Du'ah: Invocation to Allah- II

Alhamdulillah, all glory, greatness and praise are for Allah (swt), Master of the universe Who gave me, this humble servant the Tawfiq to continue the subject of my Friday Sermon today on the invocations (duahs) that He taught me.

So, whoever hears these duahs and those who bear witness to how these duahs come down from the heavens are very lucky and fortunate among the billions of creatures who inhabit this world....

So listen carefully to these spiritual treasures, these duahs that come directly from my Lord, Allah (swt): -

O My Lord (Rab)! I am a victim of the atrocities of my opponents and the water in my eyes [i.e., my tears] are witnesses to it. It is these tears that know this oppression better.

O Allah! My tears know these atrocities better. How should I console my heart? What to tell it? With whom will I share this pain, because it is a war of pain and suffering and that is my very ordeal! Suffering for religion has killed me and my heart is shattered to pieces. If I had not received the support of my Beloved, then this is the same death that I would have acquired.

O My Master! This favour is certainly Yours and at every moment it is this same hope that I conceive that all my difficulties will be erased.

O my Master! This burden of pain is very heavy.

O my Beloved! Do not hide Your face; that’s my remedy.

O my Master! Treat us with mercy. We have hope and trust in You.

O my Beloved! We are faithful to You; we trust You, and all of Your promises are true. We have come to the brink of peril [dangers] and it is from this very place that we must call You.

What 'Jihad' Really Means

Which Jihad ?

'Jihad' is a religious duty, an act of faith, prescribed by the Holy Quran for every Muslim. 

Alas, Islamic teachings are, on the one hand, so little known by Muslims, and on the other, so vilified by non-Muslims, that many false conceptions have settled in people’s minds. 

For many people, it seems convenient and legitimate to cover under the term jihad (holy war) any struggle to settle a dispute where their interests are at stake (and thus, all means, even the most reprehensible, seem to be good). For the non-Muslim jihad has long been equated with the holy war against non-believers, for the spread of Islam. It seems to me necessary - through this series of sermons on jihad, terrorism and Islamophobia - to return to the sources of Islam, through the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to explain what jihad really is, for the objective minds.

The term jihad is derived from jahada which means making intense efforts to the ultimate limit (Al-Ankabut, 29:7). Jihad is such an important injunction for Muslims that it is mentioned in no less than 36 occasions in the Holy Quran.

Three types of Jihad

In fact, it is of such importance that all the acts of faith prescribed for the believer (prayer, fasting, zakah, and pilgrimage to Mecca) are spiritual exercises designed to overcome the weaknesses of the individual and prepare him for the accomplishment of jihad. Jihad, as it appears from the reading of the the Holy Qur’an, denotes three types of fighting:

1. The fight against oneself (nafs).
2. The fight against evil in all its forms.
3. Armed combat against the visible enemy.

We can differentiate between the three types of jihad by calling them respectively Jihad-i-Akbar (greatest jihad), Jihad-i-Kabir (the great jihad) and Jihad-i-Saghir (the little/ lesser jihad). The Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) considered that Jihad-i-Akbar is the supreme, noblest combat and he said, when his troops returned from the Tabuk expedition: “You have accomplished the minor jihad now; there remains the supreme jihad.”

Djihad-i-Akbar:- it is the tireless fight against oneself, against one’s bad tendencies and inclinations. It is not therefore a fight of the State (the Country/ State/ Government, especially the Islamic One), but a struggle peculiar to the individual against his weak instincts/ carnal desires, such as infidelity, adultery, lies, dishonesty and materialism. However, the State has the obligation to help the citizen in this fight, creating the conditions conducive to his internal purification. It is the duty of the State to rid the social environment of any obstacle that may hinder the path of the individual to inner purity (e.g. the sale of alcoholic beverages, drugs, the practice of debauchery and games of chance).

