The Light May 2020 05

May 2020 The
Light 3
Hazrat Ameer’s
Ramadan Message
Call on your Lord humbly
and in secret. Surely He loves
not the transgressors. (Al
Araaf, 7:55)
And remember your Lord within yourself
humbly and fearing, and in a voice not loud, in
the morning and the evening, and be not of the
heedless. (Al Araaf, 7:205)
Dear Sisters and Brothers, Assalamu
Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaato Hoo.
This year Ramadan is falling in the most trying
circumstances because of the Corona pandemic.
All the people, irrespective of their ethnicity, nationality
or religion have been affected and have
had to compromise their worship, devotional
ceremonies and religious celebrations. The
Easter celebrations and Diwali have been affected
most recently. Ramadan will also face the
effects as the traditional festivity and gatherings
of Iftar and Tarawih prayers will not be the
same; there will be a high reliance on modern
technology for participation in prayers. The celebration
of Eid-ul-Fitr will most probably be affected
too. As I think of the limitations the pandemic
has placed on us, there is also a brighter
side to it. We have more time to pray and recite
and understand the Holy Quran. We will have
ample time to beseech Allah to remove this trial
from us; we have additional opportunities for
repentance and asking for Allah’s protection.
This can be a time when we can get close to
Allah through our supplications and devotion.
The two verses of the Holy Quran that I have
quoted above give us the guidelines on how to
make our prayers effective as we repent and ask
for protection against the illness. In the first
verse, Allah says: Call on your Lord humbly and
in secret. And in the second verse, He says: And
remember your Lord within yourself humbly
and fearing, and in a voice not loud, in the morning
and the evening, and be not of the heedless.
Sisters and brothers, our prayers during Ramadan,
I am sure, will be the most effective weapon
against the unseen enemy that is causing havoc
in the world. I pray that Allah accepts our fasting
and prayers and keeps us safe from all trials
and illnesses. Aameen summa aameen.
— Professor Dr Abdul Karim Saeed Ameer and
President Worldwide Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement,
23 April 2020 (Return to contents)
My Journey to the
Lahore Ahmadiyya
Community
By Thomas Delage
(Editor’s note: Brother
Thomas Delage recently
embraced Islam and took
the baiat to join this organisation
because he was
impressed by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Community’s
interpretation of Islam. He fully accepts
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the Messiah
and Mahdi promised by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(s).)
I take the pen today from France, after having
integrated, a few days ago, into the Lahore
Ahmadiyya community.
My approach, I must say, comes from a long
spiritual path coming from a traditional Christian
family with an education within the Catholic
Church. This religion took me away from the
scriptures. I studied the Bible for several years
and the prophecies of the return of the messiah
without finding my place and especially without
answers to my questions.
After a stroke, during my convalescence, I
found the Koran entirely at random in a library
of the hospital. I started to read the Koran and
discovering its message, and I felt a profound
upheaval in my beliefs and a change of doctrine
in my life. I pronounced the Shahada to become
a Muslim, and I must say that I am deeply happy
about it.
I read a lot about the return of Mahdi within
Islam, and I discovered Hazrat Mirza Ghulam
Lahore Ahmadiyya Community