With the grace of Allah, the National Majlis Shura of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at UK is today reaching its conclusion.  In these verses of the Holy Quran, Allah the Almighty has given guidance and certain instructions in relation to the importance of Shura and about how to interact with people.  In these verses, Allah the Almighty has said to the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that it was His great blessing and favour upon the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that he made his heart very soft and compassionate towards all of mankind.  Certainly, if the heart of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) had been hard and harsh then people would not have joined and gathered around him with such love and devotion. Allah the Almighty has also, in these verses, warned the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that his followers would make minor mistakes and upon such errors they would come to him and seek his forgiveness.  Allah said that in such circumstances the Holy Prophet (pbuh) should show mercy and forgive them.  Further, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) was told that you should consult the people regarding administrative matters.  And so, it should not be that the opinions of those who had made some mistakes in the past ought never to be accepted or he did. Although, apparently these instructions seem to be for the Holy Prophet (pbuh) yet in truth, they are also for the Khalifa e Waqat and office bearers of the Jama’at.  Therefore, all office bearers whose names have been put forward in the election and who are later approved by me should always remember that they must treat their subordinate office bearers and indeed all other Ahmadis with love, kindness, care and consideration.  As a side point, I should also clarify, that it is not essential that the names of those people who have received the most votes or majority of votes for a particular office will be approved by me.  Anyway, every office bearer must always remember that the most basic and fundamental aspect of any Jama’at position is that it is a trust.  Allah the Almighty has clearly stated the huge importance of fulfilling trust and this is something that I have spoken about on many occasions.  In fact, a few months ago I gave a detailed Friday sermon about this very topic.  I hope that when I was told that you had listened to the full sermon or part of the sermon before the election of office bearers.  Thus all office bearers must seek to fulfil every requirement and condition of the trust that they have been given.  The way to fulfil a trust is to strive to discharge whatever task or job you have been given to the very best of your abilities with pure intentions and with absolute honesty and integrity.  An office bearer must be willing to sacrifice his time and pay great attention and thought towards fulfilling their duties in the best possible way.  Remember the instructions given by Allah to show kindness was not given only to the Holy Prophet (pbuh) as I have already said but it is for all people who have been given trust and responsibilities.  We Ahmadis are the people who claim and desire to follow the true example and model of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).  We are the people who wish for the nizam e Jama’at to be in absolute accordance with the wishes of Allah the Almighty.  Thus, as I said before, all office bearers who have been given responsibilities and trust must act with kindness, love and compassion.  They must make sure that their hearts remain soft and filled with love of the members of the Jama’at.   They must treat subordinate office bearers or their staff members gently with care and love.  Their hearts should attract and embrace others rather than push them away.  If their hearts are not soft but rather they are hard hearted and do not display high moral standards then it will lead to a deep restlessness amongst Ahmadis.  People will not only be upset and disheartened by the individual office bearers but in fact they will distance themselves from nizam e Jama’at.  In fact it is even possible that they would end all ties with Jama’at or they will come to have a wrong impression of the Khalifa of the time.  Therefore, it is quite clear that a failure to act with compassion can have far reaching and devastating consequences.  Every office bearer who is approved by me must keep in view all of these points.  Furthermore, all delegates of Majlis Shura who are sat here today and who have the opportunity to serve in the respective local Jama’ats must pay heed to all that I have said.  In terms of how you should work, I would like to say that it is very important that approved office bearers should establish teams to help them in their respective departments or areas of responsibility so that not only they will be helpful for you but also a second line of workers is ready to take the responsibility of the Jama’at in future.  It should not be that the only assigned tasks to their team members but instead they should also regularly speak to them and seek their opinion about how the work can be improved and how the duties they have been given can be fulfilled in the very best manner.  When after seeking counsel and opinion a final decision is made then it is essential that you pray with great humility and perseverance for that decision to be blessed.  Full trust in Allah that is tawaqal does not mean that it is sufficient to make a decision and then leave it at that.  Instead, true trust in Allah requires that once a decision has been reached, those people who are involved should supplicate before Allah and pray.  Oh our Lord, we have acted in accordance with our understanding and knowledge we now leave this matter in your hands and so we pray that for the sake of the Jama’at this action proves to be extremely blessed and that it bears the most beautiful fruits which serves to make the Jama’at prosper more than ever before.  Thus, you should all remember the true trust and faith in Allah is developed only through prayers.  