Published on May 11 2011 

MKA Islamabad Region organised an exhibit on the Holy Qur'an at Surrey University on 11th May 2011 which included over 30 different translations on display, and many posters highlighting the beautiful teachings of the Holy Qur'an.

Hadhrat Ameerul Mumineen Khalifatul Masih Al-Khamis (atba) in his Friday Sermon delivered on 25^th March 2011 instructed the Jama’at to hold exhibitions about the Holy Qur'an so that the world is made aware of its beautiful teachings.  To act upon this instruction of Huzur Aqdas (atba), an exhibition was arranged in the lecture theatres concourse of the University of Surrey, Guildford on 11^th May 2011. The event was arranged with the cooperation of Regional Qaid Islamabad (Naseer Shams Sahib), local president Aldershot Jama’at (Luqman Chaudhry Sahib), Regional Amir Islamabad (Ahsan Ahmedi Sahib), and Regional Missionary Islamabad (Mubarik Basra Sahib).

The planning of this event began by contacting the conferences office at Surrey University to seek permission to arrange an exhibition on various translations of the Holy Qur'an which our Jama’at has produced.  It was highlighted that since university students come from all around the globe, the ability to see a translation of the Holy Qur'an in their native language would be of interest to them. The URL of the Jama’at’s official website (www.alislam.org) was also sent to them to give them the opportunity to learn more about our Jama’at.  The authorities in the University happily provided the permission to hold this exhibition without any charge.  

The National Secretary Ishaat (Arshad Ahmedi Sahib) was contacted to provide 35 translations of the Holy Qur'an (including English Braille for the blind), 10 copies of the Selected Verses of the Holy Qur'an, and 5 copies of the English translation by Hadhrat Maulvi Sher Ali Sahib (ra).  Several posters about Qur'anic teachings were also made available for display.  

To advertise the event a flyer and poster was prepared.  Posters were displayed at various places of gathering in the University one day before the event and leaflets were handed out as students were leaving University. Leaflets were also distributed on the morning of the event when people were coming to the University at main pedestrian entrances.  One day before the event, leaflets were also dropped in student courts of residence in their pigeon holes.  In total, about 1000 leaflets were distributed.

The exhibition ran from 09:30 HRS to 16:30 HRS in the afternoon.  Below is a list of the translations that were displayed:

Chinese, Russian, Gujarati, Greek, Kannada, Hausa, Japanese, Marathi, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Malasian, Manipuri, Assames, Kikuyu, Oriya, Tagalog, Danish, Czech, Dutch, Portuguese, Tamil, Vietnamese, Nepali, Telugu, Korean, Hindi, Igbo, Italian, Bosnian, German, Maori, Creole, Urdu, Uzbek, English, Braille (English).

The turnout at the exhibition was quite positive.  Hundreds of students went through the exhibition during the day, with around 40 actively visiting the stands, taking a look at various translations and posters.  Three copies of the English translation were given out on the day and we received requests for an additional six translations (see below) which will be sent to them.

The Holy Qur’an translations requested by students:

Portuguese, 2 requests

Spanish, 1 requests

Russian, 1 requests

Dutch, 1 requests

Yoruba, 1 requests

We also distributed about 10 copies of the Selected Verses of the Holy Qur'an in English, as well as a number of “Love For All Hatred For None” campaign leaflets.

Alhamdulillah, the exhibition was a success and we hope and pray that those that took advantage of the information on display and who engaged in conversation with our exhibition team will benefit by seeing and appreciating the true and beautiful teachings of The Holy Qur’an.