Hudhur recited the following Quranic verse at the start of his Friday sermon: Never shall you attain

to righteousness unless you spend out of that which you lo ve; and whatever you spend, Allah surely knows it well. (3:93) Explaining, Hudhur said the Arabic word Birr used in the verse means great virtue, perfect virtue. A true Momin (believer) who looks out to please God, searches f or the level of virtue which gains nearness of God. The Holy Quran cites virtues that gain Gods nearness. Among these, spending ones wealth and using ones capabilit ies is also cited as virtue as it is in the aforementioned verse. Giving becomes a great virtue when one spends that which one loves. Without doubt, God rewards all virtuous acts that are done to please God. Yet, the best recompense is give n when the best is spent in His way. That person is most beloved of God who ever tries to attain high level of virtue and in pursuit of this, does not hesitate in giving the best that he or she has. Such a person is ever ready to make any a nd every kind of sacrifice for strengthening of faith. Indeed, a true Momin is a lways anxious to attain high levels of virtues. When the aforementioned verse was revealed one of the Companions of the Holy Pro phet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said that he would give his most f avourite garden/orchard in the way of God. The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) was most pleased by this. His Companions would ardently wai t for instructions to carry out good deeds, so that they could fulfil them and d emonstrate their faith, sincerity, loyalty and sense of sacrifice. The Holy Prop het (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said that one who spends in the way of God is worthy of emulation. His Companions were most enterprising in spendin g in the way of God. They did so openly as well as privately in order to gain th ose levels that God expects of a Momin. God rewarded them immensely for their ex cellent sacrifices. Those who did ordinary work became millionaires. The more Go d gave them, more burnished became their giving. They had the spiritual insight that God greatly blesses what is spend in His cause. Seven-hundred fold, or even more. God does not remain indebted to anyone. It was through the power of holin ess of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) that a spiritua l revolution came about and it was by virtue of this that his Companions were al ways keen and eager to try and spend in the way of God. The life of the Companio ns tells us that they realised their objective. The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) writes: Did the esteemed Companions arriv e at the level that they attained without cost? A lot of expenses and troubles a re endured to attain worldly titles and in the end an ordinary title is obtained which cannot give peace of mind and tranquillity. Imagine then, did they easily attain the title of RadhiAllahu Ilaihim [may Allah be pleased with them], which i s a sign of peace and tranquillity of heart and mind and pleasure of the Noble L ord? He also said: Fact of matter is that Gods pleasure is not attained until tempo rary difficulties are endured. God cannot be cheated. Blessed are those who do n ot care about difficulties in order to attain Gods pleasure. This is because a Mo min finds eternal happiness and the light of perpetual comfort after temporary d ifficulty. God sent the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) in this age for the reformation of the world and he explains matters to us by citing the examples of the Compan ions (may Allah be pleased with them) as these pure examples are models for us a nd walking in their footsteps would gain Gods pleasure. Indeed, the Promised Mess iah (on whom be peace) directly trained thousands from among his own Community, who went on to demonstrate to the world that they were ever ready to sacrifice e verything in the way of God. The energy of their faith and sense of sacrifice he lped the Community to progress gloriously. Those who were blessed with his compa ny understood his message very well when he said: The door to virtue is narrow. T herefore have it inculcated very well that no one can enter it by spending what is useless. It is decisively apparent that Never shall you attain to righteousnes

s unless you spend out of that which you love unless you spend what is most dear a nd most precious to you, the status of beloved cannot be achieved. Hudhur recount ed a few accounts of some companions of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) illustrating their spirit of sacrifice. Hadhrat Sufi Nabi Bakhsh sahib (may Allah be pleased with him): He relates that once at the occasion of Jalsa Salana, he requested the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) that he wished to see him in private. The Promised Messiah (on whom b e peace) called him in, but a few others also followed. Nabi Bakhsh sahib said t o the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) that his father said to him that he ha d given him a good education and now that