Bai'at: In Covenant with God
‘Prophet, when believing women come and pledge to you
that they will not ascribe any partner to God, nor steal, nor commit adultery,
nor kill their children, nor lie about who has fathered their children, nor disobey you in any righteous thing, then you should accept their
pledge of allegiance and pray to God to forgive them: God is most forgiving and
merciful.’ (60:13)
‘Those who pledge loyalty to you [Prophet] are actually pledging loyalty to God Himself– God’s hand is placed on theirs––and anyone who breaks his pledge does so to his own detriment: God will give a great reward to the one who fulfils his pledge to Him.’ (48:11)
Bai'at, or the pledge of allegiance to a prophet or other elects of God, is part of the spiritual tradition from the ancient times. Prophets and messengers appear with revelations, and it is binding on the people of the times to abide by the covenant of God through taking Bai'at at the hands of the Divine Elect. God's covenant with humanity through the prophets is widely known, especially among the children of Israel. While God blessed the Jews and the Christians with His covenant of regulations, only a few among them stayed true to their commitments towards those obligations. Most of them took a paltry price for those heavenly teachings; some among them sought to 'kill' the prophets, distorting divine commandments for their own selfish purposes, and as time went by, many even forgot the divine regulations as a way of life.
In Islam, Bai'at is based on Divine teachings in the Holy Qur'an and the Holy Prophet's own practice when the Sahaba- both men and women- took the pledge to abide by Divine commandments in life under the leadership of, and in obedience to, the Holy Prophet (sa):
‘And (O Muslims!) remember Allâh's favour which rests upon you (in the form of the Qur'ân) and (to abide by its teachings) His covenant to which He has bound you, when you said, `We hear (your commandments) and we obey (them).' And take Allâh as a shield. Verily, Allâh knows well what is in the inmost depths of the minds.’ (5:8)
In the Holy Qur'an, Allah (swt) promises His protection and great rewards for those who abide by His covenant, and also cautions about the Blazing Fire that will consume those who follow Satan, betraying the grand bargain with God. All those companions who took Bai'at with the Holy Prophet (sa) essentially committed themselves to uphold Islamic values and norms until their last breath on this world. In exchange for the grand promise of salvation and the paradise of Divine pleasure, they agreed to abide by the Islamic injunctions, the straight and correct path of Divine approval.
Yet, global history is a witness to the rise and fall of peoples. Just like communities that had gone before them, sections of the Muslim Ummah also forgot about, or simply ignored, the Divine revelations and His commandments vouchsafed to the Holy Prophet (sa) so much so that on the Day of Judgement:
‘On
that day the unjust shall bite his hands (in regret); he will say, `If only I
had followed the (same) path along with the Messenger! `Ah, woe is me! would that I had not made
friends with so and so. `He indeed led me astray from this source of rising to
eminence (- the Qur'ân) after it had come to me. And Satan is ever a deserter
of human being (in the hour of need). And (on that Day) the Messenger will say,
`My Lord! my people treated even this Qur'ân (full of blessings) as (a thing)
abandoned.’ [25: 28-31]
It is to avoid falling into the pit of Fire that people need to live with a wider consciousness about the correct path of Divine blessings. It is to help people find true guidance that Allah (swt) has established His enduring practice of raising His Elects with fresh revelations every time people forget about the teachings brought by the prophets in the past. Like the Holy Qur'an says:
'Verily, We have ever been sending Messengers, as a mercy from thy Lord. Verily, He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing.' (44:6-7).
'And remember the time when Allah took the covenant from the people through the Prophets, saying ‘Whatever I give you of the Book and Wisdom and then there comes to you a Messenger fulfilling that which is with you, you shall believe in him and help him’. And He said, ‘Do you agree, and do you accept the responsibility which I lay upon you in this matter?’ They said, “We agree” He said “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses”.' (3:82).
‘There is a time set for every people: they cannot hasten it, nor, when it comes, will they be able to delay it for a single moment. O children of Adam! Whenever there come to you Messengers from among yourselves, relating My revelations to you, then whosoever (by accepting them) are conscious of God and live righteously, there will be no fear, nor will they grieve.’ (7: 35-36)
'Surely there will come to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.' (2:39).
The Holy Prophet's Guidance
Hazrat Muhammad (sa) gave explicit instructions to the Muslim Ummah to
abide by the Holy Qur'an and his sacred practice [Sunnah] so as not to deviate from the correct path of Islam after his times. In this context, the Holy Prophet (sa) spoke about advent of Khulafa and Mujaddidin who shall be the guiding stars of the Faith in the centuries after him till the Day of Judgement.
'Verily, God shall raise for this community, at the beginning of every
century, one who will renovate for it its religion.' [Abu Dawud]
'When you find the Mahdi, perform Bai'at at his hand. You must go to him, even if you have to reach him across ice-bound mountains on your knees. He is the Khalifatullah Al Mahdi.' (Sunan-Ibn-e-Majah, Kitabul Fitan, Babu Khurujil Mahdi, Hadith no. 4074)
'He who dies without recognizing] the Imam dies the death of ignorance.' [Musnad Ahmad, Vol.4; p.96]
According to the Promised Massih (as): 'This
Hadith is enough to make the heart of a righteous man seek after the Imam of the age, for to die in ignorance is such a great
misfortune that no evil or ill- luck lies outside its scope. Therefore, in keeping with this testament of the Holy
Prophet (sa), it becomes incumbent upon every seeker after truth to
persist in his quest for the true Imam.' [Darurat-ul-Imam, p. 2, Qadian: Nazarat Nashro
Isha’at, (2007)]
Why Bai'at with the Khalifatullah ?
An Imam, a Mujaddid, a Mahdi or a Khalifatullah when he appears among the Muslim Ummah with Divine revelations in a new century of Islam- as promised by Allah (swt) and prophesized by Hazrat Muhammad (sa), such a divine soul brings enduring teachings, and much wisdom, for the benefit of people: to purify them and to make them grow in spirit. Such a Khalifatullah appears precisely because people have trampled upon Divine teachings; they have ignored and forgotten the true essence of those teachings, even when they hold on to the 'shell' of those teachings, they have lost the 'kernel', as it were. It is to remind humanity about what they are missing, and to invite them back to the path of Allah (swt) that the Khalifatullah appears with sublime guidance. Just as water is indispensable for life on earth, the heavenly water of Divine revelations is critical for the spiritual well being of humankind. Hence, Bai'at with the Khalifatullah is vital for a true life.
A Special Divine Message
In a special Divine message received by Hazrat Imam Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Al Mahdi Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius on Thursday, 21 March 2024~10 Ramadan 1445 A.H. at 10.a.m.; one can understand the Sunnat Allah of raising pious souls with the 'heavenly water' of divine revelations in every era, and what it means for the people in the times of such a Messenger-Reformer:
'All life, depends on water which
descend from heaven, in the form of rain, snow, or hail. Similarly, spiritual
water descends from heaven in the form of Divine revelation without which no
spiritual life can exist.
Allah sends down rain but
rain-water does not stay in the earth permanently. It disappears by evaporation
or flows into the sea through streams and rivers. The earth again becomes dry
and then fresh rain is needed to make it fertile.
The same is the case with Divine
teaching. It powerfully influence the lives of men and brings about a great
change in them for a certain period. Then it begins to be neglected, ignored
and misinterpreted and so a fresh revelation is needed. This law of Allah came
into operation with the life of man on this planet and it will remain in
operation till the end of time.
So if people had accepted the
Divine Message and had kept to the right path, Allah would have bestowed upon
them worldly gifts and benefits in abundance. Water being the source of all
life, "abundant water" signifies abundance of wealth and other material
gains.
If men out of their perversity and ingratitude reject the Divine Message and the Heavenly Water which Allah has sent down, they will become deprived of it.'
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