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In the Name of Allah, The Gracious, The Merciful
FRIDAY SERMON
HAZRAT AMIR’UL MOMENEEN MUHYI-UD-DIN AL KHALIFATULLAH
MUNIR AHMAD AZIM
27 February 2009
(Summary of Friday Sermon on Remembrance of Allah)
After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surah Al Fatiha and afterwards he read the following verse from the Holy Quran and said:
We will present Hell, on that day, to the disbelievers. They are the ones whose eyes were too veiled concerning My Zikr. (Chapter 18 Verses 101-102)
In the light of this verse, I continue my sermon on the virtues and the advantages of Remembrance of Allah.
In a Hadith, Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “When a group (of people) come together to practice the Remembrance of Allah only for His pleasure, an angel proclaims in the sky: “Allah has forgiven you and replaced your sins by virtues.”
In another Hadith, it has been reported: “The assembly which assembles and departs without remembering Allah, will become a source of regret of the Day of Judgment.”
This Hadith shows us that people who participate in meetings in groups and therein lose their time in futilities; they will not obtain the blessings of Allah. Like Allah says in the verse which I have cited before you, these kinds of people have become blind and thus do not recognize the value of the Remembrance of Allah. These people will regret a lot on the Day of Judgment.
In another Hadith it has been reported that those people who participate in such assemblies where there is no practice of the Remembrance of Allah, and no sending of blessings upon the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), then these people are like people risen from the remains of a donkey.
It has been reported in another Hadith, that all failings that have transpired during a meeting meant for the cause of Allah will be forgiven if one recites this prayer:
“Subhaan-Allahi Wa Bihamdi Subhaana Kallaahumma Wa Bihamdika Ashhadu Allah Ilaaha Anta Astagfirukah Wa Atuubu’ilayh” – “Glory be to Allah; praise be to Allah. O Allah glory be to You with all Your praises, I witness that there is no god except You. I seek Your forgiveness and I turn to you.” The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon you) also advised his companions to dutifully comply to the rights of an assembly. They asked him: “O Messenger of Allah! What are the rights of an assembly?” He replied: “Remember Allah a lot, show the way to the travellers, disregard illicit matters.”
The fourth Right-Guided Caliph, Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) advised his followers to recite the following prayer at the end of each meeting:
“Subhana Rabbika Rabbil Izzati Amma Yaswifun Wasalaamun Alal Mursalin Wal Hamdolillahi Rabbil Aalamin”. (Ch. 37 V. 181-183)
Glory be to your Lord, the great Lord; far above their claims. Peace be upon the messengers. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the universe.
At the end of the Surah Al-Furqan in the Holy Quran, Allah mentions the good qualities of the believers. Allah says:
“Allah transforms their sins into credits. Allah is Forgiver, Most Merciful” (Ch. 25 V.71)
This verse shows that Allah will replace the believers’ bad actions into good ones. By practicing the Remembrance of Allah, they do incline towards doing good actions instead of doing bad ones. When good habits will be developed, then these good habits will become inherent in you, and will not change. There is a wording which says: “ A mountain can change place, but habit does not change.” In the light of this saying, there is a Hadith where the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “If you hear that a mountain has change its place, you can belief (in this statement) but if you hear that a person has changed his habits, don’t believe!”
The origin of the wording which I have cited comes from this Hadith, and if you analyse it well, you will see understand that it is more easy for someone to move a mountain than to change his habits.
When you hear this Hadith, a question can be asked as to how to reform such behaviours which people have and which encourage people to have such bad habits.
The explication is that habits do not change. For example, someone who has a bad character, it is difficult for him to eliminate his anger completely through reform and effort. In moments of anger the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to drink water, cause like water extinguishes fire; by drinking water one extinguishes one’s anger. When the believer makes efforts through the Remembrance of Allah to bring reform into himself, then he will succeeded, but he must firsthand make that effort (Allah will help him throughout his struggle to turn into a new leaf in the cause of Allah).
In practicing the Remembrance of Allah, this helps to cast away Satan. And little by little you will come to know that it is Allah the Almighty who changes the bad habits and directs him towards good ones.
Mu’az Ibn Jabal has reported that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “No action is as efficient as the Remembrance of Allah is, to save someone from the punishment of the tomb.” (Ahmad)
If you can well understand this Hadith and seek the help of the knowledge of Allah in this matter, each of us will realize the severity and reality of the punishment of the tomb.
Whenever the third Caliph Usman (May Allah be pleased with him) used to visit a tomb, he cried so much that his beard was wet with tears. Once someone asked him: “Why do you not cry as much as now (before a tomb), when mention is made of paradise or hell?”
He replied: “The grave is the first step towards the Next World. For the one, who succeeds to go through this step with facility (where he is thus protected from the punishment of the grave), then other steps (in his journey into the Eternal World) will become easier. For the one who does not succeed to obtain the protection here (that is, the tomb), other steps will become all the more difficult.” Afterwards he reported that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “I did not witness a thing more terrible than what transpires in the grave.”
The wife of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to ask Allah for protection against the punishment of the grave, after each prayer.
Zaid (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has said, “But for fear that you might give up burying your dead, I would have prayed to Allah the Almighty to let you hear the torture of the grave.”
With the exception of humans, all other creatures hear the punishment of the grave.
Once, during a journey, the Messenger of Allah’s (peace be upon him) camel became frightened with something. Someone asked the Prophet as to what happened.
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) replied that someone was undergoing the punishment of the grave, and his cries frightened the camel.
Once Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) entered the mosque and saw a group of people laughing very loudly. He told them, “If you had remembered death more often, you would not have laughed like this. Not a day passes that the grave does not proclaim, “I am a miserable place, the house of loneliness and the place of worms and insects.”
When a true believer is buried in a grave, the grave welcomes him, by saying, “You are welcome here, and you have done well by coming here. Of all the people walking upon the earth, you were the dearest to me. Now that you have been made to come to me, you will witness my excellent behaviour (towards you).”
Then the grave expands to such an extent, that a door of paradise opens into it.
Through this door the sweet perfume of paradise penetrates the tomb of that person.
But when an infidel or a transgressor is buried, the grave says, “Your coming here is unwelcome and abominable. It would have been better if you had not come here. Of all the people who have been walking upon the earth, I hated you the most. Now that you have been made to come to me, you will see my treatment (towards you).”
Afterwards the grave becomes narrow and squeezes him mercilessly, till his ribs pierce into each other as the fingers of the two hands interlock each other – Then ninety or ninety nine snakes are let loose upon him, and they will continue clawing at him till the Judgement Day. If one of those snakes were to blow its poison upon the earth, it will become sterile, whereby no grass would be able to grow till the Day of Judgement. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) added: “The grave is either a garden of Paradise or a pit of Hell.”
Thus, we must pray Allah a lot for His protection against the punishment of the grave. We must also remain ever attached to our worship of Allah and His Remembrance. We must make it a must that every night before going to sleep, we read the attestations of faith (Kalima) and some invocations (duah). It is recommended to read the Surah Al-Mulk “Tabarakallazi” before going to sleep, so that one can be protected against both the punishment of the grave and that of Hell. Other Hadiths show us also that the Remembrance of Allah is really efficient against the punishment of the grave.
Rabbanas-rif ‘anna ‘adhaba jahannama inna ‘adhabaha kana gharama innaha sa‘at musta-qarranw wa muqama
Our Lord! Avert from us the Wrath of Hell, for its Wrath is indeed a grievous affliction – Evil indeed is it as an abode, and as a resting-place.
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