Lajna Ima’illah: Serving Islam and Humanity

Iffat Mirza, Raynes Park

Generally, I try to be quite an optimistic person. I’m not necessarily the kind of person to blindly insist the glass is half-full but I will certainly search for justifications to make the case. But I have to admit, lately it’s been a little harder to be optimistic. News headlines of inflation, energy crises, war in Ukraine, and other facets of social inequalities are constantly dominating the headlines. However, this in itself is not what leads me to consign myself to pessimism. Rather it is the fact that everyone knows what the right thing to say is in this moment. Whether it is racial justice, climate justice, class mobility, or any other barrier, it seems that there is more than enough rhetoric to go around, but very little action.  For some reason, it is this rhetoric which makes me feel more pessimistic than the reality of problems itself. It is as though we can all say the ‘right thing’ and conveniently move on as though that has solved the problem rather than brushing it under a rug. Even on the side of social justice action, it feels as though sometimes we get so caught up in slogans and one-liners that we forget the essence of the issue. This isn’t to say that language doesn’t matter – indeed the opposite, it is essential to any sort of social change. But words without any sort of practicality can be dangerous too.

For this reason, as I was reading through the Constitution of the Lajna Imai’llah organisation, I was inspired to see such foresight by the founder of the organisation, His Holiness Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad (may Allah be pleased with him), the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Community. He laid out 17 objectives at the founding of the organisation and number 16 particularly points toward the current dilemma I have mentioned. It states:

‘Suggestions should be presented to form plans for the service of Islam and to help the poor and needy brothers and sisters in a practical manner.’

It is the term ‘in a practical manner’ which is so crucial here. Here, I see two significant implications. The first is the necessity of practicality within the suggestions made. It is considerably easier to spot faults or gaps in societies and communities than it is to fix them. But the motivation to find such solutions is written into our very constitution, making it Lajna’s sacred duty to focus on practicality and to strive to find solutions to issues society may be facing. One example which stands out to me within the Lajna organisation in recent years is the creation of the SEND (special educational needs and disability) department within the organisation. This is something that has been overlooked in many sectors of life and evidently a gap which was spotted. Raised at the ‘Shura’ forum – a formal gathering of delegates from across the country to raise and discuss new initiatives, the need to cater to members who may be dealing with visible and hidden disabilities became apparent. Since then, educational workshops, signposting towards professional services, re-designed syllabi and teaching material have been produced. For me, this is an inspiring step towards serving Islam in a ‘practical manner.’ I think this specific example stands out to me so clearly is because it was something I was so selfishly unaware of for most of my life. It wasn’t really until last year that I worked in a primary school with children who have such needs that I saw just how difficult the world can be to navigate for certain individuals. I truly believe the term ‘in a practical manner’ is what differentiated this suggestion from being one which allowed the organisation and the women who headed this initiative to make it such a success, by the Grace of God.

The second important implication of His Holiness Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad (may Allah be pleased with him) is that by including the term ‘in a practical manner’ he shows faith in the fact that women can indeed facilitate social change. He stated in regard to the establishment of the organisation ‘henceforth the successful progress of the Community is also dependent on efforts by women.’ The fact that women are so often not even given a platform to share ideas, let alone to actually act upon such ideas, this was truly revolutionary. Remember, this was written in the year 1922 in a small village in Northern India. Meanwhile, in the same decade, the Suffragettes in England were chaining themselves to Parliament and carrying out hunger strikes as part of their campaign for women’s suffrage. They would not achieve this until 1928. But I digress; the point I wish to make is that this faith His Holiness showed he had in women through the very simple words ‘in a practical manner’ showed he saw, valued, and uplifted the strength of women. We see this today – as our organisation comes to celebrate its first centenary one way in which it is commemorating the occasion is by collecting funds to build a maternity hospital in Sierra Leone, where maternal mortality rates are the highest in the world. Indeed, it seeks to practically make the world a better place to be a woman. To build a functioning hospital is a huge task but the faith that we find in our constitution propels us, not to mention His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad’s (May Allah be his Helper), the current Caliph of the Community, constant support.

Seeing this attention to practicality is what allows me to search for the glass-half-full justifications.