After tashhud, tawwuz and recitation of Sura Al-Fatiha, Hudhur Aqdas (may Allah strengthen him with His Mighty Help) said:

Today by Allah’s Grace, the UK Jalsa is starting. Although the customary thought is that the Jalsa starts with the opening session that will occur later today but in reality this Jumma - Friday sermon is a part of this Jalsa and this is indeed its opening.

So with reference to this I will say a few things. The Promised Messiah (as) has said that the fundamental purpose of this Jalsa is that through it such a Jama’at - such a community should be prepared or come into being that should always be increasing its knowledge and cognizance of God Almighty; in whom the fear of God should begin to grow; in whom piety and righteousness should be found developing; who should be always craving for God; who should be found having deep love for each other; whose hearts would be soft and caring and full of love for each other; and whose brotherly love for each other should exemplify the Quranic injunction of, "ruhamaa-o-bainahum,"- "tender among themselves' - referred to in Chapter 48, Sura Al-Fath, verse 30 of the Holy Quran. Humility and submissiveness should become their habit and they should establish such high standards of truth as would be not found anywhere else and they should have in their hearts a burning passion for spreading Islam into the very corners of the earth and they should be ready to sacrifice their life, wealth, time and honor for this work every moment of their lives.

So all of us who have gathered here today, we need, each and every one of us needs to examine ourselves. We should realize that we took great trouble to travel to this place and gather together. It is true that there are a lot of measures available these days to make traveling not that great a burden but it is also true that people have become accustomed to all these things and travel has its burdens that make one realize that travel is travel. So those who have come for this Jalsa need to remember all these things and examine whether, respecting the wishes of the Promised Messiah, they are fulfilling this purpose of the Jalsa.

When during the proceedings of the Jalsa for the next three days everyone participating will keep all these things in the forefront of their minds then they will be reminded to attend to these things and be mindful of what the purpose of their participating in the Jalsa is and then that Jama'at - that Community will come into being which the Promised Messiah (as) wishes to bring into being and then there will take place that revolution in the lives of the people which will become the cause of bringing about a spiritual revolution in the world. If our thoughts and our actions do not begin to be travel do not begin to be modified and guided along these lines then our participation in these Jalsas is without purpose and will result in no benefits.

The Promised Messiah (as) has said this is not a worldly fair in which we come and sit with our friends and spend our time involved in some pleasant conversation and we went into the bazaars and ate this or that specialty food or took coffee or tea or bought Pakistani and Indian goods... because all these things become available in one place during Jalsa so take benefit...

Some say that we take a whole year's supply of these dry rations during the Jalsa trips because these things can be gotten cheaply or can be gotten easily during this time. ...So if this is the purpose for attending the Jalsa then the reward from Allah has been wasted because these things can be gotten from the shopping centers for more or less the same money at any time. The people who come to these Jalsas do not come to acquire this worldly goods nor should they come here for such a purpose. They should rather come here and do in fact come here to acquire those spiritual goods which cannot be gotten from any worldly shopping center. These spiritual goods that can only be acquired from these Jalsas are an invaluable treasure which does not only wipe out any and all spiritual thirst and spiritual hunger but those who truly are able to benefit from these treasures become transformed from a poor one into the richest of the people and then these treasures which the Promised Messiah (as) bestowed upon us and which are distributed during the Jalsas in the various different programs that take place - a true Ahmadi once he acquires these then he becomes capable of satisfying the thirst and hunger and poverty of others. So, it is the duty of every Ahmadi, of every one who is participating in these Jalsas that if there was any limitation is his understanding and if he did or previously have a true understanding and grasp of the purpose of the Jalsa now he should make himself and his thinking in the mould of the explanations and advice of the Promised Messiah and try to benefit to the maximum from this Jalsa.

Now I want to say some things about the wishes of the Promised Messiah (as) as they relate to those who come to Jalsas and what he expected from the Jama'at and what kind of Ahmadis the Promised Messaih (as) wanted to see and what he said ought to be the standards of the Jama'at.

I will say these things keeping his writings in front of me - not his words verbatim but a summary of those things he said to those who come to Jalsa to participate in it. He laid bare a syllabus a set of well laid out actions that can guarantee the well being of not only our worldly life but our life hereafter also.

