Ahmadi missionaries defend and propagate Islam during Sweden’s Almedal Week 2022
Last updated on July 29, 2022
Kashif Virk, missionary, Sweden
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Sweden participated in this year’s “Almedal Week”, the most famous social and political event in Sweden that gathers major representatives from political parties and non-governmental organizations. This year’s event was attended by over 40,000 people.
Almedal Week is held on Gotland, which is the largest island in Sweden. The ferry trip to Gotland takes about three hours and the duration of the arrangement is five days.
Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Sweden participated and promoted Jamaat’s #FrågaEnMuslim (Ask a Muslim) campaign. With the permission of the Amir Sahib of Sweden, Wasim Zaffar Sahib, three missionaries embarked on this journey, including the Missionary in Charge, Agha Yahya Khan Sahib, Rizwan Ahmad Afzal Sahib and my humble self. The trip started in Gothenburg on July 4.
The caravan used carried the messages “Messiah has come”, “Ask a Muslim” and “Islam in the media”. By the grace of Allah, it attracted the attention of onlookers wherever it went.
In this year’s Almedal Week programme, many events had topics related to Islam in one way or another. For example, punishment for apostasy, religious free schools and so-called honor violence. In one of these incidents, a Christian apologist distorted Islam by misquoting verses of the Holy Qur’an. We happened to be nearby at that very moment and were able to respond to the speaker and present the true message of Islam to the audience. This left the speaker speechless.
We also visited a stand whose theme was to criticize injustice in Muslim countries. When we visited the stall and discussed with the organizers that what is happening in the Muslim world does not represent the true teachings of Islam, the screen at their stall started showing a video where Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vah spoke at a conference on religious freedom in Britain. This was another sign of divine intervention, and we were thus able to present the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community more effectively.
During our stay we met with representatives from various political parties and non-governmental organizations and presented the true teachings of Islam. Our stand received very positive feedback from the visitors and two members of parliament also came to visit. We also highlighted our stalls on various social media platforms.
The readers of Al Hakam are asked to pray that may Allah the Almighty make it possible for us to spread the true teachings of Islam in Sweden. Is in.