Souvenir on 50th Jalsa Salana USA — Page 40
JALSA S\. LA \. - WF. 1ST C () \ST, l S \ 1891 marks the year of the e'ilab li shment of J a l sa Salana by Hadhrat Ahmad (AS). In the fir st gathering 75 people participated. Now. a century l ater, b) the Grace of Allah. over 75 nati on. . , of the wo rl d organi1e Jalsa Salana attended by millions of people. In USA. we have been successf ull y organi1i ng these gatherings for the last 50 years. Due to th e sheer si1e of the continental United States. many Ahmadi Muslims living in the West Coast were not always ab le to participate in our National J aha Sa l ana. In order to address this situ ati on, Maulana Ataullah Kaleem, then Amir, permitted Missionary Mir Mahmood Ahmad Nas ir to organ i Le Jal sa Sa lana in the W est Coas t. In 1 982, th e ve ry first co n ven ti on of th e West Coast took place in San Francisco at a rental hall. Int erest ing ly enough, the number of atten dees at th is con\ention totaled 75. Prior to 1 990. these Annnua l Convention"> U'>ed to be orga nized at rental Hall s but since the e<,tablishment or Baitul Hamid Mosque. these gatherings arc held at the Mosque in Los Ange l es in th e month of December. The dales usually correspond lo th e dales of Qadian Jalsa Sa lan a. In thi s re ga rd it must be added that our beloved Imam mad e a gracious mention of our J alsa Sa lan a in one of his addresses to the audience of Jalsa Salana Qadian. Last year marked the 14th Annual Convention of the W est Coast a nd was attended by about 600 people. We ha ve been fortunate to have among us the prominent members of A hm adiyya Jama 'ats outside USA as we ll as man y members of the National Majlis-e - Amla USA. A bri ef li st is presented below: Sahibzada Mir1a Mu1:affar Ahmad, (A mir , USA), Maulana Nasim Mehdi (Am ir, Canada), Mr. Fatal A hm ad (Amir Bihar Pr ov in ce, Indi a), Maulana Ala U ll ah Kalim, Mir Mahmo od Ahmad Nasir, Tariq Is l am (Missionary Vancouver, Canada), Sharif Lubu s (Am ir. lndone<,ia). Maulana Sheikh Mubarak Ahmad, Nas ir M. Malik (then ational Tabligh Secretary USA), Late Dr. Murnffar Ahmad Za f ar (Naib Amir, USA), Dr. Eh sanu ll ah Zafar (Naib Am ir ll , USA), Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah (Preside nt Ahmadiyya M ed i ca l Associa ti o n ) and Munawar A. Saeed (Nat i ona l Secre tar y Ta' l eem, USA). We have been fortunate to listen to or watc h Ha zoor's addresses li ve from London or Qadain. In the very first J a l sa, we heard Ha zoo r 's Audio Me ssage when l/ azoor laun ched the blessed scheme of 5 New Mosques for USA. We have been trying to fo ll ow the pattern of UK Jalsa Salana where our beloved Imam is personally present. In this regard , we invite many Non- Ahmedi guests from the Government and people from important walks of life. Included in these dignitaries are Congressmen, State Assemblymen, Mayors, Writer s of famous books and the President of Lithuania. One comp l ete sess ion in eac h J al sa is dedicated for this pu rp ose and has been successf ull y attended by over 700 people. A display exhibition on Is l am and other religious activi ti es is an important feature of our annual gatherings. We strive to uphold the traditions of the annual gatherings held during th e time of Hadh rat Ahmad (AS) by presenting the best h osp italit y and comfort lo our gues ts. Many Ahmadis from different countries of the world sc h edu le th e ir overseas trip s to in c lud e the attendance at our Jal sa, e. g. , vis it o rs from England. Arabian countr i es, South Afr i ca and other European commun iti es have participated in our J alsa wh ile visiting Los Angeles on vacation. Every J alsa that is held anywhere in the wor ld is a p i cture perfect proof of the Truth of th e Promised Messiah (AS), Righteousness , Piety and Brotherhood for wh ich thi s in st ituti on was establ ish ed a century ago. A/hamdolillah.