Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 55
55 The truth, however, is that the word ma‘a doesn’t only mean sharing the same time and place, it also means the sharing of sta - tus. Allah says: اَّلِا َنْيِذَّلا اْوُباَت َو َّنِا َنْيِقِفٰنُمْلا يِف ِكْرَّدلا ِلَفْسَاْلا َنِم ِراَّنلا١ۚ َو ْنَل َدِجَت ْمُهَل اًرْيِصَن۰۰ۙ اْوُحَلْصَا َو اْوُمَصَتْعا ِهّٰللاِب َو اْوُصَلْخَا ْمُهَنْيِد ِهّٰلِل َكِٕىٰٓلوُاَف َعَم َنْيِنِمْؤُمْلا١ؕ َو َفْوَس ِتْؤُي ُهّٰللا 50 َنْيِنِمْؤُمْلا اًرْجَا اًمْيِظَع۰۰ The hypocrites shall surely be in the lowest depth of the Fire; and you shall find no helper for them, except those who repent and amend and hold fast to Allah and are sincere in their obedience to Allah. These are among the believers. And Allah will soon bestow a great reward upon the believers. In this verse, those who repent, and do good deeds, and are devoted to God, and are sincere in their obedience, are described as those who will be ma‘a (with) the believers. If ‘being with the believers’ is taken literally, it would mean that, despite possessing all the vir - tuous qualities, they will still not attain the status of believers but will only be ‘with’ the believers. This is evidently wrong. The fact is that the word ma‘a also denotes the sharing of status and it is in this sense that it is used in the verse in question. It is also evident from many other verses of the Holy Quran that the door to prophethood remains open for this ummah, pro - vided that it is a reflection of the Holy Prophet’s prophethood, and serves to spread his word, and remains subservient and obedi - ent to him. In S u rah al-A‘r a f, speaking about the Holy Prophet s as and his ummah, Allah says: