Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 243
243 ‘wealth. ’ The blessings of this world also come with it. ” After this, the same Quran seller mentioned earlier said: “O Holy Imam! The Prophets have never turned away the Word of God. You are a holy leader, why do you turn it away?” His Holiness as stated: “Where have you seen the Prophets?” He responded: “Your Holiness, I have seen you,” to which the Promised Messiah as said: “You have not seen me either, for if you had truly seen me, you would not do such an inappropriate thing. ” After some time, the man left. Then, Dr Rahmat Ali Sahib spoke about the local affairs prevalent in his place of residence. He spoke about the blessings that have been received due to the British government, whereby ample time and relief is given in the army for people to offer the Prayer and follow their religion, on the condition that someone is willing to do so. One religious leader each is appointed over the followers of every Faith and no duties are assigned during the time of Prayer. There is difficulty for the Friday Prayer, however. His Holiness as said: “This difficulty could have been removed as well, if all the Muslims had submitted a request together with unity. However, these ill- fortuned people have declared India to be Dar-ul-Harb in an attempt to nullify the very obligation of the Friday Prayer service itself. How disappointing!” The Precautionary Prayer Then, the person who was mentioned in the diary of the evening of 1st August asked: “Your Holiness, what are the instructions on the precautionary prayer?” The Promised Messiah as said: “What is this precautionary prayer? There are only two obligatory rak’ats of the Friday Prayer. There is no such thing as precaution- ary rak’ats that are obligatory. ” 1 The Promised Messiah as said: “On one occasion, in Ludhiana, Mian Shahab- ud-Din, who was a very firm believer in God’s unity, offered this precautionary prayer after the Friday Prayer. I was displeased and said to him: ‘What is the 1 The Promised Messiah as states: “The Holy Quran instructs that the observance of the Friday Prayer is obligatory upon all Muslims. After the Friday Prayer has been offered, one is commanded to then go back and return to their affairs of business. Some people believe that under British rule the Friday Prayer and Sermon cannot be offered because the sovereign is not Muslim. It is strange that these peo- ple deliver the sermon and offer the Friday Prayer with complete peace, and at the same time they say that this is not permissible. Then they say who knows whether the Friday worship has been accepted or not. For this reason, they also offer the Zuhr Prayer as well and they have termed this ‘precaution- ary. ’ These sorts of people are taken by doubt. Their Friday worship was offered in doubt and their Zuhr Prayer was prey to doubt also; thus they remain deprived of both. So, in short, offer the Friday Prayer; there is no need for precautionary prayer. (Badr, dated 6 June 1907, p. 8) [Publisher] p. 222