Celebrating the Joy of a New Year in a Meaningful Way

In his Friday Sermon of January 2, 2015, Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih V (may Allah be his Helper) said:

“I have been receiving New Year greetings from various people, through faxes and verbally as well. May this new year be blessed for all of you, in every respect, as well! However, I would also like to say that exchanging such greetings will truly be beneficial only if we reflect on whether we did justice to being Ahmadi in the past year, and what efforts we will make to fulfill our obligations in the coming year. 

“Hence, from this Friday, we should make resolutions that will instill zeal and hard work in us to fulfill these obligations throughout the new year.

“It is evident that, as Ahmadis, the responsibilities entrusted to us can only be fulfilled by adopting righteousness. But what should the standards of these virtues be? It should be clear that for anyone who enters into the fold of Ahmadiyyat, the standards have been explicitly laid out by the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him).

“Now, with new resources and technology, every individual—at least once a year—pledges, at the hand of the Khalifa of the time, to strive to achieve the standards set by the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him). These standards have been elaborated in the conditions of Bai’at. While they are ten conditions in name, they outline more than thirty responsibilities that every Ahmadi is bound to fulfill. 

“If we wish to celebrate the joy of a new year in a meaningful way, we must keep these points in mind. Otherwise, someone who simply takes pride in identifying as an Ahmadi—acknowledging the death of Jesus^as or believing in the Promised Messiah^as—should not be content with just that. Indeed, these are the first steps, but the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) expects us to delve into righteousness, understand it deeply, and act upon it. Likewise, we must shun evils as one would avoid a ferocious beast. 

“Only when we reach this state will we not only transform our own conditions but also become a means of bringing about a revolution in the world and drawing people closer to God Almighty.”