sermons on waqf-e-nau by hazrat mirza tahir ahmad (ra)

8/3/2019 Sermons on Waqf-E-Nau by Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (Ra)

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Sermons onWaqf-e-NauEnglish translation

of Five Friday Sermons delivered byHadhrat Mirza Tahir AhmadKhalifatul-Masih IV(May Allah have mercy on him)

Translated byLajna Imaillah, USAan auxiliary organization ofThe Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam15000 Good Hope RoadSilver Spring, MD 20905

USA


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Copyright Islam International Publications

No part of this book may be reproduced in any fonnwithout prior written pennission from the Publisher,except for quotation of brief passages in criticism.

ISBN 1-882494-42-3

First Edition published in May 2005 byLajna Imaillah, USAan auxiliary organization ofThe Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam

15000 Good Hope RoadSilver Spring, MD 20905USA

PRINTED AT FAZL-I-UMAR PRESS, ATHENS,OHIO 45701


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Foreword"When the help of Allah comes and the Victory, Andthou seest men entering the religion of Allah in troops,Glorify thy Lord with His praise and seek His forgiveness. Surely He is Oft returning with mercy." (AI-Nasr,Ch110, v 2-4)Every year at the time of International Bai'at, thousandsof people enter the religion of Allah in large groups.Conversion to Islam-Ahmadiyyat is only the first step; itmust be followed with the important task of training andmentoring. Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih IVrh , in his extraordinary wisdom and foresight, envisioned this enormoustask when he launched the Waqf-e-Nau scheme 17years ago on April 3, 1987.Huzoor rh requested parents to follow the traditions ofthe Prophets and offer their most prized possession-their yet to be born children in the way of Allah. Devoted parents all over the world said 'Labbaik' (yes) tothe voice of their Imam and offered their children asWaaqifeen-e-nau. This blessed scheme continues today as more parents offer their beautiful gifts to Allah.The Waqf-e-nau children are the devotees and leadersof the future who will train and lead the growing numberof Ahmadi Muslims in the world. While these childrenwill shoulder their responsibilities in the near future, wehave an obligation today to prepare these children forthe enormous task that lies ahead of them. Huzoor rhlaid this responsibility on the parents as well as the Jama'at, and elaborated on all aspects of training in greatdetails in five of his Friday sermons.Since these five sermons are presently available in theUrdu language, there is a great need for an English


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translation. Upon receiving encouragement from theLate Respected Ameer Sahib USA, Hadhrat MirzaMuzaffar Ahmad Sahib (May Allah have mercy uponhim), as well as from Dr. Ahsanullah Zafar Sahib, Respected Ameer Jama'at USA, Lajna Imaillah-USA embarked on this project of translating the five sermonsinto English language. While doing so, great care wasdirected at keeping the English translation and thestructure of the sentences as close to the original Urdutext as possible.With the Grace and Mercy of Allah, the translation offive sermons is being presented in this booklet. Wehope that English speaking parents and older childrenwill reap moral and spiritual benefit from these valuableresources of guidance and inspiration. The dedicationand efforts of Lajna members who translated and compiled this booklet are gratefully acknowledged and appreciated. Dr. Sadiqa Mian accomplished the challenging task of translating the five sermons into English. Dr.Shahida Ahmad, Dr. Amtul Ahmad, Shamim Azam andShazia Sohail reviewed the translations. Shamim Azamrendered the final revisions of all five sermons. Dr.Sadiqa Mian performed the compilation, editing andtypesetting of this booklet. Sumera Choudhary designed the cover for this booklet. Asma Siddiqui and DrBasharat Munir Mirza Sahib helped with the final publication of the book. May Almighty Allah bless the humble and sincere efforts of these members and give themthe finest rewards in this world and the hereafter. LajnaImaillah USA also wishes to acknowledge the help andassistance offered by Munirruddin Shamas Sahib, DrShamim Ahmad Sahib, Munawwar Saeed Sahib and DrNaseer Ahmad towards the completion of this project.Dr. Shanaz ButtPresident Lajna Imaillah-USA May 2005


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Table of Contents

1. Friday Sermon delivered on April 3, 1987'You were born for a great purpose at a great time'Love of Allah is achieved by following the HolyProphet MuhammadsawExplanation of following the Holy ProphetSaW and its 2logical resultsThe absence of love for the Holy Propheeaw has 4been named FisqThe real meaning of love for Jihad 6The highest proof of love 6A superior, beautiful and complete teaching of love 8for the Holy ProphetSaWThe attributes of the Holy ProphetSaW should be re- 8peatedly mentionedAnother dignified aspect of following the Holy Prophet 9MuhammadsawPerfect love for Hadhrat Muhammadsaw and the 11teaching of perfect obedience to himsawHopes taken to the utmost heights 13Perfect love of the Promised Messiahas for the Holy 15Prophet MuhammadsawThe vast and perfect teaching of love for Allah 17High standard of love of the Holy ProphetSaW for Allah 18Absolute dedication and its reward 20A highly blessed scheme to welcome the next century 22Hundreds of thousands of Waaqifeen should come 23from all strata of the Jama atA gift to be offered to Allah in the next century 25


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2. Friday Sermon delivered on February 10, 1989'How should we train these children'

Need for important preparations for the Waaqifeen-e- 27nauAn extension of two years in the historic scheme 28Responsibilities of the parents of the Waaqifeen 29Various kinds of Waaqifeen offered during various 30time periodsParents should closely watch the Waaqifeen 32Importance of inculcating high morals in the children 32Arrangement for the education and training of the 35Waaqifeen-e-nauImportance of having a vast knowledge 36Teaching tolerance 38Teaching extra care in financial matters 40Some instructions to prevent stumbling 42Training them to be worthy of great leadership of the 44next centuryCreate loyalty in the Waaqifeen children 46

3. Friday Sermon delivered on February 17, 1989'Some guidelines for the preparation of the new generation of Waaqifeen'

Pay special attention to the physical health of the 49Waaqifeen-e-nauBroaden their knowledge 50Keep them away from absurd literature 50Be aware of what you give your children to read 51Lay the most emphasis on Arabic language 52Next to Arabic, Urdu bears great significance 53


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The next generation of Waaqifeen needs to be an 54expert of at least three languages: Arabic, Urdu and alocal languageMake the Waaqifeen children pleasant mannered 54Their good manners should win the hearts of people 56It should be your heart's desire that the Waaqifeen 56girls should marry Waaqifeen boysWaaqifeen girls should be taught education, medi- 58cine, computers, typing and languages

4. Friday Sermon delivered on September 8,1989'Remember that in order to train these children youwill have to train yourselves'

Neither speech not prayer can have nobility without a 60noble characterThe effect of the truthfulness on the face of Welsh 61Ahmadi NaumanOne Nauman is not enough, we need millions of 63NaumansThe nobility of an Ahmadi is not mute 64Our duty is not to defeat the enemy but to win its 64heartAllah is opening the hearts of people and nations 66What should be taught to the Waaqifeen girls? 71Where facilities exist, teach Russian and Chinese lan- 71guagesLanguages should be taught from the childhood 72Waaqifeen girls can do literary work 73Character is built in childhood, if done later it needs 74extra effort

5. Friday Sermon delivered on December 1, 1989'From the beginning I was under your careI was nurtured in Your lap like a suckling babe.'


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Benefits of our temporary migration to England 78Kaleem Khawar Sahib dedicated his life 80No power in the world can drive the love of God from 81our heartsGreat responsibilities will fall on the Waaqifeen-e-nau 84in the next twenty yearsGive your full attention to Waaqifeen as should be 85given to a special thing that is being prepared for anespecially magnificent purposeHand over your Waaqifeen to Allah 86My fear is that parents may delay the training thinking 87that these children are very youngWaaqifeen from Western countries have more oppor- 88tunities to learn languagesThree languages is the minimum requirement 89We are lagging behind in training of these children 90"No one knows except He" 91

Acronyms for salutation used in this book1. saw: Sallalahu alaihi wassalam (peace and blessings ofAllah be upon him) for Holy Prophet Muhammad saw .2. as: Alaihissalam (peace be on him) for the prophets ofAllah.3. ra: Radhi Allah hu anhu (May Allah be pleased with him)

for the companions of Holy Propeheaw and of the Promised Messiahas .4. rh Rahimahullahu Ta'ala (May Allah have mercy of him)has been used for Hadhrat Khalifa tul Masih IVrta .5. atba: Ayyadahullaho Ta'ala Benasrehil Aziz (May Allahstrengthen his hand) for Hadhrat Khalifa tul masih \ttba.


