Conditions of Bai'at and Responsibilities of an Ahmadi — Page 179
Condition X 179 should get used to five daily Prayers, give up falsehood, give up arrogance, stop usurping the rights of others, and live together in love and affection. All this comes under the command of ‘obey in all good matters’. There are people that do not follow any of this, but instead go around saying that they swear they would do whatever is commanded to them. Similarly, there are different initiatives from Khulaf a ’ at different times for the spiritual growth such as about popu- lating the mosques, proper upbringing of children, having more tolerance, courage, and calling people towards Allah, or about different financial sacrifices. These are the matters that one need to obey. In other words, these come under the clas- sification of obedience in ‘good matters’. A Prophet or a Khalifah is not going to ask anything that is against the divine commandments or common sense; he is not going to command one to jump into fire or plunge into an ocean. Prophets or Khulaf a ’ are always going to lead one along the shar i ‘ah. Superior Example of Obedience We find a great example of obedience with the Muslims of the early era when Hadrat ‘Umar ra took the command away from Hadrat Kh a lid ra Bin al-Wal i d and gave it to Hadrat Ab u ‘Ubaidah ra in the course of a battle. Thinking that Kh a lid ra Bin al-Wal i d was performing well, Hadrat Ab u ‘Ubaidah ra did not take over the charge from him right away. When Hadrat Kh a lid ra Bin al-Wal i d learnt that this command had come from Hadrat ‘Umar ra , he went to Hadrat Ab u ‘Ubaidah ra and said, ‘Since it is the instruction from the Khalifah of the time,