Read the Friday Sermon Below:
To Each His/ Her Religion!
We read in the Holy Quran: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Say, “O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you
worshippers of what I worship. Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship.
Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. For you is your religion, and
for me is my religion.”(Surah Al-Kafirun, Chapter
109)
In the face of adverse and hostile conditions, the believer must remain firm in his faith and the Surah [chapter] – which I have just recited before you – does not ask us to adopt a sympathetic attitude towards the unbelievers but on the contrary: If the unbelievers question the very basis of the Islamic concepts, then, there is no possible compromise between the way of life of the believer and the unbeliever.
Here and elsewhere in the Holy Quran, Allah the Almighty mentions the distinction between believers and unbelievers by comparing the first as ‘living beings’ because by accepting the truth they have chosen a new life while the unbelievers are compared to the dead [corpses] because their belief has killed all spirituality.
Allah (twt) says in the Holy
Quran: “Those blind and those who can see are not equal, nor are the
darkness and the light, nor are the shade and the heat, nor are the dead and
the living equal.” (Al-Fatir 35:
20-23)
“The (true) believers are only those whose hearts tremble at the remembrance of Allah, whose faith increases when His revelations are recited to them, and who put their trust in their Lord.” (Al-Anfal 8: 3)
The Holy Quran addresses to the
unbelievers as opponents of God and His Messengers; hypocrites who say they
believe but who tend to frustrate the divine plan and who seek to lead their
fellow human beings astray by resorting to lies and deception. Allah warns
these people: “They are the ones whose hearts, ears, and eyes are sealed by
Allah, and it is they who are (truly) heedless. Without a doubt, they will be
the losers in the Hereafter.” (An-Nahl, 16:
109-110).
Killings in the name of Religion/s
We all wonder why wars and massacres happen, and history shows us that many people have died in the name of religion more than in the name of any other cause. Technical and scientific progress is used for ethnic cleansing and for the creation of a new world order.
Bosnia, India and the destruction of the Babri Mosque prompted Muslims and Hindus to kill each other; there is also Israel and the occupied territories of Gaza and the West where Jews and Muslims have waged a merciless war for decades with no hope that things will ever change.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh,
Muslims kill other Muslims; in Algeria, as well as in Afghanistan too. I
specify that we must not ignore the signs around us and show ourselves more
generous and sympathetic towards our victim brothers.
Islam teaches us the love of peace because Islam means peace and harmony. However, if we are not at peace with [or have peace in] ourselves, we will not be able to be at peace with others. Peace comes with faith, with the conviction of divine existence.
In the Holy Quran, Allah (twt) says: “Those who believe and whose hearts find comfort in the remembrance of Allah. Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find comfort.” (Ar-Raad, 13: 29)
The religion of Islam propagates peace and condemns chaos and disorder: “Do not spread corruption in the land.” (Al-Baqara 2: 12).
The sine qua non condition for peace is to promote justice and compassion: “Verily, Allah commands righteousness [justice] and doing good.” (An-Nahl 16: 91).
Didn’t the Holy Prophet (pbuh)
say: “He who supports his clan in
aggression and he who calls on others to support tyranny is not one of us.”
Nowadays, with the progress we have made in terms of information, we could believe that people are more informed about the other and his religion and therefore to be more tolerant but this is not the case. People no longer believe in religion and they have even become intolerant of all forms of religion. Prejudice arises from intolerance and ignorance.
Islam is the only religion that recognizes all prophets.
Allah (twt) commands all believers to say: “We make no distinction between any of them [i.e. the Messengers of Allah]. And to Allah we all submit.” (Al-Baqara 2: 137)
Allah Almighty reminds us that all messengers come from Him and therefore no Muslim has the right to denigrate another religion or to treat other people as inferior beings. Even though many Muslims consider themselves superior to other non-Muslims, Allah will ignore this criterion in accessing His favours on the Day of Judgment. Heaven is not the private good of Muslims because Heaven is open to all pious and good people.
“For the believers [in Islam and in Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)],
the Jews, the Sabians, and the Christians- those who believe in God and the
Last Day and do good deeds- there is no fear: they will not grieve.” (Al-Maida 5: 70).
The eyes of the world today turn to Muslims whenever we talk about terrorism and war. The world views Muslims as an aggressive race and Islam as a violent religion. A dramatic irony when Islam means submission and peace!
“Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best.” (An-Nahl 16: 126)
As Muslims, the Holy Quran asks us to tell Jews and Christians that the central point of our belief is submission to Allah.
“Let there be no compulsion in religion, for the truth stands
out clearly from falsehood.” (Al-Baqara 2:
257)
No wonder, however, that any deviation from basic concepts of religion inevitably leads to “a war of religions”. The religion of Islam teaches tolerance, charity, justice and instead of promoting these teachings, there are people who incite others to hatred [in the name of Islam]. Yet the message of the Holy Quran enjoins us to speak the universal language of the oneness of God.
“Say, ‘O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you - that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah’.” (Al-Imran 3: 65)
True to this philosophy, the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) wrote: “The time of peace will come when there will be no more war. Mankind will forget the after-effects of war.” (Ruhani Kazhaa’in Vol. 7 pg. 78)
War is multi-faceted - if people are not physically wiped out, they slowly but surely poison their lives. They are surrounded by materialism, the thirst for power and honour, dishonesty, lies, duplicity, greed, drugs, crime, and this so-called modern society of ours is addicted to immediate and brief pleasures. Traditional values are out of fashion, single parents are fashionable. Gone are the Spartan days when people resisted temptations and now the fashion is following the company of debauched, followers of the gurus of alcohol and other intoxicants.
However, we should not despair because Islam tells us that Good is clearly distinguished from Evil, as well as Truth from Lies and that we should not despair of Divine Grace. Let us pray that the future generation will find in themselves the will to say no to error, the strength to fight against what is bad with the good and to say in the face of opposition and adversity: “For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.”
May Allah guide all believers in the Ummah of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to closely monitor their true faith in the One God - Allah (twt) - and may the sun shine on Islam again, Insha-Allah. Ameen, Summa Ameen, Ya Rabbul Aalameen.