The Attributes of Allah- III

By the grace of Allah I continue my 3^rd part of the Friday Sermon on the attributes of Allah and it is only Allah (swt) Who can give me the grace, the opportunity and the knowledge to elaborate this subject in depth. Without His help and His divine grace it will not be possible for me, weak creature that I am to speak on such an important subject. And this subject is important in the lives of all believers so that they know Allah (swt) through His attributes, and we must make it our duty to read His attributes every day [especially in these difficult times that we are living today]. Insha-Allah.

I continue the subject where someone lies to receive praise, to accomplish his greed, to receive honour, greatness, and grab property that does not belong to him. He does nothing to get it all; he does not work hard to earn it all honestly, but he acts dishonestly, and lies in order to steal the property of his neighbour or brother or the property of his sister. He is greedy; he likes that he alone wins all that and so, in order to reach to this end, he tricks his brothers or sisters, and makes them sign documents to grab their wealth and then he turns his back on them and pushes them away in order to enjoy alone these riches.

If we look at the example that the Qur’an gives us, we will find that there are people who lie and use flattery to gain praise because of greed and you see these situations also in religion. 

Hindu-Muslim Amity in India

We took a pledge from you, ‘Do not shed one another’s blood or drive one another from your homelands’. You acknowledged it at the time, and you can  testify to this. Yet here you are, killing one another and driving some of your own  people from their homes, helping one another in sin and aggression against them..’ (2: 92)

‘Lord, we fear he will do us great harm or exceed all bounds’ (20:45)

‘We have put our trust in God. Lord! Do not make us an object of persecution for the oppressors’ (10: 85)

‘Lord, we have put our trust in You; we turn to You; You are our final destination. Lord, do not expose us to mistreatment at the hands of the disbelievers. Forgive us, Lord, for You are the Almighty, the All Wise’.  (60:6) 

‘Truly those who persecute believing men and believing women, then do not repent, theirs shall be punishment of Hell, and theirs shall be the punishment of burning’. (85:11) 

An Unjust World

Today, millions of people suffer injustice, persecution and slaughter at the hands of unjust regimes around the world. In several nations- whether they are Muslim-majority or non-Muslim majority, minority communities are facing legal discrimination and political oppression. Consider the recent events impacting certain peoples, the harrowing accounts of systematic oppression are mind-numbing, and make for depressing reading: genocide of the Bosnian Muslims in Europe in the 1990’s; the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Muslims in Central African Republic; the high-handedness of the  Myanmar/Burma regime vis-a-vis the Rohingya Muslims; the inhuman treatment being meted out to the Uighur Muslims in China;  the throttling of civic, political and economic freedoms of Muslim- majority provinces in Russia (the situation of Chechnya/ Dagestan, Crimean Tartars, etc); the volatile situation in Kashmir; the fifth-generation/ long-suffering Palestinian refugees;  the situation of millions of refugees from, and internally displaced persons in, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, Yemen,  etc.  

The mindset of the self-exalting Pharaohs, hell-bent on persecuting the hapless children of Israel in ancient times, seems to be alive, as if it were, and bedevil, almost every nation and generation of people. The denial of human rights and community interests and political oppression is often serviced in the name of superior race; majority religion; superior caste; pure ethnicity; national culture; secular law, popular will, etc. Not just under despotic regimes, but also under so-called democracies, minority communities and their interests are trampled upon. The national ‘self’ is imagined in such a narrow way that the minorities are treated as the ‘other’ and the law is unleashed to deny and deprive the basic rights of such persons: citizenship, civic and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, etc. Hence, in the name of socially-codified communal prejudices in such democracies, the human dignity, basic identity, fundamental rights and other collective interests of the minority is unrecognized, and often, criminalized. 

