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)
Allah
never allowed His creation to remain without a Prophet or Messenger chosen by
Him, or a book sent down from Him or any other of His will which He sends to
earth as a sign to make His Might be felt and respected. Allah sends prophets
from time to time, and they get trials and rewards also. And they are
accompanied by their groups of believers, but according to the Hadith which I
shall cite before you, not all prophets had the same quantity of believers,
disciples.
Ibn
Abbas narrated that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has said: “I was shown many peoples. I saw a Prophet who
has only a small party with him, some prophets had only one or two persons with
them and some did not have even one! …”
(Bukhari, Muslim)
Then,
the according to this Hadith, it is not really the number of believers which
establishes the truthfulness of a prophet or messenger of Allah. People believe
or not, but the prophets and messengers of Allah have only the task of
delivering the message of the unity of God, and to give glad tidings should the
people believe and reform their lives according to the guidelines established
by Allah, or punishment should they drift away from the signs and messengers of
Allah.
The Messengers are
such that they do not feel little because of smallness of their number or of
largeness of the number of their falsifiers. Among the
messengers prior to the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was either a
predecessor who would name the one to follow or the follower who had been
introduced by the predecessor. Thus, a prophet is followed by another and they
are not at discord with what Allah has entrusted them to give to their peoples.
People
have long analysed and debated upon the meaning and significance of the word “Nabi” and “Rasul”. What is the basic difference between a Prophet (Nabi) and a Messenger (Rasul) of Allah?
Though
both statuses are imbibed in the divine bounty and will, a prophet (Nabi) is he who is sent to his nation,
his motherland or a neighbouring one with the task of giving the message of
Allah, information which he received from on high to the people. He has the
duty to deliver the messages from Allah so that the people may well be warned
before the prophecy he says in the name of Allah strike down upon them. He
receives revelations in many ways: dreams, visions, voice and also sees the
angels of Allah in a wakeful state. He basically shares those attributes with a
Messenger of Allah also with only the difference that his prophethood is
committed to the restricted number of people to which he is sent.
However,
a Messenger of Allah is he in whose name Allah makes His message reach the
corner of the world, even if it takes time, even centuries to do so. Many
prophets are mentioned in the Holy Quran as being both prophets and messengers.
Yet, if we take Hazrat Isa (as), he was Messiah, Prophet and Messenger, and yet
he was sent only to the Children of Israel. But Allah mentions in the Holy
Quran, especially in Surah Al-Anbiya that he has made Hazrat Isa (as) and his
mother as a sign for the world (Ayatal’lil-Aalameen). If we analyse the
extent to which the message of the Mosaic messiah has reach now, we see that
after centuries, Christianity has a global impact, yet unfortunately, with
time, the initial pure message brought by Hazrat Isa (as) has been lost.
Trinity is the norm among Christians instead of the faith of Jesus (as) in the
unity of God. Therefore we see how the message of Jesus (as) was exclusively
for the Jews, and not the world. On the other hand, his renown as an
exceptional sign of Allah, whereby he was born without the intervention of a
father, it is that sign which Allah wants to profoundly etch in the minds and
hearts of the true believers so that the people do not turn their backs to the
decrees of Allah, and it is the same prophet (Jesus (as)) who was the last
Messenger of Allah to have announced the coming of “Ahmad”.
If we
analyse the messengership of both Hazrat Ibrahim and Ismail (as) as mentioned
in the Holy Quran, we see that their messengership got to fruition in the
advent of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). The true message of Allah vouchsafed
initially to Hazrat Ibrahim and Ismail (as) came to be fulfilled on a global
stage through the universality of the Muhammadan message.
In this
way ages passed by and times rolled on, fathers passed away while sons took
their places till Allah chose Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) as His Prophet and Messenger
(Nabi and Rasul), in fulfilment of His promise and in completion of his
Prophethood. In the Holy Quran Allah says:
“And when Allah took from the
Prophets their Covenant, (He said: Behold) that which I have given you of
Scripture and Wisdom. Then comes to you a (Prophetic) Messenger, confirming
that which is with you. You shall believe in him and you shall help him. He
said: Do you agree, and will you take up My burden (which I lay upon you) in
this (matter)? They said: We agree. He said: Then bear you witness, and I am
with you among the witnesses.” (3: 82)
His
pledge had been taken from the Prophets, his traits of character were well
reputed and his birth was most honourable. The people of the earth at this time
were divided in different groups, their aims were separate and ways were
diverse. They either likened Allah with His creation or twisted His Attributes
and turned them into separate gods or turned towards others than Him in worship.
Through Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) Allah guided them out of wrong and with his
efforts took them out of ignorance. Thus, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was both for
Arabia, his nation and for humanity, for his message is meant to be delivered
or pass on to one and all up till the Day of Judgement. He completed the
essence of prophethood and messengership and thus all prophets who shall come
from him, from his Ummah shall have this trait also, to be universal in
character and message.
The
message of Jesus was only for the Children of Israel, and it was meant to stay
alive until the one whose advent he prophesised about (that is, Ahmad) come to be fulfilled. Both the
Jews and Christians in the times prior to the proclamation of Hazrat Muhammad
(pbuh) were in search of the hallowed one, the promised one, and the seal of
the prophets whose advent shall be a blessing for all men. Even the last
law-bearing book, the Holy Quran addresses mankind directly, unlike the
previous divine scriptures. The religion of the messengers of Allah survived in
Islam, the last and universal religion, in whose womb shall the future prophets
and messengers of Allah be born for the reformation of the people under the
laws of the Holy Quran.
