Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 453
! ! 453 whereas the one mentioned earli er is not. Likewise, people do no t go to a doctor’s son, although at times, he is given the title of ‘doctor’ out of courtesy , but the reality is that he is not. Likewise, people would rather go to an ordinary pharmacist for treatment , rather than go to an actor who plays at being a doctor. Thus, w hen you are so careful in your worldly affairs, do you not believe t hat God is car eful in His work? If you are one hundred percent conscientious , then God is two hundred percent conscientious. And when you consider yourself so intelligent , do you believe God Almighty to be so foolish (God forbid) to accept your Salāt without any sincerity? To accept your tarnished coins for charity? The real essence is sincerity. It is impossible to progress without being heartfelt. The real difficulty is that people are far removed from si ncerity. In general, women believe in surface - level conversation. Women call themselves Ahmadi , but they harbor all sorts of vices in them selves, whereas we need action and devotion. Without these, progress is impossible. In the present situation, what choice do men have other than either bringing about a pious transformation within their Ahmadi women or leaving them behind? So far, we have not one example where a man ha s turned apostate, but the woman has refused to do so. Women have also become apostate along with their men, which suggests that women have no fait h of their own. Her faith is that which her husband follows. Out of twenty women, at least ten should possess a faith of thei r own. Their faith is not their own, but the faith of their husbands, fathers or sons. The quality of a whole pot of cooked rice can be judged by a single grai n from within it. We have this one sad example before us. P erhaps God Almighty has shown us this apostasy to test the faith of women. When Abdur Rahman Misri [the Egyptian] turned apostate, I th ought that perhaps his wife would not turn apostate along with him. She was the daughter of my teacher. She appeared to be a lady of very strong faith. N evertheless, she too became an apos tate along with her husband. Consequently, these sorts of circumstances reveal to us that the kind of sincerity and faith we require of our women