The
Promise
of Allah to the Prophet &
the Believers- 2
By
the grace of Allah I continue the second part of the sermon that I
started last week. It is a very important subject for all of humanity
in general and also for all Muslim brothers and sisters around the
world as a whole and especially for all Ahmadis in general. If we
study Surah An-Nur (Light) correctly, it is indeed a Surah
which gives light to all people and especially to all Muslims and to
all Ahmadis as well, because Allah (swt ) says:
« Wa’adalluhul
lazina aamanuu minkum wa’amiilus-swalihati layastakhli fannahum fil
arzi kamastakhlafallazina min qablihim. »
“Allah
has promised to those of you who believe [in His oneness and His
message], and do good works, that He will surely make them Caliphs
[Successors or Heirs] on earth, just as He made Caliphs (from among)
those who came before them.” (Surah
Al-Nur 24 : 56).
So,
without a doubt, this is a chapter that projects [gives]
extraordinary light, and thus you cannot then say that you do not
understand its verses or that you see nothing [of its clear meanings
and explanations]. Allah (swt) shows us very clearly that in the
Muslim Community also He will send His Caliphs (successors) just as
He sent Caliphs in the community of Musa (Moses) (as), such as Harun
(Aaron), Yushaa (Joshua), Dawud (David) and Sulaiman (Solomon) - May
God’s peace be upon them all, and these Caliphs are even mentioned
in the Holy Quran. They are not caliphs elected by man. So, this
verse means that there will be caliphs with the same titles as the
prophets before [their advent].
In
a Hadith found in Mishkat,
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) explains this verse clearly where he says
[this is a long Hadith - I only mention part of it]:
“Takuunun-nabuwatu fikum mashaa
allahu… Summa takuunu khilafatun
alaminhajin nabuwat summa takuuno mulkan ‘azzan… Summa takuno
alan minhajin nabuwate summa sakata.”
Translation:
Prophethood will remain among you as long as it pleases Allah (swt);
then the caliphs based on prophethood will be instituted and then
there will be the reign of wicked and tyrannical kings ... and then
there will come again caliphs based on the system of prophethood
[after the prophet]. That’s all. [He stops with these words].
(Mazahir’ul Haq, Vol. IV; pg. 26)
In
the light of this verse and Hadith, we can deduce from the Holy
Qur’an and the story of the prophets that when Allah (swt) sends a
messenger to the world, it is not the purpose of Allah to send him to
bring a message and then to go back [where he came from].
On
the contrary, with the coming of each prophet the plan of Allah (swt)
is that this prophet brings about a change and a revolution. To
achieve this goal it is necessary that there is a continuous system,
because no one lives forever; then Allah uses him only to sow the
seed. So there must be a continuation [in the coming of the elects of
Allah] in order to water this seed, to pull out the weeds, to prevent
animals or insects from attacking this seed so that it develops and
becomes a plant. He must protect it so that it grows and spreads its
branches in different directions, where it will bear fruit. Once
again when it begins to bear fruits, we have to watch it carefully.
Before the fruit becomes delicious, there are many stages, trials
that this plant goes through: cyclones, drought, etc. So you even see
that when you plant a seed in the ground, the work does not stop
there, but there is a continuation process in the work that must be
done.
A
study of the verse of Istikhlaaf
of the Quran shows us that the system of the prophethood - Nabuwwah
(and as you can call it: Messiah, Khalifatullah), it is a system
established by Allah (swt) and not by man, but unfortunately man,
with the mind he possesses, he thinks himself to be learned and to
know everything. He closes the door of divine blessing, he seeks to
extinguish the light that Allah (swt) gave him to enlighten him. He
declares himself to be more learned than his creator, where by his
own effort he walks and gets lost in the dark where he closes the
door of the coming of the prophets and the door of divine revelation.
When he closes the door of light everywhere, then he falls into
complete darkness.
So,
this is the situation Muslims find themselves in today when Allah
(swt) established a blessed system, and gave it to the believers as a
reward from Him, a reward that He is happy to give, to demonstrate
that He is pleased with them, and then He rewards the believers and
blesses them with a noble system of leadership. Allah establishes
such a system of divine leadership that He promises to give, and then
He fulfils His promise and chooses Himself His successors and He
sends each of them in their appointed time, to the community of
believers who have Taqwa,
faith and who do good deeds. These are humble believers who are
grateful to their creator who sacrifice their all only for the cause
of Allah.
So
we can say that a Khalifatullah - a Caliph who is chosen by Allah and
sent by Allah and who receives divine revelation (from Allah) and who
makes his proclamation that he comes from Allah- represents a
continuation of prophethood and is a perfect shadow of this light. In
this aspect, the full picture of the blessing of the light of
prophethood can be found in this reflection of the prophethood.
Indeed it is the Khalifatullah who becomes a witness to the faith and
the good deed of the community of believers.
So
the Khalifatullah teaches believers a lesson in unity and peace. He
is there to unite all people, not to create division, nor to
establish a boycott, nor to create hatred in the hearts of brothers
and sisters, nor to break family ties. On the contrary, a
Khalifatullah invites everyone to forget their differences, their
(our) differences, where we all very strongly catch hold of the rope
of Allah (The rope of Allah being Shahada: 'Laa Ilaaha Illaallah'),
and we connect with this divine rope, all together, where we become
one body. At that time, if one member of this body is suffering, then
the whole body will suffer. This is what the noble prophet (pbuh)
makes us understand.
So
let’s attach ourselves to the rope of Allah, and at that moment we
will see that we will be tied with the whole Ummah,
in unity and love and Insha-Allah
with a Khalifatullah at the head of the Ummah,
we will transform into a solid base, where there is no boycott, no
argument, no war - there will be no killing where the blood of our
brothers or sisters will not be shed, and neither will we break
family ties, and there will be no hatred, etc. At that time, we will
be able to say loud and clear [that this seed of Taqwa,
and the Shahada
- this firm belief] was planted in our heart whose roots grew and
invaded the heart deep down, and from where then comes [this cry]:
“Love For All, Hatred For None”.
At that time, there will be no need to have large signboards with
these words fixed on the mosques, T-shirts, stickers, but this cry,
these words will be in the heart. But unfortunately, this is not the
case. The heart says the opposite of what you present before the
people. Do not do all these [good works] for the eyes of the people,
to please them, but do good works to please your creator only, for
the cause of Allah, and that is when you will become recipient of the
divine blessing where Allah (swt) will reward you with the advent of
His Chosen One, and the divine rain will descend from heaven to
purify you. Insha-Allah.
Due
to lack of time, I will therefore continue the subject of this sermon
next week. Insha-Allah.
May Allah open the hearts of Muslims to understand this message.
Insha-Allah, Ameen.
---Friday Sermon of 17 January 2020 ~21 Jamadi’ul Awwal 1441 AH delivered by Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (atba) of Mauritius.