How did you spend your life? A reflection by an Ahmadi convert

Reem Shraiky, UK

It seems like it was yesterday when I gave birth to my first son, who is now already in secondary school! It seems like the recent past when I was a student at university, or even at school when my greatest concern was to finish reading the book I had started in order to start another one. At that time, my biggest dream was to grow up and study English literature and literary criticism at university to become the president’s translator.

The days have passed quickly, worries and dreams have changed; some dreams have been achieved and others simply vanished as my view of the world changed with the passage of time, as did my priorities.

And here I am! I have reached the age of full maturity, so, I begin to look back at the past, sometimes with sadness, and with pride at other times. I have lost loved ones and fate has separated me from my siblings; I have not seen them for more than 12 years. God alone knows when I will see them or if I will truly see them in this world!

In middle age, only one idea and thought comes to mind: “How did I spend my life?”

The Holy Prophet Muhammad^sa said:

لاَ تَزُوْلُ قَدَمَا ابْنِ آدَمَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّهِ حَتَّى يُسْأَلَ عَنْ خَمْسٍ عَنْ عُمْرِهِ فِيمَا أَفْنَاهُ وَعَنْ شَبَابِهِ فِيمَا أَبْلَاهُ وَمَالِهِ مِنْ أَيْنَ اكْتَسَبَهُ وَفِيْمَ أَنْفَقَهُ وَمَاذَا عَمِلَ فِيمَا عَلِمَ

“The feet of the son of Adam shall not move [on the Day of Judgement] until he is asked about five things: About his life and what he did with it, about his youth and what he wore it out in, about his wealth and how he earned it, and where he spent it on, and what he did with what he knew.” (Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi)

The days that pass do not come back, and each passing day brings us closer to the end of our lives.

How fortunate you are, who were born Ahmadis; you opened your eyes to this world, seeing the Khalifa, hearing him and receiving his guidance. 

Have you ever asked yourselves, “What would have happened if I had been born into a non-Ahmadi family? Am I really qualified to receive Allah’s guidance? Would I have been worthy enough for Him to guide me to Islam Ahmadiyya?”

In other words, have you ever asked yourself, “How do I spend my life?” and “Have I served Khilafat? Have I honoured it with the estimation which is its due? So that when I stand in front of my Lord, and He asks me how I spent my life, I will say: ‘O Lord, by Your grace, You established the Khilafat and commanded me to obey and support it, and I spent my life in its service, as the service of Khilafat is the service of Your religion.’” 

It is the mercy of God Almighty to His servants and creation that He sent for them Prophets and Messengers to bring them out of darkness into the light and to take them to the highest levels of spirituality and civility. The summit of all of this was that God Almighty sent our Master Muhammad, the chosen one, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

Unfortunately, his followers either forgot his teaching or exceeded the limits of their religion and distorted it, so Allah sent His Promised Messiah^as as a faithful servant of the Holy Prophet^sa to revive his noble teachings. 

And after his demise, Allah the Most Merciful did not take off the hand of His mercy; rather, He established by His sheer grace the second rightly-guided Khilafat that was, is, and will remain the custodian and servant of this great religion: Islam. 

Whosoever was born in this light and followed it has achieved great success and was saved. Whosoever, despite being born in this light has chosen darkness, ruined their soul and is indeed a loser. 

Whosoever was guided by Allah’s grace and mercy to follow this light later in their lives, wish they had never known darkness, and after that, if they truly submit themselves to Allah and become a servant of Khilafat, they will be like those who were born Ahmadis and attach themselves to Allah’s religion.

As for my own self, I experienced the light of Khilafat first-hand later in my life, I sipped from its nectar and became intoxicated with its spiritual wine, but with my weaknesses, shortcomings and sins, I always fear that Allah might not have accepted me. This is why my daily prayer is that Allah may enable me to serve Khilafat to my last breath and that I will meet Him while He is pleased with me. Amin.