Report - 22nd National Ijtema (Annual Gathering) Australia 2005
Majlise Khuddamul Ahmadiyya, Australia

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Introduction

Attendance

	Khuddam	Attafal	Total
Day 1	192	79	271
Day 2	253	76	329
Day 3	230	73	303

Day One

Flag Hoisting Ceremony

After Friday prayers on the 30th of September, everyone gathered outside the mosque at 2pm for the flag hoisting ceremony. Both the Australian and the Khuddamul Ahmadiyya flags were hoisted, which was then followed by the Khuddam Tarana led by Syed Fawaz Ahmad. After this, the Australian National Anthem was sung by members of Atfalul Ahmadiyya, the young boys auxiliary. It was a beautiful sight, seeing the two flags fluttering in the wind with the mosque standing in the background. Ameer and Missionary Incharge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia, Maulana Mahmood Ahmad then led silent prayers and after that everyone made their way inside the mosque for the start of the first session of the Ijtema.

Opening Session

The 1st session of this 22nd National Ijtema was chaired by the President of Majlise Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Australia, Amzad Habib Khan. The session began at 2:30pm with the recitation of the Holy Quran with Urdu translation by Rana Qasim. Then the Khuddam pledge was read out by all the Khuddam lead by the president. After this, a nazm (religious poem) was melodiously read by Fakhr Anwar. The nazm was written by Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, the 2nd Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Movement worldwide and the theme of the nazm was "love of God."

This was followed by the opening address of the Ijtema by Mr. Amzad Habib. In this address, he advised the host Khuddam in Sydney to take care of the Khuddam guests from inter-state. He further advised Khuddam to actively take part in all the competitions and to attend all the sessions in the Ijtema. In light of competing with each other in good spirit, worthy president read out a quote of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) in which he said that:

"We do not desire such a victory which should come at the cost of morals."

Finally, Amzad Khan prayed for the success of the Ijtema and he hoped that all the Khuddam would learn something useful and positive from this Gathering. The opening session ended with the president leading silent prayers.

2nd Session

The 2nd session was made up of religious knowledge competitions. The Qirat (Quran recitation) and the Hifze Quran (Quran memorization) competitions were held simultaneously to start off the session. The Qirat competition was judged by Mr Khalid Saifullah, the Deputy Ameer of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Australia, who highlighted the common mistakes Khuddam made in the pronunciation of some words of the Holy Quran. The Hifze Quran competition was judged by Rana Qasim and Rana Sohail. After these two competitions were completed, a tea break was taken.

Khuddam came back after the tea break at 4:45pm for the Religious Knowledge (Deeni Maloomat) Competition. This was conducted by Mr Khalid Saifullah. Each team had 3 members and the questions were from the book "Life of Muhammad," which Khuddam had read and studied before hand. Waheed Ahmad was the time and score keeper of this competition. After 10 rounds of grilling, Majlis (Unit) Al-Noor from Sydney came out on top.

The next competition was Bait Bazi (traditional poetry competition). This was judged by Usman Khan and the time/score keeper was Rana Ejaz. Each team consisted of 5 members. The team to go first say a couplet from a nazm (religious poem). Then the next team has to respond with a couplet starting from the letter with which the verse the previous team said ended. The same applies for the third team and this cycle keeps going until one team cannot respond with any couplete starting with that letter. After several rounds of rapid verse volleying, Majlis Brisbane emerged victorious.

After these intense competitions, Maghrib and Isha prayers were offered and then dinner was served. Majlise Shura was conducted after dinner in the upper hall of the mosque, while the wrist wrestling and table tennis competitions were held in the lower hall. After an eventful day, most Khuddam slept over at the mosque.

Day Two

The 2nd day of the Ijtema began at 3:45am, with Khuddam waking up to the call of Tahajjud (early morning prayer). Then Fajr (morning) prayer was offered followed by a short Dars (talk with references). Then breakfast was served to all Khuddam, as everyone had to re-energise themselves for the long and busy day ahead.

The first sports event that took place was the Marathon Race, which was approximately 5kms. After this race, the volleyball and cricket competition preliminary rounds were held. These were followed by the shot put and long jump competitions.

After a morning full of physical activities, Zuhr and Asr prayers were offered and then a well-deserved lunch was served to everyone.

The next session of the Ijtema commenced at 2:00pm. This session was chaired once again by the President (Sadr Sahib) of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Australia, Amzad Habib Khan. The audience were also fortunate to have the presence of Mr. Alan Cadman (Federal MP for Mitchell) in this session. The session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran by Qamar Ahmad Chohan. The English translation was then presented by Syed Tariq Ahmad. Then Sadr Sahib delivered a speech, giving a brief introduction of Hon. Alan Cadman and thanking him for accepting our invitation. He then briefly outlined the activities of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Australia.

The next speech was by Javed Ahmedi, which was basically an introduction of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement. This was followed by another speech by Ehsanul Haque Alvi (Unit Leader of Majlis Queensland), whose topic was Islam and Jihad. He highlighted among other things that the biggest Jihad is to devote oneself for the well being of fellow humans and not take up weapons or force in the name of relogion.

Then our guest speaker, Hon. Alan Cadman presented his views to the audience. He first thanked Sadr Sahib for inviting him to this Gathering and then mentioned that the teachings of the Ahmadiyya Community are mutually shared by the majority of Australia. He then advised the Khuddam (young men) to stay away from the evils of society, which would cause destruction for their futures. He mentioned that the youth are the future of the nation, so they should listen and honour their parents, try to be leaders and set good example for others to follow.
This session was concluded by Sadr Sahib leading silent prayers

The next event in the Ijtema was the Nazm Competition. This was followed by the Spontaneous Speech Competition, where topics were given on the spot to contestants. They had 2 minutes to think about what to say and then present a speech for 2-3 minutes. This interesting competition was chaired by Ramzan Sharif and there were 4 judges: Khalid Saifullah, Mumtaz Maqbool, Idrees Khan and Amjad Khan.

After this, Khuddam made their way outside the mosque for the Volleyball semis and final. In the final, Majlis Adelaide totally outplayed Majlis Al-Sadaqat to win the game convincingly in 2 sets.
Maghrib and Isha prayers were offered after volleyball and then the Tug-Of-War Competition took place, in which Majlis Al-Nasir overpowered Majlis Adelaide in the final to take out first place.

Dinner was served to everyone next and then Khuddam went back into the mosque for the Speech Competition (English and Urdu). This competition.

Then Majlis-e-Shura was continued from the previous night and at the same time, the table tennis semis and final took place, which brought the 2nd day to a close.

Day Three

The day began with Tahajjud prayers again at 3:45am again, followed by Fajr prayers and a short dars. Then after breakfast, the cricket final took place between Majlis Al-Sadaqat and Majlis Al-Nasir. It was a tight contest, but in the end Majlis Al-Sadaqat got the 88 runs to win with 2 balls to spare.

After this, Khuddam left for the soccer grounds. The 100 metre race took place first and then the soccer games began. After the preliminary rounds and the semis, Majlis Al-Nasir and Majlis Al-Sadaqat met in the final, to renew their rivalry. It was an intense contest in the scorching heat, however it was not as close as expected, with Majlis Al-Sadaqat beating Majlis Al-Nasir easily 3 goals to nil.

Then Khuddam returned to the mosque for lunch. After satisfying their hunger, everyone offered Zuhr and Asr prayers.

Closing Session

The final session of the 22nd National Ijtema was chaired by the Ameer and Missionary Incharge, Maulana Mahmood Ahmad. This session began with the recitation of the Holy Quran with translation by Nasir Ahmad Sharma. This was followed by a nazm, which was beautifully delivered by Mujjeb-Ur-Rehman Sanauri.

Then Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Australia, Amzad Habib Khan presented the Annual Report. Before highlighting each shoba (department), Sadr Sahib also thanked all the volunteers for the efforts and sacrifices they put in to organise and run the Ijtema.

Following the annual report, the prize distribution ceremony was held. Atfalul Ahmadiyya carried out their Ijtema during these 3 days as well, so their prize distribution took place at this time as well. The Khuddam trophies were given first by Mr Khalid Saifullah (Deputy Ameer) and this ceremony was conducted by Mashood Bajwa (Vice Persident Majlise Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Australia). Then the Atfal trophies were given by Nasir Kahloon (Deputy Ameer 2nd). The Atfal prizes distribution was conducted by Mujeeb-Ur-Rehman Sanauri.

There were special prizes given this year for the first time for the best performing Majlis in Maal (Finances), Waqare Amal (Volunteer Work), Tabligh (Preaching) and Tarbiyyat departments. Finally, the main prize, which is the Alme Inami (the Flag), which goes to the best performing Majlis overall was awarded and this year Majlis Brisbane took this prize away.

Finally, worthy Ameer Australia delivered his concluding speech, which covered a variety of issues, which are briefly highlighted below:

In conclusion, worthy Ameer congratulated Majlise Khuddamul Ahmadiyya for this successful Ijtema and advised guests to take care on their trips back to their destinations. By the Grace of Allah, this 22nd National Ijtema was successful and memorable event. It all came to an end at 5:30pm on the 2nd of October.

Worthy Ameer Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Australia lead the conluding silent prayers.