Front matter
Introduction
Striving - The Door to Paradise · Ahmed Alhasan
Introduction
In the name of God, the Abundantly Merciful, the Intensely Merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds. O God, send Your blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, the Imams and the Mahdis, and grant them abundant peace.
The devils among men and jinn always try to cast doubts on the prophets and successors because they do not believe in them, their prophethood, or their message from God. One of the accusations they spread is that the prophets are cruel, harsh, and given to fighting and taking up the sword against their opponents.
In their eyes, the only way someone can be a true messenger is if he acts like the look-alike[3] of Jesus: quietly surrendering himself to merciless executioners and allowing his body to be torn limb from limb, crucified, and killed without any resistance. This is what the enemies of God want. The devils of men and jinn want every messenger to be killed so that the field is cleared for them. If a messenger resists his executioners, or defends himself and the heavenly message by taking up the sword to strive and fight, then, in their view, he is not a messenger at all.
Today, they are working hard to spread this corrupt doctrine so that people will not support the Comforter[4] foretold by God’s messengers, who comes bearing the sword of the wrath of the Almighty against the people of the earth, who have filled it with oppression, injustice, and corruption.
In this brief discussion, I will attempt to defend the prophets and messengers of God, their followers, and their undeniable right to defend the religion of God by raising the sword against tyrants and their followers when no room remains for a good word. I will also limit the discussion to what I consider necessary for examining the issue, so that the truth may become clear and one may be guided to follow it and seek the good pleasure of God, Exalted be He. Praise belongs to God alone.
From the one confessing his sins and shortcomings,
Ahmed Alhasan
January 5, 2007 CE / 15 Dhu al-Hijjah 1427 AH
Footnotes
- ↩ Translator’s Note: The "look-alike" refers to the individual crucified in place of Jesus after being made to resemble him. See Sayyed Ahmed Alhasan, The Thirteenth Disciple, Appendix 5, 117. https://www.saviorofmankind.com/books/.
- ↩The Comforter mentioned here was foretold by Jesus when he said: “But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate [Comforter] will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:5–13). The Comforter is the Riser (Qaaim) from the Family of Muhammad, the messenger of Jesus to the Christians, and the look-alike who was crucified. For further discussion, see Risalat al-Hidaya [The Epistle of Guidance], Wasi wa Rasul al-Imam al-Mahdi fi al-Tawrah wa al-Injil wa al-Quran [The Will of the Messenger and the Mahdi in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran], and other publications by the supporters of Imam al-Mahdi.