On the Inner 'Shaytan'

 

Tawheed & Shirk- 3

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, I continue the series of sermons which I began elaborating on the subject of Tawheed and Shirk.

 

Today, I want to draw your attention to something: every day we say we will do something but we end up not doing it. And Allah is not pleased at all that you do not do what you have said you will do. 

Whenever we start praying (Salat) and anytime we read the Holy Quran, we start by saying: Aouzubillahi Minash Shaytaan-ir-Rajim. This simply means that we seek protection with Allah against Satan the Cursed, the one whom Allah rejected. But many times people don’t reflect upon those words: What am I saying? Where is that Shaytan (Satan)? And where does he stay? They think: In what way will Satan come to me so that I can repel him?

Divine Punishments & Rewards

  

The System of Divine Punishments & Rewards

 عَسٰی رَبُّکُمۡ اَنۡ یَّرۡحَمَکُمۡ ۚ وَاِنۡ عُدۡتُّمۡ عُدۡنَا ۘ وَجَعَلۡنَا جَہَنَّمَ لِلۡکٰفِرِیۡنَ حَصِیۡرًا ﴿۹

 

“It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you, but if you repeat (your crime) We shall repeat (the punishment), and remember that We have made hell a prison for the disbelievers.” (Bani Isra’il 17: 9).

 

There is disgrace, humiliation for those who cause trouble in this temporal life and in the Hereafter; this humiliation as well as the punishment that Allah will give to these types of people will be much more humiliating and painful than all the earthly punishments that you can ever think of.

 

The Message of the Holy Quran is addressed to all of you. Those who have faith and demonstrate this faith in their intentions and actions, they will surely get their spiritual reward which is a reward that is beyond any earthly reward that a person can ever conceive.

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.  

'Grow Up with Family Bond'

  

The Family & The Youth 

What is the family? This is the set of people with blood ties or ties of kinship [through marriage as well] living almost under the same roof. The extended family generally includes grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts, cousins ​​and others, including, of course, children of different parents. 

A question that is generally asked at the level of all generations and even among the young people of today: What good can a family bring? Of course, there will be different ways of thinking, of reasoning, of answering this question which torments the minds of many parents within the Ummah itself. And we can cite so many other cases where the parent-child relationship does not seem to be cordial. Why? 

Yet according to a Hadith from Bukhari, the Holy Prophet (pbuh) explains that the family brings stability and ensures security. The family is the first place where we socialize, where we learn the rules of life in society. It allows you not to live alone, to become a parent, and to live with those whom you love, to strengthen community bonds through alliances [marriages]. 

But the most important thing about the family - for believers of the Ummah - is that it is the first place to learn about the existence of Allah (twt) as the Unique Creator, and the value of Islam.

The Plans of Satan & His Army

 

'....I have recited the Verse 209 of Surah Al-Baqara, in which Allah (twt) says: “O believers! Enter into Islam wholeheartedly and do not follow Satan’s footsteps. Surely, he is your sworn enemy.” 

In the light of this verse of the Holy Quran, so far as Allah makes me understand His verses and ordains me to present this to all of you - all humanity and all my dear disciples around the world, therefore try to listen to the message of this Friday Sermon carefully and pray to Allah (twt) that He may give you the ilm (knowledge) to understand it deeply and remove you from the darkness of this world, and bring each of you to His light [i.e. the light of Allah (twt)], Insha-Allah. 

Please bear in mind that this sermon will be like a mirror in which you will be able to see yourselves, whether you are my disciples in Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, or even the other Muslims from other Jamaat around the world, and even if you are from any other religion, so this sermon concerns all of us, every human being - not only my Muslims brothers, sisters and children or not even my disciples around the world but ALL HUMANITY from the four corners of the world.

'Khalifatullah' and Spiritual Revolution

 

In his Friday Sermon of 04 June 2021~ 22 Shawwal 1442 AH, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius continued the theme of the previous week: the purpose of spiritual missions in the times of a Khalifatullah. 

Elects of God come with a mandate to preach pure religion, the clear path to a purposeful and rewarding life in obedience to Divine commandments. Such men of God challenge evil and unfair dealings as well as the unjust ways of the prevailing powers and rulers of the day- leading to an inevitable clash between the bad and the good. The struggle for the establishment of a new order calls for patience, perseverance, steadfastness and  courage on the part of the humble believers, and when they develop supreme reliance and trust on their Lord, and work wholeheartedly to transform the existing centres of power in alliance with other like-minded peoples, it can bring about the impossible transformations.  It is Allah and His messenger and the believers indeed who shall eventually prevail in those searing battles between Islam and all other ideologies in every era, Insha Allah, Aameen. 

