After reciting Tashahhud, Ta‘awwuz and Surah al-Fatihah, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad(aba) said that he has been mentioning the Holy Prophet’s (sa) teachings about gratitude along with his own example in this regard. He began by explaining how God’s true servant, the Promised Messiah(as), understood and emulated these teachings of gratitude, setting an example and expectations for us today.
His Holiness(aba) quoted the Promised Messiah(as), who wrote that when a person reaches a certain rank, he becomes arrogant, whereas that is an opportunity to perform virtuous deeds and benefit humanity at large. God says in the Holy Qur’an: ‘If you are grateful, I will, surely, bestow more favours on you; but if you are ungrateful, then know that My punishment is severe indeed.’ (The Holy Qur’an, 14:8). In other words, ingratitude to Allah the Almighty can result in Him taking away the blessings which He has bestowed.
His Holiness(aba) quoted the Promised Messiah(as) who wrote: ‘First and foremost is to be grateful to Allah who gave us life, health, vigour, peace, and provided the means for the propagation of the faith. And, in reality, the truth is verily that if one were to try and enumerate these bounties of God Almighty, it would be absolutely impossible for us to count the favours and blessings of Allah.’ (Malfuzat, English Translation, Vol. 10, p. 491)
His Holiness(aba) continued quoting the Promised Messiah(as), who writes that when a person ponders over the faith which God has bestowed and how it safeguards against evil and disorder of every kind, then they will realise that Allah alone is worthy of all praise and that in comparison no human being is worthy of such praise. One can be truly worthy of praise when they create from nothing, provide all that is necessary, safeguard against calamities, and reward hard work. These are all qualities of the highest order which can make one worthy of praise. In light of these qualities, only Allah is deserving of true praise.
His Holiness(aba) continued by quoting the Promised Messiah(as), who wrote:
‘O wise ones! Marvel not that God Almighty has sent down a Heavenly Light during this time of need and within these days of intense darkness, having designated a servant for the universal good, and sent him into the world for the purpose of [demonstrating] the supremacy of the message of Islam, promoting the light of the Best of Mankind [the Holy Prophet(sa)], and to help the Muslims as well as to purify their inner condition. Rather, astonishment would have been applicable in the event that that God – who is the Defender of the faith of Islam and who had promised that He would forever remain the Guardian of the Qur’anic teaching and would never allow it to grow cold, lifeless, or lightless – had kept silent upon seeing this darkness, gazing upon mischief, internal and external, all the while forgetting that promise of His which He had affirmed so emphatically in His Holy Word! I say it again, if there were an occasion for surprise, it would be that the clear and explicit prophecy of that Holy Messenger went unfulfilled, in which it had been stated that God Almighty would continue to raise a servant of such [exalted] calibre at the head of every century who would revive His Religion. So this is no occasion for surprise. On the contrary, it is an occasion for rendering thousands upon thousands of thanks, and it is a time to strengthen one’s faith and conviction that God Almighty, through His grace and mercy, fulfilled His promise and did not allow even a minute’s delay in the prophecy of His Messenger. He not only fulfilled this prophecy, but also opened the door to thousands of prophecies and miracles in the future. If you possess faith, be grateful and perform prostrations of gratitude, for you have chanced upon the epoch in whose eager anticipation your noble forefathers passed away, and in whose very yearning countless souls departed from this life. It now lies within your hand to appreciate it or not as well as to benefit from it or not. I shall proclaim it time and time again – the declaration of which I cannot refrain from – that I am the very one who was sent at the appointed time for the reformation of mankind so that the Faith might be firmly planted afresh within the hearts.’ (The Victory of Islam, pp. 7-10)
I say it again, if there were an occasion for surprise, it would be that the clear and explicit prophecy of that Holy Messenger went unfulfilled, in which it had been stated that God Almighty would continue to raise a servant of such [exalted] calibre at the head of every century who would revive His Religion. So this is no occasion for surprise. On the contrary, it is an occasion for rendering thousands upon thousands of thanks, and it is a time to strengthen one’s faith and conviction that God Almighty, through His grace and mercy, fulfilled His promise and did not allow even a minute’s delay in the prophecy of His Messenger. He not only fulfilled this prophecy, but also opened the door to thousands of prophecies and miracles in the future. If you possess faith, be grateful and perform prostrations of gratitude, for you have chanced upon the epoch in whose eager anticipation your noble forefathers passed away, and in whose very yearning countless souls departed from this life. It now lies within your hand to appreciate it or not as well as to benefit from it or not.
