Conditions of Bai'at and Responsibilities of an Ahmadi — Page 177
Condition X 177 One thing is quite evident from this h ad i th —the decision not to obey was not of one individual. Some people were prepared to jump into the fire on account of the order to obey their leader under all circumstances. They had heard and thought that it was the Islamic teaching to obey the leader in every way, in every condition, and in every form. But some Companions ra who had better understanding of the commandments of Allah, and had benefited more from the company of the Holy Prophet sa , refused. They did not act upon it because it was suicidal, and suicide is expressly prohib- ited in Islam. Secondly, when ‘Abdull a h Bin H udh a fah ra , who was their leader, saw the seriousness of a few, he too grew worried and stopped them because it was only a joke. After this, the Holy Prophet sa , by his explanation, defined the prin- ciple of ‘goodness’ as to what is ‘good’ and what is ‘not good’. It should be clear that a Prophet or the Khalifah of the time can never say such a thing even as a joke. That is why Allah the Almighty has said that if you see a violation of a clear command by a leader, you should have recourse to Allah and the Prophet sa. Now in this age, righteous khil a fat has been established after the Promised Messiah as. You should turn to the Khalifah. His decision will always be the ‘good decision’. His decision will be in accordance with the commandment of Allah and the Prophet sa. Therefore, as I said earlier, you have the good news that now you are always under ‘good decisions’. These days, one might hear criticism that a worker who was doing a good job was replaced, and therefore the Khalifah of the time or the organisation of the Jam a ‘at had not made a ‘good decision’. (Such critics have made their own definition