Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.

The Need to Heal the Spiritually Sick

Delivered on 16 May 1924

After reciting the ta‘awwuz and Surah al-Fatihah, Huzoor said:

Last Friday, I drew attention to the fact that our Jamaat should pay special attention to preaching (tabligh), because among the purposes for which Islam considers man to have been created, one purpose is indeed preaching.

I am astonished and amazed when I see many people who, upon seeing a poor or destitute person passing by, feel pity for him; upon seeing someone wounded, they feel compassion. If they see someone whose body is infested with worms, their nature will feel pity at his condition. If they see someone lame, crippled, or maimed, they will feel compassion. In short, upon seeing people's physical and financial hardships, they feel pity for one another, and a passion of sympathy arises in their hearts. But in spiritual matters, no such compassion arises for one another.

Man is made of only two things: the body and the soul. Just as a deficiency of wealth creates poverty and destitution for the body, just as clothing is necessary for the body and without it man becomes naked, just as diseases afflict the body making its condition painful—evoking sympathy in the observer—and just as some limbs of the body become wasted, similarly all these states befall the human soul as well. Just as wealth is a means of nourishing and protecting the human body from hardship, spiritual knowledge is likewise a means of nourishing the soul. Just as the human body is wasted due to certain diseases, and the eyes, ears, and nose are lost, likewise these same faculties are spiritually lost in people. Just as, due to certain diseases, worms appear in the human body, similarly worms appear in the spiritual limbs too.

What is meant by "worms appearing"? I mean that that part of the body loses the capacity to receive nourishment. And since it is a law of nature that whatever does not grow, diminishes, that part rots and falls away. When any part of the human body ceases to receive nourishment, and the current of strength and vigour flowing through the body does not reach it, worms appear there. And just as when any part of the human body remains outside human care, worms consume it—likewise is the spiritual condition: when a soul's connection with its source and centre is severed, worms defile it and make it their food.

If the soul were visible outwardly, and its diseases too appeared in bodily form rather than being known only through reason, then just as you feel sympathy and revulsion when passing by lepers, you would feel even more revulsion—and sympathy—upon seeing the souls and diseases of the spiritually sick. If you had spiritual noses, then just as your physical nose makes you feel disgust and sympathy upon smelling large repugnant and foul-smelling things, your spiritual nose would tell you that a certain person has a foul odour. So you ought to feel many times more sympathy for those deprived of truth than the sympathy you feel for the physically sick.

But I observe that there are many people who, seeing a wealthy, affluent man in physical distress, sympathise with him, and do not say, "O God, give me his wealth," because seeing his condition, they forget about his financial state and say, "What use is wealth if life is not saved?" But there are many who, seeing the wealth of the spiritually sick, marvel and say, "How much wealth these disbelievers have!" For example, Christians—people marvel at their wealth and consider them better off and more comfortable than themselves. Whereas, spiritually speaking, they are afflicted with pitiable diseases and deserve sympathy. But since their disease is not visible, and the true reality is not disclosed to people, no heed is paid to it, and no pity is shown for the condition of such people. Yet even if a king who rules the entire world does not recognise the Imam of his age, who could be more unfortunate than he? What use will his wealth be to him if he spent thirty or forty years of worldly life in comfort and ease? What has he accomplished? In that life whose reality we are certain of—because a truthful being has informed us of it—the everlasting life, there will be for him the gnashing of teeth and weeping and wailing. So what benefit can his wealth provide?

Would any of you like it if, for a short while, a sweet were placed on his tongue, only for it to then be snatched away and his tongue cut, or if he were shown a beautiful sight and then had a needle thrust into his eyes to blind him? If you are not prepared to endure even this small hardship for the sake of a moment's comfort, how can you rejoice at seeing such a wealthy man, who has to endure far greater suffering than this in the life to come? So it is not only your poor and helpless neighbours who are in need of truth and righteousness; rather, those great and arrogant people too, who because of the pride of their fat necks cannot pay attention to that truth which God has revealed for spiritual life, and whose feet, due to pride and vanity, do not touch the ground—they too deserve greater love and sympathy. Because what they consider comfort is, for them, a calamity upon their souls.

I say: if the small sufferings of this world create tenderness in your heart for people, why does the tremendous suffering in which they are engulfed not create tenderness in your heart? This is a great matter for reflection.

Remember that God's commissioned ones do not come until the world has become deprived of guidance. They are sent precisely when the world is in need of guidance. If guidance and righteousness were present in the world, no prophets establishing a new dispensation would come. They come at just such a time when disease piles upon disease, darkness piles upon darkness, when the children of the world become like lepers. At that time God sends His commissioned ones, saying: Go and remove their worms and heal these lepers. This duty of the commissioned ones, after them, falls upon their community, and its fulfilment becomes obligatory upon them. But alas, our friends do not pay attention to this matter.

