Amen Aqeel Haider, Mexico Correspondent
Sabahat Ali Sahib, a missionary, reports that home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Mexico boasts both the smallest volcano on Earth, and the largest population of people who call Spanish their first language. That’s right – there are more people who speak Spanish in Mexico as their first language than in all of Spain.
Hence, the need for Spanish-speaking preachers as expounded by Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah be his Helper, time and time again, cannot be understated. Although today, most people see Mexico as synonymous with a sunny vacation laden with cascading aquamarine tides against golden beaches, it is a country which has faced centuries-old subjugation and strife, and has in many ways soldiered past much of it.
There was a time when 1 percent of its population (nearly 250,000 people) were killed, per annum, by the ancient Aztecs as “necessary” human sacrifices. The single largest pyramid in the world is also actually in Mexico.
Yet, with the mammoth influx of Spaniard Christianity, today, over 80 percent of its population is actually Roman Catholic. From the dozens of tribal gods which were worshiped once upon a time, Mexico has now transformed to the tri-unity falsely attributed Christ. It is against this socioreligious backdrop that the trumpet of God’s indivisible and true Unity is being blown by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Mexico.
The last half-decade has witnessed an incredible influx of local Mexicans turning to Islam, and by God’s boundless grace and the invaluable guidance of our beloved Huzooraa, Jamaat Ahmadiyya Mexico has inaugurated its very first “Muallimin Course” on 8 February 2020.
A muallim is a local Muslim religious teacher and preacher – often a national of the country he serves in. Thus, he enjoys a special understanding of and relationship with the people and culture of his appointed place. After all, he’s one of them.
The purpose of this course is to train and equip such dedicated Mexican Ahmadi Muslims toward understanding and propagating the beautiful teachings of Islam by word and through their personal examples. In addition to the scholastics of Ahmadiyya literature, the course hopes to provide specialised training regarding particular beliefs which are the basis of Mexican Christianity. These include the hugely worshipped Virgin of Guadalupe and long-running erroneous doctrines regarding the return of the dead, which is actually the basis of Halloween celebrated all over the globe.
This course will take place in Baitul Afiyat, Mexico city, which serves as the headquarters of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Mexico. There are three students from different states of Mexico who have enrolled in this course. José Vicente Briones León Sahib from Mexico city who is 48 years old, Francisco Iván Padrón Herrera Sahib from Merida who is 42 years old, and Luis Fernando Gómez Gómez Sahib from Chiapas who is 22 years old.
All three of these students are converts to Islam Ahmadiyyat and by the grace of Allah the Almighty, are very dedicated Ahmadi Muslims. This course is intended to last 6-9 months and in this period, these students will be learning a variety of different subjects. Their main subjects will be the Holy Quran, hadith, literature of the Promised Messiahas, and comparative religions.
May Allah the Almighty bless the students and organisers, and suffuse this humble undertaking with unprecedented acceptance. May these students become shining minarets of obedience to Khilafat and carry the ointment of the Promised Messiahas to the enormous population of Mexico.