he was earning, he did not serve him. His wife said to him that since he became an Ahmadi all her jewellery was sold. Sufi sahib added that he observed that the Promised Messiahs followers spent thou sands in the service of faith. He requested for prayers that may God doubled or trebled his salary so that he too could serve faith. The Promised Messiah (on wh om be peace) said very well, he would pray and asked to be reminded of this. Suf i sahib says he used to earn Rupee 55 in those days. He wrote one letter request ing prayer. Soon he found employment with Ugandan Railway with a salary of Rupee 120 and Rupee 35 as additional allowance. When he received his first salary he promptly offered this to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). He then left f or Africa and as long as he stayed there, his salary was three-fold of what he f irst received. He says this is a miracle of acceptance of prayer of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). Hadhrat Chaudhry Rustam Ali sahib (may Allah be pleased be him) was an inspector in the railways. His salary was Rupee 150. He was a very sincere member of the Community. He would keep Rupee 20 for his own use and that of his family and sen d the rest to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). This was his routine. The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) also instilled a sense of sacrifice in t he hearts of those who could not afford to give financially. They too were anxio us to give. Hadhrat Qazi Qamar uddin sahib (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates about Sai n Dewan sahib that he would ask Saain sahib who travelled through his village to go to Qadian, whether he was visiting Qadian to meet the Promised Messiah (on wh om be peace) or did he have some business there. Hudhur explained that the journ ey Sain sahib took on foot would be approximately hundred miles. In response to t he question, Sain sahib used to say, as I am poor, I cannot pay chanda. I am going so that I can weave the webbing of the bedsteads of the guest house and thus pa y my chanda in lieu. Hudhur said there are numerous accounts but Hudhur has only presented a couple d ue to time constraint. Hudhur said that what he also wished to present filled on e with praise of God and turns one to God more than before. The Community that t he Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) established to bring the world under the banner of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) did not ceas e to have the high standards of sacrifice after the life of the companions of th e Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). In fact, with the grace of God, a hundred years later, the keenness and fervour for sacrifice is alive. It appears the ne w Ahmadis are competing with each other to spend in the way of God. In this materialistic age, Ahmadis spend in the way of faith. For them worldly m atters are secondary. Such sense of sacrifice alone is sufficient to prove the t ruthfulness of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). These sights can be expe rienced in Asia, Europe, Africa and America. These people try their best to unde rstand the message of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) and put it in prac tice. As long as we give precedence to faith over worldly matters and continue w ith our endeavours, no enemy can harm us in the slightest. InshAllah. Hudhur pre sented a few accounts to illustrate this.

Our person in-charge (Nazim) of Waqfe Jadid in India went on a tour to Kerala an d was told by a friend that he had just started a furniture business. He pledged to pay 400,000 for Waqfe Jadid and said that he would also give 10% of the prof it from his new business. With the grace of God his business did very well. He h ad instructed his wife to take out Waqfe Jadid contribution from the daily incom e. One year later, 550,000 was collected. For the next year, he offered to pay 2 5% of the profit. A lady in India who is a teacher and her salary is somewhat limited pledged one months salary for Waqfe Jadid. When her father came to know he was moved to tears and told his elder daughter about her younger sisters sacrifice and asked her wh at was she going to do about it. The older sister also pledged greater amount th an she had done before. Ameer sahib Mali writes that a new Ahmadi is very prominent in financial giving. He was contracted to work without leave for census purposes at the salary of a thousand in local currency. Jalsa fell when six days of his contract remained. H e first thought he would send apologise to the Jamaat but later realised he had t o give precedence to Jamaat work, regardless of losing the thousand in income. He went ahead with the Jalsa while his colleagues reproached him for losing out on the money. After his return from the Jalsa, the mayor of the area called him an d said that although he had left contrary to his contract, since he had gone in the cause of God, the mayor had put aside the money for him. Later, the deputy m ayor and the person in-charge of the accounts also called