Khilafat Centenary Souvenir 1908-2008 — Page 197
I Khilafat Centenary adversely affected in multiple ways. The eye of an Ahmadi in particular acts as a watchman over other Ahmadis. This is precisely why the Qur 'an has recognized the entire community as a "witness. " When this watchful eye is no longer available, such people, who are not afraid of what they cannot see and think their God belongs to the realm of the unseen and is not a God of the present, start to falter due to the allure of the world and begin to indulge in every kind of impurity, so much so that they do not like to even have Ahmadis maintain much of contact with them. Their association with Ahmadi centers becomes more of a social contact that is useful for get together on Eids or some special tragic or felicitous occasions. A grave harm that results is that, due to the loss of the practice of congregational prayer, the standard of punctuality in prayer at home begins to deteriorate precipitously. Another serious consequence is that children, being deprived of the milieu of Ahmadi children, begin to be raised in a purely materialistic environment. And their sight is turned away from our values and their interest in religion declines. An indifferent outlook originates that culminates gradually in complete alienation. Yet another loss is that, due to the severance from the worldwide body of Jama' at, the awareness of their own greatness is lost. And finding oneself alone and helpless in a dominating culture, their determination and resolve suffers tremendously until, having succumbed to the defeated mentality, even the very struggle for Islamic values is abandoned. Such families also face the difficulty that due to the lack of knowledge about the global and glorious sacrifices of the Jama' at, no enthusiasm is felt by them and a sort of indifference develops in their attitude. The degree to which such perils are faced by thejama'at in America is not encountered by any other country in the world. This is because, additionally, the material advancement there, much like the skyscrapers, strikes awe in the hearts of people. Their hearts are over whelmed by the 'awe of Antichrist' to seek protection from which Hadhrat Masih-e- Mau'ood has specifically supplicated "May the 'awe of Antichrist' never reach even their doorsteps. " Thus, keeping all these issues in view, one should worry about such families and devise a strategy for them. If they remain severed from the watchful eye of the Jama ' at, they will remain vulnerable to many risks from the pernicious effects of the world and their children, in particular, will be extremely adversely affected. Beside other measures, the remedy for all these ills is to emphasize preaching and to pay extraordinary attention to the congregational pra yer at homes. Therefore, I expect thatjama'at Ahmadiyya America will work hard on each of these two issues. I pra y that Allah may make these efforts of yours extraordinarily fruitful and that His Angels may become protectors and guardians of Ahmadi homes and the theme of this verse becomes applicable to Ahmadi homes with all its blessings: "For Him (the messenger) is a succession of Angels before him and behind him. They guard him by th e command of Allah. " May Allah the Exalted be your Guardian, Guarantor, Supporter and Helper. Wassalam, Humbl y, Mirza Tahir Ahmad