The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 106
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya cult is to desist from forming an opinion in ignorance. This means that whatever opinion you express should be motivated by sincerity and good intentions. At times, a person may not realize that his opinion is being tempered by his own personal prejudices, while this in fact is the case. Therefore, if he sees that his opinion is always op posed to some other person, even though the majority supports him, he should understand this is due to his in ner prejudice, otherwise why should he always oppose the thinking o f a particular person. This normally hap pens when some thoughts that are lurking at the back o f our mind influence our opinion and lead us on the path o f hostility and opposition. Whenever you form an opinion, always keep the fear o f Allah and His pleasure in your mind, for the smallest er ror can prove fatal to your faith, and a single misstep can cause such damage as might take centuries to rectify. . . The issues that we discuss here w ill affect millions and billions o f people. N o one knows to what extent our Jama'at w ill progress, but the Promised Messiah 3 8 has told us that it w ill spread so far and wide that people o f other faiths w ill become inconsequential. Our future generations w ill be affected by our decisions. Therefore, my advice to you is to always keep the fear o f Allah in your mind. ” [Report Majlis-e-Shura 1925, pp. 3-5] T he S pirit of S hura and M utual C onsultations “Coming together once a year and voting for certain pro posals is more or less a formality, and these consultations do not always prove to be beneficial. I, for one, know that precious few things come up in these consultations that I do not already know. . . Som etim es the things being 106