FRIDAY SERMON

28th June 2013

After reciting the Tashahhud, the Tauz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran Imam Zafrullah Domun said: It is my personal belief and experience that the writings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) has had a very good influence in helping me to better understand the Holy Quran or even the hadiths of the Holy Prophet (saw). He has provided us with guidance which can illumine our path towards Allah. Since I was quite young I became interested in Allah. I kept asking myself who was He and how does He operate in this world. Although I should say that I have some knowledge about these matters yet I cannot say that all the questions that I used to ask myself in my youth have been completely answered. Anyhow that much I know that the writings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) has helped to a large extent in shedding light on all those matters on which there were questions. So since then and up till now I still think that anyone who wants to understand the message of Islam has to read what the Promised Messiah has said or written. Without reading and understanding him a knowledge of Islam cannot be complete. Hence I think that our members need to know more about what Hazrat Masih Maood (as) has said. As I have previously repeatedly said plenty of his writings are available on the net and each one amongst us should make the most of them. Here I am thinking particularly about the five books of The Essence of Islam and also the copies of Review of Religion and the magazine Sunrise. There are enough in all these books and magazines to help anyone to know quite well what are the real teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as). So I take this opportunity to remind all our young ones, ladies and gentlemen, that they should make it a habit to devote at least thirty minutes to this study everyday. If they have difficulty in understanding any extract they should talk it over with the elders who would be most willing to help. I hope that each one of our youth will heed this advice of mine and spend their time in some more productive ways incha Allah. So today I will share with you some more extracts from Hazrat Masih's writings so that you might reflect. Speaking about his concept of belief in Allah, he says: Belief in God is of two types. One is belief which is limited to the tongue and which has no influence on actions and deeds. The other type of belief is one that carries with it the testimony of deeds. So until the second type of belief develops, I cannot say that a person believes in God. I cannot understand a situation where a person claims to have belief in God, yet he commits sins. A large part of the world is made up of people who have belief of the first type. They declare that they believe in God, but at the same time they are engulfed by the impurities of the world and are steeped in the evils of sin. What then is the reason that a belief in God's existence does not lead to the result which is specific to such a belief?..... Hazrat Masih Maood (as) was addressing these words particularly to the Ahmadis. These words are not taken from a book but rather from his Malfuzaat meaning that these words have been recorded by his disciples who were present when he spoke them. Here we see that Hazrat Masih wants his disciples to understand well that belief would be considered true belief only

when such beliefs are accompanied by virtuous deeds. If virtuous deeds are not practiced by a believer his belief has no importance at all. They are just wind blowing words. Hazrat Masih Maood (as) wanted Ahmadis not to be among the majority of people who profess belief in Allah but who do not accompany it by good deeds. An Ahmadi , by definition is someone who professes belief in Allah and the Holy Prophet (saw) and tries his or her best to do good in the world. An Ahmadi knows what are the rights of his neighbour. An Ahmadi understands how he should treat his parents. An Ahmadi understands how he should treat his brothers and sisters. An Ahmadi is careful not to cheat on his wife or husband. An Ahmadi is careful not to offend Allah in his obedience to those who are his leaders in the world. What Allah has declared sacred no one has the right to desecrate. Our belief in Allah should become such that we are conscious of him wherever we are and this should be sufficient to prevent us from sinning. But we all know especially those who have tried their best to deliver themselves of sins that it is not easy to remember Allah when passions have overcome you. Yet there is no deliverance unless and until you are conscious that Allah is seeing you although you might not be seeing Him. This state of mind is not achieved in an instant. It comes over one slowly. It comes over a person after that person has sinned and confessed his sins to Allah and has shed tears of regret to wash his sins. This is not an easy path. But this is the path that an Ahmadi should tread if he dares to call himself an Ahmadi- Muslim. An Ahmadi Muslim translates best the definition of a Muslim as given by the Holy Prophet (saw), namely that he is a person who protects others by his tongue and by his hand. In other words he does not harm others by neither his words nor by any type of blows by his hands. Hazrat Masih Maood (as) further said: The first duty of a human being , therefore, is that he should correct the belief he has in God, that is he should prove through his deeds and actions that they are not against the glory of God or the commandments of God. The deception whereby a person states that he believes in God despite the fact there is no testimony of his deeds to that effect, is a kind of illness and a very serious illness at that ! Hence to all of us it should be evident that we should strive to have the correct belief in Allah. We do not have a correct belief in Allah when we say that Allah cannot reveal to one of His Servants anything in the presence of a caliph because Allah says in the Holy Quran Wa maa qadarullaha haqqa qadrehi iz qalou maa anzalallaho ala basharim min shay'in meaning And they do not make a just estimate of Allah, when they say: Allah has not revealed anything to any man. (6:92) This verse , if properly understood defies all those who say that X or Y cannot receive revelations from Allah whilst there is a caliph. The fact is that there is something wrong with the caliph and that is why revelations are not directed towards him. His belief in Allah is not accompanied by the good deeds that Hazrat Masih Maood (as) spoke about and hence he is being denied the true source of guidance despite all his declarations to the contrary. Hence the necessity to have a correct belief in Allah and not try to impose upon Allah our own narrow mindedness. There are many Ahmadis who think that because they are attached to their caliph and they pay chanda they have done what was expected of them. Nothing can be further from the spirit of the teachings of the Promised Messiah. A true Ahmadi , real disciple of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) is someone who strives to know his religion better. On nothing does he just say that such and such thing is right because our elders say so. A true Ahmadi worthy of that name is someone who studies and asks questions and tries to find his

answers. He does not just take the answers of others as truth. He makes his own efforts to learn and inquire and know. If we read the Holy Quran we understand that we will have to face Allah's questioning alone. At that moment neither our caliph, nor our brother nor the missionary will be of any help. We should prepare for that moment. Allah has sent His Holy Book and now it is up to us to see how far we follow it or not. What I am saying is corroborated by what the Promised Messiah said: The torches that are lit on this path are the Prophets (peace be upon them). Hence if a person wishes to acquire the light of belief , it is his duty to find the correct path and walk upon it. Without this it is not possible to attain nearness to God and true spiritual knowledge which safeguards from sin. It is for every person to decide for himself as to which pursuit creates true belief and spiritual knowledge. It is true that when a person treads on the path of truth he does face difficulties and tribulations. Fear of the family , fear of the neighborhood and of the nation as a whole threaten him. But if he, in reality loves the truth and holds it dear the he does eventually escape from these difficulties. Otherwise tribulations makes manifest his hypocrisy. It is necessary for a believer to become frenzied (with belief) and not care for any humiliation in the path of truth. As far as he is imprisoned by these aspects of fear (of admonishment from his peers) he cannot be a believer. (Malfuzaat Vol 4 pp314-15) A Muslim is a lover of truth. He makes all efforts to reconcile views. He does just ignore others because they have a different viewpoint. Under no circumstance does a Muslim allow his enmity against someone takes the upper hand on his love for truth. If truth is with his enemy he should take it. One can only wonder why even in the presence of such great and noble teachings Muslims are fighting Muslims and even amongst Ahmadis there are at least verbal fights and even challenges for prayers for death. If we read the writings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) carefully we would see that he never expected Ahmadis to behave thus. Search for truth is done through prayers and brotherly exchange of views. The world is already ugly the way it is. There is no need for Muslims who have been named the best people raised for the guidance of mankind to add to this ugliness. Our task is to contribute to make the world a better place to live by spreading the noble teachings of Islam that we have received. As far as we are concerned we are advocates of peace and love. We are enemies of people's beliefs but not of the people. If in past years we could not have conceived to say anything against the declarations of a caliph because we held him in awe, today the situation has changed. We feel it is our duty to point out wrong doctrines that even caliphs try to spread within Jamaat Ahmadiyya. Knowledge liberates people and so does the fear of Allah. Once Allah nominates someone for a task, that person is instilled with a courage that delivers him from the fear of anyone besides Allah. When we look back upon the last thirteen years or so we are happy with what happened. We see that Allah has vindicated us. Those who thought that they had the backing of the caliph and his bureaucracy have had to leave the place and go. Consequently the ugliness in the character of many Ahmadis surfaced to show their true colors. Unfortunately many Ahmadis know in their heart of heart that what we have been saying is true yet they are afraid and they cannot take the bold step to join us. They prefer to live their life in earthly comfort forgetting what they will have to answer to Allah. As Hazrat Masih has said

above they are not ready to face difficulties and tribulations for the cause of truth. Many Ahmadis are quite despondent with this state of affairs but they cannot do anything because the fear of people still paralyzes them and despite their profession of belief in Allah they are still quite deficient in the type of belief that Hazrat Masih (as) expected them to have. This is quite an unfortunate situation. As far as we are concerned let us pray that Allah helps us to remain firm on what we have understood and that He is with us wherever we might be incha Allah.Ameen