any doubt that the shadow of a fateful war looms before us.” (Copenhagen Address, 2016)
Huzooraa has delivered speeches at Capitol Hill, the EU and the UK parliament, and has written numerous letters to world leaders. Through these speeches and letters, Huzooraa has appealed for a change in international and domestic policy towards peace, built on the foundations of honesty and justice.
“Peace cannot be established without justice. And justice cannot be established without forming a relationship with the Higher Being. A relationship with the Creator of this World is a prerequisite for justice.” (UK Peace Symposium Address, 2011)
“Whilst some are saying that another World War is now unavoidable, I believe that even now there is time for the world to wake up to the stark reality it faces and to arrest this threat.” (UK Peace Symposium Address, 2015)
In this campaign the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK is calling on all persons in the UK to take a stand, by petitioning members of parliament to change direction by endorsing this pathway to peace initiative.
This can be done by sending a letter to each local member of parliament through the dedicated website stopww3.co.uk and urging them to follow the Khalifa’s pathway to peace.
The Pathway to Peace initiative has nine points:
1. Establish absolute justice
2. Recognise the Creator
3. Foster global unity
4. Seek nuclear disarmament
5. Eliminate weapon profiteering
6. Create economic equity & eradicate poverty
7. Work for the good of one’s nation
8. Reject extremism
9. Instil service to humanity
To date the campaign has worked on the following initiatives:
– Bill board adverts
– Newspaper advertising
– Social media advertising and promotion
– Ad vans
– Exhibitions
– Leafleting
A tailor-made web portal was created on the True Islam website and a bespoke leaflet has been written and printed.