‘Heart’ as a Spiritual Metaphor

The heart, a vital organ and essential in its role of pumping blood in the human body is considered, since ages, as the seat of feelings. This is certainly due to the fact that the heart rate increases with emotions. Indeed, love is symbolized by a heart! The heart is small but can contain vast emotions like the ocean. Over the centuries, an infinite amount of expressions in different languages ​​have been linked to heart; expressions associated with emotions (e.g. with a good heart, with all my heart, with rage in the heart), courage (e.g. having one’s heart in the stomach – French Expression “avoir du coeur au ventre”), others in which a loved one is designated (e.g. my little heart, my heart), the inner life (e.g. speaking from the heart), or even the memory (e.g. learning by heart). In our local Creole language there can also be found: Lekér sale (dirty heart), Lekér roche (having a stone in place of the heart),Lekér fermal (a wounded heart), Lekér l’or (a golden heart/ a heart of gold)...

The heart is also a great symbol related to many interpretations, including: The dwelling of faith and of knowledge, understanding, thinking, feelings etc. The heart is described by scientists as the king of organs; it is the seat of the sincerity of a person, without which none of his actions are accepted.

Several hadiths explicitly cite the supremacy of the heart. The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Surely there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is in good condition the whole body is in good condition, and if it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt and that is the heart.” (Bukhari). He (pbuh) also said: “Surely Allah does not look at your bodies nor your faces but He looks at your hearts.” (Muslim).

Wabisah Ibn Ma’bad (ra) said: “I once went to the Messenger of God (pbuh) and he said:" 

“Have you come to inquire about virtue (good)?” 

“Yes,” I replied, and he said: “Ask your heart. Virtue is that which contents the soul and comforts the heart, and sin is that which causes doubts and perturbs the heart, even if people pronounce it lawful and give you verdicts on such matters again and again.” (Musnad Ahmad)

'Tabligh' among Ahmadis: A Kerala Incident

Freedom of religion in any civilized society includes the fundamental human rights to profess, practice and preach one's spiritual convictions, regardless of whether the State or other persons in society approve of those beliefs and practices. There can be no compulsion in matters of religion. Just as no one can be forced against their will to listen to a discourse, no one has the liberty to obstruct the peaceful preaching of a message to others, either. And the preaching of Islam is an appeal to the spiritual conscience of men and women. As the Holy Qur'an says, 'the truth has come from your Lord: let those who wish to believe in it do so, and let those who wish to reject it do so' (18: 30). Divine Messengers in the past had repeatedly been asked to convey the situation as it is: "People, the Truth has come to you from your Lord. Whoever follows the right path follows it for his own good, and whoever strays does so to his own loss: I am not your Guardian" (10:109).

For a century or so, the mainstream Ahmadis had relied on these sublime Islamic principles of freedom of human conscience and the liberty of individual choices in their extraordinary efforts in spreading the message of Islam-Ahmadiyyat among hostile opponents and other adversarial elements everywhere. Yet, today they are increasingly intolerant. This is starkly visible in Kerala these days, even as the message of Allah, being conveyed through the Divine Reformer of our times, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius, has recently reached the corners of India. 

When the disciples of the Khalifatullah (atba) recently sought to convey the Divine message in the town of Karunagappally, the Ahmadi youths in Kerala (India) got enraged and wanted to extinguish the possibility of the message reaching the common Ahmadis. In his Friday Sermon of July 18, 2014, in the course of his expositions on the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Khalifatullah (atba) took note of the Tabligh Incident.

'Laila-tul- Qadr' in Ramadan

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Indeed, We sent the Qur’an down during the Night of Decree. And what can make you know what the Night of Decree is? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.” (97: 1-6)  

In the light of these verses of the Chapter Al-Qadr (the Destiny/Decree), it shall be good for us to recall once again how these verses were revealed.

One day, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was relating the life of a pious man (Wali) by the name of Shamsun (ra) who used to live among the Children of Israel. From what we understand, he was someone who used to pray a lot and struggle hard for the cause of Allah for the duration of a thousand months. When the companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) heard that, they became sad upon thinking that they would never be able to surpass Hazrat Shamsun (ra). As an encouragement, Allah said that if the Community of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) indulge in acts of worship during the Night of Decree (Laila-tul-Qadr), therefore their prayers would earn rewards better than a thousand months of worship. (Ruh’ul Bayan, Vol. 10 pg. 483)

In Hadith, Hazrat Anas bin Malik (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah stated about the month of Ramadan: “This month (of Ramadan) has begun and there is a night in it better than one thousand month. So, any one deprived of its blessings is actually deprived of all goodness. Indeed, He is truly deprived who is kept away from its good.” (Ibn Majah, Mishkat)

Therefore, the Night of Decree is a night filled with blessings and is very valuable. It is a great divine favour upon the Ummah of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) when transforming acts of worship made during the Night of Decree into acts of worship (prayers) which is worth more than a thousand months of blessings. For the communities of the past prophets, there were no such designed night reserved for the descent on earth of Hazrat Jibreel (as) and the angels except for the Muslims whereby they send the divine peace on the Muslims absorbed in any act of worship and thus these angels prays for them and ask forgiveness for them. In His wisdom, Allah has hidden that special night in the last 10 holy nights of Ramadan so that the Muslims make efforts to seek it. In this way, their courage increase and they spend their time in worship for Allah so as to reap the blessings concealed in the Night of Decree.

Being Good or Bad : Islamic Human Values

Islam has established a number of fundamental rights, valid for all humanity and must be observed and respected under all circumstances. To this end, Islam provides not only legal guarantees but also a very effective moral system. Thus in Islam anything that leads to the well-being of the individual or society is morally good, and everything that is injurious to him/it is morally bad. Islam attaches so much importance to the love of God and love of man that it warns against too much formalism. We read in the Holy Qur’an:  “Virtue does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west; virtuous are those who believe in God and the Last Day, the angels and the Book and the prophets, who give for the love of God help to their relatives and to orphans and the needy and travellers, and those who ask, who free captives, who observe prayer, who practice alms-giving, who fulfill the commitment they assume, who show patience in adversity, in hard times and in times of violence. Those are just and fear the Lord.” (2: 178)

We have here a beautiful description of the righteous and God-fearing believer, who obeys to (and implements) the salutary precepts, but without ceasing to gaze upon the love of God and love of as fellow human beings. We have received four precepts:

a) Our faith should be true and sincere.

b) We must be prepared to show it by acts of charity towards our fellow human beings.

c) We must be good citizens.

d) Our soul must be firm and steadfast in all circumstances.

This is the criterion upon which all individual behaviour is judged as good or bad. This criterion is somehow the nucleus around which revolve all the elements that constitute the moral conduct of each person. Before establishing moral precepts, Islam seeks to firmly implant in man’s heart the conviction that he is in constant contact with God who sees him at all times and in all places, that he can hide from the world, but not of Him; he can fool anyone, but not God, he can escape the clutches of anyone except God.

Khalifatullah visits Reunion Island

June 2014: Dawa Highlights

Day One

Alhamdulillah, upon reaching Reunion Island, the Khalifatullah^(atba) was warmly welcomed by the Vice-President of the Jamaat. There was a good interaction between the two and our respected brother took Huzur^(atba) to refresh himself before the start of the mini-Jalsa Salana (half-day) to be held after Zuhr prayer.

Jalsa Salana Programme:

v  Quran Recitation (with translation) by our brother Mohamed Ahmad.

v  An Opening/Welcoming Speech by the Vice-President of the Jamaat.

v  A speech by the Sadr Siraj Makin of the Reunion Jamaat axed on the role of women of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam in the modern society.

v  A break of 20 minutes spent in our members & guests from various religious denominations meeting with the Messenger of Allah^(atba).

o   Diner & Salat-ul-Maghrib/Esha in congregation.

v  Quran Recitation (with translation) by our brother Ismaël.

v  Closing Speech by Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim^(atba).

v  Collective Prayer (duas) & refreshments.

The Mini-Jalsa Salana ended at around 20.45pm, and everybody returned home satisfied and thankful to Allah that they have got the opportunity to meet with Huzur^(atba) twice in a year. Alhamdulillah.

Day Two

Huzur^(atba) and some of our members spent the day in Dawa at Sainte Clotilde. In the course of the Dawa expedition, he encountered a Mourid Imam with whom he got a clash on the matter of religion. Later on, he met with a Muslim (a Shiite Mullah) at Moufia and there itself was held a question and answers session on the death of Jesus Christ^(as), to which many people assisted. The Khalifatullah^(atba) exposed to him several verses of the Holy Quran and other proofs from the Hadiths but despite all this, the Mullah refused to acknowledge the truth exposed by the Holy Quran on the subject. He even sought to deviate the people who were witnessing the debate from the true viewpoint of the Holy Quran which the Khalifatullah^(atba) sought to make apparent.

'Fasting is a Shield against Evil'

Yaaa-’ayyu-hallaziina ‘aamanuu kutiba ‘alay-kumus-Siyaamu kamaa kutiba ‘alal lazina min qablikum la-’alla-kum tatta-quun.

“O you who believe! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous.” (2: 184).

The word ‘Siyaam’ (fasting) as mentioned in the Holy Quran can also be called ‘Sawm’, which means ‘to abstain from something’. Abstaining from something does not mean only abstaining from food and drink, no! It also refers to abstaining from vain talks/too much talking; for on the contrary you should concentrate more on Quran reading as well as its translation, concentrate on the remembrance of Allah (Zikrullah) and supplications (duas). Abstention should also be made of sleep, whereby you devote yourself to the voluntary additional prayers when you are fasting during the day. During this period, therefore abstention should also be made of sexual relation with your spouses, and you must learn to control your carnal desires (nafs) and your tongue. This also allows you to multiply more good deeds, help the poor and spend a lot in charity.

When you learn to understand this verse of the Quran (the above-mentioned verse) and you reflect on it, you shall see (deduce) that all the good deeds done in this blessed month (Ramadan) are all acts of worship which a believer does and he does it sincerely for Allah alone. He (the believer) accepts to abstain from all things which were usually licit for him during the previous eleven months and which are made (temporary) illicit for him from before sunrise till after sunset.

Ramadan: Ibadah and Taqwa

“O you who believe! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous.” (2: 184).

Wa maa khalaqtul-Jinna wal-’insa ‘illaa liya’-buduun.

“I have not created jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (51: 57).

The month of Ramadan is once again before our door by the grace of Allah. It is a month which is awaited by believers because it contains many benefits and virtues. During the month of Shabaan, Friday sermons (Khutba) often focus on the value of this great month. It is said that Ramadan is a month of worship (Ibadah). Verily, we must rather say that it is a month to increase our acts of worship (Ibadah) because we have been created with the purpose of worshiping Allah (swt).

“I have not created jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (51: 57).

In addition to the virtues of this blessed month it is important that we know what is the purpose of these acts of worship during this month. In the Quran, Allah (swt) clearly defines the purpose of the fasting month of Ramadhan: “O you who believe! Fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous.” (2: 184).

Generally the word taqwa is translated by ‘fear of Allah’ or ‘piety’. The word taqwa is derived from the word ‘waqaa’ which means protection/protecting oneself.