Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Parts I & II — Page 73
73 PArT T Wo ministers and officials) are found to be indifferent, apathetic and tight-fisted. They only indulge in their own passions and desires, and their minds stink of apathy and indifference. They have scant regard for Islam and its needs; but when their own honour and prestige are at stake they do not hesitate to part with their entire wealth. Those who show courage and resolve for their Faith (such as His Excellency Hadrat Khalifa Syed Muhammad Hassan Khan Bah a dur, the Prime Minister of Patiala ) are so few and far between that they hardly need to be counted on one’s fingers. Of course, some among them do spend in the cause of religion, but it is more as a ritual than a genuine desire to fulfil a real need. For instance, if one person builds a mosque, another will do the same merely out of rivalry. They will spend thousands without stopping to think if their money has served any real purpose. They do not realize that the most urgent need of this day is to spread religious teachings and that if people lose their faith there will be no one left to fill these mosques. They imagine that they can fortify their faith by building high and formidable minarets and embellishing them with beautiful marble, while they pay scant attention to the spiritual strength, loftiness and beauty [of Islam] that is presented by the Holy Quran and illustrated in the verse: * Having become slaves of form and ritual like the Jews, they have no interest in inviting the world to the comfort and shade of the blessed tree of Islam. They fail to fulfil their religious obligations * [Like a good tree,] whose root is firm and whose branches reach into heaven. — S u rah Ibr a h i m, 14:25 [Publishers]