Our Covenant with God

 

In theory, a social contract binds the State and the citizen; defining nature of relations, prescribing rules of engagement, and allocating the rights and duties of the Parties involved. In our societies, the basic social unit of family and kingship is also rooted in marriage contracts between husbands and wives; like the Qur’an reminds: “they have taken from you a firm and solemn covenant (by marriage)” (4:22). Similarly, the Qur’an speaks of humanity’s covenant with God through history: an original covenant that prescribes duties that we owe to God and to fellow beings, in return for Divine approval and rewards in this world and the world to come. In the Divine scheme of things under the covenant, those who refuse to respect the terms of engagement by leading a Godless life in this world, and those who ignore His warnings and go on to persecute His believing servants are the real law-breakers, and they are condemned to severe punishment, as per the Will of Allah (swt).

 

Human servitude to the Lord Almighty

Islam teaches us that Allah (swt), the Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds, raised humans with a certain purpose of life, and through Revelations sent via prophets and messengers, He granted clear guidance on how best to spend our days in this world. The Creator, in His infinite kindness, imprinted all human souls with a deep yearning in quest of Him, and the human heart and mind are designed to be truly inclined to recognize the Lord; an intuitive capacity is ingrained in all persons to observe and reflect and recognize and understand the beauty and wisdom of His revelations sent through the prophets and the sages; to find peace and tranquillity by being mindful of His commandments. The Qur’an says: ‘And when your Lord took from the children of Adam, from their loins, their progeny and made them bear witness concerning themselves, “Am I not your Lord Who sustains you?” They said, “Yea, surely, we bear witness (to it and acknowledge it).” (7:173)

Revelations of 14 January 2022

 

Allah (swt) is the Lord and Master of the Universe. And Allah loves the doers of good, not those who plot evil and commit injustice. Allah (swt) brings about the days of fortune and misfortune in this world among the believers, with the sole purpose of testing and proving their mettle- to know whether they turn to their Lord with faith; hold patience in adversity, and show sincerity in God’s cause. Hence, the evil-doers will never attain a happy state in permanence, even if fleeting gains might confuse them in the present world for a period. Indeed, the future belongs to the Elects of God and the righteous believers- the true servants of God who believe in the Grace and Help of God and put their full trust in their Lord as the disposer of all affairs.

The Qur’an teaches us a lesson of spiritual life and a sublime Duah from the struggles of the Prophets and devote companions in God's Way:

“And how many a Prophet has had to fight (in God’s cause), followed by many God-devoted men: and they did not become faint of heart for all that they had to suffer in God’s cause, and neither did they weaken, nor did they abase themselves [before the enemy], since God loves those who are patient in adversity; and all that they said was this: ‘Our Lord, forgive us our sins and our excesses. Make our feet firm, and give us help against the disbelievers,’ and so God gave them both the rewards of this world and the excellent rewards of the Hereafter: God loves those who do good.” (3:147)

Khalifatullah: A Message for Jamaat

 

‘Consider the flight of time!

Man is bound to lose himself,

Except those who believe,

Do good deeds,

Urge one another to truth,

And urge one another to steadfastness’

   -----[Holy Qur’an, Surah Al Asr, (103:1-3)]. 

In a moving, special message to the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam members in India, Sheikh-ul-Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (aba) of Mauritius recently spoke of the critical situation in the world- of the extremely dangerous challenges facing our precarious world, and of the need for everyone to return to the path of prudence and piety; of invocations and charitable giving; of obedience to Allah (swt), and His messenger (sa), and His chosen Elect of this era; of remaining united in forgiveness and solidarity, without any arrogance or ill feeling; of embracing one another in a spirit of brotherhood. As someone who receives Messages like no else all around us does, and as people generally and mostly fail to appreciate the enormous burden that he carries in this heavenly responsibility of conveying Divine communications to all the world, Hazrat Saheb (aba)’s personal, spiritual message to members in the Jamaat assumes vital importance for the disciples' individual conduct and social engagements, and larger spiritual outlook and hope in God’s mercy and grace, Blessings and Favours amidst the turbulence all around.  

