After reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran, Imam Zafrullah Domun said:

I think that by now almost every Ahmadi whether young or old is aware that on 23^rd March 1889 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as(1835-1908), The founder of Jamaat Ahmadiyya, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi took bai’at from his disciples for the first time at a place called  Ludhiana, near Lahore  in India. Several times in the past we have spoken about the circumstances leading to this major event and I am not going to repeat them today. In Jamaat Ahmadiyya mainstream almost every year celebrations are held to commemorate this event.

We, members of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen do not celebrate this event. We try instead to practice the teachings given in our daily lives. We teach our members that making bai’at is nothing unless we are ready to live our life according to the ten conditions of bai’at as explained by Hazrat Masih Maood^as. So it is the duty of each member of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen to make himself aware of these most important conditions of bai’at and he or she should strive daily to become a living example of these most important teachings. Therefore all of you should remember this and try not to be neglectful in doing what is expected of you as a member of this Jamaat. As you may remember this Jamaat is here to keep alive the original teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as. Hence it is incumbent upon each one of us to be fully aware of these teachings and to live them and spread them to the best of our abilities.

Since the question of bai’at is at the heart of being a member of Jamaat Ahmadiyya, I think that it will be most appropriate to remind our members in the words of the Founder what this bai’at really means. So I have chosen some extracts from the writings of the Promised Messiah that I am going to read to you so that you might remember what is always expected from you. He says:

“O my friends, who have entered into the covenant of Bai‘at with me, may God enable us all to do that which pleases Him. Today you are small in number and are treated with contempt. You are passing through a time of trial. In accordance with the eternal law of God, efforts will be made that you should stumble. You will be persecuted in every way and you will have to hear all sorts of disagreeable things. Everyone who hurts you by word or deed will imagine that he is helping Islam and you will have to pass through some heavenly trials so that you may be tried in every way.”

When Hazrat Masih wrote these words the members of the Jamaat were quite small and some mischievous people among the majority of Sunni Muslims tried to harm the members in many ways and some of these ways have been mentioned in this extract. There is no doubt that even these days the Ahmadis in the world are not quite numerous and they are still the subject of persecution in many countries like Pakistan, Bangla desh, Indonesia, Bulgaria etc. But unfortunately we have to say that despite the fact that Ahmadis are persecuted at many places, some of them especially those in Mauritius have also tried their hands at persecuting their own brothers and sisters. And all this have been done with the backing of the centre. There are many Ahmadis in Mauritius who have boycotted their own brothers and sisters and they have been thinking that through their behaviour they have been doing a service to Islam & Ahmadiyyat. But such is not the behaviour becoming of a true Ahmadi who understands and follows the teachings of Hazrat Ahmad ^as. He says:

“Therefore, listen carefully that your way to victory and supremacy will not be through dry logic or returning abuse for abuse, for if you adopt these ways, your hearts will become hardened and you will be left with nothing but words, which God Almighty hates and looks upon with aversion. So do not behave in a manner whereby you would become subject to two curses, the curse of God and the curse of man.

Remember well that if the curse of man is not accompanied by the curse of God Almighty, it amounts to nothing. If God does not wish to destroy us, we cannot be destroyed by anyone; but if He should become our enemy, no one can afford us shelter. How shall we please God Almighty and how shall we win His support? He has repeatedly given me the answer to this question: it can only be done through righteousness.

So my dear brethren! Make every effort that you may become righteous. Without action, everything is vain and without sincerity no action is acceptable. Righteousness means that, avoiding all these harmful ways, you should march forward towards God Almighty, and be mindful of the subtlest paths of piety. First, cultivate humility, straightforwardness and sincerity, and become truly meek and submissive and lowly, for every seed of good and ill first sprouts in the heart. If your heart is empty of evil, your tongue will also be empty of evil and so will be your eyes and all your limbs. Every light and darkness takes birth initially in the heart and gradually envelops the whole body. So keep your hearts under constant scrutiny. Just as an eater of betel leaves constantly rotates the leaves and snips off their rotten parts and throws them away, in the same way, you should keep rotating before your mind’s eye the secret thoughts and habits and passions and hidden capacities of your hearts, and whenever you encounter a rotten thought or habit or capacity, snip it off and throw it out lest it should pollute your whole heart and you may then be cut off...”

