Following his address at the Lajna Imaillah UK ijtema earlier on Sunday, 18 September 2022, Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul Masih V, may Allah strengthen his hand, graced the Majlis Ansarullah UK ijtema’s concluding session.
At around 16:15 BST, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih Vaa arrived in the Majlis Ansarullah UK ijtema gah. Upon arrival, Huzooraa invited Abdus Sami Abid Sahib to recite a portion of the Holy Quran – Surah Al-e-Imran, verses 104-105 – and Bockarie Tommy Kallon Sahib to present its English translation.
Huzooraa then stood for the Majlis Ansarullah pledge and everyone present stood and repeated after him.
After the pledge, Umar Sharif Sahib was invited to recite an Urdu poem written by the Promised Messiahas on the subject of Islam’s superiority and the blessings of Prophet Muhammadsa after which the English translation was also presented.
Sadr Majlis Ansarullah UK, Dr Choudhry Ijaz Sahib was invited to present the ijtema report. He reported that the last full ijtema of Ansarullah UK was held in 2019 and the theme for this year’s ijtema was “The Blessings of Khilafat”. The total attendance this year was 4,098, with 3,606 Ansar and 492 guests, as compared to an attendance of 3,117 in 2019. He went on to highlight some of the unique aspects of this year’s event. A video presentation was then shown to Huzooraa.
The Alam-e-Inami award was then announced and awarded by Huzooraa to the best majlis of the year, Majlis Hartlepool.
At around 16:45 BST, Huzooraa took to the podium to deliver the concluding address of this year’s ijtema.
After reciting tashahud and ta‘awuz, Huzooraa said that moments ago, Huzooraa delivered an address to Lajna UK and said that those words were not exclusively for Lajna but for men too. In the Quran, there were ample instructions for both men and women. Huzooraa said he presented examples in this regard – for example, truthfulness.
It was a fault of some that when advice or guidance was offered, they did not consider themselves the addressees and deemed others to be the addressees. Such people did not introspect and consider their state of affairs. We had to always look at ourselves and see whether we were fulfilling the criteria necessary to attain piety, Huzooraa said.
If, at any point, the Khalifatul Masih advised a certain group of Ahmadis to do something or abstain from something, everyone had to reflect and ponder whether they too fell short of such advice.
Whatever Huzooraa said to the Lajna earlier in his address, Ansarullah had to also consider themselves the addressees of that. A person who had reached the age of Ansarullah, i.e. the age of full maturity, had to remember that whenever advice was given on a Jamaati platform, they must all consider themselves the addressees so as to ensure a bright, positive future.
Huzooraa said, the Promised Messiahas had guided members of the Jamaat through advice. Ansarullah members were usually at an age of complete maturity and so, they must ask themselves of what benefit they were to others and what kind of examples they were setting. The Promised Messiahas had once said that members of his Jamaat were those who showed superior conduct. Majlis Ansarullah ought to be the body within the Jamaat that presented the best example. Only then could one become a member of the true Ansar – helpers.
On countless occasions, the Promised Messiahas had exhorted his followers to tread the path of taqwa.
Allah said in the Holy Quran:
اِنَّ اللّٰهَ مَعَ الَّذِيۡنَ اتَّقَوۡا وَّالَّذِيۡنَ هُمۡ مُّحۡسِنُوۡنَ
“Verily, Allah is with those who are righteous and those who do good.” (Surah al-Nahl, Ch.16: V.129)
Thus, every one of us had to reflect on what level of taqwa we possessed. When we claim to be from among the Ansarullah, the helpers of Allah, then we must remember that Allah was not in need of our help. It was through His graciousness that he had enabled us to attain a rank whereby we could be deemed “Ansarullah”, but only those could be considered so who possessed taqwa – the true fear of God and consciousness of the existence and presence of Allah, Huzooraa said.
It was only with Allah’s grace that we were breathing and we could live this life; otherwise, we would be nothing without Him. Therefore, we had to ensure we were always conscious of the fact that Allah was always watching our every act. Without this, our bai‘at was hollow.
Huzooraa said, the Promised Messiahas had once said that taqwa was an essential hallmark of the members of the Jamaat as they belonged to the jamaat of an Appointed One of Allah. If we claim to be helpers of Allah, then we had to come through with this claim and act accordingly. But if our hearts wholly submitted to the world and materialism, then this was contradictory to our claim.
We had to ask ourselves what sort of Ansarullah we were. The Promised Messiahas had once said that members of his Jamaat ought to consider themselves seedlings who were to grow into fruitful trees.
He had also expressed his desire for members of the Jamaat to never have duplicity in their claims and conduct. We had to ensure that we became at one with our claim and then became the ones to draw people closer to God through His Jamaat.
The Promised Messiahas had expounded on this subject at such length that it went to show how high the standard of the members of his Jamaat had to be. Once, he had said that we had to always introspect and see how much taqwa we had attained. The standard for this was the Holy Quran. Another standard of this was the disregarding of worldliness and allowing Allah to become one’s Guardian.
وَمَنۡ يَّتَّقِ اللّٰهَ يَجۡعَلۡ لَّهٗ مَخۡرَجًا
وَّيَرۡزُقۡهُ مِنۡ حَيۡثُ لَا يَحۡتَسِبُ
“And he who fears Allah — He will make for him a way out; And will provide for him from where he expects not.” (Surah al-Talaq, Ch.65: V.3-4)
Whoever feared Allah, Allah paved for him ways to prosperity that were beyond his comprehension. Huzooraa said, it was a point of reflection that when people reached such an age, they became worried and concerned about their children and how they would provide for them. People found excuses to fulfil such desires; sometimes they were permissible and sometimes they were not. There were some, even among us, who evaded taxes. One had to be honest and sincere as opposed to deceitful. There were many Ahmadis, however, who had shown trust wholly and solely in Allah, so much so that Allah had become their Provider and had provided them with means and provisions.
Huzooraa said, the Promised Messiahas had said that lying in any case, no matter how desperate one may have been, was wrong. We had to have trust in Allah and rely only on Him. One must never deem Allah to be weak; rather one had to have firm faith that He was the All-Powerful.
وَمَنۡ يَّتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَي اللّٰهِ فَهُوَ حَسۡبُهٗ
“And he who puts his trust in Allah — He is sufficient for him.” (Surah al-Talaq, Ch.65: V.4)
Thus, it was necessary to have trust in Allah alone, and without taqwa, this was impossible. For this, we had to reach the highest ranks of taqwa. If we truly brought about such a transformation within us that we held our faith above any other worldly object, then this was taqwa.
Our God was a Benevolent God who guided us to the right path. Therefore, we had to ensure we followed his way and adopted taqwa in our lives. This was what would give birth to the true essence of “Ansarullah” within us.
In the end, Huzooraa led everyone in silent prayer.
Huzooraa then announced that the total attendance of Lajna Imaillah UK was 6,830, before departing the ijtema gah at around 17:15 BST.
(Report prepared by Al Hakam)