بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Friday Sermon
Hazrat Amir’ul Momeneen Muhyi-Ud-Din
Al Khalifatullah
Munir Ahmad Azim
10 July 2009
(Summary of Friday Sermon)
After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surahhh Al Fatiha and then he said:
Coming back to God is first return to the Quran. Any effort in reforming religion, whether collective or individual that does not reflect this principle, is illusory and dangerous, and it is by the Quran that God has Himself alone chosen that we can turn towards Him.
The assertion that we must return to the Quran is often stated today as it was in the past whenever a critical situation arose the awareness of Muslims that they have parted from it. But this assertion even it is not only verbal, and therefore without consequences, is of a fairly vague character. So we try to make it clear, it appears most often that this “return” to the book of Allah is exclusive or almost exclusive on the scale of society, and as a means to solve its problems. In other words, the Quran is considered primarily in its ethical and legal aspect, as it is a “code” that would ensure compliance with social harmony.
The Quran is certainly that. But it is not all. On the other hand, the idea that we can first transform those which constitute it is a misconception. If it is so successful is that it is a convenient idea: it allows the individual to provide the immediate effort needed to personally give the Qur’an, in his own life the central place that should be for it.
Giving the Quran the place that should be for it, is of course, accepting what it teaches us and practicing what it prescribes us.
But it is also about giving to the recitation of the Quran a fundamental role in our spiritual life, and seeing in it as an inexhaustible source of joy, strength and wisdom.
The first word of revelation, which is also the first command received by the Prophet (peace be upon him) - is “Iqra” (recite) – (Quran 96:2). This primacy of the recitation of a book whose name is Al-Quran specifically is stated in the most explicit, the most striking manner. A Muslim life that does not perpetually draw from this source is a life, maimed, impoverished. When we are ordered (Quran 5:36) to “look for a means of access towards it”, there is no time to wonder what is this Wasila: the answer is given by the verse, which inaugurate the “Muhammadan Risala” which somehow constitutes the birth of the Ummah (Muslim Community).
But for the Quran to be actually for us “light” (Nur), “Mercy (Rahma), and” guidance” (Huda), so that its recitation is not just the movement of our tongue or a superficial activity of our brain cells, so that it shakes our whole being, to produce in us the effects described in the verse (Quran 39:24) which states:
“Allah has sent down the most beautiful of stories, a book which (some verses) are similar and repeated. The skins of those who fear their Lord shiver (to hear it), then their skins and their hearts soften up for Allah’s message. Such is Allah’s guidance; He bestows it upon whoever wills (to be guided). As for those sent astray by Allah, nothing can guide them.”
For this to happen, a condition must be met. This condition is that we keep in mind throughout our recitation, the certainty that every verse, every word, every sound is the very word of Allah and it is to us personally, it addresses. Because the Quran, the word of Allah, is uncreated “Ghayr Makhluq” it is ever present (it applies for all times) and nothing in it can ever become obsolete. No words can be found in it which would not be of historical interest (i.e., every word is of historical importance), and would not be susceptible to be applied immediately here and now, for each of us and for all Muslims to come till the end of time (i.e. it’s teachings is for all times).
Nothing in the Quran can be ignored because the Quran is the word of the One who is “The Ever-living Who does not die.” And nothing in our lives can fail to find in the Quran its echo and response because Allah has said: “We did not leave anything out of this book.” (Qur’an 6:39)
This eternal actuality of the Divine Word is a concept that we accept without difficulty when we read verses which speak of the fundamentals of the faith and law: the affirmation of divine unity, the announcement of reward or punishment in the future life, the injunction ordering that which is good and forbidding evil ... But the Quran cannot be reduced to this. Some of its statements relate to specific dated events that science “Asbab Al-Nuzul” tends to identify where the Quranic text itself is too elliptical to remove all doubts. Should we read such passages as if they were simply the chronicle of a bygone era or a moving but distant reminiscence (of the beginnings of Islam)? Should we not rather try to perceive, beyond this historical recall, meanings that affect us directly, as the contemporaries of the Prophet upon him be Grace and Peace (of Allah).
For example, Verse 101 of Surah Al-Nisa says:
“Anyone who emigrates in the cause of Allah will find on earth great bounties and richness. Anyone who gives up his home, emigrating to Allah and His messenger, then death catches up with him, his recompense is reserved with Allah. Allah is Forgiver, Most Merciful.”
We all know what the Hijra is, that is the exile that the Muslims have imposed on themselves following the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him), to escape the infidels and join in Medina the nascent Community (Ummah). That happened fourteen centuries ago. In the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Hijra, when viewed in this sense, was closed upon the conquest of Mecca.
