Khilafat and Righteouness; My personal responsibilities to both

Petra Shmaila Ahmad, London

In the name of Allah the Gracious the Merciful

I was given the gift of finding God over 40 years ago. I am always grateful about the fact that Allah granted me guidance towards Him in a place and at a time when huge human efforts were made to discredit and obscure all avenues towards Him and preventative measures to avert any interest in religion were in place. It was not prohibited to be a Muslim where I was, but embracing Islam was unimaginable for almost anyone. Yet, no matter what obstacles worldly powers put up, they are truly powerless against the will of God. Always were, always will be, because:

‘… Allah guides whomever He pleases; and He knows best those who would accept guidance.’ Holy Qur’an 28:57

Years before any research or knowledge about Islam, let alone Ahmadiyya, I was blessed by Allah with a dream. It formed the platform of my journey to Islam and Ahmadiyya without even realising it for years. The centre of this dream was me and the overwhelming feeling of love for the Khalifa of that time. It was the time of the third Khalifa, His Holiness Mirza Nasir Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on his soul). After all these years I can still feel the warmth of that love and devotion towards him in my dream. This has never faded from my memory but became stronger the more I understood the blessings of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat which had been prophesied by the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).  I also understood more and more that Khilafat is a beautiful gift that Allah had promised to those among the people who believe and do good works driven by righteousness which is defined to us through the Holy Qur’an and His Prophets. Given to those who as stated in the Holy Qur’an

“… will worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me.”  Holy Qur’an 24: 56

Without diminishing the efforts of so many Ahmadis who guided me through the process over the years, may Allah’s choicest blessings be with every one of them, the fact that I was divinely introduced to Khilafat in my dream makes me feel I carry a special responsibility towards this blessed institution and a special bond. It is a feeling that is very personal and exclusive to myself and is inseparable from me being an Ahmadi Muslim. The teachings of Islam, the history of mankind, my own however limited common sense and my heart and soul testify that  Khilafat is a great Divine blessing. Without it there can be no solidarity, cohesion and unity among Muslims and therefore they can make no real progress without it.  If someone sadly does not understand this divine blessing and misses the chance to show proper appreciation of Khilafat by giving unstinted support and obedience to their Khalifa they might forfeit this great divine blessing for themselves and might even, God forbid, draw the displeasure of God upon themselves.

Everybody has a goal in their life and has a path or a rope they tread on or hold on to. My goal is pleasing Allah and my path is the one that Allah has given me in the Qur’an and through the guidance given by the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the further guidance by his beloved follower, the Promised Messiah (peace be on him). My rope to Allah to hold on to is inseverable and is tied to Khilafat and I shall always be prepared to make every sacrifice for the perpetuation of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat.

May Allah enable me to do this to the best of my abilities all my life. Ameen.