Friday Sermon of
Hazrat Amirul Momeneen
Zafrullah Domun

06 MARCH 2009

At Bait-ul-Rahma Mosque
Les Guibies, Pailles
MAURITUS

After reading the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo’menine Zafrullah Domun said:

As most members of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat knows the gist of our teachings are found in the book of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad( as) known as “Noah’s Ark”. The original title of the book was “Kishti Nuh”. In this book written in 1903 Hazrat Ahmad (as) has exposed his teachings about our beliefs and how we should act amongst ourselves and also vis à vis others. Hence any Ahmadi who cares to know about the teachings of Jamaat Ahmadiyya will be amply satisfied by reading only this book. Moreover I remember that I read once that Hazrat Ahmadas has also recommended that all those who have joined his Jamaat should make it a duty to read the book. In fact the leaders of the Jamaat should see to it that the message of this book is widely spread amongst members of the Jamaat specially the youth.

No one will deny the fact that a jamaat or even a nation cannot have a good not to say a bright future if the good teachings of the previous generation is not properly transmitted to the following generation. The teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) are without precedent in this regard. So we will never over emphasize the need for these true teachings to be propagated amongst the members of the Jamaat and then to others. Ahmadis around the world should ask themselves how far they have imbibed the teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) from the original source. I am not saying that this is an easy task. But this is the task for which this Jamaat has been created. That is to say to keep alive the real teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as). Unfortunately what the people hear most these days are words such as “khilafat” without understanding its true meaning, “Nizam Jamaat”, “obedience” “Chanda”, “Tehrik Jadid”, Waqf Jadid” “ Jalsa Salana” etc. But we hear less of the words “taqwa” (piety), “internal purity”, “the need for prayer” and “how we should pray” or how far we should lead a life which is in conformity with the example of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) and the need to make a systematic reading of the Holy Quran and to follow its teachings. Those who are aware know quite well how Hazrat Masih Maood (as) tried to instill in the members of his Jamaat an inclination to lead a life in the shadow of Allah.

No one will dare to counter the argument that if the members of our Jamaat were aware of the teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as), most of the problems that we face today would not have been there. Hence the question that we should ask ourselves is how come, being the chosen people of Allah, we are faced with so many problems that we cannot solve. Even a cursory reading of some of the caliph’s speeches will immediately give an insight into the extent of the problems that the Jamaat as a whole is facing. Take for example Mauritius. How far the hearts of all these Ahmadis are like the pearls of the necklace that the caliph so often speaks about? Observing them from very close quarters we know that most of them do not practice what they preach. Since some years now Mauritius has been in the first ten countries of the league of contributors in Tehrik Jadid and Waqf Jadid. It is very good. This shows that the people contribute their hardly –earned money for a noble cause. But pick any hundred contributors and ask them to name at least five of the nineteen demands of Tehrik Jadid and you will notice that none will be able to name them. Some would even say “What are these?”. Such is their ignorance. This shows that we adopt the superficial and we ignore the essential and we call this “progress” or “achievement”. Now, were you to tell them that the second caliph had also included “not going to the cinema” as one of the demands of Tehrik Jadid, see what would be the reaction of most of those who go to the cinema!

Take another example. One of the aims of Tehrik Jadid was also to eliminate the distinction between those who are rich and those who are poor in the Jamaat. I would be very glad to know how far we have progressed on that score. In order to keep the unity of the members of the Jamaat very often we have been quoting the following extract from the book that I have mentioned above namely Kishti Nuh:

“Immediately compose all your differences and make peace among yourselves; forgive the transgressions of your brothers for indeed he is evil who is not willing to make peace with his brother. He would be cut off for he tries to create disruption. Leave off vanity and emphasis on self and all mutual resentments, all unpleasantness. Though truthful and justified in your stand, be humble in your demeanor as though you were wrong so that you should be treated with forgiveness. Leave off everything which fattens your vanity for the door you have been invited to enter is not one that would admit a fat person……. If at all you desire that God in heaven be pleased with you, hasten to become one among yourselves, as if you are brothers born of the same mother” Only he is most honored amongst you who forgives most the transgressions of his brother; unfortunate is he who remains obdurate and does not forgive. He is not part of me and he has no share in me.” (Page 12).

