Self- Reform & 'Dawa'- III

 

 '...Like I was telling you, the Promised Messiah (as) had great love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)… Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) gave testimonies about the spiritual power or force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He says that he also was alive because of the spiritual power of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). And it is a fact that in respect to time, he had come 1300 years after Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). And geographically speaking, he came in such a place which was far away from Arabia, but despite it all, it is through the spiritual force of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that he was alive. That is indeed an extraordinary force.

You were amazed how someone could have reformed himself just by approaching the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But here, someone who came 1300 years after him, he swore in the name of Allah that if he was alive, it was surely due to the sheer spiritual force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He claimed that he received this life – directly [in a way of speaking] from the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Reforming Self and the World- II

 

 Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 2

 

Allah says in the noble Quran: 

And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, "Indeed, I am of the Muslims." [i.e., one who submits himself completely to Allah]? [Fussilat 41: 34]

 

So, in the context of good deeds and invitation to Allah, we must keep in mind that it is good deeds [of people] that give heights [higher grades or status] to invitations to Allah. The ranks of such people increase before the eyes of Allah, because they are people who make every effort to give the message of Allah, to invite people to the one God Who created this universe.

 

So what better invitation there can be than to invite people to Allah? That is, it's such a beautiful invitation that the world can raise no objection against it. Even those who will not believe in this message, they may not believe but they will not be able to have any objection against you. At the very least they will bow their heads and listen to your message. They will say: You see! We will never believe in Allah, but we must admit that the one who calls us to Him is a very good person.

 

So when you make this invitation, then Allah says it is a better one [a much better invitation]. But what gives heights [higher grades] and honour to this invitation? It is good deeds. If there are not the right deeds that accompany this invitation, then sometimes the invitation will have the opposite effect. This is when people will say: Look at this person! He calls others to Allah but look in what a bad situation he is. He's like a bald man who sells medicine to grow hair!

Reforming Self and the World

 

Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 1

 

Today I will talk to you about a very important subject: The Invitation to Allah. I will speak on this subject just as the Quran says that the invitation to Allah begins in your own homes. As long as we do not invite our own beings to Allah and respond favourably to that invitation, then there will be no [doing of] good deeds. And if there are no good deeds, then the invitation to Allah will become something meaningless.

 

So, see the excellent condition put forward by the Quran to embellish “Invitation to Allah” [Dawat-i-Illallah]. We have been commanded to invite others but also to invite our own selves as well. Indeed, if you invite your own selves to Allah, it is then that you will get the right to invite others as well; otherwise, that latter invitation would be in vain. There is a saying in English as thus: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’ Therefore, people [in the world] could say: ‘Oh, is it you who has come to cure others? Go and cure yourself first!’

 

So, as much as a person makes his own reform, he gains the equivalent opportunity to invite people to Allah. But you can’t wait for your own reformation to invite others. This is the important point that I want to make you understand today. A person cannot say that until he makes his reform completely, then the Quran does not give him the right to invite others to Allah. This is a wrong reasoning because self-reform is something that is continual. 

'Hijab' in the Time of 'Islamophobia'

  

In his Friday Sermon of 25 February 2022~ 23 Rajab 1443 AH, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius eloquently explains the ethics of Hijab in Islam. Speaking against the backdrop of the ongoing controversy in India and elsewhere over unfair restrictions on the civic freedoms of Muslim girls and women to access education and employment in the name of their religious attire, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) offers an exposition on the Islamic approach for the protection of women's identity, dignity,  privacy interests, and rights in the social order. 

 

As Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) alludes in the discourse, the present controversy over Hijab is indicative of a deeper crises in societies fuelled by internal political conflicts over unemployment and other issues, including the recognition, accommodation and integration of minority groups. Liberal States in the West and elsewhere swear by their commitment to democratic values and fundamental human rights- including freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and minority rights- and yet, the apparently neutral policies that they espouse betray direct or indirect discrimination- with disproportional impact upon the religious minorities living in the land; forcing the minority communities to choose between their commitment to religious beliefs and cultural practices and the dictates of national culture -raising searing questions of justice and equity in law and policy. 

Consider the present, manufactured controversy over Hijab. The 'presence' of Muslims as a people manifesting their religious practices such as Hijab and going about their everyday lives apparently challenge pre-existing notions of 'secular' public sphere with their rules of engagement such as uniforms in academic institutions and dress code in employment, etc. Majoritarian intolerance and hatred against minority groups point to political mobilization. Illiberal forces weaponize secular law to erase the 'hated' symbols of minorities- such as the Hijab- from the public sphere. Indeed, beneath the veneer of liberal quibbling over the role of 'religious' symbol- Hijab- in 'secular' space, with no corresponding attention to the symbols of the majority that are all over the public sphere; Islamophobia- the prejudice and suspicion and hatred and intolerance against Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community- is 'the elephant in the room' that needs to be called out. 

With ideologies of racial supremacism, ethnic nationalism, and religious majoritarianism increasingly gaining public support in several multicultural states,  'Islamophobia' is indeed regrettably widespread in our times. In the names of modernity and secular values of women's emancipation and empowerment, the Islamic headscarf and other veiling practices are viewed as 'oppressive' by the non-Muslim world. Hence, Muslim girls and women are left with no option but to resist and mount legal struggles to gain recognition and public acceptance for their Hijab. It is instructive to note in this context that without clear respect for the inherent dignity and rights of the human person and her free choices, including the recognition of 'difference' in the spirit of diversity; without an ethic of compassion for 'minority' groups who don't share the values of the majority; the claims of upholding liberalism, democracy, secularism and human rights are empty or hollow. As more and more women- [both Muslims and non-Muslims]- are recognizing the appeal and benefits of Islamic teachings and embracing the convenience of the Hijab, the societies that seek to ban Islamic values are destined to be profoundly transformed in their approach sooner than later- whether they like it not, Insha Allah, Aameen. 

Read the Friday Sermon Below: 

Muslim Family Life

 

Islam stands for harmonious relations among human beings. Islamic teachings promote peaceful coexistence among people in society: be it at home; among one’s family circles, or within the larger clan, or with other peoples. Islam exhorts everyone to respect and safeguard one another’s dignity, interests and rights. Indeed, in the Islamic view of the Divine scheme of things for the world, all humans remain on a plain of equality. No one has any share in God's divinity, or any superiority over fellow beings, nor any exceptional status that allows them to act with hubris or arrogance. Contrary to pagan notions of special claims of privileges attached to tribal/racial descent, social or national origin, and other markers of group identity; Islam seeks to foster a feeling of realism by reminding man of his truly humble origins and of his duty to cultivate best relations with all of humanity as we are from one another- like a family, as it were.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) famously stated: ‘Behold, God has removed from you the arrogance of pagan ignorance (jahiliyyah) with its boast of ancestral glories. Man is but a God-conscious believer or an unfortunate sinner. All people are children of Adam, and Adam was created out of dust'.  The Holy Prophet (sa) reminds us that all the world is family, and that he who renders the greatest service to God’s creation is the dearest and nearest to him.  

Allah (swt) states in the Holy Qur’an: ‘O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize one another. Verily, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware.’ (49: 14)

'Musleh Maoud' Day 2022

  

A majestic Sign of special nearness, communion and holy communications between Allah (swt) and his devoted servant, the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian (1835-1908); Prophecy Musleh Maoud, although revealed 136 years ago, continues to resonate among the believers in the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. 

Far beyond its historical relevance in the early days of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya and its partial fulfillment through the dreams vouchsafed to the great, second caliph of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Hazrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmud Ahmad (ra) in 1944, the Prophecy has gained much contemporary spiritual attention due to certain prescient observations left behind by the second Caliph while claiming to be the 'Musleh Maoud' (Promised Reformer) in the previous era, especially with the advent of the Divine Manifestation in Mauritius in the last two decades in the person of Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (aba). 

Indeed, against the backdrop of the second Caliph's own prophecies and statements vis-a-vis the fulfillment of prophecy Musleh Maoud, based on the supreme authority of Divine revelations, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) has clearly and consistently acknowledged before the global spiritual community that he is 'Musleh Maoud' in this era, as of 20 February 2004. 

Alhamdulillah, this week the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International commemorated the Musleh Maoud Day in India and elsewhere with much spiritual fervour and in Thanksgiving to Allah (swt). Special Jamaat meetings took place both in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala, at the historic Mosques of the Jamaat- the Siraj-um-Munir Masjid, VK Puram, and at the Noor’ul Islam Masjid, Mathra, Summa Alhamdulillah. 

'Hijab' and the Law

The recent expulsion of a number of ‘Hijab’-wearing, young Muslim students in Karnataka, and the subsequent imposition of a ‘ban’ on religious attire in academic institutions raise disturbing questions about Executive excesses, given their profound implications on the future of individual choice, religious freedom, and minority rights in India. Given the fact that multiple religious symbols  and attires are accepted and accommodated as part of the nation’s secular ethos and composite culture, and most Muslim girl children had been wearing headscarves along with their School uniforms for many decades all across the country without any issue, the present manufactured controversy against ‘Hijab’ in coastal Karnataka can only be seen as a manifestation of the tectonic shifts that are currently underway in Indian politics, especially the growing muzzle-flexing by Islamophobic extremists in the country who enjoy impunity from law despite their vitriolic campaigns for the erasure of all markers of Muslim-cultural identity from the public sphere of India as well as threatening to commit mass atrocities against the minority community. Hence, attacking a religious and cultural practice like ‘Hijab’ in the name of ‘uniformity’ in the class-room dress code is only the latest episode in the larger political project of remaking India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. 

Constitutional Secularism in India

As a large country with over a billion- people: professing different faiths and belonging to diverging denominational groups; a variety of regional traditions and food cultures; indigenous communities; speaking several languages; India cannot but remain as a shining example of unity in diversity. It is this spirit of tolerance, accommodation and inclusion that is the hallmark of the Indian nationhood as envisaged and consciously chosen by the founding fathers of the Constitutional order when India regained independence from British colonialism in 1947. Respecting the dignity of the individual, and accommodating cultural differences by express recognition of minority rights; evolving the bond of fraternity across all category distinctions and constructing a public order where every social group finds equal access to flourish in togetherness is the idea of India that emerges from that founding document of the secular republic.