The Darkness in Delhi

As I write this, my city, Delhi, is limping back to ‘normalcy’ after the dastardly, orchestrated, anti-Muslim violence of last week that claimed over 50 innocent lives, and critically- injured hundreds of others, ordinary people going about their everyday lives. Shops and establishments, vehicles and other properties, houses and the mosques of the Muslim community were particularly targetted by the criminal thugs on steroid. The communal fire and riots were ignited and perpetrated with a clear and malicious intent to destroy the peaceful and dignified co-existence of the Hindus and the Muslims of the city for several decades. By attacking the very livelihood of the minority community, the marauders and their political dons hope to break the harmony in society. With every communal violence, the 'distance' between communities increase, leading to 'apartheid-cities' segregating the people from one another, further and further. [Inset: 'A mosque in Delhi's Ashok Nagar was torched and a saffron flag associated with the Hindu far right was placed on the minaret' [File: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Al Jazeera]

The Attributes of Allah- II

By the grace of Allah, last week I started my sermon on the attributes of Allah and I thank Allah (swt) very much for giving me the Tawfiq to continue on the same subject today too. When you follow last Friday’s Sermon, you will understand better that in concrete terms there is no mention of Allah as Haqq, but in fact when you analyze His attributes, but then the truth is included. From the point of view of praise, one cannot even conceive a lie about Allah and from Allah [in connection to Allah].

The second reason that people lie a lot is because of greed. There are a lot of lawsuits going on [in court] regarding wealth and property matters or loan and repayment cases, debt cases etc. Much of this business is the result of the lies that people tell due to their greed.

Let’s [now] look at country level. You see that because of the thirst for power, because of a greed for power, politicians make all kinds of promises in order to come to power, and in this quest, there are a lot of lies going on during the electoral campaign, where one party criticizes the other party, throws mud on it [i.e. dishonouring] it [and all people involved in it], and makes all kinds of shenanigans where very often there are even elections which are held in a country where there are mischief and frauds and all this opens the way for a fight and disorder: the political parties throw mud on their opponents, they make such electoral campaigns where they meet the other parties and watch them carefully lest their opponents come to power. In this quest for power, there are promises made with the electorate, and there are also many lies that are spoken. All this is the result of greed, the desire to grab power, to stay in power, to have fun [with the people’s money] as we say and in all this it is the people who still suffer a lot during the five years [to come] when these politicians deceive people, and lie to them because of their greed.

Now a Being Who owns everything and Who does not depend on anyone and Who, on the contrary, everyone depends on Him, so what is the use for Him to lie? He is already the Master of the universe and therefore the very aspect/ notion of greed is completely removed.

'Siraj Makin': Tasks of Faith

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, the Siraj Makin- women’s wing of the Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam- in Kerala recently organized a Deen-i-Ta’lim programme, the first of a series of study-meetings being planned by the women's wing for the year ahead. The newly appointed Sadr of the Kerala Jamaat, Rajeena Sadiq Ali Saheba, and Na’ib Sadr Fauzia Jamal Saheba led the meeting proceedings and several activities at the Noor’ul Islam Masjid, Mathra on Friday, 07 February 2020. 

In a special message on the occasion, International Sadr of the Siraj Makin Hazrat Ummul Mu’mineen Fazli Amena Varsally Saheba reminds the gathering of women believers about the duties of Faith, and what it implies for their/our everyday lives. Bearing true allegiance to Faith primarily entails a commitment to personal reform to grow spiritually, to recognize the vital presence of God in our moment in this world. Along with offering regular prayers and observing the rites of Faith, bearing witness to the sublime values of Islamic life, in one's own personal settings, true devotees of God also have an equal obligation to reach out to fellow humans- 'Muslim' and 'non-Muslim', to exhort one another to a truer and purposeful living. Recognizing the dues of God include respect for the interests and equal rights of His creations. Hence, preaching the message of Divine Unity is to construct a good social order as well. The larger tasks of Dawa/ Tabligh- inviting people to a richer, ethically-aware, spiritual way of life- require sacrifice and hard work- financial, time, travels, meetings; prudent co-option of communication channels, including social media,  in the cause of Faith and Divine Light. Women believers could and should play a critical role in projecting and disseminating the Divine Messages of our times being vouchsafed through our Imam/Jamaat Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (atba), exhorts Hazrat Saheba in this important discourse.

Read the Text of the Special Address Below:  

My dear daughters,
Assalamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakaatuhu.

Congratulations on your First Siraj Makin Meeting for this new year 2020 this coming Friday, 07 February. May Allah bless your meeting and togetherness and enable you all to partake of such knowledge which will make you grow spiritually. Ameen.