Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 18
, of a true Khilafat is the establishment The Second Duty is to teach them their Holy Book. ~~"' r,. . ,e ss and spirituality in the J ama'at, for al The Third Duty is to teach them Wisdom. - e e two vitally important qu ities in true the believers themselves and their Khilafat The Fourth Duty is to purify them. VlQF WISDOM I""'\ Righteousness [taqwa] is a tree which. one s~ould plant. . . . . , in one's heart. The water which nourishes righteousness ~ can indeed feed the entire field of ll_f e. ~g~teousness is a root and everything springs from it. If it is there, you These are the four tasks assigned to the Messengers and in particular to the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw. Having understood the mission of the Prophet, the job or mission of his Successor becomes clear - it is to continue the work the Prophet was sent to execute, that is, to recount before them the signs of God , to teach them the meaning 0 get everything. But if it is not there, then everything becomes null and void. It does absolutely no good to man > if he claims to seek God with his tongue but shows no ;;;;. steadfastness in this way. Promised Messiah (as) The Will, page 9 cannot be kept pure and safeguarded against moral decay and disunity. The Holy Qur'an itself also establishes this point; that the mission of the Khalifa (Successor) is the same as that assigned by God to the prophets whom the Khulafa succeed. When we consider the issue from this point of view and look at the Holy Qur'an, we come across the prayer of Hadhrat Ibrahim as where he begs God to raise a Prophet from among his progeny. This prayer was fulfilled with the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw and in this prayer were contained the great status that would belong to this Prophet. 'And, Our Lord, raise up among them a Messenger from among themselves, who may recite to them Thy ~igns and teach them the Book and Wisdom and may purify them; surely, Thou art the Mighty, the Wise'. 2:130 In this verse the great work and mission assigned to the Messengers is laid out. These are the tasks that the Messengers come to execute for the benefit of their people: The First Duty is to recite to them God's Signs. of God's Words and impart wisdom to them and to purify them. Thus, when we look at the lives of the four rightly-guided Khulafa of the Holy Propher aw, we see they continued the mission of the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw precisely. In this age also the Khulafa of the Promised Messiah saw have continued the work and mission of the Promised Messiah as and shall continue to do so until the end of time, insha'Allah. On April 12, 1924, Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih II, Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad ra, the Promised Reformer, delivered a very important and extremely well argued discourse on this topic during the Majlis-e-Shura (advisory council meeting). He recited verse 130 of Ch. 2 Surah Al-Baqarah: 'And Our Lord, raise up among them a Messenger from among themselves, who may recite to them Thy ~igns and teach them the Book and Wisdom and may purify them; surely, Thou art the Mighty, the Wise'. 2:130 The second Khalifa ra then went on to say: Hadhrat Ibrahim as prayed in favor of a Messenger that was to be raised among his progeny, and in this prayer itself is expressed the reasons for which a Prophet is sent into the world. These are four duties. I have pondered 18. .