Saturday, December 21, 2019

Good Manners: Prophetic Insights


Ghibbat… Some Hadiths: Part- IV

By the grace of Allah, I continue the subject of my Friday sermon on “Ghibbat” - backbiting, thinking badly of a person, being jealous of him, and seeking to harm him only for the purpose of having the satisfaction of seeing others spit on him and dishonour him.

This is a subject that must be developed again and again for the education of all people in general and especially for our members of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam. If you analyze this subject in depth, you will also find that in our society that we are living today, there are problems between brothers where you see a brother humiliating his own brother, whereby he takes him as an inferior person. If someone knows his own person well, then he would never consider others to be inferior. Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) explained this in this way, that you need to implant in your thoughts the idea that you are worse than others, and thus you will see how, Insha-Allah this remedy will actually work.

On top of that, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) said that a person should not consider someone else as inferior, because when you analyze your own being, you will find that it is you who are inferior, and if you have some honour it is just because Allah is doing Pardah Poshi with you. If you have any status, any rank, any knowledge, any intelligence, or you have money, beauty, lots of children etc., then, it’s just by the grace and blessing of Allah.

When someone understands this well, then when he sees someone who is inferior to him, he will be ashamed and shall not consider him as a lowly person, and this is a reality whereby when you sees the other person, and you think that despite his difficult situation he is more advanced than you in the field of sacrifice, sincerity and striving to spread the Deen-e-Islam, etc. So, you are ashamed, and you seek divine forgiveness and you never again dare to consider him as an inferior being [of low status].


So take this into account. If you really have deep love for Nabi Kareem (pbuh) you will think about it. This is the tarbiyyat which Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has given us after pondering lengthily on the human psychology with the help of Allah (swt). This pure being came [on earth] more than 1400 years ago; such a being for which the entire universe was created; look how much efforts he did for insignificant people like us. When he woke up, he prayed [invoked Allah in duah] and he used to mention illnesses one by one and that too openly and he provided the remedies for each malady. And if after listening to this you only state that these were indeed great advices which he gave, this is not sufficient. When you look at the sacrifices he made, you would not dare to neglect these advices.

No other prophet in the world had surpassed Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) in the efforts he put for his people. So ponder over this a little and then with all respect you will bend and submit [to the will of Allah and to the truth in all advices of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)]. This is because it is in obedience that there is always an enthusiasm which manifests from the heart. And when your heart falls completely in love with Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), then it becomes impossible that you do not accept his advices.

So do not only look at these advices in the light of his knowledge but also perceive the love which he had [and showed] to Allah and his Ummah. Look at the mercy which is present at the foundation itself of these advices, and then when you will bend and submit, you will do it with such obedience which will make you win the love of Allah and His prophet (pbuh), and it is because of this very love that we are alive and it is this very love which is our final aim. So the pathways to this Muhabbat (love) have been made easy for us [i.e. through these advices and obedience].

Then Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) said that “Taqwa is here”. Which means that the position [or stage] of Taqwa is the heart of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), and then he said that the Muslim, the very fact that he criticizes his brother, that alone is an evil. So, I already mentioned this before and I say it again, that if a Muslim criticizes his other brother and humiliates him, then that is enough to bring about destruction. Which means, be careful, do not consider your brother to be inferior and do not do any humiliating treatment on him, because that itself is enough to bring about a destruction that comes from Allah. There are three things of a Muslim which is illicit (Haram) on another Muslim: his blood, his honour and his possessions [property/ wealth/ riches]. On the subject of blood, crime was a rarity in the past, but today you can witness [by reading the newspapers and watching the news] how many crimes there are; murders are committed like animals are being brought to the slaughterhouse to kill them, and all this is due to several factors such as revenge, jealousy, or drugs, etc.

