Jamaat Ahmadiyya al Mouslemeen
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Friday Sermon of
06 AUGUST 2010 |
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After
reciting the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter of Al
Fatiha Imam Zafrullah Domun recited the following
verse of the Holy Quran:
Yaa Ayyohal Lazina Amanou Koteba alaikomous sayaamon kamaa koteba alal lazina min qablekoum la’allakoum tattaqoune. Ayyamam ma’doudaat. Fa man kaana minkoum marizan aw ala safari faiddatoun min ayyamin okhar. Wa alal lazina yotiqounahou fidyatoun ta’aamon miskin. Fa man tatawwa’a khayran fahowa khayroullah. Wa an tasoumou khayroullakoum in kountoum ta’lamoune. Usually in Jummah Sermon we read these verses and the following ones only in the month of Ramadan or to speak about fasting in the month of Ramadan. Although we have not yet entered the holy and blessed month of Ramadan this year, it is not far. According to the documents that I have consulted about the visibility of the moon, it seems that for Mauritius the moon will be born on Tuesday next, 10th August in the morning. Hence it will be visible incha Allah on Wednesday 11th August and we will incha Allah start fasting on Thursday next. Therefore by next Friday we will already be in the month of Ramadan. Let us all hope and pray that Allah will enable each one amongst us to witness this month and to derive its blessings to the full. For
those who are old amongst us we have by the Grace of Allah seen many
months of Ramadan. But for those who are young they have seen less. But
most of us who are present here are quite well aware about we should be
doing in the month of Ramadan. But whenever the month comes we usually
talk about it to remind the believers of its benefits and what are allowed
and forbidden during the month while we are fasting so that each one
amongst us may derive a maximum of its benefits. Allah tells the prophet
in the Holy Quran “Fazakkir inna fa’atiz zikra” which can be
translated as “So go on reminding;
surely, reminding is profitable (87:10).
At another place Allah says “Wa zakkir fainnaz zikra tanfa oul
mo’meneen” which is translated as “And keep exhorting; for verily
exhortation benefits those who believe” (51:55). Those
who are negligent in their duties towards Allah might say that very often
they hear the same things in mosques. But those who are careful of their
duties take to heart what they hear and they strive to improve their moral
and spiritual conditions. Therefore if you are a true believer you will
care about what you would be reminded about. The believer is a person who
cares about what his Lord expects from him or her. He or she does not
allow Satan to delude him into thinking that he is free to do what he
likes and later he would care about what Allah says. The believer is
someone who constantly thinks about the fragility of existence and he
tries to do his best today to please his lord. He does not wait for
tomorrow. So it is with a view to remind our friends about the blessings
of the month of Ramadan and what is incumbent upon us in this blessed
month that we repeat the explanations of the verses of the holy Quran and
the Hadiths of the Holy Prophet so that each one of us might know how our
beloved master and his companions spent their time during this blessed
month. As
you are all aware Allah has prescribed five duties on every Muslim. First
he has to recite the Islamic credo “Laa ilaha illallaho Mohammadur
rasouloullah”. That is to say there is no one to worship but Allah and
Mohammad saw is His Messenger. Second the Muslim has to offer
prayers five times daily. Third he has to fast in the month of Ramadan.
And his last duties are that he on whom Zakat is liable has to pay it and
he who has the means should go for Hajj. The first pillar of Islam applies
to all Muslims without any distinction. The second one “prayer” also is
for everybody whether young or old except for women during sometime every
month. The last two duties as we have said are for a category of Muslims.
Those who have a certain amount of money have to pay Zakat and if they can
spare they should go for Hajj. But for Fasting it is more or less like
prayer; it is prescribed for all except for those who are sick or are
travelling. But both these categories of people have to replace their
fasts when they have regained their health or when they have returned from
their journeys. In
fact the translation of the verse of the Holy Quran which I read in the
beginning is as follows: ”O ye who believe!
Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you,
so that you may become righteous. The prescribed
fasting is for a fixed number of
days, but whoso among you is sick or is on a journey shall
fast the same number of other
days; and for those who are able to fast only with great difficulty is
an expiation — the feeding of a poor man. And whoso performs a good work
with willing obedience, it is better for him. And fasting is good for you,
if you only knew.”(2:184-5) It is quite imperative
for all of us to understand what the purpose of fasting is. Allah says
that He has prescribed it upon us so that we might become pious people. In
fact Piety is the greatest distinction in the sight of Allah. Allah says in the Holy Quran
“Inna aqramakoum indallahe atqaakoum” (49:14) which we translate as “Verily the most honourable
among you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous amongst you” Very
few people are really interested in becoming pious. Most are content with
the way they are. They might say that they offer their prayers and give
alms. But real piety is far more than all that. Real piety is a state of
mind or rather a state of the heart where you try to keep yourself away
from all forbidden things and at the same time you strive to acquire all
types of virtues. In fact fasting helps us to achieve both. While we are
fasting we try to control our tongue from talking ill of others, from
abusing others or from causing harm to others by speaking lies about them.
