The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 208
the S ystem of M ushawabat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya B l i n d F o l l o w i n g i s n o t t h e W a y o f t h e B e l i e v e r s Hadrat Musleh-e-Mau‘udra also advised the members that they should not follow other people blindly, but should use their own reason. Instead of being carried away by emotions, they should give due thought to the matter at hand and then form an opinion. Once when the curtailment of the budget for Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya was being discussed in the Shura, Hudur said: “The workers o f the Jama’at have contributed a thousand times more than the other members o f the Jama’at in re lieving its financial burden. I understand this situation, and had I been attending this meeting as a representative o f some Jama'at I would have been ashamed o f suggest ing that a cut should be imposed on the allowances o f the workers. This shows how much difference there can be between temperaments o f different people. The fact is that the members do not give serious thought to an issue before expressing their opinions. Last year member after member got up and said that there was no reason to im pose a cut on the allowances o f the workers o f the Jama’at because whatever they are getting is a subsis tence allowance and not a salary, and that the additional burden should be shared by the outside Jama'ats. I stopped them time and again and said that it was not cor rect to burden only the outside Jama'ats. But today every speaker has said that the cut imposed on the workers’ al lowances may not be restored to them, as the Jama'at is faced with financial problems. The Shura is the same, the members are the same, the circumstances are the same, and the topic under discussion is the same, then why is it that last year you were insisting that no deduction should be made from the allowance o f the workers and the fi 208