Faith

  • Rameen Masood, Leicester ‘Which, then, of the favours of your Lord will you twain deny?’[i] 1922. The year when building blocks of Muslim female empowerment were laid, to be realised with knowledge and spiritual enhancement and zeal for service and thus Lajna Ima’illah was formed by His Holiness Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad (may Allah be…

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  • Maariya Thakur, Luton As the Lajna Centenary is being commemorated all over the world, I’ve been pondering over what Lajna Ima’illah means to me. First established in India 1922, we are an independent group, an auxiliary organisation of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. The organisation was established as a result of His Holiness, Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad’s,…

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  • Ayesha Naseem, Blackburn  Annual events of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community bring a great sense of excitement and joy for the Community members. This is extra noticeable this year as events slowly return to their normal scale after two years of Covid restrictions. As for the Ijtema or the Annual Gathering of Lajna Imaillah UK –…

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  • Arfa Yassir, Swindon From the corner of my eye, I was looking at the table which the stage secretary had asked me to place a flower vase and some other things on. I placed the vase in the centre, thinking it looked “best” that way, contrary to what I was told which was to place…

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  • Iffat Mirza, Raynes Park  Recent popular feminist discourse has broadly adopted the idea of ‘women supporting women’. The idea of women being there to keep one another safe, motivated, and inspired is becoming paramount amongst women’s circles and certainly is a positive direction. So many fields of the secular world, which are still heavily dominated…

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  • Cemal Inam, Thornton Heath The media for many years has been quick to label Muslim women as ‘oppressed, meek, silent victims’ but if anyone attends an Ijtema, an event run exclusively by Ahmadi Muslim women and attended by Ahmadi Muslim women and girls, their assumption would quickly be contradicted. That is why for as long…

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  • Sameea Jonnud, Aldershot Ijtema is an annual event where members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community join in their separate auxiliaries to learn, compete and socialise with others of their faith. I have been going to the national Lajna and Nasirat Ijtema for as long as I can remember, a fixed event in my diary along…

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  • Nooresahar Ahmad, Bordon Consider, if you have them, your childhood memories of Jalsa Salana. In one specific memory from when I was about ten years old, I had been wandering around the Jalsa Gah (taking a break from my hard work doing water duty) and came across an AIMS ID face down on the floor.…

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  • Iffat Mirza, Raynes Park It is far too easy to be caught up in what we consider to be our conquests, victories, and achievements. In doing so it can be quite tempting to only see ourselves as part of an external world and forget about the world internal to us. Consequently, we forget our true…

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  • Bareera Ghaffar, Birmingham As the white tents and marquees are erected and the Ahmadiyya flag is raised high, many Ahmadis eagerly anticipate the three days of the blessed Jalsa Salana or the annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community here in the UK. For these three days the whole world comes to a pause, and…

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