Noting the current afflictions and convulsions of a degrading earth with its devastating consequences visible all around the world, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) exhorts everyone to return to the true worship of God. It is by rejecting the Satanic impulses and influences, and by embracing the noble path of the prophets that believers can seek forgiveness,  mercy and blessings of God in transforming every obstacle into an opportunity for the onward march of the Faith. 

Read the Extracts from the Sermon Below: 

God's Approval as Spiritual Reward

The spiritual training of Ramadan

Alhamdulillah - by the grace of Allah - we have spent the month of Ramadan in a very good way, and all that which we have been able to do during that month must be continued for the rest of the eleven months to come, Insha-Allah. If we have succeeded in putting into practice that which we did during the month of Ramadan, then we need to say Alhamdulillah Summa Alhamdulillah that the Ramadan has brought for us loads of spiritual blessings and benefits. These benefits touched our physical bodies as well as our souls, and they helped us in putting into practice the divine commandments, with hard striving and much effort. We also asked of Allah to help us to put these instructions of His into practice despite the weaknesses which are found in us.

Now, if you have been able to do so much effort during (such) a month, it is with the help of Allah that you have been able to do so. You have done all these to reap the pleasure of Allah and His forgiveness, and you even strived to get Allah (swt) Himself as your reward. Ramadan has left us (be it in Mauritius and the rest of the world) and went after 29 or 30 days of spiritual training; such training which would enable us to preserve and do all the more good deeds for the rest of the eleven months to come (before the next Ramadan).

Beyond Ramadan: Sustain the Jihad against Satan  

If you are not careful, then you can lose all these (blessings) and even lose Allah (swt) and return back to the olden days when Satan was once your intimate friend. Then to what avail would be the benefits of Ramadan to us? Lots of sacrifices in that blessed month, but when it went away, our good deeds which we did when it was among us have also gone away along with it, and we return back to the unislamic practices like before? If so, then the Ramadan that you fasted and preserved diligently to seek the pleasure of Allah and to seek Allah Himself as your reward would come to naught. And like Allah (swt) says in the Holy Quran, it is the acts you did that led you to your lost. (If Ramadan was not of any benefit to you) You have instead attracted the wrath of Allah upon you, for your attachment to the attractions of this world led you far from the paths of good deeds and led you to the path of divine punishment. In other words, you did not succeed in doing a Jihad (holy war) against Satan and you did not succeed in bringing about his great defeat and to convert him to Islam and making him a sincere believer and Muslim.

If after the passage of Ramadan, we (i.e. all Muslims) return back to the rusted vices we used to indulge in, this means that we have not benefited anything from the month of Ramadan. Therefore, you people (i.e. those who have let go of the spiritual blessings after Ramadan) have lost the valuable rewards you once obtained from Allah (swt) during Ramadan. A sincere believer who loves Allah a lot must know that for each good deed he does, there is a reward which the divine law has promised him/ her. And that reward is not a simple reward. The value of that reward is measured according to the one who gives that reward. The gift of a common person and that of a king is different, and we need not mention it here (for we all know about it).

'Reclaim Your Spiritual Self'

My Friday sermon is addressed to members of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam and also to everyone. 

Each one of you must exhort to mutual love, generosity, the practice of Islam and the knowledge of oneself.

The Paradoxes in the 'Muslim'Condition

The one for whom the word Allah was a viaticum (that is, the Muslim) is now under the control of attachment to material goods and the fear of death. Drunkenness (in favour of Spirituality/ to lose oneself in Spirituality), fervour and joy have deserted him: His religion is found in the book, and he is himself in the grave. The soul has left the body of fasting and prayer and other pillars of Islam; And as the soul has left prayer and fasting, the individual is without harmony and people without discipline, hearts being empty of the warmth of the Quran. How can we hope for an improvement from such men? 

O Allah! The Muslim has abandoned the self, hold out Your hand to him, for the water covers him higher than the head. The prostration (in Salaat) that makes the earth tremble has the power to make the sun and the moon turn according to its desire. If it were to seek the meaning of this prostration, the stone would vanish in the air like smoke! But now the Muslim no longer knows humility, there is nothing else in him but the weakness of old age. Who still realizes the majesty of the words spoken during the prostration: "My Lord (Allah) is Most High" (Allahu Akbar)? Is all this due to our fault, or is it believed that there is some weakness (may Allah preserve us from this thought) in these words? 

