Hudhur gave a discourse on the Divine attribute of Al Hasib (The Reckoner) in hi

s Friday Sermon today. Explaining the meanings of the word Hasib, Hudhur said i
t connotes one who reckons and takes account or who is eminent, sufficient, one
who responds with exact measure. Hudhur said all these qualities cannot be found
in a human being to perfection, if they can be in a Perfect Being then that Bei
ng is God, therefore one of His attributes is Al Hasib.

Hudhur explained the subject by citing verse 87 of Surah Al Nisa; ‘And when you ar
e greeted with a prayer, greet ye with a better prayer or at least return it. Su
rely, Allah takes account of all things.’ (4:87) and expounded the merit of initia
ting the greeting of Assalamoalaikum and responding to it in a better way. Hudhu
r said this basic Islamic commandment is not only a guarantee of fostering good
relations within our own but it is also a peerless formula to extend good relati
ons with the outsiders. Muslims are enjoined therein to promote feelings of mutu
al goodwill and are asked to respond to goodwill in an enhanced and better manne
r. This is their moral and societal obligation and if they do not follow it, the
y will be accountable for it. Hudhur said only the religion of Islam has this ex
cellent and purposeful expression of greeting upon meeting each other. It signif
ies sending peace to the other and wishing them safeguard from all kind of diffi
culties. When made heart-felt, it promotes feelings of love, affection and broth
erhood. It is enjoined to respond to it in a better way, therefore in return to
Assalamoalaikum one may say Walaikumassalam warahmatullahe wabarakatahu, i.e. pe
ace be on you too and may God’s mercy and blessings be with you.

Hudhur said the principle of this greeting is such that it promotes societal pea
ce. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) strongly stressed
upon the need to promote saying of Assalamoalaikum and his Companions would vie
with each other in this matter. A young Companion Qalda bin Hanbal was sent wit
h some food to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). He ent
ered the house without seeking permission or any greeting. The Prophet told him
to go back outside, say Assalamoalaikum and seek permission to enter. Hudhur sai
d entering someone’s home without permission is wrong and the best way to seek per
mission is to say out aloud Assalamoalaikum, so that the sequence of prayers may
start the meeting. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) h
ad allowed the Companions to sit in the marketplace out of necessity but had exp
lained to them among the ‘etiquette of the road’ is to greet anyone who passes by. T
his is because a believer is a guarantor of another believer’s peace. Hudhur rema
rked it is very unfortunate that Muslims today have forgotten God’s commandment an
d are killing each other.

Once a Companion of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) ca
me to another and asked him to accompany him to the marketplace. They walked aro
und the marketplace and returned. After a few days the Companion again asked to
go out. The second Companion said that if he needed to buy something then he wou
ld accompany him, but he saw no point in simply going around the marketplace. To
this the first Companion replied that he went out so that he could say his sala
am to others, thus pray for them and get some prayers in return and put the comm
andment of promoting saying of salaam in practise. Such was the state of the Com
panions that they would take serious note of putting even the minor commandments
in practice. Hudhur said Ahmadis should pay specific attention in this regard.
God states that He will reward feelings of goodwill. If one accepts a hand exten
ded in goodwill one will be rewarded for it, if one rejects it, one will be held
accountable. Hudhur said the other perspective of this is that the Promised Mes
siah (on whom be peace) came in this age as a guarantor of peace and security. H
e gave his message of peace through his writings and books with extreme compassi
on. However, a large part of the Muslim world not only did not respond to his me
ssage, rather contrary to the commandment of responding with a better greeting,
they were abusive. In spite of his claim that he was from God and had been sent
for their good, Muslims got together with people of other faiths and opposed him
. What was needed was for them to be the corroborators of the prophecy of the Me
ssiah, to have helped him in spreading the message of piety; message that was or
iginally brought by the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). H
owever, they did quite the opposite. They trailed the so-called religious schola
rs and forgot the commandment, not only did they forget it, they responded to pe
ace and accord with extremism.

Hudhur read out the following extract from the writings of the Promised Messiah
(on whom be peace) to elucidate the compassion and humility with which he expres
sed his message to the world in order to save it from destruction. He states:

