England: Shh! 30,000 Muslims Expected for Convention at East Worldham

One of Britain’s oldest Muslim communities will gather on a 210-acre site at East Worldham, near Alton, this weekend for Jalsa Salana UK 2012.

Britain’s biggest annual Islamic convention, the three-day gathering at Hadeeqatul Mahdi (formerly Oaklands Farm), will see up to 30,000 Muslims from around the world come together to “re-affirm their pledge to unequivocally reject violence and extremism, to practice Islam purely as a religion of peace, and to restore it to its true origins as a peaceful faith for all people and for all times”.

This is the 46th annual convention (jalsa) but only the sixth on the site at East Worldham.