Among the 73 or so denominations of Islam, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the most dynamic, fastest growing international revival movement within Islam. The Community’s motto ‘Love For All Hatred For None’ displays its compassionate, sincere and peaceful approach towards hatred as a result of radicalisation.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the only Islamic sect to believe that the long-awaited Messiah has come in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (on whom be peace) of Qadian, India. Ahmad (on whom be peace) claimed to be the metaphorical second coming of Jesus (on whom be peace) of Nazareth and the divine guide, whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Over the weekend on 29th and 30th September, the women of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community organised an annual National event in Country Market, Hampshire known as the Ijtema – an Arabic word meaning ‘meeting’ or ‘gathering’. The sole purpose of the Ijtema was for women from various parts of the UK to get together to educate themselves on Islamic and secular knowledge. This is an event for women by women and enables the believer to increase their spiritual knowledge and develop bonds of sisterhood. Girls below the age of 15 participated in competitions such as English speech, Tilawat (recitation of the Holy Qur’an) etc. to demonstrate their learning and progress.
The overall attendance in the UK Ijtema alone, bearing in mind this only includes female members, was just over 5500.
Naheed Waseem, a regular attendee of the Ijtema, says “I think the main reason for the Ijtema is to revitalise your spirituality again. You come here, you meet everyone, you listen to the inspirational speeches and learn new things both on religious terms and secular terms.”
In the exhibition marquee, various exhibits were held displaying national system and scientific concepts which provided the truth of the Holy Qur’an as the Word of God. These included talks promoting STE(A)M, gardening tips on how to keep plants healthy, and the solar system. However, the best exhibition involved smoothie bikes which cleverly showed that even to make a small smoothie requires a lot of energy through pedalling.
There were various theological, scientific and logic-based academic presentations on the theme of this year’s Ijtema – the Existence of God.
Not only this but there was also an array of inspirational talks in the lecture’s marquee on controversial topics such as Has Science Made Religion Obsolete? In this lecture, the Ahmadi speaker contrasted atheistic beliefs to Islamic ones. She also explained how it is commonly understood that science and religion conflict each other when, in fact, Islam draws attention to the phenomena of nature in support and illustration of spiritual truths. The universe is governed by laws and that through research one can discover these laws and their operation. Therefore, one must carry on research into the laws and workings of nature. There is thus no conflict between science and religion.
Many people enjoy coming to this National Ijtema every year because it enhances their understanding of Islam and current issues of the world. Saiha Maaz, editor of the Al Nusrat magazine, describes the Ijtema as “a very spiritually uplifting experience first of all. Other than that, because that is something very personal, I feel it has a huge sense of community because you come together every year and meet new people from different places and make lasting friendships with them, but the aims and goals are the same and that’s what brings us all together.”
