At 16:37 BST on 6 August 2022, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah strengthen his hand, arrived in the men’s marquee for the third session of Jalsa Salana UK 2022.
Upon arrival, after conveying “Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah” to all participants, guests and viewers of MTA, Huzooraa called Feroz Alam Sahib to recite a portion of the Holy Quran, who recited verses 29-30 of Surah al-Fath before presenting the Urdu translation of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh.
Huzooraa then invited Umar Sharif Sahib to recite a nazm written by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Mahdias in praise of Allah the Almighty.
Huzooraa took to the podium at 16:55 BST and commenced with his address at the third session of Jalsa Salana UK 2022.
After reciting tashahud, ta‘awuz and Surah al-Fatihah, Huzooraa said, as was the tradition, he would briefly highlight some of the blessings Allah bestowed on the Jamaat over the past year..
By the grace of Allah, aside from Pakistan, 355 new jamaats were established, and there were 855 places where, for the first time, the seed of Ahmadiyyat had been planted. The top three countries where the most jamaats had been established were Congo Kinshasa (40 new jamaats), Tanzania (36) and Sierra Leone (31).
During the establishment of new jamaats, there were certain faith-inspiring incidents that took place and Huzooraa went on to narrate them.
The missionary-in-charge of The Gambia wrote that in a certain place when the chief of the area accepted Ahmadiyyat, he said that he had been familiar with the Jamaat for some time and he declared that he saw the Jamaat as being on the right path. When the imam of the village was approached, who was 69 years old, he was given the 10 conditions of bai‘at, to which he was astonished and declared that this was indeed the true Islam as practised by the Holy Prophetsa. Without any hesitation, he immediately did bai‘at. When they got to the mosque for Zuhr prayer, all residents were called to the mosque and a small event took place informing residents of the jamaat. 566 people accepted Ahmadiyyat as a result.
After narrating an incident from Congo Kinshasa, Huzooraa narrated an incident from Liberia in which a villager expressed that he felt disconnected from other religions, but having come into contact with the Jamaat, he felt it was a result of his prayers being accepted. He was told to pray that this passion was not temporary and in fact permanent. Later, when he was told that selling alcohol would not be permissible as an Ahmadi Muslim, he said that he would leave such trade and as a result, around 30 individuals accepted Islam Ahmadiyyat in that area.
In terms of the establishment of new mosques, which includes mosques that the Jamaat constructed as well as those that came into the possession of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community during the year, their number is 209; 147 were constructed, while 62 were acquired. The top three African countries with new Ahmadiyya mosques are Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Belize Jamaat held an event at their mosque to which prominent guests came and praised the Jamaat for providing the opportunity to youngsters to achieve success in life. The prime minister also praised the Jamaat for their contributions to society. A mayor in Belize also acknowledged the sincerity of the Jamaat as did the police commissioner of a region in Belize.
The Promised Messiahas once said that if the truth has not reached a certain area, then build a mosque and automatically the message of truth would reach that place, and this is proving to be true.
The amir of Niger also narrates an incident in which they suffered some difficulties on a journey for the sake of building a mosque there. Nonetheless, the mosque was built and has now been inaugurated.
There were also incidents from Tanzania and Fiji.
From Congo Kinshasa, a muallim wrote that a Sunni lady offers her salat in the Ahmadiyya mosque and not the mosque where her husband used to pray and the reason for this was that she felt contentment and peace in the Ahmadiyya mosque.
The amir of Burkina Faso wrote that in one place, there were only a few Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis there pressured them to help them build a mosque and shun the Jamaat. Now, by the grace of Allah, the Jamaat was enabled to construct a beautiful mosque in that area.
A missionary in a South Indian Jamaat wrote that a group of members of the Jamaat tried to acquire land for a mosque from a lady but she refused. The lady was approached a few days later and the events turned in their favour and she was ready to accept an offer. She then narrated a dream she had seen and deemed it to be an indication that she must cooperate. Thus, she gifted the land to the Jamaat, where a mosque has now been constructed.
Huzooraa then narrated some other incidents from various areas of the world where attempts were made to destroy mosques built by the Jamaat, but miraculous signs of Allah’s support were manifested there.
The missionary in charge of Sao Tome wrote that during the construction of the Jamaat’s mosque, a gentleman came to the missionary and complained about Muslims and their conduct. He was then explained about the true teachings of Islam and the advent of the Promised Messiahas, which somewhat comforted him. Later, he researched and became formally part of the jamaat and is now an active member and offers to contribute to cleaning the mosque along with his wife.
During the year, 123 new mission houses were established, the highest figure being in Sierra Leone and Tanzania, then Benin, and then Ghana, followed by many other countries which Huzooraa listed.
In Australia, several different properties were purchased by the Jamaat. Similarly, in Japan, there is a new house for a missionary. In Spain, Chad and Niger, etc. there were many new properties acquired by the grace and blessings of Allah.
As we all know, waqar-e-amal is a unique quality of the Jamaat. There are various sessions of waqar-e-amal that take place in the Jamaat. This year, in 108 countries, 68,186 sessions of waqar-e-amal took place which saved a total of 2.9 million USD. There are many incidents in this regard.
