Message of Peace - Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

36MESSAGE OF PEACEwhich they did not practise. To steal and rob was the order ofthe day, and committing pointless murder was like tramplingan insignificant ant under their feet. They murdered innocentchildren and usurped all that belonged to them. It was notrare for them to bury their daughters alive. They took pride infornication and boasted of it in their songs. Drinking was socommon among them that there was no house without cellarsof wine. They led the whole world in gambling. Beasts wouldfeel ashamed at being likened to them and snakes and wolveswould be disgraced if called Arabs.When our Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah beupon him) stood up with a resolve to reform them anddecided to cleanse their hearts with all his spiritual intent,within a matter of a short time they displayed such rapidchanges as transformed them from beasts into humans andthen from ordinary humans into a cultured people and from acultured people they became Godly and became totallyimmersed in the love of God. For the sake of that love theysuffered every torture as though their sense of pain had beenparalyzed. They were subjected to extreme suffering bydifferent modes of torture and were ruthlessly flogged. Theywere made to lie on burning sand and imprisoned. They weredeprived of food and water until they reached the verge ofdeath; but at every trial they continued to march forward.There were so many among them whose children were slainbefore their very eyes and there were many among them whowere themselves crucified in front of their children.The singular devotion with which they laid down theirlives is such that even to think of it agitates one to tears. If it isnot the command of God and the power of spiritual attention