Khilafat

Ahmadiyya Khilafat Centenary Message

The formal message addressed to the worldwide membership of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam by Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V, on the Centenary of Khilafat in Ahmadiyya, 27th May 2008.

My dear Members of the Community,

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu

(Peace be upon you with the mercy of Allah and His blessings)

Today [the 27th May, 2008] one hundred years of Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya have come to their completion. This day draws our thoughts to the history of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, spread over a period of more than one hundred years, as well as of the time when according to the prophecy of the Holy Prophet(saw), a chosen servant of Allah, by His command, made the announcement on March 1889 about the foundation of this holy community. The objectives of his mission and that of the establishment of the Community were to establish the relationship between God and man, to teach mankind to submit to one God, to strive for establishing Tauhid (Unity of Allah) in the world, and, having united all the nations of the world into one Ummah (Community), to gather the whole mankind under the banner of the Holy Prophet(saw) and draw the attention of mankind to recognise and respect the mutual rights of man. The person whom God, having bestowed on him the titles of the Imam, the Messiah and the Mahdi, had sent to the world, successfully carried out his mission with the support and help of Allah for almost nineteen years – since the foundation of the Community and the first Bai‘at (Pledge of Allegiance) in 1889 until 1908 when he passed away – in spite of all kinds of opposition and unfavourable circumstances with such expeditiousness that every adversary who opposed this Champion of Allah suffered ignominy and disgrace.

According to the laws of Allah, everyone who comes to this world has at last to leave it – and that person, the chosen servant of Allah and the true lover of the Holy Prophet(saw), always remained, in accordance with the Sunnah (practice) of his Master(saw), eager to meet his most Exalted Friend. Almighty Allah Who had sent this servant of His as Imam Akhiruzzman (the Promised) Imam of the latter days, while indicating to him that the time of his death was approaching, consoled him by assuring him that though his end was near, yet [He would not let his mission remain unfulfilled], because in accordance with His proclamation He had Himself raised him as the Imam of the latter days:

“So my dear one, O you who are extremely anxious for the establishment of My Tauhid  in the world and the sovereignty of My beloved Prophet(saw), do not worry about how your mission will be fulfilled after your death. Remember that according to the prophecy of the Holy Prophet(saw), which is endorsed by Me, Khilafat in the precepts of Prophethood will be established and will last till the end of the world. Thus after you pass away, it is this very institution of Khilafat by means of which I shall once again initiate the plan for the establishment and stability of My last Sharia in the world.”

Thus, after this reassurance by Almighty Allah, the Promised Messiah(as), addressing the Community, wrote:

“This is the Way of God. And since He created man on the earth He has always been demonstrating this Way by helping His Prophets and Messengers and granting them predominance, as He says: Allah has decreed: ‘Most surely I will prevail, I and My Messengers.’ (Ch.58:V.22), that is, God has ordained that He and His Prophets shall prevail. And by predominance is meant that, as Messengers and Prophets desire that God’s Hujjat (Will) is enforced on the earth and no one is able to oppose it, so in turn God with His powerful signs brings to light their (the Prophets) truthfulness as well as the truth which they (the Prophets) wish to propagate in the world and He lets them sow its seed with their own hands. However, He does not let it come to full fruition at their hands. Rather He causes them to die at such time as apparently forebodes a kind of failure and thereby He provides an opportunity for the opponents to laugh at, ridicule, taunt and reproach the Prophets. And when they have done all they could do in the way of ridicule and reproach, then He reveals a Second Hand of His Power and creates such means by which the objectives which had to some extent remained incomplete are fully realised.

Thus He manifests two kinds of Powers. First He shows the Hand of His Power at the hands of His Prophets themselves. Second at the time when, after the death of a Prophet, believers face difficulties and problems and the enemy gains force and thinks that now all is lost [as far as the mission of the Prophet is concerned], and is convinced that it is the time when the community [of the followers of the Prophet] will be wiped off the face of the earth, and even members of the community start dithering and plunge into despair, feeling so helpless, and a few of them who are unfortunate resort to apostasy, then God, for the second time, shows His Mighty Power and supports and takes care of the community which was about to fall. Thus a person, who remains steadfast till the end, sees this miracle of God. As it happened at the time of Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq(ra) when the death of the Holy Prophet(saw) was considered untimely and many ignorant Bedouins turned apostate. The companions(ra) of the Holy Prophet(saw), too, stricken with grief, became like those who lose their senses. Then Allah raised Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq(ra) and showed for the second time the manifestation of His Power and thus Islam, which was about to fall, was supported by Him and He fulfilled this promise of His which was given [in the verse]: And that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear. (Ch.24:V.56) That is, after the fear we shall firmly re-establish them.” (Risala Al-Wasiyyat, Ruhani Khazain Vol. 20, pp. 304-305)

