Absolute Justice – A Pathway to Peace

Annual Peace Conference, Den Haag, 2017

Click here for images of the event

Click here for the report in Urdu

On 17th November 2017, Majlis Ansarullah Nederland (Ahmadiyya Elders Association) organized its annual “Peace Conference”. The event was held at the Mubarak Mosque in The Hague, Nederland with an audience of more than 125 people, including more than 67 guests. The guests comprised members of non-governmental organizations, and from multiple religious denominations from a wide cross section of society. The theme of this year’s Peace Conference was “Absolute Justice – A Pathway to Peace”.

In these troubling times, we believe that bringing together people from various communities and from a different race, culture, social background, or faith to a single forum, plays it’s part in promoting justice and peace. It is a small step but an important one.

The Peace conference was chaired by Hibatun Noer Verhagen Sahib, Amir Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nederland and was represented by five major faiths in Nederland, along with speakers from various organisations. After the traditional recitation of the Holy Quran with English and Dutch Translation, Dr. Zubair Akmal – acting as moderator – introduced the efforts of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at International he said “Ahmadiyya Muslim Community worldwide continues to engage all faith groups to find means to achieve global peace”. In Nederland, this second Peace conference was a small step on our long journey towards that goal towards peace.

Inaugurating the Peace Conference Mirza Fakhar Ahmad Sahib, the President of Majlis Ansarullah Nederland highlighted the efforts of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at international’s efforts which in at present are led by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah safeguard him), the Fifth Caliph (Successor) of the Imam Mahdi and the Promised Messiah (may Allah bless him). He also introduced Majlis Ansarullah Organization to the audience. An important aspect conveyed to the participants was that the organizers drew inspiration from the tireless international efforts of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V (May Allah strengthen his hands), for promoting peace, harmony and interfaith unity worldwide.

The first speaker of the Peace Conference was Mr. Karl van Klaveren from Houtskerk in The Hague who narrated that people are mostly peaceful by nature, unfortunately is always a small group of people who for their personal reasons and benefits pollute the atmosphere of harmony and peace. The second Speaker, Mr. FWJ den Otterlander, a retired Judge and author, spoke about the social and civil perspective of justice in the society. The Hindu perspective of justice was delivered to the audience by Mr Swami Su Nirmal Ananda of Ramakrishna Vedanta Center in Amstelveen.

The next guest speaker was Mr. Guan Her Ng of Fo Guang He Shan’s Buddhist temple in The Amsterdam explained the importance of Justice and Peace in the Buddhist faith, he said: The Buddha saw that all people have a Buddha-nature and are interconnected. Also, that all things are impermanent and therefore in a circle of cause, condition, effect and result. Therefore, Justice and peace starts with oneself. Without being justice we cannot be peaceful, as individual and for the world at large”.

Mr. Khalid Ahmed Chaudry, Deputy Chairman of International Human Rights Commission highlighted in his address how international Human Rights Commission is trying to bring Justice wherever the commission see unjustified policies being applied. Following the first round of speeches, a video was streamed for the audience highlighting the efforts towards achieving peace which are being led by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V (May Allah strengthen his hands) the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Worldwide Community. These efforts are supplemented by all the branches of Ahmadiyya Muslims in more than 200 countries of the world today. The audience viewed the video with great interest and appreciation.

After the video presentation, Mr. Theodorus Singh Teekgur representing Sikhs, explained the role Gurdwaras play in promoting Justice and Peace among the community and society at large. Drs. Willem Koetsier, General Secretary of Universal Peace Federation (Nederland Chapter) explain the activities of his NGO and how these activities are expected to bring people together and help building a foundation of Justice and Peace. The President of the International Criminal Court Bar Association Mr. Karim Ahmed Khan informed the audience that though there are existing institutions establishing Peace and Justice worldwide, due to vested national interests, this platform is not used as honestly as it could be in many instances. In a brief speech, Missionary Safeer Ahmad Siddiqui extrapolated the teachings of Islam in how true peace, and justice can be achieved.

Concluding the event, the National President Jama’at Ahmadiyya Nederland thanked everyone for their presence and appreciated the active participation of everyone who had joined. One of the last items of the event was to present an amount of €2,500 to representatives of KWF who were one the beneficiaries of the monies raised by Majlis Ansarullah Nederland during its first Charity Walk 2017 in the month of May 2017. Other beneficiaries were UNICEF and Humanity First. The Question and Answer session was led by Missionary In-charge Jama’at Ahmadiyya Nederland and was moderated by Sadr Majlis Ansarullah Nederland. The audience showed great enthusiasm and many questions were put forward to the panel. The interest generated by the audience was such that the session had to be extended from thirty minutes to almost an hour. Visitors showed great appreciation towards the effort put in by the Ahmadiyya Community for interconnecting humanity and people with an aim of promoting Justice and Peace globally.

The event closed with silent prayer, led by Missionary in-charge Jama’at Ahmadiyya Nederland, Naim Ahmad Warraich Sahib. Press interviews and dinner followed the closing of the event. Majlis Ansarullah Nederland would like to thank all participants for joining us on the day, and for the volunteers who made this possible.