Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 277
! ! 277 Women’s Right to Representation at Majlis - e - Mushawarat Address at Jalsa Salana Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra December 28, 1929 While giving his speech on various important matters a t the Jalsa Salana held on December 28 th 1929, Haz rat Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra said the following regarding women’s right s to repres entation at the Majlis - e - Mushawarat [ a n assembly of Jama'at representatives for mutual consultation] : One more issue , which has created an outcry in our Jama'at , is the matter of women’s rights at the Majlis - e - Mushawarat. D uring the Majlis - e - Mushawarat , I had presented a question of whether wom en should be given the right to representation. No other matter has generated so much passion, or rather frenzy, as this issue has produced. Women may be fragile, but it seems that they have a special ability to embolden men. Some friends feel so strongly regarding this, that they say if women receive the right of representation, it will be the demise of Islam. By contrast, the same fervor was not observed in the opposing group, although women do feel strongly. When an article was published in Al - Fazl opposing women’s right s to representation, the Lajna submitted a complaint to me a sking what should be done now. Jami ‘ a Ahmadiyya held a debate and those who opposed women’s right to representation , were declared victorious. I told the women, “You should hold a meeting as well and debate over whe ther or not men have the right to representation in Majlis - e - Mushawarat , and then decide that they do not. ” In Jami ‘ a Ahmadiyya , the decision was made on children ’s subjects, not on the right to representation. Although this is not a trivial question, a mist ake could be very dangerous. Yet on the other hand it is not so extreme that if women were given the right to representation , Islam w ould be declared dead. There is no doubt that