‘Today, for the purpose of conveying the message in a conclusive manner, I have ma
de up my mind to publish forty announcements inviting those who oppose and deny
me, so that on the Day of Judgement I should be able to plead before God, the On
e, that I had fulfilled the purpose for which I had been sent. So, with full res
pect and humility, I send this announcement to Muslim and Christian divines, and
to Hindus and Arya Pundits, informing them that I have been sent to the world f
or the reformation of moral, doctrinal and spiritual weaknesses and errors. I fo
llow in the footsteps of Jesusas, and, in this sense, I am called the Promised M
essiah. I have been commanded to spread the truth in the world through miraculou
s signs and holy teachings. I am opposed to the use of the sword in support of t
he faith and the slaying of God’s creatures in the name of religion. I have been a
ppointed that, so far as it may be possible for me, I should remove all these er
rors from the minds of the Muslims and should call them to pure morals, persever
ance, meekness, justice and righteousness. I proclaim to all the Muslims, Christ
ians, Hindus, and Aryas, that I have no enemy in the world. I love human beings
with the love that a compassionate mother has for her children and even more so.
I am the enemy only of the false doctrines which slay the truth. Human sympathy
is my duty, and discarding falsehood, idolatry, every type of misconduct and wr
ongdoing, injustice, and immorality, is my principle. What has roused my sympath
y is that I have discovered a gold mine and have been informed of a deposit of p
recious stones. In this mine I have been fortunate enough to find a shining and
priceless diamond. Its value is so great that if I were to divide its price amon
g the whole of mankind, each of them would become wealthier than the person who
owns the largest amount of gold and silver in the world. What is that diamond? I
t is the True God, and to acquire Him means to recognize Him, to believe in Him
truly, to establish the relationship of true love with Him, and to receive true
blessings from Him. Having found such great wealth, it would be a great wrong th
at I should deprive mankind of it and that they should die of hunger while I liv
e in luxury. This I will not do. My heart burns at the contemplation of their po
verty and hunger. My soul is in travail at the perception of their darkness and
privation. I desire that their houses should be filled with heavenly wealth and
that they should acquire so many jewels of truth and certainty that they should
be filled to their capacity.’ [Translation taken from Essence of Islam, vo. IV, pp
. 164-166. Original Urdu from Arba‘in No. 1, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 17]
Hudhur said God states, ‘… Surely, Allah takes account of all things’. However, He alo
ne knows how He will take account. If the Muslims stop and think about their cur
rent condition it would fill them with dread; could it be that God has started h
olding them to account in this very world. In spite of being ‘the best of people’, t
hey are reduced to begging others and for this reason powers opposing Islam are
continuing to force them to have their own way. Hudhur said Ahmadis are certain
that Islam will triumph through the true and ardent devotee of the Holy Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be on him) but it is also their responsibility to
inform the rest of the Muslims to understand the Promised Messiah’s (on whom be pe
ace) message and in perfect obedience join his Community. Muslims would then see
how much power they will garner, how they would re-establish their lost dignity
and how fast the peaceable message of Islam would spread. This would signify th
e Muslims responding to the great message of goodwill of the Holy Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be on him) in a great manner. If only the Muslims unders
tood this point. As for those of us who have had the good fortune to come in the
bai’at of the Holy Prophet and the Promised Messiah, we need to make tremendous e
ffort to take this message, for which our master (peace and blessings of Allah b
e on him) had great compassion, to others.

Hudhur quoted verse 128 of Surah Taubah in this regard, ‘Surely, a Messenger has c
ome unto you from among yourselves; grievous to him is that you should fall into
trouble; he is ardently desirous of your welfare; and to the believers he is co
mpassionate, merciful.’ (9:128) and explained the unfaltering compassion and goodw
ill of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) towards those w
ho followed him as well as those who persecuted him. Hudhur said the Promised Me
ssiah’s (on whom be peace) stance, as per the aforementioned extract, too was in t
otal compliance of his master. The cruelty and persecution meted out by the paga
n of Mecca did not affect the Prophet’s (peace and blessing of Allah be on him) co
mpassion and sympathy for them. Today this is the emotion followers of his true
and ardent devotee should aspire to emulate. Not only should we take the message
to others with enthusiasm we should also make earnest prayers for God’s help for
our endeavours to bear fruit. According to the commandment of the Holy Prophet (
peace and blessings of Allah be on him) by accepting the Imam of the age, we hav
e responded to the message of goodwill and are included among those believers wh
o follow the credentials of the master (peace and blessings of Allah be on him)
and in sympathy, show the world the ways to piety. For this we also put ourselve
s in difficulties, as expressed in our pledge to sacrifice our lives, property a
nd time etc. Hudhur added if anyone is displaced today because of faith, it is t
he Ahmadi. Explaining the above verse Hudhur said the Holy Prophet (peace and b
lessings of Allah be on him) was not just compassionate and merciful for people
of his time. His momentous prayers were for Muslims of all eras till the Day of
Judgement. In order to partake of the blessings of his prayers, we too should ex
hibit models of mutual kindness, forgiveness, pardon and compassion. We may then
be able to establish that social order the foundation of which was laid by the
Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). Hudhur said in accordance
with the pledge of ‘…follow me…’ (3:32) it is our obligation to try and inculcate this
thinking.

Citing 129 verse of Surah Taubah, ‘But if they turn away, say, ‘Allah is sufficient
for me. There is no God but He. In Him do I put my trust, and He is the Lord of
the mighty Throne.’ (9:129) Hudhur explained that triumph of Divinely-guided peopl
e and their communities is not hindered by betrayers and such like. God has decl
ared and history of religion has made it clear that those who turn away are the
ones who head towards destruction. For God’s Prophets He is Sufficient, just as He
was for the Seal of all Prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) on wh
om Shariah (religious law) was perfected. In explaining verse 9:129 Hudhur said
God forbid this does not signify that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of A
llah be on him) wanted to establish his own kingdom. God has put it on record he
re in the verse that He is the Lord of the mighty Throne and the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be on him) but wished to establish the kingdom of God’s Thr
one, he was the most ardent devotee of Lord of all the worlds, sent to establish
God’s kingdom and with the establishment of God’s kingdom was the fulfilment of the
kingdom of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) on people’s heart
s and minds.

Hudhur said today God is fulfilling His promise through the Promised Messiah (on
whom be peace) as his followers are endeavouring to take the message to the end
s of the earth. Just as our master (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said
God was sufficient for him, with his blessings, we too experience a measure of
this because we take his teachings forward in order to establish peace and love,
fulfilment of each other’s rights and to create an air of security; the purposes
for which the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) came.

Hudhur said these should not be mere pronouncements for us. As we take the messa
ge to others, our own condition should make it evident that we are making an eff
ort to be true believers. May Allah enable us to utilise all our capacities and
capabilities for this significant objective, may we be distanced from worldly fe
ars and worldly greed and may we continue to endeavour for the objective for whi
ch the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) came and should always keep ‘…Allah is su
fficient for me…’ and ’… In Him do I put my trust…’ in view.