Friday Sermon of
Hazrat Amirul Momeneen
Zafrullah Domun

27 FEBRUARY 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:

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as, the Promised Mahdi and Messiah has been raised by Allah in order to teach Muslims how they should live their lives according to the teachings of Islam. It is true that the Holy Quran and the books of Hadith were available when he came but these books were being read only by those who were educated and many who read it were unable to come to the right conclusions about their messages. As you may all be aware he came at a time when the reputation of the Muslims  was at its lowest ebb in history. Most Muslim countries except Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran another  one had already been colonized by the Western Powers, namely England, France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal and Spain. Although Turkey had been a world power for about four centuries but due to mismanagement and corruption they  lost almost everything by the end of world war one in 1918. Even the caliphate which was a link with almost all Muslim countries came to an end in 1924 when Mustapha Kemal Ataturk put the last nail in its coffin. In India the situation was worse. The considerable Muslim population had lost their political prestige with the fall of the Mughals in 1858 and most Muslims were ignorant of their religion and they were succumbing to the attacks of the Christians and the Hindus and many even converted to Christianity.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as came as a champion of Islam and no one was able to counteract his arguments. Although he faced stiff opposition from the Muslims and the non Muslims alike, yet he did not show any weariness and he did his best till his last breath to show to the world the superiority of the view of Islam that he was advocating. He came as a blessing from Allah but the Muslim world through its worldly scholars saw in him a denier of faith, a non Muslim, a denier of Islam and instead of helping him in his mission they opposed him and they strived to keep the people away from him. But can man frustrate Allah’s designs?  At the time of his death in 1908, about 400,000 people from all walks of life and from diverse religious denominations had already come to join him.

Some may think that this was an easy task. But those who have even a little knowledge of History are well aware that those who come from Allah have to face great odds to carry through with their mission. A cursory glance at the life-history of Hazrat Mohammad^saw or even that of Hazrat Isa^as(Jesus Christ) or even that of Harzat Moosa^as show clearly that these people had to face many difficulties before their message could be accepted among the people. We will not go into the details here but there are plenty of books and articles that can be consulted on this matter.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as had at heart great concerns for Islam. The Muslim divines of his time and even those of today fail to understand the importance of what he came to teach us. I do not intend to talk about all the subjects on which he showed that the prevalent Muslim opinion was the wrong one and he stated what was the right one. But I will say a few words on only one of those contentious points today. I will say a few words on the second coming of  Hazrat Isa^as .

Maybe most young Muslims of today are not aware but it is common knowledge that the majority of Muslims around the world believe that Jesus, son of Mary is alive in heaven and that he will come back to earth in the latter days as a Muslim prophet Anyhow they have already been waiting for the past 1500 years but yet no bodily Isa has yet appeared. The Jews denied the first Isa^as the Promised Messiah and they say that they are still waiting for him even after 2000 years have elapsed. Jews continue to pray on the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem but he has still not yet come and will, of course never come. But up till now the majority of the Muslim World has been waiting for the same Jesus that Allah sent to the Jews to come back but he has still not made his appearance. But Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ^as explained to the Muslim World at large that they have misunderstood the hadith where the Holy Prophet ^saw has spoken about this event.

Here I should tell you that, in the beginning of 1880s Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as also shared the wrong opinion of the majority of the Muslims of his time that Jesus, son of Mary will come back to earth. But later on he was informed by Allah that Jesus has died and he has been raised in his place. Some of the revelations to this effect are as follows:

- Anta ashaddo monasebatan be Isabno Maryama wa ashbahounnaso behi kholokan wa khalqan wa zamana

Translation: Thou hast the closest relationship to Jesus, son of Mary, and art the nearest of all people to him in thy qualities, thy appearance and the age in which thou hast been raised (Izala Auham p. 124)

Jesus, son ofMary, Messenger of Allah, has died and you have come according to promise in his spirit. (Arabic): Allah's promise is ever fulfilled. You are with Me and you are established on patent truth. You are on the right path and are a helper of truth (Izala Auham pp. 561-562- Tazkira page 115)

Translation: Revelation (Urdu): Why do you hesitate in accepting the Messiah whose resemblance to the original Messiah has been affirmed by God, while you call eminent physicians by that title and also bestow it upon handsome people (Tazkira page 107).

Explaining this matter further he said:

“Our lord and master the Holy Prophet (on whom be the peace and blessings of God) had prophesied that a time would come when the Muslims would acquire a strong resemblance to the Jews. Then a man of Persian origin would teach them the faith over again. Had faith ascended to the Pleiades that man would have brought it down from that height. Through divine revelation the purport of this prophecy has been expounded to me to the effect that Jesus, son of Mary, was also a teacher of faith who appeared fourteen centuries after Moses. Now it so happened that when about 1400 years had passed after the advent of the Holy Prophet (on whom be the peace and blessings of Allah) the Muslims developed the same characteristics which the Jews had developed so that the prophecy might be fulfilled in their case also which had been made by the Holy Prophet (on whom be the peace and blessings of God). In consequence, God Almighty of His perfect power has sent for them the like of Jesus as a teacher of faith.” (Victory of Islam pp. 13-15 footnote).

Furthermore with cogent proofs from at least thirty (30) verses of the Holy Quran Hazrat Ahmad^as has proved beyond any shadow of doubt for any seeker after truth that Jesus, son of Mary has died and he will not come back on earth again. Besides he has written profusely to help us to understand that the Jesus that the Holy Prophet Mohammad^saw prophesized about was to be an imam from amongst the Muslims (see both Hadith in Bokhari and Muslim).Apart from that Hazrat Ahmad has also cited the views of prominent Muslims to prop his own arguments about the death of the first Jesus Christ, namely Imam Malik, Ibn Hazm amongst others. Hence the second coming of Jesus has to be taken in the figurative sense and not in the literal sense of the expression. But unfortunately until today Muslims are still waiting for his physical coming. Harun Yahya, a well known Turkish Muslim who is doing a lot to disseminate knowledge about Islam needs our praise for all that he is doing. But yet when he disseminates the illogical idea that Jesus is dwelling somewhere in heaven and he will come back to earth, he is really ludicrous. He has written a book about this matter and it is full with plenty of quotations from the hadiths. Unfortunately all or most of these hadith need to be interpreted or they have to be rejected because they are in contradiction with the Holy Quran. Hence we see that even today, in an age of enlightenment, we may say there are some Muslims who are unable to reach the logical conclusions of the Holy Quran. Hence there is a need even today for the dissemination of the teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as. You may have a complete dossier about this subject at www.alislam.org.

My point in telling the Muslim World about this matter is that through their so called scholars they have missed the right path on which Allah had destined to put them. Has not Allah told us in the Holy Quran:

You are the best people raised for the good of mankind; you enjoin what is good and forbid evil and believe in Allah….. [3:111]

If Muslims were the best people raised for the people why is it that in the league of development they are at the lowest end of the scale? How come that a country like Pakistan is still struggling to develop itself but it appears to continue to regress? Why is it that the Arabs, flush with plenty of money cannot do much for their own population? Above everything, how come that a few Jews are holding the Muslim World hostage in the Middle East?

Through the arrogance of their numbers in 1974 the Rabitat Al Islam declared Ahmadis as non Muslims. In 1984, at the height of its power Zia ul haq, yielding to the pressure of the Mullahs declared Ahmadis to be a non Muslim minority and deprived them of their basic rights as citizens. As an apt recompense for his “good deeds” Allah blew him in the sky. Wallowing in the midst of ignorance and folly they have been shedding the blood of innocent Ahmadis. Where is the progress and help of Allah that should have manifested itself to such good Muslims? Today even Saudi Arabia is starting to understand that it has to reform itself or else it will vanish. Soon they will also understand that Muslims should stop declaring each other to be outside the pale of Islam. Since some time in the Arab world excommunicating fellow Arab brethren have been very common. Here is an extract from the declaration of Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari, the Dean of Islamic Law Qatar University on this matter. He says:

"It is part of the misery of Arab life that the 'sheikhs of excommunication' have the right to excommunicate and declare apostasy against intellectuals, while no one has the right to sue these 'sheikhs' in court. This contradiction is a travesty of Arab law, for you have the right in Arab law to sue someone who insults you and slanders you, but you do not have the right to sue a person who declares you an infidel, which is the most serious and the most dangerous accusation! And why?

"The reason is that the religious sheikhs are placed above the people and have immunity, which prevents their being prosecuted. Several years ago ' Imam University ' in Riyadh granted a Ph.D. 'with distinction' to a Saudi researcher who, in his doctoral thesis, declared 200 Arab intellectuals - prominent proponents of modernity, rationality and enlightenment - to be infidels. He said 'they are infidels and it is legal to kill them,' and not one of these accused intellectuals is able to demand justice for himself!

"Imagine the misery, absurdity, and contradictions in the Arab world when one person is able to excommunicate all of the Arab reformists in a Ph.D. thesis without any of them having the right to go to court against him!"

"And if an ignorant person believed what that researcher wrote and assassinated one of the scholars who was labeled an infidel, because the researcher made the shedding of his blood licit, there is no legal blame on the researcher who instigated the crime and misled the killer.

"It is time for Arab states to make declarations of apostasy (tafkir) a crime, just as murder is a crime, and an issue of great gravity not to be left to the unilateral declaration of an individual sheikh. We must have legislation to govern this matter to prevent anarchy and protect the dignity and reputation of the Muslim and his family...." http://aafaq.org/English.

I think that we are facing such situations these days because we are not aware of the true teachings of Islam as it has been expounded by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who came as a servant of the Holy Prophet to teach all Muslims their religion. All Muslims leaders even Ahmadis ones should rethink the way they deal with dissidence in their midst. The world will no longer tolerate that we deal with religious controversy with bullets. The time is now for dialogue to solve controversies. If we do not adopt such a path we will not be considered amongst those who strive to establish peace on earth but rather we will be considered amongst those who want war. And Allah does not love those who are creators of trouble. May Allah have mercy upon all of us and may we all work together to make the relationship amongst men become more peaceful. May Allah help all of us to understand and to do better.