The greatest challenge
facing the Muslim world, in their perception, is that there must be the
establishment of a single authority known as the Khilafat – where all
Muslims must unite under one leader. Once the Khilafat is established,
it would represent a sign of majesty and omnipotence of Islam, and on the other
hand, the Muslim nation would then deserve Divine guidance.
The intention to
establish a single Khilafat is a noble vision, but unfortunately Muslims
are not agreeing. This disagreement is based on who deserves the Khilafat,
considering that there have been so many divisions and groups (Jamaat)
in Islam. Thus, Islam is torn internally like this, and externally too, there
are cunning schemes and wickedness from others of different faiths and beliefs
who seek to eradicate Islam so their ideology may dominate the world.
Amidst the internal disagreement Muslims have faced, where the body of Islam was torn apart by conflicts, where the unity of Muslims disappeared, Allah found it necessary to send His own Khalifa (Caliph), whom He Himself elected and granted revelation in order to revive the teachings of Islam within global society.
It is very important
that the world understands that a Khalifa who comes must be divinely
elected, and he must possess Taqwah (the fear of Allah) within himself
and base everything on Islamic prescriptions to bring peace to the world, and
to struggle with trust in Allah and Duahs (invocations to Allah) against
all evils that seek to eliminate the kingdom of God (Allah) from the earth. So,
while Muslims are still debating who truly deserves that place, that position,
Allah has already made His plan. When internal divisions and external attacks
were threatening and still threaten His Deen (Islam), He then sent this
Humble Servant (Munir Ahmad Azim) for the revival of Islam in the world. The
world does not realise, but it truly needs a leader, a competent person who can
take charge of the institution of Khilafat which has been established
upon a path based on prophethood (and which prophethood is that? It is the Nabuwwat
of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) – based on Hazrat Muhammad’s Nabuwwat) and
under divine guidance to lead the Muslim nation.
When we look at Muslims
with that objective, i.e. to unite Muslims under Khilafat, despair sets
in, where people find it difficult, even impossible, to visualise that a leader
could emerge from a group, a Jamaat that could be accepted by all
Muslims. While Muslims are debating this matter – where each one has his own
argument as to why one among them should be the leader of all Muslims – Allah
has already made His decision. Amidst their internal fragmentation, they forgot
that Allah has the power to raise His own Khalifa.
You must reflect that
since the death of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), many divisions have
afflicted Islam, wounding the unity that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had brought.
From the dawn of time, with the advent of prophets among humanity – in each of
their nations – we received knowledge through Allah, His prophets and His Books
– His revelations, such that each time a prophet passed away, it is then that
people realised their errors and acknowledged the prophet who had passed away. As a Creole Proverb says: ‘Après la Mort, la Tizann!’
(Which literally means: After
death, the herbal tea! – This in fact means that it is only after the
damage is done that remedies or solutions are sought to cure or repair/ resolve
something!)
Those who were around
the prophet, some were truly sincere, while there were also many hypocrites and
thousands of disbelievers. Sometimes, a prophet could preach for a long time,
and very few people would recognize and believe in him and follow his message,
while some other prophets also achieved success during their lifetimes on
earth, witnessing victory before departing this world. Those prophets – all
prophets of Allah, whether they brought a Book of Law or not – were Khalifas
of Allah, representatives of Allah on earth.
All Muslims must keep
in view that the sects born from the unity at the time of the Holy Prophet
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), there will always be one that is truly true and that
will be supported by Allah, come what may, and it is among this group of people
that Allah has preserved His teachings, and from whom He will send His elected
ones.
For example, let us
look at the division that befell the Ummah where factions such as the Wahhabis,
Shias, Deobandis, Tabligh-e-Jamaat and Sunnis emerged, etc. Ponder over it
carefully – so long as the people in those groups adopted the true teachings of
Islam, of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), obeyed the Khalifa-e-Rashideen (the Rightly-Guided
Caliphs) and even the Khalifas of the Ahle-Bai’at, those people made
progress, but from the moment they forgot the real Islam and tore away the
honour of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), and for some, Hazrat Ali (ra) and the
Ahle-Bait (such as Hazrat Imam Hassan and Hussain), then the Ummah gradually
lost its true goal, its true FOCUS in life.
Mujaddids (reformers) arose from among those people, and Islam
gained renewal through them, until the day when Allah sent Hazrat Massih Ma’ud
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Messiah and Mahdi of his time. And he was not just
the Messiah, but Allah also made him a Mahdi – the founder of Islamic Messiahs
after Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh); as if to say, a Messiah who produced Messiahs
within the Ummah of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), and that is a very great honour
that Allah granted him.
Now let us look at him –
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) – where… which Jamaat did he come from? He came from
Sunni Islam (Sunnat-e-Jamaat), specifically from the Hanafi school of thought.
