Islam values freedom of expression
and association, of belief and faith, of worship and practice as a primary
condition of community life in a decent society. It also recognizes that ruling
oligarchies and power elites may reject these fundamental freedoms of people
and even persecute people on the grounds of their deeply-held spiritual convictions. Indeed, Islam emerged in a society where
polytheists and image-worshippers were persecuting people on the grounds of
their beliefs. With relentless persecution in society, the early Muslims in
Makkah had no option but to migrate to Medina along with the Holy Prophet of
Islam Hadhrat Muhammad (sa). In Islamic tradition, this incident is of
historic importance as the Hijrah.
According
to the Holy Qur’an, migration (Hijrah)
is an option for all those who suffer religious intolerance, or other forms of
oppression and persecution. To escape from persecution, Divine Messengers and
their followers in the past had undertaken migration from their land and sought
freedom in exile. ‘I will emigrate for
the sake of my Lord’, (29:26; 37:99) declared Hadhrat Ibrahim (as)
when threatened by his own people. Hadhrat Musa (as) and the Israelites
had to flee the oppression of the Pharaoh: ‘So he escaped from there, vigilant
and fearing for his life, and said “My
Lord, deliver me from these oppressors”’ (28:21).
In
his Friday Sermon
of 21 June 2013, the
Khalifatullah Hadhrat
Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius provides illuminating
insights on the larger spiritual essence of the idea of Hijrah in the
everyday lives of the believers and Divine seekers. Beyond the actual physical
migration from an oppressive place, Hijrah entails a commitment to
consciously leave aside all illicit acts/dealings arising out of Hubb-ud-Duniya or love of this
temporal world and to perform and embrace all religious/ethical obligations and Divine
commandments, keeping in mind the journey to the Hereafter (Aakhirat), under the guidance of a Spiritual Master that Islam provides in
every age.
Read
the Extracts from the Friday Sermon:
“… And a Muhajir (an emigrant) is the one who
gives up (abandons) all what Allah has forbidden.” (Bukhari)
A Muhajir is someone
who has done the Hijra, that is, who emigrates. Hijra literally
means abandon, leave, displace, move, immigrate etc. In the Shariah
(Islamic laws), it refers to the event when Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and his
companions had to leave their natal town, Mecca to settle in Medina so that
they may be free to practice their religion (Islam) freely. Therefore, the
companions had to leave behind their wives, properties and all that which they
possessed. They went (nearly) empty-handed to settle in Medina with the sole
goal to live freely in the pleasure of Allah the Almighty. That was a real
enormous sacrifice.
In this Hadith, the Holy
Prophet (pbuh) drew our attention that the most important thing is paying
obeisance to Allah the Almighty, not the actual moving from one place to another.
The emigration from Mecca to Medina was the form of Hijra and the
obeisance to Allah was reaching the finishing line (the goal, reaching deep
down). It is true that the form is very important but it is also true that the
most essential is the goal. A form without the goal is an insignificant matter,
even non-existent. That was why the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not consider
an emigration (Hijra) without obedience to Allah (without first
receiving clear instructions from Allah – he did not do it on his own). In the
same line of thought, someone living in Europe who is religious is better than
someone who lives in Medina but who is not religious, who is not putting Islam
in practice.
In this way, the true Muhajir
(emigrant) is the one who abandons all that which Allah has forbidden him, even
if he lives far away from Medina. This type of Hijra shall continue to exist
till the Day of Judgement. Thus, every person who shall abstain from that which
Allah has forbidden shall become a true Mujahir and on the Day of
Judgement he shall be decorated and honoured like a true Muhajir. In a
Hadith found in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad
(pbuh) has said:
“The true Hijra (emigration) means to abstain from immoral acts, visible
as well as invisible and that you observe prayer and pay Zakat. After that, you
become a Muhajir even though you die in “Khadrama” (a place in Arabia).”
This means that even though
one may die in Khadrama, which is a place (other than Medina), despite this,
one is a Muhajir if he (or she) put into practice the commandments of
Allah the Almighty and does not break into pieces His orders, because the most
important is: obedience to Allah the Almighty.
Once upon a time, a
physical emigration to Medina was the only means to practice one’s religion
(Islam) freely, without any constraint. Due to this reason, emigrating to
Medina became obligatory (at that time). It was obligatory for a specific goal.
