Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.
(Delivered on 29 February 1924) (Published in Al-Fazl, 7 March 1924)
Topics: Tabligh, Spread of Ahmadiyyat, Global outreach, Missionary sacrifice
After recitation of Tashahhud, Ta'awwudh, and Surah Al-Fatihah, Huzur(ra) addressed the congregation:
Although my health is still not fully recovered and I can feel some fever even at this moment, since I set out from home with the intention of leading the Friday prayer in Qadian, I deemed it appropriate to deliver the sermon myself.
I have repeatedly drawn my friends' attention to the fact that the world today is thirsting for truth. Its condition resembles that of a person who has been intensely thirsty for many days — thorns have lodged in his throat, his tongue is dry, his strength has been drained by thirst, and he now awaits death. Then, in such a state, cool and sweet water is placed a short distance before him. Just as such a person would strain desperately toward the water, his tongue hanging out, his entire being reduced to a plea — in exactly that same way, the world today thirsts for spirituality.
Many centuries have passed since true religion disappeared from the world. Even Islam, in this age, had become hidden behind veils, and Muslims cried out: "Where is Islam?" Likewise, Christians lamented: "Where is that God who appeared in the form of the Messiah?" Hindus cried out: "Why does that loving God no longer speak, and why does He no longer converse with His servants?"
When the people of every religion and community had fallen into such a state, after several centuries a voice came from God, and from Qadian there arose a man who declared: "God has sent me in this age as spiritual water. When God saw that your spirituality had departed, He turned His attention toward you and extended His hand." For a community in such a condition, how joyful could such a voice be?
Someone might ask: if this is so, why did people oppose Hazrat Sahib(as)? The reason was that people had no certainty that this man had truly brought them spiritual water from God. The analogy is this: if a man is hungry and his companions are also hungry, and one among them finds food somewhere and tells the others, "I have found bread," they will at first consider him a mocker and be angered by him. In the same way, the opposition shown to Hazrat Sahib(as) arose because many people had grown despairing and believed they could not find God. When the Promised Messiah(as) declared, "God can still be found — He has been found by me — and He has sent me for this very purpose: to unite with God those who have grown distant from Him yet still long for Him," the people thought Mirza Sahib was taunting them. That was the primary reason for the early opposition to Hazrat Sahib(as). Otherwise, what explains the fact that from all four corners of the world people are now being drawn toward him?
Some time ago, a Turk wrote something remarkable about Ahmadiyyat in a work about China. He writes that when he visited a certain city, he learned that there was a dispute over a mosque, and certain people were being prevented from offering their prayers there. Upon inquiry, he was told: "These are Ahmadis who believe in a man from India as the Promised Messiah. We do not allow them to pray in our mosque."
From this it became known that Ahmadis exist even in China — despite the fact that no Ahmadi missionary has ever been sent there. Yet this Turk, who is a member of the Turkish Parliament, has recorded this incident. This is a country to which no missionary of ours has gone, and to which none of our publications have reached, and it is a person having no connection with us who reports on Ahmadiyyat there. This reveals how people are thirsting for the truth.
During this recent journey, I received a letter from a person who is a senior political official of the government. He recorded remarkable incidents. Since he was appointed to demarcate boundaries, he had occasion to travel to the Russian frontier, the Iranian frontier, and the Chinese frontier. There is no reason why such a person would fabricate. He wrote: "In various corners of the world that I have visited, people would ask me about Ahmadiyyat."
He writes that in 1905 or 1906 he was sent to China to demarcate its frontier. During this journey he boarded a Chinese vessel, and its captain — an officer of the ship — asked him: "There was an Ahmad Prophet in India. Can you tell me more about him?" He replied: "He was a kafir and a murtadd; all the religious scholars have pronounced verdicts of unbelief against him." Upon hearing this, the captain became extremely angry and said: "He was a very good and great man — why have you called him an unbeliever?" He was so displeased that he did not speak for several days.
He then writes that on one occasion he went to Akka, a region of Arabia. An Arab scholar came to him whose appearance suggested he was like a man consumed by passionate love. He mentioned that "there was an Ahmad in India whose Arabic book I have read. I have seen the books of many eloquent scholars, but I have found no pleasure in any book comparable to what I found in his — from which it is evident that he was a man specially sent by God, and that he wrote that book with God's particular support. Do you have any other book of his?" He replied that he did not.
This official writes: "In my earlier travels I used to describe Mirza Sahib as an unbeliever and apostate. But when I had the opportunity to meet some Ahmadis in Shimla and came to learn of their many admirable qualities, my prejudice disappeared. Although I did not become an Ahmadi and am not one now, my bias was removed. So thereafter, when asked about Mirza Sahib, I would say: he was a good man, and Ahmadis are good people."
He further writes that during the war, he went to a region to demarcate the Russian frontier, where he had occasion to speak with Arsalan Pasha, who was regarded as a king. Arsalan Pasha received him with great enthusiasm and in the course of conversation asked: "What do you know about Ahmad Masih, who claimed to be the Messiah in India? Do you have any of his writings?" He replied that he did not. Arsalan Pasha said: "Whenever you come again, bring one of his books as a gift." He and his companions spent several hours discussing Mirza Sahib.
He writes that shortly thereafter, when he visited again and they met, the very first thing Arsalan Pasha asked was: "Did you bring the book?" He replied that he had not yet been to India and so could not bring it. Hearing this, his eyes turned red with displeasure. On another occasion when they met and Arsalan Pasha asked in the same manner what gift he had brought, he had forgotten the earlier request and replied that he had brought musk as a gift. Arsalan Pasha said with deep sadness: "What use is this gift to us? We were longing for that gift — Ahmad's book."
He further writes that he was once sent to Abyssinia, where he met a man who was the brother of the king of Abyssinia. Since those people held to no particular religion, he asked: "Why do you not adopt a religion?" The man replied: "Among us there once lived a great man who wrote a book, upon which our people used to act. By chance, a cow ate that book, and from that incident a custom has persisted among us to this day: when anyone sells a cow, he sells it on the condition that when the buyer slaughters it, he must cut open its belly and look inside for the book."
He then mentioned something else: "Our elder also said: when that book is lost to you and you can no longer follow its guidance, at that time there will be a man beyond the sea to the east, in 'Qudi.' His word will have to be accepted and his guidance followed."
This official writes: "At the time it did not occur to me that 'Qudi' referred to Qadian, but afterward my mind turned in that direction — that 'Qudi' meant Qadian."
These accounts reveal how intensely the world is yearning to accept the truth. And this yearning cannot be fulfilled unless, setting aside the conventions of modern civilization, that selfless manner is adopted which the Companions adopted thirteen hundred years ago, and which the saints after them adopted — namely, to go forth as if clothed in a shroud. For this reason many prophets laid down the condition that the missionary should eat by begging. Jesus(as) also imposed this condition — that missionaries should live by begging. Islam does not approve of such a manner, but it does command that simplicity which is close to, and resembles, the condition of one who begs.
Therefore, in an age when the entire world is crying out for truth, if our men resolve with determination to go forth for tabligh and carry the message of God Almighty, then within a few days a stir will arise across the entire world. You will find many people emerging who will say: "We have believed in these things for years already." Because in this world most people live in fear and do not dare to express their beliefs. There are many who are waiting for an opportunity — for others to stand with them — before they reveal themselves. Hundreds and thousands of such people will emerge who believe in their hearts and are waiting for the right moment, even though outwardly they appear to be opponents.
Therefore, I draw my friends' attention: let them go forth into the world for tabligh without waiting for provisions. By whatever means available, let them reach those regions and preach Islam — so that the days of Islam's illumination may come again.
If such people are produced from among us, I believe Islam will spread through the world with great rapidity. To set out for tabligh in this manner requires only courage. Once a person resolves with courage, nothing seems difficult to him. Look — most religions in the world have spread in this very way. Christianity spread in this way; Islam too spread in this way; and now Ahmadiyyat too has been established in this way. Many friends in our community have already made great sacrifices.
If people before us could make sacrifices, and many friends in our community have already done so, then there is no reason why our other brothers cannot make such sacrifices — especially when those sacrifices will bring their own reward and their names will be recorded with distinction in history. Worldly honour too is attained only through sacrifice, and religious honour too is earned only through sacrifice.
I therefore call upon my friends to make themselves ready with urgency, so that we may send them to those lands where the need is greatest and where the longing is most intense. May Allah (swt) grant us the tawfiq to quickly carry the truth to all people and to spread Islam throughout the world.
(Al-Fazl, 7 March 1924)
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