'Ghibbat': Part V

Surah Al-Hujurat: On 'Ghibbat'

Alhamdulillah, I continue on the same subject of my Friday Sermon on “Ghibbat” (backbiting) and the subjects connected with it, especially Muhabbat (love) for Allah, for the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and for the works of Deen-i-Islam (Way of Islam). And this is the 5^th Friday [5^th part on Surah Al-Hujurat - Ghibbat] , and I am going into details to make you all understand profoundly this subject.

Like I told you last Friday, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) had a direct connexion with Allah and this love came directly from Allah (swt). He did not have to struggle (wage Jihad) for it. But for common people, it becomes necessary that they struggle – make efforts – to acquire divine love as it is not an easy task to obtain Allah’s direct love as well as the love of the prophet (pbuh). And it is not also simple to establish, in connexion with this love, relations of love with people in general.

There should be efforts made to attain this goal and for this you you need to focus on [your] Muhabbat (love) and all defects therein and you need to make the necessary efforts to get rid of those weaknesses. To be able to do this, you need to have the feel and interest for it, and without this feel and interest, then there can be no love for Allah, and for the Messenger of Allah. If the feel itself is low, weak, then your love for the person whom you love also shall be little. This is a natural occurrence and many times, by neglecting this aspect/ subject, you stop looking for solutions for your internal, intrinsic problems. You think that despite making so much efforts to acquire the love of Allah, despite praying so hard (making duahs), you aren’t getting any taste/ feel and pleasure in your Salaat/ Namaz (i.e. the obligatory prayers) and in the performance of good deeds. You think that you are doing duahs, and yet your duahs are not being accepted.

A possible reason for this is that the feel itself [your feel for prayer etc.] has been ruined, and that is why all the time your mind wander and is attached to mundane pleasures which you deem correct. You feel attracted to all this; your love for mundane things has surpassed the love which you needed to have for Allah and thus this has not created the feel in you for attaining Allah’s love or to do good deeds.

When the feel is not right, then the love also shall not be right. It would only remain in the realm of imagination. It would remain only a claim only [words which are not translated into actions]. When your love for Allah does not come out from the profoundness of the heart, then your duahs also will not come out from the profoundness of your heart, and your Salaat also shall not have any feel, and you will hurry to finish your prayers in few seconds or minutes as if they were a burden for you.

So, to be able to succeed in acquiring that feeling in your prayers (Namaz) – deep love for prayers, to acquire that connexion with Allah – and to have your supplications (duahs) accepted, you need to bring about a great spiritual reform in you.

'Ghibbat': Part - IV

Passions of the human self are many: hatred, jealousy, ill- thinking, slander, backbiting, etc. As people, we are not immune to evil impulses of the self. And our vices can lead to negative consequences in our inter-personal and social settings. When hearts get divided, good relations fly away and the community cohesion shatters to pieces. When psychological ‘diseases’ spread among people, the larger ‘health’ of the community (‘Jamaat’) itself comes under a shadow. Hence, it's a moral imperative that we fight and resist these vices of the self in its varied manifestations in everyday life. 

In his Friday Sermon of 04 October 2019 ~ 05 Safar 1441 AH, Hadhrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim Saheb (atba) continues the fourth part of the discourse on ‘Ghibbat’ (backbiting). Exhorting members of the Jamaat to refrain from falling to the fatal tentacles of blame-games and other manifestations of hard love; Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) underscores the dignity and rights of all persons, if not all living beings in this universe. Explaining the profound compassion and goodwill the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) had maintained for all of humanity- fellow  members of faith included- as well as for the welfare of animals and birds in the natural environment, Hadhrat Saheb (atba) points to our duty to recognize and respect every person for who they are- the children of the same God we claim to worship. Instead of needlessly creating fractures among the believers through backbiting- especially against those who work in God’s cause in the same Jamaat; looking down upon fellow beings in arrogance; making insinuations; seeking to overthrow established frameworks of division of labour; incitement to rebellion, etc; persons would benefit by reflecting on prudent conduct in social relations. Listening to the Qur'an, we need to renounce Ghibbat (backbiting) and embrace Muhabbat (affection and good will for others),  if we are to become good humans, ideal souls- the likes of the friends of God on earth, reminds Hadhrat Saheb (atba).

Read the Friday Sermon Below:  

First of all, I thank Allah for giving me the Tawfiq to continue the subject of my Friday Sermon that I started three weeks ago. Last Friday in my sermon, I told you to create love for those working for the Nizam-e-Jamaat (those who are working for the cause of Allah).

If you have a true love for Allah, and little by little you have love for Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as), for the Khalifa (Caliph) of Allah of this era (the Khalifatullah), so naturally you will have love for those who are working for the Jamaat (Jamaat officials) too. It is not possible for anyone to be arrogant or indifferent to an organization that has a connection with the people I mentioned in my sermon last Friday. It is not possible that you speak against the Jamaat, and ridicule and blame those bearers of responsibility (that is, do the “Ghibbat” against them). It is not acceptable for you to backbite against with Jamaat (i.e., speak against the Jamaat). [This is a general statement which I am saying so that the members of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and the other Muslims as well stay away from such evils. From what I have lived from my past experience, I would like to warn you against it so that the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam stays free from these vices. I am saying all this for your own good, and even if you don’t believe in this humble self, but take this message for your own good.]

'Muhabbah': The Love that Inspires

Muhabbah

A believer must have love (Muhabbah) for Allah and a connection with Him. The Muhabbah (love) or an admiration for someone makes you do everything for the person you admire. The Muhabbah does everything that seems difficult, easy. And as a result, the unthinkable becomes feasible. As a person loves something, he makes efforts to acquire it. If he really likes this thing, then he does not care about time or money. He arrives at a point where he forgets everything. He finds nothing around him (Nothing really matters for him except for the loved one). Only one thing exists for him: it is the thing (or person) that he loves and admires.

See a young man of today who has just reached his 18^th birthday. (When he loves), he loves to such an extent that it becomes unbearable for him to live without the person loved. Without hesitation he leaves the family roof to live with the object of his love/ affection. He leaves his family, his mother, his dad, his brother, his sister, his comfort and even his Deen (religion - Islam) only for the cause of the loved one. He does all this with contentment and joy. If we (Muslims) had this same (kind of) Muhabbah for Allah, then we would never find the Deen (religion - Islam) difficult (to practice). We would have suffered all with joy and contentment only for the love we have for our Rab (Lord - Allah).

The practice of the Deen would then become not only easy but also delicious. The example of the pious personages is before us. They have not hesitated to give up whatever it is that becomes an obstacle for them in their quest of Allah the Almighty. Hazrat Ibrahim (as) has abandoned his kingdom in order to reach Allah the Almighty and to acquire His love (literally: to acquire Allah). If someone can sacrifice his honour, his dignity, his status for a corpse that will die and who is condemned to become dust one day, then why can man (the human race) not  give up everything for Allah Who is Al-Hayy, Al-Qayyoum - Who has existed for all time and whose existence will never stop (that is, His existence has neither beginning nor end). Allah is the One who watches us all the time. He is a Being who is there for us all the time, giving us everything we need.