'Strive to Excel in the Path of God'

Prepare for the 'Journey'

“At this time, the purpose of my address is that since there can be no guarantee of one’s life, I feel that the number of people who are gathered around me now may perhaps not be with us in the following year. Moreover, during these days, I saw in a vision that in the coming year certain friends would no longer be with us, but I cannot say who of them was referred to in this vision. I am certain that this is because everyone individually ought to prepare himself for their journey to the afterlife. As I have just mentioned, no names were disclosed to me, but I know for certain by knowledge given to me from Allah the Exalted that divine destiny and decree has its time. All must leave this transient world at some point or other.

And so, it is absolutely imperative to state that every individual and friend who is present now must not hear my words as though they were a storyteller’s tale. Rather, I counsel you from Allah and have been commissioned by Him. I address you with immense sympathy, true goodwill and with a burning heart. Hence, I call on my friends to heed my counsel. I reiterate that you ought to listen attentively and take my words to heart.

Belief in God

Allah is the most Supreme Being and He is the Light, for He has established His existence and Oneness in the Holy Quran with powerful and simple arguments. Those people who express doubts and harbour suspicion regarding His existence, despite witnessing the powers and miraculous wonders of this Magnificent Being, are truly the most unfortunate. In proof of His Magnificent and Powerful Being, Allah the Exalted has stated:

‘Are you in doubt concerning Allah, Maker of the heavens and the earth?’ (Surah Ibrahim; Ch. 14, v. 11)

meaning, can there be doubt in the existence of Allah the Exalted, who is the Creator of the heaven and earth? Now reflect, is it not perfectly clear and obvious that a created thing leads one to accept the existence of a creator? When a person sees a well-crafted shoe or chest, they are left with no choice but to immediately accept the existence of its craftsman. In the same way it is inexplicably astonishing that there should be any room for denial in the existence of Allah Almighty. How can one reject the existence of a Maker who has created thousands of wonders with which the heaven and earth are replete?

Hence, know for certain that a foolish person who doubts the Being and existence of God, even after observing these works and wonders of nature, which are beyond the power, mind or intellect of man to create, is an unfortunate person caught in the grip of Satan. Such a one ought to seek forgiveness from God. To reject the existence of God has no basis in argument or observation. In fact, to reject the existence of Allah, the Glorious, despite witnessing His powers, and the wonders of His creatures and creation at large, which fill the heaven and earth, is the height of blindness.

There are two forms of blindness: the blindness of one’s eyes and the blindness of one’s heart. A person’s physical blindness does not affect his faith. But a blinded heart does affect a person’s faith. Hence, it is necessary and absolutely imperative that every single individual constantly beseeches Allah Almighty with humility and submission so that He may grant him true divine understanding, insight and vision, and so that He may protect him/her from the evil whisperings of Satan.

Death and the Purpose of Life

"Exalted is He who holds all control in His hands; who has power over all things; who created death and life to test you and reveal which of you does best- He is the Mighty, the Forgiving"-- (Surah Mulk, 67: 2-3).

"God has humbled the son of Adam with death, and has made the world an abode of life, then an abode of death, and made the Hereafter an abode of recompense, then an abode of eternal abiding" --- Prophet Muhammad (sa)  

As a religion, Islam is an appeal to the conscience of the humans to deploy their God-given Free Will to lead a clear and pure life in the path of God. It is an open invitation to everyone to recognize the true purpose of life- the Worship of the Divine to the exclusion of all other so called 'deities'- by purifying their souls, by getting rid of the spiritual and moral diseases that otherwise come in the way of such higher realization. And 'Muslims' are those who subordinate and surrender their personal needs and desires to conform to the Will and commandments of Allah and His Messenger and strive in His cause. The trade-off they have to make is between the chance gains of this life and the enduring rewards of the Hereafter. Hence, to live in obedience to the dictates of religion and to die in that state of submission to the Will of Allah, is a conscious choice that every true believer makes through her belief and practice in every day life. 

In his Friday Sermon of 20 July 2018 (06 Dhul Qaddah 1439 AH), Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius speaks about the transient nature of our worldly life to remind us about the inevitability of our accountability in the world to come. 

In this eloquent discourse steeped in Qur'anic wisdom and illuminating insights, Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) provides a series of practical guidelines that followers of the Divine Path can keep in mind in their everyday life. For, everyone has to be prepared to face the record of their deeds on the Day of Resurrection. As Hadhrat Saheb (atba) notes, a believer can prepare herself for that ultimate reality of Facing God on the Day of Judgement in the following way: by recognizing the truthfulness of the Divine Messages and prophecies chronicled in the Qur'an and the Ahadith; by learning from the exemplary lives of the Divine servants of the past; by recognizing the value of invoking fervent prayers directed to the court of the Almighty for steadfastness and courage to remain in the spiritual path, and also by recalling the fleeting nature of life and the unavoidable journey to the grave after death. It is also instructive to note that embracing the True Path/Faith is a favour that one does to one's own self and nobody else, and it is certainly not a favour to God. Our extolling God cannot add to His glory, nor does our disobedience to His Elects can take away of His grandeur and dignity. On the other hand, when you earnestly strive in the path of glorification and sublime obedience, God bestows purification and radiance to your soul in this very world- indeed happy endings are for the truly devout. Whether to remain in obedience to God and receive the benefits of enduring blessings, or to disobey the Divine commands in search of fleeting pleasures that will only bring ultimate loss- that is the choice that every human has to make in life, reminds Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba).  

