بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

Friday Sermon

 

HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN

AL KHALIFATULLAH

 

Munir Ahmad Azim

 

 

06 August 2010

 

(24 Shabaan 1431 Hijri)

 

(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:

 

 

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ۝

 

“And one of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them, and He put between you love and compassion; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect.” (Chapter 30 Verse 22)

 

In the light of this verse of the Holy Quran, my Sermon will be based on weddings, especially recent weddings which have taken place in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association

 

Nowadays there are a lot of weddings taking place and one may have the opportunity to assist such wedding religious ceremonies, but afterwards how many weddings among all weddings which stand firm and for long, and how many couples afterwards file for a divorce?

 

Our times is such that we keep hearing that girls are falling in love with boys; this making them leaving the home of their parents and going to stay with these boys, and if the latter are non-Muslims, very often we see that after two weeks or so, these girls are returning back to their parents because the boys left them. Now think who would want to marry these kinds of girls? What is transpiring in Islam nowadays is cause for worry, especially when Muslims girls are abandoning their religion (Islam) and going to live with non-Muslims.

 

Allah says in Chapter 2 Verse 222: “And do not marry the idolatresses until they believe, and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress woman, even though she should please you; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe, and certainly a believing servant is better than an idolater, even though he should please you; these invite to the fire, and Allah invites to the garden and to forgiveness by His will, and makes clear His communications to men, that they may be mindful.”

 

Anecdote: In the times of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), there was a firm and sincere companion of his whose name was Sayyidina Marthad ibn Abu Marthad Al-Ghanawi (May Allah be pleased with him). Once, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) sent him to Mecca to organise the departure of the remaining Muslims there. There was a lady whose name was Inaq who, in the times of ignorance used to love him. She was very beautiful and rich. When she heard that Marthad had come, she went to meet him and proposed him to stay with her. Marthad refused by saying that Islam forbids such acts. Therefore, the woman proposed him to marry her. Thereupon, Marthad said: “This will depend on the permission of the Messenger of Allah.”

 

After accomplishing the mission for which he was sent to Mecca, he returned back to the Messenger of Allah and related to him what had happened in Mecca and therefore asked him about marriage with such a woman, and it was at that moment that the above-mentioned verse was revealed.

 

“And when Luqman said to his son while he admonished him: O my son! Do not associate aught with Allah; most surely polytheism is a grievous iniquity.” (Chapter 31 Verse 14)

 

“…Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire…” (Chapter 5 Verse 73)

 

Through the Quran, we come to understand that the Muslim come what may, does not have the permission to marry a person deprived of the true faith, until that person embraced Islam (true faith). Nowadays we keep hearing that there are a lot of oaths of membership to the Jamaat (of the Promised Messiah) being made, that people are entering its fold or that other Muslims are saying that they are welcoming new converts to Islam. But when you analyse all this, about the oaths and new converts, the affirmation of the majority of them are only on paper so that they may be able to marry and after signed the documents for initiation, they disappear and go to practice their ancient religion, and if they beget children, these children follow the other religion and they do not even have Muslim names.

 

There are even youths in the Jamaat who have fallen in love with girls who are non-Muslims and after being together (without marriage), the girls become pregnant and when the boys’ families and the Jamaat becomes aware of the problem, they conceal these matters and perform quick weddings and present to the non-Muslims a form of initiation to the Jamaat to be sent afterwards to the Head whereby the latter thinks that great dawa works are being done, and these “new converts” will be counted in the speech of the Chief (for the account for one year work, supposedly obtained through correct means!)

 

I am not saying all this like that, but only because I have been a personal witness to all these situation in the small island of Mauritius, with the schemes of those people who thinks that they hold all power within the Jamaat. Recently there have been a series of weddings and I thank Allah for enabling us not to assist such wedding gatherings. These people think that it is them who have levelled boycotts on us, but no! Indeed it is a favour from Allah! Alhamdolillah Soumma Alhamdolillah.

 

It is unfortunate to see that there are such weddings in the Community of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), especially in the community of the Promised Messiah (on him be peace) where there is an Amila member who have organised the wedding of his son with the daughter of another so-called defender of the body of the community of the Promised Messiah. They both invite people to come to assist the wedding’s religious ceremony in a Hall, and now that in Mauritius it is winter and it gets dark early, they have made such an arrangement that as soon as the wedding ceremony ends, some of the people invited for the wedding only had to leave while the rest who had been both invited to the wedding ceremonies and dinner which has been done in the same place, stayed, thus differentiating between their guests, making some stay and some leave. How dare they humiliate their guests like that. What is all this? If they wanted to have a dinner for a section only of their guests, then they should have done it at another place, not hurting the feelings of their other guests who were compelled to leave. The sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) themselves are such that the Prophet had said that to put additional water in food preparation so that this food can be shared with one’s neighbours.

