Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume II — Page 53
53 Address to Lajna Ima’illah Quetta Delivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad, Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra York House, Quetta, Pakistan August 18, 1949 ( Lajna Ima’illah Quetta h eld an important meeting on August 18, 1949 , at York House, Quetta. Besides Ahmadi women, many well - respected non - Ahmadi women attended the function. ) Ha z rat Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra addressed the ladies and said: First of all, I would like to advise Lajna Ima’illa h Quetta, under whose auspices this meeting is being held, that time is a blessing from God Almighty. It was our country ’s earlier way of thinking that the upper class did not have to abide by punctuality. Therefore, the more prominent their status, the more they considered themselves exempt from being punctual. Now however, the world viewpoint has changed. E xperience has taught the world that holding a high stature does not exempt one from punctual ity. In fact, being more punctual is a necessity if some one is of higher status. The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa was always punctual. I was surprised to hear that this meeting was scheduled for 5 :00 p. m. today , al though according to Quetta local time, ‘ Asr prayer is offered at 5:15 p. m. Therefore, the time of the meeting should not have been scheduled before 6 :00 p. m. , under any conditions. As usual, th e ladies took their time arriving for the meeting. When I inquired at 5 :00 p. m. , I was told that very few ladies had actually arrived at the meeting. This behavior was incorrect because it makes the workers suffer. Th ose who are working arr ive on time but are then forced to wait a full hour. In t his way , their time is wasted more than anyone else’s. Even though i t should be th e case tha t the more judicious a person is , the less her time is wasted. And if the time of those who are lazy i s wasted , there is no harm in ignoring punctuality. Thos e who volunteer and are beneficial to the Jama'at do turn up on time , but spend a whole hour