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2006 Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih V (atba) Address at the 34th MKA UK Ijtema

Published on Mar 08 2009 

Young age is such an age that if there is no special Grace of Allah and Allah’s Mercy is not in support, one can become involved in many ills.
 
In distancing oneself away from Allah, one may develop such ills which mar one’s own life, as well as create trouble for one’s family. Some ills may also be a source of creating unrest in society.  So this is an age when a young man, in addition to making or breaking his own life, may also play a role to make or break the life of his nation. That is why Hadhrat Musleh Maud, Khalifatul Masih II , has said: “Nations cannot be reformed without reforming its youth”. This is such a phrase and such a slogan that to continuously have its realisation in one’s heart and to ponder over and repeat it in one’s mind is a task that will give surety to a splendid future of the Ahmadiyya Community.
 
Therefore you must always ponder over this phrase and slogan – for it is no ordinary slogan. This slogan will continue to remind you to carry out self-analysis and the realisation that the progress of the Jama’at depends on our every action which will continue to persuade you to do what Allah has commanded you to do, and stop you from the ills that Allah has forbidden.
 
Every good act that you will do will be a source of joy and happiness for you, and will make you realise that ‘we are fulfilling our pledge we made with the Imam of the time to excel in piety and are sacrificing our life, property, time and honour and without any hesitation, and that we are advancing towards a noble aim’.
 
Every ill that you will give up and discard will bring you happiness. Happiness that ‘in these times when in every direction there are evils, and vain pursuits are in abundance, and the paths full of thorns of evil and indecency from which it is most difficult to protect yourself as they stand as obstacles in the path at each and every step are everywhere, yet you are saving yourself from these evils to win the pleasure of Allah’.
 
However, you must remember that Allah says that you need Him to protect yourselves from these evils. Without His help you can neither be capable of doing good deeds nor be protected from evils. That is why Allah has commanded us to do istighfar i.e. beg Allah’s forgiveness, so that we continue to do good deeds and continue to be protected from evils. It is because in man there is a capacity to commit evil which Satan wants to excite, for Satan had given a challenge  that 'excepting a few of your sincere servants, Allah, I will show such alluring sights that will enchant the children of Adam you have created so that they will forget You and follow me instead'. Therefore in these times it is specifically important that we should seek Allah’s help to follow His paths.
 
If Joseph  – a servant of Allah who was blessed by Him from childhood with true dreams, and in whom Allah had put piety from his childhood as Allah had decided to make him a Prophet - supplicated to Allah when the satanic attacks attempted to incline him to commit evil by praying:
 
 
I do not absolve myself of weakness for, the self is surely prone to enjoin in evil except that on whomsoever my Lord has mercy. My Lord is Most Forgiving, Ever Merciful.’ (12:54)
 
…then all other people definitely need Allah’s help and mercy and you only receive Allah’s help and mercy through istighfar – a prayer to beg for Allah’s forgiveness. Therefore you should always kneel before Allah and seek His help because without it, you cannot suppress the evil desire of the “self”. As long as the incitement to evil is not suppressed, neither can one be enabled to do good deeds nor can one succeed to protect oneself from evil.
 
The Promised Messiah  says: The true and real meaning of istighfar is to supplicate to Allah that no human weakness should become manifest and that Allah may support human nature with His Power and take the nature within the fold of His patronage and support. So as long as you will continue to make this supplication to Allah that “Please cover our weaknesses and despite our weak state, with all your Omnipotence and Power, change our condition in such a way that we do not incline to our weakness and towards evil, and with your support continue to enable us to do good deeds, for you are the Almighty and the Omnipotent Being with Whose support those servants who become pious cannot be harmed by the onslaught and cunning of Satan.” So you should try to develop such a state.
 
Immediately when reaching the age of 16-18 years, and even 20 years and over, these attacks of Satan gather speed. Especially the ages between 15 and 17 years are the most vulnerable. Everyone faces ever new situations in schools and colleges that excite passions which incline to evils. There are mixed gatherings of boys and girls in which in the name of freedom of speech they discuss all kinds of subjects and situations are created in which nafs-e-ammara – the self that incites to evil, quickly shows its influence and Satan becomes very active and runs like the blood in the veins of man.
 
In the physical world it can be compared to Malaria. In regions where mosquitoes are found in abundance, one catches fever repeatedly and even when the fever subsides and one has moved away to safer areas, the malaria parasites find room and remain in the liver and whenever one is weakened by the onslaught of a disease, the parasites attack immediately. Generally, those people who live in Africa, Pakistan or other regions where there are large number of mosquitoes, they always develop malaria with any illness they suffer. Likewise Satan finds room and sits in one’s heart and whenever some crookedness develops in the heart and some spiritual weakness is suffered, Satan incites nafs-e-ammara – one’s baser self. In fact, this is more dangerous than the malarial parasite, and that is why the Holy Prophet  said that Satan is constantly running within the blood of man. Hence, as the baser self tries to incite man towards evil, Satan begins to move faster in his blood and immediately it entangles him and makes him commit sinful acts. At times some people have such a powerful temptation which takes hold over their strong desire that such a person loses his capacity of thinking and understanding. If he has any piety in him, only after committing the act, he realises and says: ‘Oh no, what have I done, in what filth have I become entangled?’
 
To protect oneself from such temptation one needs to do istighfar – beg Allah’s forgiveness to continuously subdue Satan. So that taking advantage of some weakness, the Satan should not mount an attack to involve you in further weaknesses. For this you need istighfar which is not only to beg forgiveness of sins but is also a great source of protection from sins. I have said this particularly addressing the students but the situation is the same faced by the newcomers to these western countries who have come from Pakistan, India, or other countries. No sooner have they stepped into this atmosphere of so-called freedom they become afflicted with certain evils. So you must strive to protect yourselves form these evils and if you committed some mistakes even then you must do istighfar to come under Divine protection. One should repent sincerely kneeling before Allah for He is most forgiving and has the power to enable you to do good deeds in the future.
 
The Promised Messiah  has mentioned three things for protection against sins and for sincere repentance. I will describe them briefly. The first point he mentioned with regards to giving up ills is to develop abhorrence in one’s heart and mind for the things that are creating evil thoughts and to regard them extremely filthy, obscene and dreadful. If in the true sense you beg for Allah’s forgiveness, you will develop these thoughts of aversion and hatred, the heart will incline towards piety.
 
Secondly you should develop feelings of regret and shame. Consider that whatever evil act I am doing today in my young age, what good will it bring me. The mere thinking that “firstly the evil I am committing will give a bad name to my family and I will also defame the Jama’at”, and that secondly “it will take me away from the pledge that I have made” will indeed develop a feeling of shame and then perform its role to make you shun evil. When you have developed regret to this level, you should then resolve that you will not go anywhere near these ills and pray that you will truly develop such a state. If everyone will strive to develop such a state then, as I said, Allah, Who possesses all powers, will create steadfastness in their hearts, showing compassion, and will create means of forgiveness and will save your baser self spreading further.
 
Man then gains such a state about which Allah says:
 
 
Verily, he, indeed, will prosper who purifies himself (87:15)
 
Everyone should strive to attain piety with which they can become prosperous, and become those who attain to nafs-e-mutmainnah i.e. the soul at rest and find comfort in Allah with which they should continue to advance in good deeds. It is these good deeds, which will be a distinction between you and the others. It is only your relationship with Allah and your protection from ills that will bring about reformation within yourselves and will be a source of attracting others towards you. Your high morals and protection from ills will open up the field of preaching for you. Such gatherings and annual conventions are held to bring about these changes within you and to create this realisation. Together with academic and religious programmes, other sports competitions and entertaining programmes are organised to make your body and mind healthier. You must not think that your role is just to participate in sports and win prizes, and that academic and religious participation is for others. Nay! Each one of you, with all your capacities, has to live your lives striving to win the pleasure of Allah. If you are developing the thinking that your role is just to play sports and the religious work is for others, then such sports is of no use at all.
 
The Promised Messiah  says that for our Jama’at we do not require men with power of wrestling, but need such people who have the strength to bring about a change in their character. He adds that the fact is that he is not a strong man who can move a mountain, no, not at all; rather, a truly brave man is he who has the power to bring about a change in his character. So remember that you should use all your courage and strength to change your moral qualities and indeed this alone is the real power and courage; thus bravery is to change one’s moral qualities. So when you will thrive to do all kind of good works, then you will step ahead in high morals. Only then will you become a model for others and convey this teaching to them for which we have been commanded by Allah and His Messenger . You will attain this level, as I have explained earlier, when you will develop a living relationship with Allah by kneeling before Him and seeking His forgiveness, and will leave your baser self behind and when you will commit no act that will displease Allah. Then, in such a state your preaching efforts will bear much more fruit than before.
 
So pay much attention to this – you must realise that future responsibilities of the Jama’at will fall on your shoulders. Every person is important in his place, every young man is important in his place, every Ahmadi child is important in his place, you must develop this realisation in your heart. I say this especially to the Waqfeen-e-Nau children that you have to come out of this society so pure and clean as a small child is clean and pure who knows nothing of this world. As a newborn baby does not know anything of this world despite living in this world, despite knowing everything of the world you have to keep yourself pure and clean of all the ills of the world. These children must realise that 13 to 14 years age is a great age of reflection and understanding though there are now even older children among Waqfeen-e-Nau. These children must have this realisation. You must reflect and ponder what special difference and distinction there should be between us and other children. Think that our parents have devoted us and at the coming of age, we have by ourselves dedicated our life for the service of religion. As such, what kind of a relationship should we have with our Creator?
 
