The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 365
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya advantage o f a girl converting to Ahmadiyyat is nothing as compared to the disadvantage o f an Ahmad! becoming a non-Ahmad!. Let us suppose that one hundred mar riages are solemnized with non-Ahmadls, as a result o f which twenty young men leave Ahmadiyyat while eighty girls embrace it; the conversion o f eighty women would not be as beneficial for us as the loss o f twenty young men. It is wrong to risk even the smallest part o f what God has granted to us on the pretext o f procuring more. Our duty is to protect the faith o f the people who have been given to us by God. It will not be our success if we get 99 people from outside and lose even a single one o f our own. Our enthusiasm for our religion demands that we do not let even one person step out from our ranks, whether or not we get 99 others. Keeping these considerations in mind, I decide this issue in favour o f the majority. ” (Report Majlis-e-Shura 1941, pp. 29-42] P rinciples G overning the S hura ’ s D ecisions The basic principle on which the decisions of the Shura are based, is as follows; Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya believes that the Holy Quran and sunna are immutable, and all else can change with time, age and circumstances. Hence such decisions of the Shura as are based on the Holy Quran, the sunna, and the instructions o f the Promised Messiah3 S are immutable, but in other subordinate matters, changes are inevitable according to the needs and requirements of the people. Hadrat Khallfatul Masih IV1 1 1 , giving his deci sion about certain Wasiyyat regulations, said: “I hope that these regulations shall remain unchanged for sometime, for the fact is that everything is liable to 365