Allah (swt) has several beautiful names. These are the
attributes that He possesses. I shall mention briefly two of these attributes: Al-Khafidh, which means the One who
humiliates and, Ar-Rafi, the One who
elevates. Almighty Allah has the capacity to degrade/humiliate someone or to
elevate him, raising him in position. It is Almighty Allah who has the power to
degrade someone by dishonouring him and to elevate him and making him
honourable.
Man is ever changing. He does not stay the same. There
is a time when he is young, courageous and solid, and after the passage of
time, he becomes unrecognizable. You may see that his courage has disappeared
and he has lost his charm. In the past people used to need him and rush to him,
and now nobody knows that he exists. Dreams become reality and reality becomes
a thing of the past. Therefore, there is the high and low in life, and all this
is found in the hand of Allah the Almighty.
Do you know who you are? All the
noises/publicity/boasting that you are making… you can be a Minister, Prime
Minister or a King. You can be whatever you want to be, but do you know that
you are a slave? All the bossing around that you do, but verily you shall
always remain a slave. You shall live like a slave and die as a slave. You
shall never succeed in liberating yourself from that slavery. What remains to
be known is what kind of slave are you! If you are not a slave for ALLAH, then
you must be in a way or another, a slave of another thing/person. You can
become slave of your passions, desires and vices. Then, if you have to be a
slave, why do you become a slave for another slave? Why do you become a slave
who makes you become the worst of slaves?
You think you are a free man when you
live your life like you wish. This is an erroneous thought. You have rendered
things more complicated, worst. You have fallen low to become the worst of
slaves. Become the slave of such a Being who is not a slave, who is the true
Master, who is independent from anyone and/or anything. It is Almighty Allah
the Lord (Rab) of the universe. This
is a slavery which grants you true dignity; such a slavery which removes you
from any kind of impurity and puts you into light. This is why the truly
intelligent have chosen to become His slaves, slaves of an Almighty Allah who
is Unique.
Therefore, before ending, I want to say something to
make all of you realize something. Before you start fighting with someone, you
will always look at your surroundings. You shall never have the courage or
audacity to say something (pick a fight) if you see that the person in question
is surrounded with bouncers or muscled bodyguards for you will fear the
opposition and the serious consequences from your acts. There are many people
on this earth who therefore prefer to remain silent so as not to aggravate a
situation.
A person in his absolute right may remain silent in
such situation despite his being innocent. As for the culprit, he must remain
quiet all the more. If he acts pompously, then he risks having the wings of his
delusion of grandeur clipped. The thing is that his adversary is only a human
like himself, with limited means like him. His capacities also are limited,
such capacities which can enable him to do many things but not all that he
wishes to do, and he cannot act as per he wishes everywhere he goes.
Despite all this, people forget these vital details
and acts with impudence with others. What makes you think that you can talk
whatever you like (disrespectfully) against the messengers of Allah without
worrying (about the consequences)? How do you dare qualify the prophets of
Allah, Caliphs of Allah as madmen, sorcerers, deluded men and far from the
right path etc.? Do you think that there is no power behind them (to support
them)? Do you think that they are alone?
Do not rejoice quickly with the capacity of your eyes
(which is limited) for Allah the Almighty has not given you that eye (the
capacity to see) to see what should be seen (of truth concerning the
messengers). Verily, the messengers of Allah benefit from a very exceptional
support and help from Allah the Almighty. A small child does not know the value
of gold or precious stones which is absolutely normal. Those who are still new
in Deen (religion) are somewhat like
this (i.e., like little children). They do not have the eye which would have
enabled them to recognize a messenger of Allah. That is why they do not
hesitate to say unbefitting/inappropriate words about the messengers of Allah.
Generally speaking, we (humans) the special creations
of Allah endowed with knowledge must be aware that it is Allah the Almighty who
has chosen them, the messengers and sent them amongst us to lead us to the
right path, the path leading to paradise. We must be aware that the messengers
of Allah are never alone. According to a Hadith-e-Qudsi
from the Sahih Bukhari, the one who holds the Messenger of Allah in enmity,
Allah Himself therefore declares war with that unfortunate person when he did
not recognise the true value of the messengers of Allah. Therefore, in capacity
of the Khalifatullah, Messenger of Allah of this era, what I want to advise
you: do such things that Allah may not declare war with you! This indeed is not
so easy!
The Ebola epidemic
Before ending my speech, as the Khalifatullah,
representative of God of this era, I must alert you on the dangers of the Ebola
epidemics. Almighty God warns us in His Holy Book, the Quran:
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ
أَيْدِي النَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعْضَ الَّذِي عَمِلُوا لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ
“Corruption has appeared throughout the
land and sea by what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste
part of (the consequence of) what they have done that perhaps they will return
back to Allah.”
All countries are at risk because many people
including the people of Rodrigues travel to Africa. This also applies to those
people who hails from African countries and often travel to several countries
and come also to Rodrigues. So it is my duty to warn the entire humanity
against the Ebola epidemic. There is no remedy against this virus and if this
virus comes to be introduced into any country in the world, or even here in Rodrigues,
you risk finding yourselves in a serious situation, especially as the infected
people need to be isolated (Quarantined).
Therefore, my message to you is, direct your face
toward the right religion before there comes from Allah the day which cannot be
averted. That day people will be divided: one who disbelieve will suffer (the
consequences) of his infidelity. And whoever worked in righteousness... it’s for
their own (good/future) that they are preparing to do so, that by His grace God
may reward those who believe and do good works. Verily, God does not love the
unbelievers.
O my dear brothers, sisters and children of Rodrigues!
Listen to me! Turn (in worship) to one God. Ask much forgiveness for your sins
which have filled the earth. Pray Almighty God night and day with great
devotion, submit totally to the command of God so that He may rid us all from
these viruses such as Ebola and other strange bacteria and viruses that are
constantly appearing in this century, and which are fatal. Humanity is in
danger in all circumstances. Join me in prayer to the One God that He may, Insha-Allah forgive us. Ameen.
May Almighty God give each of you the Tawfiq to understand the messages that I
have put before you today in this speech of the Jalsa Salana. Insha-Allah Ta’ala Al-Aziz. Ameen. Summa
Ameen Ya Rabboul Aalameen.
- Extracts from the Opening Speech of the Khalifatullah Hazrat Munir A. Azim (atba) at the Rodrigues Jalsa Salana, on 10 August 2014.