Now these days how much united are the members of the Jamaat except in their hatred against us? It is well known who is not on good terms with whom; who wants to make his own version of history predominant; who is supporting the Amir and who is not. But yet this was not at all the type of Jamaat that Hazrat Masih Maood (as) came to create. The above extract spells out clearly how the members of this Jamaat should relate with one another but yet those who are its members because of their lack of knowledge are not working towards the achievement of the goal set out by Hazrat Masih Maoodas. Moreover we have been extending a hand to them to tell them to have a dialogue with us and to point out to us our mistakes. But unfortunately they adamantly refuse but some of them continue to speak ill of us in their intimate circles.

Hazrat Masih Maood (as) has come to teach us how to have certainty in Faith and not just to belong to a group or a Jamaat. As a member of the Jamaat it is incumbent upon each one of us to strive for our own salvation. We do not have a right to it just by being a member of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Jamaat. We need to undergo all the necessary hardships that righteous people encounter before they become a beloved of Allah. Allah keeps trying us until we may have certainty of faith without which we are nothing. Members of the Jamaat around the world should ask themselves if their progress in this field has been directly or inversely proportional to their financial contributions. These days for some people it is easier to make money than to lead a spiritual life as defined by Hazrat Ahmad (as). Hazrat Masih Maood (as) says:

“O ye people, who are being called to goodness and righteousness, be sure that you will be drawn to God and will be cleansed of the evil stain of sin only when your hearts are filled with certainty. You might say that you already enjoy certainty, but you only deceive yourselves. You do not enjoy certainty because you do not possess its essentials. You do not refrain from sin and do not step forward as you should nor do you fear God as you ought to. Consider and reflect that a person who is certain that there is a serpent in a particular hole does not thrust his hand into that hole. He who is certain that a particular food is poisoned does not eat it. He who is certain that a thousand wild tigers abound in a forest will not carelessly wander into it. How can your hands and your feet and your ears and your eyes be daring enough to indulge in sin if you truly believe in God and His judgment? Sin cannot overcome certainty. Can you thrust yourselves into a consuming fire? The walls of certainty rise to heaven, Satan cannot climb over them. Whoever has been purified has been purified through certainty. Certainty invests a person with the strength to bear pain, so much so that it makes a king relinquish his throne and makes him put on the garb of a mendicant. Certainty makes every pain easy to endure. Certainty makes one behold God. All ‘Atonement’ is false and all ‘Redemption’ is vain. All purity proceeds only from certainty. It is only certainty that rescues from sin, leads to God, and puts a person ahead of the angels in sincerity and steadfastness. Any religion that does not provide the means for attaining certainty is false. Any religion that cannot exhibit God through sure means is false. Any religion that has nothing to offer except ancient tales is false. God is as He ever was, His powers are as they always were, and He has the ability to show signs as He always had; why then are you content with mere stories? The religion is dead whose miracles and whose prophecies are only tales. Ruined is the Jamaat on which God has not descended, and which the hand of God has not purified.”

According to what Allah has taught us in the Holy Quran, Islam is the only religion that can exhibit new signs. The leaders of Jamaat through a distortion of our teachings want the Jamaat to believe that with the institution of Khilafat Ahmadiyya, no one will be directly appointed by Allah unless he is the reigning caliph. These days the Jamaat does not want to speak at all on this subject. You will notice that the caliph these days is speaking about Allah’s Attribute of “Al Hadi” (The Guide) but yet he fails to make the people understand the real meaning of the writings of the Promised Messiah. The caliph himself needs guidance on this matter because there are some aspects of the teachings that he fails to understand. He wants the Ahmadis and other Muslims to believe that since Allah appointed Hazrat Masih Maood (as) the Imam, there is no room for anyone else even after some of his teachings have been distorted. These days the Ahmadis are behaving like the enemies of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) of yore who said they were content to have only Hazrat Mohammad saw, the Holy Quran and the Hadiths as guide but yet in all fields they were being defeated. Allah has manifested Himself again and has put this humble one here to correct the mistakes that the Jamaat is making regarding the teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood (as). This is not an empty boast. We are still ready to engage into a dialogue with the leaders of the mainstream Jamaat with a view to solving our differences. Since they claim that they have a better knowledge of the teachings of the Promised Messiah than this humble self and his friends, we will definitely appreciate all cogent arguments that they may put forward to point out to us our mistakes.

I say it again. Let us show to the world that we can disagree without being disagreeable with one another. We all believe in the teachings of the Promised Messiah (as). However we need to just confirm that what is being reported that he said is really what he said. Suddenly it would become as clear as the morning sun who is speaking the truth and who is hiding the teachings. May Allah keep all of us on the right path forever. Ameen