Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 116
CHAPTER SEVEN The Holy Prophet had mentioned among the functions of the Promised Messiah that he would revive the faith, which was an indication that at the time of the advent of the Promised Messiah Islam and the Muslims would have arrived at a state which could be described as devoid of life. Indeed the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, specified several aspects of the decline of the values of Islam in the daily life of the Muslims at that time. For instance, he had said that the Muslims of the time of the Mahdi-Messiah would subor- dinate the values of their faith to their worldly interests. At the time of the advent of the Promised Messiah this grievous spectacle presented itself all over the Muslim world and more particularly in the land in which the Mahdi-Messiah appeared. In his book Pateh Islam, published in 1890, he described the condition of Islam and Muslims in Persian verse as follows: It behoves the eyes of every faithful one to shed tears of blood over the distress of Islam and the disappearance of true Muslims. He whose soul is bereft of all good, dares to attribute all sorts of defects to the best of Divine Messengers. He who is held prisoner in the bondage of vice finds fault in the character of the Leader of the righteous. An ill-starred wicked one shoots his arrows at the immaculate one, so that it behoves heaven to hurl rocks on the earth. Before your very eyes Islam has fallen into the dust, what excuse will you offer to God, 0 Muslims, who pass your lives in the lap of luxury? Disbelief is surging up in all directions like the forces ofYazeed, while the true faith lies ill and helpless like Zainul Abideen. The well-to-do are eager in pursuit of their joys and pleasures, passing their time in laughter and badinage in the com- pany of beautiful women. The divines are at loggerheads with each other day and night over trifles, and the pious are entirely unaware of the needs of the faith. 0 Muslims, are these the signs of your 116