SERMON 176
Preaching & Qur'an
(O ' creatures!) Seek
benefit from the sayings of Allah, be admonished of Allah and accept the
advice of Allah because Allah has left no excuse for you by providing
clear guidance, has put before you the plea and clarified for you what
acts He likes and what acts He hates, so that you may follow the one and
avoid the other. The Prophet of Allah used to say. "Paradise is surrounded
by unpleasant things while Hell is surrounded by desires."
You should know that every
obedience to Allah is unpleasant in appearance while every disobedience to
Allah has the appearance of enjoyment. Allah may have mercy on the person
who kept aloof from his desire and uprooted the appetite of his heart,
because this heart has far-reaching aims and it goes on pursuing
disobedience through desires.
You should know, O'
creatures of Allah, that a believer should be distrustful of his heart
every morning and evening. He should always blame it (for shortcomings)
and ask it to add to (its good acts). You should behave like those who
have gone before you and the precedents in front of you. They left this
world like a traveller and covered it as distance is covered.
The greatness of the Holy Qur'an
And know that this Qur'an is
an adviser who never deceives, a leader who never misleads and a narrator
who never speaks a lie. No one will sit beside this Qur'an but that when
he rises he will achieve one addition or one diminution - addition in his
guidance or elimination in his (spiritual) blindness. You should also know
that no one will need anything after (guidance from) the Qur'an and no one
will be free from want before (guidance from) the Qur'an.
Therefore, seek cure from it
for your ailments and seek its assistance in your distresses. It contains
a cure for the biggest diseases, namely unbelief, hypocrisy, revolt and
misguidance. Pray to Allah through it and turn to Allah with its love. Do
not ask the people through it. There is nothing like it through which the
people should turn to Allah, the Sublime.
Know that it is an
interceder and its intercession will be accepted. It is a speaker who is
testified. For whoever the Qur'an intercedes on the Day of Judgement, its
intercession for him would be accepted. He about whom the Qur'an speaks
ill on the Day of Judgement shall testify to it.
On the Day of Judgement an
announcer will announce, "Beware. every sower of a crop is in distress
except the sowers of the Qur'an." Therefore, you should be among the
sowers of the Qur'an and its followers. Make it your guide towards Allah.
Seek its advice for yourselves, do not trust your views against it. and
regard your desires in the matter of the Qur'an as deceitful.
About the believers and their good deeds; and the hypocrites and their bad
deeds
Action! action! Then (look
at) the end; the end, and (remain) steadfast; steadfast. Thereafter
(exercise) endurance, endurance, and piety, piety. You have an objective.
Proceed towards your objective. You have a sign. Take guidance from your
sign. Islam has an objective.
Proceed towards its
objective. Proceed towards Allah's by fulfilling His rights which He has
enjoined upon you. He has clearly stated His demands for you. I am a
witness for you and shall plead excuses on your behalf on the Day of
Judgement.
Beware! what had been
ordained has occurred and that which had been destined has come into play.
I am speaking to you with the promise and pleas of Allah.
Allah the Sublime, has said:
Verily, those who say: Our
Lord is Allah! and persevere aright, the angels descend upon them
(saying): "Fear Ye not, nor be grieved, and receive the glad tidings of
the Garden which Ye were promised." (Qur'an, 41:30)
You have said. "Our Lord is
Allah." Then keep steadfast to His Book, to the way of His command and to
the virtuous course of His worship. Thereafter do not go out of it, do not
introduce innovations in it, and do not turn away from it, because those
who go away from this course will be cut off from (the mercy of) Allah on
the Day of Judgement.
Beware from destroying your
manners and changing them, maintaining one tongue. A man should control
his tongue because the tongue is obstinate with its master. By Allah, I do
not find that fear of Allah benefits a man who practises it unless he
controls his tongue.
Certainly the tongue of a
believer is at the back of his heart while the heart of a hypocrite is at
the back of his tongue; because, when a believer intends to say anything,
he thinks it over in his mind. If it is good he discloses it, but if it is
bad he lets it remain concealed. While a hypocrite speaks whatever comes
to his tongue, without knowing what is in his favour and what goes against
him.
The Prophet of Allah - peace
and blessing of Allah be upon him and his descendants - said: "The belief
of a person cannot be firm unless his heart is firm, and his heart cannot
be firm unless his tongue is firm." So whoever of you can manage to meet
Allah, the Sublime, in such a position that his hands are unsmeared with
the blood of Muslims and their property and his tongue is safe from
exposing them, he should do so.
Following the sunnah and refraining from innovation
Know, O' creatures of Allah,
that a believer should regard lawful this year what he regarded lawful in
the previous year, and should consider unlawful this year what he
considered unlawful in the previous year. Certainly people's innovation
cannot make lawful for you what has been declared unlawful; rather, lawful
is that which Allah has made lawful and unlawful is that which Allah has
made unlawful. You have already tested the matters and tried them; you
have been preached by those before you. Illustrations have been drawn for
you and you have been called to clear fact. Only a deaf man can remain
deaf to all this, and only a blind man can remain blind to all this.
He whom Allah does not allow
benefit from trials and experience cannot benefit from preaching. He will
be faced with losses from in front, so that he will approve what is bad
and disapprove what is good. People are of two categories - the follower
of the shari`ah (religious laws), and the follower of the innovations to
whom Allah has not given any testimony by way of sunnah or the light of
any plea.
Guidance from the Holy Qur'an
Allah the Glorified, has not
counselled anyone on the lines of this Qur'an, for it is the strong rope
of Allah and His trustworthy means. It contains the blossoming of the
heart and springs of knowledge. For the heart there is no other gloss than
the Qur'an although those who remembered it have passed away while those
who forgot or pretended to have forgotten it have remained. If you see any
good give your support to it, but if you see evil evade it, because the
Messenger of Allah used to say: "O' son of Adam, do good and evade evil;
by doing so you will be treading correctly."
Categories of oppression
Know that injustice is of
three kinds - one, the injustice that will not be forgiven, another, that
will not be left unquestioned, and another that will be forgiven without
being questioned. The injustice that will not be forgiven is duality of
Allah. Allah has said: Verily Allah forgiveth not that (anything) be
associated with Him ... (Qur'an, 4:48,116).
The injustice that will be
forgiven is the injustice a man does to himself by committing small sins;
and the injustice that will not be left unquestioned is the injustice of
men against other men. The retribution in such a case is severe. It is not
wounding with knives, nor striking with whips, but it is so severe that
all these things are small against it.
You should therefore avoid
change in the matter of Allah's religion for your unity in respect of a
right which you dislike is better than your scattering away in respect of
a wrong that you like. Certainly, Allah the Glorified has not given any
person, whether among the dead or among those who survive, any good from
separation.
O' people, blessed is the
man whose own shortcomings keep him away from (looking into) the
shortcomings of others, and also blessed is the man who is confined to his
house, eats his meal, buries himself in obeying his Allah. and weeps over
his sins, so that he is engaged in himself and people are in safety from
him.
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