A person who is a member of the Jama’at [Ahmadiyya] and is a Patwari [Land Records Officer] by profession, wrote a letter to the Promised Messiah (as). He asked, ‘There is a certain compensation fixed for Patwaris by the government, but it has become a common practice that Patwaris charge more than that or beside it in certain cases. Farmers are happy to pay this even without asking. Is this practice permissible?’
The Promised Messiah (as) said: ‘If we suppose that information of such payments were to reach the regulatory authorities and there is, according to law, a fear of setting him up for a trial, then it is not permissible.’
A person inquired if it was permissible to record the poetry of the Promised Messiah (as) in the phonograph and play it for people to hear.
The Promised Messiah (as) said: ‘Actions are judged by the motives underlying them. It is permissible to use the recorded poems for the purpose of tabligh [propagation of the Message] because, many a time, poetry makes the hearts of people soft and tender.’1
1 Badr, vol. 7, no. 19,20, p. 8, dated 24 May 1908