Malfuzat - Volume VIII — Page 420
420 MALFŪZĀT - ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URDU VOLUME 8 9. It is also a bad custom in our people that hundreds of rupees are wasted on marriages. So, it should be remembered that dis- tributing food among relatives by way of boasting and aggran- disement, its giving and its eating-both are forbidden in the Shariah. And spending money on fireworks and giving to pan- derers and musicians is absolutely forbidden. Money is wasted unjustly, and sin is earned. So instead of this, all that is pre- scribed in the Noble Shariah is that the person who gets married should do walima—that is, serve food to a few friends after the marriage is consummated. 10. The observance of the Shariah is very lax in our homes. Some women come under the obligation of paying Zakāt and possess much jewellery, but they do not give Zakāt. Some women are very negligent in performing Prayers and Fasting. Some women participate in polytheistic rituals such as smallpox [goddess] worship. Some worship imaginary goddesses. Some give such donations stipulating that women should eat but men should not, or those who smoke hookah should not eat. Some women engage in the practice of making an offering at some saintly per- son's grave on Thursdays. But it should be remembered that all these are satanic ways. I admonish the people solely and purely for the sake of Allah that come and fear God; otherwise, after death, you will suffer severe punishment with humiliation and disgrace, and you will suffer from the wrath of God, which has no end. وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الْهُدَى ]And peace be upon those who fol- low the guidance]. Humbly, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian¹ 1. Badr, vol. 2, no. 31, p. 12, dated 2 August 1906