Western concepts around gender roles were taken to task at the UK’s largest Islamic gathering, which closed on Sunday, with a keynote address by the leader and Caliph of Islam Ahmadiyya.

More than 26,000 Ahmadi Muslims were in attendance to listen to the Caliph speak at the Jalsa Salana, which took place over three days in Hampshire.

The Caliph, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, said:

“Today there are many social movements and organisations promoting ‘gender equality’. Yet their way of establishing ‘women’s rights’ is rarely based on fair principles or for the sake of establishing true equality for women. For example, they raise slogans in favour of women’s rights, whilst at the same time they deny religious women the freedom to act upon their faith and force them to abandon their religious teachings.

“Rather than bringing men and women closer together, all they do is drive them further apart.”

The Caliph went on to present numerous examples of how Islam had given fundamental rights to women, centuries before the West in a way which empowers both them and wider society – such as the right for women to inherit property – which was denied to women in the West until the twentieth century.

He said:

“Almost all the Islamic references I have presented today refer to the rights Islam gives women, whilst the rights of men have not been stipulated separately, or certainly not to the same degree as women’s rights have been.

“This is because in every society one sees that men have sought to assert their power and dominance, sometimes unjustly… Thus, Islam has given much stronger emphasis to establishing the rights of women. Yet despite this, the opponents of Islam claim that Islam does not give due rights to women.”

On Saturday, the Caliph delivered an address specifically to the ladies of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in which he related stories of inspirational women in Islamic history, who had performed deeds of heroism and sacrificed much for their faith.

The Caliph said:

“Nowhere in Islam does it say that women should stay locked up at home and neither did Muslim women in early Islam do this.

“Rather they would come to listen to the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and take part in (defensive) battles, take care of the wounded and ride horses. They used to learn from men and also teach men…thus they had complete freedom.”

The Jalsa Salana is an international convention held over three days every year. This year only attendees from the UK and limited representatives from abroad were permitted to attend due to precautions over COVID.