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Friday Sermon 5th October 2007
After reading the Tashahhud, Ta’uz, and the first
chapter of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amiroul Mo’meneen Zafrullah
Domun read the following verse of the Holy Quran:
"Wa iza sa’a
laka ibaadi anni fa inni qarib,ojibo dawatad daa’é iza
da’aan , fal yastajibouli wal you’menou bi la’allahoum
yarshodoune" Holy Quran, Ch 2 :187
He gave its translation as follows:
"And when My servant asks thee about Me say “I am
near, I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he prays to Me. So
they should hearken to Me and believe in Me so that they may follow
the right way. "
He then said:
This is the fourth verse of the Holy Quran where Allah is speaking about
matters pertaining to Ramadan. And in this verse a particular mention
is being made about supplications. In fact we may say that this verse
provides the answer to the question that comes into our mind when we
finish reading the previous verse. In the previous verse Allah has told
us that we should complete the days of fasting and we should glorify
Allah as He has taught us to glorify Him so that we may become grateful
servants. Therefore we may legitimately ask the question “How
Allah has taught us to glorify Him?” We receive the reply
in the verse under discussion. Allah says “when they ask thee”.
The person who is addressed here is no other than our beloved Master
Hazrat Mohammad (saw) who is the perfect guide. Hence the reply comes
through the one whom Allah has sent to us as a perfect exemplar to be
followed. Allah tells him to tell Allah’s servants that Allah
is near them. He is the one who will show us how to supplicate to Allah,
how to pray to Him, how to obey Him, how to show patience under difficult
circumstances. We learn about all these facets of his life through the
books of Hadiths. However, for the time being we will talk about his
worship only in the month of Ramadan. So his example is the one to be
followed and we should do our best to try to imitate him in all facets
of our life.
THE PROPHET’S WORSHIP
It is a well-known fact that when the month of Ramadan approached the
Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) was very happy. He renewed his determination
to worship of Allah with greater zeal during this month. And we have
also learned that when the last ten days of Ramadan arrived he showed
even greater zeal to worship Allah. And he also persuaded members of
his household also to follow suit. And there are some hadiths which
tell us that he remained awake during those last ten days and so did
members of his household. One can ask what was he busy doing during
those nights. Again from the hadiths we learn that he was busy doing
long prayers including long recitation of the Holy Quran and plenty
of supplications. This is how our Perfect Guide spent his days and nights
during Ramadan. Since he was the prophet, so he understood better than
any one else what was the meaning of the words “tell them
I am near (qarib)”. He did his best to derive
the maximum benefit from this nearness of Allah and he knew how to profit
most from this intimacy that is offered to the servants of Allah during
these days of the blessed month of Ramadan. As his followers this is
the example that we should follow if we really want to be a good Muslim
who knows how to derive the maximum benefits from the month of Ramadan.
Instead of saying that now the month of Ramadan is nearing its end and
so we can relax our efforts, on the contrary we should follow the perfect
Guide and do as he did. When Ramadan approaches its end we should renew
our effort and shrug off all types of laziness or desire for relaxation.
We should enter this last phase of the month of Ramadan with the mindset
of someone who exerts himself to the utmost because he knows that something
good that he was enjoying will end very soon.
NO ONE IS NEARER TO US THAN ALLAH
As we can note that in this verse Allah has told the Holy prophet to
tell all Muslims that Allah is very near to all of us. Moreover in several
other places in the Holy Quran Allah tells us that He is very near to
us. Allah says here that He is near (qarib). This attribute is mentioned
in two other places in the Holy Quran. In chapter 34 verse 51 we read
“innahou sami’oun qarib” which means that He hears
everything and He is very close. And in chapter 11 verse 62 we read
“Inna Rabbi qariboum mojib” which
means my Lord is near and He answers prayers. How Allah
is near to all of us is something that is difficult to understand. We
lack the necessary faculties to understand this subtlety. But nonetheless
we can have an idea of what it means although we may not understand
it in its entirety. The word Qarib comes from the root “Qa
Ra Ba” which has many meanings in Arabic. But its
primary meaning is to “walk during the night until dawn”
and also “to make a night journey”. That is why with all
the wisdom that he had, our beloved Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) passed
the last ten days of Ramadan awake. Therefore in order to get close
to the One who is closest to all of us one has to pray at night. That
is the reason why the holy Prophet saw used to pray so much at night
that his feet became swollen. When Hazrat Ayesha (ra) asked her what
was the need for such devotions when Allah has forgiven him all his
past and future sins? He replied “Should I not be a grateful servant?”
