My Dear PAAMA Family,
Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu!
As you will be aware and as mentioned by Huzoor Aqdas (aba) in his Friday Sermon today, on the night of Wednesday 11th January 2023, anti-Ahmadiyya terrorists, completely unprovoked, forcefully entered our mosque in Mahdi Abad, an Ahmadi-Muslim majority village near the town of Dori in the northern region of Burkina Faso and executed, in cold-blood, nine elder members of the Jama’at who had peacefully congregated there alongside other younger Jama’at members for sole purpose of observing Ishaa prayers. To my knowledge and recollection, this is the gravest act of murder of Ahmadi Muslims on our beloved continent of Africa and it is, no doubt, a time of profound sadness.
As we struggle to come to terms with this dreadful event, stories are beginning to emerge of the extraordinary steadfastness and exemplary courage shown by our Ahmadi brethren in Africa. The nine elders including the Imam were marched to the courtyard of the mosque. The terrorists demanded on the pain of death that Imam Alhaj Boureima Bidig Sahib denounce his faith in Islam Ahmadiyyat and when he fearlessly refused to do so, he was indeed shot dead on the spot.
They then proceeded, in turn, to give the same ultimatum to the other eight men. One after the other these gallant disciples of Ahmadiyyat, who perhaps had never met the Khalifa of the time, refused to disavow their faith and one by one they were shot and killed. As their killings took place, the martyrs exclaimed “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest) as their final words. Their martyrdom took place in the full view of the other worshippers including children. Devoted lovers of the Promised Messiah (as) who fell in his name while giving the ultimate testimony of faith and sacrifice as true Shuhada.
Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) had established and most appropriately named the Syedna Bilal Fund for the welfare of the families of Ahmadi martyrs and prisoners of conscience. While inviting members to contribute to this fund, Huzoor (rh) stressed that it was strictly on a voluntary basis adding that it was not a Scheme for Sadaqah as such. Rather whoever takes part in it will consider it an honour and admit that he has still not done enough.
One way of showing our solidarity with our fallen elders and brothers in Burkina Faso would therefore be by contributing to this noble fund. To do so, please visit https://chanda.org.uk/, select Syedna Bilal Fund from the Other 1, Other 2 or Other 3 dropdown list and complete your donation.
However, having witnessed our fellow Africans making the ultimate sacrifice, we the members of the global PAAMA family especially must now seek to emulate their spirit. Even in Africa, the enemies of Ahmadiyyat are emboldened and the responsibilities that have now befallen us are manifold and multifarious. Now more than ever, we must live out our pledge to give precedence to our faith over all worldly objects and, what is more, personify both the spirit and action required by it. Now more than ever, we must stand tall and leave no stone unturned in our service and sacrifice. Now more than ever, our supplications must be filled with fervour and sincerity.
The success of Ahmadiyyat under the Divine leadership of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat is guaranteed. No man or woman, no earthly power or military machine, no Trojan horse or force of nature can derail its momentum or delay its destiny. Ahmadiyyat is a caravan that will most certainly arrive!
But if Jama’at Ahmadiyya is to seize the day, we must make this a time for supplications, a time for service, a time for sacrifice. With resolute courage and determination, with resignation and patience, with steadfastness and endurance, and with undisturbed and serene humility, we must now propel forward the vanguard of PAAMA more rapidly than ever before, flying high the standard of Ahmadiyyat while propagating the universal message of true Islam.
This much we owe to our fallen brethren; this much we owe to our Jama’at; this much we owe to our Beloved Khalifa. Let this be the signature of every member of the global PAAMA family and let us never ever be found wanting in our sacred duty to Africa, Ahmadiyyat and Khilafat. May Allah so ordain and bless us all profoundly. Ameen.
Wassalam.
Yours humbly,
Tommy Kallon.
President PAAMA UK
