Beacon Of Guidance
My question is that there are some who are fortunate to be Ahmadis by birth, yet despite this they are lacking in religious education. Furthermore, this deficiency is passing on to the next generation. Despite efforts being made towards moral training, it does not seem to have any positive outcome,
So beloved Huzoor, what advice do you have for such Ahmadis in order to protect their progeny and to safeguard those who enter into the religion of Islam in future? Act upon the points I have just made to the Tarbiyyat (moral training) Secretary.
You should yourself train those women who are weak in their religious training, and the auxiliary organisations should look after their children. Khuddamul Ahmadiyya should tend to the needs of the boys, and Lajna Ima’illah should take care of the girls, train them, and give them a (good) upbringing in their own homes.
Hence, this is a continuous effort. You should inform them of its importance and gradually, God willing, the next generation will be reformed at least. If not the current generation, then certainly the generation that follows them. But if they fall into worldliness, then you should tell them
That there is nothing aside from ruin in worldliness. It will only end in tears. You should explain to them with love and affection, by creating a personal relationship with them and by keeping a personal contact. I have said this previously that you should endeavour to keep in contact with them personally.
You have a small number of Lajna members (in Italy), so if you keep in personal contact with them it can be achieved quite easily. It is not such a big issue, and a lot of work can accomplished by such a small Jama’at. In the larger Jama’ats where there are thousands of members,
These issues can arise, but you are part of a smaller Jama’at, so if there are any tarbiyyat issues, you should resolve them immediately. If your Amla members have unity, love and affection within yourselves, or even if you are able to foster that within other well-educated and sensible women,
Then it will eventually be inculcated in the rest. We do not have an army to enforce all of these works of the community, they cannot be achieved through strictness. It will only be attained through love and affection, for this is what Allah the Almighty commanded the Holy Prophet (sa).
The injunction of the Holy Qur’an is to act with love and affection and to bring others closer. This is when they will come closer to you, but if you are strict then they will run away from you. My question is that with the current pandemic, there are many issues which have arisen
In the homes, so what is the solution to this? What is happening in the homes? There are quarrels and arguments. With the pandemic, we should be turning more towards God Almighty. If this pandemic is a punishment from God, we should strive to create mutual love and respect,
We should seek forgiveness from one another, and aim to reconcile with one another, so that Allah Almighty may deliver us from this trial and this pandemic. And if this is a test, even then we should pray that God Almighty enables us to succeed therein, and that mutual love and affection is established.
Allah the Almighty instructs us to take care of one another. The Promised Messiah (as) has stated that Allah the Almighty reminds us to fulfil the rights owed to mankind. At times Allah Almighty overlooks the rights owed to Him, but He will not forgive if one fails to fulfil the rights owed to mankind.
If a husband is not fulfilling the rights of his wife, and needlessly quarrels with her – I only recently delivered a lengthy address to the Lajna during the Jalsa – then such a person would be guilty of sin. If a wife does not fulfil the rights of her husband
And needlessly causes arguments, she too will not be fulfilling those rights. If siblings quarrel amongst themselves, they too will not be not fulfilling their rights. If a father is not treating his sons and daughters well, he too is not fulfilling the rights, and the same applies to a mother
If she becomes irritated and worries her children. In such circumstances, each and every one of them should become a united force. Through this they will draw the grace of Allah Almighty. Indeed, due to the circumstances one cannot go out or do certain things, but even then circumstances are not that extreme.
On top of that, not everyone in the household are fully adhering to the restrictions. Due to the coronavirus, work has been affected a little, but you still go out to the shops, you walk the streets, you visit parks. [In the house] If the father wishes, he goes to spend time with his friends.
If the mother wants, she also goes to meet her friends. When you want to go out, you do so too. Hence, you are not following all the restrictions, if you were following them 100%, the pandemic would have ended by now. Of course, there can be certain physiological effects due to the restrictions,
But the solution to this is to pray to God Almighty that He removes the restrictions, may He remove end this pandemic and shower His grace upon us all. There is a great need to pay attention towards prayer. We must realise how we can fulfil the rights of one another.
If you do this, there will be peace and comfort in the homes. This also applies in normal circumstances; the coronavirus has just become an excuse for it. Previously fathers would be spend the entire day outside of the home, so one would not know about his temperament.
But because now that they are mostly at home, wives and children are having to face their strictness, which is why they then say that my father has done this and that, or that my mother has become irritable. Previously you would also go out a lot,
But now you do so less frequently – but still I know you all go out. Right? Just pray to Allah Almighty that the pandemic ends. Huzoor, these days you speak about women’s rights, you outlined the matters in which the wives can make demands from their husbands.
Similarly, you also mentioned that as a guardian what are the responsibilities placed on men. Huzoor, my question is: what are the responsibilities of women with respect to her husband and his family and what rights do men have over their wives? The first thing is that you said
“these days I am speaking about women’s rights”, these days I am not speaking about women’s rights, I am delivering sermons on the history of Islam and the Badri Companions. Indeed, you could have said that “in one of your recent speeches “in Jalsa Salana you spoke about women’s rights.”
If you take this speech alone, putting aside all the things I have mentioned in the past about how women ought to fulfil their responsibilities, and carefully listen to it – I am surprised that people have not listened to it carefully, and because certain points were leaning more in their favour,
Women also only took away those points, in this very speech I also spoke about the rights of women. I mentioned the summary of the lengthy Hadith in which a woman came to the Holy Prophet (sa) and said that men offer prayers, give alms, earn an income, then go to perform Jihad and Hajj
And women sometimes are not able to perform these tasks, so will women earn the same reward as the men who go to perform Jihad? The Holy Prophet (sa) stated: “Yes, you will be given the same reward.” Right? Here it has not been mentioned that men do not have rights,
The reward of the men is equal to the reward of women, both men and women have been granted equal reward, right? In many places in the Holy Qur’an, Allah the Almighty has stated that men will be given a reward for their good deeds and women will also be rewarded for their good deeds,
That men will receive such and such as will women, men and women both will enter paradise. The woman who posed this question mentioned that they look after the home, this means that when women fulfil the responsibility of looking after the home, then they will be granted their reward.
If one looks at this Hadith carefully, the woman mentioned that they look after the needs of the home, this means that the woman in question was such that she fulfilled her responsibilities of the home, she would safeguard the children and give them good moral training,
That she was a guardian of her husband’s home, she would safeguard her husband’s wealth in the house, she would safeguard her honour and dignity, that she was loyal to her husband, right and she would fulfil the rights owed to her husband. It was for this reason that the Holy Prophet (sa) said
That if she was fulfilling all these responsibilities then she would receive the same reward as the men who go for Jihad, their worship and Hajj etc. Thus, in this very Hadith, women have been advised that if they fulfil these responsibilities they will receive their reward.
Where does it mention [in the Hadith] that women will receive this reward by simply sitting at home? Various tasks were outlined. The woman said that they do such and such tasks, will they receive reward for it? The Holy Prophet (sa) said: “Yes indeed, if you carry out all these tasks,
“you look after the moral training of the kids, “safeguard your husbands home, “uphold his honour and dignity in his absence, “look after the money and wealth of your husband, “and catering for his needs, “then certainly you will receive the same reward “as men do when they go for Jihad.”
Thus, these are the responsibilities of women, how can you say that I only spoke about the rights of women? This Hadith alone mentions many responsibilities of women in the home. If your wife ensures for the moral training of your children, does she not deserve to be treated with kindness?
If your wife safeguards your home, does she not deserve kind treatment? If your wife safeguards her honour and dignity and is sincere and loyal to her husband, she looks after the sentiments and loves her husband, does she not deserve to be treated with kindness? She is, right?
Then how is it just the rights of women, the rights of both men and women have been mentioned. If you carefully listen to this Hadith, both the rights of men and women are found therein. Yes Huzoor, There are responsibilities placed on both [men and women],
In that men are responsible for such and such and will be rewarded accordingly, women will be rewarded for such and such tasks and men have been commanded to treat them with kindness; [Arabic] This is why they have been commanded to treat them with kindness, that if your wife is fulfilling all your rights
Then it is incumbent upon you to treat them with kindness. Yes, Huzoor The fact of the matter is that such state of affairs are not only prevalent in Kababir or in Israel. These state of affairs are prevalent in many countries of the world, alright? As a matter of fact, even in Muslim countries,
And particularly in Pakistan and India, i.e. the subcontinent, the Hindu traditions and the traditions of other people have become so prevalent that Muslims have started to adopt them as well; traditions that are wrong. But those non-Ahmadis who have good relations with the Jama’at,
If they invite Ahmadis then you should go [to their event]. You should sit in their events with dignity. If people are dancing then you should look the other way and if there is some immoral program being conducted, you should go and sit in another corner but this doesn’t happen very often.
Of course, if the atmosphere there is extremely vulgar then that is a different case altogether. For example, one can go to whichever event they have been invited to; for instance, if it is a wedding one can go to the wedding and give the bride and the groom a gift or whoever invited them
And then they can leave or they can leave after they have eaten food. In this way you can save yourself [from such immorality] and it should not be an issue. But if the environment is extremely immodest or immoral, then this is something that one can determine straight away;
In such a case, one should not attend the event at all. However, generally, the environment is often such where one can adjust according to the circumstances. So, people should go to the events that they are invited to as this increases relations and it gives you the opportunity to be acquainted with one another
And that opens further avenues for Tabligh. If you completely distance yourself from others then that will also narrow the avenues of Tabligh. Therefore, one should try to adjust based on the circumstances. Of course, if the environment becomes extremely immoral, then one should ask to be excused and leave
But generally speaking, this is usually not the case. It’s usually only a few [non-Islamic] traditions being carried out and in that instance one should avoid them by sitting to one side and facing the other direction. If there are girls dancing and you happen to see it, there is no harm in that.
If men and women are dancing together, then certain wrong or immoral acts can occur and one should look away from that. But if there are only women in that gathering who are dancing and you happen to see it, there is no harm in that, alright? There is no need to be extremely rigid.
Also, [to avoid seeing it] you can also converse with your friends during that time. It’s not like you are taking part in the dancing. No one will forcefully tell you to get up and take part in it. And if someone does, then you can tell them that
“I do not wish to take part in this as my religion does not permit this.” This in fact would be a good thing as it would open another avenues to propagate your faith. If someone says to you to come and join in the dancing as everyone else is dancing,
You can respond and say that “No, I cannot dance as my religion does not permit this.” Then that may lead to a discussion about religion. There could be a good natured person among them who would listen to you and this will open new avenues for Tabligh, alright?
One should not completely cut themselves off from society. But of course, if it is very immoral atmosphere, then of course one should protect themselves from that and they should leave any such gathering, alright? Thus, this all depends on your level of faith.
It depends on the strength of your faith and your own will power to not let the negative aspects of the society influence you.