The Reality and Purpose of Laila tul Qadr

There are many spiritual benefits that one can reap out of the study and recitation of Quran. It depends what do you intend to do. Quran itself will not benefit you. You should be able to obtain benefits from the Quran. And I do not have to give you any academic reference or academic evidence, because you can see it in the society today: people are listening to the Quran, they are reading Quran, they are reciting Quran and they don’t seem to obtain any benefits from the parrot-like reading. However, when you recite the Quran with an enlightened heart, you get the benefits. The Divine Light (Noor) which is produced as a result of the recitation of the Quran will enter your heart. And then, in order to understand the Quran, one has to have a Spiritual Guide. Otherwise, you will have no clue what is being recited. You will not have any clue what is going on. You need to have a Spiritual Guide who can tell you the secretive meaning of the Quran.

We have been listening to the Quran for the last 20 days. You must have realised and noticed that a large portion of Quran consists of stories from the history and also a portion of the Quran contains warnings. Examples are given from the history, ‘When that nation did this, we did that to them’. It doesn’t seem to tell you the road map. Having heard all the Quran, one person stands up on his feet and says, ‘Okay God, tell me: where should I start? I know it is you who gives guidance (Hidayah), I understand guidance is given to heart, but how does it happen? I know it is important to have an enlightened heart (Sharha-e-Saddar), but how do I get an enlightened heart? What should I do? How do I bring sincerity in my Salat? How do I have the attributes of a Momin in my character?’

These are some very important questions, but they will come to the mind of a person who wants to become purified, who wants to obtain guidance. A majority of people these days are not seeking God’s love. Although they seem to say they want guidance, but it’s very rare because most of these misguided people claim that they are already guided.

God said, ‘Whosoever submits to God, then God guides his heart.’

وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ یَہۡدِ قَلۡبَہٗ

[64:11]

But how do we see this verse in practice? For example, I say, 'Whoever will come to me, I will give him £100.' If you want to see that happening in practice, then you should come here. When somebody comes and demands £100, you will see that in practice. In a similar way, ‘وَ مَنۡ یُّؤۡمِنۡۢ بِاللّٰہِ یَہۡدِ قَلۡبَہٗ’, how do we see that in practice? When somebody submits to God, obviously according to the Quran God guides his heart. But how does God guide his heart? What things must be done before one arrives at this point where God will guide his heart? And what exactly does it mean? How? By reciting a Kalima? Having recited the Kalima three times, is it now the point where God is just standing there waiting for you to finish the Kalima, and he will instantly guide your heart? When does it happen? When will God guide the heart? We see a lot of Muslims today in this world, from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to the UAE, UK, USA, Canada and Australia; everybody seems to do everything that can make you believe they are religious people and good Muslims. They are fasting and observing the sacredness of the holy month, reciting the Quran, growing a beard and many other things.

But there is one question: if they are all Momineen and their hearts are guided, then- obviously we understand they are not holding the rope of God fast. This is why they have diversified themselves in different sects and denominations- If they are not holding fast to the rope of God, then how do we assume their hearts are guided?

God said, ‘All of you, hold fast to the rope of God, and do not make sects, do not make different denominations.’ [3:103]

This question is very important, but the irony is, no Muslim today wants to understand how guidance is dispensed by God. They want to go on and on, and you must let them do what they want to do. They do not want to know they are wrong. People say there are 73 sects. I personally noticed, realised, studied and came up with this conclusion that this is wrong. There are not 73 sects; there are as many sects as there are Muslims. Every single Muslim has fabricated a sect in which his Nafs (Self) can easily fit in and he doesn’t have to go out of his comfort zone. To some people, 5 times Salat is easy but Soum (fasting) is difficult, so they stress more on Salat. They say, 'Salat is important and there is no Soum without Salat'. But, Prophet Mohammad said, 'There is no Salat without an enlightened heart (Qalb).'

When we talk about these things, you may have this understanding or at least this impression that we are talking against Islam. We are not talking against Islam. We are talking against Muslims because they do not represent true Islam. We are the followers of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi. We are not against any religion, let alone Islam. We are not against any divine celestial scripture because we strongly believe that all four books were revealed onto the respective prophet and messengers from God. And all four books came from the Loh-e-Mahfouz (Guarded Tablet). So nothing is wrong.

How people understand Quran and Islam today is a really low, ordinary understanding. The Muslims today are not dumb: they are making bombs, they are inventing new measures of mass destruction; they know how to kill people on a larger scale. Obviously, they must be in possession of good scientific knowledge and they have this ability to understand the formulas and chemical equations. They are witty but their intellectual abilities and capabilities are used to defame Islam, to harm humanity and to blaspheme the Messengers of God, the Prophets of God and the final Messiah His Divine Eminence Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi.

You see, the dilemma is, if you are a very intelligent person you may think you understand everything. But that is wrong. If you are a very learned, a very philosophical and a very discerning man, do not think you have now gained abilities to understand everything including religious books and the Divine Word. According to the Quran, understanding of the Divine Word does not come from the intellect. It comes from your heart when it is enlightened. And the understanding of the religion is gifted to your heart by God. You can understand human beings with your mind and intellect, but in order to understand God and God’s word, the brain doesn’t work. No good man had a good brain. They all became crazy. If you have a good brain, stay out of this. Because a good brain will invent something better in the religion for himself as he might conceive.

I heard it from HDE Gohar Shahi that in the line of love you are not supposed to use your brain. The moment you dip your brain in thoughts, you are gone, you are history. I used to think this is the case of Ishq (Rapturous Love) but then I realised no this is not just for love. This is not just for Divine Love that you are not supposed to think, it’s for the entire religion. It’s for the entire regime of God. You just don’t use your brain, because your brain is not connected to God. It cannot be connected to God. It is your heart which has the potential of getting connected to God. A heart is connected to God, not a mind. We see among our children that some of the children are really slow; the growth of their brain and mind is very slow, and they are not very smart in school.

