Allah revealed to me this verse which is found in Surah Al-Baqara, where He says: “Surely Allah does not shy away from using the parable of a small beast [insect/ mosquito/ gnat] or what is even smaller. As for the believers, they know that it is the truth from their Lord. And as for the disbelievers, they argue, “What does Allah mean by such a parable?” Through this ˹test˺, He leaves many to stray, and guides many. And He leaves none to stray except the rebellious.” (Al-Baqara 2: 27)
To fully understand the meaning of these verses, we must know under what circumstances they were revealed… After the emigration (Hijrat) of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to Medina, a new group was formed among the population, alongside the Muslims and Jews: The Munafiqun (hypocrites). The latter were basically troublemakers, true disbelievers, dangerous and wicked; nevertheless, outwardly they showed their belongingness to Islam and this mainly with the aim of satisfying some of their material interests.
Allah (swt) says in the Quran: “Their situation is like that of a man who kindles a fire, and when it illuminates everything around him, Allah takes away their lights and leaves them in layers of darkness, so that they see nothing. Deaf, dumb, and blind; they will not return [to the straight path]. Or they are like those who encounter a violent rainstorm from the sky, accompanied by pitch-dark clouds, thunder-claps and flashes of lightning: on hearing thunder-claps they thrust their fingers into their ears in fear of death. But Allah ever encompasses the disbelievers. Lightning almost snatches their sight away: each time it lights things up for them, they walk along in it, while when darkness settles down on them, they stand stock still. If Allah (God) wanted, He would take away their hearing and eyesight; for Allah has power over all things.” (Al-Baqara 2: 18-21).
So, at the beginning of Surah Al-Baqara their attitude is very severely condemned and denounced through two major comparisons: that of a burning fire which is then extinguished and darkness envelops them, and secondly that of large clouds, lightning and thunder where they think they can escape with Allah’s punishments if they continue with their evil plans to exterminate Islam and Muslims. Moreover, Allah has also called them blind, deaf and dumb.
Deeply annoyed by the statement of these verses, of these Qur’anic revelations, the hypocrites referred to then began to criticize the Qur’anic text by arguing that it was not appropriate for Divine Wisdom to cite as examples things as banal as the rain, thunder, lightning (these were precisely the elements mentioned in the comparisons condemning them). They sought to sow the seed of doubt and confusion regarding the revelations of the Quran in the hearts of the people.
So Verse 27 of Surah Al-Baqara, Chapter 2
of the Qur’anic text provides an answer to their remark, since the metaphorical
examples aim, above all, to clarify as much as possible the vague or abstract
notions or realities, and this, in order to touch and challenge the
interlocutor as deeply as possible to become aware of this message that Allah
wants to pass.
So in light of this Qur’anic verse that I have just quoted in front of you, I thought it was wise - very important - to point out two things:
First, it is that in this verse it is a small beast [insect], a small “mosquito/ gnat” or even smaller still such as a “virus” which has been chosen to be presented as an example of an insignificant creature; and it is precisely this “insect” so tiny and so frail that has been transformed for some time, for us (all humanity), into a real threat, an enemy that we fear so much that the great means have had to be deployed to counter them. The army has been called to the rescue in this case and the soldiers are already in action on the ground, and reinforcements are on the way!
My brothers and sisters, what is happening around the world is a great lesson in humility for each of us. It brutally reminds us how weak, powerless and vulnerable we are, and that, whatever our wealth, our physical strength, our beauty, our notoriety, in the face of this Covid-19 pandemic, we are indeed all in the same boat, that is to say, that of this invisible virus, this beast, smaller than a mosquito, and which man has nicknamed: Coronavirus, Covid-19. We can say that this beast, this “mosquito” does not ask permission from anyone before attacking.
The second point I would like to highlight: O humanity in general, your attention is an even more worrying reality: the Muslim must know that his Iman (his faith) is and will always be exposed to more or less serious threats. So he must take every precaution to preserve his faith. His attention must be focused on preserving his Iman and not falling into the trap of Munafiqun (hypocrites) and Kafir (infidels).
At the time of the birth of Islam through the revelation of the Qur’an, dangers came from the constant efforts of the opponents of Islam to destabilize Islam and the Muslims. And among these opponents, there were the hypocrites who played a very bad role; for example, they objected to the Qur’anic wisdom and thus questioned its veracity.
