Published on Mar 14 2009 

Event: Neighbourhood Forum

Date: 07/12/08 

Venue: Al-Mahdi Mosque 

Alhamdolillah, MKA Bradford North arranged their first Neighbourhood Forum in the recently build Al-Mahdi Mosque on 7th December 2008.  The main purpose was to introduce the Jama’at to the area and show the local businesses and residents that we are a caring community. Invitation letters were sent to almost 50 residents and businesses in the area surrounding the mosque, of which 13 guests attended the event. 

The programme started at 4pm with the recitation of the Holy Quran, by Noor ul Haque. The President of Bradford North, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Sb welcomed all guests and gave a brief introduction of the Ahmadiyya Community and explained the differences between Ahmadis and Non-Ahmadis. 

This was followed by a Q/A session with the Regional Missionary, Maulana Bajwa Sb.  The guests were impressed by the teachings of the Promised Messiah (as) and the work that the Jama'at was doing around the world.  A highlight of the event was a tour of the stunning mosque, which the guests thoroughly enjoyed, as it was the first mosque many had seen.  Finally, delicious food was served at the end of the programme (the food that was left over was then donated to a local homeless refuge). 

Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Bradford North assisted in every way to make this programme run smoothly and successfully. A small Tabligh exhibition was set up and leaflets were given to all guests. One copy of the Holy Quran was also presented to a guest.  Contact details were taken from all guests for future Tabligh purposes. 

Overall, the programme lasted for 2 hours and by the grace of Allah the event proved to be very successful, as all the guests seemed very pleased at the end.  This programme played a vital role in changing their perception about the true teaching of Islam and removed many of their misconceptions. The general feedback from the guests was that they had never thought of Islam in this way and were delighted to see a different side of the religion as to what is shown in the media. 

The event was covered by the local newspaper and a few days later we also received a letter of gratitude from one of the guests. Copies have been attached to this report. 

Inshallah, we will be holding more events like this in the future so that the local people can see Ahmadiyyat as the True Islam. Ameen