Can the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat benefit from video conferencing?

Yes, and it already uses video conferencing wherever it is needed. It saves travel and expense, but it does not replace a personal meeting face to face.

A worldwide community often needs to consult together, even when its members live far apart. The verse above makes mutual consultation a mark of the believers. Any means that makes such consultation easier is therefore welcome.

This is why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat already uses video conferencing wherever it is needed. In America, for example, an important matter had to be discussed with the entire community of the country. Everyone was connected through a video conference, and the issue was resolved at very little cost. Other countries have also been linked in this way.

Still, technology has its limits. Someone who lives nearby and can come in person within an hour should do so. A conversation through a screen always keeps something artificial about it. You see the other person, but you are not sitting with them. Much of what a person carries in the heart only comes out in a personal meeting.

The second verse reminds us that a community lives by gentleness and closeness. Modern means are a blessing when they bridge distances. They should add to meetings between people, not take their place.