Friday, April 18, 2014

The Restatement of Islam for Our Times

Angels and Divine Revelations

Angels are a part of Allah’s creation, they do what they are commanded, they depend on Allah in the same way as men or His other creatures. Allah is not dependent on them for the manifestation of His power. Had He willed, He would have created the universe without angels, but His perfect wisdom willed their creation. So angels came into being. Allah created light for the eye and bread for hunger. He created light and bread not because He was in need of them but because man was in need of them. The angels only manifest the will and wisdom of Allah. 

Divine Revelations are words and instructions from Allah and Allah speaks to His chosen servants and reveals to them His purpose. The recipient provides neither the meaning nor the words of revelation. Both come from Allah. Revelation provides real sustenance for man. Man lives by it and through it, man comes to have contact with Allah. The words, which embody a revelation of God, are unique in their power and majesty. No man can coin such words. They carry treasures of knowledge and wisdom, and they are very deep in meaning. They are like a mine the stone of which is the more valuable the deeper you dig. Indeed, a mine is nothing compared with divine revelation. A mine can be exhausted, but not the wisdom of divine revelation.

Divine Revelation is like a sea with a scented surface and a bed strewn with the most precious pearls. Those, who turn to the surface, enjoy the fragrance of the surface, and those, who dive deep, find the pearls below. Revelation is of many kinds, sometimes it consists of ordinances and laws, sometimes of exhortations. Sometimes it brings knowledge of the unseen, sometimes knowledge of spiritual truths. Sometimes it conveys the goodwill and approval of Allah, sometimes His disapproval and displeasure, sometimes His love and regard, sometimes warnings and rebukes. Sometimes it teaches points in morals, sometimes His insight into secret evils. In short, our belief is that God communicates His will to His servants. These communications vary with circumstance and the spiritual status of the recipient.

Spiritual Darkness and the Mahdis (the Guided Ones)

When darkness prevails in the world and human beings sink deep in sin and evil, when without the help of God it becomes difficult for them to release themselves from the hold of Satan, then out of His mercy and beneficence, Allah chooses from out of His own loving and loyal servants, those whom He charges with the duty to guide the world.

With the coming of a divine messenger, in every part of the world his followers can be seen who bow and prostrate themselves before the one God, the God without an equal, Allah (twa). Bear in mind that it is with the coming of a divine messenger that justice begins to reign instead of injustice, kindness instead of cruelty. Through a divine messenger Allah reveals His will and purpose. Those who turn away from them degrade themselves. Those who turn to them earn the love of God. The doors of His blessings are opened to them. His grace and mercy descend on them, they become spiritual preceptors for generations to come and attain greatness in this world and the next.

Twisted Perceptions in the Jamaat-e-Ahmadyya

Islam today is not the Islam which the Holy Prophet (pbuh) taught to his companions. The only people who disagree with the original teachings are the so-called Maulvis and in Jamaat Ahmadiyya the so-called Mullahs, so-called Amirs who do not hesitate to twist the divine teachings to make it in accord with their perception of religion and to hold the masses under their firm grasp. For this purpose they do not hesitate to put boycott on us because of divine revelations.

They believe that only the Khalifatul-Massih has the right to be bestowed divine revelation and they have become insensitive to facts owing to incessant religious discussions. There seems little doubt that something is wanting in the Islam of today. We must admit that the Islam, that the today’s Muslims practice is not the true Islam, because of which, Islam no longer produces the results which it should.

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “A time will come when nothing will be left of Islam except it name”. Definitely the time has come. Nothing is left of Islam except its name, that is, its superficial and external observances; the substance, the inner significance is gone. The sort of Islam which is believed and practiced today cannot produce the results which it produced at one time. This sort of Islam impresses the followers of other religions who are attracted even today by its faded glory, but unfortunately, upon entering the fold of Islam they cannot grasp its true teachings because of dearth of true explanations and observances by the scholars professing to be the defenders and preservers of the final religion of Allah.

 Divine Guidance and the metaphor of "RAIN"

Another Hadith which I need to cite here is where the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: My Ummah is like the rain. I do not know whether the better part of it is the earlier one or the latter. (Musnad Ahmad, Tirmidhi). This means that Islam as the final religion of Allah has the infinite scope to regenerate itself from time to time, and that promise as well as elaborated in the Holy Quran was confirmed by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who promised reformers and non-law-giving prophets and vicegerents of Allah who shall come as his confirmers and the preservers of the divine teachings up till the Day of Judgement. When Allah stated firmly in the Holy Quran that He shall be the Guardian of the Holy Quran, like mentioned in Surah Al-Hijr:

“Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.” (15: 10)

How shall Allah preserve the Quran to make it remain alive in both the mind and practice of man, and not just as “mere inscription” as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described for those people of the latter days who shall proclaim to be Muslims when in fact they shall be devoid of any Islamic fibre in them?

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) referred the last days also as being somewhat similar to those companions of his time, the first ray of light in the glory of Islam. He cites the parable of the rain, the rain of blessings which shall be a continuous source of guidance for His Ummah after his time period. 

What it means is that among those who shall come later, there shall be among these people true Muslims who shall be similar to those who came before, and they will be so close to the first believers, that it will be difficult to compare them. We all know that the glory of the first era of Islam is truly incomparable to any other era in our humble estimation, but Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) has opened the scope of such rain being manifested in the last days, just like promised in the Holy Quran:

“And the forerunners, the forerunners – Those are they who shall be brought near (to Allah); In the Gardens of Pleasure, A (large) company of the former peoples; And a few of the later peoples…” (56: 11-15)
“And (Allah shall send him – the Prophet – to) others of them who have not yet joined them. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” (62: 4)

Divine Servants in the Later Days

Moreover, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) is narrated to have said:

 The best of my Ummah are the first and the last, and between them there will be some crookedness. Would that I could see my brothers.” 

They (the companions) said, Are we not your brothers?” 

He said, “You are my companions.”

In the version of Muslim concerning “brothers”, the precision is that of those people whom the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had never seen, and who shall come after his demise, much later on. Therefore, among the many interpretations of brothers, especially concerning the people of the latter days, Elects or Prophets of Allah are all brothers. They come to confirm each other and to hold fast the same allegiance they took with Allah to true guidance. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “... The prophets are paternal brothers, their mothers are different but their religion is one. (Bukhari, Muslim)

Therefore, the Quran and the words of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) point to the advent of divine messengers coming in future, such divine elects who shall mould themselves in the image of the last law-bearing prophet (pbuh) to revive the true teachings he received from Allah, such teachings and codes of life which Allah promised to preserve till the Day of Resurrection.

On these Hadiths, there are many disagreements from among the Muslims themselves. No Muslim group can imitate the example of the companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the brothers which the Holy Prophet (pbuh) wanted to meet with all his heart, unless they have seen a Messenger of Allah in the flesh, unless they have come under his spiritual influence.

The Restatement of Islam under Divine Guidance

Before I end my Khutba, a point I wish to make quite clear at the outset is that the name Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam does not point to a new religion. Bear this well in mind. We have not come to divide Islam further, but to identify ourselves as Allah wants as His instruments to bring back the glory of Islam.

Therefore, the name of this Jamaat is not the adoption of a new religion. The name of Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam is the name of a reinterpretation or a restatement of the religion of the Holy Quran. It is a restatement presented under divine guidance to this humble one, chosen by Allah (twa) in this era. By the grace of Allah (twa), the name of Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam is the name which Allah (twa) Himself gave to His chosen servant of this era, that is, the Khalifatullah of this era.

No name can be more blessed than the name which Allah (twa) Himself chose for His servant and which He invested with importance to bring about the regeneration of His Deen, ISLAM. Different groups of Muslims, out of regard for their special beliefs and outlook, have adopted different names, and thus it becomes necessary for us in the Divine Manifestation, where Allah (twa) raised this humble self, His Khalifatullah and sends His divine revelation to have a divine Jamaat so as to distinguish ourselves from others. So I hope every one of you has understood my message in this Khutba Jummah.

I pray that Allah endow the Muslims with illuminating perception to distinguish the truth of our honourable cause, so that as one we can be what Allah wants foremost from us, that we may be completely submitted to Him and abandon all forms of satanic attractions, that we recognise the essence of His existence, and the role He has played in bringing all His elects for a common cause for the safeguard of the humanity and spirituality of man, in both the worlds. Insha-Allah, Ameen.


Insha-Allah, may Allah (twa) bless you all. Ameen.

- Extracts from the Friday Sermon of April 18, 2014 by Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius