Ahmadiyya women’s group celebrates 100th anniversary, lists achievements

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3 years ago

ISLAM is the only religion that affirms equality of men and women in spiritual matters and in fundamental rights, and Ahmadiyyah is the only Islamic sect that has shown the world that Muslim women can be organised to achieve great things.

The Sadr (President) of Lajna Imaillah (Women Servants of Allah), the women wing of the Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jama’at, Hajiya Taofeeqah Fagbolade, made this declaration last weekend at a press conference that was organised to set in motion the programmes commemorating the celebration of the organisation’s 100 years of existence in the world, particularly Nigeria.

According to Fagbolade, the past century has been characterised by spiritual, moral and physical achievements for the organisation.

She said the organisation was established by the second caliph of the jama’at, Hazrat Bashir-ud-Deen Ahmad in 1922 in order to give women a voice in the administrative affairs of the community and a degree of independence.

She noted that Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at was established in Nigeria in 1916 and activities of Lajna Imaillah commenced actively in 1922.

The Ahmadi women’s leader underscored the importance of women in Islam, saying that in the days of Prophet Muhammad, women were a source of inspiration for the men, praising their men and fighting side by side with them against the unbelievers.

Fagbolade said: “It was this motivation that guided Hazrat Bashir-ud-Deen Ahmad (ra) in establishing and training a set of women that would fulfill their roles in the family and the society.

“Today, the organisation of Ahmadi women is a source of inspiration for the Jama’at. A hospital is being built in Sierra Leone. Girls’ high schools were established in Qadian in 1928 and Rabwah in 1951 so that girls could have access to education.

“They are playing the same roles as those ladies in the days of the Holy Prophet of Islam. In the fight for the renaissance of Islam by the Ahmadiyya community, the role of the women in this Jihad has been tremendous.”

She added that the most important role of Lajna lay in the training of coming generations and therefore Ahmadi mothers were determined to train their children according to Islamic values to make the future of the jama’at safer and brighter.

She said the organisation, whose activities cover spiritual development, education and training had, in the course of the past century, been involved in outreach work, social welfare activities, industry and handcraft, health programmes, among others.

“In the aspect of sacrifices in the cause of Allah, the ladies of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at are not found wanting.

“The first ever mosque in London called Fazl Mosque was built out of the contributions of Ahmadi ladies. Four of such mosques were built solely from donations from Ahmadi women as of 2008. And more have been built after that. One was completed in July 2021 in Ilaro, Ogun State, by the Lajna Imaillah Nigeria while two more are still under construction in Lagos State.

“So far, our organisation established the first Qur’an memorisation school for girls (Madrasat-Tahfizul Qur’an Lil Banaat) in 2010 in Ilaro, Ogun State. The school has so far graduated 65 girls who can recite the entire contents of the Holy Qur’an by heart. This will avail our members and children of the opportunity to learn the Qur’an without exposure to the opposite sex.”

Fagbolade acknowledged all the national presidents that occupied the seat before her, saying “most of these achievements were their initiatives.”

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The concessionaires complained of poor cooperation from state governments who mostly delay in meeting their own part of the agreement, for instance in the area of land provision.

Another major challenge they emphasised was the lack of narrow gauge rail lines in and out of the dry ports which they noted was important to make the operation of the ports efficient.

They added that access to funds also remained a major issue even as banks and foreign investors make unreasonable demands for assets and bank bonds before the release of funds.

The concessionaires unanimously stressed the need for the ports being constructed to be given the status of port of origin and destination and also to be registered with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) upon completion.

In view of the delay in execution, the concessionaires stressed the need for a new agreement, pointing out that an agreement started in 2017 between them and the NSC but it was yet to be cleared by the Federal Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

They however commended the ICRC for its intervention and also appreciated the NSC for their support so far, noting that they were confident that under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the contracts will be sorted out.

The concessionaires pledged their commitment to see the concession to conclusion and the ports operational even as two of the concessionaires, Equatorial Marine Oil and Gas Ltd for the Katsina ports and Dala Inland Dry Port for the Kano Ports declared that their ports will commence operation before the third quarter of 2022.

Managing Director of Equatorial Marine Oil and Gas Ltd, Mr Usman Iya Abbas, informed the ICRC team that the Funtua port was already at over 85 per cent completion and was ready to launch before the end of the second quarter of 2022.

“We hope to commission this project before the end of the second quarter and the ports will become functional immediately. We are lucky to have great relationships in the shipping industry and with major shipping lines.

Managing Director, Dala Inland Dry Port Ltd., Hon. Ahmed Rabiu, concessionaires of the Kano Inland Port also hinted that the construction of the container depot was already nearing completion.

He assured that the company was working assiduously to ensure project completion and take off before the end of March 2022.

On his part, ICRC’s Director of Contract Compliance Department, Dr Ewalefoh who chaired the technical session of the meeting assured the concessionaires of the continuous support of the Commission, charging them however to send a detailed update of the contract status reports to the ICRC.

The Ag. Head, Media and Publicity of ICRC, Manji Yarling said he further enjoined the other four concessionaires who were yet to make remarkable progress in their contract execution to emulate the milestone recorded by the other two who were finalizing their constructions, so that the ports can yield the economic benefits for which the concessions were granted.

While thanking the stakeholders for honouring the invitation of the ICRC, it was resolved that going forward, there will be periodic meetings to ensure that the projects are speedily completed.