Islam stands for peace. Ahmadiyya Muslim community presents the real picture of Islam.

The true victory of Islam, as is evident from the word 'Islam' (submission) itself, lies in our complete surrendering our selves to God and freeing ourselves of our egos and our passions. No idol, whether it is the idol of our desires, our our intentions, or the idol of creature worship, should stand in our way, and we should submit ourselves entirely to the will of God. After reaching this state of Fana (self-annihilation), we will attain baqa (the life of eternity) which will give our eyes a new light, our minds a new passion; and we will become a wholly new being and the same Eternal God will become for us a new God. This is the true victory, and one aspect of it is Divine ammunion.(the green announcement p. 28)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Response to persecution by the head of a peacefull community

Sermon Delivered by Hadhrat Mirza
Masroor Ahmad Head of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Hudhur recited the following verses at
the start of today ’s Friday Sermon and
gave a discourse on ultimate triumph
of divine communities.
‘Out of arrogance in the earth and
evil plotting. But the evil plot
encompasses none but the authors
thereof. Do they then look for
anything but God ’s way of dealing
with the peoples of old? But thou
wilt never find any change in the
way of Allah; nor wilt thou ever
find any alteration in the way of
Allah.
Have they not travelled in the
earth and seen how evil was the
end of those who were before
them? And they were stronger than
they in power. And Allah is not such
that anything in the heavens or the
earth should frustrate His plans;
verily, He is All-Knowing, All-
Powerful. ’ (35:44-45)
Hudhur said that we firmly believe that
the Promised Messiah (on whom be
peace) was from God as we observe
signs of God ’s support for him each
step of the way as well as fulfilment of
Divine promises made to him. We also
witness fulfilment of whatever he
foretold. This increases our faith. Due
to his ardent love for the Holy Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be on
him) God granted him status of
prophethood so that he could take the
task of the Holy Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be on him) further.
However, this was a prophethood
which was not law-bearing and was in
a shadow-like capacity and was the
pinnacle of being in the Ummah of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be on him). It is a pity that our
opponent ulema (religious scholars/
leaders) interpret this incorrectly and
not only raise voices against it
whenever and wherever possible but
also harass and persecute us as much
as they possibly can and at times
exceed all limits in their persecution.
When divine communities progress,
their detractors try their utmost to stop
their progress by means of force or
through the help of supporters whom
they deem powerful. At times, they
also surreptitiously and cunningly try
to take those who have weak faith or
who lack Tarbiyyat or adolescents
away from the truth. This is why each
Ahmadi should increase his or her
religious knowledge and be aware of
what he or she believes in and why he
or she believes it so that they can
respond to such covert enemies. In
addition, and more importantly, we
should pray for our belief because
without God ’s grace nothing can come
to pass. For this, God has taught us a
prayer: ‘Our Lord, let not our hearts
become perverse after Thou hast
guided us; and bestow on us mercy
from Thyself; surely, Thou alone art
the Bestower. (3:9). Thus one’s belief
is safeguarded by God’s mercy alone
and this is why a humble person is
ever in need of His help, indeed,
should be in need of His help. Hudhur
said at times people write to him
asking that if the prophethood aspect
of the Promised Messiah (on whom be
peace) is not mentioned in discussions
etc. it lessens the hostility.
Explaining Hudhur quoted from the
writings of the Promised Messiah (on
whom be peace) where he said that
one should not be afraid to assert
heavenly matters and that it is not the
practice of those who follow truth to
be fearful. He said that it was his claim
that he was a Prophet. He said
whoever God has a dialogue with,
which is a superior phenomenon than
that of others and which includes
prophecies in abundance, is called a
Prophet. He said this definition fulfilled
in his person and that he certainly was
a Prophet. However, he said his
prophethood was not law-bearing
that would cancel Book of God and
bring a new book, he said he
considered such a claim as Kufr
(unbelief). He said if he was not called
a Prophet, then which other term
would distinguish him from others
who were recipients of Divine
revelation. Hudhur said thus was the
open and clear claim of the Promised
Messiah (on whom be peace) which
was in exact accordance with the
prophecy of the Holy Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be on him) who
had said that there would be no
Prophet between him and the Messiah,
the Mahdi.
