Huzur said that generally, people in the world are steeped in materialism. There is a race to attain worldly pursuits and turmoil has ensued as a result. God the Almighty and religion are given secondary importance. A growing number in the world deny the existence of God the Almighty altogether. However, there are others who long to find and join the true religion. They pray restlessly to find the means to connect to God the Almighty. Such persons are guided by God the Almighty. Their faith is strengthened by Him. Allah the Almighty as was His promise, sent the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi in this age to reconnect people with God the Almighty. Mankind was informed that if they wanted inner peace and the means to true worship – they should accept this Chosen One of God.
God Almighty guides people who have a thirst to find the truth in astonishing ways. Both the past and present of Ahmadiyyat testify to this way of God. Daily incidents of this nature occur around the world. Such accounts increase the faith of those who join Ahmadiyyat – the True Islam – but also such accounts become faith inspiring for born Ahmadis, or Ahmadis of old.
Today Huzur related numerous accounts of how people in search of the true religion and God the Almighty were guided by God.
A 65 year old lady in The Gambia suffered from foot pains for 10 years and failed to find a cure to her ailment. She was unable to walk. She went to a far off village from her home for treatment. By chance she heard Huzur’s Friday Sermon on MTA there. On return home she was told in a dream that ‘the one you saw on TV is the one you should follow because he is telling you the real way to salvation’. She took the Bai’at (oath of allegiance) and after, the pain in her feet gradually subsided. She now preaches to others and tells them how the blessings of the Jama’at (Ahmadiyya Community) alleviated the physical suffering in her foot. A worldly person will feel that this lady was ignorant and uneducated and simply delusional. However those who personally experience the guidance of Allah the Almighty are given immense and unwavering faith and care not.
In a far-flung area of Burkina Faso an individual is guided by God the Almighty. Suado Sahib accepted Ahmadiyat after Jalsa Germany. He regularly listened to the Ahmadiyya radio and when Ahmadis visited his village, although being a non-Ahmadi, he would help arrange their preaching efforts. Maulvies (Muslim clerics) warned him to never listen to the Ahmadi radio nor to have any contact with Ahmadis, if he wanted to save his belief in Islam. Incited by the clerics, he stopped listening to the Ahmadiyya radio or meeting any Ahmadis. However by chance once on a journey he broke for prayer and the only place to pray was an Ahmadi mosque, and so he was forced to pray with them. Allah opened the way for him to reconnect with Ahmadis. Later in a dream he saw thousands of people who surround one man. He is told in the dream this is the person who he should listen to – and that Maulvies (clerics) are steering him away from the right path. When later he went to the mission house he saw on TV the exact same scene and person in his dream (it was the concluding session of the Jalsa and Huzur delivering the address).
Such people who personally experience the signs of God are given strong faith by Him.
Huzur said people write to him and say that no one can ever deter them from Ahmadiyyat because they have done the Bai’at (pledge of allegiance) after witnessing clear signs and proofs from Allah the Almighty. Allah the Almighty guides those who adopt humility and compassion, and if they avail from this guidance then subsequently they become the recipients of Allah the Almighty’s grace. A similar incident was experienced by Ahmad Sahib from Syria wherein he was guided by Allah the Almighty to the truth. He used to oppose the Jama’at (Community) and would discuss various religious matters with some Ahmadi friends but could not tolerate the idea of the death of Jesus (as). One of the Ahmadi friends, Mutazil Qazaq Sahib, told him to seek guidance from Allah the Almighty regarding this issue. He fervently prayed that night and saw a person in his dream who saved him from falling into a deep pit and said, ‘Abu Hasan! [his filial appellation] Do not come here ever again and know that Jesus (as) has passed away.’ When he woke up from his dream, he went to Qazaq Sahib’s house and upon entering saw a picture. He enquired about the picture and was told that this was the picture of the Promised Messiah (as). Ahmad Sahib immediately said that he wished to do the Bai’at (oath of allegiance) as this was the person who he saw in his dream.
Huzur said that Allah the Almighty guides people to the truth through many different means, sometimes through dreams, at other times through Ahmadis preaching to them, through reading our literature, by witnessing the high moral conduct of Ahmadis, or many people these days are accepting Ahmadiyyat through MTA.
A missionary from Benin writes that a chief of the local area was initially an idolater but accepted Ahmadiyyat after receiving the message of Islam. Not only did he become an Ahmadi, but now also preaches the message of Islam to others. A mosque was opened in his area and on the occasion of its inauguration he also delivered a speech and Huzur read out some extracts from it. In it the chief said that he cannot understand why non-Muslims oppose the Ahmadiyya Community. The Ahmadiyya Community only preaches about love, peace and brotherhood and further stated that he wished he could build a house beside the mosque and tell everyone passing that Ahmadiyyat is the true Islam. The chief said when Ahmadis are bringing Christians and idolaters to the fold of Islam, there is nothing to feel pained by. He further said that if a Christian were to come to this mosque for worship, he would not be stopped.
Huzur said that on the one hand, we have religious leaders who carry out injustices and cause Muslims to shed the blood of one another due to their own arrogance and egos. However, on the other hand there are people who were idolaters and Allah the Almighty guided them due to some good deed of theirs or simply out of His sheer grace and enabled them to now propagate the message of true Islam to others. This is the way Allah the Almighty treats those who are humble, but if one is full of arrogance then even if he offers thousands of prayers and claims to be pious and even calls himself a ‘Hajji’ (one who performs the Hajj), he cannot receive true guidance from Allah the Almighty. One of our missionary relates an incident of how people are guided by Allah the Almighty and the revolutionary change that takes place in them after accepting Ahmadiyyat:
This is an account that took place in Cameroon. A retired army officer donated a plot of land for the Jama’at (Community) to use to construct a mosque. When the Jama’at (Community) officials went to visit the site, they discovered that a basement had already been constructed and the gentlemen intended to build his house on top of it. The army officer explained that he saw his late father in a dream in which he advised him to build a mosque instead of a house. Hence, he decided to donate the land to the Jama’at (Ahmadiyya Community).
Then a gentlemen by the name Saeedo Sahib, who lives in a remote village of the Ivory Coast stated that Islam reached his village through his grandfather, however, over time people slowly moved away from Islam altogether. Eventually people remained Muslims only by name. He stated that he would often pray to God Almighty in anguish for true Islam to be practiced there once again. In 2016, in the blessed month of Ramadhan he was praying on one occasion to the extent that his eyes began to swell up with tears. Only a few days after this incident, a missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community came to the village and introduced the Ahmadiyya Community. This was a faith inspiring incident for Saeedo Sahib and after this visit 55 Ahmadis accepted Ahmadiyyat.
Huzur stated that it is a matter to contemplate that people in developed countries are abandoning religion and focusing solely on worldly pursuits, where as a remote village in a far off country in Africa, which does not have any luxuries is longing for the true teachings of Islam to be spread in their village.
Huzur stated that it was the duty of every Ahmadi to spread the true teachings of Islam to every individual.
Huzur then read an extract from the Promised Messiah (as) in which the Promised Messiah (as) emphasised that performing the Bai’at [pledge of initiation] is not a matter to be taken lightly. One can only fulfil the pledge of initiation when one forsakes their own existence and becomes completely devoted and sincere.
May God Almighty grant steadfastness to all those who are entering into this fold. May God Almighty grant us the opportunity to establish a connection with Him and may we never become the source for another to waver in his faith.