Published on Feb 11 2011 by Nadimur Rahman

Citing the following verses of the Holy Qur’an, Hudhur spoke about the recent martyrdoms as well as other Ahmadiyya sacrifices in Indonesia in today’s Friday Sermon.

‘O ye who believe! seek help with patience and Prayer; surely, Allah is with the steadfast. And say not of those who are killed in the cause of Allah that they are dead; nay, they are living; only you perceive not. And We will try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives, and fruits; but give glad tidings to the patient, Who, when a misfortune overtakes them, say, ‘Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.’ It is these on whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy, and it is these who are rightly guided.’ (2:154 – 158)

A few days ago three Indonesian Ahmadis were martyred in a brutal and barbaric attack which has saddened every Ahmadi. However, as ever, as a Community as well as on individual basis, we have reacted to this incident with patience and steadfastness. We take this stance for the sake of God and say: ‘Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.’ Today none can understand these Quranic verses more than an Ahmadi. Our enemy repeatedly persecutes us and we continue to reiterate these verses. An Ahmadi, regardless of belonging to Indonesia, Pakistan or any other country, gives the sacrifice of life and property as it befits a true believer in the spirit that the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) infused in us. This is in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) and how he trained his Companions. Through the ages followers of each Prophet of God always displayed courage of belief when Pharaoh-like people made them choose between giving up their belief and losing their life. In the time of Moses (on whom be peace) when people realised that his was not worldly magic but in fact was a manifestation of Divine support and as they realised that his message was from God, they accepted him. The Pharaoh was slighted by this and vowed to punish them, to which they said: ‘They said, ‘We shall not prefer thee to the manifest Signs that have come to us, nor shall we prefer thee to Him Who has created us. So decree what thou wilt decree; thou canst only decree concerning this present life.’ (20:73). Whereas, we are the followers of the most excellent among the Prophets to whom the perfect Shariah was revealed and by putting it in practice we can attain high stations of belief. Later, his true and ardent devotee brought back faith from the Pleiades and strengthened our belief. Would we then, waste our belief in fear of Pharaoh’s disciples? O’ enemies of Ahmadiyyat, wherever on the earth you are, if you want to persecute us, go ahead, but you cannot shift our belief. Such was the response of the people of Indonesia in the recent incident.

The Jama’at that was attacked consists of merely 30 people from 7 families. They had been receiving threats but they refused to yield to the enemy who wanted them to leave the Jama’at. Local mullah demanded that they send their mu’allum (religious teacher) away although the mu’allum was a local man. When opposition grew 20 Khuddam from neighbouring Jama’ats started coming for security duty of the mission house as in most of these situations the enemy has the backing of the police. Owing to mounting animosity in Indonesia, we have been vacating our mission houses and the authorities have either put locks on them or if others have taken over our mission houses they are not deterred by the authorities. So, we decided not to vacate our mission houses. Here, the attackers entered the mission house armed with knives, machetes and sticks while the police looked on. As we have all heard, they martyred three Ahmadis whereas five were injured. The attack was most brutal and reminiscent of the barbarity of the pagans of the dark ages. As before, they did all this in the name of one who was ‘Mercy for all the worlds’ (peace and blessings of Allah be on him), who had come to this world to dispense mercy and whose rules of engagement during battle consisted that no dead body was to be mutilated. Here, the bodies were disfigured to such an extent that initially they could not be identified correctly. These people exceeded pagans in degrading dead bodies. We are all saddened and most anxious by the martyrdoms and the disregard of our dear ones but the greatest cruelty of all is that this attack was carried out in the name of our master, the benefactor of mankind (peace and blessing of Allah be on him).

The brutality was so intense that the national press has covered it. They have refrained from showing video footage of the attack on the grounds that they are not suitable for viewing. The Al Jezeera channel usually gives such news but they have made an exception with this incident saying the images are too brutal and dreadful. Indeed, the police stood by as the throng attacked and started killing. They striped off the clothes of three Ahmadis and hit them with sticks, the images are unbearable.

Read Full Summary...