Explaining the following verse [Al-Nahl Chapter 16 : Verse 129]:

Verily, Allah is with those who are righteous and those who do good. (16:129)

The Promised Messiah (as) says that Allah is not pleased without taqwa - if taqwa is absent Allah is not happy with anything else..so when a momin has no purpose other than to seek to please Allah, the Almighty, so he has no choice but to walk on the paths of taqwa.

And what is taqwa and by walking along which paths can a man acquire taqwa and for an Ahmadi Muslim why is it necessary to walk on these paths - explaining all these things he says:

It is necessary for the members of the Jama'at to walk on the paths of taqwa because they are connected to such a person and have entered into bai'at with such a one who has made the claim of having being sent by God .. and you will be able to benefit from a relationship with this one sent by God only if you are saved from every kind of evil ...before you entered into bai'at you were inclined to the world and were involved in all kinds of evil....and after entering into bai'at you should be be saved from those evils and that cannot be gotten without taqwa.

The Promised Messiah (as) gives an example and says: If a person becomes ill and if one does not treat the illness, then whether it is a minor illness or a major one, the pain and the disorder continues to increase and sometimes the treatment itself is a painful thing but it has to be done and without it things deteriorate and health cannot be regained. He says for example, if a dark patch develops on ones face one begins to worry that it may not keep growing and spread all over the face and cover it with darkness....and this sometimes happens and people suffering from such things come to me with this..and they are very concerned with such things..so the Promised Messiah (as) said do not think any small evil as nothing to be worried or concerned about because even such can take you far away from taqwa..from righteousness and then this small evil thing becomes transformed into a big sin and makes one's heart covered in darkness. So he says be concerned and worried by such even small evil and be concerned and worried about it a great deal.

He says that while God is Gracious and Merciful He is also Qahar - the Subduer and Muntaqim - the One Who Punishes the Wrongdoer also ..when He sees Jamaat which makes tall claims but its practical state is not like that so His Wrath grows. So it is the duty of every Ahmadi that he or she try to improve his or her practical mode of life and they must do this.

This is a very big warning which the Promised Messiah (as) has delivered to us. During these days involve yourselves in praying a lot and Allah has given us a great deal of opportunities these days to so involve ourselves in prayers so that Allah the Almighty may make us into that which He desires.

Today when we see state of the Muslims in the world we become even more afraid that becoming displeased at seeing some weakness or shortcoming of ours He may not make us the target of His wrath and anger.

The Promised Messiah (as) has given an example that when misdeeds begin and a gap begins to develop between words and deeds then Allah punishes those who call themselves momins - believers - at the hands of the kuffar - the disbelievers.

The Promised Messiah (as) says that history bears witness to the truth of this statement and the Muslims many a times were so punished, for example as was done by Genghis and Hulagu Khan. And this happened despite the fact that Allah has promised to the Muslims that He would help and succour them.

He said the reason for this is that although the tongue affirmed "la ilaha il-lallah" but the hearts were turned in some other direction. The actions are immersed wholly in the material world. So this is a cause for us to be extremely afraid and fearful. So we must go on always examining ourselves and taking stock of the situation and surveying our situation because Allah having Mercy and bestowing His Grace and favor upon us He sent - the Guide for this Age and the True Lover of the Holy Prophet, the Promised Messiah (as) for the reformation of the world and then bestowing further Grace and Mercy upon us He enabled us to accept the Imam of the Age.

So if we do not keep our attention towards God; then God forbid, God forbid, that we may also not be ground down in that law of nature which comes into operation when word and deed are not in accord with each other. So he says take stock and conduct surveys and assess yourselves and see to what extent your deeds and words are in accord with each other. And if you see that the two are not in accord with each other then become worried and concerned

The Promised Messiah (as) said that heart which is not pure no matter how pure the speech is that emanates from that person the heart of such a one has no value in the sight of God. In fact such a one would cause Go'’s wrath to descend on such a one. So the members of my Jama'at must understand that they have come to me so that a seed may be sown so that they become like a tree that bears fruit. So let everyone look into his or her own self and examine what type of a person he is on the inside and determine what he is like on the outside.

He said, if God forbid our Jama'at is such that its heart has one thing inside it and its tongue is expressing something else then the end will not be good.

He says that Allah sees that there is a Jama'at whose hearts are empty and devoid of anything and yet make big claims by their tongues ..then He is Ghani - Self-Sufficient...so He does not care for such a people..