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"You were born for a great purpose at agreat time."Friday Sermon delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (May Allah have mercy on him) on April 3,1987 at Fazal Mosque, London.Love of Allah is achieved by following the HolyProphet Muhammadsaw: After Tasha'hhud, Ta'awwuzand recitation of Surah AI-Fatihah, Huzoorrh recited thefollowing verse:

(AI-Tau bah Ch9 v24)1And then said: In the last sermon I had recited anotherverse of the Holy Quran:~ ' 1 ~ l ! 6 ~ ~ ~ ~ ' f 01 ... !.- . . - ~ ' ..;r;-;--

(AI-'Imran Ch3 v32fo Muhammad! Announce, if you indeed truly love Allah1Translation: Say, if your fathers, and your sons, and your brethren, andyour wives, and your kinsfolk, and the wealth you have acquired, and thetrade whose dullness you fear, and the dwellings which you love aredearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause,then wait, until Allah comes with His judgment; and Allah guides not thedisobedient people.2Translation: Say 'If you love Allah, follow me; then will Allah love you'


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or indeed want to love Allah then follow me and Allahwill certainly begin to love you.I explained some aspects of this subject in the last ser-mon and I will explain some today. But before that Iwant to tell you why, according to the second verse thatI have just recited, we have been commanded to obeyand follow Hadhrat Muhammadsaw if we claim to loveAllah, and what is the logical connection between thetwo? How can we follow him and in what way have webeen instructed to follow him? A person obeys the lawsof his country and sometimes he obeys his instructor.No matter what subject has been assigned to him, hefollows his footsteps. But these two types of followingsare not necessarily out of love. Often, instead of love,there is an element of hatred in these. There havebeen extremely cruel dictators in the world and thereare some even today. Millions of people from their na-tions obey them, but they do so with hatred. So, hasAllah issued a kind of order given by a tyrannical des-pot? 'You are in My power. You dare not disobey Me.So if you love Me then obey Hadhrat Muhammadsaw, .Na awuzu billahe min zalik, (we seek Allah's protectionfrom this). Is this the purport of this verse? Impossible!The verse begins with oj:j ; . f f 01 i.e. 'if you loveAllah' so there is no concept of dictatorship or subjuga-tion in it. The condition of love has made it clear thatwhatever you do, will be done out of love. Therefore,there is a rational connection between your love forGod and the command that it should be transformedinto servitude and obedience to Hadhrat Muhammad-saw. Therefore, the predominant feature of this obedi-ence should be love and this obedience should be be-cause of love.Explanation of following the Holy ProphetSaW and its

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logical result: .The next question is: Is it possible tolove by command? Allah the Exalted says, 'Do youlove Me?' We say, Yes, we love You. We see thatYour Beauty is manifest around the world. Your favorson us are unlimited and are being bestowed on us dayand night. We experience Your Benevolence everymoment of day and night. In short, every moment andevery minute, we see the manifestation of Your Gra-ciousness in the beauty of the universe and we loveYou more because of it. You have provided us withdaily means of sustenance. Out of Your Love andKindness, You have bestowed on us every kind ofBounty. You have graciously furnished the means forthe preservation of the system of life; and made suchlaws of progress under which man is constantly movingforward.In short, this subject cannot be encompassed, but toput it briefly, a man can say, 'we love You becausethere are reasons for loving You and evidence of YourBeauty is dispersed everywhere in the world.' So whydo we need to be ordered to love? As this commandhas the perfect wisdom of Allah, the Exalted, it cannothave absurdity of any kind. So we will have to abandonthe idea that God requires us to love in response to adictate. If anyone among you loves Him, then in re-sponse there is an expression of love from Him as welland pointing to a thing or a being, He says, 'if you loveMe then I will show you a manifest reflection of My loveamong the humans. Just as you observe the universe,and everywhere you see beauty in it and fall in lovewith it, I will tell you about a beloved (of Mine) whom Mylove has adorned and whom My love has made beauti-ful. See him and fall in love with him and obey him withardent love.' This is the underlying purport of thisverse. It has been stated explicitly in some otherverses as well.

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This, in a way, is a response from Allah; 'you do loveMe or do intend and desire to love Me truly and sincerely, but you do not know of any true and sinceredevotee whom I love. If you follow the one I love then itis absolutely certain that I will start loving you.' The onewhom Allah loves must be beautiful because Allah doesnot love a loathsome person. The person about whomAllah says that He loves him has to be beautiful, it cannot be otherwise. Therefore you will definitely have tolook for the underlying implicit message: 'if you claim tolove Me and want (My) love then I will tell you about theperson who loved Me the most. He was beautiful tobegin with, but his personal beauty was enhanced as aresult of My love because I loved him greatly. Therefore, follow the paths that he treaded. Then the samebeauty will also start developing in you and I will beginto love that beauty of yours.'Absence of Love for Holy ProphetSaW has beennamed Fisq: This is the complete answer that hasbeen given in this verse. Different verses of the HolyQuran corroborate it. Among these, the verse that explains it in great detail is the one that I had recited inthe beginning. Allah says:

" ~ . ; ~ ;;11 j.;. ; ; ~ } ~ f-Lt ..b ; ~ I I > J : l . . . . s ~ ~ > ; ; ;;11."""",- ,. ...". -"

(AI-Tau bah Ch9 v24)o Muhammad! announce that if your ancestors, your4


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progeny, your future generations, your brothers, yourwives, your tribes, your race and the wealth that youhave acquired with hard work, and the trades whoseloss you fear, your dwellings (houses and palaces) builtas you desired are more dear to you than Allah and HisMessenger and striving in the cause of Allah then waittill Allah issues His Judgment. That is, a judgment thatwill prove your love to be false and instead of gainingAllah's love you will become the recipient of His dis-pleasure. He says, Allah does not guide the faasiqeen(disobedient).The Holy Quran has defined 'fisq' and you will not findthis definition of 'fisq' in any book of the world. We gen-erally thought that 'fisq' meant to commit a sin or to dosomething that is clearly disapproved of. But the HolyQuran has included 'fisq' in the discourse on love anddeclared that absence of love is 'fisq'. It says that afterAllah it is mandatory to love Hadhrat Muhammadsaw . Ifyou do not love himsaw then you are a fasiq. The ques-tion is how not loving (Hadhrat MuhammadSaW ) is re-lated to fisq? The Promised Messiahas has explainedthis relation. He says that every moment of the life ofHadhrat Muhammadsaw was spent in the obedience ofAllah. There was not the slightest deviation from it.Had it been otherwise, Allah would not have com-manded us to follow him. Since Allah has ordered us tofollow him, we know that each moment of hissaw life metwith Allah's approbation. Any act that is contrary to Al-lah's obedience is 'fisq'. Thus the Holy Quran hasamazingly defined 'fisq' in terms of love: If you do notlove Hadhrat Muhammadsaw who spent his life strivingin the cause of Allah Uihad) , that is, if you do not reverethe jihad that he carried on through out his life, then youare like the 'faasiqeen' and wherever you deviate fromhis sunnah (practice) you commit 'fisq' and Allah doesnot guide the 'faasiqeen'.

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The real meaning of love for Jihad: Here Allah hasmentioned love of jihad fee sabeelillah (striving in thecause of Allah). It is hard to imagine that one can beasked to love jihad (fighting) in a similar way. However,here 'jihad' does not mean only the jihad with thesword. According to the Holy Quran, every effort that ismade in search of the Beloved is jihad. The fact thatjihad fee sabeelillah is mentioned after the command tolove Hadhrat Muhammadsaw implies that every momentof the life of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw was a jihad. Now,Hadhrat Muhammadsaw did not walk around with asword or carry a bow and arrow in his hand all the time.Even in the ghazwaat (battles) he rarely had to person-ally fight in a face to face combat. Hesaw was engagedin jihad even during the thirteen years of extreme op-pression in Mecca. Thus jihad is not just fighting oth-ers, rather being subjected to oppression and gettinghurt and still being engrossed in the love of Allah everymoment of one's life is jihad. If you do not love in thismanner then not only is your claim of love for Allahfalse but in the eyes of Allah you are also living a life offisq.The highest proof of Love: A very strict command,indeed! But the question is, can one love by com-mand? Can a command to love, create love? I hadraised this point earlier. There is no relationship be-tween love and command. No matter how much youlove someone, if you ask him to start loving a particularthing he will wonder what has happened to you.Whether you have gone mad? Perhaps some peoplewould go to the extent of saying:

t,).lff I U;'J Jr., ,-A..) U.lff v:?cC ,f-' .If !Po J. JJ J,

'You are imposing strange conditions: that I should love6


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you and I should also start loving all those who loveyou. Return my heart to me! Return my heart, I cannotget involved in this mess.' But, Glorious is Allah! Thisis His exact command: 'love Me and also love thosewho love Me. And if you do not love those who love Methen you are a 'faasiq' and your love is rejected.' Thisis a wise discourse! It is a fact that the highest proof oftrue love is that you fall in love with all those whom yourmaster loves, your love for those who love your belovedgrows stronger and you have no animosity for them.The Holy Quran has explained this subject in a prayerthat it has taught us: 0 Allah, leave not in our heartsany rancor against those who believe and have pre-ceded us in faith. We beg You, let not our hearts enter-tain any ill thoughts about them on any account, noteven due to a misunderstanding.This verse refutes the Shia philosophy for good. Thesedays some Shia say things that create hatred for theones who have surpassed and excelled in faith. TheHoly Quran has taught us this prayer: 0 Allah, the be-lievers of the first period (of Islam) have surpassed usin faith! Let us not hate them. Since it was possiblethat as a result of a misconception or wrong under-standing of the history or wrong narratives our heartscould become perverse and harden against them, Allahtaught the prayer, 'keep our hearts soft for them.' Whatis the reason? Only that they loved Allah. It is thesame subject: if you love Me then love those who loveMe for unity is impossible without it. This is the philoso-phy of it (unity). If love of God were to lead to rivalryand if rivalry was permitted, then there would havebeen as many concepts of God as those who lovedGod and there would be no question of one Muslim na-tion. Everyone who loved God would have been jeal-ous of everyone else who loved God and would havehated him, thinking, 'who is he to love the same God

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that I love.'A superior, beautiful and complete teaching of lovefor the Holy ProphetSaw : Allah has left such misguidedlove for this world. For Himself He has chosen the kindof love that continues to promote perfect unity, the cir-cumference of which goes on expanding. That is whyAllah the Exalted has exhorted us to love Hadhrat Mu-hammadsaw in this manner. Look at all the other relig-ions of the world, you will not find the detail, the wisdomand the reciprocal relation that the Holy Quran teachesabout love or a similar teaching as beautiful, completeand cohesive. Firstly, there is no command or coercionto love Hadhrat Muhammad saw because he is worthy oflove. To support this, Allah says that He loves HadhratMuhammadsaw and that should suffice you. If someoneis very beautiful himself, there is less likelihood of hisfalling in love with someone less beautiful than him.The more beautiful a person, the higher is his standardof beauty. So this verse contains the greatest proof ofthe beauty of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw , that is, he is sobeautiful that I (Allah) love him. And I love him so muchthat if you follow him and love him, I will love you.

The attributes of the Holy ProphetSaW

should be re-peatedly mentioned: Thus Hadhrat Muhammadsawhas inherent beauty. This beauty should be pro-claimed. It should be talked about and it should be thetheme of conferences. The young and the old shouldhave a personal familiarity with it. Promised Messiahassaid:J, L i -; fp r./ c/ c):

J, . :- ( V ~ JI 4How can anyone love exquisite beauty without lookingat it?

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How can anyone adore an imaginary sweetheart?The Holy Quran has commanded us to love HadhratMuhammadsaw . The Holy Quran has done us a favorby telling us about a very dear beloved (of Allah) whoselove will create love of Allah in our hearts and as a re-sult of which Allah will begin to love us. It is difficult tofall in love with exquisite beauty without looking at it.Thus, it is necessary to show (the beauty of) HadhratMuhammadsaw .Last year I gave instructions (to the Jama'at) that as weare approaching the next century of the victory of Islam,frequent conferences should be held on the life andseerat (character) of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw , so that alarge number of his devout lovers could be prepared toenter the next century. It should not be (a caravan of)people merely shouting great slogans about the pre-dominance of Islam with empty hearts but peoplewhose hearts are filled with the love of Allah and love ofHadhrat Muhammad Mustafasaw and in whose veinsthis love runs like their own blood. Without this provi-sion (love of Allah and love of the Holy ProphetSaW ) youcannot bring about any great change in the lives of thegenerations of the next century.A great century is awaiting us. Many major achieve-ments will be accomplished during that time. Peoplehave to learn from us and they have to advance to-wards the next century with what they learn from us.Therefore, before that time comes, before we enter thenew century, we should endeavor to adorn ourselveswith that perfect beauty that becomes apparent and isvouchsafed as a result of loving Allah and the HolyProphetSaw .Another dignified aspect of following the Holy

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Prophet Muhammadsaw: Another reason for followingthe Holy ProphetSaW , mentioned in the Holy Quran, isthat Allah Himself taught himsaw the manner in whichAllah is to be obeyed:

(AI-An'am Ch6v 107)3Follow that which Allah is revealing to thee ... and turnaside from the idolaters and pay no attention to anyoneelse. Obedience to Hadhrat Muhammadsaw is not different (from obedience to Allah). No one should think thatby telling us; 'if you love Me then love the Holy Prophetsaw, Allah is asking us to love an unrelated person. Weare being told to love a person whom Allah Himself hastutored and molded in His own image and thus broughtHis beauty within our reach. A man needs a humanmodel that he can emulate and love. It is related thatonce Hadhrat Muhammadsaw entered Khana Ka'abaand saw that some people were decorating idols. Theyhad set them upright and were putting earrings in theirears and dressing them up. After adorning the idolsthey prostrated in front of them. Hadhrat Muhammadsaw asked them the reason for doing so. They replied,'we worship them and love them because they (theidols) teach us how to love God and we gain God's lovethrough their love.' The very same day the verse wasrevealed:

(AI-'Imran Ch3 v32)43Translation: Follow that which has been revealed to thee from thy Lord;there is no god but He; and turn aside from the idolaters.4Translation: Say 'If you love Allah, follow me; then will Allah love you'

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'How absurd!' Says Allah. 'How can you learn to loveAllah from idols? They are neither capable of followingsomeone nor are they worthy of being followed. Loveof God can be learned from someone who has beentaught how to love God by God Himself.' And then Allah tells the Holy Prophet

SaW

to say: 'If this is your claim[that you want to love Allah] then follow in my footstepsbecause Allah has taught me how to love Him. Youcannot learn to love Allah by following the idols'.Perfect love for Hadhrat Muhammadsaw and theteaching of perfect obedience to himsaw : Allah hasdescribed the love of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw or weshould say has described his way of obedience at another place in the Holy Quran. The verse begins with'0 my people .. .'. It is being said to Hadhrat MuhammadMustafasaw, 'announce to the people, announce to mankind by saying 0 my people.' Some commentators ofthe Holy Quran were perplexed by these words andcould not understand why Hadhrat Muhammadsaw whohad brought the message of absolute Oneness of God,was instructed by Allah to say:

(AI-Zumar Ch39 v54)5'0 my people .. .'. The Promised Messiahas has writtenabout it more than once and explained it in a very sophisticated and beautiful way.At one place he writes, 'here 'eebadee' means servantsnot people'. Thus it means 0 Muhammad announce: 0my servants'. Here lesson in 'following' is given in pictorial language. When Allah says announce'ittabioonee' it means, 'love me in a slavish manner.'5Translation: Say, '0 My servants who have sinned against their souls ...

) I


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As a slave loves and obeys his master and cannot disobey him in the least, similarly you should love the HolyProphetSaW so perfectly that you should become incapable of disobeying him, that is, all your faculties shouldwillingly submit to and obey Hadhrat Muhammadsaw .The Holy Quran gives the reason for it at another place:

,', ,-! , ... O ' ; ~ I ..:.;, -....,... ... / ;r ..,." .......(AI-An'am Ch6 v163)6I say to you, 'Become my slaves. Give me all that youhave. Start following me the way a lover would, not because I personally have any special attributes but because I have given away all I had. I have not kept anything for myself. And I have been asked by Allah tomake this announcement: 'QuI inna salatee wa

nosokee .. .', all my prayers and every aspect of them,all my fasts, all my sacrifices, and every aspect of them,my death and my life, every thing is for Allah'.Thus, when Allah says, submit to the Holy ProphetSaW ,He is not asking one human being to submit to anotherhuman being but He is instructing one human to submithimself to a (human) being who has annihilated his human self and submitted himself completely to Allah. Ifthis is done then doors to all the rewards will open. Butthere is no mention of rewards, instead another aspectis being explained. Allah says,

(AI-Zumar Ch39 v54)7.6Translation: Say, 'My Prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my deathare all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds;7Translation: who have sinned against their souls, despair not of themercy of Allah,

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Those who have committed sins, even if the sins are ashuge as the mountains, need not fear. If they followHadhrat Muhammadsaw and follow himsaw like slavesthen all their sins will be forgiven because Allah has thepower to forgive all sins. But the condition is that theyshould become the slaves of the Holy ProphetSaw . Thusthis verse refutes the concept of trinity that a savior,God forbid, for our sake suffered and was cursed. Thisverse says that if you want to follow the one who submitted himself completely and entirely to Allah, then youshould not worry that being sinners you could not followhimsaw. You may ask 'who are we to follow HadhratMuhammad MustafaSaW?' Such fears could beset theheart. Allah says, No, if you follow this individual, youwill realize:

- . : . . j S J \ ' ~ Cl- . -+ .J . . . . /" '-

(AI-Zumar Ch39 v54)8Because, the ways and life style of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw are so dear to Allah that for hissaw sake and because of the beauty that you will acquire as a result ofobeying himsaw , He will forgive your sins .

