Rejection of the Divine
Message entails evil consequences for a people. When
the Divine advices and instructions are being trampled upon and the Messenger is
being ignored, it questions the majesty and wisdom of God Who causes the
Message to be revealed to the Messenger in the first place. Such mindless and
reckless rejection triggers a process of events that inexorably manifests
Divine anger and wrath which affects individual destiny and alters national fortunes.
All of spiritual philosophy and secular history bear witness to this. For
instance, the Deluge in the times of Hadhrat Noah (as) continue to remain
deeply imprinted in the spiritual psyche of Jews, Christians and Muslims. And the
Holy Qur’an repeatedly confirms: “We
never punish until We raise a Messenger”.
In his Friday Sermon of April 05, 2013 the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba)
of Mauritius reflected upon the recent Deluge in
Mauritius, which he himself predicted in 2012 December. Drawing upon Qur’anic
principles, Hadhrat Sahib throws searching spiritual light on the concept
and special features of Divine punishment as against incidents of natural
disasters that take place in the world. Hadhrat Sahib points out that in the
case of Divine punishment; it is foretold before its actual occurrence by a
Messenger of Allah. We hope and pray that this incident of extraordinary nature
that has destroyed property, resources and precious human lives in Mauritius will
lead to much soul-searching by men of intelligence and purity of heart, everywhere.
Read
the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:
Mauritius has since last
week (Saturday 30 March 2013) lived till date its worst days in the form of a unique kind of deluge which came
and upturned the lives of many inhabitants, especially in Port-Louis, the
Capital of Mauritius. Non-stop rainfall which the climate experts define as “deluge” as the rain water kept rising second by second,
not diminishing in any case.
Houses,
buildings, roads, the Caudan subway were inundated by water which came with
force and dragged in its way lives of 11 people, one of which was a mother who
got a heart-attack when seeing the sudden rise of water in her home. The
Mauritians had never seen such a deluge in such a short span of 2 hours
non-stop destructive rainfall, which accumulated, and for at least 3 hours, the
intensive rising water kept flooding the lives of the inhabitants of
Port-Louis, Pailles, Camp Chapelon, and (to some lesser extent) some areas in
Plaine Wilhems also, and the south.
In the
Holy Quran, Allah says: “And this is a Book which
We have sent down, blessed and confirming what was before it, that you may warn
the Mother of Cities and those around it.” (Al-Anam 6: 94)
Verily, the Mother or
greatest of cities in the times of our noble Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was the
Holy Mecca and its surroundings, but in the times of
this humble servant of Allah who is present before you today, in the context of
Mauritius, it refers to Port-Louis and its surroundings; Port-Louis which is the capital and
heart of Mauritius.
The heart of Mauritius –
Port-Louis – and its surroundings have been touched by this calamity. Now ponder over the fact, that had this calamity
stroke during the working days of the week, when there is school and offices
are open etc., then what would the people have done, how could those children
have been saved from that deluge, which imprisoned many people, who thus had to
make a human chain to help out those stranded in the flood water, from
difficult situations. They even had to bring out small boats so that they can
go rescue those people as the level of water was too high. The level of water
even reached the ceiling of houses.
Now
think over the serious aspect of the deluge striking during school days, when
businesses, offices, primary and secondary schools and the universities are
open, what would those people have done? How many more cars would have met with
an accident and how many would have become useless, just good to be put away?
Think over it, my brothers, sisters and children because Allah has verily given
a demonstration of His anger. Ponder over the many more people who could have
died in this calamity!
The
Government of Mauritius, in the memory of this tragedy kept the 1st
of April as a Public Holiday, a mourning day. The national flag of the country
was at half-mast. Several small and big
businesses had to clean up their locals and buildings which were severely
touched with the flood.
The
Mauritians kept a spirit of solidarity and many from the different parts of the
island came to those who lost everything in the deluge and helped them to clean
their houses, and made it a must to see to it that they get warm clothes and
food to subsist for some days. There are many, about 200 families who are
deprived of their homes.
Alhamdulillah, the Jamaat Ul Sahih
Al Islam also has got an opportunity to participate in this form of service to
humanity, by extending our help, to the best of our abilities to the families
in dire needs.
This calamity is food for
thought for the truly intelligent, those who think with the heart of their
soul, who are truly God-fearing. This is just
a “publicity”, a demonstration of what the actual calamity shall be. We have witnessed not a natural calamity but an actual
divine punishment. We have lived for 2 to 3 hours what the people of
Prophet Noah (as) had to undergo. This prompts this humble self to expound
on the distinguishing features of Divine
Punishments.
1. The foremost feature to distinguish a divine punishment
from a natural disaster is that divine punishment is foretold before it is
afflicted. A very clear Indeed not only is it foretold but the precise nature of
the punishment is described in great detail, example of this can be found
during the time of Noah (as). He had forewarned his people that they
would be destroyed because of their evil ways and their constant rejection of
his claims. He forewarned them in the same breath that the means of their
destruction would be water, a deluge whose like had never been seen before
(like recently, more precise last Saturday, in Mauritius) and that neither man
nor animal would be safe from it.
No
sooner had the warning gone, that Noah (as) began to build the ark that he had
been commanded by God Almighty to build, aboard which true believers were to be
saved. Those who rejected him would laugh and ridicule him and his companions.
No one could bring himself to believe that the skies would fall and cover the
land (what happened in Mauritius, you have seen on TV, Newspapers etc.) so much
so, that not an inch of dry territory would be available for man to save
himself from the rising deluge. At last came the say, when according to the
Holy Quran:
“Therefore, We opened the gates of Heaven with
water pouring forth.” (Al-Qamar 54: 12)
It
rained so heavily as has never been seen before. Noah and those who believed in
him boarded the ark and carried with them some provisions for a limited period,
and some animals and birds, which had been gathered before. The onlookers kept
watching the spectacle unfold before their eyes and kept pouring scorn on him.
With the rising water, the ark began to float and homes and high ground began
to submerge under the water.
Even at
the eleventh hour, the unbelievers would not accept that, apart from those in
the ark, all others would drown, not only that, even Noah’s unfortunate son
could not bring himself to face the dire reality of what was happening before
his very eyes. To his very end, this son continued to dismiss the non-stop
rain, which had by then become a flood to be no more than a quirk of nature.
(He might have thought that those aboard the ark would drown). Not for a moment
did the thought cross his mind that the water would rise way above the
mountains. Thus, according to the Holy Quran, mankind’s last cry in the wilderness
is that made by the son of Noah:
“I will betake myself to a mountain: it will
save me from the water.” (Hud 11: 44)
But a
high wave came between Noah’s ark and his son sheltering on a mountain. The
water kept rising and the peaks of mountains began to disappear under water.
Apart from the floating ark, nothing could be seen above the water level
anywhere along the horizon. All territory had been inundated with water.
Barring some differences
in details, this event is acknowledged by the world’s three great religions,
that is, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. At
least for the followers of these great religions, this event is a powerful
argument and they cannot but accept that while keeping within the laws of
nature, rain can sometimes fall as a punishment
from God. It suffices to say that the first distinction evident from the
Holy Quran is that the divine punishment is forewarned in advance and sometimes
its nature is also defined.
It
needs to be remembered that the kind of divine punishment we are currently
considering are those which distinguish believers from unbelievers and about
which the prophet of that age gives a very clear forewarning that the righteous people of God will suffer no misfortune.
A gradation
and arrangement prevail in divine punishment and until the ultimate triumph of
good over evil, the series of punishments worsen and become more severe with
the passage of time. If a graph is drawn in the severity of divine punishment,
barring some minor ups and downs, the scale of severity of misfortunes would
always incline to the more severe as time progresses. If
a people do not accept the ideology of a prophet at that age, and destruction
becomes the writing on the wall for them, then the final affliction of divine
chastisement is in the severest and most decisive form. Such organised severity
does not exist in ordinary disasters.
Subject
to God-given ability, I shall Insha-Allah
also explore the responsibilities that impose themselves upon a community of
believers when a people are being afflicted by divine punishment or a prophecy
of some divine punishment hangs over such people. What should be our code of
conduct in such circumstances? This part of the subject is extremely important
for the spiritual training of Jamaat Ul
Sahih Al Islam in this day and age. It behoves not that some Sahih al Islam
should out of ignorance follow a course that is inconsistent with the noble
practice and traditions of past prophets or which is in any way below the
dignity of a true believer. May Allah preserve us from this. Ameen.