The Promised Messiah (as) said take a look at history, go to time of the Holy Prophet (sa), bring before your eyes the situation that was prevalent at the time of the Battle of Badr. The prophecy of victory at Badr had already been made. There was every expectation of total victory. But still the Holy Prophet cried and wept and was praying and crying and weeping vehemently. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (ra) asked if all news of victory and if every type of victory has been promised then what is the need for such vehement prayers? The Holy Prophet (sa) said Allah's Being is Ghani - Self-Sufficient - it may be that there are some hidden conditions together with the promises of victory. So this is the high level of taqwa the greatest example of which the Holy Prophet (sa) has set before us.

So if keeping this example of taqwa before us and in fear we try to gain Allah's Grace and Bounties then insha-Allah success will be ours or those will see success whose word and deed are in accord with each other.

The sketch that the Promised Messiah (as) has drawn for us by giving the example of Genghis and Hulagu Khan - even today if we look around we see the same thing. Muslims have no strength, they are shaping and conducting their lives according to the dictates and understanding and requirements of others...they are following their syallabi...they have forgotten the teachings of the Holy Quran. In their own countries in order to save their own seats of power and thrones they are inflicting untold misery and oppression on those very people who call themselves Muslims.... they are killing without any regard or concern or limit their own common people..they think this way their thrones will thus be saved..this is their wishful thinking ..they are wrong in this and they will receive punishment from God for their oppression and cruelty and they will lose their thrones also.

In those countries where governments have been overthrown and new governments have come into being in the name of the people their condition is the same they are also following the same policies of oppression and cruelty and as a consequence are weakening themselves and knowingly or unknowingly and without realizing it they are fulfilling the wishes of those who are their enemies so that Muslims become weak and stay weak and thus their enemies stay in control of their resources. Pray that Allah may grant wisdom and sense to the Muslims.

So let me come back to what I was discussing what is the station or level of piety that the Promised Messiah (as) wanted to see from those who have accepted him and what were the directions that he had given by following which the said level of piety could be acquired.

And as has been said the true foundation for achieving this degree of excellence is to measured by the level of one's taqwa - of righteousness itself..Let me go on developing this subject a little more.

The Promised Messiah (as) says always look and see how far we have advanced in the acquisition of taqwa, of righteousness and fear of Allah.. the Promised Messiah (as) said that the true standard of this is the Holy Quran because therein Allah has mentioned from among the various signs of a muttaqi, one that such people who become steeped in taqwa are liberated from having to involve themselves in vulgar worldly pursuits and He Himself become the Guarantor of providing for their every need. He becomes Sufficient for them as is said [in verses 3 and 4 of Chapter 65]: And he who fears Allah — He will make for him a way out,

[65:3-4]...And he who fears Allah — He will make for him a way out, And will provide for him from where he expects not.

And he who fears Allah — He will make for him a way out from every kind of difficulty, And will provide for him from where he expects not.

The Promised Messiah (as) says also that another sign of a mut-taqi, a righteous, God fearing person is that Allah frees such a person from being dependent on vile earthly unsavory and filthy ways and means.

Practically a shopkeeper may think that his business cannot prosper unless he involves himself in cheating and lying and falsehood and for this reason he does not give up cheating and says that he is obligated to having to utter falsehoods but this is certainly not true ...Allah Himself becomes the caretaker and protector of a truly righteous person and saves him from such events and needs as would make him rely on falsehood.

The Promised Messiah (as) says remember that if one leaves God then God abandons such a one and once the Gracious Rahman God has abandoned a person then know it for certain that Shaitan - Satan will certainly establish a bond with such a one.

So an Ahmadi must try to attain to lofty levels of adherence to the truth on every level and plain. For example these days many Ahmadis are coming to European countries seeking asylum and sometimes some of these people even say untrue things whereas if only the truth is spoken and an appeal is lodged with the authorities by informing them of the true situation being faced by the Ahmadis in Pakistan even then this has a real impact. All the people I have advised that they should not their lawyers make tall stories do not let lawyers make untrue stories and instead say just the truth and convey your true feelings and what the real conditions are all such people's cases have been successful. There is no doubt in the fact that in Pakistan Ahmadis are facing persecution and oppression - no one can deny that - indeed now this persecution has reached an extreme stage but if the sad story of these persecutions is told even as it truly is and no use is made of fabrication and untruths and one relies on Allah being Sufficient - even then the objective can indeed be attained. The majority of the people of these nations definitely have the feelings of compassion and feel the suffering of others and because of this they do indeed try to help. So we have to try that at every step we try to elevate our standards of adherence to the truth.

Then addressing the members of his Jama'at the Promised Messiah (as) said that the acts of virtue that a man may do has two components, one is that which is obligatory and the other which is supererogatory or voluntary. This is true of those duties that pertain to God but the Promised Messiah has given here the example from those duties that relate to God’s creatures. In these virtuous acts also there are those that are obligatory and those that are supererogatory or voluntary.

From these obligatory acts of virtue for example one is the return of a loan. If a person has taken out a loan, it is his obligation to return that loan. Or there is the requirement that every good action requires that it be returned with a similar act of goodness. This is an obligation upon an Ahmadi Muslims.

The Promised Messiah (as) said that with these obligatory actions there are also associated voluntary or nawafil actions also, meaning such act of goodness that goes beyond the obligatory extent and is in addition to that an extra act of goodness performed voluntarily. Someone does something good for you and you do something similar in return. You took out a loan and you returned that loan. This is all obligatory. And the nafal or voluntary and supererogatory part is that something extra be given back. And the Prophets have always practiced this and the greatest exemplar in front of us is that of the Holy Prophet who set the loftiest example of such behavior. So if someone does a favor upon you, you are required to return by doing a similar act of goodness and this is an obligation...this is what Allah has also said. But doing an extra measure of goodness is what is termed as supererogatory. So the Promised Messiah (as) said if this is done these are the actions that complete the requirements that are obligatory and makes a person worthy of receiving extra measure of reward from Allah.

The Promised Messiah (as) says that according to a hadith such people are those who attain the status that Allah becomes their hands and feet so much so that Allah says He becomes their tongue with which they speak. In other words every deed and every spoken word of such people, because of their extreme passionate desire to win the pleasure of Allah, is done solely for the sake of Allah and becomes done only for Allah.

These are the people who just become incapable of doing anything that should draw the wrath or anger of God. This is the target that the Promised Messiah has given us to achieve after coming into the fold of those who have taken the bai'at and entered into his Jama'at. And we will be able to have truly discharged the demands of having taken the bai'at only when we will bring into play all our abilities for achieving this target.

The Promised Messiah (as) said that one has to strive and struggle in order to achieve this. This status cannot be achieved in one night. In order to attain to this stage one will have to free oneself from the passions of one's ego. One will have to abandon one's ego and start walking in accord with the wishes of God Almighty. You will have to struggle to make sure that no action of yours is unlawful but in fact is in accord and permitted and in accord with the desires of God Almighty. When this has been achieved, the Promised Messiah (as) says you will be set free from the difficulties people face in their daily lives.

He made it clear that people fall into problems and difficulties only when they act in opposition to the wishes of God Almighty. At such times they do not act in accord with the will of God but coming under the sway of their own low wishes and desires they commit such deeds as lead them into trouble. For example in a fit of anger commit such an act that lead to lawsuits and one has to present oneself repeatedly in front of courts and their officials again and again or one ends up being incarcerated in jail but if one decides that he will always follow the Book of Allah and its dictates will govern his every movement or lack of movement and nothing will ever be done contrary to its requirements and in everything he will have recourse to seeing what the Book of Allah says in regard thereto - then the Promised Messiah (as) said the Book of Allah will always admonish to save oneself from any and all evil acts. And on the contrary if you abandon the Book of Allah and start to follow the dictates of your own ego and wishes and desires you will suffer loss and fall into trouble.

So having entered into bai'at of one raised by Allah we need to examine ourselves and take stock of ourselves and see whether before doing anything do we take advice from the Book of Allah or follow the dictates of our own ego? If our ego prevents us from following the advice of the Book of Allah then we need to be concerned about our state of being.

During these days of the Jalsa we should especially exert yourselves in durood and istighfar so we may be moved to reform ourselves and we may become capable of bringing our own wishes and desires in accord with the wishes and commands of God Almighty and pray so that we may become those who fully discharge the responsibility that falls upon all of us who have entered into the system of bai'at with the Promised Messiah (as).

