Ahmadis at Jalsa Salana UK 2024: Peace in Europe, Blood in Pakistan

The annual gathering of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at was a feast of peaceful families and sincere faith. In Pakistan, however, persecution continues.#

Islam has a clear problem with women, and for Ahmadi Muslims, that problem is even bigger. Why? Because Ahmadi women are so well-educated and accomplished that they often outshine men. This ironic twist flips the stereotype on its head, countering the fanaticism shown by some radical Muslim clerics. Ahmadi women are in fact bright-minded, highly skilled, dedicated, and determined—in a word, exceptional. They even have their own independent teams handling security, audio-video production, camera operations, administration, and public speaking. This was powerfully showcased on Saturday, July 27, when His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the 5th Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ, “jama’at” meaning “community”), awarded several women and girls for their outstanding contributions in various fields of knowledge and professions.

This event was a highlight of the Jalsa Salana UK 2024, the annual gathering of prayer that Ahmadis celebrate in all the countries where they have established a community. The one taking place in England, the country where the Caliph resides after his predecessor, Mirza Tahir Ahmad (1928–2003) was compelled to flee Pakistan under state-sponsored religious persecution in 1984, assumes an international relevance. It was held July 26 to 28 in Hadiqat-ul-Mahdi, or Oaklands Farm, a 208-acre land that the AMJ owns in the territory of the city of Alton, Surrey, some 45 miles southwest of London.

The concern in the Ahmadi community isn’t that women are more educated than men, but that men should not fall behind. The community openly highlights the importance of education for both genders, stressing that both men and women should strive for academic excellence. In fact, the Caliph elaborated on the wisdom behind Islamic teachings of segregation during an interview on his Germany tour in October 2019: “We do not deny the rights of women to get an education. If a woman is educated, she is an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or in any other profession. They do go outside and perform their duties and jobs… We believe that women can flourish better without the shade of men. So if they are separate, they are free to grow. You see, if you plant a small tree under a big tree, it cannot grow.” This perspective underscores the community’s commitment to empowering women, allowing them to thrive independently and achieve their full potential.

A peaceful army of prayer

Jalsa Salana UK celebrated this year its 58th edition. According to estimates, about 42,000 persons participated in this year’s event. One thousand people composed the core of the volunteer task force that took care of every single aspect of the organization, from logistics to transportations, from security and accommodations, from feeding guests and participants to managing and cleaning all facilities. But that number increases to around 5,000 at the highest peak of necessity, when duties multiply, and the climate becomes somewhat frenzied. 

All rotates around prayer, and prayer is the meaning of all at the Jalsa Salana. In addition, this year several of the speeches by the Caliph and other speakers, focused on the role of the family. The family is central to Islam and for the Ahmadis it is the source of all social benefit. It is the family that makes good Muslim believers, teaching them morality and faith. Once more, here women perform a central role.

In fact, speeches also strictly tied the need for strong families to the need for morals. As the Caliph repeatedly stated, today public immorality is caused by the lack of sound families. Many of them abdicate their role of transmitters of virtue and positive attitudes. This is undoubtedly due to the fact, the Caliph and other speakers commented, that religion is declining in the personal and public sphere, especially in the West. Natural virtue, the Caliph implied, cannot stand alone without a sound life of faith.

To a non-Muslim’s ears, such as those of the undersigned, these concepts sounded familiar. One in fact hear them uttered and emphasized, even preached, by all religious and spiritual leaders in the world, of all faiths. The words of the Ahmadis’ Caliph at the Jalsa Salana UK 2024 could in fact have easily been pronounced by Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, and his predecessors, and indeed they were. Or they could have been uttered, with minor differences in details and a distinctive Buddhist style, by the Dalal Lama. The comment verges on the obvious, but it is not without importance.

At first sight, one could superficially conclude that this reveals that religions are basically all the same. They are not. I have never encountered believers of any religion arguing that their faith is equal to that of another group. They may respect other faiths but remain well aware of the differences. The commonality of values is also not the artificial result of some interfaith roundtable. It is just the mystery of faith itself, and the Ahmadi Caliph in person addressed it in his impromptu considerations during the meeting that the Italian delegation at Jalsa Salana had with him on Sunday July 28.

The Caliph tries to receive as many delegations as possible during Jalsa in short but not superficial meetings. They are important because, during those occasions, words flow freely, and emotions are expressed. Sometimes the best moments arise when the necessary and respectful etiquette leaves room for some more cordial moments. To the Italian group, largely composed by non-Muslims, the Caliph felt the need to say that religions have one fundamental feature in common: God. If religions hold on to that, and believers keep this clearly in their minds every single moment of their lives, a giant step toward a more humane world can be achieved. This would not be the world of a fake equality imposed out of an ideological pretension. It will be a world where God rules beyond the wrongdoing of human beings.

More blood in the streets

Instead, when this conscience is not clear, crimes are committed, even abusing the name of God itself. The Ahmadis at Jalsa Salana UK 2024 and their non-Muslim guests had in fact no time to rejoice for the important statement by nine UN experts who, for the first time, condemned the bloody persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, urging its government to do all that is possible to end it, that another Ahmadi Muslim was brutally assassinated in that country by fanatics who claim to have the right to kill those they judge bad Muslims, non-Muslims. or heretics.

Dr. Zaka ur Rehman, an Ahmadi dentist, was shot dead in Lala Musa, a city in the Gujrat District of the Punjab province of Pakistan, on July 27 in front of his clinic. At Jalsa Salana, an exhibition of photographs from the official archives of AMJ underlined all the historical moments of the community. Significantly, the last pictures focused on the names of the Ahmadis killed for their faith, a martyrology that has become daily routine for this tormented people.

https://bitterwinter.org/ahmadis-at-jalsa-salana-uk-2024-peace-in-europe-blood-in-pakistan/