Report by: Shahid Parvez

Masha’Allah, Al’humdulillah! Book Stall of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bangalore awarded the Stall with the Best Speaker among Spiritual Stalls at the “Science and Technology Exhibition” organized by the Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Matt in front of an audience of over 10,000!

Adichunchanagiri, also called Sri Adichunchanagiri Maha Samsthana Math, is a religious organization of the Vokkaliga community (Hinduism) in the Karnataka State of India. To render social service it has educational and other Institutions established and run by Adichunchanagiri Shikshana Trust. Their main Mutt (Temple) is located about 100 km from Bangalore. 

Jamaat Ahmadiyya Bangalore was invited to participate in a 2 day Science and Technology Exhibition (Janana – Vignana Mela) that was conducted by the Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Matt on the 19^th and 20^th of February 2014.

Although the Jamaat had very short lead time to prepare for this mega event, they rose up to the occasion by Almighty Allah’s grace and put up a beautiful book stall at the venue. Translation of the Holy Quran in several languages were the main attraction for the visitors that mainly comprised of Deans, Teaching Staff & Students of several Medical & Engineering Colleges. The stall was also visited by prominent personalities like local politicians, social workers, organizers & priests of the Mutt etc.

The Jamaat was represented by a small delegation that included Ameer Jamaat Bangalore who was accompanied by members of the Majlis Ansarullah and Khuddam ul Ahmadiyya Bangalore. Our delegation swung into action immediately after arrival at the Mutt and started explaining the beautiful teachings of Islam to the visitors. To keep the stall in perspective, members of the MKA had prepared a presentation titled “Islam & Science – Divine Signs for the Scientific Community” which was displayed on a big screen placed at our stall. Visitors found this presentation unique and queued up to read the information being displayed, which was also explained by members of the MKA in great detail.

The response we received was very encouraging. Several visitors thronged our stall and patiently heard the explanation that was being provided. Members of the MKA urged the visitors to ponder over the purpose of their creation, and encouraged them to develop a direct relationship with the Creator, who is One and Almighty. Their attention was drawn to the verses of the Holy Quran, which Allah has used as signs for people of understanding. Verses that describe creation of the Universe & Embryology were displayed on the screens and it was emphasized that these recent discoveries were infact revealed by Almighty Allah 1400 years ago, to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) in the Quran. Verses related to the Big Bang Theory, orbits & motion of heavenly bodies etc were explained to the visitors in the light of recent discoveries, as signs for them to know their Creator and draw closer to Him & His Holy Book – The Quran.

The result – a young and enlightened crowd developed keen interest to have access copies of the Holy Quran for further reading. In response, we gave away several copies of the Holy Quran with English & Kannada translations. Copies of the Holy Quran were also presented to the Organizers of this event and other eminent personalities who visited our stall. Other literature of our Jamaat like, ‘Revelation Rationality Knowledge and Truth’, ‘Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam’, ‘Life of Muhammad (s.a.w)’, ‘World Crisis and the Pathway to Peace’, ‘Women in Islam’, etc, were also distributed in large numbers.

Another incident worth a mention is that our neighboring stall was put up by the Catholic Church, which gave us an opportunity to convey the message of Islam to two of their visiting priests. It was a long drawn discussion which lasted approximately 2 hours. To start, members of the MKA got them to accept that the cross and crucifixion of Jesus (a.s) was the foundation of Christian faith, as we know it today. Next came the kasr-e-saleeb, as we explained the entire crucifixion episode in the light of the Holy Quran, the Bible and the teachings of the Promised Messiah – Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (a.s). Their attention was drawn to the Judaic Law which states that death on the cross was accursed and hence a prophet who dies on the cross is a false prophet as per the Judaic Law revealed to Moses (a.s), and this was the reason why Jews wanted to have Jesus (a.s) crucified. The priests understood & accepted this account, however both the priests categorically rejected that such a law existed in the Old Testament and based their rejection of this concept to absence of this Law in the Old Testament.  By the grace of Almighty Allah, our Khuddam had a copy of the Holy Bible (King James Version) and the relevant verses from Deuteronomy were presented to the priests.  Next, they were honest to admit lack of preparation for this discussion and promised to get back to us with relevant interpretations. They also requested for a copy of the Holy Quran with Malayalam translation. Accordingly, contact details were shared and we gifted a copy of the Holy Quran with Malayalam translation along with a Malayalam translation of the book “Where did Jesus Die”.

Alhamdulillah it was a very fruitful 2 days at the Mutt, a very large number of academicians and students got to know about the Jamaat and the wealth of knowledge Islam has presented to the world via the efforts the Jamaat’s humble members.

On the concluding ceremony, awards were given out to best participants at the Exhibition. By the grace of Allah, we were awarded the “Stall with the Best Speaker” for spiritual section. Brother Asim Jahangir received a certificate for his efforts and Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat’s name was announced on stage in front of an audience of over 10,000.

The khuddams and Ansars of Bangalore had worked very hard to make this Happen in the best possible manner and Allah has quickly rewarded us for it.

Request you for prayers for all the members involved in making this a grand Success.

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