. :J \ : ~ L ; ' 1 1 .. . ,-'.../ -- ' ~ . . , t ' . .#

(AI-Zumar Ch39 v54)9.Indeed, He is Most Forgiving and Most Merciful.Hopes taken to the utmost heights: At another placeall the negative fears are dispelled and positive hopesare taken to the utmost heights:

8Translation: surely, Allah forgives ali sins9Translation: Verily, He is Most forgiving, Ever Merciful;

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(AI-Nisa' Ch4 V70)10Allah is explaining that the reward of obeying the command to follow Hadhrat Muhammadsaw out of love (forAllah) will make one a beloved of Allah. Then how willAllah treat you after making you His beloved? Thispromise needs to be explained as to how Allah will treatHis beloved. 'Mun yuteillaha warrasoola' (whoeverobeys Allah and the Messenger) has bracketed the twotogether to explain that the obedience to one is theobedience to the other. Allah says'Wa mun yutteillahawarrasulla fa olaaika maallazeena unamallaho alaihim... ' that if you follow in the footsteps of Hadhrat Muhammadsaw because he obeys Allah, you will see how Allahshowers His blessings on you. There is not a rewardthat you will not receive as a result of following HadhratMuhammadsaw. He says: minan nabiyyeena was sid-diqeena (among the prophets and the truthful). Theserewards are as great as the mountains. There is the reward of prophethood. Allah says that the extent towhich you will follow Hadhrat Muhammad saw will determine how dear you become to Allah. f you reach onlythe level of righteousness, Allah will not withhold thatreward from you and if you advance further and reachthe level of martyrdom then you will attain that status asthe reward of being an obedient follower of HadhratMuhammadsaw. If you have the courage to advance further and acquire the state of the truthful ones, then restassure that obedience to Hadhrat Muhammadsaw willtake you to the status of the truthful ones and this re-10Translation: And whoso obeys Allah and this Messenger shall be amongthose on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings - the Prophets, theTruthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous. And an excellent company arethey.

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ward will also be bestowed upon you. And if you havethe strength to excel even further and efface your beingentirely for the sake of Hadhrat Muhammad saw , then beconfident that under subordination to him evenprophethood can be bestowed upon such servants ofhis. This love for the Holy ProphetSaW opens doors tonever ending rewards. This love began with our desireand affirmation to love Allah. Allah has opened all pathsand explained all aspects. But, as I have already said,it is a predominant theme of the Holy Quran and runsthroughout it. All aspects of this topic cannot be cov-ered in a few sermons, so I have chosen to throw lightupon a few.Perfect love of the Promised Messiahas for the HolyProphet Muhammadsaw : In the end I will present toyou the affirmation of the Promised Messiahas whowholly submitted himself and discovered that HadhratMuhammadsawwas a beloved (of Allah). You cannotfind another who loved Hadhrat Muhammadsaw as muchas he did. You will not find love of this kind eitheramong the worldly lovers or among the spiritual lovers.On one occasion he says:

You ask for a proof of the truthfulness of Hadhrat Mu-hammadsaw , you can only find the proof by falling inlove with himsaw. A person who has not had this greatexperience himself can never make such a declaration.Promised Messiahas says that if you want to believe inMuhammad Mustafasaw , then look at his beauty, you donot need to get entangled in logic and reason. He saw isbeautiful. Look at him and fall in love with him.'Muhammad hast burhanay Muhammad'. No otherproof is necessary. Muhammadsaw himself is the proofof his own beauty. Then the Promised Messiah aS ) says:

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"Merely through Allah's graciousness and not throughany skill of mine I have obtained full share of the bless-ing that was bestowed upon prophets, messengers andchosen men of God before me. It would not have beenpossible for me to have attainted this grace if I had notfollowed the footsteps of my lord and my master, thepride of all the prophets, the best of mankind, Muham-mad Mustafasaw, the chosen one. Whatever I haveachieved, I have achieved by following him, and I knowfrom verified, reliable personal experience that no mancan reach God and obtain a deep understanding of Hisways without following that Propheraw. Now let me alsomake it known what is the very first thing you are re-warded with, after having completely submitted yourselfto the instructions and teachings of The Holy ProphetMuhammaifaw . . . "At this point, let me tell you that here the PromisedMessiah8s is revealing the central point of the d i s c u ~ -sian. Earlier, I read a piece of writing by the PromisedMessiah8s which stated that obedience to Allah takesplace in the heart; it has no relation to the mind. Andhe as says the same thing about obedience to the HolyProphetSaw :"Whatever I have achieved, I have achieved by follow-ing him, and I know from verified, reliable personal ex-perience that no man can reach God and obtain a deepunderstanding of His ways without following that Proph-eraw . Now, let me also make it known what is the veryfirst thing you are rewarded with, after having com-pletely submitted yourself to the instructions and teach-ings of The Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw. It is that youare granted a sound heart that is always rightly inclined,that is to say, a heart that has turned cold upon the loveof this material world, and instead it begins to yearn foran everlasting heavenly pleasure. Having achieved this

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desire, this heart is now fit to receive that perfect andpurest love- the love of God. Because of completeobedience to the Holy Propheraw, all these blessingsare bequeathed to you as his spiritual heritage."(Haqeeqatul Wahi, P 127)I wanted to explain certain aspects of this topic todaybut time is short and it is not possible to cover even afew of those. In my last sermon I said that I would present a new tehrik (scheme) before the Jama'at and thatis related to this subject.The vast and perfect teaching of Love for Allah: Itis a fact that when one is in love, one is inclined to offergifts. The Holy Quran stipulates that whatever is offered in the way of Allah should be offered with love. Astipulation of giving gifts with love has been added tothe very definition of piety. The Holy Quran says:

(AI-Imran Ch3 v93)11You cannot attain piety in the least. You talk about piety. What do you know about it? You will not be ableto attain piety unless you learn the secret of offeringwhat you love dearly in the way of Allah. When youhave learned to offer your beloved things to Allah thenyou can say that you have understood the meaning ofpiety. This too is a continuation of the subject of love.I am amazed at the Christian claim that Islam does notknow anything about love and that it is Christianity thathas given the teachings of love. In this regard I had11Translation: You cannot attain to righteousness unless you spend out ofthat which you love;

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brought with me some excerpts from the teachings ofJesusas but as I do not have time to read those, youshould read those yourself. You will find a significantdifference. The teachings of Islam about love are sovast and complete that the teachings of Jesusas , verybeautiful and very attractive no doubt, look pale in comparison. There is no denying the fact that the Christianteachings are beautiful and attractive but Islam has introduced love to every aspect of human life. You willnot find the philosophy of love described in such greatdetail in any other religion. It says:"* j _R,.. ~ ; ' . I ' ' ' ' - - ~ \ : ; : : > . ; - ; '.- '. \ '; ' . ;; 1\ I -,C;" to.... ' . n Y l r(AI-Imran Ch3 v93)12You do not know piety at all. You have no knowledge

of what piety is until you learn to sacrifice your most beloved things in the way of Allah. If your heart does notcontain the desire to offer your most beloved possession in the way of Allah; then you do not understandpiety.High standard of the love of the Holy ProphetSaW forAllah: If we judge the prophets by this criterion, especially if we look at the life and circumstances of HadhratMuhammad Mustafasaw we find this quality reaching thelevel of perfection. There are many men who are inlove and know that they should present the best gift.They think about it and cannot decide whether to present this thing or that. There are very interesting incidents about the Sufis and you will find interesting stories about the mundane lovers as well. They cannot decide what is most dear to them. One moment theythink of one thing and the next moment they think ofanother and after that of yet another thing and finallythey offer that. It is said, when [Mogul king] Babar de-12Translation: You cannot attain to righteousness unless you spend out of

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cided that in order to save the life of (his son) Humayunhe should offer Allah his most precious thing, he startedwalking around Humayun. He thought about offeringhis most precious diamond. Then he thought, 'a diamond is not special, I love my kingdom the most and Ishould offer my entire kingdom'. He continued thinking.Then he thought or maybe his conscience told him, thathis life was dearest to him. At that time he decided tooffer his life and prayed; '0 Allah I have realized thatthe thing I love the most is my life. 0 Allah! Take mylife but spare the life of my son.' It is recorded in historythat thence-forth, Humayun's health started improvingand 8abar's health started deteriorating.Thus, people keep calculating what they love more andwhat they love less. Hadhrat Muhammadsaw did not deliberate, he offered all that he had - his sleeping, hiswaking, his sitting, and his standing. The fact is thatman loves everything he has. When he offers his mostbeloved possession, he has the satisfaction that he haskept at least something for himself. When he givessomething less dearer, then he still has something inhand, and whatever is left with him becomes most dearto him. If the most beloved child of a mother dies thenthe surviving child become her most loved one. Thisphenomenon is evident in all facets of human nature.The Holy ProphetSaW did not bargain, 0 Allah I havepresented to You the thing that is most precious to memy life, therefore whatever is left is mine. Instead, Allah commands him:

J ~ ; C s ~ ' ~ " x';; J\lO oL/ -.../ ... - " ~ . . . . , . . "'"(AI-Anam Ch6 v163)13

13Translation: Say, 'My Prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my deathare all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds;19