 

But what do we see? These people should have taken a lesson from this Hadith, and taken the appropriate disposition to feed their guests (whom they invited for dinner) at another place; not where the other guests invited for the wedding ceremony are, so as not to hurt their feelings. In the Hadith, the Prophet talks about treatment to one’s neighbour, but now imagine, what consideration and care are to be given to one’s guests? Where has the etiquette of good manners gone when receiving one’s guests?

 

Moreover, there are now weddings being performed in hotels, with exaggerated and useless expenditure for show, by arrogance, to make known that one has lots of riches and can afford paying such excesses. The two sets of parents in this wedding, they agree to pay only for their personal guests. If one set of parent has invited 100, then for 100 only shall they pay and if the other set of parent has invited 200 guests, then for the 200 guests only shall they pay. Where have the teachings of the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and the teachings of the Promised Messiah gone? These people have trampled all these teachings under their feet, and they pretend and even tell you that they are good Muslims, them and their so-called president who according to them have full rights to judge the faith of others, without looking at their own actions first!

 

In a Hadith: Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “There is a lot of Allah’s blessings upon those who perform their wedding in the Mosque and their wedding will be greatly blessed.” (Baihaqi)

 

In the Holy Quran Allah says: “And that the mosques are Allah’s, therefore call not upon any one with Allah” (Chapter 72 Verse 19)

 

“In houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted and that His name may be remembered in them; there glorify Him therein in the mornings and the evenings” (Chapter 24 Verse 37).

 

Through these verses of the Holy Quran, we come to understand that the best place on earth is the Mosque, and not hotels where there are sorts of attractions there. Mosques are places where the name of Allah is frequently taken and where His worship is made etc. It is the only place where a person can separate himself from all his worries and therefore in Allah he finds security and peace, and mosques are the best places where true believers can unite, day and night where they receive the blessings of Allah in abundance. That is why the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said that the best place to marry is in the mosque.

 

When one is asking Allah sincerely to bless the new couple, not only the Muslims are invoking the blessings of Allah upon the newly-weds but also the angels.

 

Nowadays it is sad to see Muslims, instead of marrying (that is, the religious ceremony) in the mosque; they are thirsty of grandeur, of performing their wedding in great hotels, such places which cannot be compared with a mosque. When we consider that the religious ceremony in wedding is a form of worship (where verses of the Holy Quran and pious words are pronounced), then when such weddings are performed in mosques, there is greater blessings in them. Today youths are anxious to marry in mosques, they fear that they have to remove their shoes, that they have to sit down (on the ground) and they fear lest their brand-new clothes get spoiled.

 

There are a lot of Muslims, from the bridegroom’s side who do not perform Walima; they give food on the day of the wedding itself, but this is not Islamic at all; it is not a practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Walima is a meal which is given after the couple’s first night (after having sexual relations) together.

 

The practice (of the Prophet) to perform Walima – 3 days after the bride has come to live with her husband. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “The one who obtain an invitation and does not accept it, he has no doubt disobeyed Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him).”

 

In another Hadith (Bukhari): The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said and this has been reported by Abu Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him): “The worst meal is the meal of a Walima where only the rich attend and where the poor are not invited.”

 

And the one who refuse such invitation is thereby disobeying Allah and His prophet. It is sad that those who are taking themselves as great religious scholars and defenders of the Jamaat, one hear that they are celebrating Walima of their son only among brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces and some family from the bride’s side, not even inviting the less fortunate (poor) ones, and their Walima feast constitute of barbecue!

 

Such extravagance does not have its place in Allah’s words and the words of His Prophet (peace be upon him). A Walima where there are no poor people invited (and obtaining their prayers for the newly-weds) or if they are invited, but one does not treat them well or ignore them, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has said that: “The worst of meals is a Walima where the poor are not invited!”

 

You, brothers and sisters, whenever there is a wedding, never seek these maledictions. It is sad that all these people have done so without proper Islamic education, without any true formation on wedding and its rules, how to live afterwards marital life etc.

 

In weddings sometimes, we do some things in ignorance, sometimes consciously and thus this attracts the wrath of Allah. When Allah is angry with us, nobody can save us. These people have ordered that boycott be levelled on us, so as not to invite us, but now what do I see? People in their own Jamaat themselves are differentiating among themselves, to see whom to invite and not!

 

Insha-Allah, after Ramadan I shall continue my sermons on this subject. I end with this Hadith where the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said that after piety, the favour of Allah, what a pious man must look for is a pious wife, and vice-versa. Thus, man and wife can live a peaceful and balanced life (in obeisance to Allah). (Muslim)

 

May Allah give us the faculty to understand this sermon and to implement these advices and practices. Insha-Allah.