The Virtues of Ramadan Fasting

Why Fasting ? 

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ۝

“O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become righteous.” (Al-Baqara 2 :184)

Each year, for a month, more than a billion Muslim believers around the world fast between dawn and dusk. During these fasting hours, they are strictly prohibited from consuming any food, drink, or having intimate relationships between spouses, among other deprivations. Why?

First, what Ramadan fasting is not: it does not have the character of penance, as in other religions.

From the Muslim perspective, it enjoys with God an unparalleled grace with other acts of piety. It is an abstinence which concerns the body and the spirit and/or mind. Indeed, God has given us a brain, a marvellous mind in wonder; our body itself is a perpetual miracle. Our body, our ideas, our decisions are led by our spirit. The better the food of the spirit, the better our faculties and capacities of judgement, of evaluation, the better will be our initiatives. Fasting is thus perceived as total submission to God.

Ramadan Mubarak 2020

My dear Muslim brothers, sisters and children,
Assalamoualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuhu.

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, a blessed month is coming to us in the hope that we, weak creatures that we are, we maximize our time in the worship of the true God, the Unique One, Who has no associate. The month of Ramadan has come once again, and it has come in a critical moment where many countries are on lockdown and facing much difficulties due to the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19.

Our duty as a Muslim is to help save the lives of people, and to act generously, with utmost kindness to re-establish the world order as envisioned by our Noble Creator. Allah has given you all an opportunity to turn to Him with great humility and to beg Him of His mercy and favours. Allah is All-powerful and kind. He has the power to change things, and for this, He has vested us with the power of invocations, and He has made incumbent on Himself to respond to the call of His callers who are true, sincere and devoted to His cause, especially in this era of Divine Manifestation.

Gadgets and Life Balance

In a special Message on 22 April 2020, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (atba) of Mauritius exhorts everyone of us- youths and children of the Jamaat, as well as their parents- to be aware of the harmful effects of 'addiction' to electronic gadgets: smartphones, earphones, digital entertainment, etc. As technology 'machines' help in simplifying daily tasks in several, different ways; one can easily appreciate their instrumental value. Yet, it is also critical to strike a correct and fine balance in our approach to these machines. In our gadget-driven world of hyper-connectivity, the omnipresence of smartphones as 'entertainment' machines raises special challenges for impressionable children. Being glued to these gadgets can cause the deeply-vulnerable youths to lose focus on the issues that matter; setting them on a path of 'alternate reality' where they become oblivious of their true surroundings. The widely-observed contemporary phenomenon of lack of respect, and rift in relations between young-adults and their parents; tension and turmoil in family and social life, etc. can be explained in terms of such harmful addictions and negative influences. To secure our ethical values and to reclaim balance in individual and social life, it is essential to adopt a correct approach to technology devices and what they bring on the table, points out Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) in this discourse. 

Read the Special Address Below: 

Qur'an and Imam Azim (atba)

Imam-Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (atba) of Mauritius is a servant of God in our turbulent times. Deeply attached to the faith of ISLAM from his early childhood, Hazrat Azim (atba) devoted himself to a life of spiritual contemplation and preaching, helping people appreciate the beauty and merits of the correct and straight path in life to tread on. Even as he guided hundreds of people in different nations in the Indian Ocean Island States to embrace Islam through his preaching efforts in the 1990's,  as he turned 40 years of age in the year 2000-01 Allah (swt) took him under the wing of His Mercy, giving him scores of spiritual titles, and inspired him with special Messages for the attention of all humanity. Alhamdulillah,  the Divine Mission of Imam Azim (atba) now enters its glorious twentieth year of existence, Summa Alhamdulillah.   

When a servant of God appears on the spiritual horizon and begins his sublime preaching, it is only natural that the Holy Qur'an will emit a glorious light of its pristine teachings in support of such Divinely-inspired claims. Indeed, the whole Qur'an will testify to the veracity of the Elects of God, for both the 'word' of God- Qur'an- and the 'act' of God- raising of His representatives- cannot be incompatible. A recent article, prepared and published by Mukarram Amir Jamaluddin Raother Saheb of the  Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam- South Kerala explains 10 verses of the Holy Qur'an that provides evidences in favour of the spiritual claims of Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (atba). 

Read the Article Below: 

Look at the spiritual titles given by Allah (swt) to Imam Azim (atba): 

Amir'ul Mu'mineen (19 January 2003); Hazrat (25 July 2003); Muhyi-ud-Din (06-07 December 2003); Musleh Maoud (20 February 2004); Khalifatullah (26-27 May 2008); Imam-e-Inquilaab (26-27 May 2008); Massih Maoud (10 September 2010); Mujaddid (10 September 2010); Rasulullah (October 2010); Nabiullah (October 2010). 

The Attributes of Allah- V

By the grace of Allah I continue the 5th part of my Friday Sermon on the subject of the attributes of Allah. So Allah tells us that He is Supreme over His servants. He has all the control and has absolute power. He has the power to destroy everything, He has the power to punish. It is He Who gives death and it is He Who gives life. And it’s Him Who made all of the arrangements for your protections so that you don’t destroy yourselves by His decree. And this is the subject that the Quran mentions in other places, that you have committed so many sins; so many sins that it would have then been completely appropriate that Allah eliminates you completely. It will be within His right to do so, not only you, but all forms of life.

