The Faith Festival You Haven’t Heard Of

Every religion out there has a festival or holiday that hits close to home in the hearts of believers. The Muslims have the month of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Eid al-Ghadir. The Christians have Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday, and the Jews have Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover.

We, as the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, also have our holidays and festivals, but none as important as the one which we call the Festival of the Will.

The Festival of the Will is not something to be taken lightly; it’s not a celebration of a past too far gone for us to recognize its significance and importance. This is a day of reminder—a day in which we remember and celebrate the blessings that we have from God; blessings of guidance, clarity, community, and the Proof of God whose name is recognized within the Will—the Caliph appointed by God in every day and age. Every year, the believers from all around the world gather for this festival to once again open the Will to read within it that which contains the names of his successors of Prophet Mohammed. This is a tradition that traces itself back to the time of Adam, with God himself. God made His Will known to the angels when he said to them:

“Indeed, I will make upon the Earth a caliph.” (Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 30)

God named the successor upon the Earth, His Will. But what about Adam and his children?

Abi Abdullah said: "Verily Cain approached Seth and said to him: “My father gave you from the knowledge that he had, and I was older than you and had more of a right to this knowledge than you, but because I murdered his son, he became angry with me and preferred you with this knowledge over me. I swear by God, if you mention anything from the knowledge which you have inherited from your father in order that you show off in front of me and act like you are better, I shall kill you as I killed your brother.” Seth then hid everything he had of the knowledge he earned until the state of Cain and his rule comes to an end. And for that reason we practice dissimulation (taqiyah), because we have an example in the son of Adam, and Seth told his son about the Covenant in secret, and since Seth passed the Will to his son, by God, the sunnah has been to pass down the Will, scholar to scholar, and they would open the Will every year on one particular day and they would talk about how their father gave them a prophecy and glad tidings concerning the coming of Noah." (Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 11, p. 241

From this narration, we extract the origin of the Festival of the Will. We follow this ancient tradition, which has been lost, abandoned, and forgotten by most of the world. So now, just like it was from the beginning, every year the believers—the sons of Seth—gather to open the Will and read it.

Noah, being the last vicegerent mentioned in the Will of Adam and Seth continues the tradition by making a new Will for the generations to come after him: From Abu 'Abd Allah, he said:

"Noah lived for five hundred years after the flood. Then Gabriel came to him and said: 'O Noah, your prophethood has come to an end, and your days have been completed. So look to the Greatest Name, the inheritance of knowledge, and the traces of the knowledge of prophethood that are with you, and pass them on to your son Sam, for I do not leave the earth without a scholar through whom My obedience is known, and by whom My guidance is recognized. He shall be a means of salvation between the passing of one prophet and the coming of another. I have never left the people without a proof for Me, a caller to Me, a guide to My path, and one who is knowledgeable of My command. I have decreed that for every people there shall be a guide by whom I guide the blessed, and who shall be a proof against the wretched.' He said: So Noah passed on the Greatest Name, the inheritance of knowledge, and the traces of the knowledge of prophethood to Sam. As for Ham and Japheth, they did not have any knowledge from which they could benefit. He said: And Noah gave them the glad tidings of Hud, and commanded them to follow him, and instructed them to open the Will every year, look into it, and let it be a festival (Eid) for them." (Kamāl al-dīn wa tamām al-niʿma, Al-Shaikh Al-Saduq, Vol. 1, p. 551)

Abraham himself made a Will, and his grandson Jacob also established a Will just like his grandfather for the Children of Israel. This was the Will of Abraham, as well as Jacob, to his children, saying:

"Indeed, Allah has chosen for you this faith; so do not die except in ˹a state of full˺ submission. Or did you witness when death came to Jabob? He asked his children, "Who will you worship after my passing?" They replied, "We will ˹continue to˺ worship your God, the God of your forefathers—Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac—the One God. And to Him we ˹all˺ submit." (Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verses 132-133)

Moses whom the Children of Israel considered a savior and the fulfilment of the promise of God also didn’t leave this world without informing his people of the next man appointed by God: As Moses neared the end of his life, when the people had arrived at the Dead Sea, he had another conversation with God about his successor. There God said to him:

"Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom the Spirit is found, and lay your hand upon him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole assembly and commission him in their sight. Give him some of your authority, so that the assembly of the people of Israel might obey." (Bible, Book of Numbers, Chapter 27, Verses 18-20)

And contrary to what most Christians believe, just like Moses, Jesus also establishes for the people the next in line before his disappearance:

The Messenger of Allah said: "Jesus, son of Mary, made a will to Simon son of Hamun Al-Safa’a." (Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 36, p. 334)

This echoes the scene in the New Testament where Jesus appoints Simon Peter:

"Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven. And so I tell you, Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock foundation I will build my church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven." (Bible, Book of Matthew, Chapter 16, Verses 17-19)

Jesus also mentioned the coming of a Prophet after him in his Will, Mohammed:

“And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, “O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmed.” But when he (Ahmed) came to them with clear proofs, they said: “This is plain magic.” (Qur’an, Chapter 61 (Al-Saf), Verse 6)

The Festival of the Will is a reminder that God has never left us without someone who His Spirit is upon. It is a day of remembrance. It is a day in which we remember our covenant with God. On this particular day, January 23rd, the believers gather to remember God’s promise and guarantee to us.

Let us go back to Prophet Mohammed. Since we have established that the Vicegerents left a Will for their people to never go astray, we can see too Prophet Mohammed wanted to write a Will before he died, with strong disapproval from some of his companions.

Ibn 'Abbas narrated: When Allah’s Apostle was on his death-bed and in the house there were some people among whom was Umar bin Al-Khattab, the Prophet said, “Come, let me write for you a statement after which you will not go astray.” Umar said, “The Prophet is seriously ill and you have the Qur’an; so the Book of Allah is enough for us.” The people present in the house differed and quarreled. Some said: “Go near so that the Prophet may write for you a statement after which you will not go astray,” while the others said as Umar said. When they caused a hue and cry before the Prophet, Allah’s Apostle said, “Go away!” ‘Ubaidullah said: Ibn ‘Abbas used to say, “It was very unfortunate that Allah’s Apostle was prevented from writing that statement for them because of their disagreement and noise.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, Book of Patients, Hadith 5669)

As we can see, the Prophet was lying on his deathbed, asking for something simple—a pen and paper—in order to guide his community after his passing. Yet we see that his followers, his very companions, including Umar ibn al-Khattab, tried to prevent that Will from being written, saying that the Prophet was delirious or hallucinating.

The Qur’an itself contradicts the statements of those companions:

"By the star when it descends, your companion [i.e., Mohammed] has not strayed, nor has he erred, nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed." (Qur’an, Chapter 53 (Al-Najm), Verses 1-4)

The Qur’an also guarantees us that a Will must be written:

"It is prescribed that when death approaches any of you—if they leave something of value—a will should be made in favour of parents and immediate family with fairness. ˹This is˺ an obligation on those who are mindful ˹of Allah˺." (Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 180)

So logic dictates that the Prophet himself must have written a Will:

Narrated `Abdullah bin `Umar: Allah's Messenger said, "It is not permissible for any Muslim who has something to will to stay for two nights without having his last will and testament written and kept ready with him." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Bukhari, Wills and Testaments (Wasaayaa), Hadith 2738)

Nobody can prevent the Will of God, and the Prophet did in fact leave a Will and within it he wrote the names of his successors:

“Prophet Mohammed said to Ali on the night of his death, ‘O Father of Al-Hassan, bring me a pen and a paper,’ so the Messenger of Allah dictated his Will until he came to this position where he said: ‘O Ali, there will be twelve Imams after me and after them there will be twelve Mahdis. So you, O Ali, are the first of the twelve Imams, Allah the Exalted has named you in His heavens Ali Al-Murtada (the Content), Amirul Mo’mineen (the Prince of the Believers), Al-Siddiq Al-Akbar (the Greater Truthful), Al-Farouq Al-A’tham (the Greater Judge and Differentiator between truth and falsehood), Al-Ma’moun (the Trusted), and the Mahdi (the Guided). These names may not be attributed to other than you. O Ali, you are my vicegerent/guardian over my own family, their living and their dead, and upon my women: Whomever you kept, she shall find me tomorrow, and whomever you divorced, I am innocent of her, I will not see her and she will not see me on the Day of Resurrection. And you are my successor (Khalifa) over my nation after me. If death comes to you, hand it over to my son Al-Hassan, the righteous and benevolent. Then if death comes to him, let him hand it over to my son Al-Hussein, the martyr, the pure and murdered. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the master of worshipers, Dhul Thafanat (the one with hard skin on his knees) Ali. If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al-Baqir (the Revealer of Knowledge). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ja’far Al-Sadiq (the Truthful). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Musa Al-Kathim (the Patient). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Ridha (the Pleasing One). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed Al-Thiqa Al-Taqqi (the Trustworthy, the God-Fearing). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Ali Al-Nasih (the Advisor). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Al-Hassan Al-Fadhil (the Meritorious). If death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, Mohammed the Safeguarded of the Family of Mohammed. Those are the twelve Imams. Then there will be twelve Mahdis after him, so if death comes to him, let him hand it over to his son, the first of the close ones, he has three names, one like mine and my Father’s and it is Abdullah, Ahmed, and the third name is Al-Mahdi, and he is the first of the believers.’” (Ghaybat Al-Tusi, Vol. 1, pp. 174-175; Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 53, p. 148)

The 23rd of January is not a random day for the Festival of the Will. Rather, it plays a very historic role in our call. It is a day in which a flood of ancient prophecies came to light. Prophet Mohammed said:

“There shall rule Hijaz a man whose name is the name of an animal, if you look at him from afar you will think that he is cross-eyed but if you come close to him his eyes seem normal, he will be succeeded by a brother named Abdullah, woe to our Shia from him (he repeated this thrice), give me glad tidings of his death and I shall give you glad tidings of the appearance of the Hujjah (Imam Mahdi).” (250 Signs until the Appearance of Imam Mahdi, Muhammad Ali Tabatabai, Sign 88, p. 136)

In Saudi Arabia, there was a man by the name of King Fahd who ruled Saudi Arabia (Hijaz) from 1982-2005 — Fahd means leopard, a name of an animal. In his photographs, you will notice that he looks cross-eyed, but when you zoom in, his eyes are in reality normal. After his death, he was succeeded by his brother King Abdullah, who was known for being extremely anti-Shia.

Left: King Fahd who ruled Saudi Arabia (Hijaz) from 1982-2005; Right: King Abdullah who rules Saudi Arabia (Hijaz) from 2005-2015

The location, characters, names, attributes, and events that have taken place fit perfectly with the prophecy the Muslims have been waiting for. However, we have one thing left, the appearance of the Mahdi, which the Prophet guarantees. And Imam Al-Sadiq guaranteed us too, saying:

“Whoever guarantees for me the death of Abdullah, I shall guarantee for them the Qaim.” (Bihar Al-Anwar, Al-Allamah Al-Majlisi, Vol. 52, p. 210)

On January 23rd, on the day that King Abdullah passed away, the Mahdi mentioned in the Will appeared, Abdullah. And after 11 years his message has spread to every corner of the world, calling people to the truth and establishing the Supremacy of God. This day stands as a decisive moment in that uninterrupted chain. It marks the fulfillment of  prophecy with the appearance of the one named in the Will itself. This day is honored because it represents the continuity of God’s covenant and the manifestation of His promise.

The Festival of the Will is the recognition of a divine system that has never stopped operating. From Adam to Aba Al-Sadiq, the Will is the means by which God safeguarded guidance on Earth and protected His authority from being claimed by those that would plan to usurp the throne of God.

Each year, when the Will is opened and read, it is not done merely to remember the past, but to reaffirm allegiance in the present. The Festival of the Will is a renewal of out allegiance  to God, through the one He appointed. It is a reminder that God has not left humanity for a second, and that His proof remains present, known, and named.