The Promised Messiah(as) wished that everyone who joined his Community should act upon the commandments of the Holy Qur’an or at least tried to act upon them. His follower was one who fully believed in the Qur’an. The Promised Messiah(as) said that if one disobeyed even one commandment, such a person had no connection with him. It was his wish that those who believe in him should rise above the worldly customs and thus guard themselves from the greed and frivolous customs of this world; that they would strive only to do what Allah the Almighty and His Prophet(sa) have enjoined. Indeed, the Prophet of God has only commanded what is God’s commandment in the Holy Qur’an. This is the reason when someone asked Hazrat ‘Aishah(ra) about the noble character of the Holy Prophet(sa), she had replied, ‘Do you not read the Qur’an? The characteristics that are mentioned in the Qur’an are the very character of the Holy Prophet(sa).’ This is why the Promised Messiah(as) said that he followed his master and patron and declared each commandment of the Holy Qur’an to be his way of life. If others too complied with this, only then they would be counted in his Community.
Once they made the bai‘at, the members of his Community too demonstrated such models.
First of all I wish to present the model of an Ahmadi lady, the mother of Hazrat Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan(ra). This incident demonstrates how much she disliked innovative customs. The incident took place at the time of the wedding of Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad, her nephew. Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad states that after the nikah ceremony he was called into the ladies quarters. He noticed that two seats had been arranged facing each other, as is the custom in villages and he was expected to sit on one seat and the bride was to be seated on the other, and certain customs were to be carried out. He says:
I felt nervous but then decided that it would not be proper at this time to argue with ladies at the time. So I sat on the seat designated for me and stretched my hand towards the things arranged for the customs. Immediately, my aunt, that is Chaudhry Zafrullah Khan Sahib’s(ra) mother, held my wrist with force and pushed my hand away and said, ‘Son, this is shirk (associating partners with Allah the Almighty).’ This gave me courage as well and I pushed those things away with my hand, stood up and said: ‘I will not participate in those customs.’ That is how I freed myself.
Today also our ladies should be mindful of these things. They should not blindly follow the regional or national customs. If they notice that a custom contains even a hint of shirk, they should eschew it. May Allah the Almighty grant all Ahmadi women this zeal in morally training themselves as well as their children! In our countries, Pakistan and India, Muslims follow the custom of not giving their daughters their due inheritance. Let alone what is due, they give nothing at all to their daughters, in particular in villages and among the farmers. An example to follow is that of Hazrat Chaudhry Nasrullah Khan(ra). His son writes, Our father gave our sister a lot of dowry at the time of her wedding as it was the custom. In his will he stated that his estate be distributed according to the Islamic shari‘ah among the sons and the daughters both. At the time of his death, his daughter got her inheritance according to shari‘ah.