اِنَّ الدِّیۡنَ عِنۡدَ اللّٰہِ الۡاِسۡلَامُ ۟
‘Innad-Diina ‘indallaahil-Islaam.
Surely the
(true) religion in the sight of Allah is Islam. (3: 20)
If Islam is the vehicle of life,
the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the representation of true life, in that
which he is the perfect example of how a human, and especially a true servant
of Allah must be for Allah in this temporal world despite living among the
mixed existence of man, sometimes good, sometimes evil.
Islam guides man towards
perfecting himself for Allah, not the world and all that it contains. The world
is temporary whereas the Creator of mankind exists for ever. Indeed, He has
neither beginning nor end. He is there for all times, and His presence and
appearance are beyond the conception of man. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
during his life on earth showed the correct way of life, by his own example.
This is one of the fundamental duties of the seal of the prophets, that he
provides such guidance which shall not only mark the people of his era, but
humankind as a whole, and that till the Day of Judgement.
Allah says the Holy Qur'an:
“You are
the best community that has been raised for mankind, enjoining what is
right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah.” (3: 111)
Further in the Quran, in (14:
25-28), Allah says:
“Have you
not considered how Allah presents an example, (making) a good word like a good
tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches (high) in the sky? It
produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And Allah presents
examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded. And the example of
a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, not
having any stability. Allah keeps firm those who believe, with the firm word,
in worldly life and in the Hereafter. And Allah sends astray the wrongdoers.
And Allah does what He wills.”
Thus, Islam may also be likened
to a beautiful garden which needs frequent tender loving care so that the
plants therein may produce the sweetest of flowers and fruits. If man
makes/transforms himself into a true plant of Islam, caring for his faith with
care and seeing to his daily progress in spirituality for the cause and
pleasure of Allah, the Almighty, then he gets to keep the garden evergreen.
But
when that garden is abandoned by man, then Allah does not let this situation go
on like this for long. As He promised in the Holy Quran, He shall always be the
guardian of Islam and will not let its teachings be trampled upon. When such
times become apparent, when man has let go of the thread of faith and Islam,
Allah raises His elect to show mankind how to care for that garden, how to care
for the trees therein so that they may grow up to produce beautiful flowers and
fruits. The fruits of this labour become apparent only through the will of
Allah when He sees that man is reforming himself, to better conform himself to
Islam – submission to Allah wholeheartedly, and without hypocrisy.
If the garden of Islam is not
tended by each and every person, especially the Muslim who has the task to make
his life adapt to Islam at every step of the way, then it withers away and its
charming and sweet smelling flowers fall off. It could also be likened to a
building which though complete in every respect, has developed cracks through
the passage of time. Yet its owner does not see to its maintenance and allows
it to deteriorate further until it completely falls apart. Or it could be
likened to a situation when each and every one in a household is afflicted with
a deadly disease, yet it insists that there is absolutely no need for a doctor
to administer medicine to those who have been so afflicted with the deadly
disease.
Therefore, it is clear in past
teachings, as well as in Quran and Sunnah that Allah shall raise his elects,
such guides who shall come for the preservation of the true religion, the way
of life of man, Islam. And this is a promise which shall be fulfilled by Allah
until the Day of Judgement, so that the garden of Islam remains free from all
kinds of pests.
According to the Holy Quran and
the Hadith the appearance of the Messiah and Mahdi is necessary to consolidate
Islam from all fronts. The glad tidings of the appearance of the Mahdi and the
Promised Messiah (uhbp) had been transmitted from generation to generation. The
Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said:
“What will
be your condition when the son of Mary, will descend among you and he will be
your Imam from among you”. (Bukhari)
From this tradition, it has been
wrongly inferred that Jesus has been kept alive for more than 2000 years in the
skies and that he will come again in the latter days for the reformation of
mankind, including Muslims. Without going into the depth of
the subject, I must draw the attention of those Muslim brethren who hold such
opinions that nothing can be more derogatory to the honour of the Holy prophet
of Islam (pbuh) than this belief.
Is it suggested that while the
Holy prophet, the best of creation, the one individual who is the cause of the
creation of the entire universe, has tasted of death like all other prophets,
but Jesus, son of Mary, has been kept alive in the heavens for more than 2000
years?
We read in the Holy Quran:
“We granted
not everlasting life to any human being before you. If then you should die,
shall they live here for ever”. (21:35)
When we say it is believed that
Jesus, son of Mary, has been kept alive in heaven for more than 2000 years in
order to be brought back to the earth to reform the Muslims, is it also
believed that the adherents of Islam and the Holy prophet Muhammad (peace be on
him) will become so depraved that not one of them will be considered worthy of
being raised for the reformation of the Muslims and that “a prophet for the
Jews” will have to be kept alive for some 2000 years for this purpose?
I ask those Muslims who hold
such opinions to consider the verse:
“And He
will teach him the book and the Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel. And will
make him a messenger to the Children of Israel”. (3: 49-50)
Should he come again as a
messenger for the whole of mankind, are those Muslims going to alter this verse
from the Holy Quran and insert: “A messenger to the whole world?”
When one ponders over the Hadith
which foretells the second coming of Jesus, one finds that the solution of this
matter is contained in the very Hadith itself. The Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh)
was so perfect in his diction that nobody dares suggest other meanings to what
he said. The literal translation of the Hadith is what will be your condition
when Jesus, son of Mary, will appear from among you and will be your Imam from
among you?
The phrase “from among you”
occurring twice in the same Hadith clearly shows that the Mahdi is to appear
from among the Muslims themselves and not from among another community of
people. It also means that the Mahdi is to be from among the living on earth
and would not be an earlier prophet descending from the sky.
When Jesus was asked about
Elijah who, according to prophecy, was to descend from heaven before him, his
answer was that Elijah had already come in the spirit of John the Baptist.
(Matt. 17: 10-13; Mark 8: 11-13; Luke 1: 17)
This clearly shows that whenever
a prophecy referring to the descent of any prophet means that somebody else
will come in his spirit and power, and not the same person of flesh and blood
will be resurrected from among the dead to accomplish the prophecy.
Thus, we see that still
nowadays, Allah has not abandoned Islam and the Muslims. Like He sent the first
Islamic Messiah to a world in ruins more than hundred years ago, he has
honoured His promise still today when he sent for a second time the Messiah from
among the followers of His first Messiah to hold that same torch and to march
towards victory. That victory is none other than re-establishing the
truthfulness of Islam, of rendering the garden of Islam beautiful again so that
it may be a pleasure for the eye, heart and soul of man; Meaning that when man
shall consume these spiritual fruits, the fruits of faith, then his life shall
be changed to reflect his inner divine beauty and light.
The Holy Prophet himself called
the Promised Mahdi to come “Isa” (Jesus) which makes it clear
that the expected Mahdi was to be a prophet; not an actual law-bearing one, but
a reflection of his own prophethood which is a final law-bearing one. And from
his words, it is clearly apparent that not just one Mahdi is expected but many
Mahdis and Messiahs who shall represent the hope of Islam whenever Islam finds
itself in danger.
What are we if not followers of
the best of mankind whom Allah (twa) has graced us with His special love and
tenderness because of the immense love we hold for Allah and His Beloved
Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)? May Allah be pleased with each one of us in the
Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and may the victory of Allah shine upon us so that
people from all corners of the world recognise the truthfulness which Allah has
manifested in this era through the advent of this humble self and the Jamaat Ul
Sahih Al Islam, Insha-Allah, Ameen.
- (Friday Sermon of 31 January 2014- Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius)