The System of Mushawarat in Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya — Page 64
T he S ystem of M ushawarat in J ama ‘ at - e -A hmadiyya train and w e had to wait for them in the morning. I hope that the officials w ill try to avoid such mistakes in future. The delegates should be informed o f the time when the proceedings start. Before I come to the issues for which we have gathered here, I would like to say something about M ajlis-e- Mushawarat. Why the Conference is Necessary: First o f all I w ill tell you what this Majlis—which has previously been known as a Conference— is all about. The Holy Quran tells us i. e. , Muslims always make their deci sions through consultations. Consultation is very important, and nothing can be properly accomplished without it. Majlis-e-Mushawarat is held for the purpose o f discussing issues relating to the establishment and pro gress o f the Jama'at. For this purpose, representatives of various Jama'ats are invited to hold discussions, so that the task is facilitated and members are made aware o f the needs o f the Jama'at. This is what Majlis-e-Shura is all about. I do not precisely know why other people hold Conferences, but this conference is meant for consultation. The Difference between this and past Conferences: The main difference between this and previous Confer ences is that the latter were called by the Secretary Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya, while this Majlis has been called by the Khalifa. The scope o f the previous Conferences was limited and they had their own methodology, whereas the task before this Majlis is enormous and its methodology is quite different. I am not sure what proce dure was adopted in the previous Conferences, but I must say that it gave rise to two contradictory ideas. During one o f the Conferences in which I participated, some o f 64