Garments for Each Other — Page 44
44 save ourselves from excessive spending, we can save ourselves from indecencies and we can save ourselves from oppression. One type of oppression is the obvious oppression which cruel and unjust people inflict on others. Then there is another type of oppression which people sometimes subconsciously inflict on their own selves by becoming trapped in these customs and traditions. Then, by establishing these customs in society, they also inflict oppression upon those less well-off, who begin to believe that perhaps these customs have now become an obligation. A society, where these kinds of oppressions, indecencies, and wrongful innovations in faith take hold, becomes transformed into a society where people encroach on each other's rights, and as I have just mentioned, where people inflict cruelty on each other. But if we safeguard ourselves from these ills, we will be safeguarding ourselves from usurping the rights of others. We will be safeguarded against inflicting oppression; and we will become those with whom Allah is pleased. And today, who speaks louder than an Ahmadi for a society where people are concerned with pleasing Allah and fulfilling the rights of others? Today, who besides an Ahmadi pledges to shun blind pursuit of worldly customs and to shun base material desires? Today, who besides an Ahmadi pledges to live in complete subservience to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an ? Today, who besides an Ahmadi pledges to keep Allah ’s Word and the sayings of the Holy Prophet (saw) as a guide for his or her each and every action?