Wakalat-e-Tasnif reports that this year, the Spanish translation of the Holy Quran was published in a new font, “Khat-e-Manzoor”. The English translation of Maulvi Sher Ali Sahib was published and five new books of the Promised Messiahas were published in English: (Fath-e-Islam, Sirrul Khilafah, Lujjatun Nur, Nurul Quan 1 and 2, Tuhfa-e-Baghdad).
Apart from this, many more pieces of literature were published in the past year. Children’s books have been published this year as well which are all available at the Jalsa bookstall.
This year, the 10 volumes of Malfuzat (Urdu) have been sent to press in a new format and will be published soon.
12 books of the Promised Messiahas translated in Arabic have been sent for printing and thereafter, all books of the Promised Messiahas will have been published in Arabic. After this, the next step will be to publish the books as a set of Ruhani Khazain, in 23 volumes. It is often raised as an allegation that we do not translate our books; however, this is soon to be completed in most major languages.
The Hindi translation of Ruhani Khazain has been completed and will be printed soon. Of the 88 books of Ruhani Khazain, 78 books have been published and the rest will also be published. InshaAllah.
A total of 72 books of the Promised Messiahas have been translated into the German language out of which 8 were translated this year.
The publications wing of Wakalat-e-Ishaat reports that in the last year, according to reports from 95 countries, a total of 6.7 million leaflets, pamphlets, folders, etc. were printed worldwide in 46 languages. Germany Jamaat published the most literature.
Nazarat Nashr-o-Ishaat Qadian reports that aside from Urdu and English, 90,802 new copies of books were published in 11 different languages and the figure for reprinting is separate.
Wakalat-e-Ishaat Tarseel reports that they were able to dispatch more than 125000 books to 22 countries in 47 different languages. Moreover, 4.7 million pieces of free literature were also distributed in various countries. There are now 606 regional and markazi libraries of the Jamaat in the world.
Wakalat-e-Tamil-o-Tanfidh says that books were sent on time where demands were made and more than 28,000 copies of various books were sent. Various construction projects were completed and many other projects are ongoing. The improvement is visible through pictures that can be seen nowadays.
The Raqeem Press in Farnham, UK printed more than 229,000 books, magazines, leaflets, etc this year. The English translation of the Quran with the “Khat-e-Manzoor” font has been made available through the Raqeem Press. This Quran was very popular at the London Book Fair and many non-Ahmadi Muslims appreciated it and remarked the price was remarkably low. The Ahmadiyya printing presses in the seven countries in Africa have printed over 500,000 books, magazines, leaflets, etc. Recently, a new modern press was established in The Gambia.
In 102 countries, more than 7.6 million leaflets were distributed with an approximate reach of 11.69 million people, among which Germany is first, then the UK and then Austria, followed by various other countries.
The amir of Spain writes that in the north of Spain, while stopping for coffee, a non-Ahmadi Muslim noticed that certain leaflets were still there which were, by the permission of the restaurant owner, left by Jamia Ahmadiyya UK students in 2019.
With regard to exhibitions and book fairs, there were many incidents that took place that Huzooraa narrated.
There are 120 magazines and journals in 24 languages being published around the world.
Al Fazl International writes that since its inception, it is being published regularly. It is present on social media and has started on Facebook too.
The Daily Al Fazl is published online and is present on social media too.
Al Hakam is published in English and by the grace of Allah, the readership is growing and their podcast (Al Hakam Inspire) is getting viewership from outside the Jamaat as well.
The Review of Religions is being published in not only English now but in French, Spanish and German and is now recognised as a media organisation. 200,000 copies of The Review of Religions were printed and distributed in different languages, during this year.
The Ahmadiyya Press & Media desk has contributed to many news pieces on various outlets.
Alislam.org is also contributing towards publicising publications of the Jamaat, especially audiobooks.
The Arabic Desk is doing a good job. There were some incidents of acceptance of prayer in this respect which Huzooraa narrated.
By the grace of Allah, the Russian Desk has been translating speeches and sermons of Khalifatul Masih and in letters, Huzooraa learns that this is benefitting many people.
The French Desk, Chinese Desk, Turkish Desk, Swahili Desk, Indonesian Desk and Spanish Desk are all translating and rendering various services. The International Translation and Research Office is also rendering various services.
Among many others, Huzooraa also spoke of the following blessings that Allah bestowed upon the Jamaat:
• More than 1200 translations of the Holy Quran were handed out to members of the public, worldwide, by the Jamaat.
• Huzoor’s sermon audios are now available in 20 languages.
• More than 100,000 people have been listening to the audio of Al Fazl International articles.
• The Arabic Desk prepared and printed 166 different leaflets.
• 3,519 new children entered the Waqf-e-Nau scheme. There are currently a total of 78,000 waqifeen-e-nau out of which 45,832 are boys and 32,168 are girls.
• There are 16 departments in MTA International that consist of 503 workers – only 80 are given allowances, and the rest are volunteers.
• MTA International has 8 channels that run 24 hours. MTA International is broadcast in 23 languages.
• There are 25 Ahmadiyya radio stations operating across the world including Voice of Islam Radio which was further expanded this year.
• Local TV and radio stations, in 74 countries, gave time for Jamaat programmes to air – out of these, on TV alone, we were given 2519 hours of airtime. These programmes reached 34 million people.
In the end, Huzooraa led everyone in silent prayers and then conveyed his salam before leaving the Jalsa Gah.
(Report prepared by Al Hakam)