In his remarks, President Maada Bio, expressed his profound appreciations to his Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, worldwide head of the peaceful Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and congratulated him for his tireless effort he has invested in establishing peace and brotherhood in the world. He noted his continuous messages of peace and interreligious harmony continue to re-affirm Sierra Leone’s fundamental value of peaceful religious co-existence and fraternity.

President Bio emphasized that we are one Ummah because we continue to be united by all the things that bind us together rather than those things that could blind us. He congratulated the Ahmadiyya Mission as in two years time they will be celebrating one hundred years (100) of living in Sierra Leone in peace and harmony and recalled Missionary Nayyar’s first public lecture at the Fourah Bay Mosque in 1921.

President Bio commended the Ahmadiyya Mission for the great investment in the intellectual, physical, spiritual, and moral well-being of the people by training of millions of Sierra Leoneans. He affirmed his Government staunch support for the Ahmadiyya Mission and activities of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat as their work has continuously change lives of so many people for the better. 

In his remarks, the chairman of the occasion, Amir and Missionary in Charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Sierra Leone, Amir Saeed-Ur-Rahman, thanked the President for gracing the occasion as it shows clearly his commitment to religious peace in the country. He cited a hadith recorded in Al-Tirmidi which states the first thing which will be judged amongst a person deeds in the day of resurrection is the prayers and noted that the prayer is a very important pillar in Islam.

Amir Saeed-Ur-Rahman, reiterated his mission firm commitment to the people of Sierra Leone adding that they are here to promote cordiality, sincerity and faithfulness in Islam and disclosed that the mission has built 212 primary schools, 64 secondary schools, several hospitals, mosque etc. and this has giving opportunity to millions of people to better themselves, their families, communities and the nation as a whole.

The ceremony, which attracted 32,000 Muslims country wide was addressed by several religious bodies in the country, including the Inter Religious Council, Council of Churches in Sierra Leone and the Forum of Islamic Organizations for Peaceful Coexistence in Sierra Leone.