The following was originally published in the November-December 1903 edition of The Review of Religions with the title ‘A Few Words of Advice to My Followers’.
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My followers, may the Almighty God be with you. May He prepare you for your pilgrimage to the next world as He prepared the companions of the Holy Prophet (sa). The desires of this world are all vain. Cursed is the man whose life is given up solely to the world and woe to him who is all in all taken up with its anxieties. Such a one in vain calls himself my follower; he is like the dry branch that will bear no fruit and will, therefore, be cut off; But be ye of those who are blessed because they enter with all their heart into the spirit of my teaching and are saved.
Look upon your God as One, and do not ascribe to Him any partner, either in heaven or in earth. You are not forbidden to make use of means, but he who forsakes God and trusts to his means solely, sets up others with Him in whom should be all your trust. Almighty God has been saying of old by the mouth of His prophets that none will be saved except the pure in heart. Purify yourselves therefore, and purge your hearts of spite and hatred which is not for God. The disobedient spirit is full of impurities but the worst of all is vanity, for it is the root from which infidelity springs.
Sympathise with your fellow-beings whom you invite to a heavenly life, for how can your invitation be true if you do them evil in this transitory life? Obey all orders of your God with fear of heart, for you will be questioned as to them. Let your prayers be full of humble supplications to God that He may draw you to Himself and purify your hearts. Man is a weak creature and he cannot get rid of evil except with divine help. He has not the power to free himself from the bondage of sin except power be granted to him from heaven. The utterance of a few words or a formal subscription to the faith does not make you a true Muslim. Islam requires you to bow down in complete submission to the divine will and to prostrate yourselves at the divine threshold, so as to give a preference to God and His commandments over everything else.
My dear friends! Know it for certain that time has reached its end and a great change has taken place in the world. Do not deceive yourselves with forms and appearances, but be perfect in the righteousness of your hearts. Make the Qur’an your guide and obtain light from it in every religious matter. But at the same time do not discard the traditions of the Holy Prophet (sa) as waste, for they are of great importance and much labour has been spent in their collection. But if a tradition contradicts the Qur’an, it does not proceed from a pure source and must be thrown away. The Qur’an has been handed down to you with special divine protection, therefore value the pure word of God and give it precedence over everything else, for in this lies righteousness and uprightness of heart.
It should be borne in mind that the efficacy of a preacher’s words depends upon the sanctity and divine knowledge which he is known to possess. Now Almighty God has furnished thousands of arguments for the truth of my claim so that all men may know that the person who invites them to the path of righteousness, possesses the highest divine knowledge. As to my righteousness, there is none who can lay any blame to my charge or accuse me of fabrication, lying or cheating during my former life. Had my conduct been impeachable in the past, there would have been some ground to assert that I was an impostor in my present claim. But there is none who can assert that my former life was in any way blamable.
It is the grace of God that He gave me the power to walk in righteousness from my early days, and for him who thinks there is a shining argument in this. As to my claim, full light has been thrown on every side of it. All sorts of arguments necessary for establishing the truth of my claim have been manifested by God. Signs have appeared for me upon heaven as well as on earth. All the prophets from the beginning gave the glad tidings of my advent and all those prophecies have been fulfilled in my person. It is impossible that these manifold arguments should have been manifested for an impostor. Nay, the scriptures bear a clear testimony that the impostor is soon cut off and disgrace is brought upon his head and he is destroyed from the face of the earth. But my claim of having been sent by God has been published for more than twenty-three years, as is clear from the first part of the Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya.
Are these the ways of God, or has it ever occurred, that He should not bring down His wrath upon the impudent and wicked impostor who appears with a new revelation every morning which he calls the word of God, whereas it is all his own fabrication, and continues these arrogant assertions for the long period of 23 years? Nay, is it possible that instead of destroying such an arrogant blasphemer, God should bestow on him His assistance, which He gives to the righteous and show signs and fulfil prophecies for him? Can anyone point out any false claimant to messiahship before me for whom any such wonderful prophecy was fulfilled as that relating to the eclipse of the sun and the moon related in the Holy Qur’an and authentic traditions, or who was raised in the beginning of the century which according to trustworthy traditions is the time of the appearance of a true reformer, or who was raised with a claim to break the cross when it was in the zenith of its power, or who was assisted by God in every step, or who showed hundreds of thousands of heavenly signs, or who was given honour and acceptance like me on the face of the earth, or who had hundreds of prophecies fulfilled for him, or who appeared at the appointed hour as foretold by all the prophets, or whose prayers were accepted in the same manner as mine are, or whose words had the efficacy to draw men out of evil, and that Almighty God favoured him with all these blessings notwithstanding his persistent imposture during a long period?