Read the Friday Sermon Below: 

Recall Death

For all of us, our journey on earth is limited. Sooner or later we will have to return to our Creator and present ourselves before Him. Those who fear Allah the most have only one wish, which is, to stay in His obedience - the obedience of Allah - throughout their lives. This, in order to prevent them from dying while they were in disobedience of Allah because the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Every slave will be resurrected in the state upon which he died” (Muslim)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) here speaks of our state when we die either as a disbeliever or as a believer. Each individual must therefore seek by all means to hold firm to his faith, the true faith (i.e. Islam), throughout his life on earth so that when he dies, despite that his family may be crying over losing a loved one, but the person (now dead), will be happy to join his Creator. For this, he must:

(1) Believe in the word of Allah and Muhammad (pbuh).

It is so easy for us to believe in the words of people like us. If we are told that tomorrow there will be an increase in the price of fuel, how many of us will rush today itself to the gas stations to refuel?

In the fourth chapter of the Holy Quran, Allah says: “Allah! There is no god but He: He will surely gather you together on the Day of Judgment, about which there is no doubt. And whose word can be truer than Allah’s?” (An-Nisa, 4: 88)

“I Believe”: Zafrullah Khan’s Faith

“I believe that subordinate prophets will continue to arise in Islam when mankind strays from the path of righteousness and needs divine revelation. It is necessary that, as the pattern of human life develops, mankind should have a living example set before them of a life utterly pure and devoted to the service of God and man”.

 -Sir Zafrullah Khan Sahib (ra) on American Radio Speech, in 1950

Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan Sahib (ra) (1893-1985), arguably one of the greatest public figures to have emerged among the followers and disciples of the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as), stated these ringing words in a context where he was explaining his inner most spiritual convictions and beliefs as a devout Muslim. In the 1950’s, the US radio service CBS invited Sir Zafrullah Khan Sahib, who at that time was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan with a formidable reputation of being a preeminent leader-statesman of the Muslim world, to deliver this address in the series on “This, I believe”. This speech was rebroadcast almost sixty years later on The Bob Edwards Show on July 23, 2010 and is now publically available on You Tube and also in Ahmadi media networks. 

This special speech of Sir Muhammad Zafrullah Khan (ra) is a public testimonial of his deeply held spiritual convictions and as such, it beautifully captures the sum and substance of the faith that the Promised Massih (as) had taught all his life and left behind as his spiritual legacy for all his followers and disciples. All members of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya need to ruminate and profoundly ponder over the ringing words of this great ambassador of the Ahmadiyya community.  

For the benefit of our Ahmadi readers, many of whom have been misguided by their current leaders and scholars with the notion that “Ummati-Nubuwwat’ in Islam has been replaced by a system of man-elected man or ‘Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya’, we reproduce below the transcript text and audio of the Speech.  

‘HIJRAH’ as Islamic Ethics

Islam values freedom of expression and association, of belief and faith, of worship and practice as a primary condition of community life in a decent society. It also recognizes that ruling oligarchies and power elites may reject these fundamental freedoms of people and even persecute people on the grounds of their deeply-held spiritual convictions.  Indeed, Islam emerged in a society where polytheists and image-worshippers were persecuting people on the grounds of their beliefs. With relentless persecution in society, the early Muslims in Makkah had no option but to migrate to Medina along with the Holy Prophet of Islam Hadhrat Muhammad (sa). In Islamic tradition, this incident is of historic importance as the Hijrah.

According to the Holy Qur’an, migration (Hijrah) is an option for all those who suffer religious intolerance, or other forms of oppression and persecution. To escape from persecution, Divine Messengers and their followers in the past had undertaken migration from their land and sought freedom in exile. ‘I will emigrate for the sake of my Lord’, (29:26; 37:99) declared Hadhrat Ibrahim (as) when threatened by his own people. Hadhrat Musa (as) and the Israelites had to flee the oppression of the Pharaoh: ‘So he escaped from there, vigilant and fearing for his life, and said “My Lord, deliver me from these oppressors”’ (28:21).

In his Friday Sermon of 21 June 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius provides illuminating insights on the larger spiritual essence of the idea of Hijrah in the everyday lives of the believers and Divine seekers. Beyond the actual physical migration from an oppressive place, Hijrah entails a commitment to consciously leave aside all illicit acts/dealings arising out of Hubb-ud-Duniya or love of this temporal world and to perform and embrace all religious/ethical obligations and Divine commandments, keeping in mind the journey to the Hereafter (Aakhirat), under the guidance of a Spiritual Master that Islam provides in every age.

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

                                

 “… And a Muhajir (an emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all what Allah has forbidden.” (Bukhari)