MAGAZINE: EDITION SEPTEMBER 2024
Religious Concepts

Gems of the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi (as) – Worship as a Formality

Portrait of the Promised Messiah (as) & Imam Mahdi (Guided One), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as)

Some people go to the mosques to offer their prayers and observe other fundamental principles of Islam, yet Allah’s support and succour does not accompany them. There is no palpable change in their morals and habits. This shows that they are following a routine of rituals.

There is no substance in them because compliance with Allah’s commandments is like sowing a seed. It influences both the body and the soul. After watering and sowing with meticulous hard work, if nothing sprouts after a few weeks, then one has to admit that the seed was bad. A similar concept applies to the worship of Allah. If a person believes in the oneness of God, performs salat, observes the fasts, and seemingly follows the commandments of God, but no exclusive help from God Almighty is bestowed upon him, then one must admit that the seed he is sowing is itself bad. 

It was through these prayers that many became qutb [saints] and abdal [spiritual guiding stars]. For you, despite offering the same prayers, no impact is evident. [1] It is a basic principle that when you use a medicine yet do not feel any improvement from it, you would have to admit that the medicine was not effective. The same is the case for salat.

بر کریمان کارہا دشوار نیست

‘Nothing is difficult for the brave.’


ENDNOTES

1. From Badr: Thus, ponder over that it was this salat which made people qutb and ghaus [Saints]. And you are still on the basest level. What is the matter? (Badr, Vol. 7, No. 1, p. 7, dated 9 January 1908).

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat – Volume X (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2022), 54-55.