ALLAH IS THE ANSWERER OF PRAYERS
In the following part of the verse Allah says “I listen to the
prayers of the one who calls upon me. But He has not told us how He
listens to these prayers. There are many persons who say that they have
prayed a lot but their prayers have not been answered. But Allah, in
His Wisdom, knows better than anyone else how these prayers should be
answered. The Holy Prophet Mohammad saw has told us in one of the Hadiths
that Allah listens to all prayers provided the supplicant does not say
“I have prayed but it has not been accepted”. That is to
say one should never become tired of supplicating because if he does
so and shows impatience, all his efforts will be lost. Instead he should
be very patient and wait at Allah’s threshold until He grants
the supplication. In another hadith the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw said
any Muslim who prays to Allah and in his prayers he does not ask for
any injustice or any harm for any close relative, his prayers will be
granted by Allah. But this acceptance may take any of the following
three forms: (1) Allah grants him what he is asking for in this world.(2)
Allah will grant him what he is asking for in the next world.(3) Allah
will remove an evil from him.
Hence in the light of these hadiths we understand
that acceptance may take many forms. Therefore one should never be discouraged
and despondent and one should persevere in ones prayers. Allah will
choose how to accept.
HOW CAN WE LEAD A SUCCESSFUL LIFE
In the verse under discussion Allah has also placed two conditions for
the acceptance of our prayers. First and foremost we should respond
to Allah and secondly we should believe in Him. Responding to Allah
is that we should accept His Messenger Hazrat Mohammad (saw) and believing
in Allah means we should not deny His existence. We should be very careful
in the way we behave in this life because our belief in Allah helps
us to understand that one day we will have to go and give an account
of all our deeds in this world. Therefore we should develop His fear
into our heart and at the same time we should do our best to take him
as our shield against sins. And if we do like this we would become rightly
guided persons. In other words if you respond to Allah and believe in
Him, you will lead a successful life and you will accomplish the mission
for which you were sent into this world.
Hence we may say that if we want to be close to Allah
we need to obey Him and carry out all His commandments. He will answer
our prayers because He has Power over all things and we believe Him
to be so. Once we have established a close relationship with Allah,
we will become recipients of His special Favours in the form of the
acceptance of our prayers, visions, dreams and revelations and many
other spiritual experiences.
THE NIGHT OF DECREE - LAYLATUL QADR
Our brothers and sisters would have noticed that since Tuesday last,
on 2nd October we have entered the last ten days of Ramadan. According
to our beloved prophet Hazrat Mohammad (saw), these last ten days one
will manifest Allah’s wish to deliver the people from hell fire
just as the first ten days manifests His Forgiveness and the second
ten days manifests His Mercy. Moreover we learn from the Hadiths that
when the last ten days of Ramadan arrived the Holy Prophet increased
his determination for worship and devotion to Allah. The Holy Quran
tells us that the Night of Decree (Laylatul Qadr) is greater than one
thousand month. All Muslims are encouraged to try to seek the blessings
of this blessed night because it is said that he or she who prays during
this night with hope of having his or her sins forgiven will get his/her
sins forgiven by Allah. And according to the Hadith we should seek it
on odd days. The days that could have been the night of Decree are Tuesday
night, or Thursday night. And in the coming days it will be Saturday,
Monday or Wednesday next.
A SPIRIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
By the Grace of Allah on the first prospective night (21st of Ramadan)
of laylatoul qadr Allah said a few things to me and I am going to share
them with you now. When I went to sleep, after a few minutes Allah said
to me:
Haa antoum Oulaaé tohibbounahoum wa laa yohibbounakoum
wa tou’menouna bil kitaabé koulléhi
This is part of verse 120 of chapter Al Imran of the Holy Quran. It
means “you are those who love them whereas they love you
not and you believe in the whole book.”
Reference is here to our Ahmadi brothers and sisters
who, in obedience to their caliph do not have any love in their heart
for us. They make it a duty to show us their anger through social boycott,
suppression of greetings, calumnies in speeches and seeking all possible
means to uproot us. On the other hand we pray for them that Allah may
guide them because of their lack of knowledge of the Holy Quran they
display unislamic behaviours. On the contrary as far as we are concerned
Allah is confirming our beliefs. We are those who believe in the Holy
Quran thoroughly. That is we do not pick and choose nor are we like
the Jews about whom Allah says: “do you believe in part of the
book and disbelieve in part thereof?” The Holy Quran says that
Guidance comes from Allah and we believe in this and we are witnesses
thereof.
I woke up around one o’clock in the morning and
I started reciting the following prayer while still reclining on my
bed: “Allahoumma innaka afouwwoun tohibboul afwa fa’fo
anni”. Its translation is “O Allah
Thou art the Effacer of sins, You Like to efface sins, efface my sins”.
After some time I received the following revelation from Allah: “Naghfir
lakoum khatayaakoum, Wa sa nazidoul mouhsenine ”.
Its translation is “We have forgiven you your sins and
we give increase to those who do good deeds” And Allah
is my witness that I stayed on my bed and this revelation was repeated
until three o’clock in the morning. And the way I understood this
is that all of you members of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen are included
in this because Allah said: “koum”
and not “ka”. Allah has used the
second person plural and not the second person singular. And the next
revelation will confim what I am saying even more. Allah said: “Baarakallaho
fi nafséka Baarakallaho fi maskaneka”. This
means: “Allah blesses your person; Allah blesses your
dwelling place”. This one has been addressed to me particularly.
After another moment I received: “Yaa layta qawmi
ya’lamouna bema ghafarali Rabbi wa ja’alani minal moukremine”.
This means “O would that my people knew how my Lord has
forgiven me and has put me among the honored ones!”
Leaders and members of our original Jamaat think that
I was lost because I did not present my excuses and reintegrate their
Jamaat. And this is what they have been saying about all of you who
are here with me. But Allah is saying how good and beneficial it would
have been for them if they had real knowledge that comes from Allah.
Then they would have known that Allah has not only forgiven me but He
has also placed me among the “Honored Ones”.
And for you all Allah says that He has forgiven you. But no one should
think that now he has a license to commit sins. On the contrary he should
incline himself/herself more towards Allah as a token of thanks and
to show his/her gratefulness.
Furthermore on that particular night it was our intention
to start reading tahajjud prayer in our mosque here for the last ten
days of Ramadan. While we were praying a trickle of rain fell twice
or thrice for a few seconds. Personally I was convinced that this was
the night of ‘laylatoul qadr”. All praise is due to Allah
who has shown to His humble servant some of His signs. It was a great
and really blessed night. The members of the Jamaat received
a promise of forgiveness from Allah. Can we ask for more? O ye members
of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen, rejoice for this good piece of news
that you have received from your Lord through the one that you have
accepted as someone coming from your Lord.
“In all these there are signs for people
endowed with understanding”
The previous caliph spoke ill of us and said that “our
destiny will be fearful”. Here Allah is saying that not only He
has forgiven me but He has put me among the “honored ones”.
I am not trying to boast. But I only want you all to know how Allah
is dealing with His humble servant who is day and night bowed on His
threshold. Allah has given me something that is very precious and it
is my duty to give this to all seekers after truth. Let all sincere
seekers after truth come to me with a humble heart if he or she wants
to get certainty about Allah. And without that certainty one cannot
get salvation which is one of the main reasons why we have been sent
in this world.
May Allah have mercy upon you all and May He guide
you to what is right.
Ameen.
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