Re: Paak Seerat Hadhrat Masih e Maood (A.S)
*The Philosophy of Islamic Prayer
*
Acceptance of prayer is proved by valid instances as part of the law of nature and God sets up living models in every age. That is why He has taught the prayer: Guide us along the straight path, the path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy favors. This is the design and law of God and no one can alter it. Guide us along the straight path is a supplication for perfection in conduct. In form this is a direction to seek guidance to the straight path, but it is preceded by: We worship Thee alone and beg Thy help. This indicates that we must use our natural capacities for treading along the straight path and seek Divine help in the process. Therefore, appropriate available means must be employed. On who neglects this is guilty of ingratitude in respect of God's bounties.
Consider, if the tongue that God the Sublime has bestowed on us, made up of nerves and muscles, was not equipped with it! s capacities, we would not have been capable of speech. He granted us a tongue that can express the thoughts and designs of the mind for the purposes of prayer. If we do not employ the tongue for supplication, it would be our great misfortune. There are so many ailments any of which could instantly stop its functioning.
Similarly, He has equipped the mind with the qualities of humility and lowliness and the faculties of contemplation and reflection. Be mindful, then, that if we fail to use these powers and faculties, our prayer is vain. If we do not use the gifts we possess, how can we supplicate for more? That is why: We worship Thee alone, precedes: Guide us along the straight path. This is an affirmation that we have not left unemployed and stultified the gifts and faculties that Allah has granted us.
(Al-Hakam, Dec. 10, 1901)
**Future of Ahmadiyyat**
O mankind! hearken, this is the prophecy of God Who made the Heavens and the Earth. He will spread this Movement in all the countries and will give it supremacy over all through reason and arguments. Remember, no one will descend from heaven. All our opponents who are living at present will die and not one of them will see Jesus, son of Mary, descend from the sky and then their children who survive them will also pass away and none of them will see Jesus, son of Mary, coming down from the heaven. Generations of their posterity will also perish and they too will not see the son of Mary descending from heaven. Then God will create restlessness in their hearts; that the day of the glory of the Cross had passed away and the world had taken another turn but Jesus, son of Mary, had still not come down from the sky. Then all the wise people will discard this belief and the third century from today will not have completed when all those who had been wa! iting for Jesus, both Muslims and Christians will despair of his coming and entertaining misgivings shall give up their belief and there will be only one Faith in the world and one preceptor. I came only to sow the seed. That seed has been sown by my hands. It will now grow and blossom forth and none dare retard its growth.
(The Promised Messiah in Tazkira-tush-Shahadatain)
**Tread on the Path of Taqwa by Promised Messiah
**He who sincerely enters the fold of my Bai'at, completely obeying me, follows me truly and abandons all his resolves, will be the one whom my soul recommend in these days of calamity.
So, O ye who count among my Jama'at, you will be considered my true followers on the high only when you will truly tread on the path of Taqwa. Therefore, offer your five prayers in humility and fear as if you are viewing God Almighty. Keep the fast sincerely and truthfully. He who is duty bound to pay Zakat, must pay the desired amount. On whom Haj is obligatory, must go and perform it. Do the virtue punctiliously and loathe vice and abandon it.
Beware that no deed will reach God which is deprived of Taqwa. The base of every virtue is Taqwa. The deed whose base is firm, will not be destroyed. It will be that you are tied with sorts of loss and misfortune as were the believers of ! yore. Therefore, beware lest you tumble. Earth can do you no harm if you have firm bond on the high. Whenever you will suffer, it will be at your own hands and not at the hands of the enemy. If all your earthly prestige is washed away, God will grant you lasting honour on the skies. So do not abandon Him. Surely you will be persecuted and lots of your hopes smashed, but do not pine for them. It is the trial from God to see if you are steadfast or not.
(Kashti-e-Nooh, Page 14)
**Sacrifice**
When a man passes through trials and tribulations and he does so with patience, because God says that he should do so, then these trials and tribulations make him join the ranks of the angels. The Prophets are very dear to God because they pass through greatest of trials and tribulations and these trials and tribulations take them nearer to Him. Hazrat Imam Hussain, peace be on him, as well as the Companions of the Holy Prophet, sallallaho alaihi wa sallam, had to pass through great tests. If a man sits down to take dainty dishes and he turns the beads of the rosary, he should not expect to meet God. The rosary of the Companions of the Holy Prophet, sallallaho alaihi wa sallam, was the sword. If now a days somebody is sent somewhere on a preaching assignment, he starts saying within the span of ten days, that there is none to look after his home (and therefore he would like to go back). If we look at the lives of the Companions of the Holy Prophet, we woul! d find that they had, as if, decided from the very beginning that they would not mind even if they had to sacrifice their lives. They had accepted it as a fact of their life, that they would sacrifice their lives for the sake of God. The Companions would go to the battlefield and some of them would lay down their lives there while others would come back alive. The relatives of those who had laid down their lives on the battlefield would express great joy for, they, the Martyrs, had sacrificed their lives for the sake of God. On the other hand, those who would return alive, would continue waiting for the opportunity of laying down their lives for the sake of God; they always felt that perhaps they were not good enough to have the opportunity of becoming a martyr. They would continue making up their mind - and strengthening themselves in this determination of theirs - that one day they would give their life for the sake of God. God says:
"Nay We hurl the truth and falseho! od, and it breaks its head, and lo, it perishes. And woe be to! you for that which you ascribe to God." (21:19)
In this Age, the people who are most sincere, steadfast and Muttaqi are the people of this Jamaat of mine but even among them there are a lot of people who are the worms of this world (too much engrossed in the worldly affairs). A poetical verse says: You want the communion of God and you also want this mean world. Let me tell you, this is utterly impossible and it is nothing less than madness.
Nobody knows when he would be called upon to surrender his life. That being the case one should not be unmindful of the fact of his mortality and he should not give preference to the worldly affairs over his religion.
Do not depend on your life. You should not think that you are secure against the devastation of the Time.
(Malfoozat Vol. 9, pg. 406)
Actions not words
A true believer should not only believe in the God with these four attributes (Rab, Rahman, Raheem, Malik-i-yaumid-deen) with the word of the mouth; he should live the kind of life that would clearly show to the people that he does not take anyone else as his Rab, he takes God as his Rab; he does not take Zaid or Umar (X or Y) his Rab. He should be full of certainty that it is only God who rewards the actions (whether the reward is good or it is punishment); He knows the most hidden sins that a man might commit. You should know it well, that verbal claims do not mean anything whatsoever. He who takes God to be his Rab and Maalik-i-yaumiddin, in the true sense of the words, can never commit evil deeds like stealing, fornication, gambling, or other deeds like them, for, he knows that all these things are devastating and to commit them is to violate the commands of God.
The truth is that unless a man proves that he is a true believer in God and ! has very strong faith in Him, he cannot be the recipient of the blessings and the grace of God which are granted to those who are His near ones. The blessings that are vouchsafed to those who are near and dear to God have their sources in those people being the possessors of high certainty and strong faith; these are the people who give preference to God over everything else in the whole universe.
You must try to realise that Islam does not tantamount to mere verbal profession of faith and some "wird" and "wazaa-if" (uttering of some words repeatedly for spiritual influence); one's practical life should be so good that he may become the recipient of the help and succour of God and he may be vouchsafed God's generous Bounties. All the Prophets had their lives very pure, truthful, trustworthy and of high morals. They were not like the ordinary people - their fasting, payment of zakat, prayers and bowing and prostration and recitation of sura Fatiha, was not like the! ordinary people, they had caused a sort of death to everythin! g in the world; the only thing they visualised was the Being of God the Almighty; they took Him alone as their Helper and real Sustainer. It is with Him that they had real communion and it is of Him that they always thought and it is in Him that they lived their lives.
(Malfoozat, Vol. 10, pg. 37)
**Pen to fight pen
**
I have come to know that the Japanese are now inclined towards Islam. That being the case a very comprehensive book on the teachings of Islam should be compiled - it should contain every information about Islam, just as somebody describes the features of a man, from head to toe, like a picture of his. This book should contain all the good points in Islam. All the aspects of its teachings should be discussed; this also should be shown as to what the result of those teachings is and the fruits that they bear.
The Islamic morals should form a separate chapter and therein they should be compared with the morals presented by other religions.. I think it is so important to publish a book of this type that the person for whom the Hajj has become obligatory, should spend the money for the Hajj to publish this book instead; it would be a religious Jihad.
Once the Holy Prophet, sallallaho alaihi wa sallam, had to offer all the five prayers together. Now it is the Jihad with the pen (instead of the sword) that has to be waged. That is why this now is the time that the people should pick up courage and spend their time and wealth.
You should know it well that this is not the time to go the battlefield for religious purposes. The battles that were fought during the life time of the Holy Prophet, sallallaho alaihi wa sallam, were not meant to convert the non-believers to Islam by force; these battles were fought by the Muslims to defend themselves. When the Muslims were inhumanly tortured and turned out of Mecca and many Muslims had become martyrs, it was then that God commanded them to fight back; this definitely was a defensive measure. Now the times have changed. There is peace every where; it is with the pen that Islam is being attacked. That is why it is necessary that pen should be used to rebut the attacks. God! the Almighty says in the Holy Quran that you should make preparation to defend yourselves with the same kind of weapons as the opponents happen to use.
Think of the preparations that the opponents of Islam are now making. They are not lining up the armies. They are publishing magazines and books. We also should, therefore, pick up our pen and answer their attacks with magazines and books. It is not expedient that the prescription (treatment) and the sickness should be at variance. If the treatment does not conform with the sickness, the consequence is bound to be unprofitable and harmful.
(Malfoozat Vol. 8, pg. 20)