Hudhur said opposition of divine
communities always goes on. Many a
tyrannical ruler and their multitudes
have contended with them before but
Godly communities continue to
progress. Eventually all the multitudes
are finished and God’s decree
triumphs. ‘Allah has decreed: ‘Most
surely I will prevail, I and My
Messengers. ’ Verily, Allah is
Powerful, Mighty.’ (58:22). Hudhur
said those who think that their
throngs and the help of their worldly
masters will give them success are in
error. The ultimate triumph most
certainly belongs to divine
communities. No matter how sharp
their intellect is in conspiring and
making false plans, they cannot
contend with God ’s decree. And God
has thus assured true believers: ‘…But
the evil plot encompasses none but
the authors thereof …’. Indeed, times
come when sacrifices are needed but
the final triumph is of a Prophet and
his people, this is the way of God and
God ’s way does not ever change, it will
show us the bad ending of the enemy
as it did before, just as the verse cited
before (35:44) states.
Hudhur said the recent barbaric
happening in Indonesia gave the
mullah and his coterie audacity to plan
a huge rally calling for a complete ban
on the Ahmadiyya Community as
Muslims. They planned this rally to be
hundreds of thousands strong and
had made huge preparations. They
said they would take their protest to
the highest level in government and if
not successful, they would remove the
head of state from his office. The plan
was huge in scale and had the
Indonesian Jama ’at concerned about
the extremist element of it. However,
God so willed that only an ordinary
rally took place which finished earlier
than it was planned to. A few days
earlier, government sponsored clergy
had decided to hold a convention
which was attended by the President
of the country and thus God dismissed
the other plans. In any case, neither
the government sponsored clergy nor
the mullah are our friends. God so wills
at times, that our opponent parties
clash with each other. We are grateful
to the Indonesian government
because since then, with the
exception of one or two ministers, the
stance of the rulers has been good
with us.
Hudhur said he wished to say that just
as after the Lahore martyrdoms we
witnessed sincerity of faith emerge in
Africa resulting in Bai ’ats, similarly God
has opened ways for pious-natured
people after the Indonesian incident.
A murrabi sahib from Africa writes that
after seeing video clip of the
Indonesian incident he was in an
emotional state. By chance a Tabligh
session was planned the same day
with some local dignitaries and ulema.
He writes that he put the video clip on
at the start of the session and
explained the background of the
barbaric attack. Hardly a minute of the
footage had been seen when one of
the imams stood up and started
sobbing in the traditional African
manner and said if these were Muslims
carrying out barbarity in the name of
the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be on him), then he wished to
forsake such Muslims and such an
Islam and announced that he was an
Ahmadi. Hudhur said the Tabligh
session had yet to take place when
God enabled one big imam to accept
Ahmadiyyat. He later said that he
pledged that in recompose of the
three martyrdoms he would bring
three villages in the fold of
Ahmadiyyat. Hudhur prayed that may
God enable him so.
Hudhur said whether the enemy plans
against us overtly or covertly, let alone
frightening those of strong faith, their
planning immediately opens the
hearts of the pious-natured in favour
of Ahmadiyyat and the task that
cannot be done by our missionaries in
a year is accomplished in a moment.
