Reforming Self and the World

 

Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 1

 

Today I will talk to you about a very important subject: The Invitation to Allah. I will speak on this subject just as the Quran says that the invitation to Allah begins in your own homes. As long as we do not invite our own beings to Allah and respond favourably to that invitation, then there will be no [doing of] good deeds. And if there are no good deeds, then the invitation to Allah will become something meaningless.

 

So, see the excellent condition put forward by the Quran to embellish “Invitation to Allah” [Dawat-i-Illallah]. We have been commanded to invite others but also to invite our own selves as well. Indeed, if you invite your own selves to Allah, it is then that you will get the right to invite others as well; otherwise, that latter invitation would be in vain. There is a saying in English as thus: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’ Therefore, people [in the world] could say: ‘Oh, is it you who has come to cure others? Go and cure yourself first!’

 

So, as much as a person makes his own reform, he gains the equivalent opportunity to invite people to Allah. But you can’t wait for your own reformation to invite others. This is the important point that I want to make you understand today. A person cannot say that until he makes his reform completely, then the Quran does not give him the right to invite others to Allah. This is a wrong reasoning because self-reform is something that is continual. 

An excellent example that the Quran has given us is the example of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and all the prophets who followed him. Followed him in the sense that the example that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) gave - in the nearness of Allah - and that he possessed, and in the excellent qualities that he had, then there is no prophet who was able to surpass him in these fields, neither before him nor after him. Although prophets came before Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), there are also those who will continue to come after him, under his command, remaining connected with his teaching, but in the manifestation of these qualities, they are always behind him. They could not surpass him, nor will they ever be able to surpass him.

 

So, in that sense, it’s not at all an imaginary thing that I’m saying, but it’s a 100% correct thing. It is in the excellent example of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) itself that there is the journey of all the prophets. And it is them the first group of those who walk in the Seeratwal Mustakim [straight path], those who continue to walk forward in the straight path. Allah has taught us an invocation [duah]: Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your favours.

 

The first group in this straight path had gone so far ahead that there is no doubt that no one, however good he is, can ever truly conceive [have an idea of] the excellent examples of their leader and our leader, i.e., Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), unless Allah Himself raises and guides someone Himself! And in the time before us, it is for Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) that Allah gave the opportunity to go into the depth of the excellent qualities of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). Never before has anyone before Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) been able to journey into this excellent example of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) with such affection and closeness. And it is Allah Who gave him the Tawfiq to penetrate this Seerat. And it was this Seerat that became his Duniya [world] because in all his writings and words, that is what he said, that everything he acquired, he got all of them from [his attachment and belongingness to] Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).

 

So after the praises of Allah that he made, each time he returned to the praise of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and he made us understand that it is through Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) that he had succeeded in gaining closeness to Allah. Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) is such a prophet who takes your hand and shows you the inner beauties. It is in this context that we say that an ordinary person cannot even have an idea of the excellent stage and greatness that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had. We, too, would have to see these excellent qualities of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) through the eyes of Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) for us to truly enjoy this. Otherwise we too would have perceived this only outwardly.

 

Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) has acquired a special rank. Like Allah grabbed the hand of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and made him travel inside His house, likewise for Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) it is as if he has managed to get inside the house of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). When you look at the excerpts from the writings of Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) and his poems, then you will find that it is really very difficult to follow this prophet whose name is Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). When all lifelong we follow him, despite this, we will not succeed in accomplishing all the rights as a true follower of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). These are the secrets of the spiritual world and perhaps many ordinary [common] people do not understand them. But it is only in general everyday life that you experience this.

 

When you look at a champion of any sport and find him facing so many opponents, then you cannot even conceive what a great champion he is. Even for his opponents who are champions of other countries, you couldn’t even conceive of their status. Even for a champion in your region, you couldn’t even conceive. You have to face him, and that’s when you can know by how much he’s ahead of you. Forget the champion of your region; even for the champion of the school [your school/ a school] too it is like this.

 

So I’m talking about these ordinary people about whom there is not even any comparison between them and their champion, be it the region champion or the school champion. Now you can have an idea how great the international champions are. And you are quietly at home, where you watch their match, and where you even notice their mistakes. On top of that, you even comment that had they done this and that, then it would have been better; better had they played in such a way. But in fact you cannot even conceive the distance which there is between you and these champions.

 

In the spiritual world, to conceive this is even more difficult, because Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) was not the champion of an era only, but the universal champion of all eras, ever since the world was created and until it will last. It is Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) himself who will have the upper hand in everything. We too are following him, when we took the oath of allegiance with Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) [i.e. when we pledged our bond and connection with the Promised Messiah]. And you see how this destination is still very far away. We have yet a long way to go, but we should never give up.

 

So if you think that you must first arrive at that destination, to be able to begin doing Tabligh, then this is a foolishness that exceeds all limits because verily, if ever you do not arrive at such a destination immediately but very late in your life, does that mean you will never do Tabligh? The result is that you wasted your life completely and lost everything you had too.

 

The topic about inviting your own being to Allah and then doing good deeds, and then waiting that there be strength in your calling, this subject does not give you the right to expect that it is only when you have abandoned all your bad deeds and adopted all the good deeds, it is then that you start doing Tabligh. No. If so, then it means that in the whole world, apart from Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), there will never be anyone who can do Tabligh [because he was the one who had attained perfection]. For the position [or stage of honour and perfection] that Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had attained, even his greatest companions could not even reach. They were far from that.

 

So remove that idea or imagination from your mind. This subject is verily very important. But [at the same time] you cannot even say also that you can reform the world, without first reforming yourselves. There should be equilibrium [balance] between the two. You need to make the necessary efforts. You should at least reach halfway in this self-reform so that you may reach that equilibrium.

 

This is what I wanted to explain to you and make you understand and at the same time give you the courage that the more steps you will take ahead with duahs and with the intention of self-reformation, then you will certainly get the [positive] result [of your efforts]. It is not possible that after doing so many duahs and constantly making efforts to reduce the evils in you and increasing your good deeds that Allah does not help you! [Not possible! Allah will help you].

 

Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) has said [in a Hadith-e-Qudsi] that the one who takes a step towards Allah, Allah takes ten steps towards him. One who walks to Allah, Allah runs to him. It means that the fruits that we reap, as a result of our duahs, are greater in amount that all the efforts that we do.

 

So, make an analysis of your own beings. Each person is plunged in his own loads of mistakes. This that particular day [and moment] must be a decisive day that: “From now on, my journey will be such a journey which takes me away from all evils and makes me come close to [doing] good deeds.” The day you take such a decision, such a resolution, then as from that day you will get the drive and opportunity to invite others to Allah and you get the permission to deliver that invitation. The fact remains it is not only through your efforts alone that you will get such an opportunity. Remember that if through your efforts alone you do not achieve anything, but both prayers and efforts will make you achieve it. Both prayers [supplications to Allah] and efforts are needed as a consolidating force to attain to the proximity of Allah [by inviting others to Him]. And thus, that saying of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) will be applied in your favour. And as a result of this, your spiritual health will get better and better every day. It will be improved and fortified. The capacities of such a person will increase, and through his own will he will want to achieve good.

 

You must keep in mind that every person has gone through the experience of illness – physical and spiritual. No one grows spiritually strong and healthy like that. When even that person's [physical] illness is at its peak, even then a person understands and thinks that he is alive. But he is neither hungry nor thirsty and neither wants to talk to people. He only knows that he is alive. That's all. But when he fully recovers and life returns [to him], well then, every moment that comes, he feels himself improve and he thus starts again to have his appetite back, feeling hunger and thirsty and having back all his cravings. He wants once again to join his friends whom he did not want to meet. So, he regains all his pleasures. This is the state of the situation that each person experiences when he is sick. And every step he takes towards improving his health is such a step that gives him great satisfaction.

 

In the spiritual life also it is the same thing. Whenever you make efforts to get away from these evils and at the same time you prayer [supplicate Allah in duahs], you will succeed in your journey because without duahs this journey is not possible. So every step you take forward, then it will be like you get a new taste of life. And it is you, who will testify more of this, that: “It is indeed true, that I am becoming once more alive.” And it is this very life that will give you the opportunity to invite people to Allah. And the more you make this invitation according to the right principles, the more you will be successful and people will be attracted to your invitation. Do not wait infinitely by saying that if you don’t rid yourselves from all your weaknesses, then you won’t be able to invite people to Allah, and you must not also convince yourselves that you have your whole life before you and you can do this work of inviting others to Allah at a later time, a later date. You must not have this frame of mind, preferring to enjoy this world or doing nothing concrete and saying that you will do the work of Dawa/ Tabligh later on in your life.

 

If you do like that, it's actually a waste of your whole life. It is necessary to start this fight right away. And without duahs and without trust upon Allah, this struggle cannot remain alive. Keep doing duahs and keep trusting in Allah and then make sincere efforts. These are things that will give you new life and new strength and you will gain the ability to awaken your environment. But if you don't do this, then your invitation to Allah will be useless and fruitless [will not yield any fruit]. Although sometimes people will accept your point of view, but real change that has to occur, it only through good deeds that this can occur.

 

I pray that every Muslim, every member of Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, every one of my followers will make the necessary efforts in self-reform and Tabligh. In both areas, you must make this effort if you want Islam to be victorious. Make yourselves become the instruments of Allah. “Do not object to the Will of God, of Allah if you want to conquer the world to Allah.” 

Insha-Allah, this sermon does not end here; it's a long one and Insha-Allah, I will continue on the same subject next Friday.

---Friday Sermon of 04 February 2022~02 Rajab 1443 AH delivered by Imam-Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius.