A Muslim sect just wrapped up a huge three-day gathering in Senegal. The Ahmadiyya Muslim community held its yearly national meeting, called Jalsa Salana, in the town of Diamniadio, not far from Dakar. More than three thousand people showed up, coming from over three hundred villages across all fourteen Senegalese regions, and even some delegates from nearby Gambia showed up, led by their Missionary in Charge, Mahmood Ahmad Tahir. The guy running the local show, Maulana Basharat Naveed Amir, who got the top missionary job for Senegal back in May from the global leader, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, spoke about why they do this. He said the whole point is to bring people together, help new members feel connected, and push for more religious learning and personal spiritual development, while also taking time to remember members who died that year.
The event is a really old tradition that started with the founder of the whole movement, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, way back in 1891. The local leader, Maulana Naveed, has worked in a bunch of places before Senegal, like Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Mauritius, and Union Island, and he even helped get the first Ahmadiyya radio station going in Burkina Faso over two decades ago. The convention wrapped up with final comments from the global head of the Ahmadiyya community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who was speaking to three of these Jalsa events happening at the same time in different countries, including India and Guinea-Bissau, alongside the one in Senegal.
This Ahmadiyya group was originally founded in 1889 by that same Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from Qadian, India, who said he was the promised messiah and imam. He died in 1908, and the community is now led by a series of spiritual successors, with the current one being that fifth caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad. The whole community focuses on getting its message out worldwide, which they believe was predicted by their founder.
The event is a really old tradition that started with the founder of the whole movement, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, way back in 1891. The local leader, Maulana Naveed, has worked in a bunch of places before Senegal, like Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Mauritius, and Union Island, and he even helped get the first Ahmadiyya radio station going in Burkina Faso over two decades ago. The convention wrapped up with final comments from the global head of the Ahmadiyya community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who was speaking to three of these Jalsa events happening at the same time in different countries, including India and Guinea-Bissau, alongside the one in Senegal.
This Ahmadiyya group was originally founded in 1889 by that same Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from Qadian, India, who said he was the promised messiah and imam. He died in 1908, and the community is now led by a series of spiritual successors, with the current one being that fifth caliph, Mirza Masroor Ahmad. The whole community focuses on getting its message out worldwide, which they believe was predicted by their founder.
