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

After reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo’emenine, Zafrullah Domun recited a few verses from the beginning of chapter 21 of the Holy Quran and then he said:

As a Muslim, one should be aware that we should read, meditate and try to understand the Holy Quran. Each one amongst us should try to make as if the book has been revealed for oneself. We should read it as if it is a message that has come to us from Allah. It is addressed to each one amongst us. We should refrain from reading the Holy Quran only in the month of Ramadan. We should make it a habit that we develop a love for reading the book itself and we should strive to understand its meanings. Without a proper understanding of the Book we will not become the type of Muslim that Hazrat Masih Maood^as came to help us to become. We should all become so familiar with Arabic language that we should be able to understand the verses of the book in that language.

It is quite unfortunate that for the past 100 years the Jamaat has not been able to accomplish the wish of Hazrat Masih Maood^as that all Ahmadis should be familiar with the Arabic language. Up till now for all the caliphs this has only been a wish. As an organization we have miserably failed on this matter although this was a pet project of Hazrat Masih Maood^as. Amassing money or recruiting new converts were not as important to him. But yet the Jamaat as a progressive organization lags far behind on this matter. Yet the understanding of the Arabic language is vital for our survival. I am sure and certain that many of our youngsters and even adults do not even understand what they read in their daily prayers. Without the proper understanding how can we become that person that Hazrat Masih Maood^as came to produce and how can we get the proper understanding of the Holy Book that we need. Had we placed an emphasis on learning some Urdu even that would have been quite enough, but unfortunately on that score also besides some people in Pakistan and India the majority of Ahmadis have no knowledge of that language.

These days there are plenty of opportunities on the net to learn a language. I hope that the new generation will make use of these new facilities and they will try to be proficient in both Urdu and Arabic besides English incha Allah. After these general but important and relevant remarks I now revert to the sermon of today.

I have just read to you a few verses from the first Ruku of chapter 21, Al Anbiya of the Holy Quran, but I will give you the translation of the whole Ruku because each of the verses is quite relevant to our present situation. After Bismillah the first verse is: “Nigh has drawn for men their reckoning, yet they turn away in heedlessness.” It means that the time is drawing near when everyone will have to give an account about how he behaved on his short stay on earth but yet most people do not care at all or they are not concerned about how they will render their accounts. Almost all of us whether young or old, man or woman has had to give account of something to our father, husband or wife or supervisor or manager and before giving that account there is an apprehension about how it will be received. We are anxious until we finish giving our account. But here Allah says that soon the time will come for men to give account about what they did when I sent them on earth but they are not at all anxious. They are turning away in negligence. They do not care at all. How many persons you may have heard saying “sooner or later we will die, let us enjoy life now”. Islam condemns this attitude. Islam does not forbid you to enjoy yourselves but it forbids you from enjoying that which is harmful to you. And at the same time it inculcates in its adherents who follow its teachings such values that they should heed about what will happen to them after their death. Allah wants us to weigh carefully what course of action we take because we will be questioned about our actions after our death and hence we should not be heedless. We can say more about this particular verse but we will leave it for the time being.

The next verse is more relevant to what has been going on in our particular case. Allah says “There comes not to them any new admonition from their Lord, but they listen to it while they make sport of it.” I personally think that one of the greatest trials and also one of the greatest sources of blessings that Allah has reserved for mankind is that from time to time He sends a man to warn and to give glad tidings to His people. Whenever such a person appears there are some people who believe in him and others who reject him. This has been the case with all the prophets and messengers of Allah who were sent to mankind whenever Allah felt the need for it. Such a practice will go on until the end of days but with the arrival of the Holy Prophet Mohammad^saw all such persons would come from his umma and will follow the Holy Quran. Whenever such a person appears a majority will reject him and a few will accept him. The majority will hear what he says and they will poke fun (make a sport of) at him thus showing their heedlessness for their reckoning.

A pertinent question at this stage is why do the people act like this? Allah says “Laa hiyatan qoloubohoum”. That is to say “their hearts are forgetful”. They are of those people of whom Allah says:

“Have they not traveled in the land, so that they may have hearts wherewith to understand, or ears wherewith to hear? But the fact is that it is not the eyes that are blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that are blind.”(22:47)

Such people have not practiced their received teachings as they should have. Had they done so their heart would not have been neglectful or blind. These days, we see that the Ahmadis are in such a state. They have allowed themselves to adopt such beliefs that make them neglectful of greater blessings from Allah.

In the next verse Allah continues to explain the attitude and the argument that the neglectful put forward. Allah says:

And they keep their counsels secret — those who act wrongfully, then say, ‘Is this man aught but a human being like ourselves? Will you then accede to magic while you see it?’

In their arrogance and ignorance they look down upon this “messenger” and they say that he is but a man and what he says or does is pure magic and they tell the people that they should not believe in this magic. Allah qualifies such people as “wrongdoers”.

