Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.
March 16, 1923
Topics: Calling Hindus to Allah, Multiple Categories of Enemies, Reform Within Before External Victory, Hindu Racial Superiority Complex, Propagation Difficulties, Glory to Ahmad Revelation, Perpetual Vigilance
After recitation of Tashahhud, Ta'awwuz, and Surah Al-Fatihah, Huzoor-e-Anwar addressed the community:
First, I wish to mention a telegram that has arrived from the delegation sent to the affected region, reporting that they have safely arrived. The newspapers have published a telegram indicating that the Rajputs held a gathering and decided that they will remain Muslim. This news does not mean that the apostasy crisis has ended; rather, it indicates that the importance and urgency of this work has increased.
The only significance of this news is that the community that was abandoning Islam, when this commotion arose, realized that this matter is not ordinary. As I had mentioned, when Shuddhi was occurring and some Muslims went to convince them, they sent word saying they would kill them. Had those Muslims not hesitated at that time, had they gone to convince them, and even if one or two had been martyred, the Rajputs would surely have realized that there is something serious for which these people are willing to die. They would have understood that their turning toward disbelief is not an ordinary matter.
In any case, they have now halted. Previously, they were moving in a frenzy. But now a slight pause has been created. Now whoever changes religion will do so deliberately. Indeed, there is news that six more villages are preparing to change religion. Those who now change their faith will do so consciously. This means that the coming struggle will be severe.
The second piece of news, which is glad tidings for us and a punishment for our enemies, is that a telegram has arrived from our missionary in Afghanistan. The governor of Khost, who without cause arrested our innocent brothers and, despite collecting thousands of rupees, did not release them, and who placed them in shackles and displayed them publicly—he has been arrested by order of the Emir. He will be publicly displayed throughout the region, and the people will be asked whom he has tortured.
This is another piece of glad tidings for us because it concerns those brothers whom we cannot help here, as they are beyond the jurisdiction of this government. We cannot console them in their sufferings and hardships. Therefore, the arrest of this governor is joyful for them, and it is doubly joyful for us.
Now I wish to draw my Jama'at's attention to this matter: an ever-growing Jama'at should keep its ultimate objective before itself. Without a clear objective before one, enthusiasm cannot be generated. If only individual parts of a task are visible, the full importance of the entire work cannot be grasped, nor can sincerity and enthusiasm be developed for it.
If a powerful person learns that he has one enemy, he can easily confront that enemy and defeat him without great difficulty. At that moment, he will not think of urgency. However, if a person learns that he has not one but forty enemies, he will carefully husband both his strength and his time. When one of these enemies confronts him, he will deal with that individual while also keeping an eye on the remaining thirty-nine who are still hidden.
If he does not do this, he will not succeed. We have many types of enemies.
The First Category: Non-Muslim Religions
One category of enemies are those called non-Muslims. By "our enemies," we do not mean that we harbor enmity toward them, because Muslims are not enemies of anyone. Rather, we are well-wishers of all. But these people are our enemies out of ignorance. These people are not merely one or two religions. There are hundreds of religions. Setting aside the smaller sects, there are the major religions whose followers are our enemies: Christians are our enemies, Hindus are our enemies, Sikhs are our enemies, Zoroastrians are our enemies, Brahmos are our enemies, Buddhists are our enemies, Materialists (atheists) are our enemies, and Spiritualists—those who believe they gain truth by summoning the spirits of the dead—they too are our enemies.
In short, there is no religion whose followers are not our enemies. Yet we wish to benefit all of them. Our desire is that they all find Allah. But they wish to remain distant from Allah themselves and to keep us distant from Him as well. They wish to cast us into hell. By "hell," we do not mean the punishment of the afterlife, but rather hell in this life—the hell of separation from Allah. For the true hell is distance from Allah, and the hell of the afterlife is its consequence. Thus, separation from Allah is itself true hell. And these people wish to remain in this hell themselves and to cast us into it as well.
Besides the enmity of various religions and their offshoots, those who call themselves Muslim are also our enemies. When we present true Islam before them, instead of being pleased, they fight us. Their example is like a house on fire, where someone comes to extinguish the fire, but instead of being grateful, they beat him with a stick.
These people have taken superstitions for Islam. As a result, thousands of people have apostasized from Islam and continue to do so. Allah the Almighty, taking mercy on Islam and Muslims, sent a commissioned one to display His majesty and put His Word on his tongue. He made him His representative and sent him a message of peace to His servants. But is this not tyranny—that the Master wishes to make peace, yet His servants draw swords in opposition?
