Voice of British Muslim Women

Iffat Mirza, Raynes Park

Even though I consider myself quite introverted, I often give the impression that I am a confident person. Public speaking doesn’t really terrify me, and I can feel quite excited to meet new people. I’ve been told that as a child I was quite shy – I personally have no real memory of this, but I suppose I’ll take their word for it. And to be honest, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve been lost for words. My old maths teacher, I remember, once told me I could speak for ‘all of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland AND France.’

But the occasion where I have continuously been speechless are those moments where I have been fortunate enough to be in the presence of His Holiness, Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his Helper), the Khalifa (Caliph) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Within milliseconds, my entire mouth is dry and sound physically cannot escape from me. The sheer emotion that overflows me by sitting in the presence and majesty of His Holiness manifests itself as a lump in my throat and any and all plans to say anything are thrown completely out the window.

I remember a few years ago, my family was fortunate enough to be granted an audience with His Holiness. As we waited for our turn in the offices outside his, I said to my father to please speak on my behalf – I had told him what I wanted to tell His Holiness, and asked him to say it for me, because I simply could not trust myself to get make a sound, let alone say a whole sentence. As it turned out, His Holiness directed a question towards me and my father, as per my request, began to speak on my behalf but before he could do so His Holiness smiled and told my father to let me speak for myself.

I still cannot articulate that moment of both anxiety (how on Earth could I possible address him?), and encouragement. To me this moment symbolised a broader teaching that I should be prepared to speak for myself and never hide behind another’s voice, even if it is my own dear father. This was a moment where the worldwide head of a faith community of millions extended his love towards me, to help me overcome my insecurity and help me to build a relationship with my spiritual father.

Such a lesson has stuck with me – as a Muslim woman, I’m quite used to being spoken for in the media narratives and those against Islam do often speak for my demographic. But such confidence was given to me, and I’m sure countless other women, that we can and should speak for ourselves. Indeed, it is through doing so that we will better know ourselves and challenge ourselves to represent our own selves as we see fit.

It is through His Holiness consistent guidance that I am given the confidence to live my life as authentically as possible, for he has always taught us to never cower towards external cultural expectations of what a woman should be – instead, we should look towards God’s teaching only, and have the strength and confidence to live accordingly. As a woman who is under a lot of societal pressure to behave or think a certain way, it truly is only through the blessing of Khilafat that I can hold on to Allah. As in those few seconds in His Holiness’ office where he addressed me specifically, or as I sit in a sea of people, and he addresses us collectively, I know that it is only through holding on to this rope that I can reach towards Allah.