Voice of British Muslim Women

Basira Ajmal, Bournemouth

Unfortunately we are living in a world full of fake personalities, fake standards, fake reputations, fake accounts and even fake calls—that’s a lot of fakes, and oh! I nearly missed fake news. No wonder we find it hard to trust people, organizations and even governments. We have all heard of the boy who cried wolf but did we learn anything from him? He lost his business, his living, his trust. The cattle lost their lives. The society lost their confidence to trust people.

Truth is the foundation stone for a fair and harmonious world. All the religions and even secular societies place a high value on truth. The Holy Qur’an mentions about the ineradicable connection between truth and justice in the following words:

‘O ye who believe! be strict in observing justice, being witnesses for the sake of Allah, even though it be against yourselves or against parents and kindred…And if you conceal the truth or evade it, then remember that Allah is well aware of what you do.’ (Holy Qur’an 4:136)

In exact accordance to Quran, all the courts of the worldly societies require the witnesses to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but truth.” Thus proving that justice can indeed not be established without truth. The inability to deliver justice leads to an unpeaceful society due to the discomfort and agitation among the victims of injustice.

Society most certainly puts a great value on truth but do the ones who form society, the ones who govern society actually speak the truth? Probably not. We are fed with sweetened lies and digestible untruths every day and every moment by politicians, companies and governments through the media to manipulate us emotionally rather than telling us the realities. For instance, just hours after the results of the Brexit referendum, Nigel Farage, UKIP leader revealed in an interview that a post Brexit UK would not in fact have £350m a week to pour into the NHS—a key promise of the Brexiteers which I believe would have been a key decider for most of those who voted to leave. We all become victims of such lies and the injustices caused by them.

We can see how truth is the key to justice on a level as basic as individual families to a level as high as governments and international relations. Putting light to this matter, the Khalifa of Islam, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his Helper) said in one of his Friday sermons that truthfulness is a quality that is not only promoted by those who are religious; rather it is universally endorsed by both the religious and the irreligious. Yet, the due of expressing truth is not fulfilled. Wherever the opportunity arises, falsity is used for personal gain. Thus, from individual to international level, truthfulness is negated with the same intensity with which it is verbally promoted. A large majority of people use falsehood in business. In social as well as political matters, be they national or international, truth is trampled over.  [i]

Blessed are we to have a Divinely guided Khalifa who constantly reminds us of what we need to do in order to deliver justice so that we can make our homes, our society and our world a peaceful place. He tells us that one should firmly be established on the fact that regardless of the circumstances that might befall me, I will always remain firmly established on justice. This can only be achieved and manifested when a person is willing to testify against himself and close relatives. He tells us, ‘Ahmadis must bear worldly losses and not hide the truth’. [ii] Stressing on the importance of truth His Holiness (may Allah be his Helper) has also said that from our family life to our social circle, our truthfulness should be exemplary, then alone will our efforts be blessed and will impress others and bring them closer to Ahmadiyyat and Islam. We have to endeavour for this. If we use falsehood for trivial financial gains, our words will be ineffectual.[iii]

Therefore, to make this world a better place for all of us, what we direly need is ‘Qaul-e-Sadeed’ an Arabic term mentioned in the Holy Qur’an which means the right word, the unambiguous truth. Truth comes naturally, however, lying needs conscious effort. So let’s save ourselves the hard work and make justice less hard to establish. Let’s start speaking the truth.

[i] Friday Sermon 9 Sept 2011 https://www.alislam.org/friday-sermon/2011-09-09.html#summary-tab

[ii] Friday Sermon 10 Nov 2017 https://www.alislam.org/friday-sermon/2017-11-10.html#summary-tab

[iii] Friday Sermon 9 Set 2011 https://www.alislam.org/friday-sermon/2011-09-09.html#summary-tab