Prayers are the means to increase our trust in Allah and they are also necessary to attain the help of Allah.  Therefore, it is also fundamental obligation upon office bearers that they must seek and strive to immerse themselves in prayers and worship of Allah.  They must be completely regular in namaz (salat).  I sometime receive reports about office bearers from close family members or even from their wives in which they say that whilst they do a lot of work for the Jama’at, they do not offer their obligatory prayers.  Remember we do not require any office bearer who do not perform their namaz.  Because, the most important attribute of any Jama’at official is that they are regular in offering all prayers and they try their utmost to develop a close bond and a loving union with Allah the Almighty.  We need those office bearers who use prayers as heart-felt tools to further their Jama’at work because Allah has said that if his help is with the person then nothing can stop him from attaining success and victory. Conversely, Allah has also said that if a person no matter how clever or talented is deprived of the help of God then there is no one or nothing can lead him to success and prosperity.  A true believer is he who has firm faith and trust in Allah alone.  Only he can have real trust in Allah who bows down before him who is regular both in the obligatory prayers and also in voluntary nawafil prayers.  It should be further noted that once a Shura proposal has been approved by me then the next step is of course implementation.  In terms of the members of the National amila if recommendation of the Shura is approved in relation to their respective departments then it will be their duty to work towards its implementation and to achieve this they will have to make detailed policies and plans of action.  In light of these policies, the regional or local office bearers should seek to follow whatever guidance or instructions they receive from the centre. Every single person whether part of national, regional or local teams must work with honesty and integrity and supplicate before Allah and seek his help.  These are the keys to success and these are the keys to attaining Allah’s blessings.  Similarly, those Shura delegates who are not office bearers should remember that they are members of Shura not just for one or two days but for the entire year.  Consequently, it is also their responsibility to make sure that work is being done in accordance with those recommendations that the Shura passed and which were later approved by Khalifa tul Masih.  They should keep an eye on whether their respective Jama’ats are implementing the decisions that have been made.  If they feel that there is any weakness in this then they should inform their local president or office bearers.  If after taking such a step they see their local office bearers are still not paying any attention then to fulfil the requirements of honesty, they should send a report to National Amir.  If even then they do not get an adequate response from National Amir then they should write to me and inform me of their concerns.  Whilst it is not the role of the members of the Shura who are not office bearers to interfere with the affairs of majlis e amila.  It is certainly there task as a delegate of the Shura to keep a close eye through out the year as to whether work is being done towards fulfilling the approved decisions of the Shura.  If you all work with this spirit and follow these principles then you will find that the speed and progress of the Jama’at work will increase.  InshAllah.  You will find that the blessings of Allah will rain down with ever greater force and the Jama’at will grow with strength to strength.  InshAllah.  A further point I would like to mention for all office bearers and Shura delegates is that they and their families should watch MTA in their own homes as much as possible and they should encourage its viewing amongst the Jama’at as well.  At the very least, you should designate a regular time each day to watch MTA when there are programs of your interest.  For example, for those people who prefer listening in English there are now some very interesting English programs that are broadcast daily on MTA and so they should watch them regularly.  Most importantly, you must develop a regular habit of watching the Friday sermon each week and also other programs of mine which are broadcast such as addresses to non Ahmadis, jalsa speeches or various meetings.  All of these will InshAllah prove to be of benefit to you so you should listen to them.  Despite their knowledge and training when our Missionaries and scholars of the Jama’at watch the program of Khalifa tul Masih, they always find that there are things which they have either forgotten or were not aware of.  So, when even the scholars find such programs of great benefit then it becomes clear how beneficial and useful they can be for normal Ahmadis.  Whether a person learns something for the first time or whether he is reminded of a certain point.  There is no doubt that he will be encouraged to act upon those good teachings.  Another very crucial point to remember is that the Promised Messiah (as) has said that there should be unity and consistency within our faith and our practice.  This means that we should act upon what we believe in and this is something I have spoken about on many occasions.  In fact, even, my last two Friday sermons were on these topics.  Remember that only when our faith and our deeds become one will we become an example for our future generations.  Only when our actions mirror our beliefs will we walk upon path which will lead to our success and will also prove to be a means of protecting our children and future generations.  In conclusion, and above all, you must continue to always pray for yourselves and for your future generations because without prayers you cannot have any success or you cannot reform your generations.

May Allah grant all of you the ability to understand and act upon all that I have said today.  Amen.