Saturday, February 20, 2021

The Spiritual Renewal of Muslims


The Cure of the Hour 


The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Verily, Allah will send for this Ummah (Community) at the beginning of every century a person who will renew (reform and renovate) for it the Deen (i.e. Islam – the perfect way of life).”

 

The condition of the Muslim Ummah at all levels and in all spheres of life is gloomy, pitiful and deplorable. The Ummah is grounded in the quagmire of decadence. Its state of dishonourable existence is indeed heart-wrenching to those who understand the value of Islam and the true position of the followers of Islam. The way of life of the Ummah in present times and the Islam handed down by Muhammad Al-Rassullullah (pbuh) more than fourteen centuries ago are entities widely divergent and poles apart. There is extremely little affinity between the present Ummah and the Islam of the Sahaba of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).

 

Spiritually, morally, culturally, socially and politically, the Muslim nation has fallen to the lowest position. The Muslim Nation is bankrupt in all spheres of its life in relation to Islam. Muslims are in name only. Nothing in their behaviour or clothing reflects the true Islam.

 

Even if they do put on Islamic clothes, covering them, yet their behaviour is not that of Islam, of true Muslims. Be it the men or the women, they have drifted far away from the essence of what Islam stands for and preaches. Islam has become a farce for them, something to be discarded in favour of a westernised way of life. The prayers of the Muslims have now become hollow, without the essence of the true faith which drove the first Muslims to the glory and victory of Islam. Today’s Muslims have let themselves be trapped by the infidels who strive to divide the Muslims in order to better enslave them by giving them the lollypop which shall bring them to destruction. They have let themselves be tempted by this world and all that it contains. The attractions of this world have made them forget Allah. Power, money and a rich life in the luxuries of this world have blinded them. They have become corrupted, or are on the road to corruption. The Muslims are now behaving like the non-Muslims and following them in their creed without even realising it. Even though Allah may be invoked on the lips, but a hundred gods are hijacking their souls and concentration on the true God, i.e. Allah. They have Allah and His Rassool, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) on the lips, yet they discard the teachings which God Almighty and His Prophet (pbuh) have told them to do and those things which they have forbidden the Muslims to do. This is indeed very sad.

 

The pitiable condition of the Nation of Islam besides its stagnation in the morass of corruption and degeneration, in which it flounders, is its steady sinking into greater destruction. The Ummah is inflicted with many of these incapacitating diseases and many more which have destroyed its moral and spiritual fibre, and which had sapped its life-blood and which has made Muslims the slaves of the disbelievers. These diseases have brought the Ummah crashing from its position of grandeur and glory which once was its capital. From the glory and victory of a Battle of Badr, we have been blinded by the booties of this world and thus suffered a hard defeat like in the Battle of Uhud. Disobedience to the Prophet has brought about much chaos.

 

Today that obedience is no longer present and sustainable. The former grandeur of the Ummah was raised on the foundation of the highest kind of spirituality and morality. This spirituality and morality which constituted the springboard from which the Ummah of Islam took off in its flight of glory to attain the loftiest pedestals and pinnacles of grandeur and power, was Islam and belief and obedience to the Prophet of Allah and following diligently and with faith the Holy Quran which all represent the Rope of Allah, that same Hablillah as stated in the following verse of the Holy Quran:

 

Wa’-tasimuu bi-Hablil-laahi jamii-‘aww wa laa tafar-raquu.

“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah and do not be divided [among yourselves].” (Al-Imran 3: 104)

 

Since the Ummah, in the truest sense of the command, in its early stages gripped this Hablillah with might and power, it took hold of the powerful and unbreakable Divine Bond as stated in the following verse:

 

“Verily, they grabbed hold of powerful handle; there is no break for it.” (Al-Baqara 2 : 257)

 

But, alas! Today all these diseases have ruined the Ummah. The Muslims have let go of the rope of Allah and become divided, each one of them exulting in haughtiness and a sense of superiority, forgetting the injunction of Allah, never to become divided. 

 

Today, the Ummah is lying sprawled and prostate, not in Sajda (prostration) before the Unique God, but on its face at the feet of the disbelievers to be buffeted and manipulated in the conspiracy to fulfil the desires of the infidels. The Ummah is no longer holding on to the Rope of Allah.

