In the Service of Islam

In the Service of Islam

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HIGHEST COMMENDATIONS

MORE IMPORTANT than any tributes paid by men to the Founder and the Ahmadiyya Jamaat are, to our mind, the commendations concerning them made by Allah and the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

Of the various sayings of the Holy Prophet about the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi (both being the same person, as shown earlier) some have been quoted earlier. Some more may be quoted below.

Expressing his longing to meet the Promised Messiah, if his life were to permit it, the Holy Prophet said:

'If any one of you meets him, he should say As-salamu 'alaikam from me to him' (Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 7, p. 203, Hadith No. 2143).

'So when you see him, take his bai'at (pledge), even if you have to go on your knees in snow' (Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 7, p. 186, Hadith No. 1934).

'That Ummat (nation) cannot be destroyed of which I (the Holy Prophet) am at the beginning and the Messiah ibn Maryam is in the rear' (Imam Jalaluddin Sayuti, book Jami-us-Saghir, p. 106).

We have already discussed at length that the Holy Prophet made it clear that the Messiah or 'Isa ibn Maryam to come, would not be Jesus Christ, but an 'Imam from among the Muslims,' and the same name has been used for both to emphasize the similarity between them.

Keeping that in mind, let us come to the Holy Qur'an in which the all-out attack by Christianity on Islam is prophesied thus:

'They (the Christians) will want to blow out the light of Allah (Islam) with their mouths, but Allah will perfect his light, though the disbelievers may be averse. He it is Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be averse' (61:8-9).

As Islam was already perfected in the time of the Holy Prophet (5:3), the perfection spoken of here is the bringing out of the perfections of Islam when it is attacked as a religion by Christianity, as happened in the nineteenth century CE. That this was indeed done by the Promised Messiah and his Jamaat has already been shown in the earlier chapters. As for the prevalence of Islam over all other religions, the commentators of the Holy Qur'an say that this would be brought about by the Promised Messiah (vide commentary on this verse in Al-Tafsir ul-Kabir by Imam Fakhruddin Razi).

And this is borne out by the concluding verse of this very section of the Holy Qur'an which says:

'O you who believe, be helpers (in the cause) of Allah, as when Jesus son of Mary said to the disciples, Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah?' (61:14).

The word qala translated above as 'said' can be translated, when it is used about the future, as 'will say.' Now, every prophet said to his people: 'Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah?' Besides, according to the Bible, the disciples of Jesus Christ were not the best example of those who responded. Only twelve responded. Of these too, one betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The other one, the chief disciple Peter, cursed Jesus thrice in his face to escape being crucified with him; and even the remaining ten disciples fled when he was arrested. The Holy Qur'an, however, exonerates them. But, as already stated, all the prophets had made the same call to their people. It seems that Jesus Christ, of all the prophets, was selected for mention in verse 61:14 as, in his second advent as the Promised Messiah, the latter was to make the same call to the Muslims, who are addressed in this verse. This is also indicated by the preceding verses where it is prophesied (verse 8) that the Christians will try to blow out the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will, on the other hand, bring out the perfections of Islam as a result of their (the Christians') criticisms against it. That He did it through the Promised Messiah and his Jamaat has already been shown in the earlier chapters. Then the Holy Qur'an prophesies in the next verse (v. 9) that Allah will also take this opportunity to make Islam prevail over all other religions. The commentators of the Holy Qur'an were agreed that this would be done through the Promised Messiah (Tafsir Kabir: Imam Razi). And Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib and his Jamaat did that to perfection, as shown throughout the discussion in this book, and as admitted even by non-Ahmadis (vide Chapters 13 and 14). So it is the Promised Messiah's call for helpers in the cause of Allah, which the concluding verse (v. 14) refers to, and in which Allah requires all believers to respond to this call.

Anyway, the Holy Qur'an says quite clearly in another place:

'O you who believe, keep your duty to Allah and be with those on the side of truth' (9:119).

If Hazrat Mirza Sahib and his Jamaat are on the side of truth, then it is the duty of all those who are Muslims to join them. The words taqwa Allah in the verse just quoted also mean 'guard yourself against Allah's reckoning or punishment,' which should make every Muslim's heart tremble lest he should be taken to account for not joining those on the side of truth.

