Riches: Greed and Regret

Our riches and resources come from God Who bestows on us all earthly blessings for a period of time. It is our duty to be grateful and thankful for the Divine grace of mercy; be generous and charitable with the less fortunate in society. Sharing provisions with the needy is recognition of this social mutuality: producers paying a part of the crops on the day of harvest with the poor are only fulfilling the dictates of public conscience, or the Divine command on social responsibility. In his Friday Sermon of 13 November 2009, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius provides an illuminating exposition on the parable of the owners of the garden in the Holy Qur’an. (68: 18-34) 

Whereas equity and charity attracts the Divine grace of mercy and the flourishing of possessions; greed and miserliness remove the protective shield from riches, and expose it to decline, loss and destruction- inviting feelings of ultimate regret on those who displayed arrogance and open ingratitude to the Supreme Lord. 

'It is He who produces both trellised and untrellised gardens, date palms, crops of diverse flavours, the olive, the pomegranate, alike yet different. So when they bear fruit, eat some of it, paying what is due on the day of harvest…' (6:142)     

‘Consider the seeds you sow in the ground– is it you who make them grow or We? If We wished, We could turn your harvest into chaff and leave you to wail, ‘We are burdened with debt; we are bereft.’ (56: 64-68) 

Read the Friday Sermon Below:

Securing the Future of the World

The Future of our Planet

Earlier this week, on 22 April 2019 there was the International Mother Earth Day which commemorates the Earth and all the riches it has brought us through the sheer grace of God Almighty. It comes as a reminder that the Earth is in danger that we all humans have the absolute duty to protect it, each at our level!

Indeed, nature is a gift of God given to mankind to enable each and every individual lead a joyful, prosperous and peaceful life. However, the greed of people and/ or nations to accumulate wealth by all means, coupled by superfluous consumption has prevented them to make a judicious use of the free natural resources at their disposal and has put humanity in the situation it is in today.

Never before has the human race found him to be so uncomfortable, so insecure and so uncertain about the future. Calamities like flood, drought, tsunami, earthquake, tornado, fire, smoke....(Like on Monday 15 April 2019 in Paris where part of one of the largest cathedrals of France and the world, Notre Dame de Paris burned in a fire. France and the Christian world in general have witnessed the destruction of one of their biggest symbols - gone up in smoke!...)

And also intense heat and cold in every nook and corner of the world and occurring even in odd seasons and in unexpected places, are taking everyone by surprise. Disaster of such dimension never occurred before. Many experts say that such changes (i.e. climate change), brought by the hands of man itself have destroyed the ozone layer protecting our Earth, thus causing global warming and bringing in its wake many other calamities. Such natural calamities as they are termed by man have transformed into divine reminders for them to change their evil ways and to embrace a righteous way of life.

God Almighty says in the Holy Quran: “Calamities have appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of the people have earned, so that He (Allah) makes them taste some of what they did, in order that they may return (to the right way).” (Ar-Rum 30: 42).

Degradation among Ahmadis

In his Friday Sermon of 29 May 2015, Mirza Masroor Ahmad Sahib stated that every day the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is witnessing many signs and favours and he cited with arrogance that in Germany, the Lajna and Ansar had recently bought a five-storey building for € 1.7 million, and affirms that this was a divine support in favour of (man-elected) Khilafat.  

If money and material progress is really divine support in favour of Ahmadiyya man-elected Khilafat, then the Pope and the Christian World as well as the other ancient religions, including the other non-Ahmadi Muslims shall be doubly and even trebly jubilant in stating that it is them who have divine support because they are far more advanced in both number and wealth than the Ahmadiyya Community worldwide. According to them, despite the man-made idols which they (the other religions) cherish, and the closing of the door of prophethood (for the Muslims), they are well-off and are confident that they have divine support for them and their beliefs. 

If the Khalifat-ul-Massih is measuring progress in terms of material possessions instead of spiritual growth (and/or declination) then he is taking an absolutely wrong route. Verily, the worst fears of both Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) were that a time shall come when Islam will be so rich in material means that people will give that more importance and be blinded by them rather than staying true to the true divinely-sent faith. They knew that victory shall come for their followers and they did not worry for their current meagre financial situations for they knew also that those empty treasuries shall be filled one day. What they feared is the corruption and fraud that shall ensued after the large amount of money come to ornate the treasury of the community (Islam as a whole, and the Jamaat Ahmadiyya in particular).

Food for thought: The more there is material growth within a community, be it secular or spiritual, the more there is degradation. If the moral and spiritual values of the people are not secured, the spiritual community falls prey to the allures of the Satan, and the common people, as well as the high priests and heads fall prey to the lust for temporal power and authority.