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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
HADHRAT AMIR’UL MUMINEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN
Munir Ahmad Azim
(09 Safar 1435 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:
اَلَا یَعۡلَمُ مَنۡ خَلَقَ ؕ وَ ہُوَ اللَّطِیۡفُ الۡخَبِیۡرُ ٪ ‘Alaa ya’-lamu man khalaq? Wa Huwal-Latiiful-Khabiir. “Doesn’t He who created know? And He is the Subtle, the All-Aware” (67: 15).
Knowledge and faith constitute the main and the basic difference between man and other living beings and that knowledge and faith form the basis on which man’s humanity depends.
We saw last Friday how man is superior to animals, but he remains nonetheless an animal when he abandons civilization and the moral entrusted to him by Allah. When man engages in his animal instincts, he abandons decency and starts looking for his pleasure like the animal that lives on a daily basis in order to satisfy its needs, therefore man remains animal despite that he was born human because he has not reached that humanity which he has a duty to seek when he reaches the age of understanding and to seek divine knowledge so as to reform himself physically, morally and spiritually, to refine, perfect him to the spiritual being he represents in the essence of his consciousness.
Man should know what carnal desires are and then stay away from them. He should also know what the human characteristics are and strive to acquire and put them into practice for he must act as well as learn. First, he must learn how to escape from his animalistic self and obtain human characteristics, and then he must put what he learned into action. He should not satisfy himself with knowledge alone, for that will bring him nothing if not implemented in his daily life.
The bad nature of animals does not come from their paws or teeth; instead it is from the predatory nature that is found inside of them. This nature is also found in man along with the human and angelic natures as well. Man can become worst than a wolf or better than an angel. Therefore, man has the duty to evolve from the animalistic state to the human state and finally to the spiritual state. It is a hard venture, but really not so if he follows the guidance of Allah and His prophets and implements the golden advices of the chosen people of Allah and His Book, the Holy Quran to get access to the angelic state and even beyond.
Animals are gregarious also to a certain extent, like the bees and other animals which live in groups and each animal group knows how to praise Allah in their very own way. Sometimes we may even be shocked how human animals can seem when man becomes prisoner of his low desires and become worst than animals and their predatory instincts. We can see described in the Holy Quran how bees receive divine revelations also; Allah guides all living beings so that they can survive on earth according to their life status. Only man has got the most superior quality of knowledge and ability to get access to Allah through Divine revelations. And divine revelations are obtained through annihilation of the animalistic self to a state of submission to the divine will.
A person who struggles with his self will become a human. The striving done side by side with prayer and trust in the overpowering Lord and His help will see him to his goal, that is, to be rid of his animalistic desires, to obtain the power to control himself and to concentrate on the true purpose of his life, that is, Allah and doing everything as per the will of Allah.
When he merges himself in the light beckoning him, he becomes someone who forbears, a characteristic which common animals do not have, his hopes are simple, his shortcomings few, his heart fearing, his spirit contented, his religion safe, his desires dead and his anger suppressed. Good alone is expected from him. Evil from him is not to be feared. Even if he is found among a mixed congregation of people, those who remember Allah and those who talk mundane matters, but the one who kills his carnal self for the betterment of his spiritual self is one who remains safeguarded in the remembrance of Allah even when he is among people who forgets Allah. This is because despite his physical presence among those people, but he is not attach to them or have any desire to participate in their temporal pastime. He is also a forgiving person, especially to the one who is unjust to him or who tries to harm him, and he gives to him who deprives him. He behaves well with him who behaves ill with him. But the greatest rank he can reach is when he immerses himself completely in Allah that his likes and dislikes are in line with the likes and dislikes of Allah. Those are usually the prophets and messengers of Allah who reflect those qualities because they are the instruments of Allah on earth; they are those recipients whom Allah uses to vehicle His message to humanity. And thus it is important that the chosen people are aware of what pleases Allah and what not.
Very often people misunderstand messengers of Allah in that which they can without really knowing the circumstances state that we are people who get angry very quickly or that we sometimes do what people usually are forbidden to do like lying etc. I had already explained to you about the latter subject found in the example of Hazrat Yusuf (as). The divine plan demanded at the time of meeting with his brothers that he say such words which would force his real brother to stay with him. In the eyes of man, this would easily pass as a lie, but not in the eyes of Allah.