Again, he wrote:

“So dear friends! Since it is the Sunnatullah (the way of Allah), from time immemorial, that God Almighty shows two Manifestations so that two false joys of the opponents be put to an end, it is not possible now that God should relinquish His old-established Sunnah. So do not grieve over what I have said to you; and nor should your hearts be distressed. For it is essential for you to witness the second Manifestation also, and its coming is better for you because it is everlasting the continuity of which will not end till the Day of Judgement. And that second Manifestation cannot come unless I depart. But when I depart, God will send this second Manifestation for you which shall always remain with you as it is promised by God in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya. And this promise is not for my person. Rather the promise is with reference to you, as God says: ‘I shall make this Community who are your followers, prevail over all others till the Day of Judgement.’ Thus it is inevitable that you see the day of my departure, so that after that day the day comes which is the day of ever-lasting promise. Our God is He Who keeps His promise and is Faithful and He is the Truthful God. He shall show you all that He has promised. Though these days are the last days of this world, and there are many a disaster waiting to happen, yet it is necessary that this world continues to exist until all those things about which God has prophesied come to pass. I came from God as Manifestation of His Power and I am the embodiment of God’s Power. And after I am gone there will be some other persons who will be the Manifestation of the second Power [of God]. So, while waiting for the second Manifestation of His Power, you should all together keep yourselves busy praying.” (Risala Al-Wasiyyat, Ruhani Khazain Vol. 20, pp. 305-306)

At last, as he, the Promised Messiah(as), had said, the time came when he passed away to rest in the Presence of Almighty Allah and the heart of each and every Ahmadi was filled with fear and grief. However, because of the prayers of the believers, the earth and the heaven once again witnessed the fulfilment of the promise (And that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear), as it had been witnessed many times earlier. The great revolution that the Promised Messiah(as) had brought about with his advent was willed by Almighty Allah to continue and be sustained through the great institution of Khilafat.

At the death of the Promised Messiah(as), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad wrote in the paper Wakil:

“That man, a very great man whose pen was magic and speech enchanting, the man who was the embodiment of the marvels of the mind – whose glance would cast a spell and whose voice was the clarion call of resurrection; one whose fingers were entangled with the live wires of revolution and whose fists were two charged batteries of electricity, the man who, for thirty years, caused an earthquake and storm in the world of religion; who sounded like the trumpet of doom and continued to awaken those who were deep in the slumber of mortal existence … The death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib Qadiani is not something from which one may not draw any lesson and consign it to the passage of time, and be content. The persons who bring about revolutions in the religious and intellectual world do not always appear. These great ‘sons’ of history, the pride of mankind, very rarely visit this world, and when they do so they depart from it only after having brought about a revolution in it.” (Wakil, Amritsar, Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol. 2, p. 560)

Thus, having made non-Ahmadis confess about this revolution with their tongues and pens, Almighty Allah showed that the Promised Messiah(as) had the special support and help of Allah.

But they did not realise that the Being who has extraordinary powers and works wonders and is the Almighty had promised that He would, through the bounty of Khilafat, continue the revolution brought about by the one who had the support and help of Allah. And the whole world witnessed the truth of this at the time of the election of Khilafat when Hadhrat Maulana Nur-ud-Din(ra) was elected as Khalifatul Masih I. In spite of the fact that the opponents of the Promised Messiah(as) were witnessing an organised and well-knit Community founded by the Promised Messiah(as), and in spite of the fact that they had witnessed the scene of the establishment of Khilafat, they tried, by an organised effort, to put an end to the Community – the Community which was established by God Almighty Himself and about which He had promised:

“Call to mind My bounty. I have planted for you (the tree of) My Mercy and My Power with My own Hand.” (Tadhkirah,p.428)

Thus, in accordance with this promise, they were defeated in their plan like always, even though they went so far in the ferocity of their enmity and opposition that one paper wrote:

