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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
HAZRAT KHALIFATULLAH AL-MASSIH AL-MA’OUD
Munir Ahmad Azim
(25 Ramadhan 1432 Hijri)
(Summary of Friday Sermon)
After having greeted with the Salutations of Peace, the Messiah (Massih’ullah) read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and he said:
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّى مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ
Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Rahiim; ‘Innaaa ‘anzalnaahu fii lay-latil-Qadr: Wa maaa ‘adraakamaa Laylatul-Qadr? Laylatul - Qadri khayrum-min ‘alfi shahr. Tanazzalul-malaaa ‘ikatu war-Ruuhu fiihaa bi-‘izni-Rabbihim-min kulli ‘amr: Salaamun Hiya hattaa matla-‘il-Fajr.
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Indeed, We sent the Qur’an down during the Night of Decree. And what can make you know what is the Night of Decree? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.” (97: 1-6)
This Friday sermon is divided into 3 parts: Itikaaf, Laila-tul-Qadr and Zakat. In the last ten days of Ramadan Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to observe Itikaaf (Spiritual Retreat) and this Sunna of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is practised also by many Muslims in the world in its last ten days.
Hazrat Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), used to observe Itikaaf in the last ten days of Ramadan until he passed away, then his wives observed it after him. (Bukhari)
Itikaaf (seeking retirement in the mosque during the last ten days of the fast of Ramadan, with a view to drawing closer to Allah), is an act of worship which embraces a large number of acts of obedience to Allah, such as reciting the Quran, offering prayers, remembering Allah and supplicating Him. Those who have not gone through such experience might suspect that this practice would be too difficult to bear. In fact it is easy for those who arm themselves with true determination and the intention of seeking Allah’s pleasure alone.
Itikaaf is emphasized more during the last ten days of Ramadan in anticipation of Laila-tul-Qadr. It is a commendable, but not obligatory, act of worship. Allah talks about it in the Holy Quran as thus:
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Indeed, We sent the Qur’an down during the Night of Decree. And what can make you know what is the Night of Decree? The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein by permission of their Lord for every matter. Peace it is until the emergence of dawn.” (97: 1-6)
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), also said in this regard, “Whoever offers prayers during Laila-tul-Qadr with firm belief and the hope of reward from Allah shall be pardoned of all his past sins.” (Bukhari, Muslim)
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) would seek Laila-tul-Qadr and instruct his companions to do so. He would wake up his family members during the last ten nights of this month so they would spend these blessed night in worship. Laila-tul-Qadr occurs during one of the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. The 23rd, 25th or 27th night of Ramadan as well as other night, have been suggested as the night of power. It is best to take this in conjunction with Verse 4, which says that the night of power is better than a thousand months.
It transcends time, for it is Allah’s power dispelling the darkness of ignorance, by His revelation, in every kind of affair. “A thousand” must be taken in an indefinite sense; as denoting a very long period of time. This does not refer to our ideas of time, but so ‘timeless time’. One moment of enlightenment under Allah’s light is better than thousands of month or years of animal life, and such a moment converts the night of darkness into period of spiritual glory.
When the night of spiritual darkness is dissipated to the glory of Allah a wonderful peace and a sense of security arise in the soul. And this lasts on until this life closes, and the glorious day of the new world’s dawns, when everything will be on a different plane, and the chequered nights and days of this world will be even less than a dream.
Now we come on Zakat, Zakat is an obligatory act of charity enjoined on very eligible Muslim individual. It is an act of worship and an effective form of achieving social justice. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and is prescribed in the Quran and Hadith.
The root of the word Zakat in Arabic means blessing, growth, cleanliness or betterment. In Sharia the word Zakat refers to the determined share of wealth prescribed by Allah to be distributed among the categories of those entitled to receive it. It is also used to mean the action of paying this share. Growth and cleanliness are not restricted to the assets from which Zakat has been taken, but affect the person who pays Zakat, in accordance with verse 104 of Surah 9 (At-Tauba).
“Take Sadaqa (Zakat) from their wealth to purify and cleanse them.”
Zakat, as known in the Sharia is sometimes called Sadaqa. In fact, Sadaqa covers both Zakat and voluntary charity for any righteous purpose. In the later history of Islam, Sadaqa was used to mean voluntary charitable donations given to the destitute.
Zakat is an act of worship that purifies a Muslim’s wealth and soul. Wealth purification denotes the Mobilisation of assets for the purpose of financial growth and justified distribution. Purification of the soul implies the freedom from hatred, jealousy, selfishness and greed.
Technically, Zakat is a yearly fixed proportion taken from the surplus wealth and earnings of a Muslim. It is then distributed to prescribed beneficiaries for the welfare of the Muslim society. It is paid on the net balance after a Muslim has deducted his expenses on personal, family and other necessities. At the end of the year, if he or she is in possession of the equivalent of 85 grams of gold or more in cash or articles of trade, he or she must pay Zakat at the rate of 2.5%. It also applies to agricultural products and to livestock.
In the Holy Quran, the term Zakat is mentioned in several verses. It occurs thirty times in the Quran; in twenty-seven of them it is associated with Salat, prayer, in the same sequence, namely, those who are steadfast in their prayer … and those who actively pay Zakat.
Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (May Allah be pleased with him), one of the early great companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), has made the following observation in this context: “The prayer of him who does not practise Zakat is meaningless.” The Sunna abounds in instructions regarding Zakat. Mentioning the basics taught by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) to early Muslims, Jafar Ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him) explained to the king of Abyssinia, “He ordains us to pray, pay Zakat and fast.”
Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) quotes the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) saying, “He who dies having sincere faith in Allah, worshipping Him without partners, establishing prayer and paying Zakat, ends up with the pleasure of Allah.” Emphasising the sinfulness of non-payment of Zakat, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “If someone is given wealth by Allah but does not pay its Zakat, that wealth will appear to him on the day of judgement in the form of a huge serpent encircling and squeezing him saying, “I am your wealth, your treasure which you hoarded.”
Zakat is not a mere charity; left to the conscience of individuals as part of their good deeds. It is an essential pillar of the religion, one of its major rituals, and the second of its four main forms of worship. Not paying it is synonymous to going astray.
Zakat is the right of the poor in the wealth of the rich, a right decided by the true Owner of wealth, Allah, and imposed on those who have been given control of that wealth by Him. It thus does not humble or humiliate the receiver. May Allah (Glory be to Him) guide all of us in the right path. Ameen. |