It is a most certain fact that the promise which had been given of old by the prophets of God has now been fulfilled. It is the final struggle between the messenger of God and the arch-fiend. This is the time and hour which was foretold by Daniel. I came as a grace of God for the seekers after truth but I was laughed at. Base appellations were hurled at me and I was called a heretic and the Antichrist and I was numbered with the wicked. But it was necessary that all this should have happened so that the prophecy contained in the last verse of the Fatihah [opening chapter of the Holy Qur’an] should have been fulfilled. It was necessary that the religious leaders of the people should have denied me and thus acquired a resemblance with the Jewish priests. The whole blame of my rejection by the Muslims is upon the shoulders of their leaders who have led them astray. Not only are they themselves falling away from the path of righteousness, but they are also diverting the ignorant people from it. What machinations and artful means are they devising against me, but will they overcome God? Can they prevent the Almighty from accomplishing His object made known to the world by the mouth of His prophets? They themselves and all those whom they trust are but worms in the eye of God.
Let the whole world bear witness that I prophesy in the name of the Lord of earth and heaven that He will spread my followers in all countries and make them overcome every other people by reasons and arguments. The days are approaching and are very near when the religion preached by me, will be the only religion that will be regarded with honour upon the face of the earth. Almighty God will bless this religion and this system in a wonderful manner, and will bring to naught everyone who thinks of destroying it. The victory which it will gain will be a lasting victory and its supremacy will continue to the end of days. It matters little if I am scorned now, for there is no prophet who was not laughed at.
It was necessary that the Promised Messiah should have been laughed at, for says the Holy Qur’an:
يَٰحَسۡرَةً عَلَى ٱلۡعِبَادِ ۚ مَا يَأۡتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُواْ بِهِۦ يَسۡتَهۡزِءُونَ
‘Alas, for the people, no apostle comes to them but they laugh him to scorn.’ (36:31)
Everyone that comes from God ought, therefore, to be laughed at and scorned. But it is impossible that men should laugh at a man who descends from heaven before their eyes and is accompanied by hosts of angels. Every sensible person can see from this that the descent of the Messiah from heaven is an absurd and false theory. Bear in mind that no one will ever descend from heaven. All those who oppose me will die, but they will not see the Messiah coming down from heaven. Their children will then pass away without witnessing the descent of the son of Mary (as). The children of their children will also pass away but they too will not witness such a strange sight. Then the upholders of this theory will be confounded, for the time of the supremacy of the cross will have passed away and the world will have entered a new era, but Jesus (as) will not come down from heaven. All sensible men will then feel an aversion to such a belief.
The third century from this day shall not have passed away when all those who look for the descent of Jesus (as) from heaven, whether Christians or Muhammadans, will be despaired of him and will forsake the false belief which is now so fondly cherished. Then will there be one religion in the world and one leader. I have been sent to sow a seed and I have sown it. It will now grow and bear flowers and fruit in due season. There is none who can uproot it.
My friends, do not grieve for the attacks of those who follow the faith of Swami Dayanand for the pang is but momentary which is brought about by the venom of their attacks. They are utterly ignorant of the unity of God and utterly devoid of spirituality. They carp at the prophets of God and abuse them, and their great object is to heap up objections with Satanic insinuations, but they have not the spirit which leads to piety and righteousness. But bear in mind that no religion which is devoid of spirituality can prosper; nay, it does not deserve to be called a religion. The religion is dead which has no spirituality, no divine revelation, no spirit of faithfulness and sincerity and no heavenly magnetism, and which cannot effect a supernatural transformation in a man’s life.
Hundreds of thousands of those now living will see with their eyes how it disappears from the face of the earth, for it is earthly and not from heaven, and it speaks of the things of this earth and not of those of heaven. Be happy and exceedingly glad, for God is with you. If you remain firm in your faith and sincerity, the angels will instruct you in heavenly truths and you will feel the divine presence. Then will you be assisted with the holy spirit and God will be with you in every step that you take, and no one will have the power to vanquish you.
Wait patiently for the grace of God. Be silent when you are abused and be patient when you are beaten, and so far as lies in your power forbear the evil that is done to you, so that your names might be written down upon heaven among those that have an acceptance in the sight of God. Know it for certain that God is with those who fear Him, and whose hearts tremble because of the divine majesty and awe. The enemies of such men are the enemies of God. The world does not see the righteous but God, Who knows everything, sees His faithful servant and protects him from his enemies with His own hand. Is it not true that if a man loves you sincerely and obeys you and forsakes everything for your sake, you also love him and regard him as your dearest friend? If, being men, you return love for love, will not He, Who is your Creator and Master, love you and bestow His favours upon you? God knows well who is His faithful servant and who is disloyal to Him and a lover of the world. If you are faithful to Him as He wishes you to be, and are ready to sacrifice all your interests for His sake, then will the divine hand surely give you an eminent distinction over other people.
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