The Divinely-Elected Imam & True Guidance (Part 2)
“One day We shall call together all human beings with their (respective) Imams; those who are given their record in their right hand will read it (with pleasure), and they will not be dealt with unjustly in the least.” (Al-Isra 17: 72)
Alhamdulillah Summa Alhamdulillah, I continue today the second part of my subject on
the explanation of the verse which I have just recited before you.
Allah says: “those who are given their record in their right hand will read it (with pleasure)” – This is the Quranic metaphor for passing the test of faith and for undergoing all trials successfully. The right hand is a symbol of blessing while the left is that of punishment. Also in the human body the right side enjoys superiority over the left since the tissues of the right side are generally stronger than those of the left.
The giving of the record of one’s deeds in one’s right
hand as mentioned in this verse signifies that it will be a favourable and
blessed record. Again, the right hand signifies strength and power. Almighty
Allah made it clear in the Holy Quran in Surah Al-Haqqa that if the prophet had
lied about His revelations, He would have surely seized him by the right hand would
have cut his life vein.
So, this is the clear argument for the validation of
the truthfulness of a prophet of Allah or the fallacy of a false claimant to prophethood
because here the argument is given that if the Holy Prophet (pbuh) had been a
forger of lies, Allah’s Strong Hand would have seized him by the throat and he
would, certainly, have met with a violent death and his whole work and mission
would have gone to pieces, as such in the fate of a false prophet. And this
applies to all who place a claim to prophethood and for every forger of lies
the same punishment of God awaits them.
So, the holding by believers of their records in their
right hands is meant to signify that they had taken hold of virtue with strength
and resolution while the holding by disbelievers of their records in their left
hands would signify that they did not strive after virtue with requisite
strength and zeal.
The next verse Allah says: “But
those who were blind in this world, will be blind in the hereafter, and most
astray from the Path.”
Meaning that, those who do not see Allah’s signs and refuse
to believe in Him and the Messenger He elects and sends to them will be blind
in the Hereafter, and this blindness causes them to go far more astray from the
path of Allah, of Islam and True Righteousness.
So, on the Day of Judgement the children of light will
receive and peruse their record, and will render joyful thanks to Allah for His
Mercies. What of the children of darkness? They had already been blind in the
life of this world and they will not receive the light of God’s countenance even
then. On the contrary they will find that the longer the time they have
travelled, the farther away they have gone from the path.
The Quran speaks of those who do not ponder over the
signs of Allah and do not benefit by them as “blind”. Such men will remain
spiritually blind in the next life also. Almighty Allah made it clear in the
Holy Quran that whosoever turns away from His Reminder i.e. neither believes in
His Quran nor acts on its teaching, such a one is bound to go astray. He who
turns away from the remembrance of Allah will have a straitened life and on the
Day of Resurrection Allah shall raise them up blind.
The one who consigns Allah to oblivion in this life
and leads a life which obstructs or impedes his spiritual development and thus
deprives himself of heavenly light, will be born blind at the time of his
second birth in the hereafter. This will be because his soul in his life which
will serve as a body for a more spiritually developed soul in the next world
had become blind; this is because he has led a life of sin in this world. On
the Day Allah the Almighty shall present Hell to the disbelievers in plain view
– to those whose eyes had been under a covering from God’s Reminder (i.e. the
Holy Quran) and could not bear to hear it – those people will surely be in a
great torment. In form every Message which a Prophet brings is a new one, but
in substance and essence it is the same old message.
The Men of God are not like vulgar soothsayers, who
pretend to reveal hidden treasures, or peep into future, or claim to be
something of a different nature from men. They deal out God’s great treasures
of truth, but the treasures are not theirs, but Allah’s. They have greater
insight into the higher things but that insight is not due to their own wisdom,
but to God’s inspiration; they are of the same flesh and blood with the rest of
mankind, and the sublime nature of their words and teaching arises through
God’s grace – to them and to those who hear them.
Therefore, never compare the Men of God with ordinary
men. Despite sharing the blood of humanity in them, yet their spiritual nature
is very different. God chooses His Messengers. Blindness does not form part of
their attribute for Allah saves them for falling prey to the Satans. Thus, the
perception and analysis of the “seeing” is far different from the “blind”. The
Men of God, although being men, yet they carry in them a higher light with them
which the common man does not have. Though they are men, they are not as other
men, and are entitled to reverence but not worship, for only Allah is worthy of
being worshipped.
The infidels did not believe in the revelations that
the Holy Prophet (pbuh) recited before them, and they used to trouble him,
whereby they said that he made up those words, gathering them [word by word]
and passing them off as revelations. Nobody can ever produce such a composition
of words such as the Holy Quran; no other compositions of man will ever be able
to equal the beauty, power and spiritual insight of the Quran. Without [Divine]
inspiration, it is impossible to suppose that a person, with his literary and
philosophical training, could produce such a book as the Quran.
So when an Imam comes from Allah, he comes with a
light, and thus the people, the true believers need to use their intelligence
and turn to Allah so that Allah may give them the spiritual insight to
recognize the truthfulness of His Messenger. This Messenger is the Imam (Leader)
chosen by Allah, His Caliph on earth, not a Caliph who is elected by people,
but a Caliph who is directly elected by Allah, and upon whom Allah sends with His
Ruh’il Quddus (Holy Spirit).
So, a person, especially one who seeks the truth
sincerely and wants to become a true believer, needs to use his spiritual
intelligence (insight) to recognize the Messenger and to obtain the Guidance
and Mercy of Allah. And he needs to take care not to become blind to the signs
of Allah and His revelations, and even after having believed, he should not let
the doubts that come from Satan disturb his Yaqeen (Certainty) in the
truth that come from Allah.
If we look at a blind person – one who is physically
blind – who undergoes an operation and regains his ability to see, that in
itself is an encouragement that at any time a person can have faith and obtain spiritual
clarity after his (initial) disbelief. And the same thing is true for someone
who believes but then loses faith and becomes blind and loses his way.
So the faithful believers need to take care not to
become the victims of the Satans. You must establish yourselves on the truth
and remain attached to the Divine Messages and the Messenger whom Allah sent to
you, to guide you on the right path.
A believer will not become a true believer, with all
the reforms that are needed in a believer until he passes through the fire of
trials. Allah will test him, and (as for) those who are truly sincere, they
will never abandon the truth and will always stay on the right path. Allah
tries the believers in all forms. There are those who initially found clarity
[spiritual insight], but they then become blind, while there are those who were
blind but then they find clarity and do not abandon the path of Allah. Despite
the many difficulties they face on the path of truth, Allah makes them
successful in their trials because of the trust they place in Him. They recognize
the Imam that He has sent to them and they follow him so that they achieve
salvation in this world and in the Hereafter.
So, it is the duty of each of you, when today Allah
has sent His Messenger, the Khalifatullah among you all, not to allow Satan to
blind you and remove you from this path. He who is truly sincere to Allah,
Allah will surely guide him and protect him from the evil afflictions and grant
him inner peace (Sakina) that comes from Him, which increases his trust
in Him (Allah) and which reassures him – with no doubt whatsoever – that what
Allah has reserved for him is way better than all the treasures that the world
contains. Insha-Allah.
So, I pray that all my followers – as well as the rest of the Muslims and other seekers of truth – will find the truth of the Quran wherein Allah has given them the good news of the coming of His guides. It is Allah Who sends those guides, those Imams, (for they are) such reformers who will bring the glory of Islam to its peak, Insha-Allah, Ameen.
---Friday Sermon of 02 June 2023~12 Dhul-Qaddah 1444 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.
To view the first Part of the series, click here.