In his
Friday Sermon of January 10, 2014 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius gives a profound and eloquent introduction
to the religion of Islam. The true path to the Divine, preached and propagated
by the Messengers and Reformers all through history, continues to remain accessible
for those who earnestly strive and transform their own selves to meet the
rigours and trials of faith, assures the Messenger of Allah of our times.
Read the Extracts from the Sermon:
Without
faith in God Almighty, man is blind. The essence of all religions is to bring
forward mankind as one family under the banner of the unity of the Creator of
the Heavens and Earth.
Religion has been and will always be what man makes of
it, and that is why man must take absolute precaution as to how he defines
religion and how he goes about implementing religion, the true one in his
everyday life. Religion may become a mere thought if not defined properly and
acted upon. That is why God Almighty Himself brought forward Islam as
the living religion of man. It is not only a religion, but the actual way of life of mankind, and especially the dedicated
servants of God. From Prophet Adam to the last of all the law-bearing prophets,
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), religion received its true meaning and
purpose: to access to God Almighty (Allah – the Supreme and Absolute name
of Almighty God; name which no human can and will hold).
Islam: The true purpose of life, absolute submission to the living and unique God, the
religion of peace and harmony bringing mankind as one entity in the worship of
the Almighty.
Since
the dawn of time, whenever the demons tried to deviate man from the right path
and keep him away from the worship of the Creator, God Almighty (Allah) sent
times and times again His elects, His
prophets, messengers and reformers of religion/faith to guide man back to
the righteous path, to teach them the words of Allah and show them the signs of
God Almighty, be it in themselves and in the heavens and earth so that they may
recognise the absolute power and existence of God and adhere to His path and
truth.
Thus,
God Almighty sent His prophets and messengers with guidance in forms of divine
revelations; and some of these divine revelations were clear laws or Divine
Scriptures to guide man to God. Each time the highway leading man to God is
broken, each time God Almighty raises His Chosen Messenger to repair that
highway without which man shall not have access to the Almighty.
Islam,
the religion of all prophets, the religion established and named by God Himself
in the last law-bearing Book – the Holy Quran is the true religion of man and
it is Islam which awakens in man true faith, such faith which shall make him
gain access to absolute peace and tranquillity in God Almighty Himself.
The prior teachings of God, having been tampered by
the hands of man to reflect their own thoughts about religion and what ought to
be and not, thus God Almighty raised Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) not as a destroyer
of faith but as the Messiah of faith, the divinely anointed king to bring man
back to God with the support of clear revelations and laws which are treasures
to man’s physical, moral and spiritual state.
The
Quran is
such a Book which pervades the life of man if he lets in the light of its words
and impact penetrates him. Such changes shall happen in his life if he devotes
his life to research truth and accept it. Seeking the truth of God is one thing,
but to accept it and implement it is another whole matter.
If man can make religion, man can destroy it too. That
is why divine intervention was needed to show to mankind the true religion of
God so that he may tread on that path with divine-helped surety and confidence.
What better name for the true religion than Islam – Submission to the Unique God in peace and faith?
Submission
to Allah was, is and shall always be the rule of life with the prophets and
messengers of God. Each time man loses his way, God sends to him a guide to
indicate to him the right path and even to teach him how to stay on that right
path till he accedes to his Goal: God Almighty (Allah).
When
man loses his way and fabricates other meanings to religion, the Overpowering
Lord sends His guide with His guidance to make them realise their error and
stick to that right path, so that they may get to see the face of the Unique
God which they are searching for.
When
people have added innovations to religion and changed the scriptures of God to
their likings, God comes to annihilate those false scriptures and people so as
to establish once again His kingdom and rules.
If
now Islam is defiled by the people, then it is not Islam which is to be blame
or which is weak but it is the people who are to be blame. Allah sees therefore
the need to send times and times again – and this till the Day of Judgement – such reformers of Islam and humanity at large
who would incarnate the true spirit of the perfection of the last law-bearing
prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all prophets of God so as to show the
world the truth and purity of Islam.
What are we then, if we are not submitters to the will
of God? If we do not submit, we are
doomed and liable to be easily tempted by the Satans which roam this world and
our own beings, waiting for the right opportunity to rip us from the body
of life, our Creator, our support for life.
If a baby is connected to its mother in the womb
through his umbilical cord, then we must reminds ourselves that we are all
connected to our source of life, God Almighty, without whose bond we would have
been miscarried or aborted from life. If our body is alive, it is also because
of the soul which resides in each of us, a soul which is connected with the
divine and which awaits impatiently for the day it shall go back to Him. If we
have such souls in us, we are lovers of God who yearn for our Allah only. If
not, if we let our souls blend in the negativity of the world and let the
Satans fool us, then we lose the essence of divinity which is in us, and we
lose our Goal and even our soul. Our Islam disappears and we become unworthy of
the title of human with humane qualities which God bestowed upon us in the
first place.
Therefore, if Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam exists today, it is not without a
purpose. As the religion of Islam has been taken as mere jest by most people of
the world, including so-called Muslims who have lost touch with the true
essence of Islam, therefore Allah has revealed and ordained yet again a name
for such a Jamaat (Community) which shall revive
the true Islam. Islam is the real religion. Jamaat
Ul Sahih Al Islam is not a religion but it is the instrument which shall
lead people to the true Islam. That is why Allah from among the names He
revealed for His Jamaat, made Jamaat Ul
Sahih Al Islam most attractive because this is the raison-d’être of the
Divine Manifestation of this age, to bring back people to the true Islam.