بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

Friday Sermon

 

HAZRAT AMIR’UL MUMINEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN

 

Munir Ahmad Azim

 

03 January 2014 ~

(30 Safar 1435 Hijri)

 

(Summary of Friday Sermon)

 

After having greeted all his followers (and all Muslims) around the world – mentioning the nearby islands, India, Kerala, Trinidad and Tobago etc. – with the Salutations of Peace and best wishes and duas for the New Year 2014 and after talking about some of the events which shall grip the world this year, Hazrat Muhyi-ud-Din (atba) read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and he said:

 

Duty transforms man into a responsible being and faith removes him from spiritual blindness. If man is attached to a doctrine, belief and faith that certainly leads him to his real purpose: God Almighty, then his duty is clear, but if this doctrine or ideology has not set for him duties or that the doctrine or ideology is other than trust, belief and faith in the Almighty Creator who exists without any partner, therefore he will spend his life in uncertainty and perplexity, buffeted on all sides and, ultimately, he will be a divided and unequal being.

 

Thus religious belief is capable of transforming man into a true believer who dominates his selfishness in favour of his faith and ideology; faith alone is capable of creating in him the ‘devotion’ and ‘submission’ in such a way that man does not feel any hesitation when confronted with the smallest problems which his ideological system puts before him. Conjointly, the object of his belief must become in his eyes something kind and precious so that at the limit, his life without this object becomes empty, absurd and insane and he protects it with enthusiasm.

 

Verily, the principle of the need for a connection to a doctrine or ideology is not to be doubted, especially for the Muslim believer who is requested to comply with the requirements of the religion and submission to One God. In other words, the Muslim believer must conform to Islam and he has duties to perform.

 

Religious trends encourage man to struggle against his natural and individual tendencies and even to sacrifice his pride and his life for his faith. This is possible only if the ideal of man takes on the appearance of holiness and imposes an absolute sovereignty over his being. The power of religion and especially that of Islam can alone sanctify ideas and impose to man - especially the Muslim believer - his imperious and powerful judgments.

 

Sometimes individuals, not for an ideal or a religious belief, but out of spite, revenge, and driven by psychological complex or reaction to pressures and injustices become committed to sacrifice their possessions, their happiness, and even their lives. We can find such cases in the four corners of the earth. But the difference between an act guided by the inspiration of faith and this kind of act is that in the first case faith guide the act to be achieved by profound conviction, in full agreement with the one who performs it. In the second, reaction is obtained by him due to the effect of several binding forces. If man was to perceive the world by means of his senses only, his knowledge would be empirical, material and contrary to all human and social idealism.

 

That which results from the tangible conception of the world is selfishness and not idealism, if this idealism is not based on a conception of the world in which the product is the idea itself, where it does not exceed the limits of the imaginary and utopia. In this case, one should build a separate universe of existing realities in him and in his imagination, and be content with this. But if idealism comes from a religious belief, it is based on a conception of the world which logical consequence is the pursuit of ideas and social aspirations. Religious faith is a friendly union between man and the universe, or in other words, it is a kind of harmony between man and the general aspirations of the world. And a firm faith in the Almighty God who controls both man and the universe gives man the ability to be consistent with his own essence, which is the divine essence, the divine breath in a temporal body. About belief and non-religious aspiration, they are somewhat a break with the universe and the Creator and are based on the construction of an imaginary universe in oneself which is not at all protected by the outer world.

 

Religious faith in general not only prescribes a series of duties against the natural inclinations of man, but it also offers a new face of the universe. It offers in the structure of the universe, the additional elements to tangible and perceptible information, it transforms this rigid, cold, mechanical and material universe into a world full of life, meaning and consciousness. Religious faith transforms the meaning and the attitude of man in front of the universe and creation. Islam offers such a transformation of the man which helps him to unite with his surrounding, the universe and the Creator of this universe.

 

There is in the very nature of every human/person, a sort of innate tendency which pushes him towards sacred realities and truths worthy of worship, but unfortunately not all people successfully find the true path that will take them towards the goal of the creation of man: The worship of one God Almighty. Compared to other religions, Islam offers the human being manifest ways that will make him worthy of the worship of the Creator who created him in perfect harmony, (1) with nature, for man is from water and earth/clay, but also (2) with the divine, for the soul of man is connected with the overpowering God. Certainly, without the control of the Almighty God upon him, then the man is destined to (be led in) manifest error.

 

Man is also motivated by what surrounds him, the need to do his best to succeed in his duties he has acquired on earth, then he does not only to survive in the temporary world, but also to access faster to (obtain) the pleasure of his Creator. The more he performs his worldly and spiritual duties as required from him, the more he will reap God’s pleasure and at the same time he feels satisfied with himself because at that time peace descends upon his heart to comfort him and give him more motivation to do better so as to become a fulfilled human and  spiritual being.

 

These motivations exist in us, so you have to raise them, and then develop them, use them correctly. Very often man out of despair abandons the spiritual journey, tired of the time it takes for the divine rewards to become tangible or visible. People could easily deviate from the right path with this despair that surprises them and causes unimaginable harm. Thus is idolatry and the worship of men, nature etc explained, because upon seeing that the right path is strewn with obstacles, they (people) converge to the worship of false gods, imitating the other people, upon perceiving that the latter are better off than them and have a (perceived) “better” life.

 

According to psychologists and theologians man cannot live without worship and veneration, and assuming that he does not recognize and worship one God, he will choose anything else as a higher truth and worship it as the object of his faith. According to them, there is no one who does not need a religion and who does not wish to have a domain to direct himself and who does not desire an object on which to fix/set himself. It is quite possible that man is unconscious of the religious aspects of his beliefs and considered them as external to religion and may even believe that he has no religion. He can be persuaded that the sense of his attachment to seemingly secular purposes, such as power, money, enjoyment and success is only the mark of his interest in practical affairs and favourable profits. It is not whether man has a religion or not, but the question is what is the/his “religion.”

 

However, as it is necessary for man to have an ideal and faith, and that on one hand, religious faith is the only faith that can really influence him and on the other hand man, by his nature, is constantly in search of something that becomes the object of his adoration and veneration, the only way is thus to strengthen religious faith.

 

The Glorious Qur’an is the first book that first considered religious faith as being in harmony with the system of creation.

 

“So is it other than the religion of Allah they desire, while to Him have submitted [all] those within the heavens and earth, willingly or by compulsion, and to Him they will be returned?” (3: 84)

 

Second, the Qur’an presents religious faith as part of the nature of men:

 

“Then set your face upright for religion exclusively (to Allah), according to the original design in which Allah has made men! There is no altering of Allah’s creation! This is the immutable religion, but most men do not know.” (30: 31)

 

Religious faith has countless benefits, both in terms of joy and fulfilment from the point of view of improving social relations and also the reduction and elimination of trouble necessary to the construction of this world.

 

Religious faith is the precious capital of life and is such a spiritual good that gives force/strength to man, complementing him in the divine universe. Without his belief and Islamic doctrine, man will not find himself turn into a complete being, and his duties also shall be meaningless, empty of interest. Like a robot, he will survive the world, perhaps in creating for himself false gods in which (or whom) to put his hopes and faith, or he will survive the world as an atheist, who only believes in facts that his logic suggests him, without having any faith in anything or in even someone.

 

A truly extraordinary example of the exclusive worship of Allah is mentioned in the Qur’an in the example of the prophet Abraham, who made ​​a point to go in search of the truth after witnessing the worship of false gods by his father and people. He fought against the vilest schemes to submit to One and Almighty Creator who is the origin of the creation of man and the universe. He said with faith:

 

“Indeed, I have turned my face towards Him Who created (out of nothing) the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not one of those who give partners to Allah.” (6: 80)

 

Let us become small Ibrahims and Muhammads, who against winds and tides fought against their animal passions to become humans, worshipers of the Creator of the Universe, without associating anything with Him in His worship. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) came to revive the worship of God as practiced by his patriarch Abraham (pbuh) and the other prophets who preceded him. Reformers of Islam now have a duty to follow in his footsteps to revive this Islam that these exceptional Elects of God showed and taught.

 

Then let us become human beings as guided by the Qur’an to complete/perfect ourselves in this world for the other world, and ultimately, one who makes more efforts will be offered God Himself as a reward. It is this goal that the true believer, lover of God targets because he realizes that his true goal is God himself and that this world is doomed to destruction while his soul, armed with Islamic faith and being spiritually dynamic will be preserved in the mercy of God from the beginning till the end of time. Insha-Allah, Ameen.