Friday Sermon of
Hazrat Amirul Momeneen
Zafrullah Domun

30 MAY 2008

A very brief account of what happened in the History of Jamaat Ahmadiyya one hundred years ago.

• the last moments of Hazrat Ahmad (as)and his demise.
  
• the election of the first khalifa.
  
• a reminder about last sermons where the possibility of an imam appointed by Allah has been mentioned and of concern to all ahmadis of the world.

After reciting, Tashahhud , Ta'ouz and the first chapter Al Fatiha of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo'menine Zafrullah Domun said:

Today I will continue to speak to you about the last days of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as). As you are aware in 1908, he was in Lahore with all the members of his family and some of his close companions. In the afternoon of 25 th May 1908 , he had retired after taking a light meal. At around 11 o'clock he was woken up with a bout of dysentery. All his life he suffered frequently from this problem. In fact when he was in Lahore he had suffered a mild attack on the night of 16 th May. So coming back from the toilet he woke his wife Hazrat Amma Jaan. He told her what had happened and he was feeling very weak. As soon as she woke up she started massaging his feet because he was relieved with this massage. He became very weak. Amma Jaan was disturbed and said: “What is happening?” Hazrat Masih Maood (as) replied:” What is happening is what I have been telling you about!”

He asked her to call Molvi Nuruddin, his friend and physician and to wake up his eldest son Mirza Bashir uddin Mahmood Ahmad and also to call his father in law, Mir Nasir Nawab saheb. Once these persons had gathered, Dr Syed Mohammd Hussein Shah and Dr Mirza Yaqub Beg also arrived. These physicians did their best to help him, but what was destined had to happen. He grew weaker and the only audible words that he uttered were: “Allah, my Beloved Allah”

Then came the time for the prayer before sunrise. In a very weak voice he asked “Is it the time for prayer? When he was told that it was in fact the time for prayer. He did tayammum and tried to pray but he felt unconscious. When he regained consciousness, the only words that came out of his mouth were “Allah, my Beloved Allah”. He became very weak. Around 10 o'clock in the morning of 26 th May, the agonies of death were visible and he died around 10.30 a.m . Inna lillahé wa inna élaihé raje'oune (to Allah we belong and to Him de we return).

The wife of Hazrat Masih Maood (as) showed exemplary patience during those last hours. She was seen busy praying. At one time she said “O Allah he has spent his life for the religion of Islam; please grant him my life also.”   This shows her love for Hazrat Masih Maood (as) and how she was ready to sacrifice for him and she even asked Allah to grant him the remaining years of her life. At another moment she said to Allah: “O Allah, now he is leaving us; please do not abandon us”. She controlled her emotions and she even admonished some women who were showing their grief in an unbecoming manner. She consoled her children in the following words: “Do not think that your father has left you in an empty house. He has laid up for you a great treasure of prayers in heaven, which will continue to yield its beneficence to you all the time.” (The Renaissance of Islam p185 ).

The news of the death of Hazrat Masih Maood spread in the city like a wildfire. Ahmadis did not believe what they were hearing. They rushed to the ahmadiyya building in Lahore to learn that the news were true.

Between two and three o'clock the body had been washed and had been put in its shroud. The body was brought from the first storey of the house of Dr Mohammad Hussein Shah sahib to the courtyard. At that place Molvi Nuruddin (ra) read the funeral prayer for the first time in the company of many Ahmadis. After that many Ahmadis and non Ahmadis came to pay their respects. Around four o'clock the body was carried on Ahmadis shoulders to the train station. Members of the household, close friends and the khuddams left Lahore on the train leaving at 6.45 p.m. They arrived at Batala around ten o'clock at night. Around two o'clock members of the Jamaat carried the body on their shoulders to reach Qadian around 8 o'clock in the morning on 27 th May 1908 . For your information the distance between Batala and Qadian is around 23 miles. Hazrat Masih Maood used to walk this distance to proof check his first book Brahine Ahmadiyya in the beginning of the 1880s.

The body was not taken to his house. It was placed in a bungalow in his garden. Many members of the Jamaat were converging to Qadian from all direction in order to pay their last respects. Meanwhile the leading members of the Jamaat met and held counsel and they decided unanimously that Hazrat Molvi Nurud din sahib should be requested to undertake the heavy responsibility of leading the community. This request was conveyed to him in a document which bore the signatures of all the leading personalities of the Jamaat. When he read the document he reflected for a while. Then he said that he would give a reply after prayer. He performed ablutions and supplicated in two nafil prayers. Then he moved together with those who were with him to the garden where most members of the Jamaat were waiting for them. In the gathering Dr Mufti Mohammad Sadiq read the document which the members had presented to Hazrat Molvi Nurud din sahib. It read as follows:

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. We praise Him and we call down blessings on His Noble Messenger. All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds , and b less ings and peace be upon the seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, the Chosen One, and the Promised Messiah, the Seal of the friends of Allah.

According to the command of the Promised Messiah, peace be upon him, mentioned  in his testament, we Ahmadis whose signa­tures are appended   below   are sincerely convinced that the first of the migrants, Hazrat Haji Maulvi Hakeem Nurud Din Sahib, who is the most learned and most righteous of us all and is the most sincere and most long-standing friend of our departed leader, and who was declared by him as the best exemplar for us, as is indicated in his verse:

Che khush boudeh kar har zeh oummat Nouruddin boudeh

Hamein   boudeh gar har dil pour az noureh yaqin boudeh

Translation :

How fortunate would it be if everyone of the Community were like Nurud Din.

So would it be if everyone were filled with the light of faith;

should take the covenant of Ba'iat in the name of Ahmad from all members of the Ahmadiyya Community and from all new entrants into the Community. In future every command of Hazrat Maulvi Sahib would have the same authority for us as had the command of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, on whom be the peace and blessings of Allah.

Then   Hazrat Maulvi Nurud Din Sahib made the following response:

I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship save Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.

'Let there be from among you a party whose business it should be to invite to goodness, to enjoin equity, and to forbid evil'

Reflect on my previous life. I have never desired to become the leader. I am well aware of my own condition, and my Lord is even better aware of it. I have not the slightest desire of occupying a place of honour in the world. My only desire is that my Lord and Master may be pleased with me. I supplicate for the fulfillment of this desire; and it is out of this desire that I took up my residence in Qadian and continue and will continue to reside here. I have spent many days considering anxiously what would be our situation after the death of Hazrat Sahib. That is why I have endeavoured that Mian Mahmud's education might be completed.

  There are three persons out of the close relatives of Hazrat. There is Mian Mahmud Ahmad, who is my brother and my son, and has a special relationship with me. Mir Nasir Nawab Sahib is worthy of respect on account of his relationship with Hazrat Sahib. The third one is Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan Sahib. Then out of the members of the Movement there are Syed Muhammad Ashsan Sahib, who is extremely able and is a descendant of the Holy Prophet. He has served the faith in a manner that puts a person like me to shame. In his old age he has written several books in support of Hazrat Sahib. This is a service that is special to him. Then there is Maulvi Muhammad Ali Sahib who is performing such service as is beyond my imagination. All these people are resident in Qadian. From among people outside there are Syed Hamid Shah and Maulvi Ghulam Hasan, and several others.

  This is a heavy responsibility and a dangerous one. It can be discharged only by one who is divinely commissioned, for such a one is supported with wonderful promises of God which serve as a support against back-breaking hardships. At this time it is necess­ary that all of us, men and women, should be united. For the maintenance of such unity enter into a covenant with any of those I have named, I shall be with you. I am weak and am in indifferent health and do not possess the appropriate temperament. It is not easy to discharge such a heavy responsibility.... You may con­sider it easy, but it is very difficult for the one who has to carry the burden. I call God to witness that if you elect any of those whom I have named, I shall be ready to make the covenant with him along with all of you.

If you insist upon making the covenant with me then bear in mind that ba'iat means to be sold. On one occasion Hazrat Sahib indicated to me that I should put the thought of my home out of my mind. Thereafter my entire honour and all thinking became attached to him and I have never thought of my home. Thus, ba'iat is a difficult matter. A person who makes ba'iat gives up all his freedom and high flights for the sake of another. That is why God Almighty has called His creatures His servants. The burden of this servitude is difficult to carry for oneself. How can one carry it for others? Keeping in view the difference of temperaments, great courage is needed for the establishment of unity. I have always wondered at the enterprise of Hazrat Sahib. He enjoyed indifferent health and carried a heavy burden of writing in prose and verse and of several other important projects. I am of about the same age as he was, but he enjoyed the daily support of God and my condition is not worth mentioning. This is why God Almighty has said: 'You became like brethren by His grace' (3: 104). All this depends upon divine grace.... Remember that all good proceeds from unity.

Now, in whichever direction your minds may be inclined you will have to obey my orders. If this is acceptable to you I would be willing to carry this burden willy nilly. A community that has no chief is already dead.”(Ahmadiyyat, The Renaissance of Islam p 186-188)

All those present accepted him as their new Leader. Then he led the funeral prayer of the Promised Messiah who was then buried in the heavenly graveyard ( bahishti maqbara ).

During his last days the Promised Messiah also received the following revelations:

•  For those who believe and act righteously are gardens beneath which rivers flow

•  Be not afraid O believers

•  I shall stand with My Messenger( Tazkira   p 410)

This is a very brief account of what happened in the History of Jamaat Ahmadiyya one hundred years ago. According to mainstream Ahmadiyya beliefs, the death of the Founder of the Jamaat ushered in khilafat within the Jamaat. Incha Allah in the coming weeks I will speak more about the system of khilafat and what has been its evolution within the Jamaat. As you are already aware I have been saying this for the past eight months that Ahmadis have perverted their beliefs about khilafat. The leaders of the Ahmadis have led them to believe that since they have a system of khilafat they are no longer in need of Allah's Guidance if there are any. They say their system of khilafat is eternal. We have been saying in the light of what Allah has taught us that they are wrong in these beliefs. They have taken meanings that they were not given. They want Ahmadis to believe that Hazrat Masih has said that qudrat sania means khilafat and that the other persons who would come mean caliphs of the Jamaat Ahmadiyya. This is only part of the truth but not the whole truth.

More incha Allah next time.