I cannot convey to you all that the Promised Messiah (as) has said on the subject of what is needed to be done by the members of his Jama'at in order to acquire the highest grades of virtue but with reference to that there is one important thing that I want to say which, if you adopt, will enable you to advance faster in the acquisition of the pleasure of Allah.

The Promised Messiah (as) says that wake up at night and pray that Allah may show you the way that leads to Him. The Companions of the Holy Prophet (sa) progressed step by step and stage by stage...what were they in the beginning? They came so the seed may be planted and then the Holy Prophet watered and took them under his care and prayed for them. The seed was pure and the soil excellent and with the care of the Holy Prophet they bore good fruit. The way the Holy Prophet walked, they also followed in his footsteps. You must repent with full sincerity of heart and wake up for tahajjud [the voluntary late night prayer] and pray and set your heart aright and leave off all slackness and weaknesses and order your own words and deeds so that they are in complete accord with the will of Allah. Have firm faith that the one who will take this advice to heart and make it his practice and will in reality truly pray and truly plead his case before God Almighty such a one will be blessed with the bounty and Grace of Allah and his heart will be changed. Do not lose hope of being blessed by God. [Persian...]

The Promised Messiah (as) says some people say, "what, are we to become a walee - a friend of God? How sad that they do not value this. Without a doubt, yes man has to become a walee - a friend of God. If he will walk on the straight path then God also will walk towards him and then a stage will come when he will meet God..even though the man's movement towards God will be slow, yet God will move towards man much faster and the following verse directs our attention towards this very fact.

And as for those who strive in Our path — We will surely guide them in Our ways. [Al-'Ankabut Chapter 29 : Verse 70]

The Promised Messiah (as) says all these things that I have said to you, remember them all for your salvation depends on these very things. Your dealings with God and with His creatures should be such as have as their sole purpose the winning of Gods pleasure alone. This is how you will become the ones on whom the description contained in this verse will become fulfilled:

And among others from among them who have not yet joined them. He is the Mighty, the Wise. [Al-Jumu'ah Chapter 62 : Verse 4]

So now we have been blessed with these days of the jalsa and a few days earlier we were blessed with the month of Ramadhan in which we tried to win the pleasure of God. During the Jalsa you will hear a lot of things in the light of the Holy Quran, Hadith and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet intended to increase your knowledge and to further your training ....and many will be drawn more forcefully to try and attain greater and greater knowledge of God and to advance in acquiring His nearness but with this acquisition of knowledge we need to make stronger also our actions and deeds.

Whatever we gain we need to make sure we take care of it and benefit from it. In every action of ours we need to develop constancy and consistency. We must consider this Jalsa also to be a bounty of God that has enabled us to gather all these blessings. May Allah bless us with the ability to benefit from these blessings.

I want now to say some things related to the arrangements for this Jalsa.

Remember in the days of the Jalsa while coming here or when going when parking or coming on the buses from the parking to the jalsa-gah or in fact while parking etc during all these times make sure that everything is done in an orderly manner and no lines are broken etc.

Follow the system and do not break lines as this will only create extra difficulties and cause delays and waste your time and cause difficulties for the administration. Also when your property is checked co-operate with the authorities. It is being done for your own safety and security. Similarly when entering the Jalsa-gah, do so in disciplined manner. Do not break lines.

Also it is important that everyone must keep eye on their surroundings - this is the biggest and best system in the world for ensuring safety and security and it exists only in Jama'at Ahmadiyya and not anywhere else. Do not show carelessness in this regard. If you see anything suspicious make the authorities aware of it. If you see an unattended bag etc anywhere inform the authorities.

Also I want to say to those who stay here at night by using a tent etc or in the places where many people will be staying together, it becomes quite cold at night and they will feel the cold so those who are of a weak disposition I ask them to wear warm clothing or take quilts if you have not brought one with you. These current dates of the Jalsa will last only a few more years and then we will revert to the usual dates.

