Published on Jun 26 2010 by Tommy Kallon, Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK

By the grace of Allah and by His grace alone, we have entered into another season, as it were, of Regional Ijtema’at and it is my pleasure and duty once again to be touring the country as much as humanly possible meeting Khuddam and Atfal in the regions and addressing them on these auspicious occasions. I am delighted to be here with you today and I am grateful to Regional Qaid Sahib and his organising team for graciously extending to me an invitation.

We are gathered here today for no ordinary meeting. Initiated under Divine guidance, Ijtema’at have a very rich tradition in our Jama’at and serve a very useful purpose from fostering brotherhood to gaining knowledge; from self-development and self-improvement to vying with each other in good works by way of competitions. Those of you who have responded to the call of your Regional Qaid and taken time out to attend this blessed gathering are the providential ones. You are sincere to your pledge; you are true to your covenant of Bai’at. May Allah bless you profoundly for attending this Ijtema and may He reward all those involved in its organisation.

Responding to a call is a characteristic of believers. The Holy Qur’an puts this beautifully in the words of the prayer:

“Our Lord, we have heard a Crier calling us unto faith, believe ye in your Lord and we have believed. Our Lord, forgive us then our sins and rid us of our ills and in death number us among the righteous.” (Ch.3:V.194)

In consonance with this glorious verse of the Holy Qur’an, true and sincere believers poured forth from all quarters of India when a solitary voice was raised in one of its tiniest villages just under one hundred and twenty one years ago. It was a voice that proclaimed that it had come from Allah and had come to lead us to Him. It was a voice that was most articulate and full of sympathy for Islam. This voice established the Unity of Allah and the greatness of the Holy Prophet of Islam (saw); this voice manifested the glory of the Holy Qur’an and bestowed the light of understanding upon Islam. This voice was the voice of Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi (as).

At a time when fanaticism, obscurantism and bigotry had become the hallmark of Muslim thinking, he displayed before the wondering eyes of seekers after truth, a vast and seemingly limitless treasury of knowledge, philosophy and wisdom from the Holy Qur’an and demonstrated the superiority of Islam over all other religions so that the Holy Prophet (saw) could, finally, be accepted as, Khatamun Nabiyyeen – the Seal of the Prophets – by all the peoples of the world.

Like all Prophets before him, Hadhrat Ahmad (as) was to face opposition and denunciation and on his demise while obituaries from open-minded Muslims and non-Muslims alike paid rich tribute to his messianic qualities, purity and righteousness, his unthinking opponents rejoiced after his departure to meet his Maker, hoping that what they considered to be a grave heresy would now die a natural death and be relegated to history.

At that critical hour, the help of Allah descended and enveloped the members of the Community. By way of the Qudrat-e-Thaniya – the Second Manifestation that is Khilafat – they were united again at the hand of one Imam who, in the capacity of Khalifatul Masih, navigated the ship of Ahmadiyyat to safe waters fully safeguarding it from disintegration. Once again the link between Prophethood and Khilafat had been restored and thus was to begin Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyyat which, more than one hundred years on, continues to spearhead an Islamic renaissance, drawing strength from an unwavering belief in God, a noble objective of uniting the whole world under the banner of Islam and a relentless passion to serve humanity the world over.

My dear brothers, this remarkable progress is in stark contrast to the history of many other peoples. Despite clear guidance, they chose to place reliance on their own faculties, rejecting the nourishment that Allah accorded them. Disobedience to Allah’s command and failure to follow the path prescribed by Him led to their downfall and this should further highlight the need for and indispensability of Khilafat.

The Jews, for example, were once a chosen people, yet their disbelief and wholesale rejection of their promised reformer, Jesus Christ (as) and the incessant and brutal persecution meted out to him brought about a curse on their people. Now confined to a minor demography, they can grow only organically. They have suffered immensely because of their disobedience and more than 2000 years after Jesus (as), they still await their Messiah.

The fate of Christians has, in practice, been not too dissimilar. Despite Jesus(as)’s clear instructions to the contrary, they claim he is a part of God himself, a clear invention created decades after Jesus (as) had gone. A fiction designed to further the Christian faith, this invention was the beginning of an unremitting and periodic modification of the Christian faith which is now so widespread that Christianity bears little practical resemblance to Jesus(as)’s original message.  Today, the destruction caused by an attempt to mitigate its decline through modernisation is evident. The Church of England was famously split during the reign of Henry VIII when the Anglican Church was formed to accommodate his insatiable desire to divorce and remarry. Since then the church has sought to ordain women bishops, sanctify gay marriage and take an approach that is closer to a perceived political and social correctness rather than doctrinal leadership.  Rather than bringing success, these attempts to modernize have served to alienate Christianity from its core membership. Neither have committed Christians been strengthened nor have weak minded Christians been revitalized. Attendances are down and churches are being sold. The credibility of the church, in the wake of a plethora of scandals extending back many years, has been its greatest casualty.

