Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 113
Khilafat Centenary rights of women and also reminded them of their responsibilities. Once he had conveyed to women the notion of duty towards religion, he started laying the burden of responsibility on them. The first occasion he did this was when he urged women to collect funds to build a mosque in Berlin, West German y. This movement served two purposes: the first was to organize women into a functional group and the second was to tell the whole world that women in Islam have a very high status contrary to what is generally considered. Women accepted this challenge and reached the target of collection of fifty thousand rupees within fifteen da ys. The total amount collected was above one hundred thousand rupees. Women donated their jewelry, their precious belongings and worked with their own hands to raise funds for this movement. The women of Qadian revived the examples of sacrifice made by women of the early period of Islam. One of the greatest initiatives taken by Huzur 'a was the establishment of Lajna lmaillah. On December15, 1922, Huzur 'a after consultation with his second wife, Hadhrat Amatul Ha yee. , wrote an open letter to the women of Qadian and invited them to establish an organization to promote the education and training of Ahmadi women and to carry out the task of propagation of Islam, Ahmadiyyat. In that letter, Huzur 'a laid down the guiding principles of that organization. Initiall y, seve nteen women joined this organization. Under Huzur's 'a directive, these members got together in the house of the respected Hadhrat Syeda Nusrat J ehan Begum '\ the wife of the Promised Messiah as. Huzur 'a delivered a short address to them and formally announced the formation of this organization and named it Lajna lmaillah. Lajna Imaillah elected their first president and first general secretary and started their work. Since its inception, Lajna Imaillah is making progress steadily and now it has established itself as a worldwide organization. Its members are all the Ahmadi women all over the world who are taking an active part in the struggle to establish the name of Allah in this world. The purpose of this organization was to help women regain their status in society as was laid down by Islam, which would in turn enable women to utilize their faculties in constr. uctive endeavors. Therefore, Lajna lmaillah was organized into different departments. Special attention was focused on the education and training of the women. The movements for financial sacrifice initiated by Hadhrat Musleh Mau'ood ra in theJama'at helped in establishing a financial organization for women to handle by themselves. It enabled them to collect funds, make a budget, and act upon various appeals as needed. Huzur 'a also encouraged women to get an education. He urged men to educate women because he knew very well that only educated women could train children in a better fashion. He also explained the type of education women should get: "The schools of women should be such as first teach the basics of reading, writing, and mathematics. Then they should be given the complete knowledge of religion. The Holy Qur'an should be taught. Basic principles should be taught to them so that they can train their children. They should learn household matters. Books should be exclusively written for them. "(4) Another great step taken was the right of representation of women in National Majlis-e-Shura (advisory council). Huzur' a left this decision to the delegates of the Majlis-e- Shura, who were not in favor of giving this right to women. Yet Huzur 'a was of the opinion that women should get the right to speak before men. Huzur 'a wanted women to have all those rights as were given by Islam. It is proved from history that women took part in all walks of life side by side with men and that half of the Ahadith (sayings of the Hol y Prophe raw ) have been narrated by women. On one occasion, he cited the example of Hadhrat Ayesha'a, the wife of the Holy Prophet saw who addressed men on various occasions. While discussing this issue, he invited women to participate in the discussion too. Finally he decided that Lajna lmaillah should be sent a copy of the proposal and they should give their opinion on those proposals. It would help in not only encouraging women to learn but also help thejama'at to gauge their progress. Huzur 'a was wise enough to know that the right of