Worship, Anger-Management and Forgiveness

God has drawn the attention of true believers towards becoming عابد abid (worshipper of God) and towards adopting high morals because without this one who claims to have faith cannot be called a true believer. The sign of true believers is that they worship God and also shun idle and frivolous matters. It cannot be that one is a true believer but is also discourteous. Usually discourtesy is borne of arrogance and this is why God states about servants of the Gracious God that they: ‘…walk on the earth in a dignified manner…’ (25: 64) and one who is dignified and humble always avoids altercations, seeks reconciliation and is courteous to others. The condition of a true believer is when attainment of pleasure of God is the objective alongside high morals and while effort is made to observe worship of God with its dues. Thus the attributes of a true believer are being عابد abid and being humble. It is also true that each person has his or her own individual spiritual capacity and people have varying physical capacities. At times temporary situations impede these capacities and man cannot maintain consistency in his morals and cannot keep up the standards of spiritual development as are expected of a true believer. For this God has granted ease to true believers; indeed He does not burden anyone beyond their capacity. Therefore to say that certain things are impossible for man to practice is at least not correct as far as Islam is concerned.

God has made Salat obligatory but has also given much expediency regarding it. For example, if someone cannot offer Salat standing up, they may do so sitting down. If they cannot offer Salat sitting down due to frailty or illness, they may do so lying down. And there is no stipulation as to how should one lay down. When one is travelling or there are any temporary constraints, Salat can be shortened or combined. In short no matter what no one can say that it is not possible to offer Salat under any circumstances. People whose employment necessitates that their clothes cannot be clean all the time may offer Salat in those clothes. If water is not available tayyammum (dry ablution) may be performed in place of wudu. Therefore a sensible person will not make any excuse to miss offering Salat. If one is in one’s senses, then one must offer Salat. Many people make many excuses in this regard and this distances them from faith. Each one of us needs to focus on this matter!

Hazrat Khalifatul Masih said that following his Friday sermon at the inauguration of our mosque in Ireland in which Huzoor had drawn attention to worship of God, he received a letter from a Murrabi Sahib in USA and other letters as well that attendance at mosques has increased after Huzoor’s sermon. It is obvious that earlier the non-attendance was not due to any constraints or unfeasibility and once attention was drawn to the matter it worked. Now the momentum needs to be maintained and for this Khuddamul Ahmadiyya and Lajna need to make special efforts in instilling the practice of regular observance of Salat in the youngsters. Youth is a time of good health and when worship can be offered with its due requisites. In later life one develops ailments which prevent one from offering worship of God with its due requisites. The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) especially drew our attention to the fact that only worship during youth and while in good health can be offered with its due requisites. One should try and observe commandments of God even by imposing them on oneself let alone avoid them even with all the convenience granted by God in this regard! Indeed one should worship God as thanksgiving for the good health one has! Much effort should be made in this regard as faith cannot be complete without it.

The other aspect is that of high morals. A main quality of those with high morals is honesty which is also an attribute of true believers. It is o