Why this Muslim festival begins with raising the Union Jack
By Arifa Khan
Islam teaches that “love for one’s nation” is a core part of the faith, a global Islamic leader has said before he joins 45,000 Muslims for a festival in Hampshire that starts on Friday with the raising of the Union Jack.
A YouGov survey commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which organises the event, found that 53 per cent of people in Britain believed “Islam is not compatible with British values”.
There was a stark age divide, however: 64 per cent of those aged over 50 held this view, while only 25 per cent of those aged under 25 agreed.
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Under-25s were more likely to believe Muslim immigrants had made a positive impact in Britain, as 37 per cent of them agreed and 25 per cent disagreed. Among those aged 50 to 64, 23 per cent felt there had been a positive impact compared with 46 per cent who felt it had been negative.
Islamic community leaders have stressed there is no “clash of civilisations” for British Muslims and hope the three-day Jalsa Salana, the UK’s largest annual gathering of Muslims, this weekend in Alton will illustrate this.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, caliph of the global community of more than ten million Ahmadi Muslims, said of the survey: “A well-known saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is that ‘love for one’s nation is a part of one’s faith’. Given this, how can it be suggested true Muslims are not loyal citizens or likely to sow seeds of division in society?
“I believe integration requires an immigrant to always seek the betterment of his adopted nation, to be ready for all sacrifices for it and to endeavour to serve his people with sincerity.”
The festival has received messages of support from the King and Sir Keir Starmer. The King said: “Please convey my warmest thanks to members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community for their loyal greetings.” He said he hoped the festival would be a “memorable event”, welcoming its “spirit of unity and peace”.
The prime minister said: “I am very much impressed by your message of peace, non-violence, respect for all and hatred for none. This event provides a wonderful opportunity to promote unity, harmony and mutual respect.”
The festival will include exhibitions, youth events, prayer sessions and a programme of speakers including the Pope’s ambassador to Britain, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, on Sunday plus Fleur Anderson, the Northern Ireland minister, and the MP Dame Siobhain McDonagh.
Fareed Ahmad, an executive with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said: “We have an [opening] ceremony where, symbolically, the British flag is raised as well as the Ahmadiyya flag. There’s a lot of discussion around Islamophobia and identities for Muslims and for our youth in particular, so this is just another way of reaffirming our bond and loyalty to our country.”
Azhar Chaudhry, from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s department for external affairs, said: “It’s instilled from a very early age that Islam is about service to humanity and also being loyal to your country. So for us as Muslims, it isn’t a conflict or a clash of civilisations.”
Organisers are expecting a record turnout for the 59th festival. Data shows a 27 per cent increase in attendees from Generation Z between 2022 and last year.
There are about 40,000 Ahmadi Muslims in the UK, around 1 per cent of the country’s Muslim population. Many are expected to fly in for the festival from around the world; those from India and Pakistan and from Israel and Iran have been asked to put aside any differences between their home nations for a festival focused on peacebuilding.
The Ahmadi denomination faces persecution in some countries including Pakistan, where adherents have been formally declared to be non-Muslims due to their belief that God sent a messiah in the 19th century in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
The Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Philip Mounstephen, said: “I’m very conscious of the pressures the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are under globally so I wanted to send them a message of support and solidarity and my best wishes for a very happy Jalsa Salana.”
Men and women will attend different programmes of speeches. Organisers said there were lots of prayer sessions, so the festival followed the practice in mosques of having separate spaces for men and women.
There will also be a place for families to discuss the arrangement of marriages. It has been described as “a respectful area where parents and boys and girls can meet in nice surroundings” to discuss matches.
Aged 31, Sabah Ahmadi is one of Britain’s youngest imams, having completed seven years of training at a seminary in the UK. He is known as the Young Imam on social media.
“It began at a tea shop,” he said, “just as a way to connect with young people, to talk about faith and give them a place to ask questions. The primary objective was to help non-Muslims understand a bit more about Islam and help them remove misconceptions they might have.
“At the same time, it’s been a source of help for young people to reach out, to talk about faith, any questions they might have about Islam, struggles they might be going through … with drug abuse, with relationships, even as simple as someone asking me for a prayer before they go into an exam.”
He said that at Jalsa Salana a farm would be turned into a “mini tent village”, adding: “I think the beauty of Jalsa is we have thousands of volunteers. My dad is going to be helping clean the toilets this year, along with other people, some of them will be Gen Z. There’ll be other people who are working in the [on-site baking] factory making 10,000 chapatis an hour. Right the way through to people working delivering water to different stations, working in the kitchens.”
In the Bread for Britain initiative attendees will bring freshly baked chapatis back to their home towns to donate to food banks.
