The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 361
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ' at - e -A hmadiyya for the next three years, may stand up. ” (266 delegates stood up. ) “Now, those who want this restriction to be withdrawn, and want to leave it to individuals whether or not to marry non-Ahmad! girls, may stand up. ” (Only 24 delegates stood up. ) “I decide in favour o f the majority. Various members have expressed their view s, both in fa vour o f the proposal and against it, and they have mostly spoken from the point o f view o f the advantages or dis advantages o f marrying a non-Ahmad! girl, which, in my view , was not the question before us. It is obvious that anything which God has not forbidden must have certain advantages in it as w ell. And even where He has forbid den some things, He has done so under the principle [Their sin is greater than their advan tage. —Al-Baqarah, 2:220]. . . But one point, which was basic to the discussion, has been left out. The fact is that today the number o f males exceeds that o f females. If this is true, it should be per m issible to marry non-Ahmad! girls in certain circumstances. The survey conducted by Nazir Umur ‘Amma, as w ell as the one carried out by the Government, both establish that there are more males in the Punjab than females. For every hundred males there are 96 or 98 females. The fig ure may vary among different people, but these are the overall figures. So it w ill not be surprising if we also have more boys than girls in our Jama'at. At least it is true o f most o f our prominent fam ilies. It is the same in our family: I have 13 boys and 9 girls. The same is true o f Mirza Sharif Ahmad Sahib’s family. Such a difference is also discemable in our grandchildren, but as they have only one or two children so far, we cannot make an accu 361