Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 103
! ! 103 look for their answers within the Holy Qur’ān. For t his reason, some will determine the number of r aka’at in Salāt to be two and some consider it three. These are the key features of th e aforementioned sects. I will not go in to further detail concerning the validity of their arguments. f. Ahmadiyyat - the true Islam : You must understand the following facts regarding Ahmadiyyat. Firstly , what was the Promised Messiah ’s as claim? Did he or did he not claim prophet hood ? Also, could there be a prophet after the Messenger of Allah sa ? Secondly, t he question arises as to whether [his] claim is that of the Promised Messiah as. Within the context of his claim , one then asks whether or not Jesus as , son of Mary , d ie d ? If he did die, will the Messiah come from among his u mmah ? If he did not die, will the same Jesus as , son of Mary , reappear? If he does reappear, h ow will it affect Hazrat Muhammad’s sa prophet hood ? T hirdly , wha t is the purpose of Ahmadiyyat? Was there a need for this movement and d id the coming of Ahmadiyyat fulfi ll this need? The next issue worth pondering over is whether the Promised Messiah as was a Prophet or a Messenger. D id he nurture those very characteristics present in the prophets or messengers of God or did he meet the criteria of authenticity established for the prophets? What are thos e criteria? Then there is the science of prophecy and the truth regarding prophecy. What is a prophecy? What type of prophecies did the other prophets present and what type did the Promised Messiah as present? W e must then consider what type of relationship the Promised Messiah’s as Jama'at had with previous sects. A recent point of contention is whether Khilafat will be established after Promised Messiah as or will a Parliament be established , as proposed by the Kharjites ? I s the system in place for the future progress of Ahmadiyyat and what would be the individual responsibilities in this regard? g. Sufism: Sufism is the eighth sect. Various people have defined Sufism in different ways. Some interpret it as the