Similarly we try to control our eyes from seeing what is forbidden. First
and foremost is to try to cast down our looks and second it is to spend
less time watching television or even going to the cinema. We also try to
control our feet from going to forbidden places e.g to race courses to
place bets or to casinos or to discotheques. These are some of the mostly
visible forbidden actions that we should refrain from not only during the
month of Ramadan but also during the other days of our life in other
months of the year. Besides these there are other types of occasions where
one might be inclined to do what is forbidden these days and one should
refrain from them. Here I have in mind particularly the type of chats that
are common on the internet and through sms. Although , out of His
Mercy Allah has prescribed fasting for us only for a limited period of
time during the year , but the aim of this exercise in self control should
be to help us to lead a pious life. So the Muslim man and woman should
bear this aim well in mind. He or she is here on earth to lead a pious
life. By giving us the Holy Quran, Allah has made it quite clear for all
of us what He expects from us as Muslims. That is why good Muslims who
want to have a good share of piety use the time available to them during
the month of Ramadan to study the Holy Quran. They do not just read it.
They spend time studying it. Although listening to the Arabic words of the
Holy Quran is a commendable act yet it is the duty of every Muslim man and
woman to try to know what Allah expects of him or her by studying the Holy
Quran. When we try to delve deep into the teachings of the Holy Quran we
come to know many things. For example Allah tells us why the Jews and the
Christians strayed from the right path. Prophets came to them, they were
given heavenly teachings but yet they did not stay on the right path.
Allah tells us that they strayed because they did not hold fast to the
teachings that they were given. Muslims are repeatedly told to hold fast
to the teachings of the Holy Quran or else they would stray. But what have
they done, most Muslims have disobeyed Allah and they have done terrible
things in the name of Islam. In order to purge Islam
of all the evils that have accrued to its practices through the ignorance
of some of its leaders Allah sent the Promised Messiah to usher in a new
age of preservation. But what do we see. Barely 100 years after his death
Allah is telling the Ahmadis through some of His Chosen have ones that
Ahmadis also strayed even though they declare that they have a system of
khilafat with them. Following instructions from their leaders many Ahmadis
have flouted the teachings of Allah and have instead followed their
leaders biased and unislamic instructions. It is because poor Ahmadis are
unaware of the real teachings of Allah as expounded in the Holy Quran that
they follow their leader’s ignorance. Consequently there is a pile up of
ignorance over ignorance instead of “light upon light” as would have been
the case if the teachings of the Holy Book were being followed. So Allah
gives us the month of Ramadan once a year to wonder how far we are
advancing in God-consciousness or as we say piety. There is no doubt that
Allah wants all of us to become pious. So it is up to us to increase our
piety quotient during this month. In the month of Ramadan we have enormous
opportunities to pray. So all of us should avail ourselves of the
opportunities that are being made available to us to get near to our Lord
so that we might know Him better and follow His teachings in a better
way. There is no doubt that
because we will not be eating or drinking and we would be lacking some
sleep we would be feeling weak. But this is a month where we should
exercise patience. The reward for patience is Paradise as the Holy Prophet
saw has told us. We should also bear in mind that the
discomfort that we will experience will be for only some days of the year.
The maximum will be only 30 days out of 365 days in each year. But if
Allah has prescribed for us 30 days of fasting as a religious obligation,
He has done so out of His Mercy for us. He is Our Creator and He knows
quite well what we can bear and what we cannot bear. These thirty days of
fasting if well observed will help us to understand what we need to do in
other days of the year in order to advance in piety. Since we Muslims, we
declare that we are faithful to Allah, we should show great diligence in
observing these fasts to the best of our abilities whatever may be the
discomfort that we might experience because Allah has told us “And fasting
is good for you, if you only knew” Each one amongst us
should try to see what type of benefits fasting brings to himself or
herself. If our heart inclines to do good, that in itself will be one of
its benefits. If you are not used to pray Fajr on time and you do it on
time that will be another of its benefits. If you start reading your Holy
Quran during the month of Ramadan, that will be another benefit. If you do
not abuse anyone and in brief you refrain from all forbidden things
because you are fasting, that will be another of the benefits of this
fast. That is why Allah says that it is good for you if you knew really
what its purposes are. Besides these moral benefits we know also that
there are many physical benefits of fasting. So let us all prepare ourselves so that we may each derive maximum benefits from the blessed month that is approaching. Let not the cold or the thirst or the hunger or the desires of our own self act as an impediment to prevent us from fasting so that Allah might be pleased with all of us incha Allah. From now on we should all make the determined resolve that we will incha Allah fast from Day 1 and we will not show any kind of laziness in this matter. We should be determined to make long prayers at night asking Allah for forgiveness and for the remission of all our sins so that by the end of Ramadan we as pure as on the day when we were born. May Allah realize this for each one of you and for every Muslim who sincerely wishes to profit from fasting in the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan Mobarak to all. |