Malfuzat - Volume IV — Page 168
168 Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad among the people to love and fulfil the rights of one’s relatives and in fact, human - ity at large. Until these characteristics are developed, all other deeds will rank as nothing but superficial customs. As far as one’s love for God Almighty is concerned, only He can know best, but certain things can be identified by other factors. For example, if there is fallen fruit beneath a tree, one can deduce that there must be fruit on the tree as well. But if there is nothing beneath the tree, how can one be sure that there is anything on the tree above? Similarly, in respect of a person who shows sympathy and love towards their relatives and other human beings, and stands balanced upon what Allah has established, it may be gathered that such a person loves God Almighty as well. Hence, protecting the rights of other human beings and possessing good relations with others serve as a glad tiding that one must possess love for God Almighty also. You see, the world will only last for a few days and everyone is destined to die. Our graves are calling out with their mouths wide open, and every individual enters their final resting place when the hour arrives. So unpredictable is one’s time here and so fragile is one’s life that a person cannot even expect that they would live for six or even three months. One cannot even know for sure whether they will live to take their next step or not. When this is the state of man that one does not know about one’s hour of death—but it is a definite fact that it will surely come to pass and cannot be averted—then it is the duty of every wise indi - vidual to remain ever prepared for that hour. This is why the Holy Quran states: 1 َُْوَْن َم ِ ُل ُْسْ َم ْ ُم ُْتُ َّن َ ا َوَ َا ْل ِ ا َ ُن ُ َّت ُْوْ َم َ َّت َا ْل Let not death overtake you except when you are in a state of submission. At every moment, until a person’s account is clean with God, and until one truly fulfils both sets of rights, one has not done enough. As I have mentioned, there are two categories of rights: firstly, the rights due to Allah, and secondly, the rights due to humanity. The rights due to other human beings also are of two types: those who are your brothers in faith, be it a brother, father or son, all of these relations may be bound together in faith; secondly, one must possess true sympathy for all of humanity at large. The greatest right that is owed to Allah the Exalted is that He ought to be wor - shipped, and this worship should not be based on selfish interests. In fact, even 1 al-Baqarah , 2:133 p. 434 ْ ُم َُكُ ْل ْ ٍب ِ َج َْتَ َس َ ْ ِ َّن ُْوْ ِع ْ َد ُ