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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
HAZRAT KHALIFATULLAH AL-MASSIH AL-MA’OUD
Munir Ahmad Azim
(04 Safar 1433 Hijri)
(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:
Today is the last Friday Sermon in the year 2011. Many people here in Mauritius and other countries are preparing themselves to welcome the New Year 2012. Most of the people welcome the New Year with firecrackers, with celebration on New Year’s Eve, and drinking alcoholic drinks (men, women and young also). This is the case also in Mauritius, in the month of December where every employee gets his salary and bonus and thirteenth month pay on the 22 December. So many people just don’t care to save their money. They spend the money on toys for their children on 24 and 25 December and also on 30 and 31 December whereby the celebrate the New Year’s Eve in hotels, with all kinds of fireworks and drinking alcoholic drink, be them young people, men and women, amusing, and dancing. These celebrations of the New Year unfortunately continue on 1st, 2nd, up to 7th or 8th January, amusing everywhere, and holding New Year parties everywhere. For us Muslims, this is not our festival celebration; Yes of course you can wish Happy New Year with prayer (duah) to your relatives, friends etc. but that’s all.
You Muslims, you must welcome the New Year with a lot of duah, zikr, tahajjud prayers and take the good determination that you will perform your five daily prayers, reading the Holy Quran more than last year, making Dawa, and taking care of the moral and spiritual education of your children more than last year. You will not spend your money like a fool, don’t please your friends by drinking alcoholic drinks, smoking, being present in the New Year partying with all its singing and dancing. Remember that you are a Muslim; you are different from the other religions and other cultures.
In this last sermon of the year 2011, I seize this opportunity to talk on alcoholism in society. Alcohol can be very dangerous and it is the country’s most abused drug. Alcohol is a drug that is taken mainly for its psychological effects. Alcohol drink is very, very expensive in Mauritius and in the last budget of the Government; the latter has made it a must to increase the price of cigarette and alcohol drink. But these are two evils which the Government knows that shall not decrease, because the more the prices of these commodities go up, the more people will continue to buy, regardless their prices, because these evils have already become some people’s drugs.
So, basically alcohol depresses the nervous system and allows people to lose their inhibitions. If drug companies had discovered the effects of alcohol, then today maybe there would be no chance of it receiving approval from a drug’s safety committee and it would never be marketed for human consumption.
The immediate effects of alcohol are:
¨ The loss of inhibitions,
¨ Less self-conscious behaviour,
¨ Loss of self-control,
¨ Becoming more talkative and,
¨ A feeling of cheerfulness.
However, alcohol acts more as a depressant than a stimulant (i.e. it is a drug that dampens down the activity of the nervous system rather like a tranquilliser). Many heavy drinkers are aware that their thinking is not as good as it used to be.
Brain scans of alcoholics with no obvious signs of brain damage show shrinkage of the brain exactly like that found with old age and it is reckoned that regular heavy drinking takes ten years off an individual’s life. In other words, instead of becoming senile at around 73 years of age, the alcoholic will show signs of senility at 63 years. There is no organ in the body which is immune to the effects of alcohol, but those exposed to the most alcohol, i.e. the gut and the liver, are the most likely to be damaged. In cirrhosis, the liver cells that are destroyed are replaced by scar tissue. This is made up of fibrous bands which shrivel the liver and squash the remaining healthy cells. The cirrhosis mortality rate shows that countries with the highest mortality rates from cirrhosis are associated with alcoholic drinks. The association between alcohol abuse and heart disease is well established. The toxic effect of alcohol on the heart muscle weakens its pumping action and may even cause congestive heart failure. Alcohol may also cause abnormalities in the rhythm of the heart.
Heavy drinkers have long been recognised as having a greatly increased risk of premature death. One large study showed that men who had alcohol problems sufficiently severe to warrant admission to a mental hospital, had greater increased mortality. The chief causes of increased mortality are suicides, accidents, respiratory infection, strokes and cancer.
The mortality rate in the ‘alcoholic’ is three and a half times greater than in the general population. The divorce rate for people with a drinking problem is much higher than for the general population. Drinking is an expensive hobby even for the better off family, and it is not difficult to imagine other better ways of spending the money. It is not surprising that drinking behaviour is frequently implicated in family breakdown. Separated and divorced men tend to drink much more heavily than married or single men. Sexual activity is a fair guide to marital harmony and togetherness. A drinking problem accelerates sexual disinterest and can actually be the cause of the disinterest. The constant threat of violence in a home is an intense source of family stress and episodes of verbal as well as physical aggression can indicate an underlying drink problem. More than half of all wife beaters are also heavy drinkers.
Excessive drinking is also commonly linked to child abuse. According to my estimation that almost one-third of children who have an alcoholic parent will show signs of emotional disturbance such as anxiety, fear, feeling of insecurity and being unloved as well as anger and puzzlement as to why their family is different from others. About two-thirds of children of alcoholics will suffer behavioural disorders such as truanting from school and being destructive.
It seems a fair estimate that alcoholic drinks are involved in about 60% of all crime committed by habitual criminals who form a large part of the prison population. It is likely that over 50% of offences of a violent nature, particularly those which occur late at night are committed near public houses by people who have been drinking.
Drinking is also associated with many cases of assault on wives. It is also often involved in a wide variety of other crimes from road traffic offences to burglary, where an offender has had a few drinks to give himself courage. There is also the whole range of offences related directly to drunkenness.
Hence, there is little doubt that a connection exists between crime and drink. Sexual offences are often committed by people who would not have done so if their behaviour had not been affected by alcohol. Alcohol consumption can cause problems for employers, the drinking employee and non-drinking colleagues.
The employer is harmed by a loss in profits and productivity through bad time-keeping, sickness, absenteeism, loss of efficiency (employees with a drink problem are 30-40% less productive than other workers), increased risk of accidents and a loss of trained staff to suffer a loss in pay and promotions, injuries from accidents and mentally illness and ultimately a loss of employment and family. A few individuals who were identified as having an alcohol problem had an accident rate some 50% higher than the work place average. Drinking and driving is one of the most serious road safety problems.
Although alcohol may give a feeling of well-being, its major result is the interference with muscular control and co-ordination lengthened reaction time, blurred vision and decreased alertness. It also impairs the ability to judge speed and distance, and to deal with the unexpected. All these adversely affect performance in driving. In addition, alcohol impairs judgement so that many individuals feel increasingly confident in their ability to drive after having consumed alcohol whereas in reality, their ability is impaired. It is not surprising that more than thousand or hundred pedestrian road deaths every year were attributed to drinking by the pedestrian.
About Islamic teachings regarding alcohol, we find the following references to it in the Holy Quran: “They ask you about intoxicants and gambling, say. “In both these there is great harm and also some (small) advantage for people, but their harm is much greater than their advantage.” (2: 220) and again:
“Oh believers, intoxicants and gambling and idols and divining arrows are utterly foul works of Satan. So abstain from them so that you may be saved.” (5: 91)
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon you) said that drinking (alcoholic drinks) is the mother of all evils. Islam has given the perfect answer to the alcohol problem. Allah, who is the Most Merciful and Compassionate towards His creatures, gave them the perfect command. Abstain from them so that you may be sacred. There are no other means and no short cuts to control this unfortunate ailment of human society. Islam’s social teachings are extremely important for the protection and survival of the family system. This is the dire need of the hour.
Man cannot have unlimited and unrestricted pleasure however he may desire it. A society which seeks to escape its responsibility or the realities of life with the help of drugs such as alcohol, a society which is obsessed by vain excitement and exhilaration, where control rests with powerful syndicates whose sole purpose is to amass wealth; such a society chooses all of this at the cost of nobler human values, peace of mind and security, for the society as a whole. One cannot have unlimited pleasure and maintain the human values simultaneously.
What lies in our power to do, lies also in our power not to do. He that conquers others is strong, he who conquers himself is mighty. Where self exists, God is not; where God exists, there is no self. May these words act like an eye-opener so that every one of you can think deeply on this subject and Insha-Allah grasp its meaning and repercussions on one’s own body, family and society at large.
Before ending my Friday Sermon today and this is the last sermon for the year 2011 – I would like to say the following: this present year shall go away and the coming year shall come, and Mansoor Ahmed shall not understand at all. Despite making him understand, he does not understand, but then when shall he understand? He not only does not understand, his mind is troubled and shall remain troubled. He is sending all people emails; he is challenging my courageous disciple Fazil Jamal Sahib. Till now, he is adamant in not understanding that a Mubahila Challenge has been issued to his Imam Janbah Sahib and himself. They do not know how to flee (this situation) and he (Mansoor Ahmed) is attacking my disciple Fazil Jamal when I am the most important person whom they need in this Mubahila Challenge. I have already put on my signature (and seal) and all my Jamaat is involved, including my disciple Fazil Jamal Sahib. They find this hard to understand?
