Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah.

 

Once again, I have the great honour of addressing you at the conclusion of yet another successful Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK national sporting event. As ever, I would like to thank Mohtamim Sehat-e-Jismani, Regional Qaid South West, our host region, and all the various team members involved in organising this event. I also want to thank all of you for attending and participating. May Allah bless you all.

 

There are mixed emotions here today. The exhilarating performances of the various teams from Khuddam and Atfal at today’s National Football Tournament which has coincided with the first ever Football World Cup hosted on the African continent has brought us hope, happiness and pleasure. The World Cup, for football fans, is always a time of thrill and excitement; it is always a time for debate and banter. The sound of the African vuvuzela amidst the traditional terrace chants has left an indelible mark on this tournament. Admittedly, the England team gave us very little to chant and cheer about, eventually losing awfully to the ‘old foe’.

 

To be fair providence was always going to favour the Germans in an ‘England versus Germany’ match which coincided with the Final Session of Jalsa Salana Germany presided over by Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih (atba). Allah knows best whether it was a mere coincidence that the first Germany goal went in as soon as our Beloved Huzur (atba) took to the stage in Mannheim or whether the angels had any hand in stretching the goal line, in the eyes of the officials, a whole yard towards the net such that they missed what was a clear goal and a turning point in the match.

 

I am, of course, doing my best to explain England’s abysmal defeat at the hands of our archrivals but, if my explanation is not good enough, perhaps anyone who might have felt aggrieved at the odd refereeing decision today can take solace in the knowledge that it is part and parcel of the game. 

 

If this year’s World Cup is historic for being in Africa for the first time, then this year’s National Football Tournament is also a historic one. For the first time ever, we have had the participation of a National Majlis-e-Amila team captained by Sadr Majlis. To the surprise of many including ourselves actually won two out of four games and qualified from the group stages with your Sadr scoring a goal, albeit from the penalty spot. For some reason every other team then wanted to play us. I know not whether this was for the honour of playing against the Majlis-e-Amila team or whether they saw us as an easier option. In any case, like England, the Majlis-e-Amila team lost at the knockout stages though in our case we can blame the Ziafat team for making such a tasty biryani which the Majlis-e-Amila team members could not stop eating.

 

The Majlis-e-Amila team, it appears, were not the only surprise this year. Like the World Cup this year, it is fair to say there were a number of upsets and surprises today with B teams from regions progressing ahead of A teams and all this goes to show that standards are improving all round, Masha’Allah.

 

I take this opportunity to congratulate Baitun Noor Region, winners of the tournament for the first time this year. It is especially pleasing to note that most of the Baitun Noor team are from Jamia Ahmadiyya UK. The future of our Jama’at is safe in the hands of winners!

 

My dear brothers, as I said at the start of my address, there are mixed emotions here today. Whilst we celebrate the joys both in playing and watching the ‘beautiful game’ as it’s greatest ever player, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, commonly known as Pelé, once called it and whilst we celebrate the successful conclusion of this humble National Football Tournament through Allah’s boundless grace, we are still sad at heart. Whilst we accept, without equivocation, the Will of Allah as nearly 100 of our brothers passed to the Afterlife having been martyred in Lahore on 28 May 2010, we are still saddened by their senseless murder. 

 

Today marks my first opportunity to address the Majlis in person after that historic day. It would be remiss of me not to address those occurrences and defend the glorious name of Islam, even as our mosques were bombarded and our brethren slain, allegedly, in its fair name. Needless to say, those attackers neither represent Islam nor, for that matters, any other religion of Divine origin. The murderers and those that are connected to them, represented the very manifestation of evil that Islam was revealed to abolish.

 

As you congregate together on these grounds today, you stand equal, separated only by determination, skill and a little luck that may precede that all important strike. Where those codified rules are respected, your rights are guaranteed. No deliberate and premeditated discrimination emanated from your referees nor were your entitlements usurped. On the sports field or on the pitch, your freedom to express yourselves responsibly with liberty and enthusiasm remained supreme. It is one of the reasons why our beloved Khalifa (atba) explained in his speech at the Masroor International Cricket Tournament that sport endures as a means to develop peace of mind, brotherhood and respect.

 

Its ability to unite mankind from every culture has, for hundreds of years, prevailed against the discord of political divide. The contribution of sport to peace is so well recognised that a United Nations Office has been set up to oversee its implementation. The United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace acts as a worldwide advocate, facilitator and representative of the social purposes of sports.

 

Today, whilst you played on a level playing field as equals, I ask you to take a moment to remember the plight of our Ahmadi Muslim brothers and sisters in Pakistan for whom freedom has been criminalised. Indeed many of you seated before me and the many more that would subsequent read this address are of Pakistani provenance and know the situation of our Ahmadi brethren in Pakistan much better than I do. Forbidden from representing their country in sport, the assassination of their freedom does not end there. They cannot vote, take part in politics, pray in public, exchange the Islamic greeting or even affirm their faith by reciting the Kalima. Their mosques cannot be called mosques and they are prohibited from visiting Makkah. Despite the name of the One True God being glorified in our mosques and the heads the supplicants being prostrated at His threshold, the so-called defenders of Islam openly propagate the destruction of these Houses of God and the murder of Ahmadi Muslims as being, God forbid, an Islamic duty. 

