When the messengers of God bring their teachings and their communities start to grow then this in itself is a sign of their truthfulness. It is important to respect and honour those individuals who were sent by God in order to preserve the peace of the world. I will now read an excerpt from the Promised Messiah’s(as) writings in which he talks on this subject. He writes,
“Therefore, this law is part of the eternal practice of Almighty God that He does not grant respite to a false prophet (that is to say if worldly governments do not tolerate that something false be ascribed to them, how can God tolerate it?). Such a person is soon seized and suffers his punishment. In view of this, we shall honour and accept as true all those who claimed to be Prophets at any time, and their claim was established and their religion became widespread and flourished over a long period. If we should discover mistakes in the scriptures of their religions or should observe the misconduct of their followers, we would not attribute these faults and shortcomings to the founders of these religions, inasmuch as the perversion of scriptures is possible and it is possible that mistakes of interpretation might find their way into the commentaries. But it is not at all possible that a person should fabricate lies against God and claim to be a Prophet and then put forward his own compositions as the Word of God falsely, and yet God should grant him respite like the righteous (that is, that all this should happen and God deals with him like a truthful person) and allows him wide acceptance worthy of the truthful.”
“Therefore, this principle is an ultimate truth and endless blessing, and withal lays the foundation for conciliation, in that we affirm the truthfulness of all Prophets whose religion has been well-established, has survived for a long time period and has had millions enter its fold. This is a very blessed principle. If all the world were to adhere to this fundamental principle, thousands of disorders and blasphemies, which disturb the peace among general public, would be eradicated. It is apparent that people who consider the adherents of a religion to be following a person, who, in their view, is a liar and fabricator, lay the foundation of many tribulations. They certainly commit the crimes of defamation and speak of the Prophets with extremely disrespectful words, going as far as employing abusive language, and disrupt harmony and peace among the general public; notwithstanding that their estimation is wrong and they are transgressors in the eyes of God with regard to their disrespectful views. God, Who is Merciful and Beneficent, does not like that a liar should prosper unfairly and then put people in doubt by establishing his own religion. Nor does He allow that, in the eyes of the world, a person be raised to the level of true Prophets while he is a fabricator and a liar.
''Therefore, this principle lays down the foundation of love, peace and harmony, and supports moral values, in that we consider all those Prophets true who appeared in the world—whether in India, or Persia or China or any other country. God instilled their respect and grandeur in the hearts of millions and made firm the roots of their religion, which remained established for centuries. This is the principle that the Quran teaches us. In light of this principle, we honour all religious founders who fall under this description whether they are the founders of the religion of the Hindus, or the religion of Persians, or the religion of the Chinese, or the religion of the Jews or the religion of the Christians. Unfortunately, our adversaries cannot treat us this way, and they do not bear in mind the pristine and unalterable law of God that He does not give that blessing and honour to a false prophet that He bestows upon the true one. The religion of a false prophet does not take root and does not last long, as does the religion of a truthful Prophet. Therefore, people subscribing to this kind of belief—who defame the Prophets of other nations by declaring them false—are always enemies of peace and harmony, because there is no greater mischief than abusing the elders of other nations. Sometimes a person would rather die than hear disparaging words for his elders. If we have an objection over the teaching of a religion, we should not attack the honour of the Prophet of that religion or mention him in an unseemly manner. Rather, we should object only on the current practices of that nation. (That is, if any fault is found among a people then the blame for this should not be attributed to a Prophet, but their own corrupt practices). We should be certain that the Prophet whom God Almighty has graced with the honour of acceptance by millions, and whose acceptance has continued for centuries, is thus firmly proven to be from Allah. If he were not the beloved of God, he would not have achieved so much respect. It is not the practice of God to grant honour to a fabricator, to spread his religion among millions, and to safeguard the fabricated religion for a long time.
“Therefore, a religion which spreads in the world, takes root, and finds honour and long life, cannot at all be false in its origin. Therefore, if anything in that teaching is found objectionable, it can either be because (the Promised Messiah(as) listed three reasons why various religions are prone to criticism in the current age). (Firstly) the teachings of that Prophet have been altered, (that is, the teachings of the Prophet are changed). (Secondly) or because a mistake has been made in the exposition of his teachings (that is, false exegeses are made). (Thirdly) it is also possible that we may not be justified in our objections. (That is, people readily object to that which they don’t even understand. For example, currently people make allegations against the Holy Prophet(sa) without having read the relevant sources or having made any effort to understand the Holy Quran). It may be observed that some priests raise objections about certain tenets in the Holy Quran, even though they believe them to be true and as the teachings of God according to the Torah. Therefore, such objections are due to one’s own mistake or due to haste.
“In summary, the welfare of humanity, peace, harmony, righteousness, and fear of God call for adhering to the principle that we do not declare such Prophets as false concerning whose truth the opinion of millions of people for centuries has been established, and they have been supported by God since time immemorial. I am confident that a seeker of truth, whether Asian or European, will cherish this principle, and will profoundly regret that he did not believe in it all along. I place this principle before Her Majesty, the Queen, the Empress of India and England because only this principle can spread peace in the world. This is our principle. Islam is proud to be unique in subscribing to this beautiful and handsome principle. Is it befitting that we malign the sages to whom God has subjugated a world and kings have been bowing to them for centuries? Is it befitting that we be distrustful of God, thinking that He wants to deceive people by giving the status of the truthful to the liars, making them the sages of millions, giving their religions long lives and showing heavenly signs in their favour? If God Himself were to deceive us then how could we differentiate right from wrong?
“This is an important tenet: a false prophet should not achieve the grandeur, acceptance and greatness as that of a truthful one. Prosperity should not result from the plans of liars as it does from the activities of a truthful one. That is why the first sign of the truthful is that perpetual support is with the truthful, and God plants his religion in the hearts of millions, and grants it long life.
“Therefore, keeping in view the day of our passing away and the day of recompense, we should not malign such a great sage; rather, we should garner true respect and true love for a Prophet who carries such signs. This is the first principle which God has taught us. Through this we have become inheritors of a great moral code.”1
The Promised Messiah(as) also proposed that such conferences ought to be held in which adherents of various religions should come together and elaborate on the excellences of their respective religions.2
Thus, in terms of practice, Islam is the world’s foremost religion and in terms of numbers it is the second largest. Therefore, the followers of the world’s other religions ought to respect Muslims and confer the honour that is due to the Holy Prophet(sa). Otherwise mayhem and disorder will engulf the world. We honour the religions of the world and consider their holy persons God’s true Prophets because of the beautiful teaching of the Holy Quran which has been delivered to us by the Holy Prophet(sa). Despite the fact that the opponents of Islam direct untoward abuse at the Holy Prophet(sa) and make despicable caricatures of him, we do not respond by abusing the Prophets or holy persons of other religions. And yet Muslims are still accused of disturbing the peace. But, it is our opponents who initiate strife and play with the emotions of other’s and then eventually lay the blame for this at the door of Muslims. Thereafter, they call for action to be taken against them...
The message of the Promised Messiah(as) which I have just read needs to be widely publicised so that the true picture of Islam can emerge before the people of the world. Those of a materialistic disposition have no understanding of the honour in which a true Muslim holds the Holy Prophet(sa). His teaching and example are beautiful. Such people cannot perceive the love a true Muslim has for the Holy Prophet(sa). Over 1400 years ago today the poet Hassan bin Thabit expressed this devotion in the verse:
That is, “O’ Muhammad! You were the pupil of my eye. With your demise I am now blind. I care not for the death of anyone now, it was only your passing that I feared.”
This verse was spoken by Hassan bin Thabit on the demise of the Holy Prophet(sa). But, in this age, the Promised Messiah(as) has inspired the love of the Holy Prophet(sa) in our hearts. In his extensive Arabic Qasidah, the Promised Messiah(as) writes:
A nation has seen you; an ummah has heard the name,
Of the moon who has made me its lover,
In memory of your beauty the people cry because of their love,
They cry also from the pain of separation,
In its anxiety my heart has reached the throat,
And my eyes are tearful.
The final verse of this Qasidah [whose verses are memorised even by children] is,
My body wishes to fly to you in its love,
Would that I was able to take flight.3
Thus, we have been taught about love and affection for the Holy Prophet(sa), and yet the people of the world ask us what difference these jokes make. When etiquettes and conduct reach such a nadir then the peace of the world comes under threat.
But as I have said our task is to make greater efforts than before to bring various aspects of the Holy Prophet’s(sa) life before a wider audience. Every Ahmadi ought to read Life of Muhammad which is a small but comprehensive life history included in the biographical section of Introduction to the Study of the Holy Quran. Almost all aspects of the Holy Prophet’s(sa) life have been discussed in this book, or at the very least, the most important aspects. Secondly, all Ahmadis should read other biographies in accordance with their own tastes, preferences and intellectual abilities and then afterwards bring to light the many excellences of the Holy Prophet(sa) before a wide audience through various means such as, pamphlets, essays and personal interaction. Let God enable us to fulfil this crucial obligation. And let Him draw the attention of erudite people, so that they too respond to the actions of those who create unjust satires and make expressions of enmity for the preservation of the peace of the world and so that the people might be saved from the displeasure of the Almighty. Let God allow this to occur.4
1 Tohfa‐e‐Qaisariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 12, pp. 258‐262
2 Tohfa‐e‐Qaisariyyah, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 12, p. 279
3 A’ina‐e‐Kamalat‐e‐Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, pp. 590‐594
4 Friday sermon, delivered on September 28, 2012.