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said, “Purity (or Cleanliness) is half of faith.” This purity denotes the purity of the spirit. According to my analysis, a soul encumbered with unhealthy desires remains hermetically closed to divine grace. By purifying one’s soul of every bad inclination, the individual accomplishes this supreme jihad and reaches half of the faith by becoming fit to receive the grace of his Creator and to follow the path of spiritual progress.

'Jihad' and the 'Zealous Idiots'

The concept of Jihad in Islam

A religion is only worthy of the name if it rhymes with common sense. If it cannot win through this, and it must use the sword to overcome its shortcomings, it needs no other argument to prove its sham. The sword it wields cuts its own throat before it reaches its target. 

The objection that the sword was used during the early years of Islam, thus attesting to the legality of Jihad, is based on an ignorance of the conditions prevailing during this period. Islam has never allowed the use of the sword to be a source of rallying. Also the Holy Qur’an forbids constraint – the use of force – in religious matter. 

Why was the sword used?

The circumstances leading to this measure had absolutely nothing to do with the propagation of religion; they are related to the protection of life. They can be summed up as thus: the inhabitants of the deserts of Arabia were barbarians who could scarcely distinguish good from bad. They had harboured a hatred for the nascent Islam and had become its worst enemies. The reason for this hatred can be easily understood. The arguments put forward by the early Muslims concerning the uniqueness of God and the Islamic truths were devastating for the idolaters of Mecca and its environs.

Soon the inhabitants of these regions realized that it was unseemly for man, the most noble of divine creatures, to submit to stone. The Meccans were thus unable to counter the new adherents on the basis of arguments. The most reasonable ones were quick to join Islam. Family ties were broken and the son separated from his parents and the brother from his brothers. This exasperated the Meccans and it became clear to them that the only recourse to counteract the spread of the new religion – which was to the detriment of their parents’ false beliefs – was the use of extreme measures. The new Muslims were thus savagely persecuted. 

'Muslims, Stand Up for Refugees'

THE THREAT TO ISLAM

Islam does not accept the idea, widespread amidst the West (mainly the non-Muslims), of a boundary between the inner life of man and his public actions. This belief (i.e. the Islamic belief that there is no boundary between the inner life of man and his public actions) may become a sure force that will convince non-Muslims to rediscover the link between daily life and a moral order. But in doing so it goes against the current conventional Western wisdom. For some time already, the very notion of Islam makes the non-Muslims tremble. They think that the Muslim world is heading towards a confrontation with the other parts of the world who do not share its beliefs. This thus makes the European and even the US (Americans) very nervous. A quick analysis of the current situation where Islam is seen as a blood-thirsty religion only reinforces this fear. But they forget the many wrongs, the murders of poor and defenceless Muslims which they committed in order to conquer lands and properties, but primarily to eradicate Islam from these places.

In Europe, more than twenty years ago, Bosnian Muslims were, for a long brutally mistreated by the Serbians who theoretically are Christians. On the border between Europe and Asia, Armenians Christians annihilated Azerbaijanis (Azeri) Muslims, and Jews and Muslims to this day continue to kill each other in Palestine. Further to the East, there is the brutality of the Indian army in Kashmir, and the destruction in 1992 of the Ayodhya mosque by the Hindus. Such bitter experiences suggest to the Muslims that the world is against them. If this is the case, so they are against the world. This explains the xenophobia that foreigners are murdered by terrorists who brandish Quranic verses in Iraq and Syria and in other Islamic states.

'Terror' is Not 'Jihad'

THE TRUE JIHAD

In this modern day and age, when the world has become considerably smaller because of the technological advancement of the various forms of media, a word has arisen clouded with doubt, distortion and mysticism from the East to the West, before finally gaining international attention. This word is “Jihad”, or as it is better known in the West, ‘Holy War’. 

The actual root of the Arabic word ‘Jihad’ is ‘Jahd’ which signifies endurance or rigorous conditions. Thus, in essence Jihad means to strive to the utmost for the achievement of a purpose and to leave nothing undone in its pursuance. Its Islamic conception is first introduced in the following verse of the Quran.

“Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them.” (22: 40).

This verse throws a flood of light on what the Islamic concept of Jihad actually purports and it clearly shows that Jihad is fighting in defence of Truth. But whereas Islam, like I have told you before, allows no aggressive war, it regards the waging of it to defend one’s honour, country or faith as an act of the highest virtue. According to Islam, man is God’s noblest handiwork. He is the cause of His creation, its aim and end. Therefore, it is only natural that the religion which has raised man to such a high pedestal should also have attached very great importance and sanctity to honour life. Of all things, man’s life, according to the Quran is most sacred and inviolable. It is a sacrilege to take it except under rare circumstances which the Quran has specifically mentioned in the following verses:

'Terrorism' Knows No Religion

Islam means submission and peace, and it altogether signifies the religion and the way of life of man. Someone who sincerely says that he belongs to Islam will make it a must to make his life an embodiment of peace. He will strive to obey all the commandments of Allah, the Overpowering Lord, the Unique God. He will find himself surrounded by noble teachings, and as a responsible human being filled with the innate willpower to spread goodwill everywhere, he strives to establish securely the bond between man and Allah, between man and man, and between man and the rest of Allah’s creation.

Islam reflects the true nature of the soul of man. When he is born in this temporal world, he is Muslim. He has no religion, no creed whatsoever except being intrinsically and extrinsically devoted to Allah. While the magnet of the earth pulls him to connect with the material, yet his soul is ever thirsty of the spiritual, of the great divine love which has enable for him this journey to earth. Thus his soul strives to soar high above everything material and flimsy, i.e., all mundane connections to connect with the True Reality, i.e. Allah.

Islam reinvigorates the individual, giving him the necessary baggage to last a lifetime on earth whilst being only a temporary traveller. Islam is the true religion of all mankind; it is their true identity and it is that belongingness which ultimately connects him to His Maker, Allah (swt). It is only with the touch of this material world, that man temporary loses his true sense of direction. Some progress further into Islam, while some get beguiled by the attractions of this world and lose the aura of their purpose of being born on earth. As such, man devises several gods of their own making to fill the gap of their lost touch with the true Maker, unable to recall their promises made to Him before their advent on earth.

To guide peoples or nations aright, Allah sent thousands of prophets and messengers among them to re-establish that lost bond which they once had with their Creator. While the accursed one (i.e. Satan) and his army strive to “honour” his word to misguide man and remove him from the righteous path, the purpose of every Adam, in the capacity of Representative (Caliph) of Allah is to preach the word of Allah to the people, to wake up their consciousness and revive the essence of their Islam which has been concealed deep within by layers of worldliness.

From Adam to Muhammad (pbuh), Allah perfected the identity of man by defining once and for all the true name for his creed, faith and religion. Allah consolidated His word, His promise to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), by making him the Seal of all Prophets and by revealing to him his true status of Muslim, and for all his true followers and giving him the perfect book, the Quran so that he, and the rest of Muslim believers till the Day of Judgement abide by it in a true way. But Allah knows that man is weak and falls prey from time to time to the attractions of the satans. That is why, He already revealed that whenever religion will be in danger, he shall send His elect, a truthful guide to lead the people out of the darkness of the world into the divine light. If Islam is the first and foremost religion and identity of man, yet man is beguiled from time to time by his abased desires/ passions which make him cut connection with Allah. Sometimes again, he interprets the Holy verses of God, without the support of a man of God and acts upon them according to his own thoughts and thus ruins the real commandments of Allah. Such is the case concerning Terrorism.

Terrorism in itself knows no religion. It is not specific to any religion. Anybody, whatever his creed and faith may fall prey to terrorism. Terror, the act of terror belongs to the field of the malicious Satan. Islam, being peace cannot refer to the domain of terror. Peace and terror – except of course the FEAR OF ALLAH – cannot cohabit, then how and why did Islam earn the title of ‘Religion of Terror’?

