Souvenir on 50th Jalsa Salana USA — Page 23
year we should succeed in making our lives much more useful to our'>elve'> and to the service of cause to which we have dedicated ourse l ves. Second ly, during the convent i on we shou ld fix specific targets for the propagation of Islam , for publication and distribution of lit erature, for attaining a figure in our subscriptions, for molding the li ves of our children in the way of I slam and similar other fie l ds. We should pre - pare a scheme for their attainment and at every subsequent convention evaluate our per - formance, which t arget we have achieved and which one have failed to reali1e and why. ' Thi s will give a direction to ou r effort'> and make us more vigi l ant toward'> the realiLation of our goa l s. Thirdly, as you 1-. now, not very far from w h ere we are meeting today a prominent l eader of Christianity was the target of the Almighty's wrath as prophesi1ed by the Promised Messiah. We s hould make thi s town the spec ial t arget of o ur missionary act ivity, build a cente r and a mosqu e to g l or if y God and perhaps somet im e ho ld a spec ial convention or celebrate a specia l day lo commemorate this g r eat sign of Allah s h own in defense of I slam. Fourthly, it should be our special effo rt that each succeedrng generation of ours should be bet - ter Muslims than the preceding generatio n. This is the only way in which we can equip oursel ves for the accomplishment of the task ahead. And may I add that thi'> places extra responsibility in the hands of our women whose training and upbringing in home plays a most vital role in s hap - ing character. The Ahmadiyya Movement ha'> come a lo ng way from the point it was started. An unknown individual, unknown even among the tiny community of a couple of hundred sou ls in his own sma ll village, in a l ocality complete ly cut off from the wo rl d by rail, road, telephone, or tel e- graph, a person who abhored publicity and was hoping to continue to live a life of utter seclu - s i on, was c h osen to proc l aim th e divine mission and spread it to a ll th e corners of the worl d. From any ea rthl y calcu l ation his mission was doomed to failure. And yet , despite tremendou opposition in all forms and from all quarters, the things wh i ch he proclaimed have come tru e though th ey l ooked imp ossib le o f a tt ain ment. yet they have in fact come tru e. The British o ne time boasted that th e su n n eve r sets on the British Common-Wealth. Thi s i ' probably no longer true. H owever, what is true today is that the sun never set s on Ahmadiy ya t And this is only a beginning , a small beginning of what would come about ultimately. What looked impossible at the time of Promised Messiah's announcement of his div ine mis- s ion, has come true today. What looks impossible today namely the total spiritual conque st b) Is l am will ln shaallah also come true one day. Thi s was true then. This is true today. This will come about not becau se we are s trong and th <. 1< this lies wi thin our capabilities. We are admittedly weak, in worldly calculation, almost nor entities but the One Who has willed it, Whose design it is, is all powerful and the fountainh e a of all and limitless resources on which He exercises full and undisputed cla i ms. So what appe ar impossible will come true is because it is the divine will and decree and no power on earth cari stop its realiLation. It should be our endeavor , our prayers that we shou ld partake in bringing about the realizati on of this dream, this divine sc h eme for the we lfar e and good of a suffer i ng humanity and its moral a nd spi ritu al advancement ; we sho uld so shape our lives that we become worthy instrument s of God's design and worthy recipient Lo abso rb Hi s blessings. Let us, therefore, start our conve nti on with prayers , rising in unison from our hearts that G od s Will be done and prevai l, the choice beliefs and teaching s of I slam are spread out al l over the universe and people reshape their live s in ac e< - dance with God's design which requires humanity to live in peace, in harmony and in to' equality , and in practicing and propagating the true moral and s piritual values of Is lam. Let us, therefore, begin this convention with renewed dedication and a special prayer for the spread and g l ory of I slam, fo r the full and early attainment of the objecti v e-; which gave birth to the Ahmadiyya Movement in Is lam for our own purification and spiritua l advancement so that we become the so le instrument of God's design to a degree that our destruction become s the destruction of God' s ow n design. May we be worthy of it and may our efforts, however , hum ble. attract and absorb God's mercy, Hi s beneficience and Hi s blessings. We shou ld also offer spe - cia l prayers fo r Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih and the missionaries and a ll th ose who participat e 1n the st ru gg le whi ch w ill l ead to the triumph of Is l am and the we l fare of al l mankind. The Muslim Su nri se