After reading the Tashahhud, the Ta'uz and the first chapter of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo'menine, Zafrullah Domun recited verse 31 of chapter 36 of the Holy Quran and gave its translation as follows:
“Alas for My servants! There comes not a Messenger to them but they mock at him”
All the verses of the Holy Quran are volumes of knowledge but not everyone can understand because not everyone has a clean heart. But to be graced by the knowledge of the Holy Quran one should have a clean heart because Allah says: “Laa yamassahou illal motahharoune ”(56:80). The translation is “none shall touch it except those who are purified”. Orientalists can make a study of the book, the Holy Quran but to understand its meanings one needs to have a purified heart. To the one whose heart is purified Allah may help him to understand several shades of meanings of a particular verse. The verse that I have just read to you is pregnant with meanings. Its basic meaning is that whenever Allah sends a messenger to the people they always mock him. This mockery takes many shapes. The first objection that they will raise against him is that he is a liar because he cannot receive any message from the unseen because “Allah has revealed nothing”. Next they may tell the “messenger” that there is something wrong with his mind: he just hears voices as those who are afflicted with mental illnesses. They may also tell him that he wants to become prominent amongst the people and that is why he invents this message from the unseen. The people will continue heaping abuse on this person who says he comes from God and they will do everything to stop others from joining his Jamaat to help him.
The fact that Allah has used the words “Ya hasratan alal ebaad” which is translated as “Alas for My servants”, is according to me an indication that Allah will send messengers amongst the Muslims also. My proof for saying this is that Allah has said “My servants” and who His servants are but those who have accepted his prophet Mohammad (saw)? In fact we may even say that this verse also contains the prophecy that Allah will continue to send messengers in this oumma. But the task of these messengers will always be to remind the people of the real meanings of the message of the Holy Prophet (saw). We all know that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) claimed to be such a messenger in the oumma. During the course of his mission he suffered a lot at the hands of the Muslims, his own brothers in faith. One such instance in his life was when he published his prophecy about the Promised son/reformer on 20 th February 1886 .
In fact his wife gave birth to a son whose name was Bashir first on 7th August 1987 and he died on 4th November 1888 . Given these circumstances many persons raised a hue and cry saying that his prophecy was false and so he cannot be someone who came from Allah. Even some of his close friends left him. So on 1 st December 1988 he published a 25-page document known as the Green Pamphlet to explain the whole matter. This document has been translated into English and it is available at www.alislam.org . It is about 39 pages long and I advise you to read it. But for those who do not have the opportunity to read I have chosen a few extracts from this booklet to read to you so that you may understand how beautifully the Promised Messiah has explained some matters for us all. I request you to listen carefully and to remember what I am going to tell you because it will be a tremendous source of comfort for you all.
Hazrat Masih Maood (as) tells us those trials is a fact of life for those who claim that they come from Allah. Someone has said to me that I speak of all good things for those who are with me and doom and gloom for all those who deny me. The following extract will dispel such an idea. Hazrat Masih Maood as says:
“The trials which initially confront Prophets and Saints and make them appear dishonored despite their being loved and accepted by God do not come to disgrace them or destroy them or wipe their names off the face of this earth. Nor can this be their purpose, for how can God become the enemy of those who love Him and bring disgrace upon them? These trials, which appear with the ferocity of a roaring lion and cause darkness to descend all around, come upon God's chosen servants in order to raise them to the highest levels of acceptance and to open for them the finer dimensions of Divine knowledge. This has always been God's practice towards His servants, and it is substantiated by the entreaties made by David as in the Psalms, by the Gospel's account of Jesus' heartrending supplications during his time of trials, and by the humble supplications of the Holy Prophet sa w that are recorded in the Holy Quran and the Traditions.
Then Hazrat Masih gives us examples of the prayers of these noble souls. He says:
One of the supplications which David made during his time of trials, and are recorded in the Psalms, is:
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am weary of my crying: mine eyes fail. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour. I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none. (Psalms 69)
The Gospels also contain an account of how the Messiah as prayed and supplicated during his night of trial, and how he remained awake night and was overwhelmed by grief and anguish as if in the throes of death. All night he cried and beseeched his Lord to let the cup that he was destined to drink pass from him. But, despite his many prostrations, his prayer was not heard, because prayers that are offered during trials are not accepted.
We should also not forget the sufferings endured by our lord and master, pride of the Messengers, and seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, peace and b lessings of Allah be upon him, during his times of trial. At one such time, he prayed,
"My Lord! I complain to you of my weakness and confess my help less ness at your threshold. My humble state is known to You. I am ready to bear every hardship until You are pleased with me, and I have no strength other than You."
Then he continues:
If past Prophets and Saints had not faced these difficulties, they would not have attained the high status they did through the b less ings of their trials. Their ordeals set the seal on their perfect obedience, firm resolve, and readiness to offer the ultimate sacrifice. In the face of adversity they displayed wonderful steadfastness, complete obedience and true love. They were caught in terrible storms, enveloped by darkness, shaken by earthquakes, ridiculed, and considered liars and deceitful and dishonourable, and deserted by everyone. For a time, they were even deprived of the Divine support in which they put all their trust, and all at once He seemed to withdraw His sustenance, as though in anger, and left them in difficulty and sorrow, as though they had become deserving of His wrath. He appeared indifferent to them and did not seem to care for them in the least, and seemed instead to show concern for their enemies. Thus their trial was drawn out and one ordeal was followed by another, and trials came upon them like torrential rain in a dark night, but they did not waver in their resolve and did not lose heart. In fact, the greater the trials that beset them, the faster they moved forward; and the more they were battered, the stronger they became; and the bigger the difficulties and dangers they faced, the greater the bravery and courage they showed.