In itself, it was not necessary. That is why, when the Holy Prophet Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh) conquered Mecca and when Mecca became under the complete
control of the Islamic State, the Hijra from Mecca to Medina ceased to
be obligatory, because if someone was free to practice his Islam in Medina,
therefore, he became equally freely to practice Islam in Mecca also.
But the Hijra in its
meaning as abstaining from all sorts of sins shall ever remain in force, for
all times. Apart from this meaning, if someone is encountering difficulties to
practice his Islam in a certain place, it becomes obligatory for this, and this
according to his means to go and establish in another place, wherever and
whenever it is possible for him to do so, to a place where he can practice his
Islam. Likewise, a person (the Muslim) must maintain distance from such milieus
and environments which are unfavourable for his Islam. Thus kind of Hijra
shall be applicable for all times. And the same type of person (this Muslim)
qualifies to be a true Muhajir, according to the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh).
In the Hadith, the noble
prophet (pbuh) qualifies as true Muhajir such a one who abstains from
all that which Allah the Almighty has forbidden him. Is this a way to say that
it is not important to execute the commandment of Allah the Almighty to become
a true Muhajir?
We can get the answer (to
this question) in the light of a Hadith which is found in Musnad Ahmad and
Tirmidhi, whereby the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has said: “… Abstain
from all illicit acts, and you (one who devotes himself in prayer) shall become
great from among all people.”
In this Hadith, Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh) has considered abstention from all illicit and forbidden acts
as the most essential element which enables a person to become a great
practicant (of Islam). To explain this, the scholars of Islam say that
obedience to Allah the Almighty constitutes of two elements:
1. Abstention from forbidden acts.
2. Execution of commandments.
But abstaining from illicit
acts are most difficult (for people), but then it becomes all the more
important to abstain from them. If someone
has this in him to refrain from the forbidden, he shall execute the
commandments of Allah the Almighty best. Perhaps that is why the Messenger
of Allah (pbuh) has mentioned that one element in the hope of attracting
attention to it and to put emphasis on its importance. Otherwise, without
executing the commandments of Allah the Almighty, a person cannot become a true
Muhajir. If the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) only mentioned this
one element, this is because this sole element is necessary for the other
elements, and once a person has this element well ingrained in him, then this
means that he has well grasped the other element also in him.
Now, after explaining on Muhajir,
I shall give some explanations on “Hub-bud-Dunya” (Love for this world).
“Hub-bud-Dunya” means attachment to (love
for) this world. When someone attaches his heart with this temporal world,
therefore this creates in him such maladies as greed, pride, jealousy etc. And
these (spiritual) maladies leads man to such sins, like theft, rape, crime which
renders society to be unliveable. To remediate all these problems (which there
are in society) we must seek a means to deal with “Hub-bud-Dunya” which
according to the noble prophet (pbuh) is the root of all sins. It can be
remediated by developing love for the hereafter with the help of one who has
this kind of love in him. Love for the hereafter has such an effect that it
makes that person develop a disinterest for this temporal world without
completely neglecting or abandoning this world. He needs to seek this temporal
world without letting himself be blinded by this world and without becoming a
slave to it.
Man is like a ship which is navigating on the ocean, which needs water
to navigate but at the same time without letting water penetrate the ship,
otherwise there shall be shipwreck. In the same way, when the temporal world
paves a way into the heart of someone, it makes his heart drown and it throws
that person in sins and vices.
A person needs from this temporal world only that which he needs to
survives this world, and this is obligatory on him (to seek that minimum). But the aspects of the
temporal world which makes a person forget the hereafter and which makes him
neglect his religion (Islam) are illicit. The separation, the line between both,
that is, that which is obligatory and that which is illicit is very thin, that
it is difficult to discern it.
Therefore, the presence of a competent spiritual guide is necessary, someone who can make
that person go through that difficult phase, that difficult path, safe and
sound. A spiritual
Guide has always be considered to be necessary, to be indispensible by the true
Ulama of all times, one who is sincere in Islam, to be able to develop
the necessary equilibrium between Dunya (the temporal world) and Aakhirat
(the hereafter).
Let us pray Allah the
Almighty that Allah becomes our Guide wherever we may be and may He protect us
in difficult times and in such moments which necessitates that we take a
decision. Insha-Allah, Ameen.