Self- Reform & 'Dawa'- III

 

 '...Like I was telling you, the Promised Messiah (as) had great love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)… Hazrat Massih Ma’ud (as) gave testimonies about the spiritual power or force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He says that he also was alive because of the spiritual power of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). And it is a fact that in respect to time, he had come 1300 years after Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). And geographically speaking, he came in such a place which was far away from Arabia, but despite it all, it is through the spiritual force of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that he was alive. That is indeed an extraordinary force.

You were amazed how someone could have reformed himself just by approaching the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But here, someone who came 1300 years after him, he swore in the name of Allah that if he was alive, it was surely due to the sheer spiritual force of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). He claimed that he received this life – directly [in a way of speaking] from the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

Reforming Self and the World- II

 

 Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 2

 

Allah says in the noble Quran: 

And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, "Indeed, I am of the Muslims." [i.e., one who submits himself completely to Allah]? [Fussilat 41: 34]

 

So, in the context of good deeds and invitation to Allah, we must keep in mind that it is good deeds [of people] that give heights [higher grades or status] to invitations to Allah. The ranks of such people increase before the eyes of Allah, because they are people who make every effort to give the message of Allah, to invite people to the one God Who created this universe.

 

So what better invitation there can be than to invite people to Allah? That is, it's such a beautiful invitation that the world can raise no objection against it. Even those who will not believe in this message, they may not believe but they will not be able to have any objection against you. At the very least they will bow their heads and listen to your message. They will say: You see! We will never believe in Allah, but we must admit that the one who calls us to Him is a very good person.

 

So when you make this invitation, then Allah says it is a better one [a much better invitation]. But what gives heights [higher grades] and honour to this invitation? It is good deeds. If there are not the right deeds that accompany this invitation, then sometimes the invitation will have the opposite effect. This is when people will say: Look at this person! He calls others to Allah but look in what a bad situation he is. He's like a bald man who sells medicine to grow hair!

Reforming Self and the World

 

Self Reform & Tabligh/ Dawa- Part 1

 

Today I will talk to you about a very important subject: The Invitation to Allah. I will speak on this subject just as the Quran says that the invitation to Allah begins in your own homes. As long as we do not invite our own beings to Allah and respond favourably to that invitation, then there will be no [doing of] good deeds. And if there are no good deeds, then the invitation to Allah will become something meaningless.

 

So, see the excellent condition put forward by the Quran to embellish “Invitation to Allah” [Dawat-i-Illallah]. We have been commanded to invite others but also to invite our own selves as well. Indeed, if you invite your own selves to Allah, it is then that you will get the right to invite others as well; otherwise, that latter invitation would be in vain. There is a saying in English as thus: ‘Physician, heal thyself!’ Therefore, people [in the world] could say: ‘Oh, is it you who has come to cure others? Go and cure yourself first!’

 

So, as much as a person makes his own reform, he gains the equivalent opportunity to invite people to Allah. But you can’t wait for your own reformation to invite others. This is the important point that I want to make you understand today. A person cannot say that until he makes his reform completely, then the Quran does not give him the right to invite others to Allah. This is a wrong reasoning because self-reform is something that is continual. 

'Hijab' in the Time of 'Islamophobia'

  

In his Friday Sermon of 25 February 2022~ 23 Rajab 1443 AH, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius eloquently explains the ethics of Hijab in Islam. Speaking against the backdrop of the ongoing controversy in India and elsewhere over unfair restrictions on the civic freedoms of Muslim girls and women to access education and employment in the name of their religious attire, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) offers an exposition on the Islamic approach for the protection of women's identity, dignity,  privacy interests, and rights in the social order. 

 

As Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) alludes in the discourse, the present controversy over Hijab is indicative of a deeper crises in societies fuelled by internal political conflicts over unemployment and other issues, including the recognition, accommodation and integration of minority groups. Liberal States in the West and elsewhere swear by their commitment to democratic values and fundamental human rights- including freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and minority rights- and yet, the apparently neutral policies that they espouse betray direct or indirect discrimination- with disproportional impact upon the religious minorities living in the land; forcing the minority communities to choose between their commitment to religious beliefs and cultural practices and the dictates of national culture -raising searing questions of justice and equity in law and policy. 

Consider the present, manufactured controversy over Hijab. The 'presence' of Muslims as a people manifesting their religious practices such as Hijab and going about their everyday lives apparently challenge pre-existing notions of 'secular' public sphere with their rules of engagement such as uniforms in academic institutions and dress code in employment, etc. Majoritarian intolerance and hatred against minority groups point to political mobilization. Illiberal forces weaponize secular law to erase the 'hated' symbols of minorities- such as the Hijab- from the public sphere. Indeed, beneath the veneer of liberal quibbling over the role of 'religious' symbol- Hijab- in 'secular' space, with no corresponding attention to the symbols of the majority that are all over the public sphere; Islamophobia- the prejudice and suspicion and hatred and intolerance against Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community- is 'the elephant in the room' that needs to be called out. 

With ideologies of racial supremacism, ethnic nationalism, and religious majoritarianism increasingly gaining public support in several multicultural states,  'Islamophobia' is indeed regrettably widespread in our times. In the names of modernity and secular values of women's emancipation and empowerment, the Islamic headscarf and other veiling practices are viewed as 'oppressive' by the non-Muslim world. Hence, Muslim girls and women are left with no option but to resist and mount legal struggles to gain recognition and public acceptance for their Hijab. It is instructive to note in this context that without clear respect for the inherent dignity and rights of the human person and her free choices, including the recognition of 'difference' in the spirit of diversity; without an ethic of compassion for 'minority' groups who don't share the values of the majority; the claims of upholding liberalism, democracy, secularism and human rights are empty or hollow. As more and more women- [both Muslims and non-Muslims]- are recognizing the appeal and benefits of Islamic teachings and embracing the convenience of the Hijab, the societies that seek to ban Islamic values are destined to be profoundly transformed in their approach sooner than later- whether they like it not, Insha Allah, Aameen. 

Read the Friday Sermon Below: