Children who love both their parents often find it difficult to answer the question: “Who do you love more, mummy or daddy?” This question is often received with a perplexed look at both mummy and daddy as they try to muster up the right answer that can make both equally happy. The answers that entail usually work well. As long as only mother and father are in question, issues don’t get as complex as they can get in certain situations.
Huzoor’s recent Friday Sermon, delivered at Baitur Rahman USA on 2 November 2018, pointed to one such situation where love can leave one confused if asked a similar question: “Do you love the Khalifa more or the Holy Prophetsa?” or, “Who do you love more, the Khalifa or the God that the Khalifa is representative of?”
Huzooraa drew our attention to this issue that could apparently seem only a confusion but could lead to grave deviations and innovations in one’s belief, should one not set right the direction of their thought process.
Huzooraa said that although the majority of the Jamaat was clear on “who is who and what is what” when it comes to understanding the status of holy personages, but if there are any who do not know who stands where, they should immediately rectify such a perversion.
Huzooraa further clarified that if anyone had fallen prey to this misunderstanding where they are placing the Khalifa of the time, or any other holy person, over and above Allah the Almighty, they are doing so in their own confusion. Huzooraa said that neither him nor any other Khalifa before him had ever steered the Jamaat in such a wrong direction and that whosoever thinks along such a path was committing shirk [associating partners with Allah].
Let’s take a quick look at what Huzooraa has always stood for.
Almost every Friday Sermon delivered by Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa ends with a prayer to Allah the Almighty e.g. “may Allah enable us to understand the true spirit of the teachings of Islam”; “may Allah enable us to follow the examples set by the Companionsra of the Holy Prophetsa”; “may Allah forgive our shortcomings and enable us to tread the path of taqwa” etc. Not only does this show that he wants us to pray to the Omnipotent God, but Huzooraa is always submitting himself to the will of God.
We write to Huzooraa for prayers, and he writes back to us saying I pray to Allah the Almighty that may he fulfil your desire.
On many occasions, Huzooraa has told us to pray to Allah ourselves even if we are writing to Huzooraa for prayers in a certain matter.
If we have love in our heart for Hazrat Khalifatul Masih, it is a great blessing of Allah; we are loving the one that Allah chose to love. This makes our love for our beloved Imam a valuable asset and should be placed above all other sentiments.
Now, coming back to the question of how we know if our love for our beloved Imam is in the right direction, the answer is very simple. The first touchstone could be that if we are obeying, or trying our utmost to obey what Hazrat Khalifatul Masih asks of us, the direction obviously is right because Huzoor is always calling us to the One God and His messenger, Hazrat Muhammad Rasulullahsa.
One other way is to see if through our claim of love for Hazrat Khalifatul Masih we are growing in our love for the Promised Messiahas, the Holy Prophetsa and Allah the Almighty; the three lighthouses that the ship of Khilafat sails us to.
Love for Khilafat is directly proportional to the love of God. A person who is immersed in the love of God cannot be loved without loving the being that God loves more than anything and anyone. Alhamdolillah, we have a Khalifa. A Khalifa that is a beacon of light. The nearer we get to him, the closer we get to the Source of light; closer to Allah; closer to the Light of all the worlds.