Islam itself has not been immune to adulteration. Admittedly, most Muslim countries are still profoundly Muslim in a way and in a sense that most Christian countries are no longer Christian. However, the brand of Islam nourished from the unholy lecterns these days is often slanted and inaccurate creating, in many areas of belief, a parallax between the realities of nature and religious doctrines.

Having been through many a vicissitude, Islam has been in decline since the demise of Hadhrat Ali (ra), the fourth and final of the Rightly-guided Khulafa after the Holy Prophet (saw). Among other things, this was due to the introduction of non-Islamic themes and innovations. From sects which offer only three daily prayers to those that shred their bodies in mourning at the death of their Imams, Islam has been in turmoil. The misuse of the religion of Islam for political purposes and the manipulation of once innocent but conservative Muslims, first into radicals, then extremists and then terrorists is a recurrent theme in an Islam wrongly practised by certain groups that is very well-documented.

The results are clear. Misguidance and misconceptions have destroyed a coherent value system in society, so much so that we are left with religion based on convenience. Society has degenerated into a civilisation without culture, materially advanced but soulless and artificial, technologically complex but without the spirituality and vitality rooted in religious values.

Ahmadiyyat in Islam, my dear brothers, truly represents the final salvation for the world. We have been raised for the good of man. We have been guaranteed success provided we follow Allah’s command. Our Khalifa (atba) has been installed as a Successor to the Promised Messiah (as) exactly to rid the world of un-Islamic customs and wrongful innovations. Customs like extravagance in marriage ceremonies, shortcuts in performing ablutions or unnecessary combining of Salaat to name but a few are continually discountenanced by our Beloved Khalifa (atba). He continuously exhorts us towards piety and righteous conduct. He constantly reminds us of our obligations to Allah and our obligations to fellow man. He repeatedly highlights the importance of the institution of Khilafat and the obedience due to it and to the Nizam-e-Jama’at, these being signs of a Divinely-commission Jama’at.

At our last National Ijtema, for instance, Huzur Aqdas (atba), in a moment that was most humbling for me personally and should be for you all, used the example of the response of you the members of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK to my appointment as Sadr Majlis as proof that the Promised Messiah (as) was appointed and supported by Allah. I recall, with utmost humility, the words of my Beloved Huzur (atba) at our Ijtema last year:

“This year members of Khuddamul Ahmadiyya, by the Grace of Allah, have also proved that they show complete obedience and fully comply with whoever is appointed as the Sadr; they obey him, make efforts to execute his programmes and progress his work – this is also Allah’s distinctive support for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at.

“Last year, when Sadr Sahib was elected as Sadr and I also gave my approval to his election as Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya, he was worried. He did not realise at the time, however, that the task assigned to him is not a worldly task. A distinctive quality of Divine communities is that, fully cooperating with whoever is appointed their leader or Amir, they always help to progress his work. This is because this is not the work of an individual; our community does not idolise individuals. The entire Jama‘at, and all members of the Jama‘at; youngsters and children, men and women, work because they want to win Allah’s pleasure.

“Thus, Sadr Sahib’s anxiety was due to inexperience and over time it has been proven that his worries were misguided. Allah the Almighty alleviated all his concerns, and Khuddamul Ahmadiyya has implemented its projects with great success this year, even better than in previous years.

“This is the beauty of the Promised Messiah(as)’s Jama‘at. This is proof that the Promised Messiah (as) was sent by Allah with distinctive Support and Help from Him. The promises made by Allah to the Promised Messiah (as) continue to be fulfilled today.”

Very humbling words indeed from our Beloved Huzur (atba)! Therefore, my dear brothers, never for a moment lose faith in the appointments made by Huzur (atba). This applies not only to his direct reports but also to all those who are subsequently appointed by his appointees at national, regional and local levels. Let not ambition or any feelings of envy, jealousy or resentment ever detract from your level of obedience. Look to the lofty example of the companions of the Holy Prophet (saw).

