Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 150
! ! 150 The Education and Training of Ahmadi Children Excerpts from the Address D elivered by Hazrat Mirza Bashir - ud - D in Mahmud Ahmad , Khalifat - ul - Masih II ra June 29, 1923 , after Maghrib prayer Dar - ul - Fazl , Qadian Question o f Children’s Moral Training This is such a crucial question that the progress of a nation depends up on it. Nations have been ruined for this very reason. W hen the people of former generations passed away , the next generations could not become their successors. If only someone like Abu Bakr was born to succeed Haz rat Abu Bakr ra , someone like ‘ Umar ra was born to succeed Haz rat ‘Umar ra , someone like ‘ U th man, was born to succeed Haz rat ‘ U th man ra , someone like Ali was born to succeed Haz rat ‘ Ali ra , and similarly, successors of Haz rat Talha ra , Haz rat Zubair ra , and other companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa were born. I f such a legacy had continue d thereafter, how could such clerics exist in Islam who today declare Haz rat Masih Mau ‘u d as a blasphemer and have attempted to place barriers in his divine mission? H ave Muslims always behaved like this? Certainly not. T he only reason such people exist today is that the current generations failed to succeed in the steps of their forefathers. Thus, the reason for the moral degradation of the nation is because the children did not follow in the footsteps of their forefathers. The Future Generation ’ s P rogress i n Secular Sciences It is a strange sight to behold that in every field of knowledge , the coming g eneration has advanced beyond its predecessors. For example, the mathematic ians of today are more advanced than those f ro m the former days. This is also the case with h istory , for h istorical events are more completely compiled now than they were before. This applies not only to current events , but also to those events which took place in the past, for they are better recorded