The 2nd and 3rd points are his honour and his wealth. Dishonouring one’s brother and robbing him of his property has become common in all families, societies, and countries. If we don’t change ourselves completely and we don’t make ourselves pure of those completely, we will not have the ability to gain the upper hand over the whole world. If we ever receive some blessings, it is because of those few of us who have completely purified ourselves from these evils.

But in this time that we are living now and by the grace that Allah (swt) has poured out on us, I expect you to reflect a little on everything I told you [in my sermons on the subject ] even often, and you try to put them into practice. And with the words of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) purify yourselves, your intentions and create such a society which will become an example in this field, and it is at this point that you will perceive what you have gained or lost, and each of you will have Jannah (paradise) with all of this. It is because before (this), you lived a hellish life with these lies: the pleasures you took in “Ghibbat” (backbiting), in criticizing others, etc. In all of this there is a fire that ignites in your heart and which then comes out like snakes on fire.

So if you hear this advice, and put it into practice, all of these fires will be eliminated. And you will be at peace and this will become a Jannah and the whole family, all of society will be at peace and as for you, no Maulvi, no animosity, no government will be able to do anything against you. If you decorate yourself with the morals of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), then the world will have great respect for you.

Then it is mentioned not to be jealous. Allah neither looks at your riches, nor at the beauty of your faces. If Allah does not look at these things, why do you worry? You don’t have to worry that “So-and-so is more handsome [or pretty] than me or has more wealth than me”. What Allah (swt) looks at is who is closest to Him. So why are you worried? If Allah is close to you, then He will certainly decide in your favour; He will not judge by taking into consideration someone’s physical beauty or wealth; He will not judge according to who is more beautiful and richer than the others. What He will judge and consider is who has more Taqwa [than the others] and has purified himself completely.

So the one who has more Taqwa in his heart, it is he who is richer in the sight of Allah. Sometimes you ask yourself the question, how do you know if Allah is looking at [your] Taqwa or not? But the person who has Taqwa in the heart, he will know. Sometimes there are poor people, but they have Taqwa, and this type of people receives a lot of honour in this world. Who was poorer than Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)? In his house there was nothing to sit on, and for days and days fire was not lit [to prepare food]. But despite this, many people abandoned all their possessions and presented themselves at the door of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and with his link of poverty that they earned thanks to him, this even became a source of honour for them. Kings have left their kingdoms and came to Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). Alhamdulillah.

So look at Taqwa; then if you analyze the advice of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) with honour and you put it into practice, then you will benefit from all this; a complete benefit. Then he said not to look for the faults or weaknesses of others and not to ruin the transactions of others. And he ended by saying that a Muslim is a brother to another Muslim, and from there you can start your journey of progress and give up evil. May Allah help us in the accomplishment of all these duties. Ameen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS :

1. Insha-Allah, the Jamaat of Kerala will hold its Jalsa Salana on 22 to 23 December 2019; and the Jamaat of Tamil Nadu will do their Jalsa Salana on 29 December 2019. The Siraj Makins of Tamil Nadu will also hold their Ijtema also the day before Jalsa Salana. I pray that Allah bless their programs and fill them with success, in terms of blessings and tarbiyyat for all our members.

2. Speaking of our members, we do not forget those who are sick and who are in great difficulty, in their personal lives and for the cause of the Jamaat too, where they go through great difficulties and problems only because they believed in the advent of a Khalifatullah and they joined the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam. A special thought for our brother, Naib Amir Hariz Sahib and his wife Razia Sahiba - they are suffering due to their health. We pray for them, as well as for our brothers and sisters in Madagascar, the Comoros and Mayotte; may Allah pour His immense blessings upon them, accept their sacrifices and reward them for their great patience in the way of Allah.

There are our other members who are sick. We pray for them, may Allah restore their health and comfort them and strengthen them physically, morally and spiritually in His Deen and in their everyday life. Ameen, Summa Ameen, Ya Rabbal Aalameen.

---Friday Sermon of 20 December 2019~ 23 Rabi’ul Aakhir 1441 AH delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.