![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/uks-largest-islamic-convention-sees-40000-muslims-stand-shoulder-to-shoulder/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/0_JS306863058.jpg&description=The start of the UK's largest Muslim convention saw 40,000 people stand shoulder to shoulder as they self-reflect and focus on spiritual goals for the coming year Around 40,000 Muslims stood shoulder to shoulder as they attended the first day of the UK's largest Islamic convention. People travelled far and wide, with some visitors coming from abroad for the Jalsa Salana, which began on Friday and ends on Sunday. The annual convention, now in its 57th year, offers people the chance to come together to "self-reflect" and "focus on spiritual goals for the coming year". Jalsa Salana, which took place in Hampshire, was organised with the help of 5,000 volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which is deemed to be the fastest growing sect within Islam. The convention features several highly symbolic services and sermons from the leader, or Caliph, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. Fraz Ahmad, 19, a law student travelled from Bradford for the convention, said: "I think it's really important to remove the misconceptions around Islam and change the narrative, change the perspective, that people have upon it. By people coming here and having a look at what true Islam looks like, and what we believe Islam is about, that's the only way that narrative is going to change." Sarah Ward, 43, a primary school teacher from south-west London, also attended the "diverse" convention. "We know, as Muslim women, we're very diverse, we're not monolith, we're from different backgrounds, we have different skills, we have different passions, we do different jobs, but we come together as one community", she says. Sarah adds: "We're united under our Caliph, and it's really nice to see that diversity yet that unity that's there. As much as Jalsa changes - in that the marquees might be bigger or we might have more facilities - the essence of why we come to Jalsa is exactly the same. "We come here to listen to the speeches of our Caliph, to self-reflect, to self-){kind=link}
The start of the UK’s largest Muslim convention saw 40,000 people stand shoulder to shoulder as they self-reflect and focus on spiritual goals for the coming year
Around 40,000 Muslims stood shoulder to shoulder as they attended the first day of the UK’s largest Islamic convention.
People travelled far and wide, with some visitors coming from abroad for the Jalsa Salana, which began on Friday and ends on Sunday. The annual convention, now in its 57th year, offers people the chance to come together to “self-reflect” and “focus on spiritual goals for the coming year”.
Jalsa Salana, which took place in Hampshire, was organised with the help of 5,000 volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which is deemed to be the fastest growing sect within Islam. The convention features several highly symbolic services and sermons from the leader, or Caliph, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad.
Fraz Ahmad, 19, a law student travelled from Bradford for the convention, said: “I think it’s really important to remove the misconceptions around Islam and change the narrative, change the perspective, that people have upon it. By people coming here and having a look at what true Islam looks like, and what we believe Islam is about, that’s the only way that narrative is going to change.”