In this last paragraph Hazrat Masih Maood as is telling us how we should get rid of the evil that takes birth in our heart. But the question is how many Ahmadis are daily engaged in examining their own heart and how many of them are bent upon removing the evil that have established themselves over there. Most Ahmadis these days are quite content that they are in an organization that has at its head someone they name a “caliph.” To them being in such an organization is sufficient. They erroneously think that such an affiliation is sufficient for their salvation. But Hazrat Masih Maood ^as has made this quite clear that having such ideas are far from the truth. If you want salvation you have to attach yourself through an oath of fealty with someone to whom Allah has given the authority to take such oaths. However, even then if you do not develop a mutual relationship where you can benefit from the advices and experience of such a person it will not bring you much benefits. We attach ourselves with a divinely ordained person in order that we might benefit from the spiritual graces that this person possesses. All those who want to do bai’at should think about this matter carefully because it is not quite an easy thing to do. Hazrat Masih Maood says further:

“Having done that, strive, and supplicate to God Almighty for strength and courage, that your limbs and all your faculties may become the means for the manifestation of pure intentions and thoughts and passions and your heart’s desires, so that your good actions may attain perfection. For that which springs up in the heart and remains confined to the heart will not lead you to any worthy status. Establish the greatness of God Almighty in your hearts and keep His Glory before your eyes. Remember that there are approximately five hundred commandments in the Holy Qur’an. God has prepared a spiritual banquet for you with reference to your every limb, faculty, form, age, every stage of your intelligence, your nature, your effort in His path, and your individual and collective conditions. Accept the invitation to this banquet with gratitude and eat of all the dishes that have been prepared for you and derive benefit from all. I tell you truly that he who evades a single one of these commandments will be accountable on the Day of Judgment. If you seek salvation, adopt the ways of the humble and carry the yoke of the Holy Qur’an with meekness. The wicked will be ruined and the rebellious will be hurled into hell. But he who bends his neck humbly will be saved from death…”

These are very important words and you should reflect upon them and try to put them into practice daily.

 Do not worship God Almighty on the condition of worldly benefits, for there is a pitfall in the way of such thinking. Worship Him in the conviction that it is an obligation which you owe to your Creator. Worship of God should become your very life, and the purpose of your good deeds should be that the true Beloved and the true Benefactor may be pleased with you, for anything less is a stumbling block.

God is a great wealth. To find Him you should be ready to encounter misfortune. He is a great purpose. To achieve it, be ready to lay down your lives. Dear ones! do not slight the commandments of God Almighty.

Let not the poison of current philosophy affect you. Submit to His commandments like a child. Be constant in Prayer, be constant in Prayer, for Prayer is the key to all good fortune. Do not stand up in Prayer as if you are performing a ceremony. As you make Wudu’ [physical ablution] in preparation for Prayer, so perform an inner ablution whereby you should wash out from your mind and body all thoughts beside that of Allah. Then stand up in Prayer after both these purifying ablutions, and supplicate intensively in the course of your Prayer and make crying and weeping your habit so that you may be shown mercy. Be truthful, be truthful, for He is observing the condition of your hearts. Can man deceive Him? Can cunning devices be of any avail against Him? Greatly unfortunate is the person who carries his disobedience to a degree as if there was no God. Such a one is destroyed quickly and God Almighty cares not at all for him. Dear ones! the bare logic of this world is a Satan and the hollow philosophy of this world is an Iblis [Satan personified] who reduces the light of faith and renders a person unduly daring, and carries him to near atheism. Safeguard yourselves against Satan and develop a heart which is poor and meek. Obey the commandments without whys or wherefores, as a child obeys its mother…..”

Here we should pause and reflect. Members of Jamaat Ahmadiyya mainstream in Mauritius and in England should try to answer the question how far they have tried to follow these teachings of Hazrat Masih Maood ^as. They should tell the world how truthful they have been about their numbers and also about their teachings about khilafat! We continue with what the Messiah said:

“The teachings of the Holy Qur’an are designed to carry you to the highest stage of righteousness. Lend ear to them and conform yourselves with them. Unlike the Bible, the Holy Qur’an does not teach that you should not look at a woman—or others who can arouse the lustful passions like women—with a lustful eye. The object of Islam’s perfect teaching is that you should not look needlessly at a woman who is not related to you, either with lust or without lust. You should shut your eyes so that you may not stumble and the purity of your heart may not be affected. Remember well this commandment of your Lord and safeguard yourselves against the adultery of the eyes and be fearful of the wrath of the One Whose wrath can destroy in an instant. The Holy Qur’an also prescribes that you should safeguard your ears against listening to any discourse concerning women outside the prohibited degree and also against every discourse that is otherwise improper. It is not necessary for me to admonish you not to commit murder for no one except a wholly wicked person advances towards murder. But I do admonish you that you should not insist upon injustice and thus slay the truth. Accept the truth even if it should proceed from a child. If you find your opponent uttering the truth then immediately give up your dry logic.”

Now again, think about this. If Jamaat Ahmadiyya is truth personified as most Ahmadis think these days how come that Hazrat Masih would advise his own followers to follow “truth” that may come from an opponent? It means that some truth would be uttered by those whom the Jamaat would consider as its opponents. Give this some thought and try to understand the purpose of Jamaat Ahmadiyya. Hazrat Masih has advised us not to “insist upon injustice and thus slay the truth”.  Our friends from the mainstream Jamaat should use this extract as food for thought.

Anyhow I have some more things to say about this matter. Incha Allah I will speak more next week. May Allah keep all of us always on the right path. Ameen.