I shall proclaim it time and time again – the declaration of which I cannot refrain from – that I am the very one who was sent at the appointed time for the reformation of mankind so that the Faith might be firmly planted afresh within the hearts.’ (The Victory of Islam, pp. 7-10)
His Holiness(aba) continued quoting the Promised Messiah(as), who wrote: ‘Be thankful to God that He has come to our aid precisely at the time of need and has established this dispensation. Therefore, it behoves you not to waste away this bounty that has been conferred upon you and regard it with honour; give value to the help and succour that has been given to you.
Bear well in mind that without the support of God, and unless He enables one to speak, no individual can expound any matter with full strength in a rightful manner. Without this, a person simply cannot find the proper arguments and is unable to speak in an effective way. It is also due to the special grace of God that through such a manner of exposition, those people who possess the faculty of goodness within can recognise the person who speaks with the power and strength of God, filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is a magnificent favour of God Almighty upon you that He conferred this faculty upon you and gave you eyes with which to recognise the truth. If He had not blessed you in this manner, just as others are covered in veils and hurl abuse, you too would have been among them. It is the sheer grace of God that has brought you.
For example, just look at Miyan Abdul-Haqq. If the grace of God had not come to help him, how could he have left his life of luxury, especially when many people advised him and urged him not to visit Qadian? In fact, one of them even swore, even though cursing is forbidden in their religion and is against the dictates of civility and decency as well. But the grace of God overcame all of these things and drew him towards us. The causes that lead to evil simply did not arise before him; otherwise, if he had married among those people, this would have put him in trial. However, God saved him in every way. The grace of God cannot be received through human designs. When God bestows His bounty upon someone, they are saved in every way. Do not think that it is enough that we are Muslims. Islam is a magnificent bounty, so cherish it and be grateful for it. It possesses a philosophy which cannot be truly realised by mere lip service.’ (Malfuzat, English Translation, Vol. 4, pp. 250-251)
His Holiness(aba) further quoted the Promised Messiah(as) who wrote: ‘At this juncture, I cannot proceed without mentioning and expressing gratitude for the fact that the grace and bounty of God Almighty has not left me alone. Those who build the bond of brotherhood with me and enter this movement, which God Almighty has established with His own hand, are adorned with the hues of love and loyalty in a wonderful manner. It was not through any effort of mine, but out of His own special favour that God Almighty gifted me these souls brimming with sincerity.
First of all, I find a fervent desire in my heart to mention a spiritual brother of mine whose name – like the nur [light] of his sincerity – is Nooruddin [i.e. ‘the Light of the Faith’]. I gaze constantly with intense longing upon the various religious services that he is rendering by spending out of his lawfully acquired wealth for the propagation of the message of Islam. Alas! Would that those services could be carried out by me as well! As I envision the burning zeal that overflows in his heart to serve the Faith, the illustration of divine power appears before my eyes as to how He draws His servants to Himself. He stands ever ready to obey God and His Messenger with all his wealth, all his strength, and all his resources. Moreover, I hold this knowledge as factually true through personal experience – not from merely thinking well [of others] – that he hesitates not to sacrifice even up to his life and honour for my cause, not to mention his wealth. Had I permitted, he would have sacrificed everything in this cause in order to – much like his spiritual fellowship – fulfil the duty of physical fellowship and remaining in my company at all times.’ (The Victory of Islam, pp. 30-31)
His Holiness(aba) continued quoting the Promised Messiah(as) who writes: ‘Worthy of infinite praise and adoration is the Mighty Lord who demonstrated His great power by creating all souls and bodies through His command and decree, without any preexisting matter or substance and who manifested the sign of His eternal grace by imparting knowledge to, and perfecting the morals of, all the noble prophets without the agency of a teacher or mentor.
Holy is Allah, the Gracious and Beneficent, who gave us poor mortals, without any merit of our own, all that we needed. For our physical sustenance, He appointed the sun, the moon, the clouds and the winds. And to satisfy our spiritual needs, He sent down the Torah, the Gospels, the Quran and all other heavenly Books at their appropriate times. Countless thanks be to You, O Allah, for guiding us to the path that leads to You, and for saving us from errors of thought and reason by sending down Your Holy Books. We invoke blessings on the Chief of Prophets, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (sa) [the Chosen One], on his progeny and on his companions. Through him, God guided an entire world that had lost its way to the right path. He was the teacher and the benefactor who led misguided people back to the right path; the benevolent and compassionate one who delivered people from shirk [polytheism] and the curse of idols; the light and the disseminator of light who illumined the world with the light of Tauhid [oneness of God]; the healer and physician who enabled ailing hearts to tread the path of righteousness; the noble miracle-worker who revived the dead with the elixir of life; the merciful and compassionate one who suffered pain and sorrow for his Ummah; the valiant and the brave one who rescued us from the jaws of death; the humble and selfless one who bowed his head before his Lord in total submission and completely annihilated his self; the perfect believer in the oneness of God and the ocean of knowledge who was overawed by nothing except the majesty of God and saw everything beside Him as worthless; and the miracle of divine power who, despite being unlettered, surpassed all in respect of divine knowledge and brought home to all nations the errors and mistakes from which they suffered.’ (Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya – Part I, English Translation, pp. 25-26)
His Holiness(aba) further quoted the Promised Messiah(as) who wrote: ‘O Lord of all the worlds! It is beyond me to offer You gratitude for all Your favours. You are most Merciful and Compassionate, and the bounties that You have conferred upon me are countless. Forgive me my sins, lest I be ruined. Fill my heart with sincere love for You, so that I may receive life. Cover my faults and allow me to perform such deeds which become the source of Your pleasure. I seek refuge in Your noble countenance lest Your punishment befall me. Have mercy and save me from the calamities of this world and the hereafter. For all grace and compassion is in Your hand. Ameen, and again, Ameen.’ (Malfuzat, English Translation, Vol. 1, p. 241)
His Holiness(aba) then further quoted the Promised Messiah(as) who states: ‘Thousands upon thousands of thanks be to that Benevolent Lord, who has bestowed upon us a religion which is such a means of attaining the knowledge of God and the fear of God, the like of which has never been found in any age; and thousands of blessings be upon that immaculate Prophet through whom we entered this holy religion; and thousands of mercies be bestowed upon the Companions of the Noble Prophet who irrigated this garden with their blood.’ (Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya – Part V, English Translation, p. 43)
His Holiness(aba) said that the Promised Messiah(as) instilled these same lessons about gratitude in his home by once telling a story to his children. He said there was once a bald man and a blind man. An angel went to the bald man and asked him what he wished for. He replied by saying he wished to have hair and wealth. The angel passed his hand over the bald man’s head, causing hair to grow, and he was given wealth. The angel went to the blind man and asked what he wished for. The blind man replied by saying he wished to be able to see and to be given wealth. The angel placed his hands over the blind man’s eyes, causing his sight to be restored, and he was given wealth. The same angel then returned as a beggar and asked the formerly bald man for help, but the man turned him away. So, the angel passed his hand over his head once more, causing him to lose all his hair and his wealth. Then the angel went to the formerly blind man in the form of a beggar and asked him for help, to which the man replied that everything he had was from God, and so the beggar could take whatever of his wealth he wished. This pleased God, and he granted the man even more wealth. Thus, the Promised Messiah(as) taught his children that gratitude to God results in being granted more by God.
His Holiness(aba) said that the Promised Messiah(as) stated that when Ramadan falls in the winter months, it is a blessing from God because the fasts are less physically taxing and more work can be done during the day even while fasting. The Promised Messiah(as) saw even this as a blessing and brimmed with gratitude to God.
His Holiness(aba) said that the Promised Messiah(as) would also be grateful if someone were doing something beneficial for humanity. For example, he expressed that Hazrat Hakim Maulvi Nooruddin(ra), who was a physician, was a blessing from God because he helped remove people’s pain. Thus, not only would he express gratitude to him, but he would also express gratitude to God for bestowing the ability on him to help humanity.
His Holiness(aba) said that he would continue speaking on this subject in the future.
His Holiness(aba) said that he would lead the funeral prayer in absentia for the following deceased members.
Hafiz Shahbaz Ahmad, who was a missionary in Ivory Coast. He is survived by his wife and daughter. He was very hospitable, kind, sociable, devoted to Khilafat and devoted to serving the faith. He was extremely patient and never became a burden upon others. He was passionate about propagating the message of Islam and Ahmadiyyat. He worked very hard and diligently. His wife says that he was a virtuous and devoted missionary, husband and father. He always asked for prayers so he could render great service to the Community. He never expressed any sign of worry. He was very wise and perceptive. He had established strong bonds and connections with people in his area. He would quietly help those in need. He taught many children to recite the Holy Qur’an.
Yaringana Momini from Burkina Faso. He was working in the fields when terrorists opened fire upon him, leading to his martyrdom. He loved Khilafat deeply and was extremely sincere. He was devoted to worship and loved the Holy Qur’an. He was always obedient to Khilafat. He possessed many great and esteemed qualities. He was often the first one in the mosque and would recite the Holy Qur’an there. Those passing by his home could hear his recitation of the Holy Qur'an. He always attended community programmes, even when he felt unwell. He was regular in offering financial contributions. He is survived by two wives and thirteen children. His Holiness(aba) prayed that may Allah grant him forgiveness and mercy.
Yahya Sumare of Mali. He was in the army. One day, as he emerged to check on other soldiers, terrorists opened fire, resulting in his martyrdom. He was due to receive the Medal of Honour and was going to be promoted. He accepted Ahmadiyyat in 2022 after attending the Jalsa Salana (Annual Convention). His wife says he was an exemplary husband and excellent father who took care of their needs. He was very loving and respectful to his parents and took care of their needs as well. He had a cheerful personality. He was regular in worship and possessed many excellent moral qualities. Despite being a new convert, he was extremely devoted to the Promised Messiah(as) and Khilafat. Upon seeing the outpouring of love upon his son’s demise, his father also accepted Ahmadiyyat.
Sirajul Haq Qureshi was the Naib Afsar Jalsa Salana in Rabwah. He served the Community in various capacities. He also served as a professor in various schools. He worked with great responsibility. He is survived by two daughters and two sons. His Holiness(aba) prayed that may Allah grant him forgiveness and mercy.
Nawal Tayyab from Nigeria, who was serving as a local missionary. He endured severe injuries after falling off a ladder whilst adjusting a satellite dish in order to take part in the two-way streaming of the Jalsa Salana UK. He was unable to recover from his injuries. He is survived by his parents, wife, and 11-month-old daughter. He was a very humble and active worker. He fulfilled his duties in an excellent manner. He was a very responsible and caring son who always tended to his parents’ needs. His wife says that he practised what he preached and was loved by all. His Holiness(aba) prayed that may Allah grant him forgiveness and mercy.
Master Ghafoor Ahmad, who was residing in Canada. He was regular in offering prayers, devoted to Khilafat and possessed many virtuous qualities. He quietly helped those in need. He was regular in offering financial contributions. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and five sons. One of his sons, Naeem Iqbal, is serving as the Amir and Missionary In-charge in Fiji and could not attend his father’s funeral due to being in the field of service. His Holiness(aba) prayed that may Allah grant him patience and may Allah grant forgiveness and mercy to the deceased.
Summary prepared by The Review of Religions
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