Protest Before God With Prayers

By Saima G. Sheikh

Follow Saima on Twitter @SaimaGSheikh

I was speaking with someone the other day about the Peshawar attacks and how heartbreaking it was for me to learn of the senseless and brutal murder of so many innocent children. They were distressed by this as well and invited me to a protest being held for the Peshawar attacks. I explained to them that members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community do not participate in street protests but we pray to God to end our misery and seek help only from Him.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s fifth Khalifa and current spiritual leader, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad has repeatedly drawn our attention to prayers in his weekly Friday Sermons. After the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) attacked two Mosques belonging to Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Lahore on May 28, 2010 killing 86 members while they were offering their Friday prayers, His Holiness urged Ahmadi Muslims to engage in prayers and said, “…God commanded the angels to console them as they are engaged in prayers. Hudhur said he saw the same outlook in every home and was amazed at the calibre of people God has given to the Promised Messiah, each one appears a personification of ‘…I only complain of my sorrow and my grief to Allah…’(12:87) and this indeed is the glory of a believer. God has reminded believers to be patient: ‘And seek help with patience and Prayer…’ (2:46)… A servant of the Gracious God will only submit to God rather than raise a clamour, take out rallies and take the law in his own hands… The enemy had assumed Ahmadis will not be able to bear this huge loss and will take out violent rallies which would give the government the chance to impose its will on them. And by exaggerating any such reaction to the rest of the world Ahmadis could be disgraced. What they did not know was that Ahmadis are those who seek God’s help with patience and Prayer and who come in His refuge, who gather under the banner of Khilafat and will therefore never react in such a manner.” (Friday Sermon, June 4, 2010)

After the horrific and barbaric attack on Ahmadi Muslims this summer in Gujranwala, Pakistan, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifa of Islam once again urged his community for patience and steadfastness and said in his Friday Sermon on August 8, 2014, “When the neighbours of Ahmadis in Gujaranwala who used to socialise with them saw their homes vacated, they joined the mob. When morals plunge so low nothing except ‘Inna Lillah’ can be said! In light of these circumstances, we need to turn to God much more than before. We should not let our prayers lessen. While other Muslims respond to persecution aggressively to get even, our way is to turn to God in our grief and thus settle it. The Promised Messiah said in one of his poetic couplets:

“When the enemy exceeds in his uproar

We absorb ourselves in our hidden Friend!

And this is what is needed; what is needed is to instil a condition within ourselves which will move the heavens.”

His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad condemned the brutal murder of the innocent children in Peshawar in his Friday Sermon on December 19, 2014. He asked Ahmadi Muslims to pray for the innocent children killed in Peshawar and for the many innocent people that ISIS is killing. “Recently an atrocity took place in Pakistan which was not just an atrocity but was the worst example of brutality and viciousness. It made one’s hair stand on end and it made mankind scream out in response! Anyone with an iota of humanity screamed out! Indeed four and a half years ago such brutality was also perpetrated in our mosques… However, Ahmadis have compassion for mankind and we are moved to see humanity in distress. Our hearts are filled with compassion and we feel distress for them and have great sympathy… Also, this incident exceeded all manner of barbarity. The large majority of victims martyred were innocent children some aged five, six and seven years and others ten, eleven and thirteen years… Yet their lives were taken in a most brutal manner. May God wrap all of them in His cover of mercy and forgiveness and may He also grant patience and steadfastness to their parents.”

Even though, Ahmadi Muslims are heavily persecuted in Pakistan and other Muslim countries, His Holiness always urges Ahmadi Muslims to pray for entire Muslim Ummah. “Prayers should be said for Pakistan and other Muslim countries, may God bring peace to these countries and may the governments and the public recognize true Islamic values!”

Instead of taking lives, the real Khalifa of Islam teaches his community to pray for peace and well being of everyone regardless of their faith.

Follow Saima Sheikh on Twitter @SaimaGSheikh