Intro
The ROR of Jan-1938 reports that the 1937 Jalsa at Qadian was held and 30,000 people attended. Other Ahmadiyya sources claims that around 28,000 people attended this Jalsa. During the course of the Jalsa, Chaudhry Sir Zafarulla Khan spoke of his suggestion (to gift the Khalifa with 300,000 rupees), at the 1939 Jalsa Salana at Qadian. The suggestion was later finalized, written and approved by the 2nd Khalifa. The 2nd Khalifa delivered a speech entitled “The true revolution”, in which he took an oath from Ahmadi men that they would give women a share of their inheritance. The Jalsa was held in the complex of the Talim ul Islam High School, loud speakers were also used.
Maulvi Abdur Rahim Nayyar gave a speech on “The History and Progress of the Ahmadiyya Movement”. Professor Qazi Muhammad Aslam also gave a speech. Zafarulla Khan gave speech to the youth.
The 2nd Khalifa gave another speech on the 2nd day and told the community about the new missions of Ahmadiyya in Poland, Yugoslavia (could be modern day Serbia) and South America (most likely Argentina). The 2nd Khalifa also mulled over the big political decision, should his jamaat join the Muslim League or the Congress? The Congress wouldn’t give full freedom of tabligh, and thus, the Khalifa was leaning towards the Muslim League.
Other speakers were, Maulana Ghulam Rasool Rajeki, Maulana Abul Ata, Sheikh Muhammad Yusuf, Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, Malik Abdur Rahman Khadim.
A separate area was made for the ladies to have their Jalsa, the 2nd Khalifa gave them special time also.
Mentioning the Jalsa Salana Qadian 1937, the same newspaper reported under the heading “Ahmadiyya Conference: 46th Annual Session Opens at Qadian—History of Movement Outlined”:
“Qadian, Dec. 27.
“With a stirring appeal to the audience to have confidence in the latent powers and wonderful capacities with which human nature was imbued and to trust in God, who was the giver of these powers, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad[ra], head of the Ahmadiyya community, opened the 46th annual session of the Ahrnadiyya Conference on Sunday morning in the presence of a very large gathering.
“The session will continue for three days in the course of which the head of the community will deliver two addresses, the first of which comprises a review of last year’s work of the community, missionary and otherwise, and the programme for the coming year.
“The subject of the second address will be literary. Fifteen more lectures will be delivered. Prominent among the lectures are Sir Zafrulla Khan[ra], Commerce Member, Government of India; Qazi Mohd Aslam, Professor, Government College, Lahore; Dr. Mufti Mohd. Sadiq[ra], a former missionary in England and America; Mr. Abdur Rahim Dard[ra], a former missionary in England and Africa, and Maulvi Abul-Ata[ra], a missionary in Palestine and the Near East.
“After recitation from the Quran, the head of the Ahmadiyya community, in the course of his inaugural address, briefly discussed the rise and fall of nations. Sacrifices and sufferings, he said, make a nation great. United front of opponents and sundry other trials and tribulations only go to tone up the validity and moral calibre of a living community, which has a grand mission before it.
“He recalled the humble origin of the annual gathering and its growth into an institution, attracting people from all quarters of the world. The cosmopolitan character of the audience bore testimony to its increasing popularity.
“He exhorted his followers to have unfailing faith in the truth of their mission and let no spirit of defeatism mar their determination.
“The service of humanity, he said, was the great purpose of man’s life, which made it worth living.
“Sir Zafrullah Khan[ra], in the course of his speech on ‘the responsibilities of Ahmadiyya youth,’ exhorted young Ahmadis to train and equip themselves, intellectually and physically, for the battle of life, firstly, by fully understanding what their movement stood for and, secondly, by living clean lives.
“‘Truthfulness, uprightness, punctuality, respect for law and authority, faithfulness to one’s obligations and above all, the realisation of the importance of time,’ he said, ‘are some of the qualities badly in need of being cultivated by our young men. Time is God’s most precious gift to man, more precious than air and light. It is the breath of life and should not, therefore, be wasted lightheartedly.’
“The Ahmadiyyas are a sect among Muslims whose distinctive feature is their missionary organisations in many countries. The head office is at Qadian and the head of the organisation is called Khalifa (successor to the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement) corresponding to the Khalifas of the Prophet Muhammad[sa], whose traditions they claim to have revived.
“The Ahmadiyyas claim to have a following of over 1,000,000, which they believe is quickly increasing as a result of their missionary activities bringing converts into their movement from every religion and from every country.
“Mostly living in India, the birth-place of the movement, the Ahmadiyyas claim to have co-religionists among the inhabitants of all Islamic countries, such as Afghanistan, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Turkey. Penetrating Europe, they have opened regular missions in Russia, Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Spain.
“The centre of the movement in England is a mosque in London built at a cost of £5,000. The foundation-stone of this mosque was laid by the present head of the community, Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad, in 1924, when he visited England in connection with the World Religious Conference. Besides this, the Ahmadiyyas have missions, schools and mosques in North and South America and Nigeria, Kenya, Tanganyika and many other places in Africa. In the East they have established missions at Sumatra, Java, the Straits Settlements, China and Japan.
“The annual conference, of which the present is the 46th session, was inaugurated by His Holiness Mirza Ghulam Ahmad[as] in 1891 and since then it has been held every year in Christmas Week, the only interruptions having been in 1893 and 1900.
“Started on a small scale, the conference has become very popular and every year, about 25,000 pilgrims go to Qadian from all parts of India, and abroad. Qadian, which is otherwise a small village with a population of 9,000, during the conference wears the appearance of town en jete, with tents, stalls and animal and industrial exhibitions. In view of the crowds which gathered every year during Christmas and—though on a smaller scale—during Easter, the railway authorities brought Qadian within the range of rail communication in 1928 by connecting it to Batala, 13 miles away.
“A separate, three-day conference for women is held in pardah. The gathering is generally well over 3,000.” (The Civil and Military Gazette, 28 December 1937, p. 5)
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