Members of Pakistan's oppressed sect visits Qadian for Annual Convention, enjoy 'real' religious freedom

Ahmadiyya Times

‘Today we have come to know what the real freedom of religion is like,’ a sentiment many attendees of Ahmadiyya Jalsa Salana have projected who arrived here in Qadian from Pakistan to participate in the 122nd International Annual Convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

These joyous Ahmadi Muslim attendees have traveled hundreds of miles and crossed an international border to participate in the Qadian’s world-famous gathering where they will be free to acknowledge each other – or, anyone else for that matter – with proper Muslim greetings of Assalam-o Alaykun, call Adhan – the Muslim call to prayers – when it’s time for prayers, and freely recite the Holy Qur'an anytime they want to with the fear of getting arrested.The sentiments were running high in the streets of Qadian among the more than 2000 Pakistani Ahmadi Muslims who already reached here to attend the Jalsa Salana to be held from December 27th to 29th.

A Journalist from Qadian, Ch. Maqbool Ahmad, reports that a Pakistani Ahmadi said on the request of anonymity, ‘when we reached Qadian which is a Holy city for us, our eyes were full with tears.’ “It is the land where our Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani was born.”

“And, we are feeling very comfortable and happy here.”

Some 30 thousand members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jam'at from 25-30 countries are expected to participate in the convention. The last session of the program will be addressed by the community's worldwide spiritual head, Hazrat (His Holiness) Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who will speak from London via a live satellite link and the proceeding will be broadcast by Muslim Television Ahmadiyya to 204 countries of the world where the community has working branches. The Jalsa Salana preparations are in full swing, journalist Maqbool Ahmad reports, and Qadian bazaars are extra vibrant with shoppers’ activities.

The historical spot, Darul Masih, is decorated with special lights with huge lines of the guests waiting outside Bait-ud Dua for their turn to enter and offer special prayer in this small, slightly raised room, where the Ahmadiyya founder spent countless nights of his life awake, praying, supplicating, and writing many of the over 80 books he authored during his life. The Qadian streets are abuzz with rhymes being read from the Psalms of Ahmad and poems praising the Ahmadi guests’ arrival in the town of Qadian, further reports Journalist Ch. Maqbool Ahmad. “Audio poems like ‘Qadian Darul Amaan’ and ‘Khusha Naseeb ki tum Qadian mayn rehtay ho’ can be heard everywhere.” Hindu, Sikh and Christian communities of Qadian also gave warm welcome to the Jalsa Salana Participants.