Mishaal Baten, Paraguay Correspondent
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Paraguay held its third Annual Interfaith dialogue on Thursday, 12 December 2019. Speakers were invited from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, as well as a local indigenous spirituality. The theme of this event was, “Prophets: Sent from God.”
Each speaker spoke about the founder of their respective religion. Islam was represented by Missionary Abdun Nur Baten Sahib, who presented a speech on our beloved master, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, particularly his religious tolerance and love for humanity.
People were very surprised and impressed by what they heard and many were interested to learn more about Islam and to visit the mosque. Paraguay is a country with torrential, subtropical weather. When it rains here the whole country shuts down as the roads often flood and it is very dangerous to be in the streets.
When it started to rain during the afternoon of the event, we were worried that people would not attend the event due to the weather. We wrote a letter to our beloved Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah be his Helper, requesting prayers for the event. Soon after, the rain miraculously stopped, and Alhamdolillah, the event was attended by more than 50 people.
Once again, we witnessed the power of prayers of our beloved Khalifa and the blessings of Khilafat. Mathias Gonzalez, an attendee of the event, said:
“When we see the title ‘Inter-religious dialogue’, what comes to mind is a chaotic and prejudiced environment, however the one that we found here is quite the opposite. It is constructive and provides all kinds of knowledge.”
The representative of the Jewish tradition, Federico Surijon said:
“In this type of event, our differences enrich us and our commonalities unite us. All religious traditions have the same message, which is the message of unity and peace.”
The event was very well received by the locals and had a total attendance of 52 people. The Review of Religions in Spanish was promoted and many attendees purchased a copy of the latest edition. Two major newspapers came to cover the event.