Stupidity also has a limit, but Mansoor Ahmed has gone beyond all limits of stupidity, when this time, he is trying to make believe that it is he and his Imam Janbah Sahib who have challenged us to a Mubahila – All that I have to say to Mansoor Ahmed, it is him the coward, and he is in a fix; he is trying to flee this Mubahila Challenge but he cannot now flee it. He has already engaged himself (entangle himself in the net) of this Mubahila Challenge. This situation is not a plaything Mansoor Ahmed. You are trying to deceive Allah and the real believers in Allah and His Khalifatullah of this era, but all that which you are doing, it is yourself who you are deceiving Oh Mansoor Ahmed, without pondering over your consequences. Warning you or not, you shall not have faith and you shall take this Mubahila Challenge as a plaything, in your imbecility. And I tell you frankly (sincerely) that if you were in the path of truth like my disciple Fazil Jamal Sahib, then you would have signed (this Mubahila document) without the least fear, and you would not have played hide and seek (with this situation), and I tell you, coward as you are, you will not sign, despite the fact that I, in the capacity of Khalifatullah, I have given you my word that after that your Imam Abdul Ghaffar Janbah Sahib and you have signed, then my disciple Fazil Jamal also shall sign immediately. Word given, is indeed a sacred word. Almighty Allah has sealed your heart and upon your ears and eyes, there is a veil.
Be frank (truthful) Mansoor Ahmed!!! And make the world aware of this truth. Have you not been afraid with this Mubahila Challenge, despite all that which you are saying. Your Imam and yourself have been told to come in the court of Allah; let Allah judge who between us is false – If you are true, then why are you behaving like a coward? You are fleeing like asses before the Lion of Allah (the Caliph of Allah).
I end today with this piece of advice: Mansoor Ahmed, do not cover truth with falsehood and do not hide the truth when you know it very well and you know well my disciple Fazil Jamal Sahib; he has an extraordinary obedience towards Allah and His Khalifatullah. He does nothing by himself. It is with the permission of the Khalifatullah that he goes ahead (with a work) by the grace of Allah and he is a very humble, simple, modest and obedient person. If the Khalifatullah gives him the permission to sign the Mubahila, he shall sign immediately. He shall not make excuses like you and he is not a coward like you. Fazil Jamal Sahib by the grace of Allah knows the real value of a Khalifatullah (Caliph of Allah). When he first believed in Allah and Allah’s Khalifa (Khalifatullah), when he took the Bai’at there was the manifestation of his complete obedience to his Imam. This is the quality of the true Muttaqi. But I am telling you again that on the Mubahila form, he forms part with me but if you insist that he sign also, I agree, but you Mansoor Ahmed and without forgetting your Imam, must sign (beforehand)! The year 2011 is going away, therefore be quick, we are entering the year 2012, you and your Imam, your days are counted! How utterly coward you both are (especially when you said that you are truthful, and that I am false)! I end here for today. Next year, if you still have not signed (the document), I shall come back again on the Mubahila issue which I issued against your Imam Janbah Sahib and you also, because you have shown yourself more knowledgeable (the one to be more in power) than Janbah Sahib. Your Imam has receded, but as for you, you are still making noises like empty barrels. You are barking like a dog, a coward dog which knows only barking and cannot bite.
I await your signature Oh Mansoor Ahmed; Relax, and sleep well, sign your Mubahila form calmly; do not be enraged, do not fear death, do not have nightmares when you go to sleep at night if you are in the path of truth (and truthful). Hurry up! Hurry up! Do not postpone the signing of this Mubahila, else it will be too late. Do not say, tomorrow – make it quick, before the ending of this year 2011, even if you have to send the signed document at midnight on the 31 December 2011 before we enter into 2012. In that way, your Imam and you and your Jamaat can “finish me and my Jamaat”. Do not let this golden opportunity go away. Come, come, come in the court of Allah. Insha-Allah. |