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'0, Muhammadsaw teach these slaves how to love, forthey have become your slaves but do not know how tolove Me. Teach them the secrets of love'. This showsthat if Allah had not commanded him to do so, HadhratMuhammadsaw would never have told anyone the hid-den secrets of his love. As I realized this wonderful andbeautiful aspect, it instantly captivated my heart. Atcertain times Allah commanded Hadhrat Muhammadsawand made it incumbent upon him to reveal his secretsto mankind. If he had not, people would never had re-alized how beautiful yet extremely humble this exaltedProphetSaW was, who preferred to keep his beauty hid-den and made no attempt to cover his shortcomings.This is the basic difference between a worldly individualand a devotee of God. A worldly individual hides hisfaults and brags about his miniscule beauty, cherishesit and shows it off and publicity becomes an insepara-ble part of his life.Absolute dedication and its reward: Allah made itobligatory on the Holy ProphetSaW to acquaint his slaves(followers) with hissaw certain qualities that were knownonly to Allah because they had a right to it, so that theymay learn to reach Allah by following in his footsteps.One of these qualities was offering all that one had. Ithas been the way of the prophets that as they deliber-ate upon what else they should offer, they end up offer-ing their children. Sometimes, they offer their childreneven before they are born. And this has also been thetradition of the saints. For example, the mother ofHadhrat Maryam aS supplicated to Allah:

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(AI-Imran Ch3 v36)14'0, my Lord, I have vowed to Thee what is in my wombto be dedicated to Thy service ... ' I do not knowwhether it is a girl or a boy, good or bad. Whatever itis, I am offering it to You. Fataqabbal minnee, accept itfrom me. Innaka antas Sameeul-A'leem, (You are AIIHearing and All-Knowing), that is, You listen and Youknow. This is a separate subject and we do not need togo into its details. The mother of Hadhrat Maryam8S ,who was from the family of Imran, offered this prayer.Allah liked this prayer so much that He has preserved itin the Holy Quran for the future generations. Similarly,the prayer of Hadhrat Ibraheem8s for his children andthe prayers of other prophets for their children havebeen mentioned in the Holy Quran. In some prayers,the intentionof devoting (Waqf) is not clearly stated asit is here: 'moharra run , - '0 Allah I am devoting thischild to Your cause'. But often you will find this prayer:'0 Allah, vouchsafe to my children the blessing thatYou have bestowed upon me and bestow this rewardon them as welL' Hadhrat Ibraheem8s prayed in thisfashion. If you ponder over this prayer you will realizethat the reward that is being asked, is in fact, absolutedevotion (Kamil waqf). There is no prophethood without Kamil waqf. Of all human beings, a prophet is themost enslaved (as a devout slave of Allah) yet most liberated (from the world).The fact is when someone prays, 'bestow prophethoodon my progeny', he is in fact imploring, just like me,make my progeny Your slave as well, generation aftergeneration. Bind them with Your love and obedience.14Translation:Remember when a woman of Imran said, 'My Lord, I havevowed to Thee what is in my womb to be dedicated to Thy service. So doThou accept it of me; verily Thou alone art All-Hearing, All-Knowing.'

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Bind them so thoroughly that no element of freedom isleft in them. [She said] 'moharrarun'. ' I free this childfrom the world and offer it to You'. This is the superioraspect of 'Waqf'. Bind my progeny as Your slaves sothat they do not retain any freedom in any respect'.Another aspect of this offering is that after giving everything in the cause of Allah, the prophets wished to offerwhat they did not have. The supplications of the Promised Messiah8s during chillah (the forty day seclusion )were to the same effect. For forty days and forty nightshe begged and implored; '0 Allah give me progeny andgive me the kind of progeny that will be Your slave andwould be a gift to You from me.'A highly blessed Scheme to welcome the next cen-tury: I thought that I will convince the whole Jama'atthat as we are trying to increase our spiritual progenybefore the next century through propagation, we shouldalso offer our yet to be born children as Waaqifeen inthe cause of Allah, right now and we should pray, 0 Allah! Give us a son but if You have decreed to give us adaughter then we offer our daughter to You. Ma feebatanee - whatever is in my womb. This should be theprayer of the mothers and the fathers should pray in thewords of Hadhrat Ibraheem8s : '0 Allah! Let our progenybe among Your elect servants so that they be entirelydedicated to You'. So that a magnificent army ofWaaqifeen children, who are willing to relinquish thisworld, should enter the next century as the slaves ofthe God of Hadhrat Muhammads8w the Messenger ofAllah. We should be offering young children as gifts toAllah.This Waqf is urgently needed. In the next hundredyears Islam will spread widely and we will need millionsof trained slaves, who should be slaves to the God of

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Hadhrat Muhammadsaw. We need large number ofWaaqifeen-e- zindagee from every class of the societyand from every country.We have been urging for Waqf in the past. We havetried hard but certain classes have generally consid-ered themselves exempt from Waqf-e-zindagee.Waaqifeen that were offered to the Jama'at did notcome from all strata of the society. Some rich peopledid offer their children but mostly, children were offeredfrom that class of the society that does not enjoy highesteem in the eyes of the world, that is, the poor peopleof the lower class. Waaqifeen that come from this so-cial stratum do not lose respect because of it. On thecontrary, it enhances their respect. But, the fact thatWaaqifeen do not come from the other strata has defi-nitely lowered their esteem.The explanation of this aspect of the issue should notmislead anyone to think that if the seemingly respect-able people do not dedicate their children, the Jama'atwould be deprived or it would lower its esteem. I wantto tell you that those who are seemingly respectable inthe world will continue to degrade themselves in theeyes of Allah if they do not learn to offer their childrenfor Waqf. They should know for certain that no child ismore respectable than the children of the prophets,who dedicated their children to God with amazing hum-bleness, cries, tears and prayers.Hundreds of thousands of Waaqifeen should comefrom all strata of the Jama'at: There will be an acuteneed of Waaqifeen-e-zindagee in the next century. Weare going to offer a gift of millions of Waaqifeen-ezindagee from all segments of the Jama 'at to Allah inthe next century. It is the people of the next centurywho will benefit from our gift, so we are, in fact, offering

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this gift to (the people of) the next century. So, who-ever can offer this gift should get prepared to do so.It is possible that due to their blessed intention andpromise, Allah may give children to families who do nothave children and husbands or wives who for somereason cannot have children. Allah may accept theirspirit of sacrifice and bless them with progeny. Allahhas done so in the past. The prophets who prayed andasked for children so that they may offer them for Waqf,had children born to them even in their old age andeven in cases where both husband and wife were inca-pable of having children. Look at Hadhrat Zachariahas !What a magnificent prayer it was! '0 Allah, I am old,my head glistens with hoariness and my bones are fee-ble due to old age. My wife is barren. She is incapableof bearing a child. But I yearn to devote a child to Yourcause. Please grant me my wish.'

(Maryam Ch19 V5)15o my Lord! I have never despaired while praying forthis. Never have I been unblessed in my prayer to You.The word 'shaqqiya' is astonishingly eloquent. Itmeans, '0 Allah I am not the unfortunate one whoprays to You and then despairs and desists from pray-ing'. The prayer was so great and done with such fer-vor that while he was still praying, Allah gave him theglad tiding of Yahya. Allah Himself named the child.This reflects the love of God, the Lord of Great Majesty.The Holy Quran is a wonderful book! It teaches suchgraceful ways of expressing one's love that man is as-tonished by it. When you have a child you wonder15Translation: but never, my Lord, have I been unblessed in my prayer toThee;

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whom you should ask to name your child. As everyAhmadi loves the Khalifa out of love for Allah, a largenumber of people write to me. So, before HadhratZachariahas could ask, "What name should I give him?"Or even thought about naming the child, along with theglad tiding Allah said,} ~ ~ \

(Maryam Ch19 V8)16I name him Yahya. This was out of love for HadhratZachariahas . This was out of love for the prayer ofHadhrat Zachariahas .A gift to be offered to Allah in the next century:Thus, the gift of Waaqifeen-e-zindagee is one of themany gifts that you will offer Allah in the next century orthe gifts that you are offering at present. Ahmadies arecontributing money to numerous kinds of chandajaat(donations), they are making financial sacrifices andthey are sacrificing their time. This gift of Waaqifeen-ezindagee is for the future. Allah turned my attention tothis matter so that I should ask you to vow that the chil-dren born to you in the next two years, whether male orfemale, would be offered for Waqf as a gift to Allah.The expectant mothers who could not participate in thisscheme before can take part in it now. They can alsovow. But this vow has to be made by both parents.They should decide on this together, so that there isunity of purpose in the upbringing and education ofthese children. And they should start training them inthe best possible way right from their childhood. Theyshould grow up with the conviction that they were bornfor a great purpose at a great time when the first cen-tury of the victory of Islam is merging with the second16Translation: whose name shall be Yahya

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century of the victory of Islam. They were born at thisjuncture. They should know that their parents askedAllah to give them a child with the intention and prayerthat the child would become a great mujahid (striver) fortraining the future generations. If people would offertheir children while praying in this manner, then I amsure that right before our eyes we will have a verybeautiful and amiable generation ready to sacrifice itselfin the cause of Allah. May Allah enable us to achievethis. Ameen.

