Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.
(Friday Sermon delivered on September 7, 1923) (Published in Al-Fazl, September 14, 1923)
Topics: Sacrifice, Community Duty, Spiritual Vigilance, Faith & Action
After the recitation of Tashahhud, Ta'awwuz, and Surah Al-Fatihah, Huzoor Anwar addressed the congregation:
Although I am not feeling well — last night I suffered considerable discomfort — I nonetheless consider my responsibilities and the community's need to require that I address the Jama'at at least once a week on matters pertaining to faith, piety, and affairs of consequence, so that the Jama'at may become more alert. There is no doubt that some people hear something with one ear and let it pass out the other. But there is equally no doubt that for many people, when something is brought to their attention, those who were heedless become alert, and those who were already alert become even more so. Therefore, despite the fact that admonition does not affect some people, its wholesome results are nonetheless certain.
At this time I wish to draw the Jama'at's attention briefly to the fact that our responsibilities demand our sacrifices to be very great and extensive. Until every single member sacrifices their personal views and personal interests and unites upon a single purpose and goal, they can never progress, nor can they endure.
I know your circumstances well, because I too am a human being just like you. My circumstances and my needs are the same as your circumstances and your needs. I am not of a different kind — I am of your own kind. That is why I understand your circumstances well. It is for this very reason that Allah the Exalted has also established the law that human beings are appointed to guide human beings. And even among humans, there are further differences: those of the East do not accept the word of those of the West, saying that their own view is correct; and those of the West do not accept the word of those of the East. Therefore Allah the Exalted has established this law: that from among the very first people to be addressed, He selects one of their own. Look — the one who came among you shared your very habits and your very thoughts. And the one who was entrusted with the administration of the Jama'at after him is also a human being just like you.
You therefore cannot say that I do not understand your circumstances, or that I do not understand your compulsions and your needs. Rather, the very circumstances and difficulties through which you pass are the same through which I pass. Whatever difficulties can befall you can equally befall me, because I am part of the same whole of which you are a part.
So when I offer you any counsel, it is not merely because I am Imam and Khalifa, but also because — being a human being like you — I understand your difficulties and your circumstances. I counsel you as one who is himself passing through the same trials and hardships through which you are passing. My counsel is therefore not merely the counsel of authority. Beyond the station that belongs to me by virtue of Khilafat, it is my human sensibility that more strongly moves me to warn you of dangers. Many times my inner feelings prevent me from issuing commands that, from the perspective of Khilafat, ought to be issued; and instead, in those circumstances, I say things that ought to be said from the perspective of being a human being like you. Regarding those commands, I consider it appropriate to wait a while longer. It is therefore not accurate to say that I speak solely in my capacity as Khalifa; rather, much of what I say proceeds from my humanity and from being an Indian like you.
Having made this clear, I return to those two sermons I delivered over the past two Fridays. In them I stated how a believer should carry out religious work, and I expressed concern that most believers do not fulfill their duties. Either they desire that someone remind them, or they desire that no one remind them — and both types of people are in a dangerous position.
Those who wait to be reminded are in danger, and those who do not want to be reminded are in even greater danger.
We see in the world that no mother waits for someone to remind her to nurse her child. And no farmer waits for someone to tell him to plough his field and sow seed. Why do they not wait to be reminded? Because that child belongs to the mother herself, and that farm is the farmer's own work. In the same way, for a believer who is truly devout, the work of the faith is his own work. He must attend to the affairs of the faith just as he would attend to his own affairs. It is his duty to keep working.
Yes, where he is stopped, he should stop. But as long as he is not prevented from working in a particular area, it is his duty to keep working. For example, if someone says he will pray at all times — that is not correct, because prayer is forbidden at certain times. Similarly, if someone were to fast every single day — that too is not correct, because the Holy Prophet (saw) forbade perpetual fasting.¹ But a believer's very desire should be to worship at every moment and to fast every day. If Allah the Exalted then restrains him at particular times, that is a separate matter. In the same way, if the Khalifa or Imam tells a believer on behalf of Allah the Exalted that he must not interfere in a particular matter, then he should refrain. But in those matters from which he has not been restrained, he should remain engaged with the same zeal and intensity that he brings to his own personal affairs.
Any person who falls below this standard is not free from danger, and in truth, he is not truly devout. The truly sincere believer is one who carries out the work of the faith as if it were his own. He may certainly seek counsel when there is a risk that work might go wrong — he may consult others to improve the conduct of affairs — but he must not sit idle, waiting for others to advise him and remind him. A person who depends upon others to remind him cannot be expected to shoulder responsibility or accomplish anything.
When those who were worthy of long lives were not granted them, how can anyone else imagine that he will be given a long life and that he can accomplish later what he has not accomplished yet?
The greatest was the existence of the Messenger of Allah (saw), who was most deserving of living forever. And this is not merely being stated here as an example — the Companions themselves believed that the existence of the Messenger of Allah (saw) was something worthy of being preserved forever — and yet he too passed away. Then in our own time, if there was anyone worthy of living forever, it was the existence of the Promised Messiah (as). Outwardly there was still a need for him to visibly slay the Dajjal and shatter the Christian tribulation openly and visibly — yet he too departed from this world. Had he been granted a long life, the Christian tribulation would have been shattered outwardly as well, for there have been human beings in history who lived to over two hundred years, and historically recorded ages of up to one hundred and eighty years are established. In that light, if he had been kept alive for another hundred years, these tribulations would have been visibly suppressed — because from his prophecies it is understood that the Christian tribulation would be shattered within a hundred years. Indeed, he wrote that the tribulation of Christianity would be destroyed by the time of his generation's coming, and one hundred years is the span of three generations. In this regard, had the Promised Messiah (as) been given another hundred years of life, this tribulation would have been shattered.
Then the one upon whom the burden was placed after him — he too carried that burden, and bore it most admirably. He demonstrated that he was the most capable of shouldering the burden and the most learned within the Jama'at, and was the foremost in believing in the Promised Messiah (as). Yet he too could not see the Jama'at fully flourish, and he passed away at an age at which many others after him continued to live.
When those who were most deserving of long and enduring lives pass away, what reliance can be placed on the lives of others who are not so deserving? And if, after the departure of those earlier figures, there are none who can shoulder the burden of the Movement, how grievous a matter that would be.
Our Jama'at can progress only when people are prepared who are utterly heedless of any difficulty or hardship, who do not wait for anyone to remind them, but who instead stand ready for every possible sacrifice — and who are prepared to make the most dangerous of sacrifices when confronted with every external enemy.
But as I have stated, this quality is still very rare in our Jama'at. Certainly, those with sincerity are visible — but those whose sincerity has reached the level where they are prepared for dangerous sacrifices and are not dependent upon anyone's reminder — those are not visible. For sincerity alone and faith alone are not sufficient for progress. Therefore, until such sincere people exist, our Jama'at cannot be protected, and it is at risk at every moment.
Some nations are such that even without a guardian, they continue to exist in this world — stumbling along, they do not perish. Such nations have hundreds of millions of people, making it difficult to extinguish them. For example, the Hindus — they number many crores. Similarly the Christians, then the Muslims — who number in the crores. Even without a single Imam, even without obedience and compliance, they endured. But with regard to your numbers, without a strong organization and mighty sacrifices, you could not survive even ten years.
If there is no powerful organization and there are no mighty sacrifices, then there will only be two outcomes: either you will waste away in grief and anguish, or you will remove the name of Ahmadiyyat from yourselves and merge into others.
Does thinking of this not produce pain within you? You do not see your present condition — you do not know what your condition is, and what your future holds. You think you are doing a great deal of work, whereas in truth you are doing nothing. There are other means through which work is being accomplished, and you are unaware of those means and those hands that are truly at work. If those means that are operating were to be withdrawn, you would accomplish nothing, and your future would be extremely perilous and dark.
Look — other nations can survive by changing their names. But you cannot survive by changing your name. The Aryas, when they learned that their existence was in danger, abandoned their name and adopted the name "Hindu." But you tell me — what arrangement will you make for your survival? The Aryas said: we are not Aryas. Can you also say: we are not Ahmadis? The moment you deny Ahmadiyyat, whatever slight connection you have with God will be severed, and you will become like a leaf tossed about in the ocean. Or you will become like one who falls from a lofty height and is cast into the depths of the earth — because your very purposes are concealed within your name itself. Having abandoned it, how can you succeed?
The Aryas, even if they did not call themselves Aryas, could still endure, and could save themselves through changes of name. But you cannot save yourselves. So think upon this — on what, ultimately, are you at ease? As long as every individual among you does not sacrifice his personal comfort and personal interests, you can in no way be safe. And as long as such individuals are not prepared whose conduct and habits are in accordance with the Movement, you cannot progress.
So recognize this moment and bring about a transformation within yourselves. Cultivate within yourselves that spirit through which the blessings of God may be prolonged. God withdraws His blessings when His servants do not benefit from them. He grants a period of respite, so that these servants might do something on their own, and then He would show grace. But when a person does nothing, he becomes deprived of God's grace.
In recent days I have seen foreboding visions in which it has been conveyed to me that certain trials are coming upon the Jama'at in the future. It is a pity that I cannot clarify this subject with examples — otherwise I would show you that the spirit of sacrifice within you is not what it needs to be. So guard yourselves from the withdrawal of God's blessings. And remember: the one who protects the Movement — God becomes his Protector.
I pray that Allah the Exalted grant us the ability to bring about a transformation within ourselves, so that we may become worthy of God's fresh bounties — not that we should even lose the earlier bounties from our hands, nor ever become a cause of His displeasure. Rather, may we always be the heirs of His blessings.
References
¹ The prohibition of perpetual fasting is established in Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 4, p. 414.
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