Spirituality, Peace and Social Harmony

To coincide with the visit of Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius to India, the Peace Park Special School at Mathra (an initiative of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, Kerala) organized an Inter-Faith Conference on 'Spirituality, Peace and Social Harmony' on Thursday, January 19, 2017. 

Along with the Seminar, the School also initiated the idea of establishing a 'Spiritual Library' where the religious literature and spiritual traditions of various communities  could be assembled for the benefit of its readers and for the purpose of facilitating critical reflections on the original texts, so far as they are available today. At the end of the Seminar, Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba)of Mauritius recieved on behalf of the School Spiritual Library the many books gifted by different individuals and organizations. 

At around 3.00 pm, Amir Jamaat Mukarram Jamaluddin Raother Saheb, who is also the Manager of the Peace Park Special School, made welcome remarks to the gathering. President of the Karavalur Panchayat, Mr. V. Rajan, inaugurated the Seminar. Elected representatives of the village, social workers, leaders of different community organizations and members of different religious denominational groups attended the meeting. Those who spoke on the occasion include the following: Arjunan Pillai, Sasidharan, R. Vijayan Pillai, G. Suresh Kumar, K.A. Nebu and Tamimul Ansari. Fazil Jamal Saheb performed the Vote of Thanks at the end of the function, in addition to introducing the chief guest Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) to the local community of people who were present on the occasion, besides our Jamaat members. (Inset: News item on the event, Malayala Manorama Newspaper, January 21, 2017, Kollam Edition (Kerala), p.2). 

The highlight of the event was the Inter-Faith Message of the Khalifatullah (atba). In his sermon, Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) focused on the vast, common ground of shared values and humanistic teachings across all major religions and cultural systems, even as he explained the philosophical roots of the Islamic way within the larger Divine scheme of Guidance across time, nations, languages and communities. 

The Khalifatullah (atba) advanced the cause of inner peace at the individual level for promoting social harmony and agreed that those who preach terror are enemies of man and warned against the contemporary tendency in society across religions to promote extreme positions on issues of political and other differences, leading to tension and violence and terror in society. Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) states: 'We should not leave anything for evil to have power over us. We need to suppress all evil tendencies and come under the protection of God by being true to God and seeking His help in all matters. We are all the creatures of God, the servants of God. We must not let politics or anything else divide us. We need to stand for each other, and serve one and all. We need to promote peace everywhere'.

Reproduced below is the main text of the Inter- Faith Message delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) at the Meeting at Mathra:  

'Peace is the word from God, and it forms one of the attributes of God, which in Arabic is pronounced: "As-Salaam" (Peace, The Source of Peace). In Sanskrit also, we define peace as "Shanti". Therefore peace and tranquillity have a profound link with God and our inner self. Without inner peace, without "Salaam", without "Shanti", we cannot bring ourselves to connect with God Almighty. Humanity has been called throughout the ages, through the different deputies and prophets of God Almighty to come in peace and spread peace and fraternity among the people, calling all people to their Sole Creator, Almighty God, Allah.

Now, why do Muslims call God Almighty as Allah? Why ALLAH most specifically? Verily God Almighty has many attributes, and two of these like I have just mentioned is "Peace" and "Almighty". The personal name of God has been defined as "ALLAH" in the Arabic language because it literally means: "The One without any associate or partner". AL-LAH, that is, the One Who is Unique. In Sanskrit, the sole name which fully encompasses the meaning of God Almighty, ALLAH, is "PARAMESHWARA" which literally means "The Sole God", "The Unique God", "The Supreme God". In the name "PARAMESHWARA", there are two words "PARAM" and "ISHWARA". ISHWARA or ISHWAR is defined as God being the Sole God or Master, and the word "Param" qualifies God as being the highest Being, above all creations, the Supreme Being.

Now, no human can ever be called "ALLAH" or "PARAMESHWARA", because these are but the sole propriety of GOD, the Supreme and Exalted above all creations. That is basically the reason why Muslims always refer to God as "ALLAH", because that name itself fully defines God Almighty without bringing any blemish to His Name, Being and Existence, and also because, we are called to worship Him alone, the Sole Creator, the Unique God. It is forbidden for us to called our children "ALLAH", because this name belongs only to Our Creator, the Creator of all mankind and all creations. That is why we have been commanded to call God "ALLAH" and to worship Him alone with inner peace and harmony.

A true Muslim therefore is one who truly submits to God Almighty (ALLAH) with inner peace. And he has the foremost duty to spread peace and harmony around him. Verily, all mankind is one family, because we all come from ALLAH, we all come from PARMESHWAR, and we are called to live in "Shanti" and with "Shanti", and to promote "Shanti", "Salaam" everywhere we go about on earth. Indeed, we humans are temporary in this world. God Almighty hates violence, and wishes to see all mankind reunite as one body in His fervent worship. That is why He has sent again and again throughout the ages, special messengers from among humans like ourselves to warn their people and mankind about His existence and His Supreme Power. We have been called by all true prophets of God without exception to live in peace and harmony and not to harbour hatred for anyone.