In the next chapter, 62, verse 2 speaks of the great revolution (moral and spiritual) brought about by the Holy Prophet among his Companions, which is a fact of history admitted even by some of the fair-minded Christian critics. And speaking of those thus transformed, the Holy Qur'an goes on to say:

'And others are from among them, who have not yet joined them' (62:3).

Who are these? The Holy Prophet when asked who they were, put his hand on Salman, the Persian, and said:

'Even if faith were near the cluster of stars Pleiades, a man from among these (Persians) would surely find it' (Bukhari, 65:lxii, 1).

Maulana Muhammad Ali says in this connection:

'As other reports show that the Messiah would appear among the Muslims at a time when they would have the letter of the law with them but would not be true to its spirit, the reference in the report given here is particularly to the Messiah or to his times. The significance is that after a time, when the true spirit would have been lost, a man would be raised who, again, receiving the light from the Holy Prophet, would spread the light of Islam in the world.'

We may add that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib was of Persian descent. So that the honourable mention in 62:3 is of the Jamaat of the Promised Messiah, which is a dedicated body of the soldiers and servants of Islam who devote their lives and their funds to the defense and propagation of Islam. That in one word is Ahmadiyyat.

AHMADIYYAT IN THE SERVICE OF ISLAM by N.A. Faruqui Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam, Lahore, Inc. 36911 Walnut Street, Newark California 94560 USA Copyright© by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore, Inc. 1983. First published in 1983 by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore, Inc. (USA) 36911 Walnut Street Newark, California 94560 USA Library of Congress catalog car number: 83-71698 ISBN 0-913321-00-1 All rights reserved. Cover Design: Details of Wall Mosaics in the Mosque of El Bordeyhy (17th century) From Dover Pictorial Archive Series Arabic Art in Color (Dover 1978). Typeset by Linguatype Limited, Slough, Berks, England.

