Souvenir on 50th Jalsa Salana USA — Page 74
LA. INA IMAILI. , lSA Lajna Imaillah into the 21st Century Lajna lmai ll ah USA was organi1ed according to the Constitution Ru l es and Regulations in 1962. However, before 1 962 female Ahmadis used lo meet in one another's homes (known as circles) to study the religion, learn the prayer, and to learn reading the Holy Quran. These pioneering women also stitched clothes. cooked pies, cakes and even fu ll course meab to raise funds for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. In 1962, Laj na lmai ll ah USA publish ed its first issue of' Lajna News. a monthly news l etter consisting of activities of local Jajnas. announcements, and directives from National Aamla members. Jn 1965. the Ayesha magazine was started, specifically as a tool for tabligh. The magazine made rapid progress. In 1985, it was mai l ed to more than one hundred women co ll eges in USA. Also in the mid-60's. Lajna prepared a ··Handbook For Women" for new female converts. It included portions of Fiqah-e-Ahmadiyya which was ren de red into Engli'>h by Hadhrat Maryam Siddiqa. The fi rst Ahmadiyya summer camp for chi ldren wm, established in 1965. Children, mothers. and mission- ar i es partici pa te in this camp, which has become a regular feature of Lajna activities. Sister Mubaraka Ma lik, a convert belonging to Lajna Jmaillah Mi lwaukee, presented a copy of the Holy Qura n to President Gerald Ford at the White Hou se in 1974. " I will not Allow the work of any wo r ker from among you, whether ma le or female, to be lost. "( Holy Qur'an 3: 196) Laj na lmaillah USA was judged to be the ··BeM Foreign Lajna" in I974, 1975. 198 I. and I984. Lajna lmaillah USA was select- ed as the second best Lajna in 1963, 1982, and 1985. From I 982 to 1985. posters were placed in I 00 public buses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in 35 buses in Zion, Illinois. Dur ing 1985. over 1500 letters were mai l ed to government offi- cials demanding basic human rights to Ahmadi Mus lims living in Pakistan. In 1988, during the preparation of the second edition of the historic 5 Vo l ume Commentary of the Ho ly Quran, Lajna Imaillah USA was asked lo prepare an index. Eleven sisters (supported by many other helpers) prepared a comprehensive index. Their labo r of love was recogn ized by Hadhrat An index and the following listings have been added to the present edition at the end of the fifth volume: • Table of Contents • Alphabetical listing of Chapters of the Hol> Qur'an. • Important Arabic words and expressions explained in the Commentary • The Index of subjects The Publishers acknowledge and sincerely thank the following members of USA Jama'at in particular and their helpers in general for the careful and the hard work in preparing these listings and the index so exhaustively: Aisha Shanf. 'iyceemah Yaqub, Aisha Hakrm. Shakura Noonah, Salma Ghani. Kadija el Had1. Rafia Ramah. Khulat Alladin, Dhiya Tahira, ULma Saeed, Famma Qader anti Fatima Haneef. Publishers Nore: 5-Vol. Commentary of the I l oly Qur. in. 2nd Edition Kha lifatul Messiah IV (ABA) in his JaJsa Salana address and recorded in the introduction to the second edition in the commentary itse l f. Alhamdolillah (a ll prai se belon gs to A ll ah). The first National ljtema of Lajna lmaillah USA was held in 1989 in Zion, Illinois. In 199 I, five hundred cop i es of the speech made by Hadhrar Khalifatul Masih JV (ABA) to Lajna lmaillah on June 29, 1991 were printed and sold. Lajna Imaillah USA collected more than half a mi l- lion dollars for the USA National Mosque Fund. Lajna lmaillah USA researched, wrote, and pub l ished 3000 copies of the "Pathway to Paradise" in I 996.