Tasleem Sooltangos, Secretary Ishaat, Lajna Imaillah Mauritius
Lajna Imaillah Mauritius hosted its first-ever Peace Symposium on 4 September 2022, at the Municipal Hall of Rose-Hill.
Over 75 non-Ahmadi female guests attended the event, including parliamentarians, faith and civic leaders as well as representatives from non-governmental charities and faith communities, where they discussed and learned about the establishment of societal peace.
The event commenced with a warm reception where guests gathered and toured the exhibition, titled “Muhammadsa: Messenger and Head of State”, and explored the literature of the Jamaat on display.
Most of our guests had never heard of the ladies’ wing of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat – Lajna Imaillah – and thus Sadr Lajna Imaillah Mauritius, Nushreen Jamal Ahmad Sahiba introduced the Jamaat and Lajna Imaillah in the opening address and explained the background of the Peace Symposium, following which the guests delivered short speeches.
Mrs S Chedumbrum, representative of the Tamil Chambers Women Empowerment Network said that justice, solidarity and tolerance are fundamental moral values which need to be fostered to lead the way to a peaceful future.
Hon Mrs Navarre-Marie, MP congratulated Lajna Imaillah for organising a peace symposium as the world is in dire need of peace. She called to mind the 1968 Mauritian riots when many lives were unfortunately lost.
Hon Mrs D Chukowry, Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) noted that the journey to peace should start with inner peace.
Hon Mrs S Mayotte, MP said she was intrigued on receiving our invitation and so she did some research on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and discovered such positivity and was amazed to know that Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa goes from country to country, to promote a deeper understanding of Islam and its teachings for establishing peace. She further added that on touring the exhibition, the beautiful Islamic teachings on peace reminded her of the Bible.
Hon Mrs LD Dookhun, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Education congratulated Lajna Imaillah for celebrating its 100 years of existence. She shared that sustainable peace can only be achieved with the involvement of women at its core as women have the responsibility to raise the future generation. She further stated that Mauritius achieves and sustains peace as our country has gone beyond tolerance, Mauritians understand and accommodate each other.
This was followed by a speech by Nargis Toraubally Sahiba, in which she narrated Islamic teachings on how to establish societal peace. She presented references from the Holy Quran, ahadith, books of the Promised Messiahas and Khulafa of Ahmadiyyat on this topic.
After this, she invited the audience to view a compilation of videos about Hazrat Amirul Momineen’saa relentless efforts at spreading peace far and wide.
After lunch, books of the Jamaat and a copy of Lajna Imaillah’s magazine, Najm Us Saqib were gifted to all guests.
The feedback received on our first peace symposium was highly encouraging and positive; one guest in attendance said she was surprised to see that the young generation was actively participating in the programme.
Another guest remarked she was impressed to see that Muslim women were effective and self-reliant and that their hijab did not hinder them in any way and they looked forward to attending more events.