 

My brothers, history bears unanimous witness to the persecution of truthful servants of Allah. The same is true for us. The persecution we suffer is not a sign of our weakness or of the strength of our opponents; it is the mark that we are indeed the true community of Allah. 

 

The Holy Prophet of Islam (saw) himself was persecuted. No sooner had he made his claim to prophethood, than the Meccans inducted as many as they could in an effort to impose the greatest instances of tyranny and spite upon our Beloved Prophet (saw).

 

No Muslim man or woman was spared. Indeed, among them, many were of Khuddam age and their steadfastness bears its indelible mark in the annals of history as the finest examples of unwavering belief in Allah. 

 

The slaves who had voluntarily accepted Islam and gained true freedom for the first time faced torture. Yet, their worship of the One God remained prominent and their service to His Messenger (saw) relentless. Although they were made to lie on hot burning sand and blazing coals, and some barbarically killed because of their belief, they did not flinch. The flames of their love for Allah burned brighter and hotter than those coals and the steadfastness of their faith remained unyielding. 

 

For years, the Holy Prophet (saw) and his followers endured sieges and social boycotts. Ultimately, however, despite all the worldly might of the opponents they could never ever succeed in defeating the chosen of Allah. And as it was in the era of early Islam, so it will be now.

 

When Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) was given his Divine office, he sought to re-establish not reinvent Islam. No new teaching was introduced which contravened Islam, nothing unlawful was declared lawful, no fundamental doctrine was altered and the prescribed forms of worship like prayer, fasting, pilgrimage or Zakat remain unchanged. 

 

Yet despite this, even during his time, the rancour, enmity and persecution of his detractors were bitter and unrelenting. However, it is impossible for one with the manifest support of Allah to be destroyed. And the progress of the Jama’at today, despite sustained persecution and opposition, stands as testimony to that. Allah Himself revealed the Promised Messiah (as):

 

 

Time and again that has been shown to be true and every open challenge to the Jama’at both in the time of the Promised Messiah (as) and subsequently in the time of His Khulafa, be it from Pandit Lekh Ram or from General Zia-ul-Haq, was defeated. 

 

Arising out of these brief examples are the elucidations of two of the greatest of truths. The first is the Divine determination that every challenge to Allah’s design shall in every case fail. The second is that the faith of every true believer upon whom Allah has radiated His light is sufficient to endure any persecution and every cruelty. With that, true believers never have and never will fail.

 

As young Khuddam were martyred in Lahore, their dying voices uttered not rancour nor abuse nor frustration. Instead the records of the scenes on that fateful day illuminate before us the lustrous example of those who with every drop of blood relinquished, cried out not in pain, but instead intoned from their quivering lips Durood and blessings on the Holy Prophet of Islam (saw). With that, rather than their lives being extinguished, their memory emerged immortal – their place in a beautiful Afterlife certain.

 

Here the starkest examples of the Conditions of Bai’at and the Khuddam Pledge are manifested before us. These are not examples confined to the pages of history. These examples are real and present. Of Khuddam like you who, when asked to make the ultimate sacrifice, did so unflinchingly, not with violence or unruly protest, but with such a sincere trust in Allah and a determination of prayer, that except for those whose eyes and ears have been closed, encapsulates the most inimitable and striking example of the true practise of Islam, represented by Jama’at Ahmadiyya alone.

 

We must draw from these examples the tutorial that we shall place our absolute trust in Allah, engaging in heartfelt prayer and understanding that it is our faith that augments our accession to our ultimate destination which is the pleasure of Allah.

 

Whether in sport or in life, we Khuddam carry with us a tremendous responsibility. That we shall serve Allah to the best of our ability and propagate Islam through the excellence of our conduct is no ordinary task – it is a challenge that faces us each minute of every day.

 

Our role is to challenge the social heave towards inequality, the allure of worldliness above righteousness and the fascination with injustice and populism over truth. We do so through the excellence of our conduct leaving the rest in the hands of Allah.

 

Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:

 

‘Surely thou wilt not be able to guide all whom thou lovest; but Allah guides whomsoever He pleases; and He knows best those who would accept guidance.’ (Ch.28:V.57)

 

My dear brothers, I remain humbled and proud of the brilliance of Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK. But as the challenges to Allah’s design continue, we must even more than before hold Islam and its cause dearer than our lives, wealth, honour and loved ones.

 

Today, through the game of football, we assert our faith in the freedom of every person to stand here on an equal footing. The worldly chains of inequality, prejudice and acrimony are cast aside and only sporting excellence differentiates us.

 

That excellence in sport must be outshone by our superiority in matters of righteousness. Righteousness, that is, maintaining a fear of God and discharging the rights due to Allah along with the rights owed to His creation, must instil within each of us a passionate desire to compete not merely for victory in sporting events, but to elevate ourselves as the foremost servants of Allah. Your victories on these grounds must be one of many in which you illuminate the name of Khuddamul Ahmadiyya and the Khilafat it pledges to guard. 

 

It is through the excellence of our conduct, the intensity of our spirit and radiance of our dedication to Khilafat – an institution that encapsulates within it the protection from every discord that is so demonstrably absent from the rest of the world – that we shall set the standard for a better society. May Allah make it so and bless you all profoundly.

 

Thanks for having me. Wassalamu Alaikum.