When a prophet of Allah is immersed in the verities of Allah, he gets to a stage beyond truths and lies as commonly understood by the people. He gets to live according to the divine will. We also see an example of this extraordinary understanding in the acts of Khidir when he invited Hazrat Musa (as) to travel with him and learn some of the knowledge bestowed to him by Allah. Despite that Hazrat Musa (as) was a prophet, but when certain knowledge was not revealed to him by Allah, then as a mere fallible mortal, he failed to recognise the wisdom of Allah when Khidir killed the youth (as mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, Verses 81-82). The knowledge which Khidir received at the time was not revealed to Hazrat Musa (as), and thus while Khidir was doing the act, Hazrat Musa (as) could not understand why he was killing a youth, whom according to his opinion was an innocent life! But Allah wanted the death of the youth to give his parents another child who shall be pious and gentle to his parents (not a rebellious son like the one killed).
Therefore, very often, nay most of the time, people fail to perceive the wisdom of the acts of messengers of Allah and some of the chosen people of Allah whom Allah give knowledge of the unseen and who act according to them regardless what other people may think about their acts or not. For these people of Allah, it is Allah who is most important that they obey for they know and feel reassured that the people are for one time but Allah is forever for them.
Divine Revelations are not matters which concern man’s decisions but rather those of Allah the All-Powerful. Divine Revelations are of different kinds, it can be poignant words from Allah to describe a situation, such words which have not been used before, or it can be words from His Holy Book itself, the Holy Quran, or it can be from existing words which have already graced the earth before for the convenience of man and better understanding of matters.
I have been sent to this world as a Muhyi-ud-Din, a reviver of faith, not as a maker of new laws, and thus, Allah reveals to me matters which may exist in one form or another, either exactly or partly exact, but this does not mean that I have copied/copy-paste it from somewhere.
To extract a joke on divine revelations in ignorance or as mere jest is highly sinful in the eyes of Allah, because truly those who do so verily are not doing this on “my words”, but verily they are taking the words of Allah as revealed by Him as jest, as mere joke.
Let me remind my friends, seekers of truth and opponents that all the knowledge which have graced this world since the beginning of time comes from Allah alone. It is Allah who has given knowledge to people so that they may make great discoveries for the advancement of mankind, society and civilization. Without the power and might of Allah, we would have been reduced to mere animals that are deprived of consciousness and knowledge. But the knowledge of chosen people of Allah is more superior because these people have the full support/backing of Allah to support the revelations they get, whether these revelations already exist or are framed in new words and contents, but all supporting the commandments of the final law-bearing book, the Holy Quran.
So to jest on a divine revelation is a sin and there is grievous punishment for it. Allah is the source of knowledge. The knowledge which mankind possess is only on loan. Verily the expressions which man uses can be revealed again to a messenger of Allah to support the truth coming from Allah. This is not plagiarism in any case because this time it is not man copying man’s written words (which sources from the knowledge given to him by Allah), but rather in the case of a messenger of Allah, reviver of faith, it is Allah using these words to reveal it again to: (1) His messenger, to teach him, to prophecy (in His name); (2) Make the world know and understand the truthfulness contained in those words, whether they already existed, but that this time it applies for the new messenger of Allah and the people of his time.
The Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) also received several existing words and phrases as divine revelations. Allah uses these expressions to reassure his messenger, to guide him further, to make him firsthand understand the message before informing the world about it. Does this mean that the Promised Messiah (as) used to copy the existing materials and passing them as Divine Revelation?
Among all the revelations he received from Allah, there is the famous divine revelation, stating: Is Allah not sufficient for His servant?. Is this revelation not a Quranic statement (Surah Az-Zumar) first revealed to the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (saw)? Had the Promised Messiah copied the verse or stated the Quranic verse and passed it as divine revelations to him? Was he to constitute his own Quran like the Sunni counterparts accused him of? The latter accused him of doubtful seeking knowledge of Arabic when the Promised Messiah (as) stated that in only one night Allah revealed to him 40,000 roots of the Arabic language. Is there any truth in that if we, messengers of Allah are to follow the lines of thoughts of people not endowed with prophetic knowledge from the divine waters?
