Odyssey of Sacrifice — Page 46
! 48 members thought of creative ways to raise donations. Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) mentioned one of such creative ways in the se words: “Today a letter has come from someone outside (Qadian). This person is employed as a postman. He writes that I cannot afford to contribute twenty eight thousand (28,000) rupees for the translation and publishing of the Holy Quran or any other boo k. Allah put this thought in my head that if I cannot, I should make an effort to donate 28,000 pies [1 pie = 1/12 Anna = 0. 520833 paisa]. I have calculated that 28,000 pies equals his salary for nine months. Thus, Allah created a special thought in his h eart that he should donate twenty eight thousand pies and gain acceptance with Allah. Allah granted him a way to gain honor. This is an example that teaches us how Allah enables him [who desires] to contribute by giving him unusual ideas on how one could c ontribut e. ” 36 This scheme continued during the era of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh ), and gained a new form. In a Friday Sermon on January 15 , 1988, he referred to this scheme in these words: “At the last Jalsa, the scheme of publishing the translations o f the Holy Quran in different languages took a new form. One person, one family and in some cases one Jama’at started supporting payment of one entire Holy Quran. With Allah’s grace, this scheme has been so effective and blessed that by itself this scheme has raised contributions which are almost equal to half of the pledges from outside for the Centenary Jubilee [Fund] which is highly significant … !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! 36 Al - Fadl 25 June 1960