Ahmadiyya Muslim Ladies recently held their 2nd annual Peace Symposium with “Pathway to Peace: Women’s role as peace makers” as this years theme.
This year’s event, which was held on Sunday, February 2 at Finnstown Castle Hotel Lucan, was attended by around 60 women from all walks of life who gathered to discuss and learn about the important role women have to play in establishing lasting peace across the globe.
The event was representative of women of all and no faiths and a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds.
The aim of the Peace Symposium is to initiate the conversation of the responsibility of women in establishing peace.
As noted in various studies and discourses, sustainable peace can only be achieved with the involvement of women at its core.
With three speakers from different faith perspectives including Islam, Christianity and Hinduism alongside with the address by the Mayor of South Dublin Cllr Vicki Casserly PC, this year’s event was a great success.
The evening began with a warm reception in the hall where guests gathered and mingled, exploring the exhibitions on many areas such as The Review of Religions, the translations of the Holy Quran, as well as an exhibition on the status of women in Islam and in particular, the concept of the hijab.
Followed by the recitation of the Holy Quran the first speaker Ms Maria Murphy, represented Christianity.
She outlined some of the vital roles that Irish women played to keep peace in Ireland and explained how mothers tried to keep peace in Ireland during the Civil War.
She also described that Christian teachings are laid out in the “Beatitude”.
Ms Minu Mishra representing Hinduism spoke about the unique qualities that only women possess in order to bring peace in the world.
Guest speaker Casserly, praised the Ahmadiyya Muslim Ladies and acknowledged the efforts carried by them for integration into wider community.
Finally the Keynote address was delivered by Ms Nudrat Malik who gave an insightful view into the Islamic perspective on the vital necessity of peace at all levels of society, whether governmental or domestic.
She reminded all attendees that justice, opportunity, knowledge, understanding, tolerance and peace at home are all important to establish peace at a wider level.
In Islam, great emphasis is laid on peace at home as the building block of all societies. Women can be the architects of peace in the home.
She narrated the beautiful hadith, “Paradise lies under the feet of your mother”, highlighting the responsibility of mothers to create peace for children. She also touched upon education as essential in establishing peace and counteracting acts of aggression.
She mentioned that Islam has encouraged the acquiring of knowledge especially for women.
In her concluding remarks the President of AMA Women’s Auxiliary Ms Sajida Aleem, expressed thanks to all the guests for their participation and requested them to help us in building a mosque in Dublin.
She also praised the Irish people and country by saying that Ireland is a peaceful country and people are very friendly.
The feedback from guests was highly positive and encouraging, with many women eager to learn more about Islam and its views, not only on peace but also on the status that women are granted.