In the times of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (saw) there came such a moment when divine revelations were coming down, the scribe who was noting down the revelations which were coming on the prophet (saw) also got those same messages as confirmation of the authenticity of those messages, but unfortunately for the scribe, he then thought that as he also was receiving the same prophetic divine revelations, then he is on an equal footing as the Messenger of Allah.
Messengers of Allah are not aware that the contents of the divine revelations received already exist or not. For us, the revelations are true pearls of knowledge to further our knowledge and so that the people of our time and till the day of judgement can benefit from them and these words can be prophesised again. Allah does not need the permission of any mere mortal to take an existing teaching, or revelation or explanation before revealing it yet again to His chosen messenger. If this was forbidden, then the Promised Messiah (as) would not have even received the verses of the Holy Quran as revelation, if this was disagreeable to the ways of Allah (Sunnat Allah).
The Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) once received the revelation that he was “Maryam”. Later on he claimed in the name of Allah that he was the second coming Jesus son of Mary? Then did he come to accomplish the laws of Moses like the first Jesus did? Was he really a saintly lady just like Hazrat Maryam (as) was? Or in short was he a girl/woman for Allah to call him “Maryam”?
Thus, there are some revelations also which are subject to interpretation and these interpretations are given by Allah Himself after the prophet of Allah seeks guidance on it. Some prophecies and revelations are specific and very clear but some come also in parables which are subject to interpretations.
My beloved master the Holy Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (saw) also was accused of a sort of plagiarism (for he neither knew how to read and write) when the unbelievers and hypocrites of his time accused him that a Christian well-versed in Arabic used to come and teach him. They said that after this he (saw) passed these as revelations. If this was the case (God forbid), then would we dare to say that Allah used a Christian well-versed in Arabic to teach His prophet? Or would we dare to say that the archangel Gabriel came in human form and took the appearance of the Christian they accused the prophet of contacting for teaching him pure Arabic? Allah Himself comes to the defence of His prophet when He revealed the following Quranic verse to clear his name of such blot on the divine essence of revelations which He descended on him (saw).
“We know indeed that they say, “It is a man that teaches him.” The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear.” (16: 104)
Therefore, each of us must be absolutely careful before stating something which is beyond one’s own comprehension. The knowledge which Allah gives to His elects are secrets which the chosen ones enjoy until Allah gives the express instructions to reveal these knowledge to the world or to the appointed circle of people.
These days, a lot is being commented on the recent divine revelations which I received from Allah concerning the calamities awaiting this world and about the awaited punishment for some specific people. Comments by such people like – yet again – Shabeeb Haneef Sahib and Nadeem Sahib and others have struck a controversy on the nature of words used by Allah. Verily, Allah reveals whatever He wants to His messenger and He is free to do this without being accountable to anyone. Oh people, save yourselves from ignorant and callous words on divine revelations because the vengeance for these kinds of sins shall be extracted from you by Allah the Revealer of secrets, of His revelations. Do not become like the common animal which depends on its baser instincts to survive this world. Allah has made you humans with intellect; use it to promote your spiritual goodwill and not against it. Be not the first ones to launch stones at Allah’s words, for then Allah has the complete power to return back those stones at you with such force which leaves you completely wrecked.
Ponder over what I have told you. And moreover see how many calamities have struck the several countries of the world ever since this revelation (revealed on 24 October 2013) and posted on our official website on 04 November 2013. There are more calamities to come.
Therefore I tell Shabeeb Haneef Sahib and the others, that if they maintain that I have copied these exacts words and pass them as revelations, then let them come forward and take the name of Allah and declare this officially. I challenge on this; come in the court of Allah in the words and belief that you maintain that I have copied these words somewhere, words from the revelation received on 24 October 2013, and mention that it is not Allah who has given me these revelations.
A Messenger of Allah comes to give you warning and also good tidings. He comes to revive the faith. Therefore let each of us take this into consideration, and we wait, and if there anybody else who has such like objections on those revelations, then let them come forward and take the name of Allah and render this public. And I invite you and accept your challenge and we come in the court of Allah. Insha-Allah, I wait for you.
May Allah give you the Tawfiq, Insha-Allah. |
