Text Box: بسم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN AL KHALIFATULLAH Munir Ahmad Azim 12 February 2010 (27 Safar 1431 Hijri) (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he said: وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ۝ Wa laa tat-tabi-uu khutuwaatish shaytaan; Innahuu lakum aduw-wum-mubiin. Do not follow the footsteps of Satan; surely he is your open enemy. (Chapter 2 Verse 209) يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لاَ يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ Yaa Banii Aadama laa yaftinanna-kumush-shaytaanu kaamaaa akhraja aba-waykum minal-Jannat. O children of Adam! Let not the Satan cause you to fall into affliction as he expelled your parents from the garden. (Chapter 7 Verse 28) Life is a constant struggle against Satan. There is no doubt that our success in this world and the next depends on Allah’s pleasure and satisfaction with us. True success lies in the obtaining of Allah’s satisfaction, even if the world conspires to say that we are trouble-makers and thus not liable of any considerations. Likewise, obtaining Allah’s displeasure and attracting His wrath would mean that we ourselves are the losers, even if the whole world comes together in reinforcement to protect us or to take us as leaders. The fact remains that obtaining Allah’s satisfaction is not an easy goal. One has to submit completely to His divine will and accepts to obey His Messenger, whenever He sends one to the world, to spread the divine message. Thus, the believer learns to obey Allah and His Messenger and disobey Satan in the allures he takes to make us deviate from Allah’s path. When the believer learns this fundamental law, his conscience is ever turned towards maximising his efforts to fight against this enemy (Satan) and set his life according to the divine prescriptions. For example, if his inner-self invites him to commit a sin, he must recall that if he does so, he will be obeying Satan and thus disobeying the Creator, Allah (Exalted is He). There is no doubt about the fact that obedience to Satan means taking the path leading to Hell; such a destination which no one among us would want to reach and taste, even for a second! The objective of Satan is to make mankind commit Shirk (ascribe partners to Allah the Unique God), thus making them become the inmates of Hell forever. In Chapter 35 Verse 7 of the Holy Quran, Allah says: “Surely the Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy; he only invites his party that they may be inmates of the burning.” Satan is ever present to tempt mankind into indulging in evils, especially Shirk. Even if he does not succeed in making humans and especially the believers (those who have faith in Allah) fall into Shirk, he shall make his very best to make us commit lesser sins which if put together would be absolutely enormous. He will never let the believers alone, scarring them into committing wrongs which would be an impediment for them in the path of Allah. One of the ways he will use to create these problems would be first by dividing Muslims and slowly but surely inputting hatred into their hearts for each other. He makes them be disgusted with each other and make enemies out of them. Allah says in the Quran – Chapter 5 Verse 92: “Satan only desires to cause enmity and hatred to spring in your midst…” The enmity which Satan has for man is such that he pricks him the moment he is born in this world. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “There is no children of Adam who has been born, whom Satan has not touched (pricks him on his forehead), and thus he (the baby) cries because of the touch of Satan, except Mary and her son (Jesus). (Bukhari) The attack of Satan on man is not a temporary one, but it is such an attack which pierces man every second of his life, for as long as his soul resides in his temporal body. About this, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “Satan said (when talking to God), “I take the solemn oath on Your Honour and Majesty, O my Lord, I shall continue to mislead Your slaves (servants), for as long as their soul resides in their body.” (Ahmad) The promise and efforts of Satan to mislead man have reached till he freely circulates in the human body, in the veins of man to make him indulge in wrong thoughts and deeds. Once the wife of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) – Safiyya – went to see her husband during a spiritual retreat. After talking to him, upon her intention to leave and go back home, two men happened to pass by and saw the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) with a woman. They made a haste to go, but the Prophet stopped them and said: “Walk normally; this is Safiyya bint Huyayy (my wife).” They said: “Praise be to Allah, O Messenger of Allah! (Will we ever have wrong thoughts on you?)” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Surely Satan circulates in the children of Adam like blood in his veins, and thus I feared lest he produces an evil (thought) in your hearts.” (Bukhari) Iblis is not the only creature to work hard towards the destruction of humanity. He has by his side many agents, from among Jinn and men. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “Iblis establishes his throne on water and afterwards he sends his army (from among men). The one to obtain nearness (with Iblis), is the one who commit greater evils (spreading of havoc, chaos and dissention everywhere). One among them comes and says: “I have done so and so.” Iblis tells him: “You have done nothing!” Another one comes and says: “I have not left him (man) until I have separated him from his wife.” Upon this, Iblis makes this acolyte of his comes closer to him and says: “You have indeed succeeded in a great achievement.” (Muslim) The lesson behind this Hadith is that Iblis incites his agents to rivalling against each other to create havoc, hatred and disorder on earth among men and Jinn alike. For there are among men and Jinn good ones who strive to comes closer to Allah, and the work of Iblis and Satan and their army is to deviate these people and Jinn from the path of Allah and to make them