Text Box: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon HAZRAT KHALIFATULLAH AL-MASSIH AL-MA’OUD Munir Ahmad Azim 01 April 2011 ~ (26 Rabi’ul Aakhir 1432 Hijri) (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Messiah (Massih’ullah) read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he said: رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلاَّ أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ “Your Lord only forbade you access to this tree so that that you do not become angels or live eternally.” (7:21) Today I will outline an alternative explanation to what has probably made Adam taste the forbidden fruit. Know that it was certainly not in a spirit of rebellion or transgression that Adam ate the fruit. Indeed, another explanation is that Adam had forgotten the divine order, and ate the fruit through distraction, and the following verse is proof enough: “And indeed We made a covenant with Adam before, but he forgot, and We found on his part no firm will-power (to disobey).” But if he tasted the fruit while bearing in mind the divine command of interdiction, it was probably because of what had been suggested by Satan. The love which Adam felt for God verily made him covet eternity with Him, to remain forever with Him. He also desired the angelic state, because he had seen the angels’ proximity to God. Also he wished to eat of the tree to get a better station than the one he already had. As a result, God took the deviant words of the devil (that is to say, “Your Lord only forbade you access to this tree so that that you do not become angels or live eternally.”) and honoured Adam by these words, which is, by driving him down from the Garden of Eden, He gave him access to a world of recognition (through trials) that earned him immortality thereafter - through death – thus accessing a better and eternal world, and his soul, which is from the breath of God, is eternal and can reach the highest level of spirituality, thus surpassing the angelic state. Adam let himself tempted more easily especially when Ibliss took the name of Allah when he told him and his wife: “I am a good counsellor for you both.” And Adam could never have thought that it could be possible to lie when taking the name of God (as Witness). Thus, it was like God had decreed: the devil seduced them by gimmicks (and artifice). You should also know that food which Adam had in paradise did not turn into anything harmful: it was eliminated through perspiration, and the sweat smelled of musk, as is true for the people of Paradise. But when he had eaten of the forbidden tree, he was taken by contractions, and therefore he heard a voice say: “O Adam, whence will you go then? In the profoundness of a valley, on the mountain, or on the banks of a river? Rather go down to earth, where you can relieve yourself!” If then the belly – which was only the passive instrument of this transgression – had to suffer such consequences, how could it then have no adverse consequences on its author? However, the “tree” can also be regarded as all things that God forbids, and the “paradise” as His presence. When we say “Keep away from the tree because you shall be of the transgressors,” that is also to your heart, represented by Adam and your soul, symbolized by Eve that this interdiction is addressed. Adam was the object of divine solicitude: so after having eaten of the tree, he was hurled to earth to become the Caliph of God. As for you, if you come to eat of the forbidden “tree”, you will be banned from the “paradise” of compliance (to the divine will) (al-muwafaqa), to be cast out into the “land” of separation. Then your heart will suffer because it is the heart that suffers from failure, not the passionate soul, which now agrees, quite the contrary, to this world because it then satisfy its passions and pleasures, and plunge into heedlessness! Know that God revealed Himself first by the creative Act, so much so that Adam invoked Him by His name: The Mighty (Al-Qadir). Then He revealed to him by His specific will, so Adam invoked Him by His name: The Volunteer (Al-Murid). Then God revealed to him by His decision to forbid him to eat from the tree, and Adam invoked Him by His name: The Regent (Al-Hakim). He then predestined him to eat (of the fruit of the tree), and Adam invoked Him by His name: The Overpowering Lord (Al-Qahhar). Because after that God was eager not to punish him, Adam invoked Him by His name: the Magnanimous (Al-Halim). And as He did not reveal his fault, Adam then invoked Him by His name: He who conceals [defects] (As-Sattar). When God accepted his repentance, Adam invoked Him by His name: The Forgiving (At-Tawwab). God made Adam then understand that his disobedience had not tarnished His affection for him, and thus Adam invoked Him by His name: The Compassionate (Al-Wadud). As shown in this authentic tradition, this affection remains intact for all the children of Adam, as long as they do not associate with God any other divinity. Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say: "Allah the Almighty said: 'O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.’” (Tirmidhi) Then God sent Adam down on earth, facilitating for him his livelihoods, and Adam invoked Him by His name: The Compassionate (al-Latif). God gave him the strength to withstand what He demanded of him and Adam invoked Him by His name: He Who Helps (Al-Mu'in). Then, when He unveiled the secret of the forbidden, of his transgression, and the ensuing fall, Adam could only invoke Him by His name: The Wise (Al-Hakim). Then God gave him victory over his enemies, and Adam invoked Him by His name: He who gives victory (Al-Nasir). Finally, God helped him to withstand the demands of servitude, so Adam invoked Him by His name: The Support/Succour (Al-Dhabir). It is therefore only to complete the divine decision (tasrif) against Adam, and impose upon him the legal requirements, that God sent him down to earth. So much so that in him (Adam), the two aspects of servitude shall complement each other perfectly: the servitude of one who undergoes [divine] decisions, and the servitude of one who meets its requirements. What more sublime gift that God could have given him? And how great is God's benevolence towards him! Thus the station of servitude is certainly one of the finest stations in which God can establish a servant, and the other spiritual stations are to it that which the servant is to his master. To demonstrate the elevation of this station, one can consider the proximity of the servant with that of the name of the Lord in these verses: “Glory to Him Who carried His servant by night” and “If you believe in God, and in what We have revealed to Our servant ...” and: “Qaf, Ha, Ya, Ain, Sad, this is a reminder of the mercy which thy Lord showed towards His servant Zachariah” ; and again: “When the servant of God stood up to invoke Him.” As for the Prophet (peace be upon him), when he had the choice between being “a prophet-king” or being “a prophet-servant”, he chose servitude. What better proof of the excellence of this station, that to reach to the proximity of God through humility and deprivation? He - the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) - also said, “I am only a servant and as such I do not eat lying on my side. I am only the servant of God, and I eat in the manner of servants.” Yet it is also he who said: “I am the lord of the children of Adam, and I do not say this with arrogance.” The expression “do not say this with arrogance” means that the prophet was not putting his pride in the lordship [he had on all children of Adam], but in the very cause of existence (ijad) [of the universe]. God (Exalted be He) says in the Qur'an: “I created jinns and men so that they worship Me”, but the worship (al-Ubudiyya) which is of His essence. Having understood this, know now that the true spirit of servitude is the abandonment of all self-will, of all revolt against destiny. How can the station of servitude ever govern and choose when it is faced with sovereignty? But this spiritual station (the most noble of all, like we have just seen) is attained only by renouncing the government of oneself. The servant must thus renounce to self-will and submit and surrender to God if he wants to achieve the most perfect of (spiritual) stations. The Prophet (peace be upon him), one day heard Abu Bakr recite the Quran in a low voice, while Umar recited his part (of the Quran) aloud. He asked Abu Bakr, “Why is your tone of voice so low (in recitation of Quran)?” and he replied: “The One Whom I am addressing actually hears me speak.” (i.e., God is not deaf!) The Prophet asked Umar: “Why is your tone of voice so high (in recitation of Quran)?”; “To awaken those who are asleep, and to ward off the devil!” replied Umar. The Prophet then ordered Abu Bakr: “Raise your voice slightly,” and to Umar: “Lower your voice slightly.” The envoy of God (peace be upon him) wanted each of his companions to renounce to their self-will and to bend to his because therein was the middle way to attract upon them the complete satisfaction of God. The reasons given by Abu Bakr and Umar were both correct, but by making them surrender their own will, the Prophet wanted to show them that even this renunciation was the highest of worship. Now let's take the example of the Children of Israel. It is their desire for autonomy that made them lose sight of submission to the divine decision. When they entered the desert and they were granted the manna and quails, it was God Himself who had chosen these for their livelihood, which reached them from the very source of munificence (ayn al-Minna) without their having to make any effort to get it. But as their soul was not refined and they were accustomed to a common food (which they missed), because of it, they lost sight of the decision (tadbir) of God and eventually came to order [Moses] that they be given their usual food: “Invoke your Lord, therefore, for us that He bring forth for us what the earth produces [usually]: vegetables, pumpkin, garlic, lentils and onions.” Moses told [them]: “Will you then trade the best (alladhi huwa khayr) for what is