“If we want to give peace to the world then train your children from childhood and teach them good moral right from the start.”

-Imam Shamshad.

Report by: Azhar Ahmad

Islam is a proactive religion.

It gives commandments which helps establish peaceful family units in the community, which collectively give rise to peace and restfulness as a nation and thus in the world. Islam lays stress on moral training and purifying oneself.

Thus, in conjunction with the Islamic teachings, an Annual Moral Ijtema (Convention) was held at Baitul Jamay Mosque, Glen Ellyn, IL. on 19th and 20th December.

This Ijtema (convention) consisted of four two-day sessions and was attended by more then 650 members from Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin Area.

The attendees ranged from different ages and gender and all were there for one reason: to gain spiritual benefits and strengthen their brotherhood through moral training and upbringing.

Imam Shamshad

“This Ijtema was held to show the true picture of Islam and erase the misconception that is being shown in today’s world,” said Imam Shamshad of Baitul Jamey

The opening speech by M. NAEEM, National vice President centered around the characteristics of true Muslims and spanned across all dimensions of life such as obedience to parents and their Khalifat, acts of charity and forgiveness, ill influence of bad company, and importance of being integrated with the community.

The second speech by Dr Baseer Rodny about Universal Brotherhood focused on the brotherhood of Holy Prophet Muhammad of Islam – his multicultural companions from Persia (Hadrath Salman), Africa (Hadrat Bilal), and Europe, his life in Mecca and Medina. Holy Prophet (s.a.) never discriminated among humans, even his enemies were treated well.  The takeaway for us was to help everyone in the times of their needs even at the cost of self-deprivation and have sympathies for all creatures.

The final speech, of the opening session, was on “Congruity of Speech and Action”.
Imam Rabbani of Zion outlined four characteristics of Hypocrites and advised to refrain from these:

• Betraying trust and not fulfilling responsibility
• Telling lies
• Promising and not delivering (even unpunctuality)
• Using abusive language.

The second and third session was for and by Boys and Youths. To summarize, the main points for the boys were:

• Recite darood (Send Salaam to Prophet Muhammad PBUH) at least 33 times a day
• Don’t retaliate to bullying in school instead complain to authority
• Don’t waste time in social media
• Sacrifice financially for Jamat instead of spending money on unnecessary toys or video games
• Set examples for your peers to follow you by being a true Ahmadi (humble yet sharp).

For Young Youths, the directives were to balance family, comunity and work life by planning ahead and fixing time for each in calendar. To be regular in Five daily prayers and Recitation , as these are the basic guide lines of Islam; maintain marital harmony by respecting and complementing each-other; answer difficult questions from your children by directing them to read required book and following up with learnings; and more importantly train your children by being an example yourself.

Seperately, girls and women were holding their own program.

Young girls started their program with a presentation on truthfulness.

Then, the girls did a workshop focusing on the moral ills such as fornication, falsehood, dishonesty and mischief. The women then presented their speeches on Giving precedence to their faith over all worldly matters and on Societal Ills. The women discussed about Islam and their concept of marriage. They focused on young girls rights given by Islam and their roles as mothers. And they focused on mothers role in the moral upbringing of their children.

Last session of the day was presided by Mirza Maghfoor National voice Presedent of the Comunity, 2 speeches on how to make inactive to active and sacrifices, and more interesting thing was Q/A of this session.

The Second day focused on two speeches on the topics of Heart to Heart and on the Actions of an Ahmadi Muslim. The first speech focused upon reinforcing and underlining the important messages of the previous day via educating children about history of forefathers, being examples for your children by being attentive to details, following Khilafa e waqt, and setting examples of Ahmadiyyat among non-Ahmadis. The second speech focused on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community belief on Khilafat and their obedience to it. Imam Shamshad Nasir emphasized that parents could fully morally upbring their children only through Khilfat and being attached to it and setting up good example of their own before them,

These four two-day sessions focused on every aspect of a Muslim’s’ life and tried to help every community member achieve their full moral capacity. This program was also crucial as it helped to erase any negative perception of Muslims and Islam and focused on giving the true picture of Islam through peaceful talks. In conclusion, the convention was a complete success and brought many members of the community together through brotherhood and love. Some high lights of Ijtema are:

Last year 450 members attended, this year over 650, This year many high official from the Comunity’s NHQ attended, like Dr Mirza Maghfoor Ahmad National voice Presedent, Falah Shamsh National voice Presedent, Dr Zaheer A. BAJWA National General Sec, Mirza Ehsan National Financial Sec, Dr Farooq Peder, National Sec Rishta Tata (marriage system) and locally resided National voice Presedent Munam Naeem.