بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

Friday Sermon

 

HAZRAT AMIR’UL MUMINEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN

 

Munir Ahmad Azim

 

 

14 June 2013 ~

(04 Shaban 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:

 

لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي أَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ

“La tubla-wunna fii am-waalikum wa anfusikum.”

You shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in your personal selves. (3 : 187)

 

The Quranic verse which I have recited before you today holds great importance whereby Allah tests the believers with their belongings and their own body – especially those who say that they believe in the unicity of Allah. Do you think that Allah the Almighty shall not put you to the test? Therefore, we, human beings, as far as this world is concerned, we do not satisfy ourselves with what we have, with what are essential. We always look for the ideal (in everything). A simple food is sufficient to fill our stomach but we (humans) are not satisfied till we get salads, chillies, pickles, ketchup etc. along with the food. Likewise, a simple piece of cloth is sufficient to cover our body, yet we seek to have good quality clothes or haut couture.

 

In all spheres of our life, we always seek more and we spend more than it is necessary (there is wastage and ostentation). In doing things for show, we spend on costly things, things which are not essential just because we like them. But in the field of religion (Islam), we are always reticent and seek a way out. We seek all kinds of plans not to involve ourselves in religion (or religious works). When we are told to do such and such things (religious ones), there is always an excuse we have ready, like: “It is Sunnah (recommended because the prophet practiced it), not obligatory!”, “It is (what is in) the heart that counts”, “Allah does not look at your clothes (exterior look)”, or there are some people who say: “Religion is not measured by the length of the beard” and so on. All these are pretexts. It is a lack of will on our part to apply or put into practice our religion (Islam). It is as if religion has become such a thing which exists only in the heart, and that it has nothing to do with appearance! But the Shariah has given instructions regarding our appearance too.

 

Someone is perfectly right when he says that a good appearance is not necessarily a good indication of a good interior (a good state of the heart). But it is equally true that appearance cannot be not good if the interior (that is, the heart) is good. When one has admiration for someone, he (or she) shall no doubt imitate him. He shall try to copy him (copy the way he is etc.) The youths know this very well. They accept to put on dirty and torn clothes, they clothe themselves in a wrong way, putting on earrings, and gel in the hair, fashioning the hair in the straight and stand style, just to imitate those who they admire. What kind of faith and love for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) do we have which does not incite us to follow and imitate him? We do not have real admiration for our prophet (peace be upon him) otherwise we would not have made excuses when our time has come to follow and imitate him. Stop making excuses! Live in the company of those who have real love and admiration for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). Stop listening and following those who only talk big without putting into practice the Sunnah of the prophet (peace be upon him). Stay far from those who say: “Religion is not measured by the length of the beard”; then we shall have true love for our prophet (peace be upon him). There is neither religion nor faith without love for the prophet (peace be upon him). Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “By Him in Whose Hands my life is, none of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father and his children and all mankind.” (Bukhari)

 

A sincere believer who always strive to please his Rab (through his deeds), then even if a situation comes and he is in the right and innocent, he accepts defeat (or to take the blame, pass as culprit) only for the pleasure of his Creator, because his love for his Creator and for the prophet of Allah becomes a priority over all things, even if he has to give his life, blood, accept humiliation and dishonour, only for the sake of Allah, for the love of Allah and that of His prophet.

 

When someone accepts his error, mistake and make the necessary to correct himself, this in itself is a noble quality, and not all people have the honour to possess such quality. It is a quality which only the dignified and noble among people can have. Someone who seeks to hide his mistake, or seek many pretexts to justify his error in his concern to save himself from his weaknesses or errors, he forms part of the undeserving people because this thought and concern come from vainness and he is someone who never accepts his error, his weakness and considers himself to be superior to others. As for the one who has dignity and nobility, he shall remain far from this bad quality.

 

Someone cannot become a serious and sincere person if he has such Iblis quality – the same quality which has made Iblis detestable in the eyes of Almighty Allah. It is a quality (bad one) which exposes someone to the divine wrath. It is a quality which deprives someone from his real wellbeing because this prevents him from acceding to Paradise, despite the fact that this (bad quality) may be in very little percentage. Think about the consequences of those who have this bad quality in them. The world is worrying about cancer. This also is a cancer which is unbalancing the entire society and which is creating chaos and instability at all levels. And in fact, the cancer which is pride, arrogance, vainness shall follow us everywhere and shall ruin us in our afterlife also. Can someone pretend to be clean or pure if his body is splashed with filth? How can a person declare himself to be sincere, serious in religious affairs and clean when he has the impurity of pride, vainness which has filled his heart! Pride makes us unworthy and unclean. It is very important and even indispensible for us to clean ourselves and get rid of this impurity so that we can become a good person in the true sense of the word. And this is very important for those doing Dawa work and who make discourses on the microphone (before people). They need to understand that they can make errors while talking. They can say something which does not exist as well as refuse something which exists. There are lots of mistakes which can be made while talking. Mistakes, errors are natural and inevitable. We cannot say anything about it. But what is not good and which is very bad is when a person refuse to admit to his error or mistake when he gets to know that he has made one. The reason he refuses is that he fears that he will lose face if he admits to his mistake in public. Therefore, he prefers to keep the public (people) in the dark and in the wrong path and he hides the truth. It is very unfortunate that someone makes all efforts, spending 10 to 15 years of his life to get a diploma or degree but he does not take time to remove that impurity (pride/vainness/arrogance). Therefore, pride is a malady which falsifies one’s judgement; that is, it makes you justify the unjustifiable and makes you criticise the praiseworthy in the concern to preserve one’s own dignity or to pass oneself as a good person in the eyes of people.

 

A true Muslim cares for the interests of religion (Islam) before his personal interests. He considers the glory of religion before his own honour. In doing this, this is not at all dishonour for him but on the contrary this is an honour for him. It is Almighty Allah who gives him this honour. There is no one who can dishonour him when Almighty Allah honours him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has said that the one who bears humiliation (who is humiliated) for the sake of Almighty Allah, therefore Almighty Allah shall raise his status, Insha-Allah.

 

Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran that the one who works for a sin and does not repent, he does harm to his own soul and Almighty Allah continues to says that the one who works for a mistake or a sin and then put the blame on an innocent, he shall without doubt bear on his back a false accusation and sin, and Almighty Allah continues to say not to plead for those who betray their own souls. Allah does not love the one who betrays and sins. These kinds of people seek to hide their sins from people, they seek to pass as good people but they cannot hide their sins from Allah and Almighty Allah is present when they discuss at night and when they use such words with does not please Allah. Almighty Allah encircles them in all that they say.

 

Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran:

 

اِنَّ اللّٰہَ لَا یُحِبُّ مَنۡ  کَانَ  مُخۡتَالًا  فَخُوۡرَا ۙ۝

 “Innallaaha laa yuhibbu man-kaana mukh-taalan fakhuuraa.”

Allah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful. (4: 37)

 

These people are the boastful, avaricious, arrogant and those who order or advise other people to act in these ways (like them) and who hide the favours which Allah has bestowed upon them. Almighty Allah says that “We” have prepared for these kinds of mentalities (for these kinds of people who have such bad thoughts) a severe and humiliating punishment. Almighty Allah wants our wellbeing. He wants to remove our difficulties because man has been created weak.

 

May Allah give us the Tawfiq to put these advices into practice, Insha-Allah. And may Almighty Allah forgive us for all our sins, and serious faults which we may have committed, Insha-Allah, Ameen.