Jamaat Ahmadiyya al Mouslemeen

Friday Sermon of Hazrat Amirul Momeneen Zafrullah Domun

03 July 2009

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After reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo’emenine, Zafrullah Domun said:

Last year on 6^th June I made a sermon about the prevailing ignorance in Jamaat Ahmadiyya. Besides a verse of the Holy Quran I also quoted the following two hadiths:

1. One of the signs of the Hour is the disappearance of knowledge and the prevalence of ignorance". (Bokhari)

2. God Almighty does not take away the knowledge of Islamic Law and Faith by removing its books from His servants, but He takes it away through the death of scholars. When all scholars pass away, the public will make ignorant people their leaders; when they are asked about something, they answer without knowledge; they are misguided and they misguide others. (Bokhari)

Today if we look at the Muslim world including Jamaat Ahmadiyya we see that that a general ignorance is prevalent almost everywhere. There is no doubt that there are many scholars within the Muslim World who know what are the problems within the Muslim world and how they should be tackled. But unfortunately they are in the minority and they cannot prevail against bigotry, dogmatism and a desire to solve today’s problems with seventh century ideas, ill applied. Whether we look at the Arab world with their 21 countries or even the four countries namely, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India where more than half of the Muslims of the world live, the picture is the same. Ignorance of Islamic teachings but a passion for Islam is to be found side by side. There is a need to rethink what is being taught and how it is being taught if it is being taught at all.

Jamaat Ahmadiyya was supposed to be a beacon of light in this darkness because it was formed under divine guidance. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as was raised by Allah to teach the world but the Muslims in particular that they have to broaden their outlook to be able to escape their mental prisons. Some people have heeded this message and by the Grace of Allah they have a very open attitude towards any new ideas as they had been advised by the founder. Unfortunately as I have said previously the teachings of Hazrat Ahmad are being ignored deliberately or are not known at all. There is no mechanism in the Jamaat for the members to really learn the teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as. Take Jamaat Ahmadiyya in Mauritius, there are about maybe eight hundred persons between the age of twenty and fifty. How many amongst them have ever read a book of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as? May be a handful? Hence the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next is quite inadequate. And we all know too well that ignorance is a fertile and breeding ground for narrow-mindedness, verbal and physical violence and a defense against all that is not “ours.” The so-called scholars are those who have power because of their knowledge and hence they keep the masses in ignorance in order to maintain their power over them. Passion is kept alive but no open-mindedness in the light of the teachings of the Holy Quran is encouraged. Slogans have replaced the genuine desire or wish to become a true Muslim. Some think that because you are an Ahmadi you have passport to paradise. But we know that this is quite far from the truth. From what Allah has taught us and from what we have understood from the teachings of the Holy Quran without a genuine effort to deliver oneself from the bondage of sins, no one will be safe.

The reason why I am speaking about this matter today is that on Monday 22^nd June Dr Hassen Mustun passed away at the age of 68. He was the first Ahmadi Doctor in Mauritius and he had the rare privilege of being the first cancer specialist on the island. I met him for the first time in 1979. To me he appeared to be very affable, nice and gentlemanly. We had some lively conversations about some topics of common interest. Since then whenever we met there was a warm exchange of greetings and smiles. The last time I met him was about six months ago in Rose-hill. We exchanged a few words and he went away. I was sad when I heard about his death but I decided not to attend his funeral because I thought that members of the mainstream Ahmadiyya Jamaat in Mauritius would be there and they would be making the necessary arrangements for his burial.

But contrary to my expectations I came to know later through a reliable friend of mine that the mainstream Ahmadiyya Jamaat did not perform his funeral prayer. I have been told that they helped to make all arrangements for the burial but they refrained from making his funeral prayer because they said he was not an Ahmadi. Fortunately one of our members was at the cemetery and he performed the funeral prayer together with Dr Mustun’s son, and three other non Ahmadi Muslims brothers. I have also been told that very few people were present at the cemetery. Among those present were one of the doctor’s brothers, some of his nephews, his son and his two brothers in law.

I am told that the Amir of the Jamaat in Mauritius said that Dr Hassen Mustun was not an Ahmadi. If this were true why did the Jamaat write in the Centenary magazine published last year that he was the first Ahmadi Doctor? How many times on Eid days we have seen him like so many other Ahmadis at the mosque in Rose hill? Now let us suppose that he was no longer an Ahmadi what is our fatwa regarding Ahmadis or ex Ahmadis or other Ahmadis or other Muslims or even non Muslims? It seems that the Amir and his close circle of advisers and even the Missionaries from Jamaat’s Jamiah are not aware. How many times have we heard the fourth caliph say that Ahmadis should even lead the funeral prayer for those who have been expelled from the Jamaat when there is no one to read the funeral prayer? But here as I have said the Dr was considered an Ahmadi and yet the Jamaat refused to perform the Janaza Prayer. The members of the Jamaat who were present at the cemetery preferred to allow a non- Ahmadi to read the funeral prayers. This is the extent of their deep level of understanding of what is Jamaat Ahmadiyya! Had I known that they would have acted thus with Dr Hassen Mustun I would have gone to offer the prayers myself.

As I have said before, Jamaat Ahmadiyya is very quick to exclude rather than to include. Yet how many amongst them really know what Hazrat Masih Maood^as has said about his mission. He said:

I have come with only two objects first, you should firmly believe in the Oneness of God and second, you should inculcate mutual love and sympathy. (Pronouncements of the Promised Messiah, Vol. II, p. 54)

Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad’s ^ra famous words “mazhab ka pehla kadam hai insaniyyat” which means “the first step in religion is humanity” and Jamaat Ahmadiyya's charitable organization “Humanity First” and its slogan “Love for All Hatred for none” are just empty words to lull the mass. When will the leaders of this Jamaat reach such a stage in Love that they may say with Ibn Arabi:

”My heart has become capable of every form:

it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim's Ka'ba,

and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran.

I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take.

My religion and my faith is the true religion….”

For those who do not know, Ibn Arabi was one of the greatest saints in Islam. In the introduction to his book “What the seeker needs” there is another very interesting anecdote of his life. It says “One of his contemporaries hated him so much that he would curse him ten times after each of his five daily prayers. When the man died, Ibn Arabi went to his funeral. Afterwards he wouldn’t eat or drink or see anyone for days. A close friend insisted that the Shaikh com eto his house for dinner. He obliged, but neither spoke nor ate, until all of a sudden, he smiled and started eating. When his friend asked him about his recent state, he said, “I vowed to my Lord that I would go into retreat and fast until He forgave that man who hated me so. Now, Allah in His Mercy, has forgiven him, so I can return to the life of this world.”[page ix]

Jamaat Ahmadiyya was created for spreading love in the world. But unfortunately despite all material achievements we see that the Jamaat is still far from its ideal. It appears that it is spreading more hate than love. The reason is that this Jamaat is being led by people who are ignorant of its basic teachings. On most of its people it is the mentality and culture of the Hind-o-Pak Muslim that prevails and less the ideal that was espoused by the Founder. Members of Jamaat Ahmadiyya have to read and learn the Holy Quran and make the Holy Prophet their model. We may declare with our mouths and writings that this is our profession. But unless and until we show with our deeds that we are true to these declarations we would be false to our own selves.

Recently the Jamaat in Mauritius prescribed the book “Truth about the split” of the Second caliph for the members of the Jamaat to read. How many read and how many were examined on the contents I do not know. But very few members of the Jamaat are aware of what the second caliph said about these Lahori Ahmadis. In a declaration in Al Fazl of 9^th January 1934 he said:

For such of those Ahmadis who have not made bai’at with us and who have worked for the Jamaat in the times of Hazrat Masih Maood^as and if by now they have not committed any disrespect, it is our duty that on behalf of Hazur (Hazrat Masih Maood) that we give them their last reward for their services that we read their funeral prayers. Because of this there are many persons who are angry with me but on this matter my soul is at rest that I do not care about the anger of anyone. I understand that our heart should be devoid of any rancor. As long as they are alive we would fight them with arguments but after their death we would tell Allah that these people believed in your Messiah and we forgive them whatever harm they may have done to us and we request their pardon from You. This is what I did on the occasion of the death of Khwaja Kamaal Uddin sahib. Denying khilafat is a matter that concerns Allah. But on hearing his (Khwaja Kamaal Uddin's) death I prayed for him and told Allah that I have forgiven him the trouble he caused me and request You also to forgive him”.

Kwaja Kamal Uddin sahib was one of the main companions of the Promised Messiah. But in 1914 together with Molvi Mohammad Ali they went away to form Anjuman Ahmadiyya Ishaat Islam Lahore. Khawaja Kamal Uddin looked after the Ahmadiyya Mission in London and he did a lot of work from there.

I will say that the reaction of the second caliph on the death of Khwaja Kamal Uddin sahib is really noble. I wish that we could witness such nobility in the attitude of the Jamaat in Mauritius and elsewhere also. Islam is here to bring out the best in men and women not that which is worst in them. May Allah help the International Ahmadiyya Jamaat to understand this fact. May Allah forgive Dr Hassen Mustun all his shortcomings and may He admit him in Paradise. In his capacity as a doctor and a cancer specialist, there is no doubt that he got ample opportunities of relieving not only the distress but also saving the life of a great number of people. Let us pray and hope that his good deeds would outweigh all his shortcomings incha Allah.