In his Friday Sermon of 13
December 2013 Hadhrat
Amir’ul Mu’mineen Muhyi-Ud-Din Munir
Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius
gave a profound exposition on the many states of human existence.
From the
carnal passions of the animalistic state, man can evolve into a
morally-reflective human state, where his predatory instincts are under control
and subject to moral precepts. One may even go on
to the state of annihilation of the animalistic self and reach the angelic state of submission to the Divine Will
through
knowing the teachings of Divine Messengers and by
following the subtle wisdom of the Holy Qur’an.
Read the Extracts from
the Friday Sermon:
“Doesn’t He who
created know? And He is the Subtle, the All-Aware”
(67: 15).
Knowledge and faith
constitute the main and the basic difference between man and other living
beings and that knowledge and faith form the basis on which man’s humanity
depends.
We saw last Friday how
man is superior to animals, but he remains nonetheless an animal when he
abandons civilization and the moral entrusted to him by Allah. When man engages
in his animal instincts, he abandons decency and starts looking for his
pleasure like the animal that lives on a daily basis in order to satisfy its
needs, therefore man remains animal despite that he was born human because he
has not reached that humanity which he has a duty to seek when he reaches the
age of understanding and to seek divine knowledge so as to reform himself
physically, morally and spiritually, to refine, perfect him to the spiritual
being he represents in the essence of his consciousness.
Man
should know what carnal desires are and then stay away from them.
He should also know what the human characteristics are and strive to acquire
and put them into practice for he must act as well as learn. First, he must
learn how to escape from his animalistic self and obtain human characteristics,
and then he must put what he learned into action. He should not satisfy himself with knowledge alone, for that will
bring him nothing if not implemented in his daily life.
The bad nature of
animals does not come from their paws or teeth; instead it is from the predatory nature that
is found inside of them. This nature is also found in man along with the human
and angelic natures as well. Man
can become worst than a wolf or better than an angel.
Therefore, man has the duty to evolve
from the animalistic state to the human state and finally to the spiritual
state. It is a hard venture, but really not so if he follows the guidance of
Allah and His prophets and implements the golden advices of the chosen people
of Allah and His Book, the Holy Quran to get access to the angelic state and
even beyond.
Animals are gregarious
also to a certain extent, like the bees and other animals which live in groups
and each animal group knows how to praise Allah in their very own way.
Sometimes we may even be shocked how human animals can seem when man becomes
prisoner of his low desires and become worst than animals and their predatory
instincts. We can see described in the Holy Quran how bees receive divine revelations also; Allah guides all living beings so that they can survive on earth
according to their life status. Only man has got the most superior quality
of knowledge and ability to get access to Allah through Divine revelations. And
divine revelations are obtained through annihilation of the animalistic self to
a state of submission to the divine will.
A person who struggles
with his self will become a human. The striving done side by side with prayer
and trust in the overpowering Lord and His help will see him to his goal, that
is, to be rid of his animalistic desires, to obtain the power to control
himself and to concentrate on the true purpose of his life, that is, Allah and
doing everything as per the will of Allah.
When
he merges himself in the light beckoning him, he becomes someone who forbears,
a characteristic which common animals do not have, his hopes are simple, his
shortcomings few, his heart fearing, his spirit contented, his religion safe,
his desires dead and his anger suppressed. Good alone is expected from him.
Evil from him is not to be feared. Even if he is found
among a mixed congregation of people, those who remember Allah and those who
talk mundane matters, but the one who kills his carnal self for the betterment
of his spiritual self is one who remains safeguarded in the remembrance of
Allah even when he is among people who forgets Allah.
This is because despite
his physical presence among those people, but he is not attach to them or have
any desire to participate in their temporal pastime. He is also a forgiving
person, especially to the one who is unjust to him or who tries to harm him,
and he gives to him who deprives him. He behaves well with him who behaves ill
with him. But the greatest rank he can reach is when he immerses himself
completely in Allah that his likes and dislikes are in line with the likes and
dislikes of Allah. Those are usually the prophets and messengers of Allah who
reflect those qualities because they are the instruments of Allah on earth;
they are those recipients whom Allah uses to vehicle His message to humanity.
And thus it is important that the chosen people are aware of what pleases Allah
and what not.