So look at how Allah showed that after Sunni Islam had deviated, where one sect
followed another until Sunni Islam emerged, then Allah raised His first Islamic
Messiah, also a Khalifa of Allah, a Mahdi within Sunni Islam, not among
the Wahhabis, not among the Shias, not among the Deobandis – so, not among the
sects which had earlier lost their fundamental connection with Allah.
And so, Allah raised
His Messiah and established his mission – and what happened then? His own
Jamaat (Sunnat-e-Jamaat) rejected him, mocked him, called him all kinds of
names simply because he said he came from Allah, that Allah spoke with him,
gave him revelation and made him a Messiah, a Mahdi and even an Ummati Nabi
(such a prophet who is not separate from Hazrat Muhammad – peace be upon him –
who can never bring a new divine code of law apart from the Holy Quran).
The world must realise
that an UMMATI NABI, although he is a prophet, is never independent. He
is always linked to Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), to Islam. He receives that honour
only because he is attached to the greatest law-bearing prophet, the Seal of
all prophets, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).
So, among all Jamaats
that existed at the time, it is Sunnat-e-Jamaat that received the honour that
one among their brothers became a Khalifa of Allah, a Messiah, a Mahdi –
in a nutshell, a reformer not just for Islam but for all humanity. He was not
just a Mujaddid (reformer) but a Messenger of Allah, a Hazrat Isa, an
Ahmad who produced other Messiahs. And this is not necessarily physical or
biological, but certainly spiritual. But regarding a promise of flesh, of a son
who would have the messianic breath within him, then we, the believers in the
truth of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), must have that faith that Allah truly
fulfilled His promise to him when He gave him Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud
Ahmad (ra), who was not only his promised son – who would also be a reformer –
but also after him within his Jamaat, there would be other Messiahs and Muslehs
who will come and fulfil to the letter the prophecies that Allah gave
concerning the Messiah and the promised son of His Messiah. Allah’s wisdom
extends beyond what people can perceive. People may think of one thing, but
Allah realises it in another way.
Therefore, the Muslim
world and humanity in general must keep in view that after the separations that
fractured Islam, where many Muslims who claim with their mouths (tongues) to be
Muslims but who have gradually abandoned the fundamental teachings of Islam,
then after that deviation, Allah raised His Messiah from Sunni Islam. So, there
must have been further deviation within Sunnat-e-Jamaat for Allah to raise His
Messiah from therein, and so the Jamaat Ahmadiyya came into existence!
We then saw the progress
that the Jamaat Ahmadiyya made over the course of a hundred years, during which
Allah also manifested the presence of the promised son of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Ahmad (as), who acted as the 2nd Khalifa (Khalifatul-Massih).
But what did we see
afterwards? When power went to their heads, when they also deviated from the
teachings of Islam and turned their backs on the prophetic practices of Hazrat
Muhammad (as), and strayed from the advice of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as),
where then did Allah raise His other Messiah? Did He raise him from
Sunnat-e-Jamaat, which by then had gone on to become further fragmented? No! He
raised His new Messiah from the very Jamaat of His past Messiah, where it forms
a chain. And among the Ahmadi Muslims, Allah sent one of their brothers – this
humble servant – as a Reviver of Islam. And this, despite the fact that a
system of Khilafat had already been established, but which had deviated from
the teachings of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as)! And
at that point, it is Allah Himself who redirected the course of His light and
entrusted it to a soul that He personally chose and prepared his destiny so
that, in the future, it is he who becomes His next Messiah.
So, when it comes to a Khilafat
elected by man versus a Khilafat appointed by Allah, we must keep in
mind that Allah’s will and command reign supreme over all the things man
chooses and believes are good for him. While man strays, Allah makes His
provision – not from another Jamaat – but from the Jamaat where His former
chosen one was found, a Jamaat that He guides and will continue to guide,
because divine light – the light of Islam – shines within such Jamaats that
were truly righteous, but sadly later went astray, and Allah raises His chosen
one from among them so that the promise He made to His noble Prophet Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh) and His Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) may be
fulfilled. And this is what we call the SUNNATULLAH (the practice of
Allah), a practice that mankind cannot obstruct, cannot go to war against – because
if they go to war against the decree of Allah, if they join the ranks of those
who stand against His Messengers, then they enter the same category as the
disbelievers who reject divine will on earth.
This subject is vast. I
shall stop here. Insha-Allah, I will continue on the same topic next
Friday. May Allah grant me Tawfiq (divine favour) to explain this well.
May Allah give guidance (Hidaayat) to the Muslim Ummah in its entirety
to properly understand the decrees and actions of Allah. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
---Friday Sermon of 25 July 2025~ 28 Muharram 1447 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius.