Ramadān - Ahmadiyya Gazette Canada

appear as darkness on the Dayof Judgement. Beware of greed,stinginess and envy becausegreed, stinginess and envycaused the destruction of theearlier nations. It incited themto bloodshed and to dishonourthat which was sacred.’ (MusnadAhmad bin Hanbal, vol. 3, p. 323,printed in Beirut)To usurp the rightful belongingof others is also cruelty. Hadrat‘Abdullah Bin Mas‘ud ra narratesthat,‘I asked the Holy Prophet sa ,“What is the greatest cruelty?”He said, “The greatest cruelty isthat a brother should unlawfullyoccupy one arm’s length of landfrom his brother. On the Day ofJudgement, even a pebble fromthe land he has usurped will beplaced as a chain around hisneck; and no one knows thedepth of the earth except AllāhWho has created it.’” (MusnadAhmad bin Hanbal, vol. 1, pg. 396,printed in Beirut)Some people fail to discharge theobligations to their sisters, brothersand neighbours, or illegally occupytheir properties and land. Pleaseponder over this. As Ahmadis, theconditions upon which we havetaken the pledge require us notto usurp the rights of anyone, norto be cruel. We need to fear Allāhgreatly about this matter. There is ahadīth that:Hadrat Abū Hurairah ra hasrelated that the Holy Prophet sasaid, ‘Do you know who apauper is?’ We answered,‘Among us a pauper is one whohas no cash or property.’ Hesaid, ‘A pauper from among mypeople would be one who facesthe Day of Judgement with arecord of Salāt and fasting andZakāt, but who will have Abusedone, falsely calumniatedsomeone else, devoured thesubstance of a third, shed theblood of a fourth and beaten afifth. Then each of them will beallotted a portion of his gooddeeds. Should they not suffice,their sins and defaults will betransferred from them to himand he will be thrown into theFire.’ (Sahīh Muslim, Kitab-ul-Birri was-Silah, Babū Tahrimiz-Zulmi)Please ponder over this matter.All of us who are guilty of suchmisdeeds need to be fearful. MayAllāh safeguard every one of usfrom appearing in His presence inthe condition of such a pauper.The Promised Messiah as says:The members of my Jamā`at,wherever they might be, shouldlisten with attention. Thepurpose of their joining thisMovement and establishingthe mutual relationship ofspiritual preceptor and disciplewith me is that they shouldachieve a high degree of goodconduct, good behaviour andrighteousness. No wrongdoing,mischief, or misconduct shouldeven approach them. Theyshould perform the five dailyPrayers regularly, should notutter falsehood and should nothurt anyone by their tongues.They should be guilty of novice and should not let evena thought of any mischief,wrong, disorderliness, orturmoil pass through theirminds. They should shunevery type of sin, offence,undesirable action, passion,and unmannerly behaviour.They should become pure--hearted and meek servantsof God Almighty, and nopoisonous germ should flourishin their beings…. Sympathywith mankind should be theirprinciple and, they should fearGod Almighty. They shouldsafeguard their tongues andtheir hands and their thoughtsagainst every kind of impurity,disorderliness and dishonesty.They should join the five dailyPrayer services without fail.They should refrain from everykind of wrong, transgression,dishonesty, bribery, trespass,and partiality. They shouldnot participate in any evilcompany. If it should be provedthat one who frequents theircompany does not obey God’scommandments… or is notmindful of the rights of people,or is cruel or mischievous, oris ill-behaved, or is seeking todeceive the servants of GodAlmighty by speaking ill orAbūsively of him, or is guilty ofimposture towards the personswith whom they have enteredinto a covenant of bai‘at, itshould be their duty to repelhim and to keep away fromsuch a dangerous one. Theyshould not design harm againstthe followers of any religionor the members of any tribeor group. Be true well-wishersof every one, and take carethat no mischievous or viciousperson, or disorderly one orill-behaved one, should everbe of your company, or shoulddwell among you; for such aperson could at any time be thecause of your stumbling. Theseare matters and conditionsthat I have been urging fromthe beginning, and it is theduty of every member of myJamā`at to act upon them. Youshould indulge in no impurity,mockery or derision. Walkupon the earth with goodhearts, pure tempers, andpure thoughts. Not every evil20 Introduction to Bai‘at - Part III