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.