Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 114
participation in Shura was no minor matter. In his own words: "Many years ago, I had already alerted you about the movement against pardah (observing the veil) which started two years ago and that is why I raised the issue to give women the right to vote in Majlis- e-Shura. It is our obligation to give women rights to the extent Shariah allows so that they develop a soft corner for Islamic teachings and they do not feel that they cannot invite other women to act upon the teachings of Islam or cannot convey the message to other women. . . But such a woman as considers herself oppressed cannot carry the task of Tabligh. Thus, both things are necessary, not only that she should be educated but also be given all her rights. The rights that have been vouchsafed by Islam should be given by us too. As a result, they will be able to fight the war of Islam enthusiastically more as if it were their own personal war. " ( 5) He continually delivered speeches to address the various issues of women. He used to deliver Dars-e- Qur'an (commentary of the Holy Qur 'an or Hadith) for women on a weekly basis. His hard work paid off and while conducting census in Rabwah , it was discovered that women were one hundred percent educated. Due to his love and compassion for them, women formed a special bond with their Imam and they would wholeheartedly accept everything good initiated by him. The list of achievements in respect of women is very long and will not fit within this small space. Other than Lajna Imaillah, Huzur ra established schools and colleges for women where religious education was also part of the syllabus. He arranged for separate competitions of sports, speeches and debates. He urged them to write articles in the print media and undertake other scholarly endeavors. He started a separate magazine for them. Even before his Khilafat, in the first issue of Al Fazl, he reserved two columns for women to write articles. He encouraged women to hold their separate events in order to develop and nurture self-confidence, as well as to train themselves to carry the message of Islam to the whole world. Since 1926, on the directive of Huzur ra , women started conducting their separate session on the occasion of J alsa Salana (Annual Convention of Ahmadiyyajama ' at). Not only that, women took full part in all the initiatives introduced by the Khalifa of the time; they now conduct their own activities, on local, regional and national levels, including meetings, ijtemaat (plural of ijtema,rally), Majlis-e-Shura (consultative bod y ), compiling reports and income/expenditure budgets. Special classes and camps are conducted for the training of young girls (age 7-15 years who have their own auxiliary organization called Nasiratul Ahmadiyya) and women. In short, Huzur ra completely transformed the daily responsibilities of women. He converted the timid and ignorant women into very well-organized and well-established individuals,able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men in propagation and implementation of Islam, Ahmadiyyat. Mushawrat 1922, Page 63 ( 5) Sawaneh Fazl-e-Umar page 376 copied ;;;. . from Al Fazljan 24, 1931, Page 7-8