Note: The Alislam Team assumes full responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies in this translation of the Friday Sermon.

أَشْھَدُ أَنْ لَّا إِلٰہَ اِلَّا اللّٰہُ وَحْدَہٗ لَا شَرِیکَ لَہٗ وَأَشْھَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُہٗ وَ رَسُوْلُہٗ

أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَأَعُوْذُ بِاللّٰہِ مِنَ الشَّیْطٰنِ الرَّجِیْمِ- بِسْمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِیْنَ۔ اَلرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ۔ مٰلِکِ یَوْمِ الدِّیْنِ۔ اِیَّا کَ نَعْبُدُ وَ اِیَّاکَ نَسْتَعِیْنُ۔

اِھْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِیْمَ۔ صِرَاطَ الَّذِیْنَ اَنْعَمْتَ عَلَیْھِمْ غَیْرِالْمَغْضُوْبِ عَلَیْھِمْ وَلَاالضَّآلِّیْنَ۔

اَمَّنۡ یُّجِیۡبُ الۡمُضۡطَرَّ اِذَا دَعَاہُ وَیَکۡشِفُ السُّوۡٓءَ وَیَجۡعَلُکُمۡ خُلَفَآءَ الۡاَرۡضِ ءَاِلٰہٌ مَّعَ اللّٰہِ قَلِیۡلًا مَّا تَذَکَّرُوۡنَ۔(Al-Naml:63)

The translation of this verse is: Or, Who answers the cry of the distressed person when he calls upon Him, and removes the evil, and makes you successors in the earth? Is there a god with Allah? Little is it that you reflect.

The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) repeatedly exhorted the members of his Community to pay great attention to prayers, because the progress of the Community, the dominance of the Community, and deliverance from the schemes and actions of the enemies are to be attained only through prayers. He stated very clearly that our weapon for prevailing is prayer alone. (Taken from Malfuzat, Volume 5, page 303)

So when we are to see every progress through the blessing of prayers and we are to subdue every enemy through prayers, then keeping in view this importance of prayer, how much attention should we be paying to prayers, and how much attention are we paying to prayers for the achievement of this objective? Each one of us can estimate and assess this by looking at our own condition.

In recent days, a dear one related a dream to me in which I am saying to this dear one that Ramadan has ended very quickly. I still had to have more prayers offered by the Community. One aspect of attention in this can be, and certainly is, that the attention paid to prayers during Ramadan will not remain in the same way now, whereas the Community is in great need of prayers. Because even before hearing this dream, this impulse was in my heart, and Allah the Exalted had instilled it, that in the sermon after Ramadan I should also draw attention towards prayers. Therefore, this person's dream was also in support of my own attention. He further drew attention towards this matter. This is the way of Allah the Exalted that sometimes, instead of directly drawing attention clearly, He draws the attention of believers through other believers, even though He has already instilled it in the heart.

After Ramadan, we generally do not pay attention to prayers in this way; they do not have that intensity which they have during Ramadan. At this time, the conditions of the world, the conditions of the Muslim Ummah, especially the continuous oppressive attack of Israel on the Palestinians, in which until yesterday a temporary halt had been created, but today I have heard that the ceasefire that was in place has ended, and the blame in any case is being placed — Allah knows the reality best — that rockets were first fired from the side of the Palestinians. In any case, may Allah bring about some such situation that this ceasefire becomes permanent and the oppression ends. And then we also see that the oppression of Muslims upon one another and beheading and bloodshed and pillaging has also reached its extreme. And then the extremity of oppression by these reciters of the kalimah is that in the name of Allah and the Messenger they are oppressing Ahmadis and they want to continue this oppression with shamelessness, and they also look for pretexts to continue it, and statements are also issued. At every level and on every occasion, tormenting Ahmadis and oppressing them has now become the habit of the majority, or a very large number, of non-Ahmadis in Pakistan under the influence of the mullah. And this poison is being injected into the next generation, into the children as well. Their minds are being poisoned. These words now also come out of the mouths of these children who do not even know what religion is or what is not, or what enmity is and what is not — that Ahmadis are disbelievers and that it is permissible to kill them. In schools, children misbehave with Ahmadi teachers on the grounds that this one is an Ahmadi, say whatever you want to him. Actions are taken to expel them from schools. They are refused to be taught by. Just in recent days in a small place in a village, children and their parents took out a procession against a teacher and went on strike saying that we will not study under him. He is a Qadiani. Presumably the headmaster or some person of understanding said to them that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had said even regarding prisoners of war that they would be released on the condition that if the education you have, the reading and writing that you know, you teach to the Muslims, you will be given freedom from captivity. Although this was said to those people who had come into the war with the intention of finishing off the Muslims. Upon this the people of this village said that fine, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) may have said this to the disbelievers, but we will not accept it because these Qadianis are disbelievers greater than those disbelievers, and it is even permissible to kill them.

