Divine Blessings in the New Century

“The principal quality of Islam is that its blessings always accompany it. It does not speak only of the past but offers present blessings as well. The world is always in need of blessings and heavenly signs. It is not as if it needed them in the past and does not need them now".

"A weak and helpless human being who is born like a blind is in need of knowing something of the heavenly kingdom and needs to see some sign of the existence and power of God in Whom he believes. The signs of a past age cannot suffice for a subsequent age, for hearing is not the same as seeing and, by the passage of time, past events become like stories.”

           -Hadhrat Ahmad (as)

                          [A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam,  Ruhani Khazain, Vol.5, pp.245].  

As per the Divine Plan and prophecies vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa), Allah, the Most High raised Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian in the Fourteenth century of Islamic Calendar as Al Imam Al Mahdi to raise the flag of true spirituality. After his death, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community that he founded, successfully carried the message of true spirituality and took it to the corners of the earth.

Today, a century after the death of the Promised Massih (as), the Community is at the crossroads of spiritual history. For, to reinforce the faith of Islam with new signs of its enduring blessings and to dispel the clouds of mistaken notions from the minds of believers in the new Century, Allah, the Most High has now revealed His extraordinary Divine Plan once again by raising yet another Elect of His in the person of Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib of Mauritius, a spiritual progeny of Hadhrat Ahmad (as) as the Mujaddid of the new Century and Messenger of Allah of this Era.

As Hadhrat Ahmad (as) famously observed in another context, laziness has crept into the spiritual thinking in the Community within a century. This is in spite of the presence of the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) and the extraordinarily detailed explanations and commentary on spiritual matters left by the Al Imam Al Mahdi.

Thus, the majority of people within the Community itself are yet to recognize the Divine Manifestation of the Era, engulfed as they are in various misunderstandings of spiritual doctrine and practice. Instead of rejoicing and being grateful to Almighty Allah for this great blessing in their midst, Ahmadi Muslims around the world are clinging to what they have, as it generally happens in the time of an Elect of Allah.

In the last Century, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was on the right side of spiritual history because it accepted God’s Messenger of the era and that is why it could win over all ideologies and arguments of its opponents through the light of truth (48:29). Hadhrat Ahmad (as) was given the glad tiding that  “[my] followers will excel over others in knowledge and wisdom because of the light of the truth, arguments and signs of Divine support, and will render the opponents speechless…” (Tajalliate Ilahiyya, p.17).

In the new Century, now that Allah has revealed His Plan to strengthen the armoury of Islam with a Man of God in the person of a Khalifathullah, the leaders and scholars within the Community certainly cannot hope to put the issue under carpet by casting out inconvenient people before themselves being consumed by the new forces of spiritual history. Silence is not an option when speaking is the necessity. In the noble tradition of early Muslims who held the elected Khalifas among themselves accountable, let me ask: Hadhrat Khalifathul Massih V, will you please rise up and do your duty?