Blessings of Khilafat — Page 99
99 and pious person whose social standing is similar to his own. There are some people with the same mentality in our Jam a ‘at. Someone once requested Hadrat Khalifatul Masih I to look for and arrange the marriage of his daughter or sister, but when Hadrat Khal i fatul- Mas ih I proposed some names to him, he turned them down saying they were not really worth the girl. He said that she rather deserved to be married to some Tehsildar, Extra Assistant Commissioner or a person of another equally respectable position. This was in spite of the fact that the person himself was of a very ordinary standing. Such behaviour can create serious problems for those who are not so fortunate. A non-Ahmadi would give his daughter to an Ahmadi only when he is sure that the Ahmadi is fairly better placed than him. After all, why would he give away his daughter to an Ahmadi if he does not gain any material benefit from that relationship? There are exceptions, albeit very few. The poor are not going to find any match [for their children] from among the non-Ahmad i s. Now, what they are left with are only the people of their own faith. If they start behaving with arrogance, it will create a major problem for a certain portion of the Jam a ‘at. The point of my saying all this is not that one should turn down the offer of a good match, and insist that he would like to marry his daughter only when he finds a person of meagre resources equal to his own. Rather, one must not be ungrateful to God if God extends His grace upon him. To me it is wrong to delay the marriages of girls in the hope of finding some rich person for them. Marry them once you have found for them someone who you think has a fairly good income and is pious, but should you fail to find a person of this sort and have an offer from someone who is equal to you in status or has circumstances which fairly match yours—and is not