But they finally succeeded in their trials with flying colours, and were b less ed with complete success due to their perfect sincerity, and were bestowed the crown of honour.
All the objections of the unenlightened then vanished like vapour as though they had never existed.
In short, Prophets and Saints are not free from trials, and have to face them more than others, but they always overcome them by the strength of their faith. Common people do not recognize them, just as they do not recognize God, and they are particularly vulnerable to deception when the loved ones of God are going through their period of trials, for they do not have the patience to wait and see what the future holds and are completely overwhelmed by the flood of deception. They fail to see that when God prunes a tree which He has Himself planted, He does not do so with the intention of destroying it, but only to help it grow and blossom so that it may yield as much fruit as possible.
It is imperative for the inner purification and spiritual perfection of Prophets and Saints that they face these trials which serve as virtual uniforms by which these Divine soldiers are known. Whoever wins anything in a manner contrary to this only succeeds to a degree and is not granted complete success. It is highly unfortunate that man should readily yield to suspicion and presuppose that all those who claim to be from God are cheats and swindlers and seek to serve their own interests. In time such beliefs make people harbour doubts about sainthood, and once they have rejected sainthood, they begin to have reservations about the status of Prophethood, and when that, too, has been rejected, they start doubting the existence of God and think that perhaps the whole concept is a base less fabrication and a superstition that has gradually found its way into people's minds.
O you who love truth with your heart and soul, and you who hunger and thirst for it! Do understand that belief in sainthood and its essentials is the sine qua non for passing through this chaotic world with one's faith intact. Sainthood helps to safeguard belief in Prophethood, and belief in Prophethood safeguards belief in God. Saints are like pegs that reinforce Prophethood, and Prophets are like nails that strengthen belief in the existence of God. Whoever fails to recognize a Saint will also not succeed in recognizing a Prophet, and he who does not recognize a Prophet will certainty fail to recognize God and is bound to be led astray. No amount of rational arguments and conventional knowledge will be of any avail to such a person.
Then Hazrat Masih as goes on to explain to us something very important. He says:
“There are two important means through which God sends down His grace and showers His spiritual b less ings:
(i) He tests people through trails and tribulations, and then opens the doors of His mercy and forgiveness to those who show forbearance and remain steadfast in the face of these trials. He says:
(Part 2) * i.e., It is Our practice that We cause the believers to pass through great trials and tribulations, and We bestow Our grace and mercy to those who persevere and We open for them the paths of progress.
(ii) The second means by which God's grace is manifested is that He sends His Messengers, Prophets, Imams, Saints and Khulafa, so that people may find the right path through their teachings, and attain salvation by following their example.”(p18)
Mark his words, my friends. Whenever Allah sends someone and whatever the title He gives that person out of the list that the Messiah has mentioned, we should always remember that such persons come as a blessing to all. They are sent because Allah loves mankind and He is desirous of their salvation. But by rejecting and persecuting those who are sent by Allah, the “servants” of Allah shows their effrontery to Allah and by their actions they want to say that they know better. But those who are given a mission carry on with their mission whether it pleases others or not. The Messiah says:
“Finally, let it be clear that I have complete and absolute trust in my Lord to take care of my affairs, and I am not bothered whether people are with me or against me, whether they accept my claim or reject it, whether they like me or hate me. Disregarding everyone, and considering everything, except God, to be as good as dead, I carry on with my mission. There are some from among our own people and belonging to our own religion who look disdainfully at what I am doing, but I make allowances for them knowing that what has been revealed to me has not been revealed to them, and the thirst that I feel has not been felt by them.”
Hazrat Masih also speaks about those who do not believe in divine manifestation through revelations. He says:
“At this juncture, I would also like to mention that I have learned through some articles written by certain scholars that they do not approve of my revealing to other people the spiritual b less ings and heavenly signs which I experience and which find their culmination in the acceptance of prayer and in Divine revelations and visions. They argue that all this is based on guesswork and surmise, and proves to be more harmful than beneficial. They also say that these phenomena are more or less common to all human beings, some even going so far as to suggest that they are experienced by all people in equal measure. They tend to think that religion and piety and establishing a relationship with God have nothing to do with such experiences, and that these are natural abilities common to all people. Whether one is a believer or a disbeliever, pious or impious, one will possess these abilities more or less equally. This is their stated point of view and it clearly betrays the weakness of their intellect, their superficial thinking and their lack of knowledge. But when we go on to analyze their condition with the aid of true insight, we find that negligence and worldliness has completely eroded their ability to understand the matters of faith. Like lepers whose limbs begin to rot in the advanced stage of the disease, their worldliness has caused their spiritual faculties to fall into decay. They do not at all reflect upon religious truths and verities and are given to mockery and ridicule, doubt and suspicion. They are indeed so cut off from the truth, and so averse to seeking true knowledge, that they never once ask themselves why they have come into this world and what is the purpose of their existence. They indulge, night and day, in the pursuit of material things and have lost all consciousness of how far they have strayed from the truth. Even more unfortunate is the fact that they take their own fatal illness for health, and look down upon those who are b less ed with true well-being. They do not value the excellences of Sainthood and of nearness to God, and have given in to hope less ness and despondency. Should they continue in this state, they are in serious danger of losing their faith even in Prophethood.
The fact that some ulema have reached this appalling state and consider these spiritual blessings to be impossible or doubtful is because they do not have any personal experience in this regard. In fact, they are not even inclined to go through such an experience and have never allowed themselves any opportunity to form an opinion based on a comprehensive analysis, nor do they wish to do so.(p29)
Today we will stop here. Incha Allah next week I will share with you two more extracts from this booklet. Please reflect on what the Messiah has said. It will help you to know where you should go and how you should live your life. |