To spread the message of Islam and Ahmadiyyat what kind of a radical change must we bring about in our natures and our lives? Of what type should our Salaat worship be? What should our daily recitation of the Holy Qur’an be like? What efforts should we make to understand the meaning of the Holy Qur’an? Irrespective of what profession you have to follow, even if you are not becoming a missionary, no matter what field a Waqf-e-Nau is pursuing, from time to time each one must assess as to what progress one has made in the previous three or six months: am I progressing towards what a young Waqf-e-Nau should be?
 
Every Ahmadi young man should ponder: am I or am I not stepping in the direction to what a young Ahmadi is expected to be? What have I lost or gained in this period? When you make a comparison between what you have lost and what you have gained, you will know yourself as to whether you are stepping ahead, stepping back or standing still.
 
One thing I want to say especially to the Waqfeen-e-Nau children and generally to all other children is that to reply to the baseless and absurd objections (against Islam) and to show the right picture of Islam to the world, the Ahmadi children should try to enter the field of media and for this journalism is a good subject. Furthermore all children, whether Waqfeen or non-Waqfeen, should always keep in mind that they have to advance in the academic field.
 
For instance, these days the local people here are less inclined to take up science subjects or to go in the field or research and it has also been highlighted in the newspapers that if this situation continued for a few years, they will not find any scientists in the future for research purposes.
 
Therefore I say to Ahmadi children that as well as paying much attention to their education they should also move forward in field of sciences and thus these people in the West will be compelled to assimilate you for the importance of the subject in which you have gained qualification. It shall also provide more opportunities for employment for those who have gained or are gaining higher education and skills in these subjects. Moreover this will also get rid of the false notion in the western people’s minds (because of their false belief about Islam due to their self-concocted background) that these people (Muslims) are ignorant and illiterate.
 
So today you who are students should make up your mind that you will advance in scientific fields such that you will fulfil the future scientific needs of this country. This will enlighten the name of Islam, and as I said, these people will then be compelled not to say anything against Islam. In the Jubilee year Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III  had asked for a certain number of scientists, I think he said 100 scientists from among Ahmadi children, who can attain the position like that of Dr Abdus Salam. So far we have not attained this number but you who are studying in these countries and are residing where you have all the opportunities, you must avail them and continue to attain higher grades.
 
I also want to remind you to protect yourselves from ills. I have said this many times before and here I mean the evils of the internet. This is also a major ill. In this regard, I have said many times before that this is such an evil that at times it is bringing to the fore most dreadful consequences and is ruining homes. In fact, it is not wrong to say that in some ways, it is proving to be a major source of inclining the self towards evil. May Allah save every Ahmadi child and every Ahmadi young man from this evil. Instead of wasting time on silly and absurd websites and entangling yourselves in such things, give more attention to preaching.
 
Khuddamul Ahmadiyya as an organisation should make programmes to hold seminars and symposiums in various smaller towns. For a while this was carried out over here and some delegations were sent, but you should plan to reach the people from the educated class. You should approach colleges and universities and hold seminars. There are many universities, both small and large, as well as colleges that you should approach. In the counties where these programmes are being held it is a source of creating a good understanding and reputation of Islam. People are expressing their delight and saying that only today have we learnt what Islam really is, so far we were only considering it a terrorist religion. When the local Ahmadis will visit the smaller towns, the local people will develop an interest and the true teaching of Islam will reach the educated people and they will have the opportunity to hear the refutation of the wrong concept about the Holy Prophet  and Islam. Wherever such programmes have been held, some ministers of the church and the well-educated section of society have welcomed it and the local media have also given good coverage of this in these western countries.
 
Britain is a small country, if you hold such seminars in small forums among educated people, many misunderstandings about Islam will soon be removed and new opportunities will be created for preaching. The attention of your young men will be diverted, your preferences will change because you will be doing this work for the sake of Allah and at the same time you will be saved from many ills of the self and this way one good act will lead to another and piety will spread and multiply. May Allah enable you to do this work and you should truly attain a standard of Ahmadiyyat that Hadhrat Masih-e-Maud  wants to create in us.
 
At the end I want to make an announcement. Yesterday the election was held for the office of Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK. According to the report your present Sadr, Mirza Fakhar Ahmad, received the highest number of votes, so I am appointing him Sadr Khuddamul Ahmadiyya for the next two years. May Allah enable him to work in the best possible way, better than before and also enable you to cooperate with him better than before.
 
Let’s join in silent prayer.