You were amazed how someone could have reformed himself just by approaching the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But here, someone who came 1300 years after him, he swore in the name of Allah that if he was alive, it was surely due to the sheer spiritual force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He claimed that he received this life – directly [in a way of speaking] from the Holy Prophet (pbuh).
So, it is that
spiritual force which is necessary, and that force is acquired through
proximity to Allah. Thus, the formula of Dawat-e-Illallah which the Holy
Quran mentions is completely true and scientific as well. Allah says that you
can certainly invite the people to Allah but it is compulsory for you to make
these changes [reforms] in you. And those changes will be signs of your proximity
to Allah. It is at this point that a force will arise in your call. There will
be such people who without speaking anything, they will be able to reform
others. When others will come to sit near them, they will be influenced by
those [righteous] people and bring about changes in them. And today we have
such examples among the Ahmadi Muslims around the world.
There are some Ahmadis who
say that due to office duties, they cannot do Tabligh; because there are
office rules and regulations which forbid one from doing Tabligh. But
[remember the time] when there were other believers in the Promised Messiah
(as) who worked with others. They were role models and reflected the teachings
of the Promised Messiah (as) in them. So, when people used to sit near them
[i.e. the believers], little by little, they came close to those believers, as
if they developed affection for them. And a day came when those people said: “We
need to ask: ‘Who are you? We see that you are different from the others. You
are not afflicted with the evil in which our society is immersed. You work with
much honesty. You speak well [with good manners] to others. You are good. You
respect both the little and the elders. So, all the excellent manners which you
display have driven us to ask you: ‘Why are you different?’”
So, the believers in
the Promised Messiah (as) of the past era – where their faith were not as frail
as straws, but as solid as concrete which is reinforced by iron – [one of them]
said: “I am a believer, believing in the Messiah prophesised by Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh), for our beloved prophet (pbuh) has stated that when the
Messiah comes, give him my Salaam [Salutations of peace]. Even if one has to
crawl to go to him, one must do it. So, I am most fortunate – with all humility
I thank Allah a lot – that Allah has given me the Hidayah [guidance] to accept
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) as the Messiah.”
Even when he [the
believer] said that, the one to whom he was addressing did not turn his back to
him. On the contrary, he asked for books and others writings to study and he
verily studied and by the grace of Allah, he too became a believer because his
heart was pure. Allah removed him from darkness and guided him to His Light.
So, that person did not
initially talk or approach the believer but through the spiritual force, he was
attracted to him. Thus, in the areas where you are living and in which people
have deviated from Allah, from Islam and did all sorts of severe propaganda
against Islam, you are surprised and hurt to see all this. To enable victory in
those regions, spiritual force is necessary. And like I told you, to get this
spiritual force, you must prepare your own beings for Allah, like one prepares/
trains a horse to submit it completely to your will – those horses would then
be under your command.
So, for your own beings
also, it is the same. You need to train your own Nafs [ego, passion] and
submit it completely to Allah. And the Nafs which submits itself
completely to Allah, then there will certain be great force in it. And that
force will surely attract other people. Thus, based on this, I keep on telling
you to make pure changes [reform] in you; do the pure reform of your wives, sisters,
brothers and do not abandon this matter as long as your surroundings [first of
all, family members] do not do the necessary pure changes after your repeated
calls [invitations/ reminders]. This is because, personal reform is not
sufficient. If beforehand, you as well as your immediate surroundings, that is,
your family members in your home was free and immersed in all sorts of evils
and all kinds of mundane pleasures, and if now, it is you alone you come
forward to do a pure reform of your own selves, then bear in mind that from
that point on, the rest of your household will start to drift away from you
because they are used to that other kind of life. And thus, when you make that
pure change in yourselves, they will begin to think that [ironically speaking],
they have a Maulvi in the house! They will view this as a big problem. They
will say that you used to be with them in the past and that you used to do
everything together [especially the evils], and now you have stopped with the
evil deeds and thus creating problems for them.
If that situation
arises in your surroundings outside your family circle, among friends, then
such words from them won’t inflict on you that much pain as that in your own
house, with your own family members. This is because if friends abandon you,
this is not serious, but how could you leave the house and go [if your own
household react negatively] and where will you go? How can you witness your own
children leaving you and going astray [leading an empty]?
So, after your pure reform,
you need to enable that pure change in your wives and children as well and make
them active participants in that change. And if you give them the necessary
explanations on the subject with love and wisdom, then they also will
participate [willingly] in that change. But if you do not make them aware of
the necessity for that reform and you go forward alone in self-reform [pure
change], beginning a new life on your own while you think that your household
will imperatively follow you if you order them to do so, then this is a lie
because nobody will forcefully accept to do good deeds. This is the thinking
process of the Mawdudi who think that good deeds are created through
coercion and orders. That is a great stupidity from their part. Good deeds can
never be created through coercion and orders. Yes, there are certain
superficial deeds done through force, but good deeds [Neki] are a change
which occurs in the heart. It is not at all a deceptive matter or a superficial
one. As a result of the Islam of the Mawdudi, there can be prayers in
congregation, or there can be people which long beards and long robes etc., but
all these would just be an image which instead of attracting other people, they
would instead keep them away.
If as a result of that
coercion you think that Islam has come and Allah has now been firmly
established in the hearts of the people, then that would be a complete
ignorance and stupidity [to think so]. Allah settles in those hearts that do
pure changes through good counsels. At that moment, changes will occur as if
they form part of the lives of the people [who are undergoing those changes]. They
remain established firmly on them. Without love and good advice, it is impossible
to do these changes. The Mawdudi think that through coercion and
command, one can change a whole society, but the reality is that with coercion
and commanding people to do something which they do not want [which is against
their will], then you will not be able to bring about this change in your own
family, with your own progeny. Never in the world have there been pure changes
[reforms] through compulsion/ the use of force. If force is used, there are
only superficial changes, exterior changes only but not interior changes
[relating to the heart and soul]. In that context, you can witness throughout
around the world, through the experiences lived in this world that coercion
could never mould the beauty of the heart.
May Allah give you the opportunity, the blessing to tread
on His path and that of His prophet (pbuh) like those who tread this very path
[in the past] and obtained the rewards thereof! This is what the Quran has
taught us, that we ask for the right path, to tread on the straight path, the
path of those who have tread it and received [the promised] rewards from Allah.
May Allah give us this Tawfiq.
So, may Allah help you in the reform that you should aim to
do, and may He give you the Ilm (knowledge) to have the necessary
knowledge on how to invite other people to Allah. Allah should become the aim
of each person. If Allah becomes your goal, therefore, despite the great
difficulties which you may encounter and pass through in that path of
self-reform and in the field of Tabligh/ Dawa, it is Allah Himself Who
will support you and help you towards success. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
----Friday Sermon of 18 February 2022~16 Rajab 1443 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.