Then Allah says

God said to the Prophet, “Say, ‘My Lord knows what is spoken in the heaven and the earth. And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing,’”

The people are told to beware because Allah knows whatever is spoken in the heavens and earth and hence what they are saying is not hidden from Allah and one day they will have to answer for what they are saying or doing.

In the next verse Allah says:

“Nay, they say, ‘These are but confused dreams; nay, he has forged it; nay, he is but a poet. Let him then bring us a Sign just as the former Prophets were sent with Sign.’”

Some people always try to explain matters that they do not understand. They would say of the “messenger” that what he is saying is nothing but “confused dreams” and he has forged whatever he was saying and hence it is not the truth at all. If the “messenger” speaks in verses they would say of him that he is a poet. Above everything they would ask is let him produce signs as the prophets of yore brought signs.

Some time back I had a discussion with someone from the mainstream Jamaat. He asked me to give him some signs of my truthfulness. Here we see the typical attitude of those who ask for signs prior to believing. Since a “messenger” is not a fabricator so he cannot fabricate signs and that is why Allah says at another place in the Holy Quran that “prophets cannot bring signs but with the permission of Allah.” Hence it is Allah who shows signs and not the prophets. Prophets or messengers cannot will signs. In the next verse Allah speaks about those who were destroyed because they did not believe. He says:

“No township, before them, which we destroyed, ever believed. Would they then believe?”

The rest of the verses of this Ruku are as follows. I will just read them to you because of lack of time. You may read and reflect upon them on your own time. Allah says:

And we sent none as Messengers before thee but men to whom We sent revelations. So ask the people of the Reminder, if you know not.

And we did not give them bodies that ate no food, nor were they to live for ever

Then we fulfilled to them Our promise; and We saved them and those whom We pleased; and We destroyed the transgressors.

We have now sent down to you a Book wherein lies your glory and eminence; will you not then understand? (21:2-11).

In the world there are always some people who are the “Ahluz zikr” which is translated as “people of the reminder.” But I think that this expression also has a more expansive meaning than what the translation gives. Since Allah says elsewhere in the Holy Quran “Wa la zikrullahe akbar”, that is “The remembrance of Allah is greatest”, I think the meaning of the expression “Ahluz zikr” may take the added meaning of “those who are devoted to the remembrance of Allah”. This remembrance of Allah is not just the repetition of Allah’s name, although this is very important but also the prayer that is made in a state of full awareness of Allah’s presence. Such people are aware of Allah’s Holy Quran and they delve into its meanings and because they are “Ahluz zikr” they are taught the real meanings of the verses of the Holy Quran. Anyhow Allah knows best. That is why I say to you that all of us should learn and know the Holy Quran so that we might practice Islam as it has been taught by Allah.

Several times in the past I have said that members of the mainstream Jamaat Ahmadiyya, under the guidance of their caliph are being misguided. I still stand by this statement. When I said that Allah, through His sheer Grace had revealed to me “Yaa qutub uddin, unzur ila jamaa’ati”, which means “O you pole of religion, look after My Jamaat”, the Jamaat in Mauritius has rejected this message outright. Recently I have come across a translation of a passage from one of the most important book of the Promised Messiah^as “Ayna kamaalaati Islam” in which he says something about the status of Qutbs in Islam. I would like to share this extract with all Ahmadis so that they may know what exactly Hazrat Masih^as has said and how they are being kept in the dark. He says in the Introduction:

“Although, it is true, as I have just now stated, that some of the Ulama have always been excommunicating the holy men, great leaders and Imams of their times when they (the Ulama) had failed to appreciate some of the very fine and deeply sublime points of divine knowledge discussed in such holy men's books. They described these ideas as being against Allah's Book and the evidence of the Prophet. Besides there were other Ulama who were indulgent enough not to call them Kafir but to excommunicate them from the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat sect. However, when their own times had passed, and the Ulama of the next period came into prominence, God enlightened the hearts of these latter and granted them understanding of the delicate things which the former people had not understood. Then they absolved the great men and Imams of the earlier times of takfir, and not only absolved them but they recognized their high saintly station of being Qutb and Ghaws. The Ulama stuck to this tradi­tion, and there were very few righteous persons among them, who recognized and accepted the honored ones of God in their own time. From the time of Hussein, the Perfect Imam, may Allah be pleased with him, to our own time, these pretenders to heavenly knowledge who worship appearances, have all been of one nature-they have never accepted any divine personage in his time.”

That was said in the time of Hazrat Masih Maood^as. It is really quite unfortunate that his own followers today are guilty of the same sins. If there are still some real Ulama in Jamaat Ahmadiyya I would be most grateful to hear their response. By Ulama I am not thinking of those who look after magazines or who write letters to newspapers in Mauritius. I have in mind particularly Hadi Ali sahib and Ataul Majid Rashid sahib and the Editor of Alfazl London and Maulana Sami khan sahib of Rabwah and others. I wish they could respond. May Allah give them the courage to enter into this jihad also. Amin. More next time incha Allah.