become their acolytes in crime. What is this crime? Shirk (ascribing partners to Allah)! Thus, everyday of our life is a constant combat against Iblis and his army. Thus we must never let them have the upper-hand upon us. We must do everything in our power not to be discouraged in this life and to put our trust in Allah and be patient, and continue to struggle in the path of Allah even if all odds is against us, even if we feel that the whole world is conspiring against us, but nevertheless victory must be ours if we want to get rid of Satan and his mischief. Satan has made such a plan that he has associated a specific Satan with each human to make his very best to deviate him from the right path. Aisha the wife of Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him), reported that one day Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) came out of her (apartment) during the night and she felt jealous. Then he came and he saw me (in what agitated state of mind) I was. He said: Aisha, what has happened to you? Do you feel jealous? Thereupon she said: How can it be (that a woman like me) should not feel jealous in regard to a husband like you. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: It was your devil who had come to you, and she said: Allah’s Messenger, is there along with me a devil? He said: Yes. I said: Is devil attached to everyone? He said: Yes. I (Aisha) again said: Allah’s Messenger, is it with you also? He said: Yes, but my Lord has helped me against him and as such I am absolutely safe from his mischief. (Muslim) Thus, the fact that there is always a Satan with us who constantly inspire us to show disobedience to Allah, this indicates to us that we should always live being conscientious of this truth, so that we may not stumble into the trap of Satan and his partisans. Satan has sworn to bring us to our destruction along with him in Hell, and if ever he does not succeed in leading us Muslims into indulging into greater sins, he will succeed in trapping us in smaller ones. For example, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: The one who eats with his left hand, Satan eats along with him. The one who drinks with his left hand, Satan drinks along with him. (Ahmad) Moreover, there is a Hadith narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “During your sleep, Satan knots three knots at the back of the head of each of you, and he breathes the following words at each knot, ‘The night is, long, so keep on sleeping,’ If that person wakes up and celebrates the praises of Allah, then one knot is undone, and when he performs ablution the second knot is undone, and when he prays, all the knots are undone, and he gets up in the morning lively and gay, otherwise he gets up dull and gloomy.” (Bukhari) Narrated by ‘Abdullah: It was mentioned before the Prophet that there was a man who slept the night till morning (after sunrise). The Prophet said, “He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated.” (Bukhari) Now that we have heard of these Hadiths, would we like to have Satan urinate in our ears if we do not wake up to pray Salaat Fajr? Satan does not harm us solely when we are awake, but he comes to taunt us also while we are asleep, in our dreams. On the authority of Abu Qatada: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A good dream that comes true is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan, so if anyone of you sees a bad dream, he should seek refuge with Allah from Satan and should spit on the left, for the bad dream will not harm him.” (Bukhari) In another version, it is mentioned that the person seeing the harmful dream should not relate it to others. As long as there will be people on earth, Satan shall devise plans to deviate him from the right path, and his attack persists till humans’ last breath in this temporal world. Among the invocations which the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) used to pray to Allah, he used to say: “O Allah, I seek refuge in You against Satan, so that he does not attack me when I will leave this world.” (Nasai) We must bear in mind that Allah has warned us about the promise of Satan, and how treacherous an enemy he is. And Satan shall say after the affair is decided: “Surely Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I gave you promises, then failed to keep them to you, and I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you obeyed me, therefore do not blame me but blame yourselves: I cannot be your aider (now) nor can you be my aiders; surely I disbelieved in your associating me with Allah before”; surely it is the unjust that shall have the painful punishment. (Chapter 14 Verse 23) O mankind! Surely the promise of Allah is true, therefore let not the life of this world deceive you, and let not the arch-deceiver (Satan) deceive you respecting Allah. Surely the Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy; he only invites his party that they may be inmates of the burning. (Chapter 35 Verses 6-7) These verses of the Holy Quran and Hadiths show us what is the reality about life on earth: a constant struggle against Satan and his acolytes. If we succeed in being victorious upon them, this means that we shall be exempted from Hell-fire, and if it is Satan who is victorious over us, this means that our destination is Hell (May Allah protect us from this!) We all know that the final destination of Satan is Hell. If on earth man has remained with him like a good comrade, it is logical to say that they would be inseparable in the other world also. And if on earth, man has maintained distance with him, he can have the clear hope that in the other world he will not be in his company; instead he will be in the company of the pious and pure. Let’s us pray that Allah gives us the sincerity needed in this world to be always faithful towards Allah and His Messenger, and may Allah make death overcome us with He is completely satisfied and pleased with us. May Allah also accept all our sacrifices which we have done and are yet to do till the moment of our departure from this world, and may He forgive us for our failings, sins and mistakes. Ameen.