Subject: Detroit Jamaat holds Jalsa Seerat-Un-Nabi (saw)
Report by Muhammad Ahmad, Detroit MI, USA

Detroit Jamaat held its 2021 Jalsa Seerat Nabi (saw) on Sunday, January 24th, 2021 at 7:00 PM.

Jalsa Seerat Un Nabi (saw) is traditionally held every year at Masjid Mahmood, however due the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Jalsa was held virtually via Zoom.

The Seerat-Un-Nabi (saw) program started with recitation of the Holy Quran by Br. Imtiaz Ahmad. The translation of the verses was presented by Saood Ahmad Qureshi sahib.

Musa Lughmani sahib recited couplets from a Poem written by Promised Messiah (as) in praise of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Following the poem, Sadr Jamaat, Maqbool Tahir sahib welcomed Jamaat members to the Jalsa (saw).

In his welcome remarks Sadr sahib elaborated the significance and background of the Jalsa Seerat Nabi (saw). He mentioned that the history for the Jalsa Seerat Nabi (saw) goes back to the time of the Promised Messiah (as). During the time of the Promised Messiah (as) no one was holding such Jalsa’s while there were a lot of false allegations levied against the character of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) by Christians and Hindus alike. Later, during the time of Hazrat Musleh Ma’ood (ra) a lot of derogatory material was published against the character of the Holy Prophet (saw) to which Hazrat Musleh Ma’ood (ra) responded by asking Jamaat to hold Seerat Un Nabi (saw) Jalsas across the country to defend the noble personality and character of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

The first such Jalsa was held in Qadian and later these Jalsa’s started to be held all over India. Since then, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has been holding these Jalsa’s to highlight the excellent and noble character of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). “Even today, in many countries around the world we see derogatory materials being published in the name of freedom of speech. We as Ahmadi Muslims defend these allegations through these Jalsas” said Sadr Jamaat Maqbool Tahir sahib. He emphasized in his remarks that let’s pray that May Allah help us benefit from these Jalsas so that we can follow and implement various aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) into our own lives.

Sadr sahib then introduced the program for the Seerat-Un-Nabi(saw) Jalsa and invited Dr. B.K. Ahmad sahib to present his speech titled “Life and Character of the Holy Prophet (pbuh)”

Dr. B. K Ahmad sahib started by describing the early life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that he was born in the 6th century during the dark age as an orphan. He gained a lot of respect very early on in the society as Ameen (trustworthy) and Sadiq (truthful). He would often resort to a cave Hira for meditation and that is where he received the first revelation from Almighty Allah. He narrated the incident of the slave boy Zaid who refused to go with his parents and since that Holy Prophet (pbuh) declared him his son. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) and his companions were heavily persecuted by the Meccans so much so that many of them had to migrate to Abyssinia.

Holy Prophet (saw) established the first pact between the Muslim and the Jewish tribes of the Arabia that became known as the “Meesaq-e-Madina” in the history.

B.K Ahmad sahib narrated many great personal attributes of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) from his childhood, youth days to being the head of the state. Despite so much personal loss as many of his children, wives, relatives and companions died, he would never express grief in public. He was extremely careful about the feelings of women. He would respect his neighbors, slaves, children and even animals.

He would be very particular about personal hygiene and cleaned his teeth many times during the day. He would sleep on the ground; his food was remarkably simple, and he would never find fault with the food. After his death, Hazrat Aisha (ra) was asked about his character and she responded that his character was the Holy Quran.

Following this Sadr sahib invited Mahmood Aslam Qummar to present on the topic of “Love of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) with Allah.”

Some of the highlights of the speech included Holy Prophet(saw) every act was for the Love of Allah as he himself has stated that “my prayers, my life, and my death are for Allah.”

He used to engage in the worship of Allah even before the mantle of the Prophethood. He never paid respect to Idols. He would spend many hours worshipping Allah in the Cave of Hira. People of Mecca gave every type of enticement to lure him away from the Love and Worship of Allah but failed.

His Love and passion for Allah was so great when Meccans tried to influence him through his uncle, he said even if you put the moon on my one hand and sun on the other hand, I will never leave Allah and His worship. Every aspect of Holy Prophets (pbuh) prayer was colored with the Love of Allah. In a nutshell, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was truly intoxicated with the Love of Allah.

Following this, a poem in praise of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was recited by Tooba Basharat sahiba.

Following the poem, Mobashar Ahmad presented a speech on the topic of “Love of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and Importance of the Darood Sharif”

Quoting from the writings of the Promised Messiah (as) and Khulafa he said that the Holy Prophet(saw) is not the one who needs our prayers. Allah Almighty has bestowed His bountiful mercy upon us and shown us the way for our prayers to be accepted by the recitation of the Durood and its recitation has been made a vessel to gain closeness to Allah.