At the last Annual Gathering (Jalsa Salana), and then in the Consultative Council (Majlis-e-Shura), I had announced that a few districts should be selected where all Ahmadis would devote fifteen days a year to preaching in those districts. But I must say with regret that, leaving aside outsiders, even our own offices have paid no attention to this, and to this day no action has been initiated by the relevant office. If, after deciding a matter, we then sit silent, success can never be achieved. We are in a state of war; therefore, after deciding upon any matter, one must act on it swiftly. Look—if the British, during the last war, had made a decision about something and then not put it into practice, their flag would not be flying over London today. Furthermore, deciding matters and then remaining silent also brings disgrace.

When the movement for fifteen days of obligatory preaching was launched, and the representatives of several districts offered themselves to carry it out, the friends of Qadian at that time also said that Gurdaspur district should be included among these districts. On their request, I included Gurdaspur as well. But after the Majlis-e-Shura, no regular work was begun. Not to speak of regular work—even preliminary action has not yet been taken.

It is a rule that all limbs draw their strength from the centre. If the heartbeat stops, no limb will receive strength or blood, and all limbs will become dead. And as long as there is strength in the heart, the limbs too will be strong. Qadian is the centre for the rest of the communities; outside communities take their example from the Qadian community. But the Qadian community has not taken such a distinguished part in this movement that outside communities would follow its example. In the Malkana movement, the number of people who went from Qadian is, in proportion, four or five times greater than from other communities. But even this excess is not such as to be an exemplary model. Until outsiders see every individual in Qadian filled with religious zeal, they cannot turn wholeheartedly toward preaching. For this reason, I especially say to the people of Qadian that they should spend their time in preaching. Leave aside the whole world—let them just take care of their own district. Is it not regrettable that the Ahmadiyya Jamaat has been working for thirty-four years, yet we have not been able to make even one district Ahmadi?

If in thirty-four years we have not made even one full district, Gurdaspur, Ahmadi, then how much time will be needed for the whole world, in which there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of districts like Gurdaspur? If we allow the same span of time, then it will take 3.4 million years to preach to the entire world. But I say—has any nation ever been given so much time? The people of Adam^(as) were given a period of one thousand years, in which their nation both progressed and declined, necessitating the coming of Noah^(as). Then Noah's^(as) people too were given one thousand years, in which they progressed and also declined. Then came the last successor of their nation, Abraham^(as). His nation too was given roughly the same span of time—some estimate twelve hundred years, others fourteen hundred years—in which his people attained the height of glory and then also suffered the depths of decline.

Then came Moses^(as), and his nation was given two thousand years. In his nation, the cycle of progress and decline occurred several times—four times progress, and four times decline. The first progress occurred in the time of Moses^(as) himself, and then that nation was destroyed. The second progress occurred in the time of David^(as) and Solomon^(as); they, in their respective times, elevated the Children of Israel and brought them out of decline. But after them, the Children of Israel became degraded. This decline occurred within three hundred years. Then, when the time of the Prophet Ezra^(as) came, the nation of Moses^(as) progressed again, then fell again into decline until the time of the Messiah^(as) came. At that time they progressed for the fourth time, but before the coming of the Holy Prophet^(sa), they fell again. Thus, within two thousand years, they passed through four cycles, each cycle lasting five hundred years, in which they both attained their goal and then lost it. If we divide this period in half, then they attained their goal in two hundred and fifty years.

In comparison, at our current rate of progress, the estimate for achieving our goal would be thirty-four thousand years! What naivety this is! How can we possibly be given such a span of time? We too will be given only as much time as the earlier nations were given, which is two hundred and fifty or three hundred years. The nation of the Holy Prophet^(sa) too was given the same period for progress. Accordingly, he said:

خیر القرون قرني ثم الذين يلونهم ثم الذين يلونهم

"The best of generations is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them."

The Promised Messiah^(as) also said the same—that progress would occur within three hundred years.

So remember: until we devote every moment of ours to preaching, we cannot set foot upon the highway of progress. Unless you spend all your strength for the sake of the faith, elevate your resolve, and demonstrate every kind of sacrifice and selflessness, it will be difficult even then to conquer the world.

The world will be conquered; Islam will prevail; Ahmadiyyat alone will spread in every direction. I have faith in this, and complete certainty, because the Prophet of God has said so. But what does that mean for us if it happens through others? As the proverb goes: "If there's life, there's a world." If, God forbid, we ourselves are made to stand in the ranks of the failed and unsuccessful, what benefit can the victories of others bring us? Hence there is a need for us to spend all our strength on preaching.

Preaching is not a task that can be left to others, nor is it like the Hindu bathing ritual, where one Hindu, out of the cold, considered another's bath as his own bathing. Each one of you must do this work yourself. And unless every individual among us possesses courage and resolve like that of Alexander, we cannot hope for the conquest of the world.

