Aktiv Islam (Active Islam)

Aktiv Islam (Active Islam)

The bi-monthly, multilingual magazine Aktiv Islam (Active Islam) was started by Saif-ul-Islam Mahmud Eriksson (Gunnar Hugo Eriksson, Sweden) in Sweden.

In the beginning it was named Ahmadiyya Bulletin, cyclostyled in A4-format on white paper and published sporadically. It started in in 1959. From 1966 it was printed in Stockholm under the name Aktiv Islam. It was published in A5-format and it had a light green cover with black print. It was printed on paper, since computers and internet did not exist when it started. Six numbers per year were distributed in the three Scandinavian countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Mahmud Eriksson sent the copies to Noor Ahmad Bølstad for distribution in Norway and Abdus-Salam Madsen for distribution in Denmark. In Sweden Mahmud Eriksson sent it personally to each individual receiver. It was possible to subscribe for it, initially at a price of 10 Swedish kr for one year
Other active contributors at that time apart from Noor Ahmad Bølstad, Norway, and Abdus Salam Madsen, Denmark, were Nuh Svend Hansen in Denmark.

Aktiv Islam was published with articles in the three Scandinavian languages and sometimes it contained articles in other languages, like for example Turkish, as well. It was not so that one article was translated into different languages, but the articles were written and published in their respective original languages without translation. All articles were original and not just chapters translated from some book which was already published and could be read elsewhere.

Aktiv Islam was a highly respected magazine and often quoted by orientalists in all Scandinavia.

The Swedish convert Saif-ul-Islam Mahmud Eriksson was given the title “honorary Missionary” by the second Khalifa, Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad. He was the sole editor of Aktiv Islam and wrote most of the articles himself and revised the others. Furthermore he carried all costs himself, so this magazine was never a burden on the Ahmadiyya Jama’at but an asset in all possible respects.

It was later closed down in Sweden 1972, but continued in Denmark. Some editions were printed in paper version, I have found copies from 1990-1992, but there might be more editions. The editorial board for these Danish editions were: M.A.Rariq, A.S.Madsen, Ata ul Qadir and Bazal ur-Rahman. Since its start in Denmark, Kamal Krogh, Munirah Krogh as well as Ibrahim Lomholt have helped continue the work and it has regularly been sent out to Danish libraries. http://aktivislam.dk/?page_id=361
The Danish internet edition is now edited by Fala-ud-Din, missionary.

Dr. Qanita