Steadfastness, Sympathy for Mankind and Search for an Exalted Being

Truthfulness

One of the natural qualities of man is truthfulness. Normally, unless a person is moved by some selfish motive, he does not wish to lie. He is averse to falsehood and is reluctant to have recourse to it. He is displeased with a person who is proved to have told a lie, and looks down upon him. But this natural inclination cannot be accounted a moral quality. Even children and the insane exhibit it. Unless a person discards those purposes that lead him away from telling the truth, he cannot be considered truthful. If a person tells the truth when no personal interest is involved, but is ready to have recourse to lying where his honour or property or life is concerned, and fails to tell the truth, he is no better than a child or an insane person. Do not the insane and minors speak such truth? There is scarcely anyone in the world who would lie without any purpose. The truth that might be abandoned in order to escape some loss that threatens is not a moral quality. The proper occasion of telling the truth is when one apprehends loss of life or property or honour. In this context the Divine teaching is:

Shun the abomination of idols, and shun all words of falsehood This shows that falsehood is also an idol and he who relies upon it ceases to trust in God. Thus, by uttering a lie one loses God.

When you are called upon to testify to the truth, do not fail to do so; and do not conceal true testimony; he who conceals it is sinful at heart.

When you speak, tell the truth and hold the scales even, though the person concerned be your kinsman.

Be strict in observing justice and bear witness only for the sake of Allah, even if it should occasion loss to you or your parents, kinsmen or sons, etc. Let not the enmity of a people towards you incite you to injustice or falsehood. Truthful men and truthful women will have a great reward from Allah.They exhort one another to hold fast to the truth. Those who do not keep company with the untruthful.

LAYLATUL QADR

By Adam Walker, UK

ﹺﻢﻴِﺣﱠﺮﻟﺍ ﹺﻦَـﻤْﺣﱠﺮﻟﺍ ِﻪﹼﻠﻟﺍ ﹺﻢْﺴﹺﺑ
ﹺﺭْﺪﹶﻘﹾﻟﺍ ِﺔﹶﻠْﻴﹶﻟ ﻲِﻓ ُﻩﺎَﻨﹾﻟَﺰﻧﹶﺃ ﺎﱠﻧﹺﺇ
ﹺﺭْﺪﹶﻘﹾﻟﺍ ﹸﺔﹶﻠْﻴﹶﻟ ﺎَﻣ َﻙﺍَﺭْﺩﹶﺃ ﺎَﻣَﻭ
ﹴﺮْﻬَﺷ ِﻒﹾﻟﹶﺃ ْﻦﱢﻣ ٌﺮْﻴَﺧ ﹺﺭْﺪﹶﻘﹾﻟﺍ ﹸﺔﹶﻠْﻴﹶﻟ
ْﻣﹶﺃ ﱢﻞﹸﻛ ﻦﱢﻣ ﻢﹺﻬﱢﺑَﺭ ِﻥﹾﺫﹺﺈﹺﺑ ﺎَﻬﻴِﻓ ُﺡﻭﱡﺮﻟﺍَﻭ ﹸﺔﹶﻜِﺋﺎﹶﻠَﻤﹾﻟﺍ ﹸﻝﱠﺰَﻨَﺗ ﹴﺮ  

ﹺﺮْﺠﹶﻔﹾﻟﺍ ﹺﻊﹶﻠﹾﻄَﻣ ﻰﱠﺘَﺣ َﻲِﻫ ٌﻡﺎﹶﻠَﺳ

[97:1] In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. [97:2] Surely, We sent it down
during the Night of Decree. [97:3] And what shall make thee know what the Night of
Decree is? [97:4] The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. [97:5] Therein
descend angels and the Spirit by the command of their Lord with Divine decree concerning
every matter. [97:6] It is all peace till the rising of the dawn.

Laylatul Qadar is a night of great blessing in which Allah (swt) showers His Mercy upon those of His believers whom sincerely and faithfully love and obey His Will. It is a night which is commonly associated with the revelation of the Holy Qur’an but also has other meanings which are all deeply rooted in Allah’s attribute of Rahmaniyyat.

From the above verses of the Holy Qur’an (97:1-6) we are made to understand that Laylatul Qadr literally means the ‘Night of Decree/Power’. It is a night which is of greater value than a thousand months (1000 being the highest numerical figure in Arabic) and in which the angels descend upon the Earth and help to breath a new life into mankind. We also know from another place in the Holy Qur’an (44:4) that it is a ‘Blessed Night’ (ٍﺔﹶﻛَﺭﺎَﺒﱡﻣ ٍﺔﹶﻠْﻴﹶﻟ),

Muhammad the Liberator of Women (III)

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad ^ra
Second Successor to the Promised Messiah

This is the teaching which the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) promulgated at a time when the standards of the world were altogether opposed to it. Through these injunctions, he reclaimed women from the slavery which had been their lot for thousands of years, to which they were forced in every land, and the yoke of which every religion had put on their neck. One man, in one time, cut asunder all these chains of serfdom! Bringing freedom to mothers, he at the same time saved their children from slavish sentiments, and provided for the germination and nourishment of great ambition and high resolve! 

However, the world did not value the teachings. What was indeed a boon, it branded as tyranny. Divorce and separation it regarded as strife, inheritance as ruining the family, independence of woman as means of the disruption of domestic life. For thirteen hundred years, it went on ridiculing, in its blindness, the things which this one man who could see, had communicated to mankind for their good. It went on condemning his teachings as against human nature. Then came the time when the exquisiteness of the word of God (transmitted through the Holy Prophet) should reveal itself. The very peoples who looked upon themselves as the bearers of civilization, began to obey the civilizing injunctions of the Holy Prophet. Everyone of these peoples in turn, changed their laws in increasing conformity to the principles preached by the Holy Prophet (on whom be peace). 

Muhammad the Liberator of Women (II)

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad ^ra
Second Successor to the Promised Messiah

By the advent of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) all these iniquities were wiped away, as it were, with one stroke. He declared that God had particularly entrusted to him the task of safeguarding the rights of women. 

He proclaimed in the name of God that man and woman by virtue of their humanity, were the equal of each other, and when they lived together, just as man had certain rights over woman, so had woman certain rights over man. Women could own property in the same way as men. A husband had no right to use the property of his wife, as long as the wife, of her own free will, did not let him have some of it. To seize her property by force, or in a manner which made it doubtful whether her natural shyness had not stood in the way of her refusal, was wrong. Whatever the husband of his own free will should give away to the wife, would be the property of the wife and the husband would not be able to take it back from her. She was to inherit the property of her parents just as well as her brothers. Only considering that all the family responsibilities fall on man, and woman’s concern is her own self alone, her share was to be one half of the share of man, that is, out of the property of their (deceased) parents. 

WAGE RUDOLF SOEPRATMAN FROM "INDONESIA RAYA" TO AHMADIYYA

1932, Soepratman got sick vein condition, caused by fatigue due to hard work. After resting for two months, in Tjimahi, he returned to Jakarta to follow Achmadijah sect. Since April he was with his brother residing in Surabaya (Excerpt Tjiptomihardjo Soejono writing in 'memoirs 10 years of Madiun Regency "page 171)

The birth of Indonesia Raya

October 28, has a tight relationship with feeling and soul for struggle of our nation, because on that day had been born something, which has now become a heritage for our nation, is the state song "INDONESIA RAYA". Precisely on October 28, 1928, at the second Indonesian Youth Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia Raya song was inaugurated as the state song of Indonesia.

Coinciding with the inauguration of the state song, spoken also in the Congress that sacred oath, is the Youth Pledge states: "We landed the water one, is the country of Indonesia. We are one nation, is the nation of Indonesia. We are speaking one of, is the Indonesian language.

Since that time, that oath becomes oath of our whole nation. National Anthem and vow that the nation was born in the Youth Congress, has proven to be 'elements' are all important and fundamental for the country above where we now stand. From that moment on, the national anthem Indonesia Raya is recognized by the whole nation as its National songs, and now the song has been known and recognized worldwide as well as by the Indonesian state song.

Muhammad the Liberator of Women ( I )

Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad

The various aspects of the life of the Holy Prophet (peace and  blessings of Allah be upon him) are all so sublime, that in the matter of  choice, a writer on the subject soon finds himself baffled and selection  becomes very nearly impossible. In consideration of present day needs, however, I wish to take up that side of the Holy Prophet’s life which concerns the way in which he purged the world of that form of utter slavery which had been for all time the curse of humanity. I mean the slavery of women.  

Before the advent of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) women in all countries were in the position of slaves and chattels, and their slavery could not but have reacted adversely even on men; for sons of slaves cannot assimilate the spirit of freedom.  

There is no doubt woman, either because of her beauty or because of her sterling character, has always been able, in individual cases, to dominate over men, but freedom thus obtained could not be termed true freedom, for the simple reason that it was not hers by way of right. It was only a matter of  exception to the general rule, and freedom which is exceptional, can hardly lead to the culture of true aspirations. 

The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had his advent about 1,350 years ago. Before his time, no religion or nation afforded to woman such freedom as she could use by way of right. Of course in countries where no law  prevailed, she was free from all disabilities. Yet even this kind  of freedom cannot be called true freedom. It is rather described as license. True freedom is that which is reaped out of a state of civilization and conformity to law. The sort of freedom we get when we break the bounds of the law is not freedom at all because such freedom does not generate any strength of character.