In another place in the Quran, it is mentioned as a result that for every person, even if he is visible or hidden, even if he goes out in the evening or in broad daylight, Allah has placed watchers [guardians] upon him to protect him. To protect him from what? To protect him from the decrees of Allah.

So here we are dealing with what subject? In fact it is the very divine decree which gives life and it is the very divine decree which gives death. No one has the capacity to die without the divine decree. So if Allah’s decree calls you to your death, then Allah tells us that it’s His very Taqdir (decree) that protects us for a time and protects us from His other decree as well. Otherwise Allah is completely Supreme. He has so much power and ability that He can eliminate and destroy everything, but in fact it is His very decree that protects you from His other Taqdirs.

The Attributes of Allah- IV

By the grace of Allah I continue after a month (4 weeks) the 4th part of my Friday Sermon on the attributes of Allah. As I told you, Allah has no need to lie. He Himself is Malik, Rahman and Rahim. He is also Al-Haqq. He made the truth clear when people use tricks and all kinds of illusions to deceive people. We have this clearly in the example of Hazrat Musa (as).

So when we read the Holy Quran, it also mentions the example of Hazrat Dawud (as). Allah (swt) says that two people climbed the walls and entered the castle of Hazrat Dawud (as) and they said to him: O Dawud, do not be afraid; don’t think we are thieves or burglars; it won’t do you any good to make noises. In fact, we came to present a case [a concern] to you. I have a ewe, but he (my friend present here) has 99. He tells me to give him my eve, so that will make a number of 100 (i.e. 100 ewes). But I told him I only have one and I can’t give it to you. So tell us what to do.

So Hazrat Dawud (as) gave his judgment, but immediately after he turned to Allah (swt) in prostration and thought that Allah was in fact testing him. Allah certainly tested him and warned him against greediness to acquire small kingdoms to add to his own kingdom. Allah (swt) made him understand that he should not put pressure on the kingdoms that were nearby (in the vicinity), to be careful not to commit excesses.

Coronavirus: Revelation and Reason

The quest for dominance and superiority is leading nations increasingly out of ethical restraints on scientific research. In the name of national security and military preparedness, States are seeking access to stealth technologies of all kinds- against future threats and unknown dangers. Prudential limits are being 'stretched' on every front, including to facilitate secret development of chemical and biological weapons. The dynamics of preemptive self-defence and the desire for acquisition of offensive capability is causing dangerous experimentation in well-advanced nations. Scientists are increasingly tinkering with nature and its resources- including plants and animals-, with profoundly negative implications and consequences for the well-balanced ecosystem that sustains life on earth. Viewed against this backdrop, the ongoing global pandemic Covid-19 raises larger issues before the international community. With more than 1.25 million people having contracted the infection, and the numbers keep growing and thousands of people dying on a daily basis; the epidemic is causing unprecedented social and economic disruptions around the world, triggering reflections on how we brought this catastrophe on our nations. 

As a man of God and recipient of divine revelations over the last two decades, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (atba) of Mauritius has been warning the world community about the dangerous turn in human affairs in our times. On numerous occasions, this Elect of Allah (swt) shared prophecies about calamities waiting to unfold, including through the outbreak of pandemics. For instance, while speaking against the backdrop of Influenza A virus on Sunday, the 10th of May 2009, Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) presciently stated- sharing revelations foretelling calamities: 

'Troubling times, troubling times, troubling times, that which they asked for, the wrath from the Heavens will eat them from within, leaving no choice whatsoever for reconciliation with their own conscience. A calamity more poignant than poison will, manifest from their inside, affecting their body systems and rendering them powerless. You saw the consequence of the AIDS Virus; more viruses will come to manifest and one of them will be mortal, and without cure like I revealed to you long time ago. The world is at a critical age, facing perplex situations of how to save humanity from all sorts of contamination from the AIDS Virus. Now they will come face again all sorts of trials of this sort because of their disobedience to the Divine Will. Man and man will perish, widows will be seen lamenting, children will have no future whatsoever...Can you stop your Lord from doing what He wills? The sky is in lament for the earth has rejected the instructions of your Lord...'       

It is gratifying to note that distinguished scientists and concerned intellectuals confirm, through their own independent studies and reasoned perspectives, the essential truth of these divine revelations concerning the outbreak of a deadly virus/global pandemic impacting the whole humanity at large, Alhamdulillah. For instance, Bill Gates has been speaking about the need for the world community to be prepared for dealing with such a scenario, like he explains here. 

In a special message delivered on 31 March 2020, Imam Azim (atba) addresses all humanity,  putting forth very pertinent points central to the larger issues being raised in this context. In this important message, Hadhrat Saheb (atba) reminds the world nations, and the scientific community at large: 'Bear in mind, Allah will use your own inventions to punish you or He may send unprecedented forms of punishments to act as warnings for you so that you may return to the right path. The time is indeed critical.Reform your ways and return back to Allah [God Almighty]. Do not let evil get the best of you. Repel evil with goodness and with prayer.' Indeed, the good future of humanity depends upon a great transformation in individual and collective lives and outlook of people, a project that needs to be pursued with soulful prayer- sublime invocations like the ones revealed to Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) in the early days of the divine manifestation, during the SARS epidemic (2002-3): 'O our Lord, do not kill us with Your Anger; do not destroy us with Your Punishment; Save us before this happens.”     

Read the Special Message Below: