Friday Sermon of
Hazrat Amirul Momeneen
Zafrullah Domun

13 MARCH 2009

At Bait-ul-Rahma Mosque
Les Guibies, Pailles
MAURITUS

After reading the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo’menine, Zafrullah Domun said:

Most Muslim countries around the world have celebrated what they call “Eid Milad un Nabi” on last Tuesday which corresponds with 12th Rabi ul Awwal of the Muslim calendar 1430 A.H. Some people say that this is a good innovation although it is condemned by the others who think that it is a bad innovation. Among those Muslims who do not celebrate it are the Saudis and the Ahmadis also. To the Saudis this is a non-event but the Ahmadis do arrange for a day in the year where they organize a conference on “the life of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw)”. At least this was the idea that was proposed by the late second caliph of the Movement, Hazrat Mirza Bashir uddin Mahmood Ahmad (ra). He asked Ahmadis to organize conferences on the life of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) in order to dispel the hate, prejudices and wrong notions that prevail among non Muslims about the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw). Anyhow this is a long story and we will leave it for the moment.

What I am trying to say is that we Ahmadis do not celebrate the birthday nor the deathday of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw). Similarly we do not celebrate Valentine's day nor Mothers’ day in May. We consider these two last-mentioned festivals to be western-invented commercial festivals which have nothing to do with the life of a good Muslim. Similarly we do not fix a day to remember the Holy Prophet each year. We strive to make it a duty to think about all the favours of the Holy Prophet everyday we live. The founder of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) has said it quite clearly in the ten conditions that an Ahmadis should fulfill in his daily life that he who joins the Ahmadiyya Jamaat “shall regularly offer the five daily prayers in accordance with the commandments of God and the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); and shall try his/her best to be regular in offering the Tahajud (pre-dawn supererogatory prayers) and invoking Darood (blessings) on the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); that he/she shall make it his/her daily routine to ask forgiveness for his/her sins, to remember the bounties of God and to praise and glorify Him." (3rd Condition of Initiation).

In the light of such a condition therefore any Ahmadi is bound to invoke blessings on the Holy Prophet Mohammad (saw) everyday and especially on Fridays. It is our belief also that by constantly invoking these blessings we will incha Allah climb the spiritual ladder and we will move away from a life of sin. Our relationship with the Holy Prophet saw is such that he has a sort of daily presence in our life. If we organize conferences, our aim is only to help others to know more about the extraordinary human being that he was. Those who know him sing his praise even if they do not accept him or believe in him. Throughout history there have been many such persons. If you are interested to know these persons, you can check out on the net. These days there are plenty of articles that speak about what the Non Muslims have been thinking about the prophet of Islam.

Any casual reader of the Holy Quran will not fail to see how Allah , The Great, The Pure speaks in very endearing terms about the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw and also how he has sent us this prophet as a great benefit to us if we act upon his teachings. I would like to share some of these verses with you today because there are many of these verses that the common man is not at all aware of. Allah says:

Here Allah is telling the 7th Century Arabs to recognize Allah’s favours upon them because he has sent a Messenger to them. This act on behalf of Allah to a people is in itself a great favour. But unfortunately throughout History we have seen that the majority of the people to whom a Messenger from Allah is sent rejects that Messenger and tries to persecute him and those who have accepted him due to their god-given inner light. This is what happened before and this is what happened in the time of the Holy Prophet and this is what happened to all those friends of Allah , Imams and caliphs that claimed to be appointed by Allah for the guidance of mankind. Superficial and stupid people cannot understand Allah’s purpose and they always think that they know better and they do not agree that the established order should in any way be upset. They concoct all types of arguments to justify that what they are doing is the right way of doing things and that what is proposed through the Messenger is not the right way. But history is witness that it is always Allah and His Messengers that have eventually triumphed.

From this verse we can easily conclude that whenever Allah sends a messenger his task is to recite Allah’s signs unto the people. These signs of Allah can be diverse. Everything that can help the people to know Allah is a sign. The aim of showing these signs is to help the people to be purified of the dross of sins. The Messenger also teaches the Book and the wisdom behind these teachings. Moreover Allah sends a Messenger when people are in manifest error about some beliefs or practice. Out of the love that Allah has for the people, Allah sends them someone to save them. This is an act of Grace on the part of Allah and that is why He has said that Allah “has conferred a favour” on the people.

The next verse that I would like to mention is “laqad kaana lakoum fi rasoulillahe uswatoun hasanatoune le man kaana yarjoul laha wal yawmil akhera wa zakarallaha kasira”. The translation is as follows: “Verily you have in the prophet of Allah an excellent model for him who hopes to meet Allah and the last day and who remembers Allah much” (33:21)
Usually we translate the word “uswatoun” with example. But lexicographers say that the word implies also the following meanings: model, consolation, remedy, helper and support.” (see Maurice Gloton).