Read an interpretative Text of the recent special Messages sent by our beloved Imam (aba) through our humble brother Hazrat Mukarram Shahul Hameed Faizal Saheb of Saudi Arabia:  

Faith: 'Don't Judge Others'

 

There is no greater misfortune than choosing ‘spiritual death’ after attaining faith. Indeed, sacrificing one's firmly held convictions and principles while one is still physically alive amounts to the death of an honorable man. True believers would never agree to let go of the life-giving Divine commandments and prohibitions. Coming under the sway of the evil-prone self and bargaining with the Satan for a temporary ecstasy is nothing short of ruining one’s spiritual future. It needs to be noted, however, that Allah (swt) has linked each man’s deeds to his neck, and while all deeds fly away like birds once the 'moment' is over, the light and shadows of his deeds remain imprinted in his soul even beyond- to give its account in the court of Allah in the life to come: for the rewards of the good, and the punishment of the wrongdoers.  Hence, all judgement of human deeds is, ultimately, in the court of Allah, the Best of Judges. And striving untiringly for achieving purification of the heart is the life-long obligation, and prayer of all believers: ‘Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us. Grant us Your mercy: You are the Ever Giving’. (3:9) 

Recently, attributing certain contemporary deeds of a man who once associated himself with the ranks of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam (and later disassociated himself with it for reasons best known to him); some bigoted and ignorant Ahmadi Mullahs have sought to insinuate and sully the image of the Jamaat of Allah. Due to their inbuilt biases and prejudices against the Elect of Allah of this era and His mission in their midst, these Mullahs from other Muslim denominations speak as if they are willfully “dumb, deaf, and blind”- unable or unwilling to distinguish between right and wrong. In a recent Jamaat communication, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (aba) of Mauritius explains the true perspective on belief and disbelief in Islamic precepts.  

Du'ah: Invocations to Allah- III

Alhamdulillah Summa Alhamdulillah, Allah (swt) gives me the Tawfiq to continue my sermons on the subject of duahs.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful

O Allah, You Who are the Remedy of my wounds, help my ailing heart.

O my Allah, without You my life means absolutely nothing. With such a life, it is better to die than to remain in this world without You.

O Allah, give me the will and the courage so that You will be pleased with me for the great work and responsibility that You have placed on my shoulders. If You are happy with me and the work that I am doing, even though people say that I am a madman, an impostor, and ridicule me, blame me and abase my honour and my dignity, all this does not affect me because it is You Who give honour, dignity to whomever You want. My life, my honour, my food, everything comes from You, and not from these fools.

O Allah! Set on fire, put the flame that comes from the heavens in my heart to allow me to bring back “thousands of lost souls in the fold of Sahih al Islam”, Insha-Allah.

O Allah, all my parts are sacrificed for You. I don’t know anything about Your religion; I am an Ummi (illiterate person). So as not to say that I am very weak in matters of Your Deen (Your religion), I am rather a zero. Give me knowledge, put the light of knowledge in my mind and my heart and give me the strength, courage, energy to distribute this knowledge to humanity in general and especially with the brothers and sisters of the Islamic faith.

O Allah! Work a miracle and send people to the Quran, Your book in which there is no doubt and which is a guide for those who want to take the right path. Remove this veil from their eyes and make them understand Your Sacred Book which You have revealed to Your beloved prophet (pbuh).

O Allah! The garden (of Islam) is dried up; all the fruits harvested in the past century by the Messiah whom You sent have fallen in this century. You raised me to clean this garden and to give life again to this dry garden by Your grace so that new fruits are harvested and where everything becomes green again and not dry, and where each eye will be attracted to the beauties that are found therein [i.e., in the garden of Islam].

O Allah! Give me medicine to distribute to all countries so that they can be delivered from evil.

Divine Revelation, What Is It?

"For them (i.e. the friends of God Almighty) are glad tidings in this life (through revelation and converse with Allah) and will also have the same experience in the hereafter." (Yunus, 10: 65)

It should be kept well in mind that revelation does not mean that an idea should arise in the mind of a person who sets himself to ponder over a thing as, for instance, a poet having thought out half a verse seeks the other half in his mind and his mind suggests the other half. This is not revelation but is the result of reflection, in accordance with the law of nature. When a person reflects upon something good or bad, a corresponding idea arises in his mind. For instance, one person who is pious and truthful composes verses in support of truth, and another one, who is wicked and vicious, supports falsehood in his verses and abuses the righteous.

So, if the arising of an idea in the mind should be accounted as revelation, a vile poet who is the enemy of truth and of the righteous and writes in opposition to the truth and has recourse to imposture, would be called a recipient of divine revelation. Many novels are written in excellent style and set forth altogether false but continuous well arranged tales. Then would these stories be designated as revelation?

If revelation were to mean merely an idea arising in one’s mind, a thief would also be called a recipient of revelation, for an expert thief often thinks out surprising ways of theft and robbery, and many clever plans of robbery and murder pass through his mind. Would all these unclean projects be called revelation? Indeed not. Such is the thinking only of those who are not aware of the true God Who comforts the hearts of His servants with His converse and bestows the understanding of spiritual knowledge upon those who are not familiar with it.

 

What then is revelation?

It is the living and powerful converse of the Holy and Mighty God with a chosen servant of His, or with one whom He designs to make His elect. When this converse starts in an adequate and satisfactory manner, being altogether free from the darkness of false concepts, and is not composed merely of a few inadequate and meaningless words, and is full of delight and wisdom and grandeur, then it surely is the word of God with which He designs to comfort His servant and to manifest Himself to him.

Never Insult the Beliefs of Others

"...I would like to briefly address on the unfortunate incident which has transpired last week (04-05 September 2015) at Rivière des Anguilles in the South of Mauritius. The Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and this humble self strongly condemn what some strong-headed and senseless “Muslims” have done at the Amma Tookay Temple, wrecking some idols found there under alcohol influence.

Islam is a tolerant religion, and preaches no compulsion in religion and respect for others. Both Allah, our Glorious Creator and our perfect role model, Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) have both condemned such acts because, when one, in occurrence a person who says he is Muslim abuses and wrecks the idols of other faiths on his own, then he is in fact inviting the other party to abuse Allah and Islam and to wreck the perfect teachings of Islam.

And secondly, alcoholic drinks are absolutely forbidden in Islam. Thus the acts of these people are not Islamic at all. Instead they are presenting a dirty image of Islam and its teachings. May Allah protect His Deen-e-Islam from such senseless people who are only “Muslims” in name and who portray Islam as tolerating violence and terrorism. Ameen..."  (From the Friday Sermon of September 11, 2015)

Never Insult Others

It is very unfortunate to see what had happened in the south of Mauritius, as I told you last week how a few idiots spoiled the image of Islam and its teaching. Was all that they did Islamic? First, by the despicable way they behaved, they disobeyed the commandments of Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). So these kinds of people cannot say that they are Muslims. 

I ask those who have the habit of giving fatwas (judgements) on who are Muslims or not, therefore, with such vile actions – and from the teachings of Islam vis-à-vis other religions – can these people still be considered Muslims? 

The religion of Islam has never granted permission to insult, provoke or denigrate people or their beliefs. 

Rather Islam teaches Muslims that tolerance in religion (Islam) is a virtue, and therefore, a Muslim by the belief he professes, he must be someone friendly and who ensures protection for the life, honour and property of his countrymen.

He must not do anything wrong to harm the reputation of others and should respect the beliefs of others and their places of worship.

The Holy Prophet (saws) said that the best Muslim is the one whose hand and tongue do not harm anyone.

'Ar-Riya' and 'Sumrah': Sins of Vanity

We should never make a display of our good deeds. Islam attaches great importance to sincerity. This is one of the reasons why we have been warned against what is called Ar-Riya and Sumrah.

Ar-Riya is commonly called “ostentation”, “vanity” or “doing deeds to show others.” Sumrah on the other hand refers to a deed we do for the sole purpose for others to talk about it.

One of the ways the Devil poisons the sincerity of a believer is by getting him to tell others about his good deeds, that is to say, to “make it public”. Here are some examples where a person consciously (or unconsciously) commits Ar-Riya or Sumrah by placing in his conversation to another person the following sentences:

1. “When I got up at 3 am for Tahajjud, it was cold.”

2. “Alhamdulillah, through the supererogatory fasts which I observed I managed to lose a few extra pounds.”

3. “I like to give alms when I get the chance ...”

4. “Verily Quran reading is a source of tranquillity. Every day after I finished reading the Quran after the Maghrib prayer, I feel like a weight off my shoulders...”

In several ahadith, the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) taught us that one of the qualities of a good believer is that he does not make known his good deeds in public. He (pbuh) said: “Seven people will be shaded by Allah on the Day when there will be no shade but His... a person who spends in charity and conceals it such that his right hand does not know what his left hand has given...” (Bukhari, Muslim).

Heart and the Screen of Virtue

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, I continue my Khutba Jummah on the same topic (The Heart). Today is the 5^th week on the same topic, so it is a very important subject in our life, both mundane and spiritual. So everybody must take care of their own hearts.

Since the heart is an axis and centre for the reception of advices and admonition, Muslims are advised that they should take great care and precaution regarding the heart. They should not overburden the heart. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has also said: “Give some rest to your hearts for they like your other organs also get tired”.

Hearts also become clean or dirty. Their cleanliness is maintained by the worship and obedience of Allah Ta’ala. By “Kufr” and disobedience they become impure and unhealthy.Allah Ta’ala says regarding the Munafiqeen and the non-believers: “Those are they for whom the Will of Allah is that He cleanse not their hearts.” (5: 42); “Who, when you read unto him our revelation, say: “(Mere) fables of the men of yore!” Nay, but that which they have earned is rust upon their hearts.” (83: 14-15).

Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra) reports that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) has said: “When a man commits a sin, there appears a black spot on his heart. If he thereafter repents and refrains from committing that sin, his heart is cleansed. If he commits the sin again there appears another spot on his heart until his heart is fully covered. This is what is meant in the following verse of the Quran: “Nay, but that which they have earned is rust upon their hearts.” (Tirmidhi). This verse means that disobedience and sin has covered their hearts from all angles. 

The attitude men should adopt when addressing women has been described in this verse: “And when you ask of them (the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)) anything, ask it from them from behind a curtain. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts.” (33: 54). 

Thus those women who have desire to display themselves and who freely mix with men in the markets, office etc. should fear Allah in this regard. Those men who allow and enjoy these actions of their women should also fear Allah. Men are responsible over their women and they will be questioned regarding the actions of their women on the day of Qiyamah.

Allah Ta’ala says in the Quran: “O you who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire whereof the fuel is men and stones…” (66: 7). These people should realize that through Pardah the society is kept chaste and pure and the non-observance of Pardah, free mixing of sexes, nudity and the desire to display destroys every society and makes it bereft of blessings and virtue.

'Imaan' and Tranquillity of the Heart

Oh Allah, grant me to pay obeisance to You, open my breast to repentance through Your security and grant me knowledge to continue the third part of my sermon on “The Heart” so that the hearts of the pious (Muttaqi) and the seekers of truth – those who are not hypocrites – may obtain from You light coming down from the heavens, penetrating their hearts and giving them the much sought, Tranquillity of the Heart. Ameen. 

Tranquillity and contentment of the heart lies in the remembrance of Allah the Almighty and in the firmness and steadfastness of Iman (faith). Allah the Almighty describes the speech of Hazrat Ibrahim (as) as thus: “My Rab (Lord), show me how you give life to the dead.”

Allah said: “Do you not believe?” 

He (Ibrahim) replied: “Yes, but I ask so that my heart be at ease.” (2: 261) Meaning: O my Rab, my faith will become more firm by witnessing with my eyes the manifestation of Your power. 

Allah the Almighty describes the request of the companions of Hazrat Isa (upon him be peace) that Allah bestow upon them His blessing in the following verse: “We wish to eat thereof that we may satisfy our hearts” (5: 114), meaning that “Our hearts may rest in peace and we become more firm in our faith. If we see the blessing of Allah showered upon us, then with the proofs we will grow richer in belief and acquire peace of heart.”

A Divine Reformer after Hadhrat Ahmad

Allah’s Covenant with the Prophets is very clearly stated in the Holy Qur'an: 

“And remember the time when Allah took the covenant from the people through the  Prophets, saying ‘Whatever I give you of the Book and Wisdom and then there comes to you a Messenger fulfilling that which is with you, you shall believe in him and help him’. And He said, ‘Do you agree, and do you accept the responsibility which I lay upon you in this matter?’ They said, “We agree” He said “Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses”. (3:82).

‘Surely, there will come to you guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve’. (2: 39)

Every Ahmadi Muslim believe that Hadhrat Ahmad (as) is a Messenger of Allah/ Divine Reformer appointed by Allah (swa). So, it is only reasonable to assume that such a divine covenant has been taken from Hadhrat Ahmad (as) as well. In fact, the Promised Massih (as) who wrote over 80 books, made several statements regarding the coming of divinely guided people in his Jamaat in future. For, Hadhrat Ahmad (as) did not come to discard, but to renew the message of the Holy Prophet (sa). In fact, that is what he did through all his teachings and that is why he said that Massihs will come after him. He even specifically declared that there is nothing abnormal or unusual about the spiritual situation if a Mujaddid follows him in the next century.