Allah has forgiven His servants' mistakes and said: "I show mercy to you; I will help you." Yet these servants of Allah fight against Allah's messenger. Their example is exactly like the one about the burning house: a person's house is on fire, and someone comes to help, yet they fight against him.
So there are two groups opposing us: first, those who belong to religions like Aryaism, Christianity, etc.; and second, those who claim to be followers of Islam. But our third enemy is our own selves. We must reform ourselves and eliminate the faults and defects within our own souls, and then kindle that zeal for Islam that keeps us constantly ready and prepared for service.
There are many who are called Ahmadi, but they still need reformation. We have one task before us: to convert Christians, for whom one hundred thousand missionaries are currently working in the world, receiving large salaries and holding degrees in advanced sciences. This is a community of people who hold degrees in philosophy, literature, and medicine. Our competition is with them, whose backing comprises forty crores of people, among whom are people of the highest abilities. Our intention is to convert them all to Islam, God willing.
Then there are the Hindus. They exceed us in knowledge, wealth, and politics. Although the government is not in the hands of the Aryas, except for some zamindars, yet there is one thing in them that is even more difficult than the Christians. That is their sense of racial superiority. They believe they are superior to everyone. If a non-Hindu touches their vessel, they say it has become defiled (impure). A Hindu who is so filthy that foul odor emanates from his body from a distance of fifty yards will regard a Muslim—who is extremely clean and pure—as unclean and would not want that Muslim to touch his vessel.
This belief planted in the Hindus is a wall that is not easy to cross, and because of it, there is an obstacle to propagation among them. Moreover, they have no authentic testimony about how Allah deals with prophets. Christians have this testimony, so we can tell them. But Hindus have no such tradition. The traditions they have are not about prophets but about avatars—representatives of God who do whatever they wish. Their traditions are also of a strange kind. For example, one of their avatars is Nilkanth, which is a bird. Their tradition says that Nilkanth swallowed an elephant and drank all the water of a river, and yet Nilkanth remained a bird. This is the condition of their bird avatar, and regarding human avatars, even less can be said.
Propagation among such people is very difficult. They construct such false and shapeless miracles and have such confidence in them that real miracles do not appear to their eyes, and it becomes difficult for them to understand them.
Once, a Muslim who was a relative of Mir Muhammad Ishaq Sahib came here. Mir Sahib engaged him in propagation and narrated some miracles of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah (as). For example, he mentioned the miracle of red spots appearing on Hazrat Sahib's clothes. The man replied: "What are these compared to the greater miracles of Allah's saints? Do you know where the watermelons sold in Makkah come from? Watermelons are not grown in Makkah. The real matter is that bedouins bring stones from outside, and when they come to Makkah, these stones become watermelons!"
When the miracle of the prophecy of Lekh Ram was presented, he narrated a story thus: "When our ancestors came from Arabia, they did this: when the ship was ready to depart from Jeddah, they did not board it and said, 'I will come later.' The ship set sail and they remained behind, but wearing their shoes, they walked across the sea and reached Bombay even before the ship" (In saying this, he forgot that Bombay is a city established during the British period—how could it have existed then?). "Then they reached Awadh. And then in the grand mosque of Kashmir, the Imam said, 'Brothers, go home. There is a funeral.' People were puzzled—where was the funeral? Anyway, they stayed. He arrived, and at that very moment his life left his body, and his funeral was performed."
In short, propagation among such people is difficult because they are bound by fictitious traditions. This is also the condition of the Jews. They too regard themselves as superior to all the world. Look in the Quran—everywhere they boast of their lineage and family, regarding Hazrat Ishaq (as) as the recipient of all blessings and everyone else as deprived of these blessings. Spreading Islamic knowledge among such people is no easy task.
Yet we must work among them and spread Islam within them. However, we cannot be safe from the attacks of external enemies unless we are safe from the attacks of our own souls. Unless we provide evidence of authentic religious life for a long period.
The Jews were followers of Hazrat Musa (as). Hindus are linked to Hazrat Krishna (as). Christians are the followers of Hazrat Isa (as). Zoroastrians are followers of Hazrat Zarathustra (as). Sikhs are companions of Baba Nanak (may Allah's mercy be upon him). They gained dominance over the world, but after a period, defects arose within them. This is why Allah had to send another prophet.
Therefore, the belief that defects will never arise in those called Ahmadi is incorrect. Yes, regarding the first communities, this occurred, and it should be the case regarding us too—that our Jama'at remains free from defects for a long period. Otherwise, if our Jama'at's condition deteriorates prematurely and its individuals do not reform their souls, it would be deeply regrettable.
If the Jama'at deteriorates after a long period in the future, so be it. But at minimum, it should retain its spirituality for hundreds of years. It is impossible that it would last forever. But someone has said:
"The flowers have displayed their blooming springtime,
Alas for those buds that withered without ever opening."
Let it not be such that those earlier communities maintained spirituality for hundreds of years, but we become such that it would be written about us that they neither attained complete life themselves nor became worthy of granting complete life to others.
Thus, no community is forever safe. But it should remain safe for hundreds of years at least. How regrettable would it be for a community that could have lasted for millions of years to not even last for hundreds of years? Therefore, our Jama'at's participation in good works cannot be a source of joy unless there is complete life within it, negligence is removed, and steadfastness is evident.
Suppose the Shuddhi work is halted—will we then sleep? No, this cannot be. Because a believer does not lay down his weapons until victory is achieved. During the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) sought counsel about where to confront the opponents. His intention was to fight from within, but those who could not participate in the Battle of Badr wanted to demonstrate their valor on this occasion. For their sake, He approved this plan.
The Companions then realized that the Prophet's blessed intention was not to march out for battle. When the Prophet (saw) came forth in armor, they submitted: "Whatever is your wish, let it be done. It would be better to fight from within." The Prophet (saw) replied: "The time has passed. Allah's Prophet does not remove his armor. Now we must march forth."
Although the Prophet (saw) knew through revelation from Allah the Almighty that one of His relatives would be martyred and He Himself would suffer, yet He said: "The armor cannot now be removed; we must march forth." Thus, since we too have determined to undertake this work, we also cannot turn back from it. We cannot resort to laziness now. The time has come to propagate with full force among the Hindus so that the revelations of the Promised Messiah (as) regarding Hindus may be fulfilled.
One such revelation is: "Glory to Ahmad." Clearly, Muslims do not chant victory slogans. The clear intention of this revelation is that the Hindu people will enter Islam, and just as victory slogans are raised upon the entry of a conqueror, the Hindus will raise the slogan of "Glory to Ahmad," saying: "This is the man who has shown us this day, that we have shared in the blessings of Islam."
Although the Shuddhi work among the Malkanas may stop, the work of spreading Islam among Hindus cannot stop. This is the time for the fulfillment of the revelations of the Promised Messiah (as), and the path for their fulfillment is open. Therefore, our Jama'at should prepare itself to do this work. Just as we have established centers for propagating Islam in foreign lands, similarly, there is a need to establish permanent work of propagation among Hindus and to bring them into Islam.
There is no doubt that there are difficulties in this path and the work is arduous. But as long as we do not overcome these hardships and difficulties, we cannot receive any reward. We should work for Allah and become absorbed in Him so that we gain eternal life. We must remove all these difficulties. The entire world is on one side, but Allah is with us. How, then, can a believer be afraid?
In the work of propagation, those before us did not show laziness even in the shadow of swords. During the time of Hazrat Umar (ra), when Muslims were surrounded by enemies from all sides—with Christian rule in Constantinople and they dominating half the world, and with Persian rule also exerting influence over half the world—when Muslims were being attacked from all directions, the Muslims did not fear the opposition of swords. How then can we fear the enemy's tongue and his money today?
Therefore, we should prepare ourselves and be ready for every sacrifice that may be needed. Remember, we should not be afraid of making sacrifices. No sacrifice is greater than the rewards that await us. But the rewards that Allah has already granted us are so great that we would be giving even the greatest sacrifices if we did it only for what has been bestowed so far.
Is it not a blessing that our Lord and Master has remembered us? That our Master and Beloved speaks of loving us and remembers us? In the believer's eyes, Paradise has no value; he regards Allah's loving gaze as Paradise itself.
We see that our Lord, the Master of the Worlds, has sent one of His commissioned ones to us, saying: "O My servants, come toward Me. Why do you wander astray?" This mercy alone is not insignificant. But His subsequent promises of compassion and grace immerse a person in such love that one wonders what one can do for such a Beloved. A poet has said—and surely he said it for Allah—and it is a very worthy verse:
"The life given was His to begin with;
In truth, the debt remains unpaid,
For if He gave the life,
And I gave it for His sake,
I have done nothing great,
For this life was never mine,
But His."
Thus, compared to Allah's previous blessings, the sacrifices we have made so far and will make in the future are nothing, because this very blessing is of such a nature that it cannot be repaid—that He has sent down His Word, saying: "O My servants, come to Me!" This act of His has no parallel.
Therefore, we should appreciate Allah's love and understand this duty. We should enter the field of action for Allah and entrust to Him what will happen. We should prioritize His will over our own desires, and give whatever sacrifice is demanded in this path. Let Allah be the heir and owner of all other things. Ameen.
Published in Al-Fazl, March 26, 1923
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