Text Box: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Friday Sermon Hazrat Amir’ul Momeneen Muhyi-Ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim 26 June 2009 (Summary of Friday Sermon) After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and then he read the following verse of the Holy Quran: CH. 17 BANI ISRAEL V. 32  Wa laa taqtuluuu awlaadakum khashayata ‘imlaaq: Nahnu narzuquhum wa ‘iyyaakum. Inna qatlahum kaana khit-‘ankabiiraa. “You shall not kill your children due to fear of poverty.  We provide for them, as well as for you. Killing them is a gross offense.” (17:32) By the grace of Allah, I continue my sermon of last Friday (19 June 2009) on abortion. What teachings has Islam taught us concerning a mother whose life is in danger; what is to be done to save her life? If a conscientious doctor observes that a pregnant woman’s life is in danger, and if the pregnancy is taken to terms matters will get complicated, then in this exceptional case the woman can get recourse to abortion; provided also that the pregnancy has not exceed more than four months. Moreover, if according to a doctor a pregnancy can bring about a severe illness for the woman and thus endanger her life, then also before the four months pregnancy terms she can get herself aborted because of the risk threatening her life. Bear in mind that abortion done without a valid reason or without the recommendation of a doctor can bring about lots of complications in the health of a woman on whom abortion has been done. The one who opts for abortion is playing with her life. She is jeopardising her life. If she has no health, then what value does life hold for her? One of the advices which the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has given to his Ummah is that to enjoy your health before illness seize you; perform the maximum worship when you enjoy good health. Health is precious. Now, if you destroy your own health, then who will be responsible for this? Abortion can bring about complications in the kidneys. Do you know what a Kidneys complication is? Here in Mauritius lots of people suffer from this health problem. Abortion can also terminate a woman’s ability to get pregnant again. How? The person in question (another time) is unable to complete the full pregnancy terms and automatically aborts the child, where the child does not remain in the uterus, and thus the woman loses the baby. Abortion can also cause various other complications in one’s body. If only one could see how much damage this can cause? Abortion whether it is legal or illegal is abortion. The number of deaths here in Mauritius due to abortion is very high. Complications developed due to cases of abortion leads to death for sure. Do not think that when abortion will be legalised the rate of mortality will diminish. The risk is alike. Each day in the world millions of women are dying due to abortion. Abortion is not a solution for sex outside marriage (adultery or fornication). By legalising abortion is equivalent to encouraging free sex. But the Islamic laws are severe concerning the question of adultery and condemn such an act. Islam goes at the source of this grievous sin. The question of the birth of a child due to adultery will not be asked if adultery does not find its way in this society. If after the act of adultery a child is born, Islam does not teach that the child should be aborted, for this is a temporary solution, whereas Islam condemns the root of this evil. The child must be given the right to live whereas the adulterers (the parents) should be punished (according to the precepts of the Quran) for the grievous wrong they committed. In this situation, the child is a complete innocent, and is not at all responsible for the sin of the two adulterers. Thus, if abortion is validated in this way, this means leaving the door open for adultery and that of its “legalisation”. Thus, how will the society where such immorality has penetrated therein be called, where people are living like animals? Islam has condemned adultery and Allah has said in the Holy Quran that adultery is a grievous sin and its punishment is great in the eyes of Allah. It is in these commandments that you get to witness how great a religion Islam is, where it has condemned adultery. Allah knows well that man is weak and especially in this matter. Thus, Allah has given men the choice to marry more than a wife, according to their means to treat them equally. Allah does not at all want that His servants, found in His religion (Islam) which He has perfected and given its name, to stoop low and commit adultery which is a heinous sin in His sight. This is for this reason that He has given His believing servants a pure and honest way devoid of sin whereby he can marry more than a woman – He performs his Religious Wedding “Nikah” with his second, third and fourth wives – this act is licit in the eyes of Allah. Allah Himself gives this instruction in the Holy Quran in Chapter 4 An-Nisah Verse 4, where He says:  Maa taaba lakum-minan-nisaaa-i. Masnaa wa sulaasa wa rubaa. – marry such women as seem good to you, two, or three, or four; When you read the Holy Quran, you get to know the value of the words of Allah and His commandments. When Allah the Almighty prevents a wrong and says that this is a great sin, Allah then replaces it with a good in lieu of this wrong. For His Prophets and good and sincere servants, Allah the Almighty does not want that they fall prey to this sin; He does not want that they go and commit adultery. Allah commands His believing servants and prophets to perform Nikah with more than a wife. This is pure in the sight of Allah. Allah the Almighty has already established that there is a solution instead of committing this wrong – the practice of a good and pure action, a noble action to seek the pleasure of Allah. By this means (pure act) the person obtains a great reward from Allah. Allah’s guidance to His believing servants is the true guidance as it is mentioned in the Holy Quran:  Inna hudallaahi hu’wal hudaa  - Surely the guidance of Allah, that is the (true) guidance. Our Creator (Allah the Almighty) wants to diminish our punishment and prevent us from committing a forbidden sin; and Allah knows very well that:   Wa Khuliqal insaanu Zaiifa - man is created weak. If man obeys the commandments of Allah the Almighty found in the Holy Quran and puts them into practice, then he will not devote himself to committing such sins like adultery and abortion. He will not be practicing any wrong which is heinous in the sight of Allah. On the contrary Allah the Almighty will be happy to see His servants putting into practice His licit commandments and if he devotes himself to obeying Allah, Allah will reward him for his good actions. Abortion is a crime but nowadays it is most unfortunate to find doctors practicing abortion in secret. When Allah has condemned abortion, then we Muslims must neither encourage that grievous action nor practice it. Bear in mind that abortion is a crime and all people concern directly or indirectly with this crime are guilty. The deeds of those doctors who practice abortion are not good at all. We must all have a conscience. Not all things that you do to earn money are necessary good. There can be money earned honestly, but there is also another means to earn money which is to the detriment of others, by making them suffer. What courage will these doctors have to take money filled with the CRIME they have committed by performing an abortion – whereby they take the money from their victims? To what level will you (these types of doctors) stoop? According to report of the WHO (World Health Organisation), millions practice abortion annually. O Muslims brothers in the field of medicine do not fling yourselves into this business called abortion. Do not forget that before you are a doctor, you are a Muslim. The duty of a believer in this world is to ordain the accomplishment of good actions and to forbid evil. As a Muhyi-ud-Din Khalifatullah, I cannot encourage people to commit evils. With proper knowledge, you do know that you are playing with the life of that person (coming to see you to perform abortion) and you make her suffer; all this just because of some money. Beware! We Muslims must not let our faith become weak because of the riches of this world. I make an appeal to all my Muslim brothers who are doctors, if ever in ignorance (of your religion – Islam) you have committed such a wrong, then the time has come for you to ask for Allah’s forgiveness and to stop performing these atrocious acts before it is too late. Now there is a question concerning sterile women (who are unable to bear children). Science has put forward several reasons why a woman or a man is sterile. Several scientific efforts have been made but not to be desired expectation. Allah gives a child to whomever He wants. But science has gone a bit too far on the question of sterility. Islam is not against science but there is a limit to it. Concerning sterility, science has found a non-Islamic way to make a sterile woman bear a child. Science has invented the taking of the sperm of another man (a donor) and places it in the body of a sterile woman, and thus this woman will be able to get pregnant. This method is forbidden in Islam because the sperm donor has no marital relationship with the woman, and thus taking his sperm to impregnate a woman is out of the question! Islam does not permit the existence of a Bank of Sperms. Moreover, the means used to acquire these sperms are not Islamic at all. A Muslim does not have the right to become a donor of sperms in such a Bank and must not take from it also. This work in itself is illicit in the eyes of Allah. Is also not permitted the fact that a Muslim stores his sperms in such a bank and then he says that after his death to use that sperm to impregnate his wife. Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Quran (Chapter 20 Verse 128):  Wa la’ azaabul-Aakhirati ashaddu wa abqaa - And certainly the chastisement of the Hereafter is severer and more lasting. Ponder over this verse of the Quran and the severe punishment which is described therein which will be atrocious, more than the one inflicted in this world. That is why Allah the Almighty said in the Holy Quran:  Wa laa taqrabuz-zinaaa innahuu kaana faahishah : wa saaa-a sabiilaa.  And go not nigh to adultery: surely it is an obscenity. And evil is the way. (17:33) This verse gives a clear indication of the instruction of Allah, a divine advice to people not to approach adultery. We all know that falling into adultery and the woman who offers herself freely for such an act but then falls pregnant bring upon herself and her companion a real worry. Allah the Almighty says in this verse that “it is an obscenity”. Therefore what solution do they find? They readily go to have the female partner get aborted; they spend money, expose the health of the woman to danger and moreover thus committing a CRIME. That is why Allah the Almighty says in the Holy Quran:  And kill not the soul which Allah has forbidden… Ponder well over this. Allah has explained us about this in length in the Holy Quran so that everyone may reflect on this. There are husbands who are prepared to let their wives get impregnated through the sperms of other men, without realising that such an act is adultery. The sperm of a donor from a Bank of Sperms is used to penetrate the body of that woman without any marital relations with the “future mother”. How can a husband tolerate this and even the woman how can she accept such a sordid thing – to accept the sperm of another man; a complete stranger! This is not permissible in Islam at all; it is not Islamic. This is an absolutely illicit matter. You may think that this is not adultery, but in reality it is also counted as an act of adultery, and this is completely forbidden in Islam. It is not a dishonour if a couple does not have any child of their own. It is then that you perceive the value of the Holy Quran. It does not only forbid you to do such a wrong and says that adultery is a grievous sin, but Allah gives you the best and purest solution for a man, before the eyes of Allah to marry another woman without divorcing his first wife (the one who is sterile – where she cannot get pregnant). And now, it is in the nature of a lady to get pregnant with a child. This does not mean that one goes to a Bank of Sperms, take the sperm of a stranger to enable this sperm to penetrate the body of a woman. This also is ridiculous, because you (men) will not be the biological father of that child who will be born from such methods. For this also, Allah has given it solution which is clean and pure, both found in the Holy Quran and practiced by our Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). A man who is unable to produce the necessary quantity of spermatozoids, definitely his wife will not be pregnant, for his rate of spermatozoids is low. But is that reason good enough to let his wife get impregnated by a stranger-sperm donor, and gets satisfaction from this? He does not ponder over the fact that even though the child is born, he will still not be its biological father. Instead of doing such an impure deed like this, and which is illicit and a sin in the eyes of Allah, Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) has given the proper solution to this problem. The couple can instead of looking for a sperm donor, they can adopt a child who is rejected, abandoned by his family or an orphan and look after his needs like their own child, and give him his religious, and academic education and lead him in the right path. This action holds more value in the sight of Allah and its reward before the Creator will be enormous. Read these two verses of the Holy Quran found in Chapter 42 Verses 50-51. When you will ponder over them, you will not be able to object to the decree of Allah. If Allah has decreed it like this, accept the situation as it is, with happiness and satisfaction. In these two verses Allah the Almighty says:  He grants females to whom He pleases and grants males to whom He pleases, Or He grants them both males and females, and He makes whom He pleases, barren. Surely He is Knower, Powerful. Allah has already comforted you when He (Allah) says: “He is Knower”. Thus Allah knows very well for which reason He has render so and so sterile. So can you go against the decree of Allah? And if you commit an atrocious act which Allah has forbidden, then bear in mind that its consequences in the future will be very bad for you. Maybe then you will come to wish that this child had never exist; you life becomes hellish and before the eyes of Allah you are culprit for such a sin which is grievous and most severe. May Allah help and protect each of us from falling prey to such a satanic trap. Ameen.