بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

Friday Sermon

 

HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN

AL KHALIFATULLAH

 

Munir Ahmad Azim

 

 

03 September 2010

 

(23 Ramadhan 1431 Hijri)

 

RAMADHAN MUBARAK

 

(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 said:

 

 

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُواْ لِي

 

 

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me.” (2:187)

 

This is verily an encouragement for the faster to increase his supplication to Almighty God. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Three invocations will be answered: The invocation of the fasting person, the invocation of the oppressed, and the invocation of the traveller.” (Muslim)

 

Now, many of our brothers and even sisters have retired themselves in Ittikaaf. What is the Ittikaaf?  It is a spiritual retreat during the ten last days of Ramadan whereby brothers (and sisters also) seclude themselves from the exterior world; they stay in the Mosque to pray and supplicate Allah extensively. In a nutshell, they abandon all mundane activities.

 

Ibn Abbas narrated: “The Messenger of Allah used to perform Ittikaaf during the ten last days of Ramadhan.” (Muslim)

 

It is a shame that there are people who go in retreat in the mosque, and yet, they do not know the true spiritual value and conditions in which to observe it. They do not know how to behave themselves; they lose valuable praying time in sleeping; there are some who walk to and fro in the mosque and talk to the other persons staying in retreat. There are some who, when after breaking their fast, they do not hesitate to go on the roof of the mosque or go in toilettes to smoke. There are some who after staying for two or three days in retreat view it as a burden and come out of it. However, our beloved prophet (peace be upon him) never did such a (despicable thing); he never abandoned his retreat.

 

In the light of the above-mentioned verse, those who stay in such spiritual retreat (Ittikaaf) must seize this opportunity to turn to Allah in repentance and seek His forgiveness; not only the ones staying in retreat but also all the other Muslims who have not gone into retreat, we must ask forgiveness for sins which we commit everyday of our life.

 

Ramadan is a time favourable for repentance and turning to Allah, for during this period Satan is chained, and it is during this time that lots of souls are liberated from the fire of Hell, on each night by the grace of Allah.

 

Hazrat Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) narrated: “When the last ten days of Ramadan would come, the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to tighten his lower garment belt, spend the whole night in prayer and worship, and wake his family (at night for prayer and worship).” It was also narrated on the authority of Aisha that she said that the Prophet of Allah would strive [to do acts of worship] during the last ten days of Ramadan more than he would at any other time. (Muslim)

 

If during the Ramadan one does not stop vain talks and continue to sin, then these diminish his rewards for fasting, even if he is still depriving himself from eating and drinking.

 

Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Fasting is not [only] abstaining from eating and drinking, but abstaining from vain and obscene talk, so if someone insulted you or wronged you say: I am fasting.” (Hakim) and he also said: “Allah is not in need of anyone abandoning his food and drink who does not abandon lies and acting by them while fasting.” (Bukhari)

 

In our everyday life, we make common errors and make excessive expenses. It is must be that Ramadan becomes a period when all wastes are kept in check and the fasting person becomes ready to face harder times in the future; thus he must have his priorities well in mind, by distinguishing between his basic necessities and luxuries.

 

Unfortunately many go above their limits of spending in the month of Ramadan. Some sleep most of the time (during the day) when they are fasting. Ramadan is not a moment for one to become lazy, and this does not able him to benefit plentifully from the fasting experience. It is as if they have inverse night and made it become day and vice-versa.

 

Moreover, there are some who pass their nights in eating, drinking and socialising. They spend more time in socialising, for when people exchange mutual invitations for Ramadan they have the tendency to spend more time in socialising with friends and family than in worship.

 

Although it is recommended to feed a fasting person, this does not mean that time must be spent in useless talks. One must use this opportunity to remember Allah and maximise additional prayers, invocations and to invite others to Allah through various means (speech, explanations, help etc.). There are lots of people who are enthusiastic about staying for Ittikaaf, but some stay in the mosque, not to pray, but to talk and socialise. There are a lot of means to do good deeds in Ramadan. There are people who try to do more than they can afford. In wanting to do over their limits, they do not succeed in accomplishing what they had initially in mind.

 

Each Muslim must assume a predominant role in spiritual education and also in words, by giving the right example. Our behaviour must be conforming to the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him).

 

We must realise that our priorities are to obtain the goods of the eternal life, and therefore we must not put mundane achievements as our first priority. We must make our best to follow to sunnah of the prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) in each aspect of our life, at all times and especially in the month of Ramadan.

 

It is important that we seek more knowledge on the importance of wisdom and goals of fasting, and thus devise means and ways to enable us to maximise the benefits of fasting.

 

Before I end my sermon, I would like to comment on the refutations and challenge of Mubahila which I have given the Christian pastors in Florida, America; especially Mr. Terry Jones who wrote a book against Islam entitled: “Islam is of the devil” (May Allah protect us from such thoughts) and this pastor along with his congregation at the “Dove World Outreach Center” have made such evil plans and announced publicly that they will burn copies of the Holy Quran at their centre on 11 September 2010 and that come what may, they will do so, this being also a revenge for what happened to the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001.

 

I have refuted them, point by point, about the burning of the Quran and I challenged them to a duel of prayer (Mubahila). You can read it on our website.

 

Therefore, it is our duty as Muslims to defend the honour of Islam and to make our level best to preserve the Holy Quran from such acts of vengeance. Allah Himself is the Perfect Guardian of the Holy Quran. Thus, if they go further in their satanic plan, then Allah will definitely not let them succeed in their plan. All Muslims who are asleep, it is the time to wake up and struggle in a real Jihad for the safeguard of Islam and of the Holy Quran. That time has come. Our prayer is in this case our armament and the wrath of Allah shall definitely fall upon such criminals filled with ignorance and hatred towards Allah’s perfect and final religion.

 

“O Allah, You alone can enable us Muslims to be victorious over the criminals, Your enemies and our enemies. O Allah, after this blessed month, the Muslim world will be shaken with such an event. O Allah, You said that it is You the Guardian of Your Book, therefore, there is no doubt O our beloved Allah that it is You who shall seize Your enemies and turn their plan upside down so that the truth of Islam can become clear to their eyes and that Insha-Allah the Muslims round the world may come to realise that there is no progress in being divided and that it is only unified that we can bring the victory of Islam. O Allah, Your humble Messenger ask you to support him with Your help. O Allah, without Your help, I cannot do anything. It is You who guides me and You alone who shall render manifest the victory of Islam through this humble self in the capacity of Your Chosen Messenger of this era. O Allah accept my prayers, and to damnation be led Your enemies whose hearts Satan have completely deviated.” Ameen. Allahoumma Ameen.