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	In the Service of Islam Indeks Islam \| Indeks Ahmadiyyah \| Indeks Lahore \| Indeks Artikel \| Tentang Pengarang ISNET Homepage \| MEDIA Homepage \| Program Kerja \| Koleksi \| Anggota
	HIGHEST COMMENDATIONS MORE IMPORTANT than any tributes paid by men to the Founder and the Ahmadiyya Jamaat are, to our mind, the commendations concerning them made by Allah and the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Of the various sayings of the Holy Prophet about the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi (both being the same person, as shown earlier) some have been quoted earlier. Some more may be quoted below. Expressing his longing to meet the Promised Messiah, if his life were to permit it, the Holy Prophet said: 'If any one of you meets him, he should say As-salamu 'alaikam from me to him' (Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 7, p. 203, Hadith No. 2143). 'So when you see him, take his bai'at (pledge), even if you have to go on your knees in snow' (Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 7, p. 186, Hadith No. 1934). 'That Ummat (nation) cannot be destroyed of which I (the Holy Prophet) am at the beginning and the Messiah ibn Maryam is in the rear' (Imam Jalaluddin Sayuti, book Jami-us-Saghir, p. 106). We have already discussed at length that the Holy Prophet made it clear that the Messiah or 'Isa ibn Maryam to come, would not be Jesus Christ, but an 'Imam from among the Muslims,' and the same name has been used for both to emphasize the similarity between them. Keeping that in mind, let us come to the Holy Qur'an in which the all-out attack by Christianity on Islam is prophesied thus: 'They (the Christians) will want to blow out the light of Allah (Islam) with their mouths, but Allah will perfect his light, though the disbelievers may be averse. He it is Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be averse' (61:8-9). As Islam was already perfected in the time of the Holy Prophet (5:3), the perfection spoken of here is the bringing out of the perfections of Islam when it is attacked as a religion by Christianity, as happened in the nineteenth century CE. That this was indeed done by the Promised Messiah and his Jamaat has already been shown in the earlier chapters. As for the prevalence of Islam over all other religions, the commentators of the Holy Qur'an say that this would be brought about by the Promised Messiah (vide commentary on this verse in Al-Tafsir ul-Kabir by Imam Fakhruddin Razi). And this is borne out by the concluding verse of this very section of the Holy Qur'an which says: 'O you who believe, be helpers (in the cause) of Allah, as when Jesus son of Mary said to the disciples, Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah?' (61:14). The word qala translated above as 'said' can be translated, when it is used about the future, as 'will say.' Now, every prophet said to his people: 'Who are my helpers in the cause of Allah?' Besides, according to the Bible, the disciples of Jesus Christ were not the best example of those who responded. Only twelve responded. Of these too, one betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. The other one, the chief disciple Peter, cursed Jesus thrice in his face to escape being crucified with him; and even the remaining ten disciples fled when he was arrested. The Holy Qur'an, however, exonerates them. But, as already stated, all the prophets had made the same call to their people. It seems that Jesus Christ, of all the prophets, was selected for mention in verse 61:14 as, in his second advent as the Promised Messiah, the latter was to make the same call to the Muslims, who are addressed in this verse. This is also indicated by the preceding verses where it is prophesied (verse 8) that the Christians will try to blow out the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will, on the other hand, bring out the perfections of Islam as a result of their (the Christians') criticisms against it. That He did it through the Promised Messiah and his Jamaat has already been shown in the earlier chapters. Then the Holy Qur'an prophesies in the next verse (v. 9) that Allah will also take this opportunity to make Islam prevail over all other religions. The commentators of the Holy Qur'an were agreed that this would be done through the Promised Messiah (Tafsir Kabir: Imam Razi). And Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib and his Jamaat did that to perfection, as shown throughout the discussion in this book, and as admitted even by non-Ahmadis (vide Chapters 13 and 14). So it is the Promised Messiah's call for helpers in the cause of Allah, which the concluding verse (v. 14) refers to, and in which Allah requires all believers to respond to this call. Anyway, the Holy Qur'an says quite clearly in another place: 'O you who believe, keep your duty to Allah and be with those on the side of truth' (9:119). If Hazrat Mirza Sahib and his Jamaat are on the side of truth, then it is the duty of all those who are Muslims to join them. The words taqwa Allah in the verse just quoted also mean 'guard yourself against Allah's reckoning or punishment,' which should make every Muslim's heart tremble lest he should be taken to account for not joining those on the side of truth. In the next chapter, 62, verse 2 speaks of the great revolution (moral and spiritual) brought about by the Holy Prophet among his Companions, which is a fact of history admitted even by some of the fair-minded Christian critics. And speaking of those thus transformed, the Holy Qur'an goes on to say: 'And others are from among them, who have not yet joined them' (62:3). Who are these? The Holy Prophet when asked who they were, put his hand on Salman, the Persian, and said: 'Even if faith were near the cluster of stars Pleiades, a man from among these (Persians) would surely find it' (Bukhari, 65:lxii, 1). Maulana Muhammad Ali says in this connection: 'As other reports show that the Messiah would appear among the Muslims at a time when they would have the letter of the law with them but would not be true to its spirit, the reference in the report given here is particularly to the Messiah or to his times. The significance is that after a time, when the true spirit would have been lost, a man would be raised who, again, receiving the light from the Holy Prophet, would spread the light of Islam in the world.' We may add that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib was of Persian descent. So that the honourable mention in 62:3 is of the Jamaat of the Promised Messiah, which is a dedicated body of the soldiers and servants of Islam who devote their lives and their funds to the defense and propagation of Islam. That in one word is Ahmadiyyat.
	AHMADIYYAT IN THE SERVICE OF ISLAM by N.A. Faruqui Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam, Lahore, Inc. 36911 Walnut Street, Newark California 94560 USA Copyright© by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore, Inc. 1983. First published in 1983 by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore, Inc. (USA) 36911 Walnut Street Newark, California 94560 USA Library of Congress catalog car number: 83-71698 ISBN 0-913321-00-1 All rights reserved. Cover Design: Details of Wall Mosaics in the Mosque of El Bordeyhy (17th century) From Dover Pictorial Archive Series Arabic Art in Color (Dover 1978). Typeset by Linguatype Limited, Slough, Berks, England.
	Indeks Islam \| Indeks Ahmadiyyah \| Indeks Lahore \| Indeks Artikel \| Tentang Pengarang ISNET Homepage \| MEDIA Homepage \| Program Kerja \| Koleksi \| Anggota Please direct any suggestion to Media Team