Jalsa Salana

Jalsa Salana (Urdu: جلسہ سالانہ‎‎; English: Annual Gathering) is the formal, annual gathering of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community initiated by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the community who claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi of the end days. Usually, the gathering spans over three days, beginning on Friday after the Friday Sermon. Typically, the flag hoisting ceremony is used to identify its commencement. Although there is a central, international Jalsa attended by Ahmadis from across the world, many of the countries hold their own national jalsa, sometimes attended by the Khalifatul Masih.

In 1891, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian announced that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, as foretold by Muhammad. In the same year he decided to hold the first annual gathering - the Jalsa Salana - on 27, 28 and 29 December in Qadian, India. The total attendance was 75. In 1907, this number increased to 2000, shortly before the passing of Ghulam Ahmad. The Jalsa steadily grew and began attracting large crowds from across the entire sub-continent. The last Jalsa before partition in Qadian in 1946 saw a crowd of nearly 40,000 faithful. The Qadian Jalsa remains central to much of the community even now but lost in status as the international Ahmadiyya Muslim Convention in the year 1947 after the Indo-Pak partition.

Khilafat, the most venerated and universally accepted institution of authority moved to establish the community's International headquarters in the newly founded town of Rabwah. The International Jalsa of the Community continued to be held in the town of Rabwah and increased in size and influence. Meanwhile, national branches of the community outside the Sub-Continent began holding administratively separate Jalsas across the world with direct permission from Khilafat. The Khalifa would sometimes visit such Jalsas and give personal speeches at the conventions. Some of these conventions included, Jalsa Germany, Jalsa UK, Jalsa Canada, Jalsa USA and Jalsa Ghana. This number slowly increased around the world while in Pakistan, socio-political circumstances began to tighten for the community. With the arrival of Dictator Zia-ul-Haq and the infamous mandate of Ordinance XX the convention was banned in the year 1984 and has not been held in the country since then. The last convention held in Rabwah, in 1983, saw nearly 250,000 faithful Ahmadi Muslims attending and seeing one last time the face of their Khalifa in Pakistan. As the institution of Khilafat moved from Pakistan due to the intensifying persecution, so did the operating International HQ of AMJ.

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