'The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. They believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, and His messengers. (They proclaim) “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” And they say, “We hear and obey. (We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord! And to You (alone) is the final return.” (Al-Baqara 2: 286)
Alhamdulillah, Summa
Alhamdulillah, Allah has done a
great favour to mankind, and in the past to every nation of the world, whereby
sometimes He sends one, two or sometimes even four prophets at the same time
with the same message, i.e., to preach: “Laa Ilaaha Illallah” (There is
no one to worship but Allah).
Even today, Allah continues to pour down His favours and has chosen you, in this century to witness the advent of one of His Elects and Messengers, this humble servant to show and guide you to Allah, and to manifest such positives changes in you to enable you to see the divine light.
I feel happy that all
those who are sincere with me work day and night for the spread of the Deen in
the world, and despite their limited means, they make many efforts towards the
success of Islam in the world. May Allah continue to give you the Tawfeeq
to work with dedication and sincerity so that the party of Allah [Hizbullah]
wins in the world.
So, I continue my
Friday Sermon on the same subject as last week on the Prophets and Messengers
of Allah. Of the more than 124,000 prophets who came to this earth, Allah has
mentioned only a few in the Holy Quran, some by name and the others have
mentioned them without mentioning their names. So, who are those prophets?
Like in the Holy Quran
Allah says, that He has sent a Warner and Guide to every nation. We must
remember that before the creation of our common ancestor, Adam (as), there were
people on earth. These people were not like Adam (as) whom Allah created with
His hands and breathed in His breath [the divine breath] into Him. These people
were of another level, and it was with the creation of our Adam (as) that Allah
created a New Spiritual and Material World for us even though the Earth already
existed.
So our Adam is not the
first man on earth, but he is definitely the first man that Allah has established
on earth with His breath and free will, and where He has given him, this new
Adam the faculty to communicate with Him, and receive divine revelation.
So, we are fortunate
that Allah has created us in the best physical and spiritual form where He has
granted us the blessing of communication with Him, where He speaks to us,
whether ordinary people or/and prophets of Allah. Allah manifests His presence
in many ways, whether in a dream, inspiration, vision, or even revelation.
So, blessed are we the
children of the new perfected Adam that despite our human weaknesses, but Allah
loves us so much, and has created us so that we know Him personally, to
establish a relationship of love and intense closeness with Him, where we can
say/ state, “Well, this person, he has Allah with him; Allah is in him and
manifests Himself through him”.
Allah has shown us in the Holy Quran in Surah Al-Baqara, Verse
31, where the angels ask Allah: “Will You
place in it someone who will spread corruption there and shed blood while we
glorify Your praises and proclaim Your holiness?” What did Allah reply? “I know what you do not know.”
Here, in this verse, and we understand it better in this
Ruku of Surah Al-Baqara, that the people before the creation of Allah’s chosen
man had a primal character, where they did not know how to judge between good
and evil. The angels did not concern themselves with these kinds of people
before, but with the creation of Adam, they too became curious to know why
Allah was creating such a being, whom they, in their minds, believed would be
like the people on earth who existed before the creation of the Khalifatullah.
That is why they said: “O Allah, why are You creating such a being, when we
praise and glorify You?”
The nature of the angels is always good, and they never
show any disobedience towards Allah. That is why they submitted to Allah’s will
when Allah made them understand that they, the angels, did not have the necessary
knowledge to understand why He created this perfect man. I say the perfect man
because, despite the human weaknesses that exist in each person, some among the
new type of human race have received the divine faculty to connect with Allah.
However, due to the plans of the satans, most people do not cultivate this
divine essence within them, and they lose this faculty to draw closer to Allah.
Therefore, this purity is gradually replaced by the darkness of Shaytan (i.e.
Satan).
So, with the creation of Adam, Allah showed the angels that
He knows what He is doing. This is another level of test that Allah is
conducting with humans at that moment. Not just with humans, but with the
angels and the Jinns as well. While the angels submitted to the divine will,
the leader of the Jinns, represented here by Iblis, refused to submit. Here, we
understand that the spirit of Iblis, of Shaytan, continues to spread
everywhere, as long as there are descendants of our father Adam on earth.
Certainly, Iblis has the curse of Allah upon him, but he also has permission
from Allah to mislead as many people as he can. This is the challenge between
Allah and Iblis. But Allah has clearly made Iblis understand that those who
seek Allah, who establish a solid connection with Allah, especially His
prophets and messengers and all those who sincerely believe in these
messengers, then Allah has promised that Iblis and his army will not be able to
harm them. Yes, he may try to tempt them with bad ideas, doubts, jealousy,
etc., but he will not be able to lead them astray from the right path. These
qualities of Allah’s servants make them fortunate, because they go through
their trials with confidence in Allah, and it is they who will cross the finish
line in the race towards Allah and His eternal Benevolence.
Iblis tried to mislead
Adam, but he did not expect that Allah would forgive Adam. For him, how could
Allah forgive Adam for his mistake, his disobedience, while he, Iblis, also
disobeyed Allah by not agreeing with Adam’s superiority over himself [Iblis]
and refused to submit to the divine will when Allah commanded him to prostrate
before Adam, and to accept His decree of Adam’s superiority over the angels and
even the Jinns?
So, Iblis could not
digest this. He received Allah’s curse, while Adam received Allah’s
forgiveness. But as Allah told the angels: "I know what you do not
know." Allah knows the spiritual capacity of man, to whom He has given the
gift to come closer to Him through acts of worship (Ibaadat), through Salat,
and Zikrullah (the remembrance of Allah). The more a person’s tongue is
immersed in Zikrullah, the closer he becomes to Allah. And Adam received this
faculty from Allah because he was created from the divine essence itself. Just
as I received at the beginning of the Divine Manifestation, Allah said: “Man arafa nafsahu, faqad arafa Rabbahu” (He
who knows his ‘self’ (nafs), knows his Lord). Some scholars say that it was
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) who said this at the beginning, while others say it came
from another source, but for me, by Allah’s immense grace, Allah revealed these
words directly to me, confirming their authenticity, that when a person delves
into his own self, seeking deep within, he will definitely find his Creator.
So, Allah knows Adam, while the angels and even Iblis do
not know Adam. Allah protects Adam because he is from Allah, and for Allah to
know Himself (i.e. his own essence in man), while no one knows Allah. Common
people do not know Allah until they discover Allah within themselves. The one
who succeeds in knowing his Sirr (his intimate secret) will know Allah.
He discovers Allah in one of His manifestations while it is in Paradise that he
will see Allah in His true form.
So, although the story of Adam might make us, his children,
his descendants, say: “Oh! if only Adam had obeyed Allah, we would have been in
a better place now,” but do you realize that perhaps we might not have even
existed, and that it is through this divine wisdom, the supreme forgiveness of
Allah, that today He has given us the ability to know this world, this universe
that He has created so that we may worship Him and recognize His mighty
greatness?
So, this world is a stage of our existence that makes us
reflect on the Majesty of Allah, and where we gain the ability, despite satanic
attacks, to fight against them by seeking help directly from Allah Himself. If
a fish belongs to water and needs to return to water to survive, if a bird
flies and needs air to stay in the air, then imagine that we humans, created
from the essence of Allah, will definitely need to return to Him one day.
Blessed is the one who does not wait for final death to meet his Creator, who
seeks his Lord in this temporary world itself and develops his spiritual
capacity to such a level that he succeeds in finding his Lord, his Allah with
him, where Allah manifests Himself in that person.
I will stop here. Insha-Allah, I intend to speak on
the same subject next week. May Allah grant me the ability to share His
spiritual treasures with you. Insha-Allah,
Ameen.
----Friday Sermon of 26 July 2024~19 Muharram 1446 AH delivered by Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Al Mahdi Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.