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"How should we train these children"Friday Sermon delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (May Allah have mercy on him) on Febru-ary 10, 1989 at Fazal Mosque, London.After Tasha'hhud, Ta'awwuz and recitation of Surah AIFatihah, Huzoorrh said:Need for important preparations for the Waaqifeene-nau: In getting ready for the next century the mostimportant (task) is the preparation of the Waaqifeen-enau children. It has been reported that by the Grace ofAllah more than twelve hundred children have beenborn that had been offered for the Waqf-e-Nau schemelaunched by me. These children were born as the re-sult of fervent prayers to Allah with the vow that theywould be offered for the Waqf-e-nau scheme and Allahwith His blessings led to their birth. These little babiesare the Waaqifeen-e-nau of the next century. Manymore letters (about these children) are still being re-ceived.In this connection, there are two kinds of preparationsthat are under my consideration, but before I talk aboutthese I want to tell you that the (present) number of theWaaqifeen-e-nau children is far short of expected num-ber. In fact, it is not even a small fraction of what wasexpected. As far as I have looked into this matter, thepeople responsible for conveying the message (to theJama'at) are to be blamed for this. In several countriesthey did not convey the message to all the Ahmadies.When this scheme was initiated the system of cas-settes was extremely inadequate as compared to thecurrent system. In African countries and in others,

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where Urdu is not understood and there are some areas where even English is not understood, there wasno arrangement for preparing cassettes of Urdu translations (of the sermons) for distribution in the Jama'at.Consequently, Ahmadies in many places were deprivedof the deep impact that a direct message would havemade. Then, it was the responsibility of the executivemembers of the Jama'at to convey this message in aneffective manner. But it was done in some places andin others either it was not done at all or it was donehalf-heartedly. Just conveying the message does notsuffice. Acceptance of a message greatly depends onthe zeal, the effort, the hard work, and sincerity withwhich it is conveyed.An extension of two years in the historic scheme ofWaqf-e-Nau: Various ProphetsaS came to this world.They conveyed the same message, that is, the message of Allah to His people; but no one was able toconvey this message in the splendid manner in whichthe Holy Prophet Muhammadsaw did. In the history ofthe Prophets, no message was accepted as splendidlyor with such great reverence and spirit of sacrifice asthe message of Holy ProphetSaw . Therefore, it does notsuffice to just convey a message. The acceptance orrejection of a message depends on the enthusiasm,sincerity, love and prayers with which it is delivered. Itwas my desire that we should dedicate at least fivethousand children as new Waaqifeen for the next century. It will be long before this target is achieved.Some Ahmadies have written to me that they were under the impression that only the children born beforethe next century will be accepted in the Waqf-e-Nauscheme and entry to the scheme was closed for others;maybe what I said in my earlier sermon gave this impression. It is evident from their letters that they wantto participate and are concerned that they cannot do so

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because time has run out. For their sake and also forthe sake of those Jama 'ats where the message has notyet been delivered, I am announcing that the time limitfor participation in the Waqf-e-Nau scheme is extendedto the next two years17. At present, the extension is fortwo years so that those who desire to participate in thefirst scheme (of Waqf-e-Nau) may be able to do so; oth-erwise the Jama'at will be called upon for Waqf timeand again in the future. But the joining period for thisparticular historic scheme (to dedicate children for Waqfbefore their birth) under which we are preparing the firstarmy of Waaqifeen children for the next century is be-ing extended for a further two years. During this periodthe Jama'at should try its best to strengthen thisscheme with five thousand (Waaqifeen) although itwould be better to exceed this target.Responsibilities of the parents of the Waaqifeen:Many parents have written to me to ask what theyshould do (to appropriately raise these children). As Isaid before there are two aspects to it. First, are theresponsibilities of the Intezamia (Jama'at executive)and second are those of the parents of these children.As far as the Intezamia is concerned, I have been giv-ing them instructions periodically and whatever newideas come to my mind or I receive suggestions fromAhmadies, those are also incorporated in this plan.But, today I want to talk about the responsibility of theparents.Dedicating children to Allah is a very serious matter. Itis not a trifling matter. Remember that the people whooffer sacrifices with love and sincerity adorn their offer-ings in proportion to their love. Sacrifices are a kind of17 Later Huzurrta instructed that the blessed scheme of Waqfe-ncll/ would continueindefinitely

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gift. When you go to the market for shopping and youpurchase ordinary household items, those are not givento you in wrapping paper or decorated with ribbons.But when you tell the shopkeeper that you are buying agift, the shopkeeper wraps it in a beautiful manner.Sacrifices are like gifts and must be adornedaccordingly. You must have seen that people decorategoats and sheep and some put jewelry on them beforetaking them to the place of slaughter. Some putgarlands of flowers on them and adorn them in diverseways. The ornamentation for human 'sacrifice' is of adifferent kind. The human soul is embellished withTaqwa (love and awe of Allah). It is the love of Godthat embellishes and adorns the human soul.Therefore, before these children are old enough to beput under the supervision of the Jama'at, it is the greatresponsibility of their parents to groom and adorn themin a befitting manner, so that the wishes of their heart ofoffering an extraordinary 'sacrifice' to Allah in anappropriately magnificent manner may be realized.Various kinds of Waaqifeen offered during differenttime periods: Keeping in mind the history of volunteersfor Waqf during different time periods, I think that therewere several kinds of them. Some were those whodedicated themselves at a mature age. Fortunatelythey had been raised so well (in righteousness) thateven if they had not dedicated themselves they stillwould have the spirit of Waqf in them. These were ei-ther the progeny of the companions of the PromisedMessiah8s or of Awwal Tabieen (the successors of hiscompanions). They were brought up in a good environ-ment and by the Grace of Allah they had good habits.This group of Waaqifeen was extremely successful inevery walk of life in all respects.Then came a time when children were dedicated by

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parents, that is, the parents desired to dedicate theirchildren. In this period we had different kinds ofWaaqifeen children. There were many parents who be-lieved that when they would give their children in thecustody of the Jama'at, the Jama'at would take care ofthem and they did not supervise them at all while theywere under their care. When these children enteredJamia Ahmadiyya, they were like a raw material thatcontains impurities of various kinds. It is difficult toeliminate such impurities. In certain cases, moldingthem in accordance with the spirit of Waqf was difficult,in fact, impossible. The Jama'at could not have imag-ined some of the bad habits that they brought withthem. It is a fact that in the Jamia some had to be dis-charged from Waqf due to stealing and some due tolying. These habits are unacceptable even in an ordi-nary virtuous Ahmadi, let alone the Waaqifeen. Itseems that though the parents had offered them asWaaqifeen to the Jama'at, they did not tend to theirmoral training or they decided to dedicate them at atime when it was too late for moral training. There weresome parents who admitted that they had dedicatedtheir child upon realizing that he had very bad habits.They had despaired of their child and had dedicatedhim believing that the Jama'at would be able to inducehim to mend his ways.In the old days, if a child was bad, the parents used tosay; "Alright we will make him a 'thanidar (officer incharge of a police station}." Since the Jama'at has thespirit of piety, the parents did not think of'thanidad (rank of thanidar) instead they thought ofWaqf-e-zindagee. Albeit, such children can have anaffinity with 'thanidari'; but they have absolutely nonewith Waqf. These people think of extremely remoteprobabilities. "Make a bad child a thanidaT' is a famousjoke, but it would be the greatest tragedy of life if you

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chose the worst child of yours to dedicate to Allah- thechild who grew up with such bad habits that you couldnot reform him!Parents should watch the Waaqifeen closely: Wehave, by the grace of Allah, ample time for this newstock of Waaqifeen children. If we neglect their up-bringing and moral training we will be held accountablefor it before God. Now, it cannot be said that these areaccidental instances. Therefore, first of all the parentsshould watch their children closely. And, as I will ex-plain, they should pay special attention to certain as-pects of moral training. If they, God forbid, think thattheir child is deviant and not worthy of Waqf, then theyshould fear God and inform the Jama'at honestly thatthey had a sincere intention of presenting a gift to God.Unfortunately the child has these bad habits. If the Jama'at is still willing to accept him in spite of these hab-its, they are ready, otherwise the Waqf should be arlnulled. Thus, in future, we have to train the Waaqifeene-nau along these lines in a very serious manner.Importance of inculcating high morals in the chil-dren: As far as high morals are concerned, Waaqifeenshould not only possess all the qualities that should bepresent in all the members of the Jama'at but theyshould excel in those qualities. In various sermons, Ihave been presenting different programs about moralsor high morals. Keep those in mind while training thesechildren. Briefly, every child in the Waqf-e-Nauscheme should love truthfulness and hate lying. Itshould be as if he was nurtured this hatred (for false-hood) in his infancy. As radiation penetrates an objectentirely, truthfulness should radiate from the lovingarms of the father and penetrate the heart of the child.This means that parents will have to be more truthfulthan before because parents of all Waaqifeen-e-nau

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might not be at that high level of truthfulness that is required of the true believers (momeneen). So, beforetraining these children they will have to attend to theirown training. They will have to be more cautious andcareful during conversation in their homes and avoidlying even in gossip or jest. They have a sacred amanat (Waqf child) of Allah in their homes. This trust entails some responsibilities that they have to fulfill. So,from the point of view of truthfulness, the atmosphere inthe homes of these children should be immaculatelyclean and holy.I have already said that contentment has a profoundrelationship with the Waaqifeen. They should be taughtcontentment and aversion to avarice right from theirchildhood. It would not be difficult to do so if the parentsexercise wisdom and sensibility in training their childrenfrom the very beginning. To sum up, it is necessary tohelp these children attain the highest standard of honesty and trust-worthiness.Teach these children to be jovial and pleasant. Acrimony and Waqf cannot go hand in hand. III-temperedWaaqifeen-e-zindagee always create problems in theJama'at and sometimes even dangerous mischief.Therefore, good-humor and forbearance, that is, theability to tolerate what someone says, are the two qualities that are very essential for Waaqifeen children.Humor is good but it should be pious humor. There areseveral ways in which piety can be maintained in humorbut at the moment I have particularly two in mind.Firstly, one should not be in the habit of entertainingoneself or others by telling dirty jokes. Secondly, humor should have refinement (Iataafat). In Urdu, theword lataafat (refinement) is also used to mean humorand pleasantry. We call a joke '/ateefa'. Lateefa

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means something that is refined. Curtness and crudityare related to grossness (kasaafat) rather than refinement (Iataafat). In the civilized Indian families withgood traditions, whenever a child related an unrefinedjoke, he was told it was not a lateefa but a kaseefa andbuffoonery. There is a great difference between goodhumor and buffoonery. That is why whatever (incidentsof) humor we find in the lives of Hadhrat Muhammadsawand his companions ra , even though most of the humorous incidents are not available now, is a humor that isqualified with piety. We find humor in the lives of thePromised Messiahas and his companion'sra as well.Hadhrat Khalifa-tul-Massih /Ira had a great sense of humor but his humor had piety of both kinds - refinementand decency. I know some people who believe thatthey can indulge in humor for sometime because it ispermissible but they fail to realize that humor should becoupled with piety. They continue to narrate dirty andboorish jokes in their gatherings and some people thinkthat it does not matter. It does matter a great deal, indeed. Have good humor in your homes but instill hatred and repugnance for bad humor in the hearts ofyour children. This seems to be a minor point and Ihave spent a lot of time on it but I know that in humanlife, especially a life of hardships, responsibilities andmental tensions of various kinds, humor plays a veryimportant role and safeguards the human mind andpsyche.I have already explained ghina, that after contentmentis the stage of indifference (ghina) to worldly riches andluxuries. This prevents jealousy of the rich on the onehand and creates kindness towards the poor on theother. Ghina (indifference) does not mean that oneshould be indifferent to the needs of the poor. It meansthat one should become indifferent to one's own needsin order to fulfill the needs of the poor. This is a distinc-

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tive aspect of Islamic ghina and it should not be ig-nored. We need such Waaqifeen children who will notbe indifferent to the suffering of the poor but would beindifferent to the riches of the wealthy; to whom(witnessing the) prosperity of someone would not causepain but suffering of anyone certainly would.Arrangements for the education and training of theWaaqifeen-e-nau: As far as their education is con-cerned, teaching them in the Jamia would come later,but from the beginning these children should be taughtthe Holy Quran. InshaAllah, the Jama'at will also de-vise some programs for this purpose. In any case, theparents should keep in touch with the Jama'at (in thisregard). When children reach the age where they canread the Holy Quran and receive religious education,the parents should contact their local Jama'at or writedirectly to the Markaz (center) and ask how these chil-dren can be taught excellent recitation and meanings ofthe Holy Quran. There are two types of qaaree (onewho recites the Holy Quran). There are some who re-cite well, their voice has charm and phonetically theyhave correct pronunciation. But a charming voice alonecannot put life in the recitation. If those who are recit-ing do not know the meaning of the Holy Quran then,so to speak they can erect a statue of recitation butthey cannot breathe life into it. Those who recite theHoly Quran with comprehension, with their hearts melt-ing at the message of the verses being recited andfilled with the love of Allah, have the true spirit of recita-tion. In the homes of Waaqifeen-e-nau this aspect ofrecitation should be stressed upon. Even if you teachless, do so with translation and explain the meanings.Inculcate in your child the habit of recitation with com-prehension. In order to get the child in the habit of dailyrecitation of the Holy Quran in the morning, you mayhave to teach him to read just the Arabic text for a long

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period of time. But along with this you should continueto stress upon him the need to learn its translation andmeanings.The Jamia is not the place where one should be learning regularity or other requisites of Sa/at. Childrenshould learn all this at home under the supervision oftheir parents.Importance of having a vast knowledge: Parentsshould ensure that their children have a vast knowledge. One way of attaining broad religious knowledgeis to read the newspaper and magazines published bythe markaz. Unfortunately, at present, there are certaincountries where there are no local (Jama'at) newspapers and there are no local newspapers in certain languages. But we still have time. By the Grace of Allah,in the past few years local chapters of the Jama'at haveshown an increasing trend of publishing their own localnewspapers. So the officials of the Jama'at shouldkeep in mind that in the next two to three or four to fiveyears, when these children will be able to read and understand, their magazines and newspapers shouldhave some regular programs and features for thesechildren on the Waqf-e-nau scheme and our expectations from them. Instead of giving the whole program atonce, which would soon be forgotten, the newspapersshould present moral training programs in small fragments. When one has been implemented then theyshould concentrate on the next and so on.Waaqifeen children should have a vast knowledge.Generally, religious scholars have this shortcoming incommon. They have an extensive and in-depth knowledge of religion but they are totally ignorant of knowledge outside the sphere of religion. This lack of knowledge has seriously harmed Islam. This is the most im-

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portant of all the reasons that can lead to the decline ofa religion. Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya should learn from this.We should encourage and popularize religious learningfounded on broad-based knowledge. That is, first of allthe foundation should be a broad knowledge of secularsubjects to which religious knowledge should then begrafted so that it grows into a very beautiful, blessedand holy tree. From this point of view, these childrenshould be encouraged to increase their general knowledge right from childhood. If the parents pay attentionto this matter, their children's knowledge will increaseautomatically. So the parents should pay attention to itand subscribe to magazines and newspapers for theirchildren. They should instill in them the habit of readingbooks that will increase their knowledge and when theygo to school, parents should choose such subjects forthem that will introduce them to science. These children should have some knowledge of all the diversesubjects of arts such as economics, philosophy, psychology, mathematics, and commerce etc. Inculcatethe habit of reading in them. One does not have muchchoice in the school. A child can take five, six or sevensubjects some even take ten but they cannot go beyond this. Therefore, it is essential that these childrenshould get into the habit of reading more than their prescribed syllabi.These things are beyond the comprehension of parentsof some Waaqifeen children. I know that there aremany in Africa, Asia and Europe who are not capable ofimplementing these programs. Therefore, the concerned section of Tehrik-e-Jadid should note this. Allthe points that have been mentioned in this sermonshould be conveyed to all the parents so that a lack ofknowledge or ability on the part of parents does not hinder the children from getting the best education. In certain places the Jama'at will have to arrange for the

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training of these children right from the beginning. Theauxiliaries of the Jama'at can help in certain aspects.But these are issues that need to be discussed later.Right now, I am just explaining to you a few ideas thatare in my mind regarding the kind of children we wantour Waaqifeen-e-nau to be.Teaching tolerance: We want Waaqifeen who are inthe habit of suppressing anger right from early child-hood, who are not contemptuous of those who haveless knowledge and have the patience to listen to anopposite opinion and evince tolerance. Patience alsorequires that when they are asked something theyshould not immediately open their mouth in response.Instead, they should think for a while before replying. Ifthese manners and morals are taught in childhood, theybecome part and parcel of nature. Otherwise even themost learned person, sometimes remains devoid ofthese ordinary good manners in spite of his greatknowledge.It is a common observation that when someone isasked a question he gives an immediate reply even ifhe does not know the answer. Often, when someone isasked whether a certain thing has been done, the an-swer is; 'Yes, it's been done'. It may be that this persononly knows that the task was supposed to be done anddoes not know if has actually been accomplished.Waaqifeen with this habit can create serious problems.In my experience as an administrator, I know that thiskind of misinformation can cause serious harm. Forexample, I was in charge of the Langarkhana andcalled someone there to ask if so many thousand rotee(breads) were ready? I was told that they were and Iwas satisfied. When I got there I found that there was ashortage by several thousands. I asked the person

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why he had lied and given incorrect information andthat it had caused serious loss. His explanation wasthat he knew that half an hour before my call a certainnumber of breads had already been made, so he hadsurmised that the required quantity would definitely beready in the next half an hour. His formula was correct,but in this eventful world such formulas do not work.What actually happened in this case was that they en-countered some trouble. There had been a fightamong the laborers and the cooking gas supply hadbeen disrupted. Problems of this sort do crop up. Inreality, no work had been done in the half an hour timeduring which according to his calculation, several thou-sand breads should have been made. This is a com-mon habit.In my vast experience I have observed that this habit isvery common, particularly among the Asians. Theystate their surmise about something as actual fact andWaaqifeen-e-zindagee also have the habit of doing so.Sometimes their reports have mistakes that causeharm to the Jama'at. Therefore, this habit of statingwhat is known to be a fact as a fact and what is a sur-mise as a surmise should be formed in childhood. Oth-erwise it would be very difficult to develop this habit asan adult. Such acts are involuntary; habit means thatthe mouth utters something automatically. Sometimesthis carelessness can lead to lying and create very diffi-cult situations. Often, when such people are asked thereason for their action, instead of simply admitting thatthey had made a mistake and that they had surmised,they tell another lie to cover up their first mistake andoffer an excuse that is far from the truth. When theirfalse excuse is apprehended, they tell another lie. Thiscauses them much embarrassment and shame andwhile the whole world is laughing at them they go ontelling lie after lie to save face.