“If anyone asks us, then we are ready to truly say that if it is at all possible for Muslims, they should throw the books of Mirza not into the oceans, but into a burning furnace. They should not end the matter here, but see to it that in the future no Muslim or non-Muslim historian mentions his name in the history of India or that of Islam.” (Wakil, Amritsar, 3rd June, 1908,Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol.3, pp. 205,206)

But today the history of Ahmadiyyat bears witness to the fact – and the whole world knows it – that no one remembers the erstwhile opponents of Ahmadiyyat. Yet by the blessing of Khilafat, Ahmadiyyat is flourishing in the world and millions of people devotedly profess Ahmadiyyat, or the true Islam. The enemies of Ahmadiyyat crossed the limits of their absurd talk so much so that one paper, Curzon Gazette, wrote the following to which Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I(ra) referred in his first speech of Jalsa Salana:

“Now nothing is left in Mirzaies. Their head has been cut off. One man who has been elected as their Imam is not capable of doing anything except that he would teach you (the Ahmadis) the Qur’an in a mosque.” (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyyat, Vol.3, p. 221)

Remarking on this, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih I(ra) said:

Subhanallah (Glory belongs to Allah) this is the most important task and has priority over all. May Allah grant me the opportunity to carry it out.’

Unfortunately some prominent members of the Community, too, did not appreciate the status of the office of Khilafat. Conspiracies continued to be hatched. But the tree planted by the hand of God continued to grow. According to the promise made by God to the Promised Messiah(as) the Community comprising small and devoted followers of the Promised Messiah(as) went on increasing and no effort to inflict loss on the Community could succeed.

When the time of the second Khilafat came, some prominent members of the Anjuman openly and resolutely opposed the Institution of Khilafat. But all such prominent people, overconfident and full of conceit as they were regarding their so-called knowledge, experienced and educated, could not match a young man of 25 years of age. Indeed such was his exalted station that no one could equal or surpass him with respect to his organising the Community, the organised expansion of its missionary work (Tabligh) by him, his moral and spiritual upbringing (Tarbiyyat) of the Community and the knowledge and deep insight of the Holy Qur’an he possessed.

Many a time the Community had to face great suffering and severe opposition, yet with the blessing of Khilafat it continued to successfully move forward. A close look at the fifty years of the Khilafat of Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II(ra) shows how remarkable and crowning were the achievements of this son of the Champion of Allah, the Promised Messiah(as).

After the death of Hadhrat Musleh Maud(ra) the world of Ahmadiyyat was once again plunged into fear, but Allah, according to His promise, having replaced that fear with security and peace within a few hours, bestowed on the Community the bright moon of the third appearance of the Second Manifestation of Divine power. In spite of the opposition of the then governments and in spite of the organised and united efforts of all Muslim sects (before and after the passing of a cruel law against Ahmadis), the caravan of Ahmadiyyat continued to advance, crossing the ever new landmarks of progress, one after the other, giving the message of love to the world, serving the poor of the impoverished nations, conveying to them the message of the Arab Prophet(saw) and gathering them under his banner.

Then the time came when according to the Divine decree Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih III(ru), too, departed from this world to meet his Creator. Once again internal and external disorders and mischief arose. But, in accordance with the Divine promise, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was consolidated and strengthened through the fourth Khilafat and every mischief petered out of existence.

Allah, the Almighty, destroyed those who put constraints on the Community under the provision of a cruel law and who claimed that they would once for all root out ‘the cancer of Ahmadiyyat.’ Because of this law, which had been passed by the government of Pakistan, the Khalifa of the time had to migrate. But this migration opened new vistas for the progress of Ahmadiyyat. Once again we saw the fulfilment of the promise made in ‘I have planted for you (the tree of) My Mercy and My Power with My own hand.’ Avenues for the missionary work of the Community were opened which had once looked like a remote possibility. During the time of the fourth Khilafat, through MTA, Allah fulfilled His promise to the Promised Messiah(as): “I shall carry your message to the ends of the world”, confounding the reason of man. If we look at our limited means and the way in which this channel began, then the words of Tasbih (Glorification) and Tahmid (Praise) of Almighty Allah naturally flow from our lips. Today, this channel has, from east to west, from north to south, silenced every opponent of Ahmadiyyat. Thus God revealed, through the MTA the voice of the man spreading the message of Truth to the homes of those who had wished to totally incapacitate the Khalifa of the time. Today, through it, the spiritual food (Maida) of the Ilm-e-Kalam of the Promised Messiah(as) (that is his teachings, his knowledge and his arguments in support of the truth of Islam and for the refutation of the tenets of other faiths and creeds) as well as that of the last Shariah of God Almighty – the Noble Qur’an – has reached every home with the grace of Allah.

In accordance with the law mentioned in the verse: All that is on it (earth) will pass away. (Ch.55:V.27), Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih IV(ru) passed away. And at the time of his death the whole world witnessed that the eyes of the MTA cameras relayed a scene through satellite to every home around the world. The scene was amazing both for Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis. Ahmadis rejoiced that Almighty God had replaced their fear with security and peace, and others wondered at how those people and that Community which they had been trying to destroy for hundred years had continued to prosper and progress. One opponent openly admitted, “I do not believe you to be in the right. But after having seen this, I have to confess that God by His actions has testified that He is with you.”

I am a humble person and am not very knowledgeable, yet, Allah the Almighty has united at my hand the whole Community. Everyday the relationship between me and the Community grows stronger and stronger. The world thought that perhaps I would not be able to look after the Community and that they would see the end of the Community for which they had been waiting for the last 100 years. But they forgot that this tree has been planted by God Almighty. No human being is responsible for planting it and making it flourish. Rather whatever is happening is happening because of the Divine promises and support. And Almighty Allah is fulfilling the promise made to the Promised Messiah(as) in the revelation:

“I am with you and with those whom you love.”

Thus, this is the Divine decree. This is the promise made by the very God Who does not make false promises – the promise that those dear ones of the Promised Messiah(as) who, in accordance with his injunction, have embraced the second Manifestation of the power of Allah, it is they who will gain supremacy over the world because God is with them. God is with us.

Today, 100 years of this second Manifestation of Allah’s Power (Khilafat) have come to their completion. And everyday we experience the fulfilment of the above mentioned promise made by Allah to the Promised Messiah(as) with a renewed glory, as I have mentioned above in the short historical account of the Community.

Thus, it is the obligation of each and every Ahmadi that by remaining attached to the Second Manifestation of Allah he or she should strive, mustering all his and her capacities, to fulfil the mission of the Promised Messiah(as). Today, we have to bring all of Christianity under the banner of the Holy Prophet(saw); we also have to bring the Jews under his banner and we have to bring all the Hindus and the followers of other religions, too, under his banner. We have also to unite all the Muslims of the world through attachment to the Khilafat Ahmadiyya at the hand of the Promised Messiah and Mahdi(as).

Ahmadis who live in all parts of the world or in any country! Hold fast to this fundamental objective which I have just mentioned above and fulfil the task which the the Promised Imam of the time, the Messiah and the Mahdi(as) has entrusted to you by the command of Allah. By stating that ‘this promise is about you’, the Promised Messsiah(as) has placed on us this great responsibility. And promises are fulfilled only when the conditions attached to them are observed.

Believers of the Masih-e-Muhammadi [The Messiah of Muhammad(saw)]! Dear ones of the Promised Messiah(as) and the flourishing branches of the tree of his being! Rise up! Be ready to make any sacrifice required for the further strengthening of Khilafat Ahmadiyya so that, by holding fast to the rope of Allah, you may spread, to the ends of the world, the message of the Holy Prophet(saw) the Master and Muta‘ (the obeyed one) of the Promised Messiah(as) with which Allah sent the Messiah of Muhammad(saw). Also convey the message to each and every person in the world that his or her survival depends on establishing a true relationship with the One and Only God and that the peace of the world depends on joining the Community of the Mahdi and the Messiah(as) because today he alone is the standard-bearer of the true Islamic teachings regarding peace and security, the example of which is not found on the surface of the earth. To fulfil the mission of the Messiah of Muhammad(saw) and to be united in faith in the Unity of God, can only be achieved today by remaining attached to Khilafat Ahmadiyya. It is this by which men of God will bring about a spiritual revolution in the world.

May Allah enable each Ahmadi to convey with firm faith this beautiful Truth to every individual in the world.

Wassalam

Humbly

(Mirza Masroor Ahmad)

Khalifatul Masih V