Blessings of Khilafat — Page 113
113 certainly not happen. In marriages, you should first consider a person’s piety and good character. The issue of parity comes later and that too should be taken into account to the extent of certain family values relating to the person’s cultural and moral backgrounds. You must remember that to fulfil your obligations, a lot of sacrifices are to be made on your part. Though an Ahmadi is permitted to take in marriage the daughter of a non-Ahmadi for his son, our circumstances are such that they require that the members of the Jam a ‘at should neither give their daughters to non-Ahmad i s, nor should they take daughters of non-Ahmad i s for their sons. The initial directive that the Promised Messiah as had given in this regard carried this same judgment that Ahmad i s should establish marital relations only with other Ahmad i s. Only later did he grant permission for Ahmadi males to marry into non-Ahmadi families. Now the circumstances have taken such a turn that once again it seems appropriate that Ahmad i s should neither give away their daughters to the non-Ahmad i s, nor should they take the daughters of non-Ahmad i s in marriage for their sons except in very dire circumstances. I say so because at this time the number of people in our Jam a ‘at is very small and the difficulty which the Jam a ‘at is facing is that because Ahmadi boys do get married to non-Ahmadi girls, and since Ahmadi girls are not being allowed to get married to non-Ahmad i s, it becomes difficult to locate a match for them from among Ahmad i s. This consequently makes some Ahmad i s show their weakness of faith, for they then give their daughters away to non-Ahmadi boys. There are so many people who write to me for help regarding the arrangement for the marriages of their daughters. When I look towards the male members of our Jam a ‘at, I find them already married into non-Ahmadi families. The point I wish to