HDE says, ‘If your brain is not right, you better not go to school. When your heart is not right you will never get to God. If you want to study in school, get your brain fixed. If you want to love God, get your heart fixed.’

If your heart is not fixed, you are in deep waters. You are in really deep trouble. Not just for yourself, but you are jeopardising everybody else in the religion because you are giving them different philosophies and telling them different stories. And every day, you bring out a new meaning of the Quran and fabricate a new school of thought into the religion.

You see in the last 10 days of Ramadan people often seclude themselves in mosques and this temporary seclusion is known as Aitekaaf. Those who observe Aitekaaf are Moutakifh. People do not know why they observe Aitekaaf. The purpose of Aitekaaf is to make sure that you are always there in the mosque, engaged in recitation of the Quran, in contemplating on your Nafs and on commemoration with God, and you are keeping yourself vigilant all day, all night. You are alert at all times during those 10 days so that you must not miss Laila tul Qadar. This is the purpose of Aitekaaf.

Now, for example somebody is coming to England from somewhere. You do not know the flight number, so you decide that all day long you will stay there in the arrivals area at the airport, so that you do not miss the person. But the problem is, if you are blind, whether you stay home or you spend the day in the arrivals area at the airport, you will never see the man. If you have eyes, you can see, obviously. You can go the airport and stay all day long but the problem is you are blind. Even if you go there, you will never see the person even if he is standing in front of you. You will never know he has arrived. Either you are in the world sleeping with your wife, playing with children, spending time with parents, or in the mosque spending 10 days in Salat and Soum - so what? Are you going to get Laila tul Qadar? Your heart is blind. It’s all rubbish. When your heart is blind, you cannot see anything or hear anything. Your ears are barred from listening to the Divine Call. You do not have the power of listening with the help of which you can hear the words of Gabriel, the voice of the Archangels. Your inner eye is not open to see what the normal eyes cannot see. What are you going to get on the 21-29th of Ramadan, which could be Laila tul Qadar? Nothing. What are you going to get out of this practice? Nothing.

اِنَّاۤ اَنۡزَلۡنٰہُ فِیۡ لَیۡلَۃِ الۡقَدۡرِ

[97:1]

That word اَنۡزَلۡنٰہُ  (Anzalna 'HU') is not referring to a book, it is referring to a man. Andفِیۡ لَیۡلَۃِ الۡقَدۡرِ , what do you know of the night of power? 'Laila' means night and 'Qadar' means power. God is saying, 'You do not have the intuition to know what Laila tul Qadar really is.'

لَیۡلَۃُ الۡقَدۡرِ ۬ۙ خَیۡرٌ مِّنۡ اَلۡفِ شَہۡرٍ

[97:3]

What will happen if you obtain Laila tul Qadar? To obtain that one night is greater than 1000 months of austerities. In Arabic, شَہۡر means months. There are 12 months in a year and to worship for 1000 months would make you 83 years and 4 months old: an entire lifetime.

Now, God is saying that you do not have the intuition to know what Laila tul Qadar is, but if you have obtained Laila tul Qadar, it is greater than 1000 months of worship and austerities. This night is greater than all other nights in your lifetime. And it was for this night that Prophet Mohammad said to be alert and vigilant for. It is for this night that the Prophet said to leave family, work, everything and spend 10 days in the mosque. But Prophet Mohammad said this when he himself was present. What is left in the mosque now that you are alert and vigilant for?

تَنَزَّلُ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃُ وَ الرُّوۡحُ

[97:4]

The Archangels would come down on that night at Masjid-e-Nabvi where Prophet Mohammad was seated and greet the Prophet first. If the Archangels are coming down, it is obvious they would go to wherever the Prophet is. And because the Prophet would be in the mosque, the people sitting there would obtain the blessings of Laila tul Qadar in the company of the Prophet. Today in Pakistan, people like Tahir ul Qadri are making arrangements for Aitekaaf as big as a city. But what good is it without the company of the Prophet?

Similarly, Gabriel came to visit the Prophet 24,000 times. Even if he brought one verse of the Quran with him, it would not exceed 24,000. Why then did Gabriel come so often to see the Prophet? I asked Gabriel, 'What is the secret behind this?' He said, 'This began after Meraaj (Night of Ascension). After Meraaj, the shower of the Theophanies of God’s Personal Light (Tajjjaliyat, Zaati Noor-e-Qadeem) fell upon and crossed the body of the Prophet. And that Divine Light is our diet. Then I began to visit the Prophet again and again.'

The mosque is still there, but Aitekaaf does not hold the same meaning that it did at the time of the Prophet Mohammad. And now, only those people obtain Laila tul Qadar who are connected to the Sahib-e-Qadar, Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi. If you have the image of HDE Gohar Shahi on your heart then every moment of your life is Laila tul Qadar. The Sahib-e-Qadar (وَ الرُّوۡحُ), the Soul that comes on that night, which is mentioned in the Deen-e-Ilahi also, is the initial reflection of God (Aks-e-Awal) that belongs to Imam Mehdi in the form of the Tifle Noorie (soul/sub-spirit of God). And if you obtain one moment in His Company (the company of Imam Mehdi), then you have obtained a lifetime of austerities. This night is full of blessing and whosoever obtains Laila tul Qadar, the darkness of Nifaq (hypocrisy) and Kufr (infidelity) is expelled from their personality. This is why it is said that this night is equivalent to a lifetime of austerities. We are the followers of that Soul, the same initial reflection of God. The Tifle Noorie, upon seeing the reflection of which God danced and seven other Tifle Noorie came into existence. We are the followers of the same Soul, whose image in the space is 1150 times greater than the Sun. If you are connected to HDE Gohar Shahi, then you have obtained Laila tul Qadar. You have achieved the purpose of your life.

If Prophet Mohammad had advised someone to recite a particular Surah for a particular purpose, it was for that person alone. For example Prophet Mohammad advised his daughter, Fatima Zahra to recite ‘Alhamdullilah’ 33 times, ‘Subhaan Allah’ 33 times and ‘Allahu Akbar’ 34 times after every prayer. But this advice was for her alone and today we see all Muslims practising this. But what are they obtaining from this? Nothing, because this advice from the Prophet was not for them. It was for Sultan ul Fuqra, the enlightened and purified daughter of the Prophet. Similarly, Baba Farid used to recite ‘Qul Hu Allahu Ahaad’ and the dirt would turn to sugar. But that was his tongue and he was a Saint of God. There are many sacred words and phrases that people are reciting day and night but to no avail. What should they understand? Are these simply stories or is there any reality to them? This is how people have become distant from the religions and from God.

I asked HDE Gohar Shahi about the advice given to certain individuals by the Prophet Mohammad mentioned in the Prophetic Tradition. HDE replied, ‘Those whose hearts and Nafs were purified and were Momineen, only they benefitted from and were given these sacred words and phrases.' Today’s Muslim is neither enlightened nor purified; therefore, when they recite these sacred words and phrases they do not obtain any spiritual benefits. Similarly, Aitekaaf is for those who have enlightened their inner eye and ears to be able to see the Sahib-e-Qadar and hear the voice of Gabriel. People are in great deception. Laila tul Qadar comes once every year. If they have obtained Laila tul Qadar and a lifetime of austerities, why then do they fear punishment in the grave?

A Very Happy Jashan-e-Shahi 2013!

This year, Jashan-e-Shahi will be on the 25th of July (15th Ramadan). We wish you all a very happy Jashan-e-Shahi!

An excerpt from His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi's book, 'The Religion of God' about Jashan-e-Shahi:

What is Jashan-e-Shahi and the Reasons Why it is Celebrated? 

On the 15th of Ramadan 1977, a series of unique secretive conversations (Ilhaamat or inspiration) with God also began. The promise of ‘Radhiya Mardhiya’ (‘Your will is my will, my will is your will’) took place and rank was also granted. Since every rank (martaba) and ascension (meraaj) is related to the 15th of Ramadan, this is why in order to express feelings of happiness and thanksgiving, Jashan-e-Shahi is celebrated every year. 

In the year 1978, His Divine Eminence moved to Hyderabad, Sindh, and began to shower the grace of divine guidance on mankind, and in a short span of time, His spiritual grace spread throughout the world. The hearts of millions of people were revived with God’s remembrance. God’s name, ‘Allah’ was imprinted on the hearts of millions of people, and they witnessed it on their hearts. Hundreds of thousands of people acquired access to Kashf Al Qaboor (the ability to speak to the subtlety of Nafs of the departed Saints) and Kashf Al Hudhoor (access to the court of Mohammad). His Divine Eminence has cured millions of people with terminal diseases. After having received the teachings and guidance from His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi, the people from every religion, every nationality, and every race acquired the love of God, and began to reach the Essence of God. 

‘By God! I too am from those people, on whose hearts the name “Allah” is so beautifully written and shining.’—Sheikh Nizam-Uddin, Maryland, U.S.A.

Terrorism and the Role of Jesus in the End Times

The world is changing and elements of extremism, fanaticism and religious intolerance in the United Kingdom is on the increase, especially from a particular denomination in Islam: the radicalised Islam, the radical elements in Islam. They are on the rise and the government doesn’t know how to tackle these elements. The way they are dealing with it right now is not the right way of doing it. They have to be very strict and they should be well-prepared in terms of information about who is doing what. All pilots, before they become pilots, study the theory in the colleges and all doctors and surgeons, before they operate on people and cut their stomach and pluck their hearts out, study the theory in the colleges and university. In a similar way, all these terrorists, before they blow themselves up, they study the theory in religious seminaries and mosques. It’s too late if you are running after a terrorist. You cannot prevent the untoward incident from happening when you are running after a terrorist. However if you do not let them receive this doctrine of hatred, then most probably you will bar them from carrying out any atrocity and this is my understanding. If they do not have this opportunity to be indoctrinated, to be studying in the mosques where the wrong interpretation of the holy text of God is hammered into their brains; if you don’t let that happen then you will definitely save the country from the unfortunately well-anticipated rise in fanaticism and terrorism, not only in this country but all over the world. 

If the problem is coming from one religion it does not mean all members of that religion are terrorists. It should not be dealt with on a religious spectrum. It should be dealt with on an individual basis. You only go after the culprit, not everybody that shares the same religion. No religion allows its followers to take lives of innocent people, however, it very ironical in our world today, that wrong interpretation and misunderstanding in understanding the divine text has duly led people towards radicalisation and hate crimes. 

Mehdi/Messiah Foundation International is the representative and delegation of His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi and our aim is to provide humanity with understanding and opportunities to live in peace and in love. We have the weapon of cure, not the weapon of killing and with that weapon of cure you can cure hearts. You can get to the bottom of the problem. The opposite of hatred is love. If you do not address this problem properly, unfortunately, the hate will rise and the more hate rises, the more hate crimes we will see on the face of the world. The solution to this ever-expanding spectrum of fanaticism and extremism is becoming almost uncontrollable.

The purpose of the Second Coming of Lord Jesus Christ is to stage an Armageddon and wage a war against the enemy of humanity. He has got some evil power and you cannot combat evil power, especially when that evil power is beyond the reach of your eye, when you cannot see it. Because being a very sceptical human being who doesn’t seem to believe in spirituality, you need the inner eye to appreciate that another world exists within this world and that world is very discretely invisible and in order to tackle these enemies who come from the invisible world, you need an army which will come from your invisibility. 

The Doctrine of Love that His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi has been dispensing to the entire humanity is the only cure, the cure of the diseased hearts and dormant souls. If not today, then tomorrow, the world will understand the significance, value and importance of His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi's Doctrine. We are here to inform the entire world of the fatal future happenings. As it seems today, everything is fine; but in the background, many things are taking place. 

We're on the brink of total recall; we are on the brink of total mass destruction. There are so many things happening in the esoteric realm. An asteroid has been set to hit the world which is due in 2026; then global warming, then this on-going slot of terrorism by Islamists and then, the lack of leadership, politically speaking. We don’t have leaders like Margaret Thatcher, we don’t have leaders like Bill Clinton; we do not have leaders like General Pervez Musharraf in this world. All we have today is a bunch of idiots, like Nawaz sheriff who is a puppet. A puppet controlled by Taliban, his masters. 

If we do not address the problem today then tomorrow when we cry we will have nobody to blame but ourselves only. A terrorist activity is simply a terrorist activity and whoever is carrying out that activity must be taken care of. Secondly, so many hate preachers are allowed to stay in the United Kingdom today. They’re at large; they are walking free in this country. The government should be a little stricter on them, sending them back to their homeland. For example there was a man with one hand, Abu Qatada. He is wanted in his own country, though he has been deported recently. But the man is a terrorist in his own country and he was preaching hatred in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. I have come to know there are several groups in London as well as in Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and other places where the majority of the population consists of Pakistani, Indian and Arab Muslims. But there are places in London, especially in Muslim areas, where a white man would hesitate to go. There are sort of no-go areas. This shouldn’t happen. This is not a Muslim country. But people are talking about imposing Sharia Law in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and it is very sad that these individuals who are recommending Sharia Law to be imposed in the UK in their own country, nobody wants Sharia Law. If they think they are living in the Kafir land, why do they live here? They should go back to the Muslim land. 

Currently we are going through a thorough study of Quran and this is meant to seek more and more verses of the Quran in order to clarify our position according to the faith of Muslim so that we can well-establish the point that God doesn’t want war. God is love and God wants the entire humanity to love him and love your fellowship. 

Ramadan Mubarak!

Today was the first day of Ramadan. Ramadan Mubarak to all!

True Interfaith Integration and Societal Reformation

The true concept and message of interfaith, inter-religious peace and harmony has been given by His Divine Eminence Messiah/Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi alone. He has removed the shackles of the religions with His revolutionary message for the entire human kind. 

HDE Gohar Shahi says: The best among you is one who has God’s love in his heart, whether or not he follows any religion. 

Is there a greater message than this for interfaith promotion?

If you want an interfaith harmonious society you will have to break down the walls raised by the religions. No religion on earth would want to do this. There is a matter of survival of the fittest. Whoever is fitter than the other will survive, so in this race of survival you will not see courtesy. You think Christians will say okay if you want to break down the walls set by religion, Islam should demolish their walls and our walls are fine? No all walls must be broken. The division in humanity today that you have seen, some of the division which has been existent for some time is based on religions. Now it is time for humanity to understand that some of these divisions created by religions are legitimate and lawful yet they are promoting disintegration as a society. It is quite legitimate to say that, ‘I am Muslim and I don’t want to associate with a Hindu,’ according to their religion it is okay. With the same token a Hindu can say, ‘Being a Hindu I have the right to live the way I want to according to my religion.’ But if everyone wants to live the way their religion requires them to live then the broader aspect of humanity is diminished. 

But the Messiah is going to found a society in which there are no legitimate or illegitimate differences and divisions. The entire society and every single individual in the society regardless of their religious or their racial background will spiritually and socially integrate into this Divine Society, where people will mingle without having a concept of division and differences. That will only be possible once all the hearts are unified, all the hearts are purified.

Islam according to its core issues and principality of the religion does not allow promoting interfaith harmony. However there is a Prophetic Tradition and Prophet Mohammad said something which is really healthy for interfaith societal reforms. 

The Prophet said: O’ sons of Adam, there is a lump of flesh in your body. If you set that lump of flesh right the entire body will become right however, if this lump of flesh in your body is corrupted your entire body is corrupted and remember well it is your heart! 

This statement by Prophet Mohammad is not confined to the members of his religion only and the addressees are not just Muslims; this is addressed to the entire humanity. However what Prophet Mohammad has projected in this tradition is to invite all members of humanity and lo and behold, this is the way to do it. On behalf of Islam we can say Islam does support interfaith dialogue and harmony and spiritual integration of all societies into one united, non-religious, secular but spiritual society. 

They will not integrate until their hearts are integrated into love and this love is Divine Love. It is not possible for a human being to love another human being in real terms of love. Why? Love is divine; love is something that God designed for him to be done to. For example human beings put on clothes. Have you ever seen a dog putting on a jacket and wearing a tie? No, they are not meant to. You may see it in movies but in real life have you ever seen a pig wearing a jacket and wearing a tie or wearing some kind of perfume? No, this is for human beings. In a similar way love is for God. Now does it mean man can love God only? Man cannot love man? Man means both genders. It’s a universal man, meaning human beings. Man is meant to love God but does it mean man can love God only, man cannot love another man? The answer is when man succeeds to love God and manages to love God, there is a divine system in which the one who loves God will involuntarily happen to love all who love God. Whoever does have God’s light and love in their hearts, they will be interconnected through their hearts. This is a Divine Spiritual System. When you manage to love God in real terms of love, you will involuntarily love all who love God in their hearts. Your love is re-directed, it’s a rebound. You will be enlightened before you love God because only enlightened hearts earn the glance of God. Only the enlightened ones are able to be looked at by God; God doesn’t look at impure hearts. When your heart is enlightened and becomes pure and you have begun loving God, you will begin to appreciate the same amount of enlightenment and the same nature in all other hearts as well. Basically you will first love God and as a result of the acknowledgement by God of your love for him, God will make you love all those who love God. 

