Speaking about the larger message of Surah Al Jumu’ah, Hazrat Khalifatullah Al Mahdi (aba) notes the dynamics of decline and renewal in the spiritual world. When people ignore Divine commandments in a phase of time and Imaan flies away from amongst them to the Pleiades, it is the Sunnat Allah to raise some purified individuals to bring it back and establish the spiritual way. These chosen servants of God are raised in the mantle of the Prophets of the past. As high representatives of Divine Trust on earth, these sages are devoted to the Pure Way- the true living heirs of the Holy Prophet (sa). Hence, in this era of spiritual neglect, Allah (swt) has raised His Khalifatullah (aba) to renew the days of the Prophet and his spiritual practice as a grand blessing for those who believe and follow guidance, Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah.
Read the Friday Sermon Below:
The Importance of Jumu’ah (Sermon & Prayer)
Islam is a religion that characterizes
community life. Muslims are called to meet five times a day in congregation to
accomplish the five daily prayers. These meetings allow them to get to know
each other better, to love each other more and to help each other if necessary.
Friday is, in fact, the day that most
characterizes this social nature; it is one of the most dazzling days of
Muslims. It is the weekly holiday of the Muslim world.
Friday is of an important capital for us,
humanity, because it is on this day that Allah, the Creator par excellence,
created the first man, Adam (as). In a Hadith, Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra) reports:
“The Messenger of Allah once took me by the hand and said: ‘God created the
matter of the earth on Saturday, He created the mountains on Sunday, He created
the trees on Monday, He created evil [harmful things] on Tuesday, He created
light on Wednesday, He scattered everything that moves thereupon on Thursday,
He created Adam after the second afternoon prayer (Asr) on Friday at the end of
all creation, at the last hour of the day between afternoon and night.”
(Muslim)
Other events that make Friday a day like no
other can be summarized as follows:
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Friday
is the best of days. It contains five characteristics: The creation of Adam
(as). Besides, there is an hour during which Allah grants everything to His
servant who asks Him except if he asks something unlawful. The Hour will come
on that day. All the angels, the heavens, the earth, the wind and the mountains
are afraid of Friday.” (Ibn Majah)
Formerly known as Arubah among the Arabs
in pre-Islamic times, Friday was renamed “Yaum’ul Jumu’ah” with the advent of
Islam symbolizing the congregational day of Muslims.
Before the advent of Islam, choosing a day of
the week and devoting it to divine worship and adopting it as an emblem of the
community was a common practice among the people of the Ancient Books. The Jews
chose the “Sabat” (Saturday) because this day marks the liberation of
the children of Israel from the dictatorship of Pharaoh. The Christians, on the
other hand, opted for Sunday.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “And
it was this day of theirs about which they disagreed, but Allah guided us to
it, and that is Friday for us; the next day is for the Jews and the day
following for the Christians.” (Muslim)
Muslims have been privileged to have Friday
prescribed by Allah Himself. This means that we will precede them (the Jews and
the Christians) even in the other world. Friday will be an unprecedented day
for the inhabitants of Paradise.
According to Anas (ra), the Messenger of Allah
(pbuh) said: “In Paradise there is a market to which the people will come
every Friday. The northern wind will blow and shower fragrance on their faces
and clothes and, consequently, it will enhance their beauty and loveliness.
They will then return to their wives who will also have increased in their
beauty and loveliness, and their families will say to them: ‘We swear by Allah
that you have been increased in beauty and loveliness since leaving us.’
Thereupon they will reply: ‘We swear by Allah that you have also been increased
in beauty and loveliness since we left you.’” (Muslim)
“O you who believe!
When the call to prayer is made on the day of congregation, hurry towards the
reminder of God and leave off your trading–that is better for you, if only you
knew– Once the prayer is over, disperse throughout the land and seek the bounty
of Allah. And remember Allah often so you may be successful.” (Al-Jumu’ah, 62: 10-11)
The chapter wherein these particular verses
appear, i.e. the Surah Al-Jumu’ah, has been revealed several years after the
Hijra. It explains the importance of the Friday Prayer to all Muslim believers,
men, women and children, and ordains them all [Muslim men, women and children] –
making it obligatory – to attend the Friday Sermons and Prayers. Indeed, I have
talked lengthily on this very important subject in the past.
In addition, emphasis is placed on the
prohibition of all transactions and on the eagerness to remember Allah. The
believer should strive to go to the mosque early on Fridays because it is a
great virtue to be present early for the Jumu’ah prayer.
