Friday Sermon of
Hazrat Amirul Momeneen
Zafrullah Domun

27 JUNE 2008

› Continuing on the khilafat of Hazrat Hakim Molvi Nuruddin (ra) ...

... I am not interested in how much was received and collected. Our great need is God. I do not know how much was collected, nor do I care. I urge you again to put God before everything else. All our efforts should be directed to that end. If we neglect that, of what avail is the high school, and of what avail are its buildings; we must seek the pleasure of our Master...

After reading the Tashahhud, the Ta'uz and the first chapter of the Holy Quran Hazrat Amirul Mo'menine Zafrullah Domun said:

In today's sermon I will continue to speak about the events that marked the khilafat of Hazrat Molvi Nuruddin (ra).In my last sermon ended with the Eid ul Fitr sermon of 1 st October 1909. The khalifatul Masih intended to expel those who were opposing the khilafat but in the end he said that Allah stopped him from doing so.

For some time the members worked more or less well together. According to the historians of the Jamaat Kwaja Kamal uddin who was at that time the Secretary of the Anjuman used to make speeches around India to explain the message of Ahmadiyyat. But he did not mention Hazrat Masih Maood (as) in the speeches. He used what Hazrat Masih had written but he did not say that they were his teachings. Consequently the non Ahmadis were praising these speeches but they did not know that it was the Promised Messiah who was the author of what was being said.

Mirza Bashir uddin Mahmood Ahmad did not like this way of propagating the message of Ahmadiyyat. So on 27th March 1910 he gave a lecture condemning these practices. Eventually once this lecture was published and propagated within the Jamaat, all those who were indulging in these types of propagation stopped their wrong practices.

The Annual Conference of 1909 was postponed to the spring of 1910 and was held on March 25-27, 1910. It was a very successful gathering, and a large number of persons took the pledge, but H a d rat Khal i fatul Mas ih ( ra) was not entirely satisfied and gave expression to his uneasiness in his next Friday sermon, in the course of which he observed:

"I have come here with great difficulty. I have not been feeling well at all. I have a splitting headache. During this period of indisposition I have made a deep study of your condition and mine. I have sometimes been afraid of losing my eyesight; and have also thought of the eye of God that misses nothing. In short, my thoughts have ranged over a wide field. I had it in mind to recite: I bear witness that there is no god besides Allah; and sit down, but there is an urgency that compels me to speak. You may assume as if this is my last day, and what I am going to say are my last words. You gathered here, and there have also been meetings at Gurukul, and of the Anjuman Himayat-e-Islam in Lahore, and of the Educational Conference at ‘Aligarh, at which reports were read. Here too our reporter told us all about income and expenditure. But I have been thinking why did we gather together here? The money could have been remitted through the post office, and the report could have been printed and mailed. The attendance was three thousand. Even if only the leading ones out of them had met me I would have prayed for them and admonished them. But those who did come to see me came when they were ready to depart and came only to say goodbye. Take note and keep it in mind that I dislike intensely such meetings whose main purpose is not the fostering of spiritual values. As I have said, the money could have been remitted by postal money order, and all travelling expenses and the cost of hospitality here could have been saved. The shopkeepers here also had only their worldly gains in mind, for they wanted the Conference to be held in town so that their sales might be boosted. Those who are listening to me should remember and should convey it to others that I detest all gatherings that are held and all moneys that are collected for worldly purposes. I am ill with anxiety on that score. How good would it have been if the secretaries and other office bearers of different branches had spent some time with me. I would have instructed them in diverse types of good. I am upset with the members of the Sadr Anjuman also on account of their failure to point this out to those who had come from outside. I am not interested in how much was received and collected. Our great need is God. I do not know how much was collected, nor do I care. I urge you again to put God before everything else. All our efforts should be directed to that end. If we neglect that, of what avail is the high school, and of what avail are its buildings; we must seek the pleasure of our Master. Write to your friends and admonish them to that end. I kept awaiting even our friends from Lahore and Amritsar, but none of them turned up for the purpose of learning anything from me. I desire that you should all become righteous and virtuous, and should pay less attention to the world and its trappings."

Here we see that the Khalifatul Masih did not want the members to forget the spiritual path. For him that was most important. Jamaat's meetings should foster spirituality and nothing else.   In addition it appears that during that time some members did not think it useful to meet him. If you compare what he said then and what we see these days we can easily understand why Hazrat Masih Maood (as) said that any jamaat needs to be reformed after about one hundred years after the death of the founder or his caliph.

To establish his claim Hazrat Masih Maood (as) asked his opponents to refute his arguments but they were unable to do so. He invited them to show him his mistakes but they did not have any counter arguments. In the same manner his first caliph was invited by a shia to a debate in July 1910 and he replied:

“I am ever ready to seek after the truth. By Allah's grace I am seventy years of age and I have not long to live. Neverthe less if I discover a way of truth I would not, if Allah so wills, persist in error. But of what persuasion would the umpire be and how would his impartiality be guaranteed?"

The Shia did not pursue the matter any further.

The reason why I am telling you about this matter is that this is the tradition in Jamaat Ahmadiyya. We keep an open mind and we are ever in search of truth. We are not afraid of any one except Allah. Compare that to the attitude of the present day Ahmadis. They will not dare to talk with someone who has a different viewpoint.   Their notion of truth is ready made and it has been given to them.

The next main event in his life is his fall from a mare. It happened after the Friday sermon of 18th November 1910. During the course of his sermon on that day he said:

"It is my intense desire that I should find that this community loves Allah, obeys His Messenger Muhammad (saw) and understands the Quran. My Lord, without putting me to any trial and without my asking, has bestowed upon me number less most wonderful bounties. He has throughout provided for my needs. He Himself feeds me, and clothes me and provides me with comfort. He has given me houses, wife, children and sincere and true friends. He has provided me with a surprisingly large number of books, and has given me time for study and bestowed upon me health, knowledge and all that was needful. Now it is my wish, and I have great hope that my Lord will fulfill this wish of mine also, that there may be from among you those who love Allah, love the Word of Allah that He has sent down to Muhammad (saw), the Messenger of Allah, are obedient to Allah, and are true followers of His Khataman Nabiyyin. There may be from among you those who follow the Holy Quran and the practice of the Holy Prophet(saw).

May it be that when I depart from this world my eyes and my heart should be in comfort on your account. I demand from you no recompense, nor am I in need of your offerings. I do not wish even to be greeted by any of you. All I desire of you is that you obey Allah, and becoming the true followers of Muhammad(saw), the Messenger of Allah. Convey the message: There is no god besides Allah; in peace and friendship to all parts of the world."

After the service he decided to pay a visit to Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan, who had returned to Qadian from Malirkutla the previous day. As the distance was about a mile and a half, he chose to ride over on a mare, a somewhat a spirited animal that someone had presented to his eldest son, ‘Abdul Ha'yyi, a lad eleven years of age. At the end of his visit when he was about to mount the mare, a person who was standing by, noticing that the stirrups were short, offered to let them down to suit his legs, but he declined the offer remarking that they were adjusted to suit the children and should not be interfered with.

He mounted and rode away. Those who saw him ride past noticed that though the mare was going fast he held to his seat firmly and seemed to be enjoying his ride.   But suddenly he fell from the horse.When he realized what had happened he exclaimed: "The commissioned one of God has been justified!" This had reference to a dream of the Promised Messiah (as), in which he had seen that Molvi Nur-ud-Din (ra) had fallen from a horse. When he had seen this dream no Ahmadi in Qadian had owned a riding horse.

The injury on the temple of H a d rat Khal i fatul Masih (ra) was slow in healing and became a sore. On the night of 19th January 1911, perceiving some pressure on his heart he called for paper and writing materials and wrote Mahmud Ahmad on a piece of paper and enclosed it in an envelope and having closed the envelope wrote on it: Following the example of Ab u Bakr(ra) inArabic, and below it in Urdu: Swear allegiance to the one whose name is inscribed on the enclosed.

He committed the envelope to the custody of his favourite disciple, Shaikh Muhammad Taimur, and told him: “In the event of my death the direction contained in this should be followed.” After a few days, his health having improved, he called for the envelope and tore it up.

At one time when his advisers suggested to him that they call for a top physician from Delhi to attend to him he replied:

"Put your trust in God. My reliance is neither upon doctors nor upon physicians. I rely wholly upon God, and you should do the same."

His injury was quite severe. He remained ill for almost six months and did not go to the mosque. The first time that he went to the mosque for prayers after his illness was on 19th May 1911, a full six months after the accident. Yet during his long convalescence he kept himself fully occupied and set a very high example of devotion to duty.

On 29th November 1910, he published a message to the community, in the course of which he said:

"The trial through which I am passing has been the occasion of the manifestation of numerous aspects of Divine compassion, mercy and grace. Allah, the Exalted, has disclosed to me the devotion of the hearts of many whom I should love. There are some concerning whom I was not aware how much love they have for me and for their fellow members of the community. The way in which they have served me day and night during my illness is an indication of the degree of their devotion, whereby Allah has manifested their qualities. It is proof of God's care for this humble one. I am most grateful to all those who have demonstrated their sympathy for me in my present condition. My heart is at rest. No one is as dear to me and is loved by me so much as God, nor is there any one who is such a helper and supporter for me as He is. He has bestowed His grace and His beneficence upon me in my present situation without measure. He has provided for me whence no one can conceive of. He has even removed the overt means of my subsistence which was my profession of a physician and has provided for me through covert means. I am not beholden to any one for the provision that has reached my home in these days: I am beholden for it only to Allah.All this is very strange in the eyes of the beholders."

  In December 1910, he observed one day:

"Illness is a trial in several ways. Expenses go up, and income declines and one becomes dependent upon others. My visible means of subsistence was my practice as a physician, and now that has been suspended on account of my illness. Those who do not know the true state of my affairs imagined that my practice was the means of fulfilling my needs, and God has now suspended it. My wife told me today that she had no money left, and said: You never thought of illness. During illness one may be left without provision even for the bare necessities of life. I told her that my God's way with me was not like that. I would have put money by if I had not complete trust in God."

It turned out that, without his knowing it, two money orders of the value of one hundred and twenty five rupees had arrived which were waiting to be delivered to him. When he was told of them he was deeply moved and praised God devoutly, and observed: "Such is the grace of my Almighty God. He has demonstrated that He provides for me without reference to my skill as a physician, in a manner that cannot be conceived of. My wife is unable to appreciate this, being weak. My faith is strong. My Lord always deals with me like this."

These manifestations of Allah's providence continued throughout. One day he directed Shaikh Muhammad Taimur, his personal assistant that a statement should be drawn up of all the expenses incurred during his illness in respect of medicines, bandages etc. and the total amount should be re-imbursed out of money that had become available. He observed: "My Lord provides for me. I do not wish to be beholden to anyone. He has promised me that He will fulfill all my needs."

Incha Allah next week we will continue to talk about the illustrious life of this great servant of Ahmadiyyat and Islam.