Hadhrat Khalid bin al-Walid (ra) was one of the most successful army commanders in history. He is universally renowned in the Islamic world for his military prowess and leadership. He is remembered for his strategic achievements, decisive victories and tactical marvels. He was called ‘a sword among the swords of God’ by the Holy Prophet (saw) himself on account of his success on the battlefield. But we find a great example of obedience with the Muslims of the early era when Hadhrat ‘Umar (ra), as Khalifa of the time, took the command away from Hadhrat Khalid Bin al-Walid (ra) and gave it to Hadhrat Abu ‘Ubaidah (ra) in the course of a battle. Thinking that Hadhrat Khalid bin al-Walid (ra) was performing well as leader, Hadhrat Abu ‘Ubaidah (ra) did not take over the charge from him right away. When Hadhrat Khalid Bin al-Walid (ra) learnt that this command had come from Hadhrat ‘Umar (ra), he proceeded immediately to Hadhrat Abu ‘Ubaidah (ra) and said, ‘Since it is the instruction from the Khalifa of the time, you should implement it without any delay. I have no reservation in serving under your command, and I will continue to work as hard under you as I did when I was the commander.’ This high standard of obedience demonstrated by Hadhrat Khalid bin al-Walid (ra) and all the Muslim army in accepting and fighting under their new leader is what we must seek to emulate. We do not know the circumstances as to why Hadhrat ‘Umar (ra) made that decision but what we do know is that Allah, the Almighty, upheld the honour of that decision and the battle was won. It is, thus, by maintaining that level of obedience that we will attract the pleasure of Allah.

Therefore, my dear brothers, demonstrate your obedience in all matters and to all those in authority over you such that the angels in heaven sing your praises for as our Beloved Huzur (atba) went on to say in the same National Ijtema address last year:

“It is because of the system of Khilafat that members of the Jama’at comply with all auxiliary organisations and systems. Thus, the transformation of hearts, control over them and sentiments of obedience that are borne are all signs of the Divine Presence of Allah.

“Always remember, however, that every child and every adult has to keep in mind the magnitude of the issue of obedience. Obedience in small matters alone is not sufficient. Complying if Khuddamul Ahmadiyya pushes for an increase in the Ijtema attendance is not obedience. Merely turning up to meetings is not obedience. Making a financial sacrifice based on a fleeting emotion is not obedience. Offering Salat during the few days of Ashra Tarbiyyat is not obedience. In fact, the issue of obedience is an incessant concern that an Ahmadi should constantly uphold.

“You should not only obey because your parents performed Bai’at and joined the Jama’at some time ago, and now you feel obliged to carry out their pledge under social pressure; or that, as you have assimilated into this culture, there is no other route for you to take… An Ahmadi should not be like this. A sincere Ahmadi, who obeys everyone, from the most junior officers to the Khalifa of the time, should keep in mind that he obeys in order to attain the pleasure of Allah – when you exhibit this type of obedience it will increase your Taqwa or, when Taqwa is adopted, your obedience will reach that level in which one does everything purely to attain Allah’s Pleasure.”

My dear brothers, we, like our forebears, have heard the voice articulate of this Age. We, like our forebears, have believed in that Crier calling us unto faith. We, like our forebears, must now take that calling and build our history. Let the pages of history record your names with honour and let coming generations take pride in you in that you ever continued to wage the struggle for the establishment of Divine Unity, the greatness and glory of Allah and the triumph of Islam. Let posterity recall with just pride that you ever advanced forward on the paths of success humbly, beseechingly, earnestly inspired by the desire to serve and to fly the standard of Islam.

My brothers, the seasons are now changing yet my messages to you continue unabated. You continue to read and hear my thoughts and expectations about your duties as members of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK. These are not mere musings. These words represent the truest telescope into my heart and are the expression of my deepest and most sincere desires for you – not merely as members of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK but as my brothers who I care and have love for. It is this love, this sympathy and empathy, which moves me to continually supplicate my Lord on your behalf.

And it is with prayers that I conclude my address. May Allah so ordain that you, my dearest brothers, are ever occupied with His remembrance and may the fountains of eternal joy burst forth from this great source of His remembrance. May your hearts and minds be ever illumined by the light of the Holy Qur’an and may this light lead you along the paths of peace. May the Gracious God fill the expanse of your breasts and the vastness of your hearts with the flame of His love so that you should come running towards Him and arrive in His presence. May Allah bless you with the ornaments of insight and the garments of truth and righteousness and may He safeguard you from every Satanic insinuation. Pride and arrogance are rejected by Allah while humility and meekness are the slaves of His throne; may He so ordain that these should be the dwellers in your hearts. Nothingness is the reality and basis of your beings; may Allah so ordain that you have this reality ever in mind. May the manifestation of the greatness and glory of Allah so seize you that the world and all in it should appear dead before you and may this lead you to unparalleled spiritual advancement. And may Allah so ordain, through His sheer grace and beneficence, that I, your humble and resourceless servant, am worthy and deserving of all these prayers I have submitted on your behalf. Ameen.