Consider, after all, why the communities of the prophets were given such victories as were not granted even to the greatest kings. Why is it that Abu Hurairah^(ra) has been granted excellence surpassing that of Alexander? Because he was, in resolve and determination, greater than Alexander. Every individual among those Companions believed that even if the whole world were in disbelief, he alone would conquer it. Alexander, even so, kept his eye on his army; but every individual in the army of the prophets holds this resolve—that he does not rely on anyone else.

Look at the resolve of the Companions of the Holy Prophet^(sa). Once the Holy Prophet^(sa) ordered a census, saying: "Count how many Muslims there are." It was reported: "O Messenger of Allah, the number is about seven hundred." And they themselves expressed astonishment, saying: "O Messenger of Allah, now that we have become seven hundred, will we still be overcome by the world, and will the world destroy us? Now no power on earth can erase us."

How different that state was, and how different this—that some people become alarmed at the slightest sacrifice! Only a few days ago I made an appeal for donations (chanda). Some sincere ones wrote as far as to say: regarding what you wrote—that lest my asking for donations make someone say, "It's donation after donation all the time"—we do not know which Ahmadi it could be about whom this could be said. We wait, rather, for you to point out an opportunity for service to the faith, and it is your favour upon us that you keep thinking of blessed opportunities for us, and include us in such occasions.

But there were also some—letters came from certain places with regrettable words—some indeed said that it is "donation, donation" all the time. Undoubtedly, a group of hypocrites exists in every nation, and their existence is necessary, because they serve as a cause of vigilance for others. But one should not be pleased by this. Hypocrites certainly exist, but they are not blessed. Diseases occur, and death comes, but who wishes to remain ill forever, or for death to come upon him? There is no doubt that a group of hypocrites has always existed. But this does not mean that we should not try to root out the hypocrisy of hypocrites. Failing to fulfil one's duties and responsibilities is hypocrisy. So understand your duties and responsibilities, and strive to fulfil them.

Hypocrisy is of several kinds. One kind of hypocrisy is hidden, and faith predominates over it. But another kind of hypocrisy is such that faith is hidden and hypocrisy predominates. You should not think that because our faith predominates, we need not treat this hypocrisy. Because hypocrisy that lies hidden beneath faith is like an ember of fire buried under ashes. Whenever a gust of wind comes, that fire will manifest. If you do not treat this hypocrisy, then at some point the ashes of your faith too will blow away, and hypocrisy will become manifest. So do not merely be content that your faith predominates over hypocrisy. If anyone has such a condition in his heart, he should reform it.

Look, God has given us the truth. It is simply not possible that we take up the truth and rise with it, and then be overcome. Those who are sitting here should listen attentively, and resolve from this day that we shall spread the truth.

If each one of you resolves this, and strives to the best of his ability to fulfil it, I say truthfully: before a year passes, you will bring about a tremendous transformation in the world. But everything depends on resolve and determination. Alas, there are some who do not even listen. There are some who listen but do not remember. Then there are some who listen and remember too, but say, "This was said for others, and we are not meant by it," and thus, saying this, cast the task upon others. Then there are some who listen and remember, and consider it meant for themselves, but there is something in their souls because of which they declare it wrong. Then there are some who listen, remember, consider themselves the intended subjects of it, and consider it correct too, but do not act upon it properly. Those who listen, remember, then consider themselves its intended subjects, and act upon it while holding the correct view—such people are very few, and it is their scarcity that stands as an obstacle to a tremendous transformation.

Eventually a time will come when such sincere ones will not be scarce but plentiful, and there will be tremendous progress. But I say—what benefit is that progress to you if you have already been enrolled in the ranks of the unsuccessful? I have informed you of this matter time and again, because it is my duty to keep telling you, so that I may emerge with a clear conscience before God Almighty. Beyond this, if you do not act upon it, that is your fate.

Understand well that every one of us can preach and can convey the truth to those deprived of righteousness, and every one of us can make sacrifices for the sake of faith. Because the religion that comes from God Almighty is such that every person can convey it to others—for it is His glory that He states things that everyone can make others understand. Yes, complications arise from people's own side, as the clerics have made Islam difficult—whereas Islam is a most simple religion. What is Islam? Obedience to God and His Messenger. This is no difficult matter; every person can understand it and make others understand it.

What did the Promised Messiah^(as) bring? That you establish love of God in your hearts, give precedence to faith over the world, and accept every good thing. What difficulty is there in this that you cannot understand or cannot make others understand?

May God Almighty grant us the ability to become conveyors of the truth; may our lethargy be removed; may our resolves be strengthened; and may everyone, great and small, rich and poor, strive to preach the faith.