Every Jalsa is special, very special! Three days of prayers behind our beloved Huzoor (atba), the privilege of listening to the Friday sermon and Huzoor’s (atba) other speeches, speeches from distinguished guests, the special Jalsa food and the joy of being reunited once more with friends and family from all around the world. These are but a few examples of what makes our Jalsa so special.
However, this year is a particularly special Jalsa for us; it is the 50th Jalsa in the UK, and we are lucky to play host to thousands of people from around the world. Preparations for this special Jalsa commenced months ago for some, weeks ago for others, including a small group of Lajna and Nasirat.
This small group of women and girls have a special task to prepare for; composing and practicing taranas in various languages to present to Huzoor (atba) following the speech at the Ladies’ Jalsa Gah. This is our chance to give something small back to Huzoor (atba).
This year, we started preparing and practicing soon after Ramadhan, with our ladies travelling from as far as Birmingham, Kent and Wembley to meet at Baitul Futuh, exhausting our vocal chords to make our taranas sharp, succinct and melodious. This is by no means a small feat; trying to get our voices to all flow harmoniously together, while trying to grasp different languages such as Chinese, Bosnian and Turkish, amongst others!
Several practices later and we are here, the morning of Jalsa Salana UK day two, about to take our seats in the green area in front of Huzoor (atba). This year we have gone an extra mile for our 50th Jalsa Celebrations; our little Nasirat are wearing bright green hijabs and the Lajna are in dark green, the colour of Islam. We are all wearing badges designed and created by our in charge, Mrs Mateen Bhatti, who has created these beautiful keepsakes for us with her family, as well as coordinating us all.
Despite all the different ethnicities and nationalities, the different ages and other duties we hold, we are ultimately joint in our faith. We are Ahmadi Muslims and we are excited to read in front of our Beloved Huzoor (atba). Our short presentation signifies the diversity of our Jamaat.
There is no greater feeling than seeing Huzoor (atba) and our Apa Jaan smiling at us, and allowing us to take up Huzoor’s (atba) valuable time as he listens to each Tarana. All those hours of practice and millions of whatsapp messages to each other are all worth it. The whole of the Ladies side have joined in with us, enjoying the old “La Illaha’s” in different languages.
We hope you enjoyed our Taranas! Jalsa Mubarak to you all.