 

A diagnosis of that disease which has afflicted the Ummah shows that the Ummah has stopped believing [with true belief] in the foundations of Islam. It has closed the door to the coming of the reformers of Islam who are an essential part forming the Rope of Allah. These reformers can also be prophets without bringing any new law. They are bound by the Holy Quran. Thus, the Hablullah is thus also, not just Islam but what Islam stands for and all that it believes in, and the fundamentals beliefs are in the messengers of Allah, in the books of Allah, especially the last law bearing book and prophet, i.e. the Holy Quran and our beloved prophet, the Seal and most perfect prophet and messenger, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), and all the deputy-prophets of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Holy Quran has never closed this door. Allah (swt) has enclosed this belief firmly in the Holy Quran. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) had also clearly taught about the coming of such Islamic reformer-prophets who shall come, not to abrogate Islam or the Holy Quran but to call people to Allah and Islam with the guidance of the Holy Quran and the inspirations and revelations of Allah.

 

Therefore, the prescription for the diseases that have afflicted the Ummah is that the Ummah must discard all their false pride and come forward united as one body under one leader and that leader is none other than the prophet-reformer who is the obedient servant and follower of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). That one is sent by Allah (swt) and through the Ruh’il Quddus (Divine Revelations) he guides the Muslims and whole humanity to the Tawheed (Unity of God). The remedy offered is not a personal concept, not some new-fangled product of the human mind gone astray. It is the remedy given by Allah and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It is this divine prescription which the Reformers of Islam offer, and in this era, I am the Mujaddid (Reformer) and Khalifatullah (Caliph of Allah), the non-law-bearing prophet of Islam in this era.

 

The remedy offered by the Khalifatullah of this era is simple, divine, the one and only cure, the certain cure for the Ummah if only the Ummah can rise to the occasion and accept the remedy! If all Muslims were to unite, all spiritual illnesses will be brought to naught by Allah. Allah will cure you – all Muslims.

 

All praise is due to Allah who has revealed in His Holy Book, the Quran:

 

“Can those who had been dead, to whom We gave life and a light with which they can walk among people, be compared to those in complete darkness from which they can never emerge?” (Al-Anam, 6:123)

 

“Similarly have We revealed to you a Ruh (i.e. Wahi) of Our command”. (Ash-Shura, 42: 53)

 

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) called his Ummah to the munificent blessing of it (i.e. Wahi).

 

Allah (swt) says: “O people of Faith! Respond to Allah and the Messenger when they call you towards that which will give you life.” (Al-Anfal, 8: 25)

 

Our beloved prophet Muhammad (pbuh) steered the Ummah towards the lofty and glorious heights of Wahi. Allah (swt) says: “[As for the true believers,] it is they in whose hearts Allah has inscribed faith, and whom He has strengthened with a Ruh (spiritual power) from Himself.” (Al-Mujadala, 58: 23)

 

Verily, Allah (swt) says: “Whoever practices righteousness be it male or female, and he (or she) as a believer, most assuredly We shall grant him (or her) a prosperous worldly life and (in the Hereafter) We shall reward them for the virtuous deeds they practiced.” (An-Nahl, 16: 98)

 

And Allah (swt) says: “Whoever turns away from My Remembrance, verily for him is adversity (even before Qiyama, i.e. in the grave or the Day of Judgement) and We will resurrect him blind on the Day of Qiyama”. (Ta Ha, 20: 125)

 

Regarding the people of Hell, Allah (swt) says: “Neither will they die therein nor will they be alive.” (Ta Ha, 20: 75)

 

Thus the life in the fire will be a life of misery in which there will be no comfort and prosperity. Although that life will not be death, it will also not be life.

 

On the basis of these Quranic verses and numerous others, the true spiritual life and the life of the Hereafter as well as the worldly life are rights which belong exclusively to the obedient servants of Allah (swt). This conclusion is manifest from many verses of the Holy Quran. In spite of the clarity of these verses, our Muslim brothers and sisters have become grossly forgetful of them and prefer to become blind and deaf to them, following the unbelievers in their wayward and destructive lives. Their indifference to the truth of Allah is so stark that one gains the impression that this matter and His proofs never even crossed their minds.

 

Those people who are Muslims in name only live only for this world. They forget the Hereafter (Aakhirah). They forget the Day of Resurrection when they will have to give an account of all their deeds and intentions before Allah, the day when truth will prevail and the culprits are to either receive the divine punishment or the mercy of Allah. Indeed, at the end of the day, it is Allah the Ultimate Judge.

 

Regarding Jannah, the essential and everlasting part of the Aakhirah (Hereafter) meant for the doers of good, the majority of the Muslims brothers and sisters do recognize to a degree that it is exclusive for obedient servants of Allah (swt). But, they will make no effort to form part of the elites. Thus, throughout the world we observe avalanches and mountains of hardship and misfortune continuously descending and crashing upon Muslims. They know about Islam, yet they do not put it into practice. They give lip-profession to the faith without implementing it with true faith and conviction. They have returned to the age of ignorance when the true faith was relegated to the last position. Instead, they hankered after the world and give precedence to the gods of their pleasures and desires.

 

The cause of this practical ignorance and misguidance today is intellectual ignorance. These practitioners do not fully acknowledge the divine declarations of the Quran and Ahadith which have pinpointed the root causes of the calamities which have overtaken the Ummah with such disastrous consequences as we behold. They proclaim that they have Imaan (faith) in them. What then is the meaning of their partial acknowledgement? Imaan in Allah and His Messenger means to acknowledge them and believe them to be truthful in every aspect, every statement and every deed. But, partial acceptance of some statements and rejection of some fall within the scope of the following verse in which Allah says: “What! Do you believe in part of the Book and reject part of the Book?” (Al-Baqara 2: 86)

 

Whoever will believe in the true teachings of Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) and put them into practice with true faith will acknowledge the efficacy and swiftness of cure of such divine remedies. He will be convinced of the efficacy of such remedies and wholeheartedly submit to the divine treatment.

 

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) conveyed his message to mankind with the greatest of affection and clarity. There exists not the slightest ambiguity in it. Now, application of the prescription offered by our beloved prophet (pbuh) depends on the fortune and misfortune of people. Those who decide to accept the prescription will be fortunate and successful while those who reject it will be encumbered with misfortune and failure. Whoever in the past did accept and utilise the divine prescription had attained certitude, rectitude, success and prosperity.

 

Muslims who have neglected the divine prescription despite their love for Allah and the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) have, nevertheless, been blessed. The reason for them being blessed in spite of their negligence is their belief and love for Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). But this blessing will be complete only when they would have grasped the true Islam in its entirety.

 

Today, by the grace of Allah, I have come from Allah unto mankind to guide them [i.e. you all Muslims and whole humanity] towards the reconstruction of the building of Islam. What is sad is that the Muslims have lent support to the infidels to demolish the foundation of Islam. But Allah is neither blind nor deaf. He sees all, and because of the love which they proclaim for Him and His Messenger (pbuh), Allah gives His servants a second chance to mould their lives in the true essence of Islam. That is why from time to time He sends His Chosen Messengers, the reformers of Islam to guide His lost servants back to the Tawheed (i.e. Unity of Allah), and to the true essence of Islam. This second chance is a mark of love from Allah. It is a way out of the darkness of everlasting misery and the chance to win His pleasure and the peaceful abode of the Hereafter.

 

Those bereft of faith and love the ways of the infidels more than the Way of Life perfected by Allah (i.e. Islam) are granted leeway because of the misfortune of their evil. They obtain temporary and superficial success and prosperity. But, in the Aakhirah they will be deprived of all prosperity and goodness. Thus, the prosperity they enjoy in this world is in reality only flimsy, and the adversities of the hereafter shall hold them hostage in their failure to adhere to the truth. For them there shall be no peace, tranquillity or sweetness of life despite their possession of external worldly comforts and luxuries. About such temporary and mundane success coupled with failure in the Hereafter, the Quran says:

 

“What! Do they think that by Our bestowal of wealth and sons to them, We are hastening goodness for them? In fact, they do not understand.” (Al-Mu’minun, 23: 56-57)

 

“Do not let their wealth nor do their children amaze you. Verily, Allah intends to punish them in the life of this world therewith, and their souls will depart while they are unbelievers.” (At-Tauba, 9: 55)

 

Since it has been established beyond doubt that prosperity and success are confined to the prescriptions of Allah and His Messenger Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), it devolves as a necessary obligation upon our Muslim brothers and sisters who are informed of the disease, but uninformed of the prescription, to permanently abandon their neglect, ignorance and indolence. It is incumbent upon them to utilize these divine and proven prescriptions so that they attain all forms of prosperity and success in abundance in both this world and the hereafter.

 

Keeping in view easy acquisition of benefit and the acceptability of the call (Dawat) to the masses, the various parts are Imaan, Ilm, Salaat, Zakaat, Quran, morals, transactions, acquisitions of Halal, Abstention from extravagance, stories of the prophets, duahs, etc.

 

Indeed all these are highly necessary in order to bring Islam to its pinnacle in our lives. Knowledge is an essential part of Faith. Muslims should know their Book and all teachings and tenets of Islam. The more we drift away from ignorance, the better. No one can ever mislead us. Do not believe hearsays. Go to the source. Seek the truth and the truth of Allah, of Islam will become resplendent before you, and when you have received this boon of faith, then perfect it [i.e. your Iman] and remain firm on Islam.

 

May Allah help you all to understand comprehensively this sermon and to establish yourselves on Iman and Islam with true devotion so as to become true Muslims who shall bring forward the glory of victory of Islam. Insha-Allah, Ameen.


---Friday Sermon of 19 February 2021~ 07 Rajab 1442 AH delivered by Imam-Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.