This is how you will have a society in which all integrate into a wider and broader society. This societal reform will be based on spirituality not religion because religions will always raise a wall and you will live like a frog in the well. Even if you want to co-exist in the society being a Muslim, Christian, Hindu, or Jew you will have a certain amount of freedom and there will always be many aspects in life where you cannot fully integrate into each other. So, a religion cannot allow its members to live freely in a society where they ignore the importance of their religion and embrace all other members of society because this is how their religion is disintegrated while their members are integrated. 

The Interfaith harmonious concept can truly come from Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi. Only Gohar Shahi and His spiritual concentration and His spiritual power can do it. It’s not about philosophies. There are philosophies in all books. It’s not about teachings. The books are there in all libraries and all religions teach love and harmony.  It’s not about the principle. It’s about the connection of hearts with God. It’s about the cordial interaction; when the hearts interact with other hearts with love. The hearts will interact with other hearts with love only when all hearts have love and are enlightened. 

Does interfaith harmony suit religions? No. On one hand you say let us come together and on the other hand you say, ‘I am Hindu, I am Christian and I have my ways.’ Where then is the integration? This is hypocrisy. It’s just paperwork. For example, Tahir ul Qadri brought religious scholars from different religions to a joint conference where he had people chant the name of God, ‘Raam’ for Hindus, ‘God’ for Christians and ‘Allah’ for Muslims. You may invite the Hindus to come to your mosque and chant ‘Raam’ but will you chant ‘Raam’ also? No, so they are better off sitting in their own homes and doing ‘Raam.’ How is this religious integration? Either, the entire Minhaj ul Quran chant ‘Raam’ with them and if not then this is just showing off. 

One religion does not allow any other religion to integrate its member into their religion. So it is not in the favour of the religions to promote interfaith harmony. When you promote interfaith harmony you are trying to ignore the importance of your religion. 

His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi has the solution and I quote HDE Gohar Shahi in His book, 

‘The Religion of God’, ‘A Muslim says I am the best and a Christian says I am the best and a Jew says I am the best but Gohar Shahi says the best among you is one who loves God in his heart even if he doesn’t have a religion.’ 

It is Gohar Shahi who has given more importance to God’s love and nullified the importance of the religion. HDE Gohar Shahi has replaced the weight of importance and shifted it from religion to God’s love and this is the pioneering step towards a broader interfaith society. Without this step interfaith society doesn’t exist in the real term and no one for except HDE Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi could have taken this step. First the importance of religion must be nullified only then interfaith harmony can exist. 

So, HDE Gohar Shahi has shifted the weight of importance from religion to spirituality. How? HDE Gohar Shahi says all Muslims, Christians, Jews think they are the best individually and respectively, however, Gohar Shahi disagrees. He puts up a new theory and He says the best one among you is one who has God’s love in his heart even if he doesn’t follow any religion. Upon these principles generated, produced and presented by HDE Gohar Shahi the weight of importance has shifted from religion to God’s love. What is important is God’s love not the religion because religions are not the destination they are like highways and the destination is God. When somebody has come to put you in the audience of God then why do you need a religion? 

Imam Mehdi and His Role in the Betterment and Spiritual Welfare of Humanity

Many Muslims translate the word ‘Mehdi’ as 'The Guided One'. But that is not true. There are two different words that people often get mixed up with: the word ‘Mahdi’ and the word ‘Mehdi’ and it is ‘Mehdi’ which has been used in many traditions of the Prophet of Islam, and ‘Mehdi’ does not mean 'the Guided One', ‘Mehdi’ simply means 'the One of the Moon'. And it is clearly evident that the image of Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi along with Lord Jesus Christ is prominent on the surface of the moon and the image of His Holiness Gohar Shahi and the image of Lord Jesus Christ clearly indicates that these signs have been manifested by God.

According to the Quranic Scriptures, Lord Jesus Christ has to come at the time of Mehdi and he will be great helper. He will be of great assistance to Imam Mehdi and will wage a war against Dajjal – The Anti-Christ. The Armageddon is going to be supervised by Imam Mehdi and the head of the Divine Forces, Divine Army of Imam Mehdi will be Lord Jesus Christ himself. This Armageddon, which means the Greatest War, is between loving souls and hateful souls. It is not between religions, it is between hatred and love. Whoever wants to love God will be in the camp of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi and Lord Jesus Christ no matter what religion do they come from. And those who promote hatred, either in the name of religion or in the name of God, they will be in the camp of Anti-Christ Dajjal. And these hateful souls are in all religions. People from different religions will come join the forces of Anti-Christ and loving souls from all religions will come join Imam Mehdi and Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus Christ spoke about Divine Love, He indicated to the people of his age 2000 years ago that he had come to transport human beings into the Unseen World, he did not talk about Paradise, he talked about the Unseen World – the Kingdom of God. And Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi has the same message: Divine Love, Passionate, Rapturous Divine Love. And this message is for the entire world. One may practice whatever religion they have been practising, however, in order to love God, one has to come to Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi and Lord Jesus Christ.

