RIGHTEOUSNESS & SUBMISSION TO ALLAH
Who is a Mumin (Muslim)? How to become a good Muslim? These
are questions which Allah answered in several of the verses of the Quran and which
are also found in the Hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Allah says in
the Quran:
Righteousness (Devotion to Allah) is not that you turn your faces toward the
east or the west,
but (true) righteousness is (in) one who believes in Allah,
the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite
of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, those who ask
(for help), and for freeing slaves;
(and who) establishes prayer and gives Zakah; (those who) fulfil their promise
when they promise; and (those who) are patient in poverty and hardship and
during battle.
Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are
the righteous/God-fearing. (2: 178)
Righteousness which comes from the heart and which is a
vital instrument to obtain true piety (Taqwa)
is found in obedience to Allah in all the commandments which He has established
for His male and female servants on earth. Be them men or women, young or old,
all have duties towards Allah, such duties which they have to respect so that
they may become true servants of Allah.
The Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said:
“How
wonderful is the situation of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If
something good happens to him, he gives thanks for it and that is good for him;
if something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience, and that is good
for him. This does not apply to anyone but the believer.” (Muslim)
But I have to mention also that there are stages in the
types of believers, like Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) expounds to us: “A strong
believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak believer”.
Despite the fact that a believer remains a
believer as he believes in Allah and all that which He has prescribed, but not
all believers 100 % succeed in establishing/put into practice all that which
Allah has ordained him to do. There are even some who go on to lose their faith
while believing that they were doing a good deed while they were on the
contrary attracting the displeasure of Allah upon them. There are some who do
good deeds, partly for the eyes of Allah, and partly for the eyes of people
(ostentation). Therefore, this finally annuls the deed because of the weakness
displayed in the fulfilment of that good deed.
Verily, someone, especially someone who
says that he is Muslim, who says that he believes in Allah and all that which
Allah has told him to believe (i.e., belief in Allah, His angels, prophets,
divine books, destiny and the rewards and punishments of the afterlife) shall
not succeed in anything if he does not submit to the will of Allah. The
devotion which he says he has (towards Allah) shall become useless if he does
not follow that devotion/righteousness with sincerity of the heart.
The
belief/faith which he declares to have should not be only on the lips but
should be put in practice also whereby he establishes his Islam (submission to Allah) by putting into
practice all that which Allah has ordained him to do; and on top of that, these
practices need to be accomplished without ostentation, but rather only for the
pleasure of Allah and to reap His mercy and satisfaction.
Allah has established in the Quran and through the example
of His greatest prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) how to establish and practice Salat (prayer) in such ways which are
agreeable to Allah, and which shall guarantee the fulfilment of those
invocations (duahs) which you do in
your prayer (Salat). Salat and the positions in Salat has been established by Allah so
that man recognises his inferiority before the supremacy of his Creator and
that he realises that without Allah he would not even have existed in this
world in which he was born: Earth. Allah has created people with earth and gave
them a place to live so that they may bear in mind that one day they shall have
to return to Allah and be buried in the earth on which they used to walk (and
do all their activities). And on earth they either used to seek the favours of
Allah or lose time in vain activities.
Verily, not all people meditate on the
favours of Allah upon them. There are those who are not at all grateful and
they keep fast to the glitters of the world whereas on the other hand the true
believers, are those who always remember that they shall one day have to return
to their Lord (Allah) and they do all that is in their power and ability to not
go beyond the limits established by Allah for them, so that they may pass (with
flying colours) in all their trials/tests/exams on earth. Moreover, they see to
it that they put into practice all the commandments of Allah, within the limits
which He prescribed. And their faith in all that Allah has rendered sacred for
them as Muslims remain solid till they meet death. They live with faith and
they obtain a spiritual life which guarantees them eternal life in the pleasure
of Allah for them.
And thus, they are such people who are judged exclusively
by Allah as people of faith. On their own they cannot say that they have faith
because they know that only Allah knows the exact measure of their faith, and
that the license to judge faith of people is reserved to Allah only. But
according to the guidance of Allah and of His Messenger (pbuh), they know the
guidelines how to ameliorate their faith, and to make it come out from an
uncertain and weak state to that of a solid and firm one. These people ascend
from one stage to the other till they get the satisfaction and pleasure of
Allah. They have in themselves the aim/need/desire to please Allah come what
may, even if the world is against them, for to them, it is only Allah’s
pleasure they seek as they know that one day it is Allah (twa) who shall judge
them, not the people. Therefore, this thought gave them immense comfort and
they feel their heart light (without any worries), and a tranquillity (Sakina) reinforce their hearts and make
all anxieties fade away.
It is these kinds of believers who shall succeed and
to whom Allah has made the following promise in the Holy Quran: “Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work
righteous deeds, that He will surely grant them in the land, inheritance (of
power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in
authority their religion - the one which He has chosen for them; and that He
will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of
security and peace:
'They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with
Me.
'If any do reject Faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked.” (24: 56)
We need to pray that Allah judges us as good for without
His grace and mercy, we are nothing at all. There are some people who
unfortunately declare that they have got the license to judge the faith of
others. History is repeating itself in our era where people who pretend to be
the best Muslims who have accepted all prophets and reformers and also the
Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), but unfortunately when Allah
raised yet again another of His Messiah amongst them, to recite to them His
revelations and show them His signs, they react with arrogance and they seek to
bind themselves more to their mundane (temporary) position of authority so that
people continue to idolize them. 
These kinds of people and leaders take themselves as
messengers of Allah without even receiving any divine instruction to stand up
and declare their mission as such (like all messengers of Allah did (and will
keep on doing)); that they come from Allah. People have elected them but then they
let the people think that: “The voice of
the people/Amirs/Amila - Managing Committee, is the voice of God”! They
have become blind by the authority and mundane power which they have received
and they think that if the crowd is with them, therefore they need not worry;
they think that they are secure.
But verily, Allah detests this, and verily if
these kinds of people/chiefs persist in giving wrong guidance to the people and
seek to hide the truth – the true divine teachings – from them, therefore these
kinds of guilty leaders shall bear the consequences of their acts before Allah
(twa). They shall suffer not only in the afterlife, but in this very world too
till the truth of the divine manifestation upon Allah’s true Elect (Messenger)
becomes clear. And then, there shall be no doubt in the minds of the people as
to who is really God-sent: The one raised by Allah and supported by the Holy
Spirit (Ruh-il-Quddus) or the one
whom the people have elected and who has not the power to know the hidden
truths which Allah only reveals to His Elects.
May Allah open all hearts which are thirsty for His
guidance and may He guide them to accept the truth after they have witnessed
and recognised it. The truth is bound to triumph, even if this does not please
the hypocrites and all those who seek to render the path of Allah crook and who
try to misguide the people. Insha-Allah,
Ameen.
-Friday Sermon of 31 July 2015, delivered by the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.