Apparently, therefore, this verse and others like them are purely commemorative, and the reward (ajr) promised to the immigrant (Muhajir) who died along the way is no longer available to the Book of Allah. Every Muslim in any period of time in the history of the Ummah may and I precise, must become a Muhajir: literally in some cases, abandoning a country where there’s infidelity, but spiritually in all cases, because the Hijra, consist also of getting away, with all our will and whatever it costs us, from everything that makes us “Ghafil” for Allah. This intrinsic Hijra will end only with the Fath, i.e. with the “re-conquest” with the time when we finally destroyed the idols of our hearts that we find mentioned in the Quran, for example, about Ibrahim (upon him be peace) which is not at all an ancient history – but a call for vigilance which speaks to us today. Consider another case where the historical sense – while keeping of course, its full validity; this must not prevent us from seeing that we are dealing with a divine order in a general sense: I am referring to the beginning of Surah Al Maida.
“O believers! Fulfill your commitments.” (Quran 5:2)
These words refer either to treaties concluded at the time of “Jahiliyya” (ignorance), or the commitments made by Muslims towards the Prophet (peace be upon him). Sticking to that meaning is to say that Allah is asking us to repeat for centuries something that does not concerns us anymore. We feel intuitively that this is absurd. This verse is also addressed “to those who believe.” Do we not also form part of those who believe?
We can certainly learn from these words of the Surah a more general lesson, which is about morality: that we must maintain and respect the given word (promise given) ... Of course. But of all covenants, all commitments, what is most fundamental? What is the most important? What is the most universal? That is because it involves all mankind from the beginning to the end of time? This is obviously the original “Mithaq”, pact by which all the creatures have recognized the sovereignty of God by responding: “Bala” (Of course!) to the question “Am I not your Lord?” (Quran 7:173) I was there, too, that day. I also answered “Bala” (Of course!).
And when Allah said: “O believers! Fulfill with sincerity your promises”, I know that He is reminding me on all my failings in this solemn commitment, on all the false gods that I prefer in my daily life. Whenever I fear someone or something more than Allah, whenever I place a greater hope in something or someone other than Allah, I thus have fabricated a “god” and so I betrayed the pact. Let’s take another example of the different verses (Qur’an 3: 124 Al-Imran, 166-171; Qur’an 8:10-18 Al-Anfal), referring to two great events in the history of Islam: the battle of Badr and the Battle of Uhud. There is a way to read them that is normal and which consists of seeing them as a reminder of past events. In this context, what Allah says in these verses is addressed to men long dead. We therefore recite these Quranic passages with a certain detachment, since we know how it ended up with a victory at Badr, and a defeat at Uhud. And then there is another way to hear the divine words: it is to relate them to ourselves. Jihad has never stopped and will never cease as long as there is a Muslim on earth. Our life is a battlefield. Our soul is a battlefield, and it depends on us that this battle ends as it ended at Badr, or as it ended at Uhud. But what the Quran teaches us about the reasons for success here, and failure there? A Badr the combatants practice “support on secondary causes” i.e., specifically, they use their physical strength, intelligence, weapons, and their mounts. But they put their trust on God alone Who is the Musabbib Al Asbab to win. At Uhud, Muslims are by the deluded by these secondary causes, and they put their trust more on their number and their weapons rather than putting their trust in God. At Badr Muslims fight (Li-Wajhillah) the loot will come through that. At Uhud, the desire for loot (Ghana’iun) prevails and, owing to the disobedience of the troops, this creates a disorder that benefits the enemy. We are daily faced with the same choice in our extrinsic battles. Each of us can place himself or not (Li Wajh Mah), whereby he puts his trust in God alone or his own forces.
We said: “O fire, be cool for Abraham.” (Qur’an 21:70)
The fire here is the fire of the natural constitution and it represents the exigencies of the animalistic soul, and it was ordained (by God) to be “cool and peace” for Ibrahim. But in reality, Ibrahim does not refer to an individual but to a collective personality, for any collective reality is a being who symbolizes it: thus Adam for humanity; this is why God said: “Certainly, Ibrahim was a community” (Qur’an 16:121)
Ibrahim, as their origin and their father, represents all of those who follow his path, he symbolizes the pure recognition of the oneness of God, the exclusive focus to the Lord of the Worlds, and Adam is the origin and the father of mankind, i.e. animals endowed with reason.
As for Muhammad (peace be upon him), he is the father and the origin of Ibrahim and Adam in that which constitutes their paternity. Anyone who follows the religion of Ibrahim becomes Ibrahim; the fire is therefore ordered to be “cool and peace” for Ibrahim and for those who follow his religion, such as the divine word characterizes:
“O my people, I disavow all that you associate (to God). I turn my face, an exclusive focus, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not of the idolaters.” (Quran 6:79-80).
“I separate myself from you and what you invoke besides Allah.” (Qur’an 19:49)
God requires us to follow the Abrahamic religion by His words:
“You shall the most pure religion of Ibrahim and he was not among the idolaters.” (Qur’an 3:96)
“And who is more perfect in his religion than one who submits himself completely to Allah, does good and follows the most pure religion of Ibrahim?” (Qur’an 4:126)
Anyone who does not conform to the Abrahamic model, who does not like Ibrahim (on him be peace) – the most radical Tawhid, the most exclusive orientation towards God, that one is not from among those who follow the religion of Ibrahim. He is thus not Ibrahim, and the fire has not been ordered to be “cool and peace” for him. On the contrary he is from among those who have strayed from the religion of Ibrahim and went to their loss, according to the Word of God:
“Who, if not the foolish, who deviates from the religion of Ibrahim?” (Qur’an 2:131)
There are, on the other hand, verses that unlike the ones we have discussed so far which involve for instance, not an event – past event, but a future event. This is the case of those who are mentioned at the end of Surah ‘Al Fajr’.
“O you, appeased soul, return to your Lord, pleased and pleasing ...” (Quran 89:28-29)
It is at the very moment of death that there will be the announcement of the approval of God and the bliss of the Hereafter. Or it is on the Day of Resurrection. These two interpretations are not contradictory, but seem to be complementary since they involve at least the death of the being to whom this announcement is addressed. However, there is a third which, without contradicting the first two, brings us back to the present: for death must not only be heard in the ordinary sense of the word, i.e. as the result of moving physically towards death. “Die, before We make you die, make your balance before We make it for you,” said the Prophet (peace be upon him)! There is therefore a voluntary death, to be completely detached internally with respect to this world (Dar Al-Dunya) and totally subject to the will of Allah. Whoever is in this state, how his soul will not be “appeased”?
“Is it not by the remembrance of Allah that hearts find tranquility?” (Qur’an 13:29)
When we recite the passage of the Surah “Al Fajr” we must not let its eschatological side hide us, the opportunity and the urgency – for the return of our soul to its Lord, satisfied and pleasing, without waiting for our body to be in the grave. Besides the verses whose relation with historical events must not make us forget that they also have a relationship with us also, with the state in which we find ourselves at very moment we recite them; there are also verses, which at first glance, appear to have a communitarian application and does not involve the individual as such. Take the case of verse 14 of Surah Ash-Shura:
“Establish the religion and do not make it an issue for division.” (Qur’an 42:14)
This verse clearly prescribed to the community to remain united, and I need not emphasize the importance of the consistency of the community, or the disastrous consequences in the past and the present, of its divisions but to keep only to that sense is only a means a little easier to evade the Quranic injunction, because it is not in my power to make individual unification of the community, as the responsibility of disunity is very diffuse, it is tempting merely to repeat this verse as a kind of wishful thinking but is resigned that nothing changes. This view amounts to forget that the first Muslim I have to convince is myself. It may not be in my power to bring together all members of the community, but it is certainly my duty to gather in the worship of Allah, all the elements of my being. I must therefore perceive in this verse an order, which is immediately applicable for this will put an end to my own dispersion: when I pray (perform Salaat) my body is turned towards the Ka’aba. But my heart is also oriented towards its own Qibla (direction), i.e. to the Lord of the Ka’aba? My thoughts, my imagination, my memory, in short, all the powers of my being is truly joint in that fundamental act of religion as prayer, or are they employed each of its part in activities which have nothing to do with the Salaat? If so, I am in (Tafarruq) intern division and I must feel directly targeted by the divine order.
That which inspire me the recitation and meditation of a particular verse from the Quran, is used several times to underscore a distinction, the expression (Isharatan La Tafsiran). I believe that when we recite the Quran with the inner attitude that I stated just now – when we recite the Quran with the inner attitude that I stated just now – when we recite it as if it had just been revealed, as if we were, after the prophet, the first recipient – then our heart opens to the perception of (Isharat) of the “subtle hints” that each verse and Surah contain in truly inexhaustible numbers.
Say: “If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid.” (Qur’an 18:110)
May Allah give us the capacity and help us to orient ourselves towards the true Qibla – the Qibla of our Lord.