First Annual Convention (Jalsa Salana) in the USA

Jalsa Salana is the formal, annual gathering of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community initiated by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah^(as). Members from the whole country gather in this 3 day event.

"The primary purpose of this Convention (Jalsa Salana) is to enable every sincere individual to personally experience religious benefits; They may enhance their knowledge and - due to their being blessed and enabled by Allah, The Exalted - their perception [of Allah] may progress. Among its secondary benefits is that this congregational meeting together will promote mutual introduction among all brothers, and it will strengthen the fraternal ties within this Community..."

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah^(as)

First Jalsa Salana USA, September 5, 1948

This photograph was captured at the location destined to be the first mosque constructed in America by American converts. Featured in the photo is Amtul Lateef Elahee, who was sent to Rabwah, Pakistan, as a representative of the American Lajna Imaillah to participate in the 50th Anniversary of Lajna Imaillah International.

Dr. Khalil Ahmad Nasir, missionary in charge in 1948, organized the first Annual Convention of Aḥmadiyya Muslim Community of the United States of America in Dayton, Ohio on 5 September 1948.

Ninety members out of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Youngstown, Du Quoin, Homestead, New York and Kansas participated in this blessed event. The tents used for the convention were made by Ahmadi sisters.

The institution of Langar Khana (Public Kitchen) holds a special place in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, providing free meals to all guests during various Jama‘at events. Though modest in scale, the Dayton Jama‘at laid the foundation of Langar Khana in the United States by providing excellent hospitality, setting the tone for future conventions.

In the fourth quarter print of the Muslim Sunrise 1948 Dr. Khalil Ahmad Nasir published:

The year of 1948 witnessed an important step forward in the history of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam in the United States. Foundations were laid for the consolidated efforts of various Ahmadiyya Muslim missions in America to further the noble cause of Islam at the first annual Ahmadiyya Convention held at Dayton, Ohio, last September.

Achievements at the Convention included a solid program of educational, social, propagational, and financial activities. A central secretariat was established with the object of coordinating the work of different missions.

Publication of literature received particular attention, and in this connection wider circulation of the “MOSLEM SUNRISE” was enthusiastically pledged. Notes of deep fidelity to Ahmadiyyat and greater drive for the propagation of Islam rang all through the deliberations. One could not help to infer that the sincerity and zeal showing in the ardent Ahmadies was auguring a blessed era of determined conquest of the wide world around to bring eternal peace and happiness to all the people through Islam.

If American Ahmadies act up to the ambitions to which they pledged their efforts at their first Convention, Allah, according to His promise, is sure to come to their help even as He did when the handful of faithful made similar pledges more than thirteen centuries ago with practically no means available to achieve their purpose: nevertheless, in less than half a century they succeeded in conquering major part of the then known world of Islam.