Those who heed the message of God Almighty, these are the ones who shall truly benefit His love, mercy and nearness, but alas for those who turn their backs to Allah (God Almighty) and His deputies; these people go to their lost because even after warning them, they do not believe in the messengers of God and they continue in their evil ways. This is very detestable in the eyes of God Almighty, because God Almighty wants all His creatures, mankind to live as one family and to worship Him alone. Remember, God Almighty is He who created all that surrounds us, the sky, the earth, the air we breathe, humans like ourselves, plants, oceans, everything. Now, when we attribute all these creations to another other than Him, then God Almighty is in a way of speaking is Jealous, because He wants all His creations to worship Him alone, without attributing anything or anyone with Him. That is why He sends from time to time, especially in the times of Kalyug (complete darkness) His Avatars, Rishis, Rassools, Nabis, that is, His prophets and representatives who comes with the Holy Spirit, that is, divine revelations to guide mankind back to His worship. And for this peace is of paramount importance.

If we conduct a study of all religions, we shall clearly see that all true religions who came into being with the advent of true messengers of God were all promoters of peace. From Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and even all the religions and prophets who came even before them all, all these religions and their preceptors preached the unicity of God and preached to their people or nation that they need to form one body in peace and harmony, because peace is one of the prerequisite to get into contact with God Almighty.

Bear in mind, my dear friends that without peace, without inner peace or even peace of mind, we cannot properly concentrate on God Almighty. God Almighty has encouraged us to always remember Him, for it is in His remembrance that we shall come to feel proximity with Him. This is what we called meditation or Zikrullah (Remembrance of God). This is the vehicle which connects our soul to God Almighty.

If each one of you, as from today you make it a must to leave behind all preoccupations of this world for at least half an hour everyday so that you can concentrate on our Almighty God, ALLAH, or in Sanskrit PARAMESHWAR, then you shall see all the positivity which shall happen in both your physical and spiritual lives. Very often the physical affects the spiritual and vice versa. So we need to make everything positive so that only positive things happen to us. If we feel depress or lose hope in God Almighty, then this is a killing tool which evil uses against us. But if we persevere in our worship of the Sole Creator, the Creator of all mankind and we pay our obeisance to Him in respect to all the good commandments He has sent to you through His messengers, and you remember Him every time, in all circumstances, be it in good and bad moments, then this shall inevitably have a positive effect on your physical, mental, moral and spiritual selves.

We should not leave anything for evil to have power over us. We need to suppress all evil tendencies and come under the protection of God by being true to God and seeking His help in all matters.

We are all the creatures of God, the servants of God. We must not let politics or anything else divide us. We need to stand for each other, and serve one and all. We need to promote peace everywhere. That is why, speaking on behalf of Islam, I stand before you and spread the words of truth and peace, because this is one of the basics of Islam; it teaches us all mankind to greet one another in peace. In Arabic, this is what we say: "Assalaamoualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuhu", which means "May the Peace and the Grace and Blessings of God Almighty be upon you."

Unfortunately, the religion of Islam is presently not well understood in the wake of terrorist attacks which have been perpetrated in the name of Islam. Let me remind you my dear friends that terrorism is terrorism and not Islam or any other religion. Terrorism has only one face, and it is evil. Islam is the religion of peace, and it preaches man to take him away from his animalistic nature to make him into a complete moral and spiritual being, to make him become truly human. Unfortunately, Islam these days has been misunderstood as being and meaning only terrorism and this is completely bad because people of all various religious denominations practice terrorism and they forego the true teachings of their religions which promote peace and direct all people to worship God and be in peace and harmony with the people of the world.

I beseech you my dear friends not to harbour any narrow-mindedness against Islam or its teachings. God Almighty is for us all, and His teachings are universal. Islam cannot be evil for it is the absolute promoter of peace. It contains in itself all the true teachings of all true prophets of God, like Ram, Krishna, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them all). But it is also a reality that God even now shall never let His servants be lost in the darkness of time. He shall continue to revive His pure religion by sending reformers, avatars to bring back the same true teachings to you all, because these teachings are always true. It is only man who have been touched by evil who have turned these teachings upside down and created confusion and doubts in the mind of the rest of mankind. This is absolutely bad. That is why God Almighty shall continue to purify His religion and bestow the favour of divine revelations on His chosen messengers up till the Day of Judgement so that mankind can return to the right path and let go of all evils and live in peace and harmony.

This is also my wish my dear brothers, sisters and children, to see all mankind as one family. I am here among you today in Kerala, in the Peace Park Special School in Mathra and as the Worldwide Spiritual Leader of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and a humble servant of God Almighty, I thank you all for your presence and pray for you: 

May Almighty God always bless you, and revive in you the treasures of His mercy and love and enable you to devote yourselves to His cause in peace and harmony, to construct the building of mankind as one body, of one brotherhood and it is my sincere prayer to see each one of you progress in spirituality till you get to partake of the blessed spiritual food which God Almighty has reserved for all those who devote themselves to His worship.

On this note, I wish you all: Assalamoualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakaatuhu. 

May your lives be always filled with Shanti and the dharma (that is, righteousness) to do good and spread good everywhere. May God Almighty enable you all to do so. Ameen.