In his address delivered to ladies on 15 April 2006 at Jalsa Salana, Australia, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (may Allah be his Helper) specifically advised the ladies and said:
“The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said that a woman is guardian over her husband’s home where she must ensure that no harm comes to the home, neither material harm nor spiritual harm. She must also be careful with the household expenses and make sure that money is not wasted, because money wastage can cause distress in homes. At times, women’s demands escalate. If the husband is emotionally vulnerable, he may incur loans to fulfil the demands made by his wife, and in certain situations, he falls into a deep abyss of debt which causes distress and anxiety. Even if he is steadfast by nature, he may fall ill to diabetes or blood pressure. In other cases, where a husband does not give into the demands made by his wife, it is the woman who becomes a patient of diabetes or blood pressure. But if you fulfil your responsibilities as guardians of the home in the best manner, then neither you nor your husband will become ill. If a husband is impatient in his ways, then there is a general atmosphere of bickering in the house, which also causes distress. In both situations, a household which should resemble a paradise becomes a hellish household. In addition, children’s minds are affected by all this. Their education and moral training is affected. In this society, truthfulness is instilled in children, and because it is a free society, certain children are quick to tell their parents to their faces that instead of reforming the children, they should reform themselves first. This is how a woman who has been granted the status of being a guardian over her husband’s home, his finances and his children contributes to its ruin as a result of giving in to her personal desires.
“Thus, every Ahmadi woman must remember that she has come into this world not to achieve her personal desires but to fulfil the commandments of the God Who created her and to worship Him.”
(Published in Al Fazl International 12 June 2015)
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (may Allah be his Helper) said the following when addressing ladies at another occasion:
“Some homes break up because husbands cannot fulfil the wishes of wives as their demands are too many or if they do not break up they remain in a disturbed state. However, Allah the Exalted Himself becomes the Provider of those who are truly devoted to Him and He Himself meets their needs. Only that woman is wise who thinks about how she can attain domestic contentment and how she can make her home like paradise. If she is inclined to the world, this peace can never be attained because real peace and contentment only comes by attaching oneself with Allah the Exalted. Worldly desires are of an ever-increasing nature and one desire leads to another and this creates restlessness.
“If you reflect you will observe that certainly the contentment and peace in the lives of women who do these good works to attain the pleasure of Allah the Exalted cannot be found in the lives of worldly women. Homes of worldly women have restlessness but women who give precedence to faith and make sacrifices in this way have peace in their homes and their marital life is also blissful, their children practice virtues and are attached to the Jama’at.”
(Address to ladies delivered on 2 June 2012 at Jalsa Salana Germany Published in Al Fazl International 26 October 2012)
During his address to ladies at Jalsa Salana UK 2007 Huzoore Anwer (may Allah be his Helper) gave the example of Hazrat Fatima az-Zahra (may Allah be pleased with her) and said:
“Once Hazrat Ali Murtaza (may Allah be pleased with him) came home and asked Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) to give him something to eat. She told him that it was the third day that there was not even a grain of barley in the house. Hazrat Ali asked her, O Fatima, why did you not tell me? I could have made some arrangement! She replied, my father (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) advised me at the time of my leaving [the parental home] that I should never embarrass you by making a demand. Lest your situation is such that I ask for something and you cannot provide it and which causes you burden, or you may have had to take a loan to meet the need; or you simply may worry that you cannot fulfil the requirement.
“Now, this example is a guiding light for every woman, for every woman who puts unreasonable demands on her husband.”
(Address delivered to ladies on 28 July 2007 at Jalsa Salana UK. Published in Al Fazl International 13 November 2015)
During his address to ladies at Jalsa Salana UK 2010 Huzoore Anwer (may Allah be his Helper) advised ladies and said:
“If every woman understands her responsibilities and understands that she must act upon them not because of fear that her husband or father or brother may find out and reprimand her in any way if she does not act upon them rather, the sense of responsibility to undertake these obligations should be ever present in her heart and that sense should be strengthened as a result of the realisation of the One God Who is Knower of the unseen, Who watches over every action of ours, Whose eyes are on His creation at all times. Everyone’s actions are like an open book in front of Him. Thus, as long as this realisation remains, no woman can do any such action which would take her away from righteousness. As a wife she would be perfectly sincere with her husband, and would be the guardian of her husband’s home, and rather than waste his wealth, she would spend it correctly. Many women follow righteousness and with righteousness they also adopt sense. In spite of low income, they save up something from what their husbands give them and regularly save it and at difficult times give it to their husbands and the husbands have no idea that they had been saving. Thus, they protect the husband’s wealth in private, or if they have a need, they inform them and use the money. They watch over their children properly. This watching over is not done just because it is the husband’s children, rather because of a greater reason, that the children are a trust of the nation and a trust of the Jama’at. In addition, they befriend women of high morals. A sincere wife never makes wrong kinds of friends who may lead her to erroneous ways, to squeeze out as much money as possible from the husband, who advise them to freely go places without the husband; telling her that after all she too has a right to freedom; who advise her to maintain relations with whomsoever she likes on whatsoever basis. Neither can women who give such advice be those who ‘safeguard in private’ nor can they be those who befriend such women and put the advice of such women in practice.”
(Address delivered to ladies on 31 July 2010 at Jalsa Salana UK. Published in Al Fazl International 11 March 2011)
During his 2012 tour of Holland Huzoore Anwer (may Allah be pleased with him) announced a nikah on 19 May. Huzoore Anwer said the following in his nikah sermon:
“I have seen that generally at times relationships break up and quarrels in families ensue because girls make too many demands and at times their families support them in doing so. The young man cannot meet their demands and thus a foundation of disagreements is laid. Likewise some young husbands are also unfair to their wives, they too should be careful.
“Just as I said at the start, the real thing is to try to make relations work while remembering God Almighty and while abiding by righteousness. If this is kept in view, with the grace of Allah the Exalted your relationships will be successful, newly formed relations will also be successful and future generations will follow piety. May Allah make this new relationship blessed in every way and may it uphold the traditions of both these families. That is, give precedence to faith over worldly matters.”
(Published in weekly Al Fazl International, 29 June 2012)
Referring to marital life and important responsibilities of Ahmadi Muslim women, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (may Allah be his Helper) said in his address at Jalsa Salana Germany on 1 September 2007:
“An Ahmadi woman’s responsibility in not merely to look after her home in worldly matters, to watch over her children and to take care of their education; an Ahmadi woman’s responsibility is far greater than that. An Ahmadi woman has to look after her and her husband’s home in the manner explained by Islam. She has to take care of the worldly education and training of her children; has to instruct her children in accordance with Islamic morals; and she also has to spiritually train them. In order to impress upon her children all of these points, in order to instil within them these lessons, she herself has to set up a pious example. By moulding her own life in accordance with the way prescribed by Allah the Exalted, she has to demonstrate models of worship of God and lofty examples of good deeds. Only then an Ahmadi woman can be called a true guardian of her husband’s house. Only then an Ahmadi mother can discharge the obligation of the upbringing of her children. Otherwise, owing to contradiction between her words and deeds her children can never be brought up properly.”
(Address delivered to ladies on 1 September 2007 at Jalsa Salana Germany Published in Al Fazl International 2 December 2016)