Today, the greatest risk for our Iman (faith) is probably the ultra materialistic way of life in which we evolve: its attractions, its temptations and its pleasures are indeed, completely stifling our spirituality and us - Muslims and the human race - making us totally lose our sense of responsibility without even realizing it. We have come to a point where, in our daily life, our attitude is exclusively dictated by our material desires. To fully understand this, just take a simple example: fraud and corruption, transactions based around Riba (interest), alcohol, drugs, theft, rape, crime, lies, hatred, electoral bribes to take power, etc. The list is very long. All this is very severely condemned in Islam.
Last month, exactly one month ago, on 05 February 2021 I spoke about Riba (interest).
Yet this capital sin in the situation where
people take out loans (loans with a certain percentage of interest that must be
paid) only in order to improve their material conditions without worrying about
their spirituality, and where then buying a new car or simply changing the
brand of car to a newer one becomes more important to them than praying to
Allah and seeking His help and blessings. So all these credits tighten their
necks like a snake and poison their lives. For their part, they lose their spirituality
and where then they compete for more material comforts instead of the comforts
of Aakhirat (the hereafter).
Man is never satisfied with what he already has. He always tries to have more. And so he incurs debts and agrees to pay interest to fulfil those desires. This attitude shows how much we [humans] have become a very good product of our consumer society. The financial sharks use us as bait to drink our blood and do whatever they want with us. They know very well that a desire that we have today will very quickly turn into a need that must be satisfied without delay, by one means or another ... Whether it is lawful or not does not matter. And so a lot of people get tempted by these desires, and in order to get what they want, they don’t consider whether that thing is Halal (lawful) or Haram (unlawful). To them, that doesn’t matter in the least, as long as they get everything they want.
In this century, I address you all – all of humanity – and more particularly my brothers, sisters and children of the Islamic faith. Let us take the firm resolution to initiate without delay an effort of resistance in the face of these derivatives of the ultra materialism which has monopolized the world and its inhabitants, and this, by uniting ourselves and by acting to restore a balance between the respect of our obligatory spiritual duties and the satisfaction of our material needs. There must be a balance between the two. The material desires and goals of this world must not make us forget our Creator and fall into the trap of Satans, for then we will be the losers. We must take it upon ourselves and erase all traces of hypocrisy that we [Muslims] have in the face of our Islam. If we say that we are Muslims, we have to become real Muslims, not Muslims just on the lips. We must do everything in our power so that the hypocrites and infidels do not destabilize us from our goal that Allah has set for us.
Bear well in mind that the hypocrites and the infidels are as Allah described in the Qur’an, as I mentioned at the beginning [of my sermon]. They are not at all in the interests of the truth and of those who have real faith. They seek to create doubts and confusion in the hearts of believers to deviate them from the right path.
Faced with the trials of this Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, it becomes very clear that it is time for the Muslim world to realize the critical situation it is in, and then we obviously need [that is to say - all Muslims, the Ummah] to redouble our invocations, first in favour of those who are affected by all this. May Allah grant them a quick and lasting cure and make this virus a means of forgiveness for them and so that they perceive the truth of Islam. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
We must also call on Allah to make this
Covid-19 pandemic disappear as quickly as possible, and we implore Allah to
protect us all against this scourge. Ameen.
In any case, these current events have this positive aspect for us man [the human race] where Almighty God (Allah) gives us the opportunity to remind ourselves of a reality that before we could not have realized it as we were so immersed in materialism and the search for pleasure in this world only. And where then man had forgotten His Master. But we must always keep in mind, we must never forget that it is Allah alone Who has the power to help us and put this world back on its balance and banish all the dangers that are deadly for us. Our only comfort and help is found only in our Almighty Creator.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) made it very clear in a Hadith that faith is not something that as soon as you acquire it, you believe it will remain in your possession all the time. Remember that you have to take good care of your faith or you risk losing it. As Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) prophesied, there will come a time when the believer will be a believer in the morning but will become Kafir [unfaithful/ a disbeliever] in the evening.
Although we are in a new century, the hatred and aversion of Islamophobes [against Islam] is not diminishing: the affair of the insulting and hurtful caricatures of certain imbalanced minds [where their minds are filled with hatred against Islam] and all the actions that some governments and even others have taken against Muslims are very hurtful examples of the plight in which Islam finds itself trapped today.
I stop right here hoping that the Muslims realize their mistakes and don’t give up and we all unite for the pleasure of Allah, to bring back the glory of Islam that our beloved master Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had brought. May Allah give me the Tawfiq to continue next week on the subject of this pandemic which is ravaging the world. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
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