Published on May 10 2010 by Tommy Kallon, Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK

My Dear and Respected Chairman, Distinguished Guests, Charity Representatives, Respected Elders, Ladies and Gentlemen, My Dear Brothers of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association.

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu. May the Almighty Lord make you all the recipients of His peace, mercy and blessings!

It is a tremendous honour and privilege for me, as President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, to welcome you to the Charity Challenge 2010.

I am especially pleased that the weather has held out today. I must say, being prepared for the weather was one of the critical challenges in the organisation of this event. In fact, when I asked one of my colleagues to look into contingencies in case the weather deteriorated, he came back to me with an interesting solution.

Apparently, he said, running shoes are significantly more technologically advanced these days. The newest model of running shoes, he said, was so advanced that it could predict the weather. I was intrigued indeed. “How do they work?” I asked. “Well… ” he said, “what you need to do is leave your running shoes outside the window for a little while… if they get wet it's raining… if they stay dry it's sunny… and if you can’t see them you can be pretty sure it's foggy.”

To be fair what is far more important is that he took the time, with his magic shoes I should add, to participate and raise funds for charity, especially in this most beautiful and historic of venues.

It was on this very day in 1386 that the alluring charm of Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, became the focal point for a momentous pact. The Treaty of Windsor, a significant accord between Britain and Portugal which is still in force today was signed in that very Castle between these two great nations. Ultimately it was to facilitate a higher purpose: the freedom from strife.

Today, in this same great town, the struggle for freedom from strife continues in a different form as we, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, persist in our humble but proud tradition. That is the service to humanity and to the many wonderful British charities who share our passion.

Today at one of our flagship annual events, my heart glows as I see so many gathered together as one. Regardless of creed, colour or caste, in common with each other, spirits have been charged with a universal desire to help and support those who are disadvantaged. We stand united sharing a single altruistic ideal – that we shall, together, help and support those of God’s creation who are less fortunate. And that we shall do so as though they were our own flesh and blood.

And so, I must start my address by expressing my profound gratitude and appreciation to all those participants who, with such passion and grace, have contributed to the achievements and success of the Charity Challenge 2010. You have walked, jogged and sprinted in the hope that you can raise money for the underprivilegd and the marginalised. You have given freely out of what is yours, in time, effort and money and have symbolised a priceless message. That more than the fastest time or the largest trophy, the true winners have been those who, with no request for reward or recompense, with no desire for thanks or praise, compete with each other to be the most righteous. You are the true servants of your beloved Lord Who has said of you in the Holy Qur’an:

“They feed, for the love of Him, the poor, the orphan and the prisoner, saying, ‘we feed you for Allah’s pleasure only. We desire no thanks nor praise from you.’” (Ch.76:Vs.9-10)

The beneficiaries of your efforts are diverse and deserving. Every penny donated will go towards helping vulnerable, abused and sick children, for disaster relief, for victims of leukaemia and other blood disorders, for victims of cancer, for those with brain injuries and other neurological diseases, for helping the blind and for the support of those who have served in the Armed Forces. It is my prayer that God grants you all His choicest blessings and rewards you abundantly for your efforts and sacrifices.
 
It is important also to mention the efforts and sacrifices made in organising this event by the hundreds of volunteers over the course of the last few months. Their hard work has been considerable and momentous.

I record my profound thanks to the Chairman Charity Challenge 2010, Usman Ahmad and his team, who have worked industriously to develop and manage the many worksteams that form the organisational structure of the Charity Challenge. I would also like to thank the Head of our Middlesex Region, Regional Qaid Imran Mirza and his team who have similarly worked tremendously hard to put in order the many practical arrangements that underlie the Charity Challenge.

The many volunteers that I have not named are, of course, the most important. Volunteers from every walk of life that have worked tirelessly and relentlessly over a period of months, rolling up their sleeves and bringing with them energy, faith and devotion. They have relinquished time away from their work, studies, parents, spouses and their children and sacrificed, in many cases, their own funds to make this event possible. Each and every one of you occupies a special place in my prayers.

I also acknowledge the presence here of Cliff Law, Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police Service and thank him for being with us today.

I would also like to extend our gratitude to all our other guests who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to attend this event today. Many local businesses, sponsors and media have been supportive and encouraging of our endeavours, contributing not only by way of donations but also in publicising the event and our work positively and extensively. I thank you all.

Angie Luyten and the team at Beaumont House, this most beautiful of venues, have been as superb as the picturesque surroundings that they have been so kind to host us in. They have been helpful and accommodating, demonstrating consummate professionalism despite the complicated nature of our many requests. I acknowledge, with deepest gratitude, all your efforts.

In planning the route and preparing for the event we drew valuable assistance from the local council. Bill Cathcart, in particular, the Crown Estates Park Superintendant has been fantastic. He not only provided us with the use of the Windsor Great Park, he also provided us with his guidance and expertise. The opportunity to hold our Charity Challenge in this picture perfect setting which is so beautifully maintained is a wonderful one. I also thank the Police Service for their support and assistance.

To our charity representatives who have taken the time to join and help us today, I thank you not only for your attendance but also for your outstanding charitable and humanitarian endeavours. Save the Children, Great Ormond Street Hospital, the NSPCC, Humanity First, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability and Barnardo’s. Combined, you have directly served the needy and their families for hundreds of years. Grasping their fears and vulnerabilities, you give them hope and peace and you do so in an unrelenting service to mankind that is truly inspiring. You have been longstanding friends and supporters of our Youth Association and I am pleased that for so many years we have been able to work together.

I must avail myself of this opportunity to welcome our new charities who I similarly hope we will be working with for many years to come. The Royal National Institute for the Blind is one of the world’s foremost champions for the blind. We share your passion and, with your assistance, our community translated the Holy Qur’an into Braille which now sits proudly in your library. We are delighted to support you.

I also welcome the Royal British Legion. This is another outstanding charity recognised by their annual poppy appeal. Through their tireless work they have done much by way of financial, social and emotional support for those who have served in the British Armed Forces and their families. There are some Muslims groups who, in the name of propaganda, have sought to demonstrate on the streets of Wootton Bassett as departed British soldiers return to their final resting place. We demonstrate here today that that has no basis in Islam. We are proud to support the Legion and proud they have joined us here today.

All our charities, by the eloquence of your example, you transcend the barriers of language, culture, ethnicity and race to demonstrate what it means to oblige your fellow man. Whilst the global economic climate has caused inflections of gloom and promoted self interest, by the willingness to put others before yourselves, you demonstrate the span of your compassion. May God bless you all profoundly.

I would like to thank Lateef Khan Sahib, the Regional Amir for our community in Middlesex for his invaluable assistance in organising this event.

Of course, I am also very grateful to our Respected National Amir for the support and counsel we continually receive. I thank Amir Sahib also for having spared his most valuable time to be with us here today in spite of the very many engagements that occupy his incredibly busy schedule. Many of our guests and perhaps youngsters even would not know that you once occupied this office I now hold and that it was under your tutelage that many of the foundations of the Charity Challenge were held. It is my hope Amir Sahib that you remain proud of us even as we stand in awe of your achievements.

I would be remiss in my duty here today if I did not express our sincere gratitude to His Holiness, Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Fifth Khalifa and Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, for His continued prayers in our favour, for his guidance and inspiration, for his love and encouragement. It is truly his love and encouragement which enlivens our spirits and inspires us to greater service for the good of man; it is his continued support and encouragement which replaces our weariness with enthusiasm. Due to manifold and multifarious engagements, he cannot be with us here today yet he has been gracious and loving enough to send the following brief message to all the participants:

“O ye evergreen sapplings of the Promised Messiah.

“Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.

“The Holy Qur’an teaches us to vie with one another in good works (2:149) and one of the best works is to help mankind and relieve its suffering.

“I pray Allah enables all participants to complete the Charity Challenge and thus continue to serve mankind. Amin.

Signed
Mirza Masroor Ahmad
Khalifatul Masih V”

I now take a moment to give thanks and praise by way of humble gratitude to our God, the Fountainhead of Limitless Grace, the Plenitude of Mercies, Who has so lovingly honoured us with countless opportunities to serve Him. Nothing, including this event, would have been possible without His infinite blessings. We laud Him; we invoke His blessings on His Noble Prophet.

Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s Charity Challenge is a particularly special one. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Assocation’s Charity Challenge. For a quarter of a century our Youth Association has been raising money for British charities; for a quarter of a century we have been financing this event from our own funds – a significant amount on our annual expenditure budget I should add – so that every single penny raised from it is donated to charity. We are proud, in that time, to have raised more than a million pounds for most worthy causes.

Yet whilst we take pride in this modest achievement we must keep in mind that unspoken truism that service to humanity means far more than raising large sums of money.

Today’s event is, therefore, but one aspect of a programme of humanitarian activities and environmental work which the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association undertakes on a regular basis under the auspices of a dedicated national department. We organise large scale blood donation drives in partnership with the National Blood Service, make regular hospital visits to provide gifts to the elderly and sick children, work extensively to support and feed the homeless and run local and national charity awareness campaigns. Our environmental work includes litter cleaning in public paths, tree plantation projects with local councils and mobile phone recycling. And so these 25 years do not merely represent 25 Charity Challenges; they represent thousands of days of dutiful submissions in the service of mankind.

The Charity Challenge, however, does hold a profound meaning for the members of this Youth Association. Together the words “Charity” and “Challenge” refer to a single event, yet individually, each word underpins a far more insightful obligation. We congregate not merely to raise funds once a year but rather to grasp the most authentic challenge of all – that is to incorporate charity as part of the very fabric of our being not just today, but every day.

