Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 169
169 I feel that it is now time for me to prompt the women to contribute toward s the Holland M osque. So far, fifty - two thousand rupees has been collected for this fund. The estimated expense is about a hundred and fifteen thousand rupees. In other words, sixty - three thousand rupees still need to be collected. I urge Lajna to gather their strength and fulfill this [goal]. I am confident that they will. Once a woman makes up her mind, often she is more determined than a man. God Almighty has created her in a way that despite being delicate in some respects she surpasses men in the arena of continuous and enduring sacrifice s. I therefore expect Lajna to fulfill their pledge of chanda. Meanwhile, if need be , we will take out a loan to complete the construction of the m osque. The Lajna Ima’illah Hall was also built in the same manner. The shortage of funds was made up by taking out a loan and afterwards the women collected their chanda to pay off the debt. As a matter of fact, an example has been set by the women in paying off thier debt. Importance o f Education “The second thing I would like to say is regarding education. Both in Qadian and in Rabwah, the education of women has always exceeded that of men. Moreover, with in Qadian , there were many times when a hundred percent of women were given basic Urdu education, as comp ared to eighty percent of men. This means that Ahmadi women have always excelled twenty percent more than men in education. Actually , in Pakistan, the proportion of educated men is fifteen percent and only seven and a half percent of women [are educated]. Here in Rabwah, women are far ahead of men in this regard. Yet, this does not hold true for our Jama'at s from other area s. I am saddened to have to say that I personally know of families, who are third generation Ahmadis, and yet some of their women do not even know Surah Al - Fatiha h. T hus , it is not enough to only adva nce education with in Ra b wah. There is a dire need for all the women in our community to be well - versed in religious knowledge. This task is such that it ca n never be achieved without a planned scheme. ” Ha z rat Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra further said: “By ‘ educatio n’ I do not imply traditional formal education. Instead, I mean that women should be able to read the Holy Qur’an and learn basic reading and writing because the necessary religious knowledge is available in Urdu. Thus, i f we teach them to read and write Urdu ,