What is Ahmadiyyat? — Page 76
( 76 ) in and without nearly banished him? The first step whi::h the Promised Messiah took to fulfil this mission was to remind Muslims of the important distinction. . between the shell and the kernel, between the externals of a faith and its substance and spirit. He insisted on the impQrtance of externals but· said· that the spirit was. even more important. \Vithout a genuine inward- ness, true human advance was. impossible. He founded a Jamaat every entrant into which, while declaring his faith, had to declare, 'I will hold my religion above all worldly considerations. ' 'Faith above world,' therefore~ became the slogan of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. The message came in time. The disease Muslims suffered from was just this lack of faith. \Vorldly greatness had slipped out of their hands;· still they craved only for things of the world. The advance of Islam meant in their eyes. ~ the ad van c e of :Mu£. 1im