And this shamelessness does not diminish after any incident. It is not as though, after seeing such inhuman atrocities, any kind of feeling of shame is produced in them; rather, the same state remains. The very people who in Gujranwala were neighbours of our Ahmadi homes, and in ordinary circumstances there used to be conversation and visiting each other — when this incident happened, some among them were such that upon seeing the empty houses they also joined in the looting and plundering. When degradation reaches this extent, then nothing can be said except اِنَّا لِلّٰہ (indeed we belong to Allah), that now these people have arrived at their end. And in this period of trials, we need to turn towards Allah the Exalted more than before. So let no decrease come in your prayers. The rest of the Muslims settle their accounts by responding to oppression with oppression, but we have to end every oppression by drowning in lamentation and supplication. We have to end it by humbly beseeching Allah the Exalted in His presence. The Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him) said in one of his verses:

When the enemy increased in clamour and lamentation

We became hidden in the Hidden Beloved

(Al-Hakam, Volume 5, Number 45, dated 10 December 1901, page 3, column 2) (Durre Sameen Urdu, page 50, published by Nazarat Isha'at Rabwah)

So there is need to drown in the Hidden Beloved. There is need to create within ourselves that state which shakes the legs of the Throne. There is need to offer such prayers whose direction is one. They should not be scattered prayers. In the dream of this dear one, what is stated is that I am saying to him that I still had to have prayers offered by the Community. So having prayers offered by the Community collectively was for the successes and progress of the Community and for the removal of these difficulties. So when this is our wish, that this period of trial should end soon, then we need to direct the currents of our prayers, the currents of communal prayers, in that direction to be saved from the mischief of the enemy. We need to direct the currents of our prayers in that direction where we can be saved from the mischief of the enemy, and however many prayers we offer to be saved from his mischief is the need of these days.

On this occasion, an old dream of mine also came to my memory, which I have mentioned before once as well, that if conditions are to change quickly, then to save the Community from these trials, we need, collectively as a Community, to purify our conditions for the sake of Allah the Exalted, and purifying our prayers for this purpose, to bow before Him. And if we bow before Allah the Exalted in this state, and this state is produced in the whole Community, and our nights are spent in this state that we have to pray for the Community, then within a few days, with the prayers of a few nights, a revolution can come. Otherwise, the revolution is to come, the conditions are to change, but they will take their own time. This is the promise of Allah the Exalted that the conditions will change, Insha'Allah. In the message that was given to me, the condition was that the entire Community, which ascribes itself to the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), should pray with purity. At that time too, in the dream I had this impression that this message is for the Ahmadis of Pakistan.

So the Ahmadis of Pakistan, whether they are rich or poor, men or women, need to pay particular attention towards this, because in relation to Ahmadiyyat, the greatest oppression at this time is taking place in Pakistan. And the Ahmadis of the world in general also need to pay attention towards this, because the survival of the world is tied to the victory of Ahmadiyyat. The attaining of the bounties of Allah the Exalted by the Muslim Ummah is tied to the victory of Ahmadiyyat. The ending of oppression and aggression is tied to this. So whether it is to free the Palestinians from oppression, or to free the Muslims from their own oppressive rulers, only the prayers of Ahmadis can be the guarantee for this. We need to fulfil the dues of these prayers. At this time, Ahmadis are being ground the most in the mill of oppression. Therefore, only our prayers, taking on the colour of the prayers of the distressed one, can become the means not only of our own freedom but also of the deliverance of humanity from oppressions. So we need to understand our responsibilities.

The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) says that:

"It is in trials that the wondrous properties and effects of prayers become manifest, and the truth is that our God is recognized only through prayers." (Malfuzat, Volume 3, page 201, 1984 Edition, printed in Britain)

So as I said, today who other than the Ahmadis is being placed in these trials? Today who other than the Ahmadis is being subjected to oppression from every side in certain Muslim countries? Most of the noble ones in these countries — indeed one should say all of them — their nobility, as Hazrat Khalifatul Masih III (may Allah have mercy on him) used to say, has become a mute nobility. (Taken from Khutbat-e-Nasir, Volume 8, page 376, Friday Sermon delivered 28 September 1979) In such circumstances, to obtain the miraculous benefits of prayers, we need to pay particular attention.

This verse which I have recited, in it Allah the Exalted has said this: see, who accepts the prayers of the afflicted people. Only Allah the Exalted accepts. And when they are in such a state that they are distressed. The distressed one is the one who sees difficulties and trials all around himself. He does not see any material or worldly path for his success, and only one path is visible, and that is the path leading towards God the Exalted. God the Exalted says these are the distressed ones who come to Me, for whom all the paths of the world have become closed and obstructed. The meaning of distressed is not that when no path is visible, in panic restlessness begins as to where shall we go? Rather, the meaning of distressed, as I said, is this: when all paths are closed, all paths are obstructed, and on one side a ray of light is visible, and he runs towards it. If fire is visible on every side, then the one running about restlessly like a madman is not called distressed. Because if he runs in such panic, he himself will fall into the fire. Rather, after seeing the fire on every side, when he sees a path of safety, when he sees a refuge on one side, and he goes towards that specific path, then such a person is the one who is called distressed, and Allah the Exalted says that I am the one who then saves such a person from the fire. I am his refuge. I am the cool shade that protects from the heat of the fire. Come to Me. Seek refuge with Me. I shall take you out of these trials. Come to Me with the conviction that there is our God who will take us out of this trial, then because of your conviction I shall take you out of this trial. Because of your prayers, I shall take you out of this trial. As the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) said that wondrous properties and effects will become manifest in your favour.

So the person who becomes such a distressed one that he considers no one besides God the Exalted as his refuge and shelter, considers no place of refuge other than Him, considers none other than God as the one to deliver from these trials, then he alone is the true distressed one, and his prayers become the ones that show wonders. For the acceptance of prayers, we have to create within ourselves this conviction that in every kind of state of distress, only Allah the Exalted comes to aid. Other than Him there is no path where we see a ray of light. And when such a state is produced, when this kind of state of distress comes, then in accordance with His promise, Allah the Exalted comes running to such a distressed one and removes his difficulties and afflictions. His sufferings fly away in the air. Whether they are personal sufferings and difficulties or communal sufferings and difficulties. Then Allah the Exalted says that this alone will not happen, that یَکْشِفُ السُّوٓئَ — that is, Allah removes the afflictions and that is all. This is enough. When Allah the Exalted bestows rewards, His rewards are unlimited. To any extent He can increase the rewards. So here too, when Allah the Exalted said that He removes the afflictions of the believers who are in trouble, along with it He also said یَجْعَلُکُمْ خُلَفَآءَ الْاَرْضِ — that He makes you successors of the earth. He destroys the great oppressors, tyrants and rebels, and seats those who appear oppressed and weak in their place. So where Allah the Exalted, on an individual level, hearing the prayer of the distressed one removes his suffering, there on the collective level too He removes his sufferings and trials. And this very thing the Holy Quran has told us at another place as well. From this it appears that when the earlier peoples treated the messengers and their peoples in an oppressive manner, Allah the Exalted says that We destroyed them and gave their place to the oppressed. The earlier people were great tyrants and possessors of great majesty and glory, but even their names have been erased. So this law is established today in the same way as it was established for the earlier peoples.

So Allah the Exalted finishes off the oppressors, but when the oppressed, becoming distressed ones, offer pained prayers of مَتٰی نَصْرُ اللّٰہ (when will the help of Allah come), then the mercy of Allah the Exalted comes into motion and creates the means for the speedy end of the oppressors. May Allah the Exalted grant understanding to those who today, in the pride of power and numbers, are bent upon oppressions; otherwise, this very power and numbers of theirs is to become the cause of destruction for them. Allah the Exalted has said this very thing, that those who, because of their power and numbers, do not act with righteousness, their end too is bad. If, by reciting the kalimah and taking the name of Allah and the Messenger, the tales of oppression are recorded, then the kalimah too, and Allah the Exalted and His Messenger too, express their dissociation from such people. Allah the Exalted has given news of the evil end of the oppressors. Nowhere has it been said that there is an exception for the followers of such-and-such a people or religion, that they may do whatever they wish. Rather, whoever is involved in such deeds which are against the commands of Allah the Exalted, which result in oppressions, will reach his evil end. But our task is that for early deliverance from these oppressions, we should produce within ourselves the state of the distressed one. We should call out restlessly for the help of Allah the Exalted. Then see how Allah the Exalted comes to help. Each one of us needs to produce this state.

The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) says that:

"Remember that God the Exalted is greatly Self-Sufficient. Until prayer is offered abundantly and repeatedly with distress, He does not pay attention. See, if someone's wife or child is ill, or if a severe lawsuit befalls someone, how much distress they feel for these matters. So in prayer too, until true ardour and a state of distress is created, until then it is an utterly ineffective and useless work. Distress is a condition for acceptance." (Malfuzat, Volume 10, page 137, 1984 Edition, printed in Britain)

So for the removal of communal difficulties too, we need that very same distress which sometimes we show in prayers for our personal objectives. The Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that abundant and repeated prayer is a condition. So thinking that we have offered prayers in Ramadan and it is enough — it should be clear to us that this is not enough. We still need continuous prayers, and man always needs continuous prayers. When Allah the Exalted bestows upon us open victory as well, then too, walking on the path of righteousness, there will be need for continuous prayers to gather His bounties. In short, there should never be a decrease in connection with Allah the Exalted, nor can a believer ever tolerate this. In sufferings we need distress, and in eases and comforts we also need the remembrance of God. So a believer is never selfish. Nor does he consider temporary and momentary prayers and fervours as sufficient; rather, in every condition his connection with God the Exalted remains, and should remain. This very faith and connection is what continually shows a believer the signs of acceptance of prayer even in ordinary circumstances.

The Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) said in one place that: "Remember that to incline towards other than Allah is to be cut off from God." (Tafsir Hazrat Masih Maud (peace be upon him), Volume 4, page 58. Malfuzat, Volume 3, page 31, 2003 Edition, printed in Rabwah)

A true believer can never even imagine cutting off his connection with God, but sometimes, due to weaknesses, a decrease comes in prayers, and due to worldly affairs attention turns towards means, or the dues of prayers are not fulfilled. So we should — each one of us should — keep examining our conditions at every time, so that we never become so entangled in our own problems that we lose the sense of praying for those who, because of being members of the Community, are caught up in difficulties. Remember, the prayer of every member of the Community, and the prayer offered by invoking Allah the Exalted's mercy, forgiveness, pardon and various attributes, becomes a cause for the removal of communal sufferings as well.