The faithful must be, on his way to the mosque,
until the hour of prayer aware that he is responding to God’s call on Friday
and that he is doing it diligently to implore His forgiveness and His
satisfaction. Whoever goes for Friday prayer at the first hour, it is as if he
were presenting a she-camel as an offering to God, whoever goes at the second
hour it is as if he were offering a cow, at the third hour a ram, at the fourth
hour a hen, at the fifth hour an egg.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “Men would run
like camels for three things if they knew their value: the call to prayer, the
front row, and going early in the morning for Friday prayers.”
In the first century [of Islam], you could see
at dawn the paths filled with people who jostled each other like on the days of
Eid, on their way to the mosque. Then, this phenomenon disappeared and one
could say: ‘The first innovation that took place in Islam was to stop going
early in the morning for Friday prayers.’
How are Muslims not ashamed of the fact that
the Jews and Christians rush early in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays to
get to the Synagogue and to the Church? And how do those who seek Heaven not
get up earlier than those who seek the goods of this world and go early in the
morning to the market to sell and buy and make a profit?
In a very severe Hadith, the Holy Prophet
(pbuh) warned all those who abstain from Salat-ul-Jumu’ah out of sheer
laziness and negligence.
Hazrat Abu Al-Jad (ra) narrates that the Holy
Prophet (pbuh) said: “If a man does not make three Jumu’ah [in a row] by
negligence, Allah seals his heart and he will not be able to do good deeds.”
(Abu Dawud)
It is also recommended to remember Allah a lot
on this day and send a lot of Darood Shareef on our beloved Prophet (pbuh). Aws
Ibn Aws reported the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) as saying: “Among the most
excellent of your days is Friday; so invoke many blessings on me on that day,
for your blessing will be submitted to me.” They (the Companions) asked: “Messenger
of Allah, how can our blessings be submitted to you, when your body has
decayed?” He (pbuh) said: “Allah has prohibited the earth from consuming
the bodies of Prophets.” (Abu Dawud)
So, all of you answer the call to Friday
prayer. Strive to make Jumu’ah a religious day firmly established in your
morals. Make arrangements for you to be released from work so that you can go
to the mosque for Friday prayers. You can protect your children from perdition
by cultivating in them the habit of preparing for and going to the mosque for
Friday prayers.
Moreover, Allah (twt) says: “He it is Who has raised among the Unlettered people a
Messenger from among themselves who recites unto them His Signs, and purifies
them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom, although they had been, before, in
manifest misguidance; And (He will send him among) others from among them who
have not yet joined them. He is the Mighty, the Wise.” (Al-Jumu’ah 62: 3-4)
When this verse was revealed, Hazrat Abu
Huraira (ra) was very delighted to hear the announcement that like a prophet
had come among the Ummiyyin (the Arabs), so the Prophet was going to
come among the Aakhireen (i.e., others – in the last days). He asked the
Prophet (pbuh): “Man hum ya Rassullullah?” (Who are they, O Prophet of
Allah?) The Prophet did not answer until I repeated three times. At that time
Salman the Persian was with us. So, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) put his hand
on Salman Farsi [Persian/Iranian], saying: “Even if the faith went to the
Pleiades, a man or men [Abu Huraira had forgotten if the Prophet had said men
or a man] of his family (i.e., of Persian descent) would bring it back.”
(Bukhari)
Two things clearly follow from this tradition:
1)
A day will come when the faith
will fly away from the hearts of Muslims, that is to say, when their religious
condition will become very weak.
2)
In this time of the weakening
of religious belief a man of Persian blood will appear. He will be a Messenger
and an Envoy from God. He will breathe new faith into the hearts of Muslims.
Thus, this Hadith, reinforced by Verses 3-4 of
the Surah Al-Jumu’ah, refers to the same spiritual phenomenon which will take
place at some later time through a great deputy of the Noble Prophet Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh), such a Reviver of Faith, Messiah, Khalifatullah who shall come
to uphold the Tawheed [i.e. the Unicity of Allah] and the honour of the
Founder and Holy Prophet of Islam. Such manifestations of the Holy Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) had appeared, has appeared [is present among you in this era]
and will appear in Islam, as per the promise of Allah in the Holy Quran, and as
prophesied in the many other Scriptures concerning him, and the Surah also
gives a severe warning to the Muslims against behaving like the Jews and the
Christians when the Khalifatullah and Reviver of the Faith of Islam appears
among them.
It is interesting how the Holy Prophet (pbuh)
showed who are the Aakhireen, that is to say, those who in the end times
will become faithless like the Ummiyun (illiterate Arabs) and he also
showed who will be the Rasulan (prophet), that is to say, he will be as
the prophet (pbuh) prophesied: a member of his Ahle Bait (of his house/
family).
My brothers and sisters, it is a blessing from Allah. He promised it and He always keeps His promises. Insha-Allah, Ameen.