Monday, April 29, 2013

Divine Messengers: Trials and Rewards


Islam presents a Most Compassionate and Ever Merciful Lord Almighty. The enduring practice of the raising of Divine Messengers among human communities testifies to the all-encompassing Mercy of Allah. Yet, when a Messenger presents himself before the community, they reject him. In the times of a Messenger, most people would revel in inequities under a veil of ignorance. The pride of riches, vanity of material favours, hubris of mundane power and social influence, arrogance of family inheritance- all seem to keep them away from God and His Messenger. Unfortunately for man, ingratitude and ungratefulness seem to be deeply embedded and ingrained as part of his DNA!

In his Friday Sermon of 26 April 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius gave a profound discourse on the Divine Law of raising of Messengers. Drawing upon the sacred traditions of the Holy Prophet of Islam (sa), the Khalifatullah (atba) points out that for Allah and His Messengers, it does not really matter how many will follow them, for the Messenger’s duty is to convey the Divine revelations and Message. History bears testimony that some prophets, rejected by their own people, found acceptance after their death and departure from this world. Some others may have had few disciples only. Yet, the situation did not and will not cast any shadow on their truthfulness or the veracity of their claims.  

The denial and rejection of Divine Messengers in the past notwithstanding, Allah the Almighty will continue with His enduring practice: of raising Messenger(s) who will call to Unity of God and the eternal well-being of Man through God-consciousness. Islam offers the glad tiding of heavenly bliss for the early believers in Divine Messengers, whose faith and practice will testify to their gratitude to Allah who raised the Divine Messenger, sincerity of heart and good deeds. Alhamdulillah, these blessings are available for believers in this age as well. Likewise, divine punishments await a generation that rejects the Divine revelations and Message. The contemporary situation of horrifying disasters and havocs visiting almost all the world should be fodder for serous reflection for all. For, these events are taking place at a time when the Messenger of Allah has been and is warning us against the evils of our times.  
  
Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

And there came to them a Messenger from among themselves but they falsely rejected him; so the wrath seized them even in the midst of their iniquities. (16: 114)

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Why God Allow Suffering?


The human condition seems to be riddled with the mystery of unconscionable suffering. For, disasters are striking the world and the people are being caught up in the maelstrom everywhere - in the land, on the air or even at the sea! Almost on a daily basis, innumerable events are taking place- earthquakes, devastating floods, hurricanes, horrifying forest fires, building collapses, accidents of colossal magnitude, terror bombings, deliberate (racial, ethnic or genocidal) killings on a horrendous scale, fresh outbreak of long-forgotten/contained epidemics, etc. How does one look at and begin to explain the occurrence of these incidents that inflict much pain and loss on the humanity of our times? Are they mere natural disasters or do they belong to the grave category of divine punishments when occurred after clear warnings and exhortations from the Divine Messenger of the times? In his Friday Sermon of 19 April 2013 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius discussed profoundly and provided illuminating insights on the subtle subject of ‘natural’ disasters in the times of a Divine Messenger.   

Read the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:

وَ لَوۡ اَنَّ  اَہۡلَ الۡقُرٰۤی اٰمَنُوۡا  وَ اتَّقَوۡا لَفَتَحۡنَا عَلَیۡہِمۡ بَرَکٰتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَآءِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ وَ لٰکِنۡ  کَذَّبُوۡا فَاَخَذۡنٰہُمۡ بِمَا  
کَانُوۡا  یَکۡسِبُوۡنَ ۝

“And if people of the towns had believed and feared Allah, then certainly, We would have opened for them the blessings of the heaven and the earth, but they disbelieved. So We seized them for what they used to earn.” (Al-Araf 7: 97)

Monday, April 22, 2013

Divine Prophecies for Our Times

Allah raises His Messenger to guide people to their Lord and to warn them against evil. The Divine Messenger is, then, given special knowledge about matters of the Unseen and he makes his prophecies accordingly. Some of the prophecies so made, shall find their fulfilment in the very lifetime of the Messenger. Some prophecies may, however, remain unfulfilled in his lifetime. From the grand scheme of Divine Plan, the fulfilment of prophecies or their deferment to another time and space, make little difference. After all, everything depends upon Divine Will and Decree of Allah. And the Messengers have only the duty to convey the message. This is the enduring Divine practice emerging from spiritual history.

Several verses of the Holy Qur’an indicate these different possibilities in the aftermath of Divine prophecies. With full confidence in the ways of the Lord and with absolute detachment, the Holy Qur’an declares the principles: 

“…And if he be a liar, on him will be the sin of his life; but if he is truthful, then some of that which he threatens you with will surely befall you…” (40:29).

“…And if We show you in your lifetime the fulfilment of some of the things with which We have threatened them, you will know it; or if We cause you to die before that, then to Us is their return, and you will see the fulfilment in the next world; and Allah is Witness to all that they do”.  (10:47). 

“Allah effaces what He wills, and establishes what He wills, and with Him is the source of all decrees. And whether We make you see the fulfilment of some of the things with which We threaten them or whether We make you die, it makes little difference, for on you lies the delivery of the Message, and on Us the reckoning”. (13: 40-41)

When a Divine Messenger arrives and delivers his spiritual message, it is for the people to consider and ponder over its import. It is for them to take positive and proactive-action to benefit from it. It is also for them to move away from proceeding in a direction being forewarned against in the message. Yet, history and the Holy Qur’an testify that most people are/will be heedless in the times of a Messenger, chained as they are/will be, in their family beliefs and religious traditions. They are familiar with and ‘comfortable’ at the old ritual practices in which they found their fathers indulging in. Indeed, they are glued to these rituals so completely that their beliefs are like ‘chains around their necks’ ‘reaching unto the chins’. It is the baggage of inherited notions, ideas and beliefs that comes us a barrier to the appreciation of pure belief/spiritual philosophy being articulated by the Divine Messenger. In short, their truth-perception ability itself comes under a veil.   
 
Consider our own times. Most Ahmadis are under wonder-struck that a Divine Messenger has been raised among them in the person of Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) Mauritius. They are glued to their inherited notions and traditional practices so much so that they deify their elected Khalifa. They exalt him in defiance of Allah’s decree which has caused the coming of a Messenger in our times.  Regardless their wishes, Allah in His Infinite Wisdom, has set in motion a chain of events, including the fulfilment of Divine Prophecies vouchsafed to the new Messenger of our times. Alhamdulillah, like in the times of previous Messengers, there are many instances of fulfilment of Divine Prophecies in our times, as we have noted in recent weeks in the Sahih Al Islam Blog.