Everyone moves quickly on his own path. Only our mount is without bridle and roams endlessly without a goal. Possessing the Quran and having no ardour for research is a very strange thing. If the Lord has endowed you with vision, look at the coming times: rash reasons and hearts without ardour, eyes without shame and drowned in illusion, science and art, religion and politics, intelligence and sensibility, everything revolves around material things. Young people have thirsty lips, but their cup is empty; The faces are well washed, but the soul is black; The intelligence is luminous but has only a weak vision, it is devoid of certainty and hope. The young people's eyes have seen nothing in the world: They are poor beings, denying themselves, believing others.

Acquire Knowledge of the Self

O my disciples, be always sincere in all your actions; Free yourself from the fear of kings, so-called superpowers and potentates. Do not renounce justice in anger or contentment; Keep moderation, whether you are rich or poor. The precept is difficult, do not ingeniously try to interpret it.

Do not look for a torch except in your own hearts. The support of the souls is the Zikr and the Fikr, and as for the support of the bodies, it is in the respect of oneself during youth. In this world as in the other, power is acquired only by the maintenance of the soul and the body. The purpose of the journey is the joy of contemplation (i.e. contemplation of Allah as the Unique Creator). The secret of religion consists in saying truthful words and abstaining from forbidden food. Solitude and companionship is to contemplate the Divine Beauty. In the way of religion, be unbreakable like the diamond. Bind your hearts to Allah, and live without vain scruples.

Satanic Impulses in Our 'Celebrations'

Last Friday Sermon of the Year 2016

Today, for the last Friday Sermon of the year 2016, like usual, it is my duty to make people, especially the Muslims, become conscious of the excesses and innovations which breezes through their lives, and thus making them imitate the non-Muslims and participate in unislamic practices.

For New Year festivities, there is a fashion trending to organise all sorts of programmes in hotels and other places which have been transformed for the occasion. These End of Year programmes, including those broadcasted on TV, attract a lot of people. On TV, there are lots of channels which advertise to attract subscriptions, offering deals so that you may opt to subscribe with them during the last month of the year as well as the first month of the New Year. TV Channels also propose all kinds of activities like theatre, discotheques, singing and dancing competitions in several languages with attractive prizes. Many people come forward to participate. Moreover, there are all sorts of games of chance. It is a shame to see that so-called Islamic concerts are organised and for the End of Year and New Year posters are put everywhere for premieres of new films in cinema halls. People do not hesitate to lose time in long queues in order to buy those tickets for them as well as their spouses and children.

Twisted Thinking  among the Muslims

It is most unfortunate that many women are interested in all these distractions, especially Muslim women and girls, who have been barred from Friday Sermons and congregational prayers in the mosques, as well as Eid prayers after a month of fasting and as well as those of the Eid of Sacrifice (Eid-ul-Fitr & Eid-ul-Adha). They are denied the right to listen to sermons which are very important for a believer, male and female. Today's so-called Mullahs see all these as haraam (illicit) for the women and girls, and they have closed the door leading to Allah for them, and now those Muslim women and girls are holding fast to the door leading to Satan, whereby Satan makes everything seem beautiful for them so as to separate them from Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). So, according to these Mullahs, the door of the mosques are haraam (illicit) for the ladies, but now are all these satanic attractions which they have hold fast to halaal (licit) for them? Where will that door lead them? To Paradise or Hell?

'The Idiot Box is Truly Harmful'

 TV’S HARMFUL EFFECTS

By the grace of Allah, Allah (swt) in His infinite wisdom and grace has given me again the Tawfiq to continue my sermon today on the subject of: “The Harmful Effects of Television”.

Indeed the time that you lose watching TV is a time which you cannot gain back again, and verily you are in no position to know the exact remaining days which you have before you, before you leave this world. Therefore, maximize what time remains for you in the worship of Allah (Ibaadat), and the seeking of His forgiveness and mercy (Istigfaar). Spend all your time in the path of Allah by doing the works of religion and spend your money also for the propagation of the unity of Allah. Do not spend your money in useless preoccupations wherein there is no divine reward or pleasure.

Islam teaches us that despite all that which we possess (on earth), we verily have no right to use it in the way we want for all these things verily belong to Allah alone: our body, our strength, our time, our money and knowledge, etc. As for TV, it makes us waste our time and money in the disobedience of Allah and it makes us become lazy. With each second that you spend before TV you waste your existence, and verily you shall one day have to account for all that before your Creator. Your TV set plays day and night to such an extent that your electricity bill becomes enormous. It is verily wastage of your money, for apart from (national) television, you get to subscribe to other private channels and you have to pay for all that every month. 