Hence the verse tells us that the Prophet is our best example to be followed. There is no one who was or who will be better than him till the end of days. He is the perfect example for all mankind to come. This has been re-inforced by Allah in another verse where Allah says “Wa innaka la ala koloqin Azim” which may be translated as “And you possess surely sublime moral excellences.” If we apply the other meanings of the word “uswatoun” to the verse we can take the following meanings out of it. The life of the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw is a consolation for all of us. He was an orphan deprived of almost all amenities of life but yet Allah made him the greatest prophet for mankind. For almost 13 years he was persecuted by his own people but in the end he triumphed over them despite all the hurdles that they placed in his path. By reading his life circumstances anyone who desires Allah and the last day will find plenty of words and incidents that will comfort one whatever the tribulations through which he may be going. Moreover the Holy Prophet saw is also a great support because by praying for his elevation in spiritual rank, Allah accepts our prayers and elevates our spiritual rank. In addition if we follow him completely Allah will admit us into the group known as “munna’im alayhim” i.e to say “those who have been favoured by Allah”. Allah says in the Holy Quran: “And whoso obeys Allah and this Messenger of His shall be among those on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings, namely, the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs, and the Righteous. And excellent companions are these. {4:70}

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas has explained to us in the light of this verse that the followers of the Holy Prophet Mohammadsaw can inherit the rank of prophet as well as that of the truthful and the Martyrs and the Righteous. But such prophets are subordinate prophets to him. They do not have any task of their own. They carry on his mission not a mission of their own and that is why it is said that they receive a “shadow prophethood”(zilli nabuwwat) because the real one has stopped with the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw. It is because they fail to understand this subtle point that our Sunni brothers say that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas declares to be a prophet after the Holy Prophet saw whereas there cannot be any anymore. Any how Allah says it quite clearly in the above-quoted verse that those who obey Allah and the Holy Prophetsaw may become “shadow prophet” and not real ones. Such person sometimes receives some of the same revelations that were vouchsafed to the Holy Prophetsaw. But they share of it to the extent that they lose themselves in Allah and His prophet.

Another most important verse of the Holy Quran about the Holy Prophet’s importance for a Muslim is explained thus:

Say, if your fathers, and your sons, and your brethren, and your wives, and your kinsfolk, and the wealth you have acquired, and the trade whose dullness you fear, and the dwellings which you love are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah comes with His judgment; and Allah guides not the disobedient people. [9:24]

In this verse Allah mentions those things to which we are attached in this world and for whom or which we may forget our duties towards Allah and His Prophet or His representative. Usually these are our fathers, our sons, our brothers, our wives and our relatives and our wealth and our prospering business whose dullness we fear. Allah warns us not to let any of these to become impediment for us in the path of striving in the cause of Allah and His Messenger. Allah says that He does not guide those who are disobedient. We may legitimately conclude from this verse that Allah guides those who are obedient and who strive to obey and imitate the Prophet. Evidences of this guidance come in the form of Divine revelations which are vouchsafed to those elected ones. At least this is what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas has repeatedly told us at many places in his writings. Unfortunately the present-day leaders of the Ahmadiyya Community do not share this view and they are not even prepared to discuss it. They prefer their misguidance to the true guidance that Allah, out of His Mercy has sent them. They are misguided. They continue to misguide others and they are not at all ready to question those beliefs that have been spoon fed to them since their childhood.

There are plenty of more verses in the Holy Quran where Allah has spoken about the greatness of the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw. Unfortunately I cannot talk about all of them at the moment. Incha Allah if Allah gives me the opportunity I will speak about this subject some other time. But what I would like to tell all Muslims today is that we should make it a duty to learn more about the life of the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw because all of us should take him as our example, our model to follow. We should strive to model our life on the pattern that he led his and we should teach our children that the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw is a perfect exemplar. If we want to lead successful lives which are pleasing to our Lord we should follow him and no one else. May Allah give us the opportunity to do so incha Allah. Ameen.

I finished writing my sermon on Wednesday last. Immediately after, Allah revealed to me “Hubboul Watane minal Iman.” This is of course, a saying of the Holy Prophet Mohammad saw which means “loving your country is part of faith”. From this brief saying which is full of meaning we understand that a Muslim worthy of that name should have love for his country in his heart and this is part of his faith. We, Mauritians who have celebrated the 41st anniversary of our Independence from Britain yesterday should strive to do everything possible to preserve our national unity. Most particularly as Muslims we should do nothing to undermine peace and under no circumstance should we resort to violence to solve any problem. Some have said that Mauritius is a microcosm of the world and we are known the world over as a place where people of different communities live peacefully together. Therefore as good Muslims we should pray for peace and harmony to prevail in the country and we should condemn all sorts of violence whatever its source. Remember that in the Holy Quran Allah has clearly said that He does not love those who are trouble makers. May Allah help each Muslim to understand his duties towards his country and may we never fail to accomplish them incha Allah.