Therefore
we can conclude that all the prophets (Nabi)
who were also deputed as messengers (Rasul)
by Allah are those who have explicitly told their respective nations about the
advent of the perfect prophet and messenger in whose name Allah shall safeguard
humanity. In addition to make the people turn to only one God, they had the
duty to inform that at one point in time, such a one will come who will be the
garb of all prophets, the dignity and purity of the divine will. And that such
a one shall also be a messenger in that which, when people shall close the door
of prophethood and apostleship, there shall be from among his followers those
whom Allah shall raise to confirm his truthfulness and perfection till the day
of Judgement. That is why it is necessary that all prophets of Allah who come
after him are Rasul also, because
they are believers and confirmers of his truthfulness, while the previous
prophets were bearers of the tidings of his advent and believed in him while he
was even not among them.
The
Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is narrated to have said: “Had Moses or Jesus been alive, they would have had to follow me.” (Al-Yawaqit
wal-Jawahir, p.24; Fath al-Bayan, vol. 2, p. 246; Tafsir Ibn
Kathir, under Verse 81 of Al-Imran)
This
shows how the status of messengership of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is
way above the previous prophets, and therefore it is equally true for all
prophets who shall follow in his wake after his demise. They shall be
guarantees of his prophethood and guardians of Islam and protectors of his
honour.
Moreover,
in the same Hadith which I mentioned at the start of my sermon, the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was also made to see a great multitude of his followers
– even more than Hazrat Musa (as) – among whom seventy thousands shall enter
Paradise without accounting to Allah for their deeds. Who are those people then?
Why shall they enter Paradise without any accounting or suffering? Surah
Al-Wakia, Chapter 56 of the Holy Quran gives us an idea of why it is so. Allah
classifies the people into three distinct categories: those on the right hand,
those on the left hand and those closest to Allah. The degrees of closeness
includes prophethood, and therefore among the seventy thousands people who
shall enter Paradise without any accounting refers also to the sincere first disciples of the Muhammadan prophets who
shall remain true to their covenant to Allah, His Prophet Hazrat Muhammad
(pbuh) and the Muhammadan prophet-follower of their era, those who stay true to Allah’s
covenant come what may, who agree to go through the fires of trial so that
their mettle by recognised as them being among the honoured ones and closest to
Allah.
In the
times of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), a disciple, Ukasha ibn Muhsin was
the first among the disciple who ask of the prophet of Allah to pray that he be
among the seventy thousand exceptional ones, and the prophet of Allah (pbuh)
announced him that he shall be one among them. This shows us that from each
groups of Muslim disciples in every era, now and then, whenever Allah chooses to raise a prophet, He shall
do so taking into consideration the prophethood of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), for
this is the lasting covenant between man and Allah, that is Islam. Without
Islam and belief in the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), nobody can ever be a prophet
of Allah, and likewise now, each prophet must confirm the other under the
banner of Islam. I have come from Allah, both as a follower of Hazrat Muhammad
(pbuh) and a believer in the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as).
He was also a prophet-follower, prophet of Allah and follower of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and I have come in the garb of these great men who have
marked the history of mankind with the seal of divine love.
From
Adam’s progeny Allah chose prophets and messengers and took their oath for His
revelation and for carrying His message as their trust. In course of time many
people distorted Allah’s trust with them and ignored His position and
associated partners in His worship or just remained cut from Him altogether. As
he promised Allah, and by Allah’s leave Satan turned them away from knowing Him
and kept them aloof from His worship, except for a few. Then Allah sent His
Messengers and many of His prophets to them to encourage them to fulfil the
pledges of His creation, to recall to them His favours, to exhort them by
preaching, to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom and show them the
signs of His Omnipotence namely the sky which is raised over them, the earth
that is placed beneath them, means of living that sustain them, deaths that
make them die, maladies that turn them old and incidents that successively
betake them in their everyday life. He also sent His Prophets to give glad
tidings of salvation and to warn against His punishment so that those who
perish in disobedience must perish with the realization of their error and that
they may be deprived of all arguments following their defeat in their effort to
break truth and render it void.
The state of
the world today is in is very pitiable. Every day which comes brings in its
wake the news of many more calamities which are finishing it. In the
first days of April, several flash floods, due to heavy rainfall claimed the
life of more than 60 people in Argentina, more specifically the Buenos Aires
Province. In Buenos Aires, more than a quarter of a million people were without
power and vast areas were under water, including other places also.
Just
last week – 20 April 2013, over the weekend,
an earthquake measuring magnitude seven hit
south west China, striking the same area devastated by a powerful quake just
five years ago which killed approximately 70,000 people. Till now, the death
toll is 193, with thousands injured and many others who had to leave their
place because their homes and other buildings were destroyed by the quake. They
were deprived also of power. This earthquake was also accompanied by several
aftershocks and landslides.
On 24 April 2013, an eight-storey building housing several
garment factories and a shopping centre collapsed on the outskirts of the
Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and also in India,
killing more than 70 people. The scene resembled that of an after quake. Many
people were trapped in the buildings and needed rescue.
These are but a brief of calamities
which are seizing the world on a daily basis. When a calamity strikes
somewhere, then the next day, it strikes another place or country and this
keeps on going like this. If people do not realise their error and analyse the
missing link in their faith and turn in worship towards a unique God, Allah the
Almighty, then more such calamities will strike. Allah wants a new world for
His devoted servants. If He wants, He can cause many to die to replace them by
new sincere ones. The plans of Allah are always perfect, but it is us mankind,
with restricted knowledge and veiled eyes who refuse to understand the powers
of that Creator to whom we all belong.
May Allah remove the veils
of ignorance from the people, give them spiritual insight and may Allah show
the way to the seekers of truth, reform the weak of hearts and bless
plentifully the excellent believers who devoted themselves to the cause of
Allah so that the signs of Allah, and the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) be recognised and accepted by one and all. Insha-Allah,
Ameen.