It comes in the Hadith that among the earlier peoples, there were three men of one community. Once they got caught in a storm. They went into a cave to take refuge from the storm, and by chance, due to that storm, a rock rolled and came to fall at the mouth of the cave, and their way out was blocked. As it were, they had gone to escape a small affliction and a great affliction fell upon them. In such a condition, neither could that rock be moved from the mouth of the cave by their own efforts, nor could any outside help reach them in the wilderness. It was such a captivity from which it was impossible to come out by any human effort. In such a state, an intense state of distress came over them that now there is no way out from here. To get out from here has become very difficult. May it not be that our grave is now made in this cave. In such a state, when they saw that there was no means of deliverance, then in the heart of one of them came the impulse for prayer. He said: come, let us pray, and let us pray with this reference, that if in our lives we have done any deed or any virtue for the sake of God the Exalted, then may Allah the Exalted remove this rock. Then one among them said: O God, I had love for a relative of mine, a girl. I wanted to commit fornication with her, but she would not agree. Finally I devised certain stratagems, spent wealth as well, time passed, and at last she agreed to the indecent act. When I had power over her, she said: O servant of God! I implore you in the name of God not to commit this sin. Then I withdrew from her side. And O God, if I did this deed for the sake of Your pleasure, then remove this rock from our path. With this prayer, because of that storm, the rock moved a little from its place, but the path did not open.

Then the second said: O God, You know that a labourer came to me. He did labour for me. Before he could take his wages from me, he left. This wage, which makes up the nisab, comes to roughly nine seers of grain. So I sowed the grain that was his wage. I planted his crop. That crop turned out well. And from it I bought some animals, which kept growing and growing until they became a herd of sheep and goats. Then it so happened that after several years he came to me and asked for his wages. I said: this herd of goats is yours. Take it away. It was spread out in a valley. He said: I have come to take my wages and you are joking with me. Then I said to him: I had used your wages in business, from which this large herd was formed. This is yours. Upon this he took the herd and went away. So O God! If I did this deed for Your pleasure and goodwill, then have mercy upon us and remove this rock. Upon this, a strong gust of wind moved the rock a little more, but still there was no path to get out.

Then the third person bowed before God with this prayer and said: O God! You know that I used to graze goats and my livelihood was upon milk. One day there was a delay in reaching home, and my parents, who were with me, were very old. My practice was that I used to give milk to my parents to drink before my own small children. When I reached late, my parents who were old had gone to sleep. I did not like to wake them up, and I stood by them with milk that when they wake, I will give it to them to drink. My children kept crying. They too were hungry, but I kept standing with milk for the parents. Until morning came and till morning I kept standing with the milk. In the morning when they woke up, I gave them the milk to drink, then gave it to my wife and children also. So O God, if this deed of mine was for Your pleasure and goodwill and there was no worldly purpose in it, then have mercy upon me and remove this rock. Thereupon, a strong force of the storm moved the rock further forward, and the path became clear, and they came out. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Ahadith al-Anbiya, Bab Hadith al-Ghar, Hadith 3465)

Now three persons had done three kinds of deeds. One had fulfilled the right of trust in the wages of a labourer. Standing upon justice, he discharged the right of God's servants. One had fulfilled the right of kind treatment to the parents and their service. The third was saved from the sin of fornication for the sake of the pleasure of Allah the Exalted, and he prayed with reference to it. But the purpose of all their prayers was common, that the rock should move, and that rock did move. So these individual virtues, and prayers offered with reference to individual virtues, became the ones that showed the spectacle of collective acceptance. So while many other lessons are derived from this Hadith, one great lesson herein is that the individual virtues and prayers of individuals become the cause of removing collective affliction. So when we claim to be strung together in one Community, then we need to ask of God the Exalted prayers for the removal of collective sufferings and trials. Considering only our personal difficulties and worries as our own, we should not remain drowned in prayers only for them; rather, we should also produce in communal prayers that distress and anguish which is produced within a person to remove his personal worries. For the progress of the Community and the changing of conditions, when one offers two nawafil — as I had said that one should offer them, and the majority also write to me that we offer them — in this one should offer pained prayers. An estimate can be made of the condition of these people trapped in the cave, that having despaired of every worldly help, they certainly prayed by referring to some virtue of theirs which they had done purely for Allah the Exalted, but the state of distress which they would have had at that time, the distress which would have been produced in them, the distress that can be produced from the despair of material means from every side — one can imagine it.

So while we need to make our deeds pure for the sake of Allah the Exalted, because these deeds play a very great role in the acceptance of prayer, there we need, considering the suffering of the Community as our own suffering, to pray with great supplication and humility for its removal.

The Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him) says that:

"For the acceptance of prayers it is also necessary that man should produce a pure transformation within himself. If he cannot save himself from evils and breaks the limits of Allah the Exalted, then no effect remains in prayers." (Malfuzat, Volume 7, page 27, 1984 Edition, printed in Britain)

Then at one place, drawing our attention towards prayers, he said:

"If you become like other people, then Allah the Exalted will not make any distinction between you and them. And if you yourselves do not produce a marked distinction within yourselves, then God too will not keep any distinction for you. A virtuous man is he who walks in accordance with the pleasure of Allah the Exalted. But if the outward is something else and the inward is something else, then such a person is a hypocrite, and a hypocrite is worse than a disbeliever. First of all, purify the hearts. Of this thing I have the greatest fear. We can neither win by the sword nor by any other force. Our weapon is only prayer and the purity of hearts." (Malfuzat, Volume 7, page 386, 1984 Edition, printed in Britain)

May Allah the Exalted grant that, in accordance with the wish of the Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him), we may produce pure transformations in our lives and become ones who carry out all our works in accordance with the pleasure of God the Exalted. May we always strive for this. May we become ones who pay attention towards humble prayers in His presence. May we be ones who produce in our prayers, for the progress of the Community and the removal of trials, the same intensity that we produce in our personal afflictions. May that same intensity be produced in us for prayers for the Community as is produced in us for our personal afflictions. Becoming one, may we be ones who offer prayers to be saved from the mischief of the opponents. As I said in the beginning too, that until we, with purity, bow before Allah the Exalted for the removal of these collective sufferings, we will not be able to achieve our objective soon. Having entered the bai'at of the Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him), only our combined prayers can also remove our individual sufferings. When a person prays for another, the angels too are praying for him. The rocks are removed from the cave only when the direction and purpose of the prayers are common. So no member of the Community should fall into this selfishness that, "I am fine, so all is well." The suffering of an Ahmadi residing in any corner of the world is the shared suffering of all of us. This feeling should be produced in us, and not only should the feeling be produced — for this, we need to pay attention towards prayers. And this is the very weapon about which the Promised Messiah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that this weapon will lead us to our victories.

But we should also remember this thing, that in fervour we should not pray about enemies or opponents that Allah the Exalted may send down calamity and punishment upon them. Rather, pray that O Allah, when we desire our successes, when we beg of You to remove trials and difficulties, when we pray for this period of difficulties to end, there, O God, we also desire the betterment of these people; we do not desire their destruction. We weak ones are covered by Your bounties, and despite the most severe conditions, we still keep seeing the spectacles of Your bounties. So if You also cover these people and grant them guidance, this is great fortune both for us and for them. But if Your wisdom does not consider some of them worthy of it, and there is betterment only in destroying them, then remove them from our path in such a way that the progress of Islam, which You have now tied to Ahmadiyyat and true Islam, their existence may not become an obstacle to it.

So where this is also a prayer, there, wherever the wisdom of Allah the Exalted wills, it will also become a prayer against them. In this sense we should pray, and not openly invoke a curse. May Allah the Exalted grant us all the ability to fulfil the dues of prayers.