less good (alladhi huwa adna)? Go to a city so: you get everything you asked.” They were struck with humiliation and poverty, and suffered the wrath of God. If they were thus blamed by Moses it was because they refused what God had chosen for them and have asked that which their passionate soul desire. To exchange the best for what is inferior can mean in appearance to prefer a vulgar pleasure to that which is superior, thus this being an additional cause of fatigue. But it can also mean symbolically: do you prefer the inferior (al-adna), that is to say, will you implement your own choice at the expense of what is superior (al-Khayr), that is to say the Will of God? Or, will you substitute a noble thing, what God has decided for you? Go therefore into a city, because the object of your desires cannot be anywhere else! That is to say, thus the fall from the 'heaven' of surrender to God and the choices He had made for you, to the “earth” of self-determination and individual choice, degraded and impoverished as [befits] those who preferred their own choice to the choice of God and their own plan to the divine plan! If our Muhammadan community was that of the desert, it would never have held the same replies as that of the Children of Israel, because of the clarity of its light and its penetration of the secrets. Consider the words that Moses (on him be peace) told the Children of Israel before their voyages, and which were the cause of their wanderings in the desert: “Go and fight, you and your Lord, while we, we remain here”, and their ultimate demand at the end of their journey: “Invoke your Lord for us ...!” At the beginning of their wandering, they refused to obey the commandments of God, and at the end of it they made for themselves a different choice from that of God! The Qur'an is filled with such episodes which emphasize their distance from the truth: thus, when they asked Moses: “Make us see God with our own eyes (jabra).” Moreover, after crossing the Red Sea, upon encountering a people who prostrated before idols, they immediately demanded of their prophet, “Give us a god just like their gods.” (thereupon Moses answered them, and described them as they really were): “You are indeed an ignorant nation”). Or, when God says in the Qur'an: “We suspended the mountain over them as though it was a shadow and they feared that it was falling down on them: (We said): 'take forcefully that which We have given you.” But over the heart of our community (Islam), God shook the 'mountain' of awe [of God] and divine majesty. Also [His apostles and wise servants] have shown themselves to be firm after receiving support from God and they are protected from the worship of the golden calf. God has indeed chosen this community by praising it in these words: “You are the best community that has been brought forth to men,” and also: “Thus We made you a community of the middle-way” that is to say composed of good and fair men who prefer the divine decision to that of their own will. Verily God once told me: “O My servant, Your Boss is a good payer, with the price of your labour, you shall receive eternity.” It is our duty as Muslims to submit ourselves completely to the will of God. We must make the divine decree our priority and to remove our self-will, because it is in total obedience to God that there is our salvation, and access to this immortality (implied by the devil, but which subsequently became a reality) promoted by our Lord as proof of His love and affection for His true servants. Insha-Allah. Next, I have learnt that the so-called defenders of Islam (from the big families) in the Ahmadiyya Association have got together to cover the “dirt” of their so-called Amir of Mauritius – the fraud he committed in the Jamaat, by reimbursing the money he stole. These people very well known how dirty their so-called Amir is, and thus each of them is hiding the sin of their allies and they use this “philosophy”: “If you denounce me, I shall denounce you!” Each of them are taking themselves as pure people when in fact, they are foremost in being competitive to have the upper hand in evil works. Whatever they may do, like I said in my previous Friday Sermons, whenever there is “dirt” (sh…), there is bound to be big flies which surround it, and now we come to see that these flies are doing their work to surround the “dirt” and take pleasure in what they do! This so-called Amir thinks that he is eternal as Amir and that he is equally eternal on earth. Each of them is trying to cover for him so as not to let truth be victorious, and they are working hard so that their evil plots have the upper hand, but let me tell them that, come what may, this so-called Amir and his “big flies” protectors can never hinder the hand of Allah from seizing them soon – very soon. Thereupon they shall come to know that: One must never go against Allah and His prophet, for in the near future they are bound to be knocked out! And when they shall fall, this shall hurt a lot, when they shall not be able to rearrange themselves – there shall be no reparation!