There are many organisations today in the Arab world, from Iraq to Lebanon, from Lebanon to Iran and they all say they are the Forces of Mehdi. And the West might have developed a notion that perhaps Mehdi is a Muslim figure and he is also striving for the dominion and domination of the Muslim faith; however, it should be corrected by all to whom it may concern that Imam Mehdi is here not to represent any religion, not to support a religion, but to represent God and bring God in everybody's heart who are willing to love God. They may be white, pink, blue, black, brown; they may be of any colour of the skin. They may be Jews, they may be Hindus, Sikh, Christians or they may be Muslims; there are no restraints set by Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi.

Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi understands that the ongoing wave of terrorism is the result of hatred in the hearts of people who are carrying out such hateful atrocities in the world today. It is a diabolical move and this practice is a result of great deception in the minds of Muslims today. A great mischief being caused by current Muslims today. 

Muslims believe and understand that their religion is the best, Jews believe that their religion is the best, the Christians believe their religion is the best and the Hindus believe their religion is the best. However, we understand that all these religions are good but the best religion is the Religion of God. His Holiness Gohar Shahi explains that the essence of all religions is Divine Love and the Religion of God is God's Love. In this modern age, in this scientific era, we have so many inventions and so many facilities available to current human beings. They can just push a button and the light will come on, push the button again the light will go off; the ways of today are easy. In this day and age, when people want to become a millionaire overnight, when human beings are looking for a shortcut in every aspect of life, God has introduced a shortcut to finding God.

And His Holiness Gohar Shahi has brought down the Divinely Ordained shortcut, which starts in your heart and dips directly into God's heart. When the essence of the religion is available to be obtained, why beat around the bush with the whole religion? Why don’t you have a shortcut? 

When you become a true Hindu and follow the teachings and instructions of your Prophet, lead a very religious life, and according to the Divine Plan then you obtain the essence of that religion, then you get God’s Love. And when you become a Muslim and you do everything according to the Muslim faith, then, towards the end, as a result, as a culmination, you obtain Divine Love. And so is the case in every religion. However, just ask yourself a question today: are Hindus good Hindus? Do they follow everything their religion says? Are Muslims good Muslims? Are they acting upon the principles of their religion very strictly and religiously? Are the Jews good Jews? One has to be a good Muslim and has to follow their faith very strictly, very religiously, making no mistakes; and then they obtain the essence of their religion. However, in this day and age, if you look at the principality of the religions, it is so hard for a modern day human being to exercise the Divine Duties of the religion. The religion is not just about going to a worship-place and worship. A religion is involved in every aspect of your life; how you live your life, how you deal with the public, it's about the rights of your fellowmen, your parents, your wife, and your sons and daughters. It's about how good you are in your business. Do you adopt the right ways of earning your bread and butter? Are you just and honest? There are so many things that one has to do before he arrives at the culmination and essence of the religion, which is Divine Love.

In this day and age there are so many hurdles, so many problems that a religious person has to face. There is so much resistance in the society today. It is no more a piece of cake to live in this world happily and be a religious man. There are temptations on one side and then being honest in your business and then coping with the day to day life hurdles. There are so many factors involved today. It is not possible for a modern day human being to be in compliance with the principality of the religion in the fuller meaning of the phrase. When so many scientific inventions have been made today to facilitate today's human being, why not find a shortcut to reach God?

If you are going to Manchester from London, which is about 212 miles, and somebody comes and tells you, 'I will tell you a shortcut, you will save 100 miles,' now there will be two things on your mind: saving time and saving your fuel. You will definitely go for a shortcut. This is what Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi is giving to humanity today! 

His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi says, 'It is not simply possible for you to fully incorporate yourself with the principality of the religion. Let me give you a shortcut and with that shortcut you will directly touch upon the essence of that religion which is Divine Love.'

And we are calling the entire human race through the message of Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi which is a call of love.

When a Jew becomes a good Jew and he strictly follows his religion, what does he get upon his culmination? Divine Love. When a Muslim becomes a good Muslim and he does everything in accordance with the law of his religion, what does he get in the end of the day? Divine Love. In every religion, one has to be within the law of the religion. And if he successfully does it, then the culmination of that religion is God's love. But, you have to live by the law; there is no margin for you to error. The margin of error for a religious person is very narrow.

Why the world is today full of hatred? It's not because of those people who are in the business; they are busy with their business. No businessman is a terrorist, no cricketer is a terrorist, no hockey player is a terrorist. Nobody who drinks alcohol or sleeps with women is a terrorist; unfortunately those who vigorously follow a religion, especially the current Muslims, have become terrorist. You become a terrorist when you make an error in understanding the principality of the religion. It is evident Islam does not teach terrorism. One doesn’t have to put in a lot of effort to understand this truth in the light of the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet of Islam. However, when the minds get polluted with fanaticism, extremism, fascism, and terrorism; when the hearts are corrupted and when the ego and the Self is tempted by the shine of money, jealousy, greed and under the label of the religion you exercise all this negative attitude, this is when you become a terrorist. Today no religion is worthy of you. Therefore, the Father, God Almighty has sent down his final and Prime Ace with a shortcut. 

Today’s man cannot follow these lengthy practices of religion, so God is introducing a shortcut, a simple shortcut and that shortcut is about purifying your heart. It is about vacating your heart from the traits of the Devil and this shortcut is about freeing your heart from the occupation of the Devil. No religion is capable of freeing your heart from evil occupation. It is the divine methodology invested in the heart of the Awaited One that gives this world a brand new hope. A hope against fascism, fanaticism, extremism, terrorism. Hatred should be dealt with strictly, but the medicine to cure hatred is not a bullet. The medicine to cure hatred is love.

Just like the opposite of day is night, the opposite of man is woman, and the opposite of light is darkness, in a similar way, the opposite of hatred is love. The Grand Canyon that Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi has brought down on earth does not throw away bombs; it fills hearts with love. The only destructive weapon that Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi has in His kitty box will attack and destroy the devil only. His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi along with Lord Jesus Christ has come to wipe out hatred, hate-crimes and hateful souls from this world. Say yes to the call of the Lord!

Remember what Jesus said, 'Love your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul.' But you need to understand this divine message: 'Love your Lord with all your heart...' if you have the devil living in your heart and at the same time you are loving God, just ponder: are you loving God with all your heart? Maybe some portion of your heart is occupied by the devil! And this is how you are not loving God with all your heart. In order to be able to love God with all your heart and all your soul, you need to make sure all of your hearts are available to love God. Have you checked on your hearts? Did you ever check your heart, whether it is completely vacant and completely empty, and now you can just go ahead and ask God to come in your heart?

Everybody wants to be loved, everybody says they want peace and love; but what is it that makes them do bad things? What is it that is dragging people from religions into hateful crimes, crimes against humanity? Why people do not want peace when it comes to practicality? The answer is because they have devil in their hearts. They are trying to learn to love humanity and love God, however their efforts are not fruitful; their efforts are becoming futile and this is because their hearts are corrupted.

It isn't just Jesus who talked about divine love. Prophet Mohammad also said similar things. For example Prophet Mohammad said, 'O' son of Adam, there is a lump of flesh in your body: if it is set right, your entire body will be right, and if it is corrupted your entire body is corrupted. Remember well, it is your heart.' So, fixing the heart is the fundamental principle of every religion. If you ignore this fundamental principle of your religion, then the chances are you will definitely misinterpret what revelations came to your prophet and at the end of the day you will become a warrior not a worshiper.

His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi has come to introduce a practical methodology and practical teachings, which can fill every heart with divine love. It is about empowering your heart with divine love, it is about introducing your heart with Light. Currently, there is so much darkness in the hearts of people that they cannot relate to the revelations made to their prophets. When it comes to understanding the revelations, it is not done by the intellect. In order to understand God's word, the understanding will come from the heart; because God has nothing to do with your intellect. The Place of Love, the House of God is your heart. Everybody has a heart but then why don’t you have the understanding of the divine word? It's simple: your heart is not spiritually activated. If you remove the batteries from any toy, the toy will not work. So, what we need today is to empower the hearts with Light and this Divine Spiritual Empowerment is coming from Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. And HDE Gohar Shahi has delegated dozens of people to initiate hearts, to spread the word of love through hearts, from hearts, into hearts. 

Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi has come to wipe out hatred, fanaticism, extremism, fascism and terrorism, not with any weapon but with His Spiritual Authority and the Weapon of Love. HDE Gohar Shahi doesn’t care what is the colour of your skin; you may be blue you may be brown, or you can dye your skin with any colour of your choice - it doesn’t really matter. What is important to Gohar Shahi is that you bring your heart and ask the Lord to purify it and adorn your heart with the jewel of God's Love. In simple words, HDE Gohar Shahi is adorning hearts with love. 

Today the message of HDE Gohar Shahi may not be known to many people around this world, though we have been striving for many years. But this is a mighty world: there are more than 200 countries in this world and unlike others, we do not get any financial help from any organisation, from any country. There are so many religious and spiritual organisations which are being patronised by many countries in this world. But the truth is, Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi is the only true Patron in Chief, and this organisation of Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi does not need any patronage by anyone, any country, any organisation. We believe very firmly that Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi, who has come to empower all hearts, is able to patronise Mehdi Foundation International. Modesty is very good; however, a firm belief is very important. We are modest, but we firmly believe we do not need to seek anybody's help because we are duly helped by our Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. We do not need a lot of money, why? This is because we are peace activists; we are preachers of love. We are giving away love, which is not bought in the markets! What we are giving to the world is not simply precious, it is something that money cannot buy! You can pay somebody and somebody can flatter you, but you cannot make anybody love you. 

The world does not know how to love. For example, if you do not know how to see things and what organ in particular in your body must be used to see things, you would never be able to see it. If you want to see something, you need to open your eyes. HDE Gohar Shahi said, 'The place of love is your heart.' When people do not know what organ should be used in order to love God, how would they love? It is HDE Gohar Shahi who has explained and who has revealed to the world, 'O' sons of Adam, O' people of Mohammad, people of Jesus, people of Moses, you want to love God? Come, I will help you.' Gohar Shahi is not attracting people to follow Him, Gohar Shahi's message is very simply, 'You want to love God? Okay, I will teach you how to love God. And once you have learnt how to love God, you go to your home, and I am here.' 

HDE Gohar Shahi has come not to convert people into any religion, but to convert their hearts and make their hearts the House of God. He he come to turn their hearts into a Temple of Love. HDE Gohar Shahi has come here to fix your spiritual and religious problems.

Gohar Shahi's message is very simple: 'All religions think their religion is the best. But the best among you is one who loves God. And that person who loves God can be a Muslim, Hindu, Jew, Christian, or he may be from no religion!' You do not have to be a Christian, Muslim or a Jew to be the best; what you must do to be the best is to love God in your heart by your heart.

This message is being put across nations and this message is delivered to all religions, to all peoples of the world; and the reception is fabulous. Everybody wants to love Gohar Shahi because Gohar Shahi is teaching everybody to love God. 

With the concept of Imam Mehdi comes the concept of a global nation in which all the nations will mingle into the best nation. And all will love God and God will love them. When the entire humanity becomes One United Nation, there will be no hatred; and this will happen when all adopt God’s love. 

One very strong reason why different religions fight each other is because every religion thinks their prophet and their messenger is the best and this became the bone of contention among many religions. They fought wars in trying to prove to each other that their prophet and messenger is the best. Now what Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi has introduced is a divine, universal, spiritual system in which there are no prophets and no messengers - only God. Because there is only one God therefore you cannot say, 'My God is better than your God.' There are many prophets so one nation can claim, 'My prophet is better than your prophet,' but then again all religions believe in one God. When there is only one God and that God is supreme, you are supreme. There is no other object to be in comparison with.

In the beginning was Adam, the vicegerent sent by God, and his progeny. It was one nation. His message was love and his teachings were to enlighten the heart. And then, when another messenger came we had another religion, the progeny of Adam became diversified and the progeny of Adam began to have differences. They plunged themselves into the race as to whose prophet or messenger was better and who was the greater nation. And then yet again another messenger was introduced, then yet another and God happened to send 124,000 prophets and messengers into this world. According to the Holy Quran, God admitted that had he not been waiting for the Foremost Word (Kalima-e-Sabaqah), the entire humanity would not have been diversified into different religion tribes and countries.

What we understand from the Holy Quran is that there was this lack of the Foremost Word and due to the absence of the Foremost Word, the progeny of Adam had to go through different divisions and differences. However, the good news is HDE Gohar Shahi has revealed the Foremost Word. And this Foremost Word is quite capable of unifying all humanity and purifying the hearts of all humanity equally well. The only supremacy that will reign is the supremacy of love. And love will supersede all other marks of distinctions, all other practices and all other different sets of beliefs and principles of religions. The only principle which is to prevail is the principle of love, of divinity. Humanity has been set to turn into divinity. And this is the message of HDE Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi. 

People do often talk about love. There is no religion on earth that does not recognise the power of love; however, according to a Chinese proverb, 'Talks don’t cook rice.' You have to be a little practical. I am not refuting the fact that Hinduism doesn’t talk about love or Muslims, Christians or Jews don’t talk about love. They all talk about love. Even today, if you go to a church, they will repeat the same words that Jesus said. However, you will be surprised: you will hear the words of love, but you will not see love in practice. If you go to a mosque, you will hear a beautiful speech from a Muslim cleric and you will be utterly taken aback by the splendor of beautiful sweet words; however, those words will not travel down your throat. You will go to a Hindu temple and they will say the same stuff; they will apparently observe all sorts of humility by bowing down at your feet, but then again you will not see love in practice. You will see that generosity is preached in all religions, however, there are so many rich people in this world yet people are still starving to death! People are dying. A large number of human beings in Africa do not get to drink plain water, forget about food! So there are preachers of generosity and there are sermons on generosity, however, scarcely will you see generosity in practice. 

In a similar fashion, love is often talked about - but love is just talked about. Love is expressed within the boundaries and limitations of phraseology. It is not to be found in practice. You will hear talks on love, but you will not see manifestation of love. If love is manifested in our society, then there will be no hatred. If you are holding a gun with the bullets inside it and somebody else is holding a picture of a gun, from a distance it will look like a gun; but when you come closer you will see it’s a picture - that is the difference. The organ by which the action of love is performed is the organ of your heart.

His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi said, 'Prophet Mohammad is God’s beloved. However, it needs explanation: how did Prophet Mohammad learn to love?' and Lord Ra Riaz said, '70,000 years prior to the birth of Adam, Prophet Mohammad’s heart was kept at the Station of Love and it was kept there for 5000 years.' So we understand that there is a Station of love somewhere in the higher realms. The example of the Station of Love can be given by a furnace: if you keep a piece of iron or steel in a furnace, in no time, the iron will turn red and have the same effect as fire. The heart is the container and the substance of love has to be filled into it. If you carry a container and there is no treasure in the container, it is empty, then it’s useless. 

For example, you can buy a safe for £50 at Costco or 20 safes for £1000, however there might be a safe somewhere in somebody’s house which might have millions of pounds in it! So the safe itself is not expensive; it is not important. But when money is stored inside the safe, that money makes it costly.                               

Now the substance of love is God’s light. It’s not that you will listen to a lecture and following that lecture, straightaway you will start loving everybody; it has never happened in history. And it will never happen, because love is not that simple! In order for love to be truthful, one has to make a lot of sacrifices. And the power of forbearance and determination which will enable you to make sacrifices will come from the substance of love. His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi says to the world, 'I will tell you two things: number one, the place of love is your heart, and the substance of love is God’s Light. Number two, I will teach you how to produce God’s Light.' Mission accomplished. 

People talked about love, but they didn’t tell you how to love. But Lord Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi said, 'The place of love is your heart. Enlighten your heart, fill it with God’s light. Come, I will teach you how to produce Gods light.' In return, HDE Gohar Shahi is not demanding any commitment from you, you are free. If you are Hindu, be happy being a Hindu; HDE Gohar Shahi has nothing to do with your religions. His aim is to teach you to love God. He is not here to change your religion, He is here to change your heart! And when you will come to know that, 'Since my heart has changed, I have become a good human being and I have started to love God,' then you will come to know the essentiality of the religion and how important your religion is. Because without a changed heart, your religion didn’t do anything to you. When the heart is changed, the entire world is changed.

The change in this world will come when the change comes in your heart: when your heart is freed from the occupation of devil and it is submitted to God. 

The heart has to be submitted to God. How? It is not like you will rip your chest open, pluck your heart and throw it towards the sky. This is not how you give your heart to God. It is to free your heart form the occupation of the devil. And by enlightening it with God’s light and inviting God to come in, you hand it out to God. How to produce Gods light is a method introduced by HDE Ra Gohar Shahi. You can find this method and start practising today; this method is written in HDE Gohar Shahi’s book 'The Religion of God'.

The principles of divine love are easy to understand!