him respectively and r epeated the same message. All three told him not to tell anyone. Thus, he ended up having three-fold the amount which he gave up to attend Jalsa. He promptly ga ve 20,000 for chanda. Ameer sahib of The Gambia writes that a friend came to see him and paid 100,000 in chanda. He said he could be in debt of people but could not be in Gods debt. H e is poor and under privileged and has difficulty in supporting his family but i s most prominent in financial giving. He later said that soon after making the l arge chanda payment, he received a larger amount from somewhere. Missionary sahib of Sierra Leone writes that a sincere Ahmadi who is not very we ll-off had some remainder on his Tehrike Jadid contribution. When missionary sah ib visited his house he realised the dire situation of the family. The Ahmadi to ld him that all he had at the moment was enough to buy them a few cups of rice. He did not expect an income any time soon but he happily gave the money to pay o ff his chanda. He told his family that God would provide. He later said that the very same evening his sister sent a sack of rice to the family. A new convert Khadim from Ivory Coast trades in eggs. He took leave from his tra de for three months to attend a Tarbiyyat course. He felt he was going to do Gods work, and entrusted his trade to his younger brother. When he returned after th ree months, he was astonished at the extraordinary profit the business had accru ed in the period. He increased his chanda to a thousand in the local currency. H is business was further blessed, so he increased his chanda to 4000. He also pay s Tehrike Jadid as well as Waqfe Jadid on behalf of his deceased parents, who we re not Ahmadis. Ameer sahib of Burkina Faso writes that once an Ahmadi listened regarding the si gnificance of Waqfe Jadid in Friday sermon and could not sleep all night thinkin g about the tremendous task the Jamaat is undertaking and felt he did not fully p articipate. The next day he paid 4,500 in local currency for Waqfe Jadid, but sp ent the following night also in anxiety and returned the next day to pay a furth er 4,500 and said he was somewhat satisfied. Missionary in-charge from Switzerland writes that a Nigerian Ahmadi came to work

in an international company in Switzerland. He paid in 9000 Swiss Francs in the Jamaat account and gave his contact details. When the missionary sahib rang him and asked him what the huge amount for was, he said he had been in Switzerland f or three months and the amount was for his chanda for three months. The missiona ry sahib said three months chanda did not come up to that amount. The Ahmadi sai d he had stayed in a country for three months prior to coming to Switzerland whe re there was no Jamaat, therefore he was paying for those months as well. A Pakistani Ahmadi who works in Switzerland pledged 5000 Swiss Francs. He hoped to receive a bonus which he planned to use for personal needs but when payment t ime for chanda drew closer, he pledged the amount for chanda and abandoned his o wn need. With the grace of God, the bonus he eventually received was 10,000 Swis s Francs, which served his personal need as well as made his Waqfe Jadid contrib ution. Missionary sahib from Benin writes that when a mualim went to collect Tehrike Jad id chanda, an Ahmadi paid 3,100 in local currency and said that if he had furthe r income he would give more. Soon after he called the mualim and paid a further 7 000. He said the day he had paid 3,100 in chanda a patient came to see him who p aid a large amount in fees. Initially, the patient paid 34,000 but then took 300 0 back for his travel expense. Therefore the Ahmadi felt that God had returned h im ten-fold of what he had given in chanda. Missionary sahib from Liberia writes that on his tours to a village an eight yea r old boy ran errands for him, offered him drinking water and took care of his b ag etc. Missionary sahib was pleased and gave the boy five Liberian dollars as a token. Later, after the missionary sahib expounded the merits of Tehrike Jadid chanda, the very same boy rose and said he too wished to pay and he paid with th e five dollars that the missionary sahib had given him. Seeing this, other child ren asked their parents to give them money so that they could pay chanda. A new Ahmadi in Kyrgyzstan earned 66 dollars when Khilafat Jubilee was commemora ted in 2008 and he pledged 44 dollars towards Jubilee fund. He came straight to the mission house on pay day and paid the money he had pledged. He said he did n ot go home first because the money would have been spent. After a short while he found another job and now his income is 770 dollars. He has also joined the Was iyyat scheme. Upon joining Wasiyyat he was told that now his contributions had t o be one-tenth of his income. He replied that he had been giving chanda at that rate anyway ever since he took his Baiat. A very sincere new Ahmadi lady from Kyrgyzstan had taken Baiat for a year but did not paid chanda. When she was informed about this, she contacted the local sadr and said that she wished to meet urgently. The sadr sahib said he was otherwise engaged but the lady insisted that she had to meet him promptly. When she met t he sadr sahib, she paid 15,000 in Kyrgyzstan currency. Sadr sahib was astonished at the large sum but she explained that this covered her years chanda as well as chanda for other Tehriks. Next Haudhur announced the Waqfe Jadid new year. Hudhur said we are entering the 55th year of the scheme. With the grace of God the total contributions accordin g to the reports received so far, given that some African countries are late in sending their reports is 4,693,000.00. This figure is 510,000 more than last years contributions. Alhamdolillah. In spite of the terrible financial situation ther e, Pakistan has maintained its first position in Waqfe Jadid contributions. May God bless them and their wealth and keep them in His protection and refuge from all evil. USA stands second. Hudhur said in light of reports received earlier on , it was thought that UK would take the second position but the final reports sh ow USA to leave the UK slightly behind with a difference of 11,000. The increase in the contribution of UK is extraordinary and astonishing. May God bless all th ose who contributed to Waqfe Jadid. Here too the financial situation is not very

good and there are other expenses, attention is drawn to building mosques. Yet there has been an extraordinary increase in both the Tehrike Jadid and Waqfe Jad id contributions and this demonstrates that they now understand the significance of unless you spend out of that which you love. May God enhance them in all other v irtues as well and likewise all other Jamaats in the world. Lajna UK has paid a l arge part in this. Their increase in Tehrike Jadid was huge as is in Waqfe Jadid , may God reward the sisters and the young girls. Germany is in third position followed by Canada, India, Australia, Indonesia, Be lgium and Switzerland. In terms of increase in local currency the positions are: India, Belgium, Australia, UK and Indonesia. In per capita contributions the po sitions are: USA, Switzerland, UK, Belgium and Ireland. Hudhur said it appears U SA has reached a point where unless there are more people the position cannot be bettered but there is room for improvement in the UK and their position can be developed. Among the African nations, the positions are: Ghana, Nigeria, Mauriti us, Burkina Faso and Uganda. This year there was an increase of more than 90 tho usand contributors to Waqfe Jadid but there is still room for improvement. Hudhu r said he has asked the African countries to improve in this regard and include the new converts in this scheme in light of the instructions of the Promised Mes siah (on whom be peace). Hudhur said they should try and increase the number of contributors even if their contributions are small. Hudhur said Ghana needs to t ry harder in terms of more contributors as Hudhur had instructed them before Within Pakistan the first three positions go to: Lahore, Rabwah and Karachi. In the USA the first five positions go to: LA Inland Empire, Silicon Valley, Detroi t, Chicago and Seattle. In the UK, the first ten positions are: Raynes Park, New Malden, Worcester Park, Fazl Mosque, West Croydon, Birmingham West, Leamington Spa, Manchester South, Gillingham and Southall. The first five regions in UK are : South, Midlands, London, Islamabad ad Middlesex. In Canada, the positions are as follow: Peace Village, Rexdale, Weston South, Woodbridge and Edmonton. Also: Weston South, Peace Village South, Weston North, Durham and Hamilton North. Some of the positions in India are: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu Kashmir, Andhra Prades h, Karnataka, Punjab, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi. Hudhur prayed that may God bless those who had eagerly participated in Waqfe Jad id and may He bless their wealth. May God enable everyone to make bigger sacrifi ces in future and may He also bless the sacrifices. May God also immensely bless the funds of Jamaat. Given the global financial situation, it is mere grace of G od that Jamaat is carrying on with all its plans and is completely them and is be ing enabled to make further plans, without this nothing can be of avail. Therefo re Hudhur said a lot of prayers should be made for Jamaat funds to be blessed. Finally Hudhur announced the sad passing away of a notable poet of the Jamaat and an elder, Abdul Mannan Naheed sahib whose funeral Prayer in absentia Hudhur sai d he would lead. He passed away on 1 January 2012 at the age of 93. Hudhur said he was a renowned poet who wrote profound poems and ghazals. He had served in th e military accounts department. He was a gentle, humble person. He encouraged yo ung poets and was a very courteous person. He had visited UK many times to parti cipate in Moshaira [poetic sitting]. He was a devout person, regular at his Tahaj jud. His obedience to Khilafat was of the first order. May God elevate his stati on. His wife had passed away before him and he had no children but he is survive d by a foster son. May God enable the foster son to continue to serve the Commun ity.