Bear in mind that you have to account for all wealth/ money which Allah has given you before Him one day. Therefore, instead of wasting money, put the money to good use in the treasury of the Jamaat, to spend for the cause of Allah. This shall verily be a blessing for you for Allah shall put His blessings in your money and home and Insha-Allah, you shall have a great reward for it in the hereafter. What you sow in this world, you shall reap it in the hereafter. When you sow good deeds solely for the cause of Allah, therefore you shall reap an infinite reward both in this world and the hereafter. Verily the reward in the hereafter shall be much better and grand. 

Secure against the coming Divine Wrath

“This (Quran) is enlightenment for mankind and guidance and mercy for a people who have Faith with certainty. 

What! Do those who commit evils think that We shall hold them equal with those who believe and do righteous deeds - that equal will be their life and their death? Ill is the judgment that they make. 

And Allah created the heavens and earth with truth and so that every soul may be rewarded for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.”
               ---(Surah Al Jathiya, 45: 21-23)

These are the same verses of Surah Al-Jathiya (Chapter 45) which I explained last week and my explanation is not yet completed. Thus, by the grace of Allah, I now continue my explanation of these three verses.

So Allah’s wrath is coming down on earth, and only those who make a complete repentance for their sins and come in the refuge of Allah, they are the ones who will be saved from the divine punishment. Certainly the life and death of the righteous people can at no time be like the life and death of those who are immersed in evil. If you want to come in the refuge of Allah, then you need to make Tawbah (repentance) sincerely for all your past sins and present yourself in the refuge of Allah. If you do this, then Allah will create such qualities in you, so that people can testify that there is really between you and them a clear distinction, and where then there will be no need to enter into debates on the subject. Everyone will clearly see the difference, especially those who really want to see that. Now, how will they find this difference, and what treatment has Allah reserved for such people?

Satanic Impulses on Human Behaviour

Due to the imminent arrival of Ramadan, I thought it would be beneficial to talk about the approaches that Satan uses against us, at every moment of our lives to get us away from the remembrance of Allah (Zikrullah). Insha-Allah, this can be for all of us - myself first - a humble reminder and contribute to our spiritual preparation for the month of Ramadan, the aim being, of course, that when the time comes, Insha-Allah, we maximize the best of these blessed days.

We can read in the Holy Quran the following words which Allah addressed to Satan:

“Excite with your voice whoever you can among them, and assault them with your cavalry and your infantry, and become a partner in their wealth and their children and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit. As for My (believing) servants, you have no power over them. And your Lord is sufficient to protect them!” (17: 65-66)

This verse contains information relative to the main routes used by Satan and his allies to exert power over the human being and thus mislead him from the Straight Path. They often act:

-     Through what man perceives through his sense organs, as mentioned in the verse in question: “Excite with your voice…”

-        Through the negative impact of his acts of disobedience: “…assault them with your cavalry and your infantry…”; verily, all those who acts in disobedience to Allah make up the cavalry and infantry of Satan.

-     Via natural impulses that inhabit him, those innate qualities that make his character and the feelings he develops from his own individual or his surroundings: “...become a partner in their wealth and their children…”

-        Via suggestions addressed directly to his conscience and mind: “...make promises to them…”

Satan can thus infiltrate and access the human heart by internal or external ways, exposed or concealed. Hence the need for the believer to exercise constantly for increased vigilance with respect to the multiple assaults of his sworn enemy, whom the Quran mentions the words thereof, in these terms:

“‘Because You have put me in error’, said (Satan), ‘I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path., then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful (to You).’” (7: 17-18).

Remedies for the Diseases of the Heart

I don’t know how to thank My Creator, for He keeps increasing my knowledge on this subject and today, Alhamdulillah Summa Alhamdulillah I continue my Friday Sermon, on the remedies for the diseases of the heart, and I start first of all with how to guard one’s heart against the attack of the Satan (Shaytan). Shaytan creates doubts in the heart, therefore believing men should distant these doubts with the Zikr (remembrance) of Allah Ta’ala. They should not pay any attention to these doubts and distractions. Doubts and distractions are the talks of the Satan which he instills in the hearts of the believers.

It is reported in a Hadith that Shaytan will come to one of you and say to you: “Who created you?” 

The person will reply “Allah has created me”. Shaytan will then ask:“Who has created Allah?” 

Thus if this question arises in anyone’s heart, he should say:“I have brought faith in Allah and His Messenger (pbuh). This thought will then go away”. (Musnad Ahmad)

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is reported to have said: “Two causes take effect on the heart. One, the effect by the angels in the form of truth and virtue, this is from Allah Ta’ala. One should thank Allah Ta’ala for such effect. The other is from our enemy in the form of rejecting the truth and avoiding virtuous acts. One who experiences these effects should seek Allah’s protection from the accursed Satan.” The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) then recited the following verse in a way of supporting this Hadith: “Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.” (2: 269).” (Musnad Ahmad)