I have already told the people in-charge of various duties what their duties are. They have to discharge the responsibility of being the host to the guests. Every department has, as always, to discharge their duties with uncompromising exemplary service that they have to serve. Then there is the need for cleanliness. There have been many complaints about toilet facilities. Although this may not be a general problem, yet there are some who have very fine sensibilities and they cannot tolerate even the slightest uncleanliness and while keeping such facilities clean is the responsibility of the administration, there is also the need that the users of these facilities should take due care to clean up after they have made use of the toilets and thus help in maintaining cleanliness and make the work easier. Nevertheless, a separate team has been formed to take care of this particular task and insha-Allah the arrangements will be better this time. In any case cleanliness needs to be taken care of and this is not an ordinary matter. Remember that cleanliness is a part of the faith as per the sayings of the Holy Prophet (sa).

So a momin, a believer must try his level best to raise the standard of his faith in every way possible and most importantly as the Promised Messiah (as) has said and drawn the attention of the members of the Jama'at, that they should pay attention and exert themselves in the performance of their prayers and nawafil - the voluntary additional supererogatory prayers - especially during these days of the Jalsa. There are arrangements here for the offering of tahajjud in congregation for those who are staying here and those who are staying at homes must arrange to offer tahajjud in their homes so that Allah, the exalted, may show us the scenes of extraordinary progress of the Jama'at.

And I ask that please especially remember the Pakistani Ahmadis in your prayers. They are facing extreme persecution and oppression as I have said already. Just yesterday another Ahmadi was martyred and another was fired upon but by Allah's Grace he is safe. Also remember the Ahmadis of the rest of the world wherever they are facing persecution and oppression in your prayers and pray that Allah may quickly arrange things so that these persecutors and tormentors are caught and so that the world recognizes the true servant of the Holy Prophet.

We shall offer the funeral in absentia prayer of this Shaheed and also there are some other funeral in absentia prayers that we will offer. This Shaheed was Mr. Rao Abdul Ghaffar Sahib, son of Tahseen Sahib who was martyred yesterday on September 6, 2012. He worked at a school and when he left for home at 5pm and was getting on a bus, two unknown assailants on motorcycles attacked him by firing on him and he died instantly. He was 42 years old at time of shahadat. Inna lillahay wa inna elaihay rajayoon. He had done his Wasiyyat in Jan 2012. Although it had not yet been accepted yet he was making payments as if he was a moosi. He was Zaeem Ansarullah and Secretary special tehreekaat. He was a strong daee-ilallah. He and his family had a strong relationship and attachment with the Jama'at. He possessed high moral qualities and was a prayerful and humble man. He had deep love for Khilafat and used to participate in any scheme or project initiated by Khalifatul Masih. He was married in 1995 and has two sons and two daughters. He and his sister had accepted Ahmadiyyat in 1988 after seeing the end of the Zia ul Haq as a consequence of the mubahila. His mother had entered Ahmadiyyat before him and it was through his mother that Ahmadiyyat was introduced to his family and then it kept progressing in the family. His sister says that she saw in a dream 8 years ago that he had been shot and was finished but that when she approached him she saw that he was actually alive. Most certainly he was to be the recipient of the status of a martyr and it is about martyrs that Allah has said that they are not dead but alive and you should not say that they are dead. Similarly his wife and daughter had also seen dreams which foretold of martyrdom and when his wife told him the dream he said to her that if I am martyred you should not weep and cry. Similarly his friends say that on Sunday there was a meeting in Ahmadiyya Hall in Karachi and that on his way home he was telling his friends that death will come to everyone but my wish is that Allah may bestow upon me the death of a martyr. May Allah continue to elevate more and more the status of Shaheed. One of his sons is studying in Jamia Ahmadiyya Rabwah. The second is 14 years old and doing his metric studies. Then there is a 10 year old daughter and another 7 year old daughter. May Allah continue to bless their progeny the same strong and loyal attachment with Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya.

