Sunday, November 11, 2018

The Wisdom of Obedience to God


We are Nothing Without Allah.

Dear brothers and sisters of Islamic faith, my dear disciples, neither you nor I owe our existence to our own will. The vast universe and the many creatures it contains are the work of the one and only Creator, with a set of rules / laws for each species and creation. This Unique Creator is Allah.

At first, apart from the Creator, there was no creature. Then Allah (swt) decided to create living beings, such as the angels, jinn and humans. Among these creatures, more specifically, the jinn and humans, there are those who use their life to do good, while others use it to do evil. Allah says:

And by the day as it appears in brightness; And by that which He has created, the male and the female; Certainly, your efforts and deeds are diverse (different in aims and purposes).” (Al-Layl 92: 3-5).

Thus, it is clear that the man and the woman must fill their days and nights with various efforts for their survival on earth and therefore they will have to face the consequences of their actions on the Day of Judgment.

But as for one whose scales are light, His refuge will be an abyss. And what can make you know what that is? It is a Fire, intensely hot.” (Al-Qariah, 92: 9-12).

Man and woman, in short the human race must fulfill their duty to its Creator, and the main duty is the exclusive worship of Allah (swt) and to make every effort to build their lives on the basis of Islam - complete submission to Allah - and to serve Him in all sincerity and piety.

Allah says: “I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (Az-Zariyat, 51: 57).

And in serving Him, he must also serve humanity because the essence of God is in every human being on earth.


Allah says : “And when your Lord said to the angels, ‘I will create a human being out of clay from an altered black mud. And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul…’” (Al-Hijr 15: 29-30).

Therefore, by serving humanity, we are getting closer to God. Certainly we humans are infinitely weak, and we need God’s support. We were created weak. We have no control over the course of the universe, the revolution of the earth around the sun, no control over the climate and our state of health and thus the happiness and misfortunes that govern our lives. Allah (swt) says:

O mankind, you are those in need of Allah, while Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.” (Al-Fatir 35 :16).

And in a Hadith-e-Qudsi, Allah says : “O My servants, all of you are astray except those whom I have guided, so seek guidance from Me and I shall guide you.” (Muslim, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi).

Certainly, weak as we are, we need the full power and support of Allah to survive on earth, and to stay on the right path, to reassure our eternal survival in a world that will be sublime for us, if only we behave in the best way on earth. The future life is certainly for the moment invisible and incomprehensible to our senses and to our spirit, but our faith, our soul begs us to believe in its existence, because this faith, this soul is related with the LORD, our God, and He is our Eternal Guide and it is He who, to reassure our physical, moral and spiritual survival sends in this world from time to time, preachers elected by God, Messengers (His Elects) to strengthen the faith of humans in the Unique God, and also to strengthen the bond between them and God, insisting that God is the ultimate destination of every human being and that it is He who is rich, strong and powerful and that it is humans who are weak and poor, and without the help and blessing of God, they will come to nothing in this temporal world.

Remember, all of you, as well as I, remember that we were nothing at all, non-existent and it is Allah Who created us. He created our souls and then He sent us to earth in human bodies (bodies of clay) so that we would know this world and fight for our survival and worship and thank Him for all these favours.

In truth, Divine Wisdom is truly enormous. We cannot know from A to Z (entirely) the wisdom behind all the decisions and wisdoms of Allah. Allah has given us everything! He has given us a human body so that we can live on this earth and He has given us all the faculties, such as reason and physical strength so that we live fully our lives as intelligent beings who know how to think to seek Him and find Him in us and all around us. Though weak, He strengthened us and He gave us the means to succeed in our quest.

Allah explains to us our need and His wisdom:

Say, ‘Have you considered: if Allah should take away your hearing and your sight and set a seal upon your hearts, which deity other than Allah could bring them [back] to you?’” (Al-Anam 6: 47).

Say, ‘Have you considered: if Allah should make for you the night continuous until the Day of Resurrection, what deity other than Allah could bring you light?’” (Al-Qasas 28: 72).

No one will be able to provide us with anything without the permission of Allah. He honours who He wants, He humbles who He wants. If He takes away our sight and hearing, both the physical and spiritual blindness and deafness, no one can heal and guide us except Allah. God is infinitely good. He commands us to worship Him and in doing so, we come closer to Him; and He gets closer to us. It is He who protects us against many handicaps. He is Merciful, and the Benefactor par excellence. Whoever wants to feel strong and glorious must humble himself before Allah. It is in this humiliation that he will be elevated to the Pleiades; that is to say, he will see how Allah will elevate his status and he will reap the divine love. The true success, both physical (of this world) and spiritual (of the hereafter) is in submission to the Creator (Allah).

You must bend and humble yourself before Him and the door of His mercy will be open to you. The thousand wonders of this world and the hereafter will be revealed to you. You must fight the satans of this world to stay on the right path, and every time He sends you His messenger, you must follow him and obey him so that you may be among the blessed in this world and in the hereafter. Your human weakness will be compensated by your spiritual strength because if Allah is with you, everything is with you, but if Allah is not with you, nothing is with you. You will be lost in the abyss of despair.

May Allah grant you His mercy and open for you the way for His pleasure. Ameen. Get rid of your weaknesses and replace them with your spiritual strengths. Nourish your souls with obedience to Allah and His Messenger and fulfill your duties on earth with diligence and wisdom, and with the reverential fear of Allah. Stay faithful to Allah and you will see Allah by your side throughout your life on earth. Insha-Allah, Ameen.

--- Friday Sermon of 09 November 2018---01 Rabi’ul Awwal 1440 AH delivered by Hadhrat Imam Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.