Islam for Social Harmony

Lately, we have testified through the media how African Muslims, especially those from Central Africa easily fall prey to rebels and extremists of other religions. The latter are desperate to finish Islam and the Muslims. They move heaven and earth to reach their goals because they take the religion of Islam and its teachings as a curse (God forbid).

Therefore, my sermon today is devoted only on a message of peace and goodwill. This is an appeal to the conscience of man. Islam did not come to declare war on the ancient and contemporary religions. It recognizes the truth of the everlasting source of the spiritual river from the past, expanding from century to century, until the time when God, in His wisdom, solemnly declared: “Today I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed My favour upon you, and I have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (5: 4)

Islam recognizes the universality of Spirituality

The Holy Qur’an has never rejected the essential truths established by the religions that preceded it. Instead, it openly states that it confirms these truths and includes them in its text. In fact this serves to keep them in their original purity, freed from changes (innovations) that have been added over the centuries. This free, frank and generous recognition of the revealed (that is, divinely sourced) religions of yesteryears, with clear statements such as: “for every nation there is a guide.” (13: 8) and “there was no nation but that there had passed within it a warner.” (35: 25) puts Islam on a pedestal of incomparable beauty in the eyes of world religions.

A Warning to Khalifatul Massih V

Recent Bai’at of some Ahmadis in Kerala, India at the hands of the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius has unsettled the mercenaries and officials of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. So much so that they used all channels possible and methods feasible to deviate these devout Muslims from their chosen path of recognizing and accepting the Imam of the Age! 

Family pressure, society pressure, money pressure and employment pressure-nothing could deter these courageous young men from following the path of Allah and moving away from the ‘comfort zone’ of all they knew as common Ahmadis coping with the trials and tribulations of everyday life. Those young men have patiently and bravely put up with all the mental torture, harassment, intimidation and satanic curses showered on them by people who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’. The egregious misconduct of the so-called mainstream is nothing but the satanic manifestations of the extent of their deviance and polar-drifting from the original teachings of the Promised Massih (as). As the Holy Qur'an indicates, it is indeed the youth who will begin to listen to a Divine Messenger when such a one arrives in a society where the Pharaohs and the great men will only seek to doubt and ridicule!     

For thoughtful Ahmadis, there is little doubt. Khalifatul Massih V Mirza Masroor Ahmad Sahib presides over the age of spiritual darkness and blatant idol-worship in Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. Unfortunately for him, the Khalifa does not enjoy the Divine converse despite the pretentions of office and the protestations of the faithful, nor could he produce any shred of evidence of being a recipient of Divine revelations in the last 10 years of his temporal “Khilafat”. It is manifestly apparent and reasonably obvious that Allah (twa) has never appointed him to convey any Divine message to the world in His name and whatever he says and writes is purely what his inner self prompts him to do and everything he says is nothing but the product of his own mind and deliberation (if not that of his advisors)! In short, his ‘ideas’ are as good or as bad as any other human mind could conceive it. 

In an age in which Ahmadis have taken their Caliph as “the calf” (Idol), the ‘Samiri’ will suggest only what his mind conceive of (Holy Qur’an, 20:85-97), the Caliph cannot speak with the authority and conviction of an Elect of Allah, a Khalifatullah. When the Prophet Moses (as) went for a few days to his Lord to do his obeisance and seek Divine blessings, the Samiris of the day digressed back the people into idol-worship. When Allah raises a Moses (Divine Elect) in a new age and that too, a century after the last Elect, he will warn the Samiris of the age. Taking serious note of the mind-games and psychological warfare by the Ahmadi leadership in India, in a special Speech on August 14, 2013, the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius commented upon the incidents against the larger backdrop of the terminal decline of spirituality among the Ahmadis of today.

Read the Extracts from the Sermons:    

Persecution of Ahmadis in Indonesia

The on-going campaign in Indonesia, to ban and persecute the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community underscores the challenges facing the nation in protecting human rights, forging a secular identity and strengthening the spirit of democracy and rule of law. It is worth recalling that freedom of belief is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the Indonesian Constitution, and no citizen can be denied this right on the grounds of his or her beliefs. Any thinking citizen would agree that as a religious order, the Ahmadiyya has every right to preach and propagate all of its doctrines and beliefs. It is immaterial for a secular state whether the beliefs or ritual practices may or may not conform to the beliefs and practices of the other denominations in Islam.

The religio-political campaign obviously seeks to discredit the teachings of the Ahmadiyya community and to call attention to the "danger" faced from this intrinsically peaceful sect of Islam. Instead of displaying sectarian intolerance and moral bankruptcy, the orthodox leadership would do well to engage the Ahmadiyya Muslims in a theological, civilized, intellectual debate and thereby show a modicum of respect for the faith, intellect and convictions of ordinary Muslim citizens and others.

The sectarian politics of religious mobilization and its current manifestations will have divisive implications for the country's plural future. Clearly, banning the movement to prevent its spiritual appeal or declaring it a non-Muslim minority to stop its growth is not the business of a secular government. Leaders of the country and conscientious citizens would do well to reflect over the politically disastrous and socially divisive legacy of Pakistan's experiment with the criminalization of the Ahmadiyya sect. Social scientists and political analysts have, in recent times, traced the growth of Muslim extremism and cultural intolerance in Pakistan and elsewhere, to the divisive politics of anti-Ahmadiyya rhetoric.

At one level, what is at stake is the very notion of human rights and rule of law in a secular democracy. Extremists and right-wing Muslim orthodoxy should not be allowed to dictate the future of Indonesian identity. At another level, perhaps even more importantly, what is at stake for devout Muslims is the very meaning of being a Muslim in our times. After all, the Holy Qur’an explicitly states: "Let there be no compulsion in matters of faith." Islam's plural character and legacy of religious tolerance needs to be defended, ironically enough, against an "orthodoxy" that claims to represent it!

In an article published on The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, on June 15, 2013, Pallavi Iyer has thrown searching light on the persecution of Ahmadis and other minority religious denominations and the growing signs of cultural intolerance in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.  

Read the Article:

Over the last few years, Jakarta has laid down legal infrastructure that discriminates against religious minorities, allowing Islamists to take the law into their own hands

Remembering Professor Abdus Salam

Professor Abdus Salam (1926-1996) was one of the leading scientists of his generation and his outstanding contributions to the world of theoretical physics were widely recognized, including by way of the Nobel Prize for Physics, 1979. He made seminal contributions to the development of science and technology in his own country-Pakistan- and yet, Pakistan as a nation has not given its due to him, thanks to his unwavering personal faith in the messages of the Promised Massih Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) of Qadian. In a country that has legalised intolerance and the persecution of people and systemically prosecute the Ahmadi Muslims for their essential personal convictions, the memory of the great scientist is sought to be erased even from his tombstone!

For the benefit of our readers, we reproduce below an article written by columnist Mohammad Ahmed in the Pakistani newspaper The News on November 21, 2012 on the 16^th death anniversary of Professor Abdus Salam.

Unmourned in his own country

Today is the death anniversary of one of Pakistan’s ablest sons, Dr Abdus Salam. Unfortunately, his achievements and services remain unacknowledged in his own country, where he was made an alien because of the belief into which he was born, although they are celebrated around the world.

Social Boycott by Ahmadis in Kerala

As Hadhrat Ahmad (as) famously noted:

“See, a Mujaddid comes at the turn of every century. This is also a form of trial from Allah, the Most High. Now also a trial for Muslims is taking place. Allah, the Most High has sent a divinely raised one.”

- (Malfuzat, vol.10, p.250). 

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Kerala and elsewhere has come a long way from the days of persecution and struggle of the distant past. More than a century of existence has resulted in creeping materialism and decline of spiritual values within the Community. This is in spite of the presence of an elected spiritual leadership in the form of a Khalifa of the deceased Massih. No wonder, Allah has now revealed His time-testified Divine scheme by sending a new Mujaddid of the century in the person of Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib of Mauritius.