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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
HAZRAT KHALIFATULLAH AL-MASSIH AL-MA’OUD
Munir Ahmad Azim
(09 Dhul-Qaddah 1432 Hijri)
In Rodrigues Island (Rivière Cocos)
(Summary of Friday Sermon)
After having greeted the members (and all Muslims round the world) with the Salutations of Peace, the Messiah (Massih’ullah) read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and he said:
There is no salvation in Tawheed alone. The enemies of our faith, who do not act according to the essentials of the faith, try to escape being labeled as disbelievers by ridiculing Islam, the Holy Quran, Almighty Allah, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and our faith. They also tell tales on the lines of Iblis so that people should think that there is absolutely no need to act upon the essential of our faith.
They desire that Islam should be reduced to a parrot-like utterance of the Shahada. A man should recite the Shahada (Kalima ~ attestation of faith) and after that it doesn’t matter if he calls Almighty Allah a liar or uses humiliation and insulting language for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). He will continue to pretend that he is a Muslim.
“They say: “Our hearts are wrapped.” But, (in fact), Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so little is it that they believe.” (2: 89)
These enemies of the Muslims and antagonists of Islam present some satanic and fraudulent arguments with the sinister intention of cheating the people and altering the faith of the One and Absolute Allah. It is worth nothing that the reiteration of oath and recitation of the Shahada did not prove useful for the hypocrites; Almighty Allah has declared them as liars. In the light of these verses:
“The Bedouins say, “We have believed.” Say, “You have not (yet) believed; but say (instead), ‘We have submitted,’ for faith has not yet entered your hearts. And if you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not deprive you from your deeds of anything. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (49: 15); and
“When the hypocrites come to you, they say, “We testify that you are the Messenger of Allah.” And Allah knows that you are His Messenger, and Allah testifies that the hypocrites are liars.” (63: 2)
It is clear that the recitation of the first half of the Shahada should not be taken as the final word on being a Muslim. Actually a person who recites the Shahada must be regarded as a Muslim, until he says or does something, which is anti-Islamic. As soon as he commits an anti-Islamic action, his recitation of the Shahada ceases to be of any use to him.
Almighty Allah says: “They swear by Allah that they did not say (anything against the Prophet) while they had said the word of disbelief and disbelieved after their (pretense of) Islam and planned that which they were not to attain. And they were not resentful except (for the fact) that Allah and His Messenger had enriched them of His bounty. So if they repent, it is better for them; but if they turn away, Allah will punish them with a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. And there will not be for them on earth any protector or helper.” (9: 75)
A Hadith narrated by Abdullah Ibn Abbas (May Allah be satisfied with him) says that once the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was sitting under the shade of a tree. Ibn Abbas said that a man would soon come and look upon his companions with the eyes of Satan. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) advised his companion not to talk to him. Not much time had elapsed that a man passed by them, whose eyes were like the eyes of a cat. Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) called him and they asked him why he and his friends had been using arrogant language about the prophet (peace be upon him). The man went and brought back with him his friends. All of them took oath that they had not uttered a single word of arrogance against the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
At this stage Allah Almighty revealed a verse that they had been disrespectful to the prophet (peace be upon him), although they had otherwise sworn by Almighty Allah. The revelation clarified that they had become disbelievers on account of saying abusive words against the dignity of His beloved prophet (peace be upon him).
We must notice here that Almighty Allah Himself testifies that a word of disrespect against the dignified personality of the prophet (peace be upon him) condemns the speaker to the lowest position of disbelief although he may claim thousands of times that he is a Muslim or may have recited the Shahada a million times. Almighty Allah says:
“And if you ask them, they will surely say, “We were only conversing and playing.” Say, “Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were mocking?” Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after your belief. If We pardon one faction of you - We will punish another faction because they were criminals. The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right and close their hands. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them (accordingly). Indeed, the hypocrites - it is they who are the defiantly disobedient.” (9: 66-68)
In this situation Almighty Allah revealed this verse, which asked whether they were jesting with Allah and His prophet (peace be upon him). The verses further declare that they should not make any excuse and that they had become disbelievers after having been Muslims on account of saying these words.
O brothers and sisters! Note that Almighty Allah punished this man for saying that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not possess the knowledge of the unseen. It is true that a prophet of Allah as a human does not know the unseen until Allah reveals him of His secrets through divine revelations. Therefore, that man’s recitation of the Shahada was of no avail to him, when he did not believed in the fact that Allah can unveil his innermost secrets (from the profound of his heart) and reveal it to His beloved prophet (peace be upon him).
May Almighty Allah open your mind and illumine your heart to understand this sermon well. Insha-Allah, Ameen. |