The Promised Messiah(as) says that to gain closeness to Allah, one must pass through many struggles and difficulties. To ease this path towards Him, Allah has shown the believers a way they can reach Him effortlessly, and that is to recite the Durood because the only way towards Him is through His Prophet.

Next, Usman Mangla sahib presented his speech titled “Muhammad (pbuh) as Sadiq & Al-Ameen”

Expounding on the attributes of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) , Usman sahib said that the Holy Prophet(pbuh) would never break his pledge. Hazrat Khadija (ra) chose him for his trade caravan due to his reputation and honesty. During the Blackstone placement issue between various tribes of the Meccans, the dispute lasted for many nights and to end the standoff they agreed that whoever would enter the Kaaba first the next morning would be chosen to lay the stone. Next morning, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was the first one to enter the Kaaba. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) handled the issue by including all into this blessed task by placing the stone of a piece of cloth and having it carried over to its site by all and then put it in its place.

There are numerous other incidents of his trustworthiness and truthfulness, one such incident is when Holy Prophet (pbuh) announced to be the messenger of Allah, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) went to Holy Prophet (pbuh) to inquire if he has made any such claims, upon which Holy Prophet (pbuh) tried to explain. however, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) stopped him and asked him just to let me know if you have made such claims, Yes or No. upon which Holy Prophet (pbuh) said Yes and Hazrat Abu Bakr(ra) accepted Islam on the spot as he had such a high regard for Holy Prophet’s (pbuh) trustworthiness and truthfulness that he did not want to hear any further explanation.

People of Mecca used to leave their valuables such as gold and coins with the Holy Prophet (pbuh) for safekeeping, this was the level of trust they had on the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Treaty of the Hudaibiya is another incident that exemplifies that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) would always keep his word. Many more testimonials of Honesty and trustworthiness were mentioned.

Next a speech titled “Exemplary treatment of Holy Prophet(pbuh) with Children” by Salman Ahmad, was presented.

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was mercy for women and children. He had a great respect for children and taught that parents should not hurt the feelings of their children.

Upon seeing the affection of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) with children, many people would say to the Holy Prophet (pbuh), O’ messenger of Allah, we don’t show such affection to children, upon this, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said if your hearts are devoid of love for children what can I do.

Murabbi Shamshad Nasir sahib presented his keynote speech and concluding remarks at the end.

In his remarks, respected Shamshad Nasir sahib said, “We are fortunate that we are celebrating the 2021 Jalsa Seerat-Un-Nabi (saw), you have heard many presenters highlighting various aspects of the life of Holy Prophet(pbuh), my advice to you is to follow all aspects of the life of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) covered in this program.”

The purpose of these programs is not to simply listen and go back to your normal routine, but to implement truly the blessed model of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) into our daily lives.

“To become the beloved of God, we must follow the Holy Prophet (pbuh). Last year I mentioned many aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) from the basics of combing the hair with his right hand, putting on the right shoe first, starting food with a prayer and many other aspects from the blessed life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). If we simply listen and do not follow these teachings, then it’s merely a wastage of time” said respected Shamshad Nasir Sahib.

As we are passing through the pandemic and staying in our homes, we should try to inculcate these teachings in our children including praying before eating, saying prayer before going to bed etc.

“Here, I would just like to remind everyone of my comments from last year’s Jalsa Seerat Un Nabi (saw) that our children are following the practices of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). We should always ask our children the basic questions “have you read the Holy Quran today?”, “Have you read your five daily prayers?”, “Have you read your prayers before going to bed?”

We can learn many things from the life of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) including the importance of forgiveness and prayers. In one of the incidents during a battle, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) fell to the ground and many companions fell on top of him, even in that time he was praying that ‘O my Allah forgive my nation.’

Similarly, during the incident of Ta’if when he went to preach to the chiefs of Taif and in turn the chief asked the boys of the town to throw stones on him, angles asked that they can destroy the valley of Taif by crushing with the two mountains, Holy Prophet (pbuh) chose to pray for the forgiveness of the people.

Another great quality of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was his steadfastness, whenever he would start something, he would be very steadfast and continue performing the task day after day. If he started praying Nawafil (optional/voluntary prayers), he would continue to offer those throughout his life.

We should learn this attribute of steadfastness from the Holy Prophet (pbuh) by offering Nawafil regularly, paying our financial sacrifices regularly without reminders or wait for a call from the Finance Secretary.

Hazrat Aisha (ra) narrates that Holy Prophets (saw) actions were like continuous rain. He would be performing his acts of worship, prayers, charity constantly, continuously and without any break. One of the companions once stated that whenever I met the Holy Prophet (pbuh) he always welcomed me with a smile on his face and it never happened that he welcomed me without a smile.

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was always consistent and persistent in fulfilling his rights towards Allah as well as people. May Allah help us follow the blessed model of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

At the end, Murabbi Shamshad Nasir Sahib concluded the program with silent prayers.

May Allah reward the organizers and presenters for their hard work to make the program a success. Ameen