Pathway to Paradise — Page 25
PATHWAY TO P ARADISE 25 after the death of the Promised Messiah in the same tradition as the Khilafate Rashida (the Righteous Successors). To the present day there have been four Khalifas. Today, the Supreme Head of the Ahmadiyya Movement is Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (may Allah st rengthen him), who was elected to the position by the Electoral College. He is a grandson of the Promised Messiah. For further information on the Ahmadiyya Khilafat, please see Chapter 7 of this book. THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM This chapter has attempted to give you a brief outline of a Muslim’s basic beliefs and principles. Unfortunately, the western media often portrays Islam in an erroneous way and creates a picture of rigid and fanatical fundamentalists. This is, of course, f ar from the truth. Islam is a universal religion. It claims to be the true way to God for all peoples, for all time. The concept of universality in a religion requires that it overcomes not only geographic and national boundaries, but also the boundaries of time. Only Islam is able to make this claim, because it is a religion whose teachings are related to the human psyc he, i. e. , its soul and spirit. Islam emphasizes that any religion which is rooted in the human psyche transcends time and space. As the human psyche is unchangeable, then the religion which is closely connected to it is unchangeable also. In other words, n o matter how mankind progresses in material ways, man’s psychological needs will remain the same, and Islam will always have the means to fulfill them. Islam’s universality is