Here it is made clear that if you desire to be a true believer, it is not enough just to obey the commands of Allah and His Messenger, but you must also obey those in authority amongst you. The Holy Prophet s.a.w elaborates on this point:
So according to The Holy Prophet s.a.w's command the only time it is acceptable to disobey an authority figure is if they explicitly encourage you to commit an act which violates the commandments of Islam.
The Philosophy of Obedience
It is again strange to consider that the opponents of Ahmadiyya, despite calling themselves Muslims, have such an aversion and open dislike of the obedience offered by Ahmadi Muslims to the organised administration of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. After all, the word 'Islam' means 'peace', 'submission' and 'obedience'. Why when the religion itself is called obedience and submission are these so-called Muslims advising us to be rebellious and disobedient?! Anyhow, there is a deep philosophy behind the commandment to be obedient and even this is taught in The Holy Qu'ran:
So even if the ruler is a cruel person, we should consider that perhaps it is ourselves at fault and try to be as obedient as possible. This again is backed by logic. There are many of the instructions of The Holy Prophet s.a.w that were not understood for even a thousand years after he passed away. He instructed us all to wash our hands at least five times a day. It is only now that we are beginning to understand how germs are spread through the hands and cause disease. He also instructed us to fast and it is only now that studies are finding that fasting may help prevent Alzheimer's disease.
If we consider the states of the world today, those nations that are constantly in rebellion and revolution are suffering. An example here would be Pakistan. It is famous how exceptionally corrupt Pakistani people have become on every level. Nobody pays taxes so no services are provided by the government. Nobody obeys the law so the whole nation has to suffer from terrorism. Nobody follows the rules and so no progress is made and the nation has become weak and backwards to the extent that the Americans are emboldened enough to create basis in Pakistan which they then use to kill Pakistani citizens and even attack and kill dozens of members of the Pakistani armed forces.
Anyone who follows politics in any country will also know that those parties that are obedient to their leaders are successful, those that are not become disunited and weak. Anyone who follows sports will be aware of the same phenomena. The athletes that obey their coaches and follow their courses are successful, those that don't slowly fall behind. The teams that obey their captains become strong and organised whereas those that don't fail to progress.
Obedience to the Khilafat
The question is often raised by cynical people, 'who created Khilafat as a position of authority? Why can we not have another system?' The answer to this was given by The Holy Prophet s.a.w:
But, some may ask, didn't the true system of Khilafat come to an end with the martyrdom of the fourth khalifa of The Holy Prophet s.a.w, Hadhrat Ali? This may be true, but The Holy Prophet s.a.w foretold the return of a divinely-guided Khilafat in the latter days, a prophecy Ahmadi Muslims believe to have been fulfilled with Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya:
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad gave authority to Khilafat
In these passages, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad clearly established Khilafat would be his successor.
How to practice obedience
There are many groups of authorities to whom we owe some degree of obedience. All Muslims agree that the foremost though is of course Allah. The Promised Messiah, writing on obedience, sets the standard we should aspire to:
This pattern has been repeated in the Ahmadiyya Khilafat, where the best examples of obedience to Khilafat has come from those who have gone on to be Khalifas themselves. Hadhrat Nooruddin, the first Ahmadiyya Khilafa, wrote:
So this was the exemplary level of obedience Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad is described as having by Hadhrat Nooruddin.
Why are there from time to time minor conflicts in instructions?
One subject which has been raised on several occasions on this site is the question of why from time to time there are changes in the administrative guidelines or instructions given by the Khalifa or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Of course, there are never any changes in the Shariah, or religious law, which was completed by Allah through The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. However, there can and have been minor administrative changes between the eras of one Khalifa and the next or even within the era of a particular Khalifa. The reason for this was explained by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:
So according to the needs of a particular time or place, instructions are given and they must be obeyed. For example, in the time of Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad in Pakistan it was encouraged that Ahmadi ladies should observe prayer in mosques as much as possible. Today the same encouragement is given to Ahmadi Muslim ladies in the UK. However, at this time Ahmadi Muslim ladies in Pakistan have been forbidden from going to the mosque at all. The reason for this is that due to the current extremes in persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, there is a level of danger to their lives which was not present ten years ago and still is not present in other countries. Hence, an instruction has been given in accordance with the need of that time in that particular place that in no way conflicts with the Shariah or religious law of Islam, as it is not obligatory on women to perform their prayers in the mosque anyway.
The Philosophy of Obedience
It is again strange to consider that the opponents of Ahmadiyya, despite calling themselves Muslims, have such an aversion and open dislike of the obedience offered by Ahmadi Muslims to the organised administration of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. After all, the word 'Islam' means 'peace', 'submission' and 'obedience'. Why when the religion itself is called obedience and submission are these so-called Muslims advising us to be rebellious and disobedient?! Anyhow, there is a deep philosophy behind the commandment to be obedient and even this is taught in The Holy Qu'ran:
The verse makes it clear that being obedient is actually to the benefit of those who are obedient. Without it, they will falter and lose strength. This is explained and emphasised by The Holy Prophet s.a.w:
So even if we feel that the ruling party is making laws which are not in our personal favour, it is incumbent upon true Muslims to obey. Again we read:
So even if someone less intelligent and of weaker understanding is made an authority figure, still we must obey him.
Every example that I consider, whether anecdotal, historical or logical, leads me to agree with this teaching. Once I was speaking to somebody who worked in a primary school with very young children. This person told me that they had noticed that there were two types of children. There were those who were obedient by nature and those who were disobedient by nature. The disobedient children imagined themselves to be very intelligent and that they were tricking the teacher and getting away with things. However, it as years went by it became clear that the obedient children who simply followed instructions had been learning learning much quicker and in reality became much more intelligent and advanced.
Every example that I consider, whether anecdotal, historical or logical, leads me to agree with this teaching. Once I was speaking to somebody who worked in a primary school with very young children. This person told me that they had noticed that there were two types of children. There were those who were obedient by nature and those who were disobedient by nature. The disobedient children imagined themselves to be very intelligent and that they were tricking the teacher and getting away with things. However, it as years went by it became clear that the obedient children who simply followed instructions had been learning learning much quicker and in reality became much more intelligent and advanced.
On another occasion, I was speaking to the owner of a large business. This lady told me that she had two types of employees: those who were obedient and those who were rude and argumentative. I asked her about the advantages of each personality. She told me that as she owned the business her direct subordinates were actually middle-management. She had noticed something quite striking. Those who were obedient lead teams who were also polite and obedient towards them. Those who were rude and argumentative lead teams who were also rude and argumentative towards themselves; they had made their own life difficult by being rude and argumentative as their own subordinates had learnt the same attitude from them and were treating them in the same manner.
To consider a more historical event, there is the example of Uhud. At this battle, The Holy Prophet s.a.w gave a specific commandment to a group of 50 believers. They did not understand why he had given this commandment and so they disobeyed and due to this disobedience the battle was lost. In fact, obedience is so important on a battle-field that from that time to this very day all organised and competent armies have this concept drilled into them at every level that they must obey their superiors- whether they understand or agree with the reasons behind the instruction or not.
Again, it is worth noting from the example of Uhud that sometimes we are not able to understand the reasons behind an instruction, however that does not mean there aren't very good reasons and so we are still required to obey. Perhaps it is ourselves who are deficient in understanding, rather than the person giving the instruction. The Promised Messiah has said:
If we consider the states of the world today, those nations that are constantly in rebellion and revolution are suffering. An example here would be Pakistan. It is famous how exceptionally corrupt Pakistani people have become on every level. Nobody pays taxes so no services are provided by the government. Nobody obeys the law so the whole nation has to suffer from terrorism. Nobody follows the rules and so no progress is made and the nation has become weak and backwards to the extent that the Americans are emboldened enough to create basis in Pakistan which they then use to kill Pakistani citizens and even attack and kill dozens of members of the Pakistani armed forces.
Anyone who follows politics in any country will also know that those parties that are obedient to their leaders are successful, those that are not become disunited and weak. Anyone who follows sports will be aware of the same phenomena. The athletes that obey their coaches and follow their courses are successful, those that don't slowly fall behind. The teams that obey their captains become strong and organised whereas those that don't fail to progress.
Obedience to the Khilafat
The question is often raised by cynical people, 'who created Khilafat as a position of authority? Why can we not have another system?' The answer to this was given by The Holy Prophet s.a.w:
But, some may ask, didn't the true system of Khilafat come to an end with the martyrdom of the fourth khalifa of The Holy Prophet s.a.w, Hadhrat Ali? This may be true, but The Holy Prophet s.a.w foretold the return of a divinely-guided Khilafat in the latter days, a prophecy Ahmadi Muslims believe to have been fulfilled with Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya:
Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad gave authority to Khilafat
In these passages, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad clearly established Khilafat would be his successor.
How to practice obedience
There are many groups of authorities to whom we owe some degree of obedience. All Muslims agree that the foremost though is of course Allah. The Promised Messiah, writing on obedience, sets the standard we should aspire to:
In the present age there is perhaps no one worth obeying moreso than the Khalifa of the age. In fact, Hadhrat Uthman, the third Khalifa of The Holy Prophet s.a.w, who was one of his most respected, knowledgeable and devout companions and who was also his son-in-law compared the level of obedience owed to the Khalifa to the level Muslims owed to The Holy Prophet s.a.w:
So here Hadhrat Uthman has stated that he never disobeyed or cheated The Holy Prophet s.a.w or the first two Khalifas and that this honour is the right of all a Prophet of God's Khalufa. In fact, it is often observed that the best examples in obedience to a Khalifa is the person who subsequently becomes Khalifa themself. It is well known that Hadhrat Abu Bakr (the first Khalifa) was so obedient that when The Holy Prophet s.a.w announced his prophethood he accepted him without asking for any arguments or proofs, so great was his obedience to Allah and His Messenger. Then, when The Holy Prophet s.a.w asked for donations to a cause, Hadhrat Umar (the second Khalifa) brought half of everything he owned and so was at the forefront of obedience to The Holy Prophet s.a.w. The only person who manifested a greater example of obedience was Hadhrat Abu Bakr who brought everything he owned.
This pattern has been repeated in the Ahmadiyya Khilafat, where the best examples of obedience to Khilafat has come from those who have gone on to be Khalifas themselves. Hadhrat Nooruddin, the first Ahmadiyya Khilafa, wrote:
So this was the exemplary level of obedience Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad is described as having by Hadhrat Nooruddin.
Why are there from time to time minor conflicts in instructions?
One subject which has been raised on several occasions on this site is the question of why from time to time there are changes in the administrative guidelines or instructions given by the Khalifa or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Of course, there are never any changes in the Shariah, or religious law, which was completed by Allah through The Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. However, there can and have been minor administrative changes between the eras of one Khalifa and the next or even within the era of a particular Khalifa. The reason for this was explained by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad:
0 Comments