The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 136
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya as adversely as a person who does a minor misdeed out in the open in front o f everybody. Therefore, I do accept the proposal, but it should be implemented after a year from today. ” [Report Majlis-e-Shura 1927, pp. 166-171] This restriction remained in place during the time of Hadrat Khalifatul Masih IIIrh. If, at times, a delegate was sent by a Jama'at who did not have a beard, the Secre tary Majlis-e-Mushawarat would not issue him a pass for Shura. Referring to one such incident, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih IIIrh said: “I want to give you the good news that three o f our friends have started growing beards because o f M ajlis-e- Mushawarat. They came here as representatives o f their Jama'ats, but the office refused to issue them passes be cause they did not have beards, whereupon they immediately promised in writing that from that very moment they would start growing beards. So this is an other benefit o f Mushawarat. If Jama'ats keep sending ten or twenty such members in fixture, it w ill prove quite beneficial. It has also been reported from Dhaka that two members who did not have beards were elected as repre sentatives; but when they learnt about this precondition, they immediately decided to grow beards. ” [Report Majlis-e-Shura 1968, p. 198] S ome C riteria for E lecting R epresentatives By the grace o f God, as this consultative institution pro gressed, Hadrat Musleh-e-Mau‘udra laid down some criteria for choosing the representatives. Due to the ex traordinary significance o f Majlis-e-Shura, he decided 136