Karnataka, India: Hindu Marikamba Mela in Sagar sees lively Ahmadiyya Muslim bookstall

A retired Hindu professor was seen with tears in his eyes after understanding the true concept of Jihad as presented by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He said he had gone to many sects in Islam to find out what the real teachings about Jihad were but was never satisfied.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times
By Shahid Parvez | March 19, 2011
Edited by Imran Jattala

Karnataka, India: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at Sagar and its youth wing, Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya, of South Zone Karnataka organized a bookstall for 13 days at the heart of Sagar, a town in the state of Karnataka.

The stall was organized from the 22nd of February till the 6th of March during a popular Hindu Festival (Mela) called the Marikamba Mela which is held once every 3 years.

Marikamba Mela is attended by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the state and other parts of the country.

The whole Sagar town was decorated and every road had make shift stalls and outlets.


Ahmadiyya Muslim bookstall was beautifully spread over about 200 square feet and displayed for-sale books in 7 languages, an exhibition of the various translations of the Holy Quran, and plenty of pamphlets and flyers in English and the local Kannada language for free distribution.

The booth was nicely decorated where community’s hallmark banners “Love for All”, Islam Means Peace, Loving your Homeland is Part of Faith, Humanity Zindabad, etc in the local languages attracted a large number of people.

There was a continuous presentation of Muslim Television Ahmadiyya which played beautifully recited poems and poetry throughout the day.

The stalls were open 16 hours a day from 10:00 AM until 2:00am the next morning.

Each day about 8 volunteers worked the booth throughout the day who greeted and talk to the visitors, introduce the community and carried on the interfaith outreach efforts.

There was a great interaction and goodwill with the main Hindu leaders who were informed about the community and its message. The Hindu leadership was very happy with the promotion of inter-faith brotherhood and peace.

Many Christians visited the Ahmadiyya bookstall and were pleasantly surprised how the Hindus had facilitated the stall in their Festival.

While the Ahmadiyya stalls successfully continued promoting the peaceful message of Islam, almost every non-Ahmadi Mosque in Sagar carried anti-Ahmadiyya announcements warning their followers not to come to Ahmadiyya stall or buy any Ahmadiyya materials.

Majority of the visitors to the Ahmadiyya Muslim stall were very pleased with the true pictures of a peaceful Islam and appreciated the peaceful teachings of Islam and encouraged the promotion of the Ahmadiyya Muslim activities.

A retired Hindu professor was seen with tears in his eyes after understanding the true concept of Jihad as presented by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He said he had gone to many sects in Islam to find out what the real teachings about Jihad were but was never satisfied.        

Another elderly Hindu who has been watching MTA for more than 5 years at his home was surprised to know that Ahmadiyya Muslim community existed in Sagar.

The Local media also covered Ahmadiyya Muslim bookstall and activities. Various Newspapers had published photographs and articles about the bookstall.

The volunteers at the stall distributed about 25000 pamphlets and fliers and the Ahmadiyya message of a peaceful Islam reached to over one hundred thousand people.



--Imran Jattala / Shahid Parvez

-- Ahmadiyya Times staff report