The second funeral in absentia that I am going to lead today is that of Respected Sahibzadi Qudsia Begum Sahiba. She was the daughter of Hazrat Sayyada Nawab Amtul Hafeez Begum Sahiba and Hazrat Nawab Abdullah Khan sahib. She was born in 1927 in June and died Sept 1, at the Tahir Heart Institute in Rabwah. Inna lillahay wa inna elaihay rajayoon. She spent her childhood in Qadian in a very spiritually charged environment. She grew up there and was educated there and at the time of Partition, when she was 20 years old, she migrated from Qadian to Lahore. She served the Jama'at in Qadian and also did serve the Jama'at here also. She was the mother of Mirza Ghulam Qadir Shaheed. She writes in an article of hers ...and I think it is important that I make mention of it... that after the Shahadat of Ghulam Qadir Shaheed I saw an old piece of paper of mine that is maybe 12 or 15 years old on which a prayer of mine is written which I had tried to put into verse but not being a poet I was unable to do it..two verses of this prayer are as follows: each should shine and glitter better than the other and they should shine in the heavens like the stars; their progeny should spread and they should be of high dignity and O My Beloved accept these prayers of mine. She wrote that although these verses do not have the correct weight and rhythm etc but they are full of my sentiments. All what I wrote can be said in prose as follows: That O God, I have always wanted that my children should be devoted to Thee and dedicated to Thee and that when the time arrives nothing should hold them back. O God if You do not so wish then a person's entreaties mean nothing. Without Your command no one can fulfill anyone's wish or desire. My Lord hear and accept my prayer and grant that my sons should outshine and glitter more than each other and that they should shine like the heavenly moon and stars and from among their progeny should be born such as would be the cause for honor of the family and such as would be of the highest loyalty. This is just my plea but You are the One Who can Accept this prayer of mine. O Allah write down this as decreed in your book of decrees. She says that just a few days before the shahadat of Abdul Qadir I saw this prayer of mine from my old documents. Allah alone knows with what deep emotion and zeal I had made that prayer that it was accepted and for a few moment my heart trembled and I said that O Allah I have prayed for him to sacrifice his life and from within me a mother spoke that O Allah do not take a sacrifice from them or from me in such a tender age and I started to pray that O Allah grant them a long life. How was I to know that my prayer had been accepted and that Allah desired to take this sacrifice in plain youthful age and Allah had decided that He would take from me in his youth my son from me and the reward would be just as great as the level of sacrifice taken.

In any case she displayed tremendous patience at the martyrdom of her son. I too am a witness of this. She displayed great patience and steadfastness. When I went to express my condolences to her she made mention of the beauties of Abdul Qadir Shaheed with a smiling countenance and demonstrated great courage and fortitude. She kept up a correspondence with me. In the last letter that she wrote to me she wrote this sentence that Allah may grant me and my children taqwa - righteousness and that we should be the inheritors of the prayers of the Promised Messiah (as) and that we should be those who discharge the obligations that descend upon us by virtue of being his descendants. May Allah accept this prayer of hers in favor of her family and the entire family of the Promised Messiah (as).

As I said she was the mother of Abdul Qadir Shaheed. She was desirous that her sons should be waqf - dedicated to the cause of the faith. She has two sons and Qadir Shaheed had dedicated his life and attained the lofty station of shaheed. Qadir Shaheed she loved very much and she had his photos placed in various places in her house. And when it came time to bury Qadir Shaheed and I have mentioned her level of patience and fortitude...when it came time to take the body of Qadir Shaheed for burial at that time instead of crying and weeping she was heard saying, "jazakallah Qadir, jazakallah Qadir." ..meaning that her son Qadir had bestowed a great status on his mother that she became known as the mother of a martyr and her wish had been fulfilled... May Allah bless her with His forgiveness and mercy and grant her an elevated station in Paradise. Her husband Sahibzada Mirza Majeed Ahmad Sahib is ill and aged.. May Allah give him patience and courage and enable their progeny to continue their righteous deeds ahead in the next generation.

Another funeral prayer in absentia that will be offered is that of Respected Chaudhry Nazeer Ahmad Sahib, former Ameer District Bahawalpur. Ch Nazeer Ahmad Sahib was born in 1933 and died on August 28. After acquiring his Bsc. in Civil Engineering he was employed by the Department of Canals and worked there for all his working life till retirement. He served the Jama'at in many capacities and faced opposition in many places. His wife writes that till the last moments of his life he kept serving the Jama'at. May Allah bless him with high station in Paradise and also bestow upon his children ongoing increase of righteousness.

Also a funeral in absentia will be offered of Firas Mahmood Sahib of Syria. His martyrdom took place in Damascus due to the disturbances of these days. He had done bai'at 8 months ago. He was 35 years old. He was a laborer and for the 8 months that he was an Ahmadi he carried himself admirably as an Ahmadi. May Allah also grant him an elevated station in Paradise and deal with him with forgiveness and Mercy.

Namaz janaza will be offered of all of them after the Jumma prayers.