By the grace of Allah, last week I started my
sermon on the attributes of Allah and I thank Allah (swt) very much for giving
me the Tawfiq to continue on the same subject today too. When you follow
last Friday’s Sermon, you will understand better that in concrete terms there
is no mention of Allah as Haqq, but in fact when you analyze His
attributes, but then the truth is included. From the point of view of praise,
one cannot even conceive a lie about Allah and from Allah [in connection to
Allah].
The second reason that people lie a lot is
because of greed. There are a lot of lawsuits going on [in court] regarding wealth
and property matters or loan and repayment cases, debt cases etc. Much of this
business is the result of the lies that people tell due to their greed.
Let’s [now] look at country level. You see that
because of the thirst for power, because of a greed for power, politicians make
all kinds of promises in order to come to power, and in this quest, there are a
lot of lies going on during the electoral campaign, where one party criticizes
the other party, throws mud on it [i.e. dishonouring] it [and all people
involved in it], and makes all kinds of shenanigans where very often there are
even elections which are held in a country where there are mischief and frauds
and all this opens the way for a fight and disorder: the political parties
throw mud on their opponents, they make such electoral campaigns where they
meet the other parties and watch them carefully lest their opponents come to
power. In this quest for power, there are promises made with the electorate,
and there are also many lies that are spoken. All this is the result of greed,
the desire to grab power, to stay in power, to have fun [with the people’s
money] as we say and in all this it is the people who still suffer a lot during
the five years [to come] when these politicians deceive people, and lie to them
because of their greed.
Now a Being Who owns everything and Who does
not depend on anyone and Who, on the contrary, everyone depends on Him, so what
is the use for Him to lie? He is already the Master of the universe and
therefore the very aspect/ notion of greed is completely removed.
In the same way you can think about the other
attributes too. By giving advice the Holy Quran makes us understand that we
should not devour the goods of each other, even ours by false means. The word
that is used here is ‘Baatil’ and it has several meanings, but the main
meaning is lies. So, that means you shouldn’t lie and devour other people’s
goods. It also means that you should not devour goods through the means that
Allah (swt) has prohibited. You must not consume all that is Haram
(illicit).
So in both cases its main meaning is lying.
Because of the lie you are consuming Haram goods, harmful things. This
actually has a connection with greed. This greed causes a person to become
dishonest and where even people have bad looks on him and wherever he goes,
people will speak ill of him. Through his bad deeds and the greed he has in
him, it will lead him to great dishonour in this world as well as in the
hereafter. Finally, he will have neither the earth and the heavens, nor this universe, etc. He has shortcomings in him and to remove these shortcomings [at his level,
in his own way] he chooses to lie. But Allah Who is the Master of the whole
universe, Who gives without being asked, then what is the need for Him to lie?
Lying doesn’t even apply to Him.
Even on the instructions He gives to His
Messengers, Allah (swt) never lies. Lying does not even apply to Him and never
will. He is beyond all lie. An example I can give you, just as I have cited
many times in the past, is about the story of Hazrat Yusuf (as), and how Allah
made a plan for him and gave him the instruction to put the king’s cup in his
own brother’s bag so that the soldiers of the royal guard could have this as an
excuse to arrest him and this according to the law of the country, and then his
brother could discreetly stay with him without anyone among his half-brothers doubting
that he was their brother Yusuf (as). Allah is Al-Haqq. It is He Who
establishes the law and it is He Who knows best how to apply His laws and establish
the true truth, such a truth which will bring peace at familial level as well
as societal level, and Who will make those who have wronged to realize their
mistakes. On the surface only, it may seem that Hazrat Yusuf (as) has
told a lie, and if a person looks at this from this point of view, he may
think, “Look! Even a prophet lied.
He himself took the king’s cup and put it in his brother’s bag and accused him!”
But what does Allah say about this?
“Kazaalika
kid-naa li-Yuusuf. Maa kaana liya’-khuza ‘akhaahu fii
diinil-maliki ‘illaaa ‘ayy-yashaaa-’allaah. Narfu-’u
dara-jaatim-man-nashaaa’: wa fawqa kulli zii-’ilmin ‘Aliim.”
In this way We devised a plan for Joseph. He
could not have taken his brother according to the king’s law unless Allah willed. We raise the rank of
whoever We will, and over all endued with knowledge there is one more knowing.
[i.e. Allah] (Yusuf 12 : 77).
So it’s Allah Who embodies truth and knowledge.
Man, with the minimal knowledge he possesses, will not be able to fully
understand the actions [the ways of doing] of Allah [except those whom Allah
has Himself given this knowledge] and oftentimes he blames Allah. But Allah is
beyond all blame and all lies.
And besides, we see that it is because of the
lies of women - to protect their own honour and interest - that prophet Yusuf
(as) had to be imprisoned. At that time the reigning king, accompanied by Al-Aziz
and all the accusers, condemned an innocent man (Hazrat Yusuf). It was their
policy that dictated this decision to them - a decision based on lies - so that
people would forget about the incident. But what did Allah do? Being Al-Haqq,
and to restore the honour of His prophet, after several years, He established
Yusuf (as) as the minister of the reigning king of the time, and then Yusuf
(as) was known as “Al-Aziz”.
And the truth came to light when everyone knew it was his master’s wife (the
one who bought it) - Zuleikha - who lied.
Another reason behind people’s lies is the fear
of being accountable, and whether in the East or the West, the majority of lies
are spoken out of fear that they will be exposed, just as in the case of
Zuleikha. They are afraid of punishment and that’s why they lie.
When a child has made a mistake or when someone
has committed a robbery or a crime or any other situation [that people may
face], then they lie by apprehending these rules of account. They are afraid of
facing an arrest. But a prophet of Allah is not afraid of people. He
establishes himself on the truth just like his Creator - He follows the divine
instruction. Hazrat Yusuf (as) preferred to go to prison rather than be tempted
to do an illegal act that could attract Allah’s anger, and shame on him.
If people were not accountable, then they would
not lie. And in fact this has a deep connection to the subject of Hamd.
If in a meeting you say that you smell a very good perfume, and you ask from
whom comes this perfume - an Attar or another perfume - then at that
time the people [present] can lie to say that it is themselves who wear the
scent. But if you say you are smelling something bad, then nobody will lie [or
come forward] to say that it is from him that the bad smell comes. All because
they are afraid! On the contrary even if the [bad] odour came from them, they
will lie to say that it is not from them that the odour in question comes.
So lying is deeply linked with Hamd and
evil as well. It demonstrates the contrast between Allah [and His true
servants] and others who do not settle themselves on the truth and who seek
false praise to maintain their honour in society. In some cases people lie to
receive praise and in other cases people lie to escape evil. And the next step
in all of that is the settling of scores, when the time comes for them to
receive punishment, and then there, a person cannot lie to say that he has
committed a crime [a bad thing] that he did not do [where he is innocent]. On
the contrary there, it is the culprit who will lie to say that he is innocent
and that he did not commit the crime in question. And he will lie because he
knows he will be punished for his misdeeds. This topic as I told you has a connection
to the truthfulness of the prophets. When the prophets make a claim, then they
receive great punishments from their people where these people attack their honour.
Society rejects their true worth and honours that society itself has given
them before they make their claims.
Do you believe that a Servant of Allah, a
Messenger of Allah can lie just to receive an honour or to escape punishment or
just because of greed? Yet before their claims, people testified of their great
worth and
placed hope in them, just like the prophet Saleh (as) whose people had said to
him: “We had placed our hope in you.”
So for every prophet it’s the same. For the
Promised Messiah (as) likewise it was the same. People placed great hope on him
just like when Hazrat Sufi Ahmad Jaan Sahib joined him and said to him: We
are sick. We have our eyes on you. For the cause of Allah declare yourself as
the Messiah. So, a person lies to receive praise or to satisfy his greed to
earn wealth. But if a person makes a claim where his very honour is at stake,
and where he loses his property and is beaten up because of his claim, then he
receives these punishments not because he has committed a crime or made a
scheme or fraud, but because he is truthful. He must be crazy to lie about it!
[In other words, who would love to be beaten and have their honour blown away
when he is based on the truth?] If such a person had all of that: honour,
dignity, and even riches and whatever happens [come what may], he makes his
claim [that he verily comes from Allah], so will you call him a liar?