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These (bad) habits are formed in childhood. When veryyoung children are caught saying something has happened when actually it has not, they are behaving in asimilar way and parents pay no attention to it. This results in spoiling their temperament and sometimes it isspoiled so badly that it cannot be reformed. It becomestheir habit: they do not lie, but as a habit they presenttheir conjectures and assumptions as facts. If the people (Waaqifeen) who come to the Jamia are of thistype, then the Jamia does not have any magic to instantly reform their chronic bad habits. Only an exceptional inner transformation can effect this change andthat is a separate subject. We cannot rule out the possibility of such a transformation, but that is not the general rule. We do not base plans of our life on rules thatare an exception; we plan according to the generalrules. So, it is very important that these children shouldbe trained thoroughly in this respect.Teaching extra care in financial matters: To givethem broad-based general knowledge, those who canlearn typing should be taught typing. They should alsobe taught how to keep account, and as I have said before there should be great emphasis on honesty.Dishonesty in monetary matters in Waaqifeen is terribleand sometimes bears dreadful consequences. Honestyis exceptionally important for a Jama'at that is runningwholly and solely on voluntary chandajaat (donations).In other words, honesty is important for the protectionand safeguard of our jugular vein. The financial systemof the Jama'at is functioning on the basis of trust andhonesty. If, God forbid, the members of the Jama'atwere to perceive dishonesty in Waaqifeen-e-zindageeand those employed in the finance department, theiropportunity of giving chanda will be strangulated andthey will not be able to give chanda even if they wished

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to.Therefore the Waaqifeen should be particularly good intheir financial dealings. This is closely related with ac-countancy. Those who cannot maintain account some-times make mistakes in financial matters and the ob-servers think they have been dishonest. Sometimesthose who do not know how to keep account make fi-nancial mistakes and then act dishonestly and it is theconcerned official who is held responsible. By theGrace of Allah, the people responsible for the manage-ment of the Jama'at finance have such an exceptionallyhigh standard of honesty that is not paralleled by anyother organization. Even then we can see certainshortcomings. Instances of intentional dishonesty areextremely rare but there are many cases where some-one did not know how to keep accounts. Or someonedid not understand his responsibility when he put hissignature (on some document) or did not know what heshould look at (before signing). Acts of dishonesty of-ten occur under the supervision of a person who is notgood at even elementary arithmetic and later on thepoor man has to bear the blame. Sometimes after theinvestigation he is acquitted but often the matter re-mains unresolved and it can not be determined whetherhe was dishonest or not.Therefore all the Waaqifeen children should know ac-counting from the very beginning. That is why I havetalked about arithmetic. They should be good at arith-metic and should be taught how to maintain an accountof money. This training can be given through every daygrocery shopping. The Waaqifeen children can bemade perfect in honesty, if they are asked to purchasegrocery from time to time. For example, sometimeswhen children are asked to buy grocery they do not re-turn the few surplus coins that are left to the parents.

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They are not being dishonest, it is their parent's moneyand they do not see why they need to return it. This isthe time for their moral training. They should be toldthat when they are asked to do shopping they shouldreturn the balance, even if it is only one paisa. Afterthat they may ask for ten rupees, there is no harm inthat, but to pocket the one paisa left after the purchasesows the seeds of future (acts of) dishonesty and care-lessness.Fall and rise of nations begins at home. Parents erectthe great future (of the nation) in their homes when theytake care of minute details in training their children.That is to say that great nations are made in theirhomes. Negligence in small matters (in childhood) oftenleads to big and serious consequences. Therefore,teach Waaqifeen children the subtleties of taqwa in fi-nancial matters because, whatever I have been sayingis, in fact, related to taqwa. The obvious kind of taqwais for the common people, the Waaqifeen childrenshould be taught the most refined forms of taqwa in theminutest details in all matters.Some instructions to prevent them from stumbling:In addition from childhood the Waaqifeen should alsobe made strong and obedient to the Nizaam-e-Jama'at(administrative set up of Jama'at). It is very importantto affiliate them with A tfaal-ul-Ahmadiyya , Naasiraat-ulAhmadiyya and Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya. The respon-sibility of Ansar will come later. If the parents take goodcare of them up to the age of fifteen and as Khuddam,then the Ansar would rarely have any need to trainthem. When a bullet is fired with a gun that has a longbarrel, it goes straight for a long distance. If the barrelof tarbiyat (training) would extend to the age of Khuddam then the child will remain on the right path till hisdeath, except for what Allah wills.

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It is essential to teach children respect of the Nizaam-eJama'at. Do not say anything about the Nizaam-eJama'at in your homes that sounds derogatory or complain about an official of the Jama'at. Never complainabout a Jama'at official in front of your children even ifyour complaint is valid. It will harm your children. Youcan protect your faith in spite of complaining but (thefaith of) your children will be seriously damaged. Because in such a case, often the person involved suffersless injury, but the one who is watching nearby receivesdeeper wounds. The children of those parents, whocriticize the Nizaam-e-Jama'at thoughtlessly are, moreor less, definitely harmed and some are lost forever.This point should be explained to the Waaqifeen children and it should be emphasized that no matter whatcomplaint they have against a Jama'at official, no matter how high were their expectations of him, they shouldnot ruin their soul as a result of it. People usually havemany expectations from the president of their Jama'atand if a certain expectation is not met with, then itshould be explained to the Waaqifeen-e-zindagee, thattheir soul should not be allowed to perish because of it.This is again a harm similar to the one I have mentioned earlier. It is the official who stumbles but it is theonlooker who falls into the pit. The one who stumblescan still save his faith. He can repent and reform himself and very often he does not perish, unless his mistakes are of a particular kind, but those who have a tendency to stumble, are perished due to these mistakes.They become averse to religion and spread the germs(of their disease) among others. At their gatheringsthey narrate what a certain person did and thus theycause the ruin of a whole nation.So, first of all protect your children from this evil. Whenthey are a little older explain to them that real love is forAllah and His religion. So they should never say any-

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thing that can harm the Jama'at of Allah. If someonehurts them or inflicts a loss upon them they have noright to spoil their environment and damage the faith oftheir friends and their children. They should be patientand keep their grievance to themselves and seek redress through the ways prescribed by Allah but avoidtalking about it in public.Training them to be worthy of the great leadershipof the next century: Even today such things are happening in the Jama'at and several incidents are beingbrought to my attention. For example, a certain personwas hurt and he narrated the whole incident to somedevout people. Although, he spoke the truth but he didnot take into consideration the fact that it could do greatharm to his listener's faith. Some Waaqifeen-ezindagee also behaved in a similar manner. They hadsome complaints against the Jama'at Intezamia or Tabsheer. In order to win the sympathies of the new foreign Ahmadies, who had been devoted to the Jama'atall their life, they started relating their tales to them. Afterwards they saved their own souls and returned homebut left many injured souls behind. Who will be heldaccountable for it? It has not been determined yetwhether the officials were at fault or not. As far as Ihave looked into the matter they were not at fault. Thewhole affair began with a suspicion. But, even if theofficials were at fault, no one had the right to damagethe faith of other people because of his own suffering.The truly loyal look after the interest of the Jama'at, andits well-being is their foremost concern. True evidenceof love is the one proposed by Hadhrat Sulemanas andnone is more reliable. You have heard it from me andfrom others as well. Once two women were brought tothe court of Hadhrat Sulemanas . They had one childwith them and each claimed the child as hers. Each

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one of them would pull the child to herself and cry andscream that the child was hers. None of the wise mencould figure out how to solve this problem. When thecase was presented before Hadhrat Sulemanas hesaid; "It is difficult to establish whom the child belongsto. It would be highly unjust if we gave the child to thewrong woman. Therefore, let us cut the child into twohalves and give one half to each woman. So that wemay not be unjust." He called the executioner and toldhim to cut the child in two equal halves and give one toeach woman. At this the real mother threw herself overthe child and said that she should be cut into twohalves instead and pleaded that the child be given tothe other woman but should not be harmed. At thisHadhrat Sulemanas gave his verdict that the child be-longed to her.It is impossible that anyone, who loves the Jama'at forGod's sake, would ever let the Jama'at split up intofragments or tolerate things that would damage thefaith of other people. He would subject himself to allkinds of suffering and would not make it the means ofhurting other souls. And this would be the proof of hisfaithfulness. It is extremely important to trainWaaqifeen along these lines because such an incidenthas not occurred once or twice but several times andhas in certain cases created serious dissension.Someone thinks that he has been very clever and hasrevenged himself. Tehrik-e-Jadid did this to him and heretaliated in this way and now he has the support of alarge group of people. He does not realize that thosepeople are not behind him, they are behind Satan. In-stead of being the leader of the righteous he has be-come the

sermons on waqf-e-nau by hazrat mirza tahir ahmad (ra)

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