A visit to Rodrigues: Thabligh Diary

At the heart of the Indian Ocean, at latitude 19°43’ S and longitude 63°25’ E, Rodrigues Island stretches over a surface area of 108 km², some 650 km to the north-east of Mauritius. It is the part of Africa that is closest to Australia. Born from volcanic activity between 1.3 and 1.5 million years ago, the island – 18 km long, 8 km wide – is the smallest of the Mascarene archipelago.

Rodrigues is a mountainous island with a succession of valleys plunging to the 300 km² lagoon. Its population is now around 39,500 people, the majority of them are Christians and they work as fishermen, traders and craftsmen. Rodrigues Island is till date a dependency of Mauritius, though Mauritius has given it an autonomy whereby some decisions are taken in the Regional Assembly of Rodrigues.

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, the Messenger of Allah arrived in Rodrigues in the morning of Saturday 09 August 2014. As in his habit, losing no time, the Khalifatullah (atba) after briefly refreshing himself launched into Jamaat works. A special meeting was held with the members of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, in view of the Jamaat projects planned and also concerning the activities of the Jamaat during the stay of Huzur (atba) in Rodrigues.

Do not fight with God and His Messenger

Allah (swt) has several beautiful names. These are the attributes that He possesses. I shall mention briefly two of these attributes: Al-Khafidh, which means the One who humiliates and, Ar-Rafi, the One who elevates. Almighty Allah has the capacity to degrade/humiliate someone or to elevate him, raising him in position. It is Almighty Allah who has the power to degrade someone by dishonouring him and to elevate him and making him honourable.

Man is ever changing. He does not stay the same. There is a time when he is young, courageous and solid, and after the passage of time, he becomes unrecognizable. You may see that his courage has disappeared and he has lost his charm. In the past people used to need him and rush to him, and now nobody knows that he exists. Dreams become reality and reality becomes a thing of the past. Therefore, there is the high and low in life, and all this is found in the hand of Allah the Almighty.

Do you know who you are? All the noises/publicity/boasting that you are making… you can be a Minister, Prime Minister or a King. You can be whatever you want to be, but do you know that you are a slave? All the bossing around that you do, but verily you shall always remain a slave. You shall live like a slave and die as a slave. You shall never succeed in liberating yourself from that slavery. What remains to be known is what kind of slave are you! If you are not a slave for ALLAH, then you must be in a way or another, a slave of another thing/person. You can become slave of your passions, desires and vices. Then, if you have to be a slave, why do you become a slave for another slave? Why do you become a slave who makes you become the worst of slaves? 

Significance of Surah Al Fatiha

'... I have chosen to talk/explain today on a never-ending subject. I can say that if the ocean was ink and all trees in this world and the universe were pens and the sky and earth were papers, therefore all these would have come to an end but not the commentary of the Surah Al-Fatiha. This is because of the high importance of this chapter in the life of a believer, and this chapter is the first chapter of the Holy Quran. It is so important that one has to start with the Surah Al-Fatiha when he begins his prayer (Namaz/Salat). And to start supplications (duahs) to Allah, the Surah Al-Fatiha needs to be recited first. This is because of the nature of its greatness as a chapter and duah. In whatever situation a person may be, be it a difficulty, an illness or a state of suffering or any other problems he finds himself in, therefore he needs to recite the Surah Al-Fatiha.

By the grace of Allah, today 22^nd August 2014, I have thought about explaining a bit again on this very important chapter – the Surah Al-Fatiha. I know that there is no end to the commentary of this Surah. Centuries after centuries after my advent, there shall come many more divinely-sent reformers (Mujaddid), caliphs of Allah (Khalifatullah) and other Men of God who shall keep on explaining on this chapter, Surah, which is the Surah Al-Fatiha.

The word “Fatiha” comes from the verb “Fataha”, which means in this context “to open”. “Al” is a defined article and Fatiha (feminine here because it refers to the word Surah which is feminine in Arabic) means the opening Surah, which starts the Quran because it is that Surah which comes first in the Quran, that is, when you open the Quran, it is that very important key which is required to open the Quran. It is also important as a key to open your heart to your Creator, to show the great extent of love which you have for Him and which enables you to recognise your Lord (Allah) as the Master of the Day of Judgement. And it is Him whom we worship and to Him alone we beseech forgiveness… In addition it is with the Surah Al-Fatiha itself that we are able to open our Salat/Namaz (prayer). It is the first Surah that we recite in the Salat.