Text Box: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon HAZRAT AMIR’UL MUMINEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN Munir Ahmad Azim 09 August 2013 ~ (01 Shawwal 1434 Hijri) (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted all his followers (and all Muslims) round the world – mentioning the nearby islands, India, Kerala, Trinidad and Tobago etc. – with the Salutations of Peace, Hazrat Muhyi-ud-Din (atba) read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then said: بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ۝ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ۝ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ۝ اهدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ ۝ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ ٪۝ 1. In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful. 2. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; 3. The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful. 4. Master of the Day of Judgment. 5. Thee (alone) do we worship (and serve) and Thee (alone) do we beseech for help 6. Guide (and keep) us on the right path, 7. The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favours. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray. The prayer par excellence that tells us when and on what occasion to pray, and that is done in order to increase our spiritual enthusiasm is the one whom God, the Generous taught us in the first chapter of the Holy Quran. All praise deserving of this name belong to Allah Who is the Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds. (1: 2). By His grace, He provides for our needs without any action on our part, and if we have already done some (good) deeds, then by His mercy, He rewards us. (1: 3). He alone is the Master of the Day of Judgment, and He did not delegate the chairmanship of this day to anyone. (1: 4). O You Who understands all these attributes, we worship only You, and we seek only your help in everything we do. (1: 5). The use of the first person of plural form in this context indicates that all our faculties are engaged in the act of worship, and bowed down before God. Each individual, by virtue of his many internal faculties, is thus a whole made up of multiple parts, and prostration and submission of all these faculties to God culminates in this condition called Islam. Guide us to Your straight path and keep us firm on it. (1: 6). The path of those whom You have bestowed Your blessings and favours, not of those who have attracted Your wrath, nor of those who went astray, not being able to meet You. (1: 7). Ameen! These verses teach us that goodness and divine favours are granted to those who sacrifice their lives for the cause of God, devoting themselves entirely to this, always working to fulfil His will, while not stopping praying Allah to give them all the spiritual favours which man can enjoy, namely, accessing to His word. In this prayer, they worship God through their sins, and remain prostrate before the threshold of God. They protect themselves against all sins and avoid anything that may attract the wrath of God. As they seek God with a great desire and sincerity, they meet Him, and the thirst to know God is completely quenched. The true and perfect grace which projects someone towards the spiritual world rests on perseverance which implies that degree of sincerity and constancy in faith that cannot be shaken by any trial whatsoever. This persistence also requires the existence of such a strong relationship with God, which no sword can cut, no fire can burn, and no calamity can cause damage. Neither the death of loved ones, nor separation from them should influence them or cause them fear of being dishonoured, nor painful death should make the slightest wobble on his heart. Thus, this door is very narrow and the path is very difficult to tread. Alas! How difficult it is! God in his glory also speaks in the following verses: “Say, “If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the unjust people.” (9: 24). This verse clearly shows that those who turn away from God's will, and give precedence to their parents and their property that they love more, are in God's opinion of the wicked people. They will surely be ruined because they chose something else to God. This is the third stage where he becomes a man of God, that person who undergoes thousand of calamities because of God, who turns to God with such fervour and such sincerity that it seems he had relationship with no one except God, all others being as if dead. The truth is that as long as we do not annihilate ourselves in (a sort of) death, we cannot perceive the Living God. The day when our material life suffers death, is the day of the manifestation of God. As long as we do not become blind with respect to all but God, we are and remain blind. As long as we do not become living corpses in the Hands of God, we are and remain dead. It is only from the moment when we face God in the totality of our beings that we can get access to that tenacity that subjugates all the passions of the ego, of the “I, me and mine” and which inflict death to the life which is consecrated to egoistical or selfish interest. In summary, the day when that light appears, man ceases to be of this world, he becomes heavenly. God, the Lord of all creation, of all that which exists, talks to him in his heart and shows him the light of His divinity, and makes his heart which bathe in His love, His throne. He then becomes someone else by the brilliant transformation brought by him (by the grace of Allah) and thus he presents new manifestations. This does not mean that God became another God, or His new manifestations are different from His normal manifestations – a little-known distinction by the worldly philosophy. Thus, one who reached the stage of the spiritual life is devoted body and soul to the cause of God. I pray to Allah the Almighty that He gives us the Tawfiq to understand this, that the love which man has for God reaches the stage where his life and his death do not belong to him,