In understanding what charity means we take guidance and direction from the profound wisdom of the Holy Prophet of Islam, His Holiness, Muhammad (saw). According to him, rather than mere financial sacrifice, charity is, at its root, a much broader principle. Whether rich or poor, able bodied or disabled, blind or sighted, to be truly charitable is to unearth the unsullied emblem of goodness. The Holy Prophet (saw) taught that charity means to enjoin the good and forbid evil, to offer sound advice or a kind word, to smile at your brother, to listen to the aggrieved, to guide the blind, to show the seeker his way, to clear a path of harmful things, to carry the burden of the weak and to give succour to one in need. These words are more than a mere lexicon; they are a formula for universal peace and brotherhood among mankind.

So what you see in the actions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is the pristine and peaceful message of Islam. We represent a renaissance of the true Islam that was so beautifully practised by the Holy Prophet (saw) and his illustious companions. It is a renaissance initiated by the Holy Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) was a faithful and a devoted servant of Islam. In a small town in India some 120 years ago, under Divine command, he proclaimed that he had been appointed by God Almighty as the voice articulate of this age and that he is the Messiah and Mahdi foretold in the Traditions of the Holy Prophet (saw). He claimed that the prophecies contained in various religious books about the advent of a Divine Messenger in the latter days were fulfilled in his person and that his mission was to repristinate Islam and divest it of all false appurtenances.

A man of tremendous humility and generosity, he is known to have given away a great deal of his possessions, even his own clothes, to those in need. He came to greatness reluctantly under a grand prophecy pledging that his message, the message of true Islam, would spread to the corners of the earth. Under the guidance of his elected Successors or Khalifas, the fulfilment of that glorious prophecy has seen the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community spread to 195 countries of the world with its membership in millions. Our motto, ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’, is a simplistic yet highly effective modus vivendi.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association seeks to propound this beautiful tenet not merely in words but as part of the genetic constitution that permeates our every action. Our slogan ‘A nation cannot be reformed without first reforming its youth’  is no credo of convenience. It is a guiding principle that inspires a social, moral and spiritual edification, induces a measure of character in our youth and instills in us, as enjoined by our faith, love for and loyalty to our country and nation.

That love and loyalty has manifested itself in the philanthropic service to our fellow countrymen; that love and loyalty has inspired decades of service to Britain; that love and loyalty has lead to charitable works so numerous that our progression into becoming a registered charity has become a natural and necessary transformation.

On this auspicious occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Charity Challenge, therefore, I am incredibly proud and pleased to announce that, by the grace and mercy of Allah, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association has itself, recently, become a UK registered charity in its own right.

I hasten to add that rather than signaling a downgrading of our ongoing support for all of the charities that are with us today, it signals an escalation of our work with you. We look forward to greater levels of support for you, further solidifying the long term foundations of co-operation that we have built and maintaining our unison in the service of humanity.

So as this new era of the Youth Association begins, so too does an even greater determination to rise to new heights in our charitable endeavours that will be measured not by the depth of our pockets but by the scale of our humanity. We will combine conviction with compassion; we will combine tenacity with generosity. Our faith is resolute and our optimism infinite.

As the troublesome cracks in our diverse and complicated world seek to divide us we, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Associtation, will endeavour to transcend manmade differences and bring harmony where there is discord, brotherhood where there is enmity and unity where there is division. We shall do so through our words and by our actions conveying the pristine message of Islam delivered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw).

We will challenge, with reason and intellectual debate, those who blame religion for the troubles of world for it is our faith in Islam that has joined us here today and it is our faith in Islam that has inspired us to support the many beneficiaries who we have never met. And that faith, when practised in its pure and true form, can transcend all barriers to create universal accord among men.

We stand here humble yet convinced that the One God who created goodness in every man also created a value system in the form of the religion of Islam for the manifestation of man’s innate desire to do good. We fully understand the extent to which this religion has been misrepresented by those who have committed enormities in its fair name. We, on the other hand, realise that a closed fist can neither open the jammed door nor shake the hand of our fellow man. Our palms are open and we, as true Muslims, use it to open the door of understanding between the world and Islam and to extend the hand of friendship to every people who seek peace and goodwill.

And so, I close with these words of admonition for my fellow members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Assocation. In this new era of our history, let us take every opportunity to promote charity and to advance the welfare and well-being of man; let us take every opportunity to relieve poverty, sickness and suffering of those affected; let us, in the service of God and His creation, take every opportunity to sustain our determination and our courage, to renew our fervour and our dedication, to nourish our spirits and our faith so that the illusive dream of a united mankind can be transformed from a hollow yearning to a glowing reality.

May Allah so ordain and bless you all profoundly!

Respected Chairman, ladies, gentlemen. Thank you for having me.

Wassalamu Alaikum.