Sahar Bashir, Ijtema Committee, Lajna Imaillah Australia
The annual ijtema of Lajna Imaillah and Nasirat-ul-Ahmadiyya Australia was held on 23-24 September 2023, at the Baitul Huda Mosque in Sydney, Australia. This year was a momentous occasion with the centenary celebration of Lajna Imaillah. The overarching theme of this year’s event was sisterhood and women as faith-bearers and nation-builders. More than 1,000 Lajna members participated in the event from across the country, with an attendance of over 200 guests from interstate.
The Lajna Centenary Quran projects of the 30th part memorization and split word translation of the Holy Quran, held through the departments of Talim-ul-Quran and Waqf-e-Arzi, were also celebrated with an awards ceremony on this occasion for the graduates of these projects. These projects culminated in 2022 after being initiated in 2018.
The formal proceedings started with the address of Sadr Lajna Imaillah Australia, Abida Chaudhry Sahiba, who enunciated the significance of Khilafat in our lives and the blessing of Lajna Imaillah for the women of today and tomorrow.
The event, which consisted of academic contests, presentation competitions and seminars on raising children and marriages, provided enlightening ideas to the attendees on the challenges they face today or may face tomorrow. The presentation competitions addressed the topic of the prophecies of the Holy Quran that have been fulfilled in the modern era. These presentations were held simultaneously with the main proceedings of the ijtema, akin to the seminars that were held.
There were two seminars conducted, each catering to Lajna at different phases of their lives. A seminar on the significance of marriage in Islam and the key to a successful marriage was catered to young Lajna of marriageable age. Similarly, the second seminar was in response to the Shura proposal 2022 and was for mothers addressing the challenges of raising children and meeting their mental and emotional needs at different ages.
An open forum was also held on the first day of Ijtema, where Lajna members had the opportunity to share their sentiments on the topic: “One reason I am grateful to be a member of Lajna Imaillah”. This session was also used to showcase the various centenary projects that Lajna and Nasirat undertook, including the children’s books project that were written and illustrated by Nasirat and the Talim-ul-Quran projects of memorisation and split-word translation.
The event concluded with an address by Sadr Lajna Imaillah Australia and a silent prayer.