I tell you an anecdote during my stay on
Reunion Island, while I was preaching [did the tabligh] as a Local
Missionary of Jamaat Ahmadiyya (working in Mauritius and the neighbouring
islands). I had met a Maulvi who was
a very big opponent of the Promised Messiah (as). When he spoke to me before
the members of his Jamaat, he spoke a lot about the claims of Hazrat Massih Ma’ud
(as), and he did not even know that these were exactly the same objections that
the Christians raised against Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). The Christians say that
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) - Nawzobillah min Zalik - started [his mission] by
saying a little lie, and then he said a second lie and then a third etc. First
he said he was not superior to Moses and that his coming was just for the
people of Mecca; on the contrary, he said he had come to warn his relatives
only. But then his claim changed and he said he came for the People of the
Book. His claims have continued to increase, where finally he claimed to have
come for all of humanity. So the Christians say that he lied and that little by
little his lie grew.
So the Maulvi
did not have enough knowledge about the history of religion. He didn’t even
know what was written in the books. He only read this piece that before, Hazrat
Massih Ma’ud (as) said that he was an Envoy, and then he declared himself Mahdi
and after he proclaimed himself to be the second Jesus - Isa (as) whom they
were waiting for; “I am Krishna” etc. So, this Maulvi said to the people of his Jamaat: You see how Hazrat
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) is a liar ?!
I told the Maulvi:
If I take you to the central market and I make an announcement that someone
has stolen this, and then he will get 100 blows on his head with a shoe. [Being
innocent] would you then say that you are the culprit? Will you make this false
claim: Yes, yes it was I who stole this? I told him: Even the thief in
question will not say that he stole, for fear of being punished. And I
explained to him that many times, to escape punishment, people lie, but now [in
the case of the Promised Messiah] when you openly know that people will make
you suffer, then why would you tell lies?
And besides, he [the Promised Messiah] made
claims, one after the other and I said to him: Don’t
you even have this little capacity to reflect [on all this]? You are watching
the signs of Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) with objections in mind. When he made his
claim that he was an Envoy of Allah, Muslims had already become his enemies.
When he claimed to be the Mahdi he received persecutions from these Muslims. Do
you think now that he will make another “false claim” to say that God has no
son, and what you qualify as the son of God - Jesus, whom Christians believe to
be the son of God – has already died?
With such a declaration, he invites enmity on
him from the part of the English and Christians in general and he also declared
himself to be Krishna. Would he lie about it all, one after the other? Would he
lie again? [this is an argument]. Already everyone had
become his enemies and persecuted him, and if all this were indeed lies, would
he persist in his lies to make the Aryas become his enemies by confronting
Pandit Lekh Ram? He did not stop there! He continues in his statements to say
that the Baba Nanak of the Sikhs was Muslim.
I told the Maulvi:
Do you not have a little reasoning to see the truth of this prophet? Would
he have liked to be accused of lies and that people would become his enemies
and oppose him? Would he have liked to receive insults from them and all kinds
of stupid caricatures and have his honour and dignity trampled upon, and
moreover put his life in danger? For others, for those who commit crimes, who
steal, etc., they lie to protect themselves from atrocious punishments. But as
for him [Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as)] his life as well as the lives of his family
were in danger, where they sought to kill him – Besides, in his very natural
death, they criticized him for saying that ‘he died in a latrine’ (a toilet
worse than modern toilets). Those who criticized him, what do they have in the
belly* [i.e., in the body, more precisely in the bladder and rectum]? Pearls,
diamonds? Aren’t there wastes? When they die, we have to give them a bath, remove
all gas and press on their bellies to remove what? Pearls, diamonds and not filthiness/
wastes? Besides, they put all kinds of blame on him and even said that he
smoked opium!
You see, when a prophet comes from Allah, his
life is not easy at all; he goes through several trials. Today, in this century
history repeats itself where Allah (swt) has raised this humble servant, and I
have received the same questions from the Ahmadis. Now the situation is such
that I must make them understand what I once explained to others in defence of
Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as), and I see myself being attributed the same
unpleasant, ignoble remarks as the Promised Messiah had received [and continues
to receive even today]. And today I have to make the Ahmadis understand that
every time a prophet comes, the situation will be similar. But which drum can I
beat to make these arguments firmly sink in them where all veil is removed from
their eyes?
Insha-Allah, I
will continue this sermon next week. May Allah give you the Tawfiq and Hidayah
to accept the truth and to meditate on the greatness of Allah and on the
various signs and manifestations that He has manifested in this century, as
always, to bring out the truth. Insha-Allah, Ameen.