Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 478
! ! 478 have previously mentioned, this task cannot be done without your help. It is you who can do this work. I t is you who can s o w the seeds of the progress of Islam. This task can only be accomplished through you. I t is impossible to be successful in this endeavor without your help and cooperation. As such, I am conveying this message to you from God Almighty that if you can reform fifty percent of women, Islam will realize success. Accordingly , it is the responsibility of those women who are passionate about Islam , possess a desire for Islam’s progress, and who are sincere to rise up and reform women. I have established Lajna Ima’illah for the reformation of women. Lajna should complete its organization and strive to reform women, give them moral training, and correct their morals. They should collect w hatever necessary resources in order to accomplish this objective. Lajna Ima’illah has been in existence for quite some time in Qadian and t here are approximately forty to fifty branches in the rest of India. By comparison however, men have more than eight hundred branches. Where the men have more than eight hundred branches, the women have forty to fifty branches, indicating that not even twenty percent of the women have organized themselves. The question of work will follow later, for naturally, the first step is to organize the structure. How can any work be done when the administrative arrangements are not yet in place? Therefore, today I am announcing to however many women are here attending the J alsa , that if no Lajna Ima’illah has been established where they live, they should return and establish a Lajna Ima’illah. And if the resources to establish a Lajna Ima’illah are not available, for example, if there is no literate woman residing there who can do the work , s he should meet with the National Lajna Ima’illah before leaving, receive guidance, leave names and addresses and so forth with them, so that they may arrange f or the establishment of a Lajna in her town. If we wish to take up the task of reforming women , it is essential t o establish a Lajna Ima’illah wher ever there resides more than one woman. Lajna means ‘committee’. In Urdu, where the word ‘committee’ is used, the Arabic word is ‘Lajna’. Hence , e very Ahmadiyya Jama'at [chapter] should include a committee of women. Wherever there are educated women present, t hey should write to the National Lajna Ima’illah to obtain the rules