Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 98
98 Address to Lajna Ima’illah Karachi If Women Wish, They can Make the World Religious Forever Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra Ahmadiyya Hall, Karachi, Pakistan September 17, 1950 After recitation of Surah Al - Fatiha h of the Holy Qur’an , Ha z rat Khalifat - ul - Masih ra said: “I regret that today, due to continuously speaking for the last two weeks, my throat is extremely sore. I ha ve had a severe cough so I cannot express my thoughts well today. I think that women need to be provided opportunities [to be directly addressed by Ha z rat Khalifat - ul - Masih ] in the same way men have been provided , so that they also understand the needs of religion and become aware of their responsibilities , b ut the ladie s program has been incidentally scheduled for the final days of my stay here. When my speech was scheduled for the first day, I had such a s evere attack of gout that I could not even walk ; b ut by re scheduling my speech for later, my throat is so badly af fected that now it is difficult for me to speak. Especially since I have already spoken on the men’s side toda y, even though everyone knew that I am seriously suffering from a cough and flu. And s ometimes a cough rises which continues for two hours or so and medicine must be taken night and day to receive some relief. So , no other speech should have been scheduled for today, and I should not have been made to go through such a situation where I a m un able to address the women [properly]. But this is a matter to be resolved between you and your husbands or fathers; you can deal with them at home. Anyhow, today’s program on the men’s side has rendered me totally helpless and my throat is so sore that I can not even speak in a low voice. Asid e from the sore throat, the greatest difficulty is that my cold has affected the vocal cords so that my voice is not clear, and my words can not be well understood.