Who indeed is there that can stop
God ’s work. It is God’s way that His
decree triumphs and the oppressors
are destroyed. It is a warning from
God that if people in earlier times came
to a bad ending due to such
opposition, today ’s God is the same
God and these are the promises of the
very same All-Powerful God. He says
have you not seen the destruction of
the earlier people? Hudhur said even
today when earthquakes strike they
are a cautionary sign for those who
pay heed. By stating this in the Holy
Qur ’an, God enjoined Muslims to have
sense. But unfortunately, they have
forgotten this warning. God addresses
the arrogant and the conceited who
are intoxicated in the conceit of their
power that their arrogance will come
to naught. God states: ‘…And they
were stronger than they in power…’
that is, their opponents were stronger
than the Prophets but when God ’s
chastisement came, they were all
destroyed. By stating this in the
Qur ’an, God has told every Pharaoh-
like person and his throngs that their
power is nothing compared to God
and though apparently weak, Godly
people are given power by God.
Detractors of Godly people should
have sense and should understand
this reality that contending with those
are sent from God is contending with
God. Indeed, He states: ‘…And Allah is
not such that anything in the
heavens or the earth should
frustrate His plans ;’.
When looked from a worldly
perspective, the powerful are right in
assuming that they will overcome the
others with their power. Indeed, today
the cunning and the powerful are the
rulers around the world and they have
a hold over those who are apparently
called Muslims. However, here the
contention is not between worldly
people. When it comes to the
Community of the Promised Messiah
(on whom be peace) the contention
becomes between Godly people and
worldly people and here worldly
principles do not work. Here the
triumph will be of that side with which
God ’s support will be and God will
state: ‘…And Allah is not such that
anything in the heavens or the
earth should frustrate His plans;’
Hudhur said while this is glad-tiding
for us in this age, it also draws
attention to a responsibility: to truly
connect with that Godly person and
generate a special relationship with
God. Try and make our worship of
God, our prayers, our practices in line
with the teachings of the Holy Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be on
him) which the Promised Messiah (on
whom be peace) further unfolded for
us. If we truly inculcate this principle,
then whether it is the powerful people
of Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh or
some Arab nation, they have no
standing against the All-Powerful God.
Our detractors need to understand the
signs of decree of God and reform
themselves, otherwise, God’s decree
will triumph and when His final decree
comes to pass, everything is
destroyed.
Next Hudhur read some extracts from
the writings of the Promised Messiah
(on whom be peace). These included
the following: ‘God will break the
arrogance of the arrogant maulwis’
and ‘the truth of an especially loyal
person of God reaches God in such
abundance that the worldly blind
cannot see it ’. ‘O’ people, understand
that I have that Hand in my hand
which be sincere to me till the very
end. ’ ‘If you hide your testimony, then
a time will soon come that stones will
bear testimony for me. ’ ‘It is wrong to
assume that the Promised Messiah will
descend from the sky. Remember, no
one will descend from the sky, all our
opponents who are alive today will all
die and none of them will witness
Jesus, son of Mary descend from the
sky. Then their surviving children will
also die and none among them will
witness Jesus, son of Mary descend
from the sky. Then children of their
children will die and they too will not
witness son of Mary descend from the
sky. This is when God will make their
hearts anxious that the time of final
triumph has passed, the world has
changed but Mary ’s son Jesus has not
yet descended from the sky. This is
when the intellectuals will be wary of
this creed. And three centuries from
this day would not have completed
when those who await Jesus, be it
Muslims or Christians, badly
discouraged and dismayed, will
abandon this false creed. And there
will be only one religion in the world
and one leader. ’
Hudhur said we thus witness the
truthfulness of the words of the
Promised Messiah (on whom be
peace). Today, in accordance with
God ’s promise Ahmadiyyat is
blossoming in Asia, the islands,
Europe, America and the fertile areas
as well as far flung deserts of Africa.
Each sacrifice of every Ahmadi is
becoming a means to attain new
objectives. We should pray more than
ever to partake a measure of God’s
grace and for strengthening of our
faith. World situation is fast changing,
InshaAllah it will manifest great signs
in favour of Ahmadiyyat. A lot of
prayers are needed for this, self-
reflection is needed for this. Special
attention to prayers is needed during
these days, may God also cover our
faults and may no act of ours be such
that it deprives us of experiencing this
progress.

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