Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 266
266 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad After this, I saw Hazrat Umar ra himself planting trees with my father on our land. Our Noble Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would always pray to seek refuge from helplessness and sloth. I reiterate, do not be indolent. Allah the Exalted does not forbid you from pur- suing worldly objectives; rather, He teaches us to pray for the good of this world (hasanatud-dunya). Allah the Exalted does not desire that a person sit hand on hand helplessly; in fact, He states clearly: 1 سَعٰى مَا لَيْسَ لِلْاِنْسَانِ اِلَّا Man will have nothing but what he strives for; Therefore, it is incumbent on a believer to strive with effort, but insofar as is possible for me, I shall repeat again and again that you must not turn this world into your ultimate objective. In fact, make religion your ultimate objective, and let worldly endeavours serve as a vehicle to this end. Often, the rich are able to do things that the poor and indigent cannot. In the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the first Caliph, who was a very skilled merchant, offered invaluable support when he became a Muslim, and he received the rank of the Truthful (Siddiq); he was the closest companion of the Holy Prophet sa and became his first Caliph. The Faith of Hazrat Abu Bakr ra It is written that Hazrat Abu Bakr ra met someone as he was returning from a trade expedition, before he had reached Mecca. He asked the man for any current news. The man said: ‘There is nothing else worthy of mention, but one new devel- opment is that your friend has claimed to be a Prophet. ’ Abu Bakr ra said there and then: ‘If he has made this claim, then he is truthful. ’ As such, when he returned to Mecca, Hazrat Abu Bakr ra met the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and inquired: ‘Have you really claimed to be a Prophet?’ ‘Yes,’ said the Holy Prophet sa and Hazrat Abu Bakr ra received the honour of accepting Islam immediately. 2 Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq ra had no need to witness a miracle in order to accept Islam. Only those people want to be shown a miracle who do not personally know the claimant. However, an individual who knows the claim- ant at a personal level has no need or desire to be shown miracles. This is pre- 1 an-Najm , 53:40 2 Al-Hakam , vol. 4, no. 29, dated 16 August 1900, pp. 3-4