Friday Sermon 24th November 2006

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

Today we will continue talking about ‘shirk’. We will quote some more verses from the Holy Quran. In chapter 18, Al Kahf from verses 33 to 45 Allah says:

And set forth for them the parable of two men- one of them we provided with two gardens of grapes and surrounded them with date palms, and between the two we placed corn field.

Each of the gardens yielded its fruits in abundance and failed not the least therein. And in between the two we caused a stream to flow.

And he had fruit in abundance. And he said to his companion, arguing with him ‘I am richer than you in wealth and stronger in respect of men.

And he entered his garden while he was wronging his soul. He said, ‘I do not think this will ever perish;

And I do not think that the promised Hour will ever come. And even if I am ever brought back to my Lord, I shall surely find a better resort than this.’

His companion said to him while he was arguing with him ‘Dost thou disbelieve in Him who created you from dust, then from a sperm drop and then fashioned you into a man?
As for me, he said “Laa kinnaa houwallhou rabbi wa laa oushrika bi rabbi ahadaa” which means ‘Allah alone is my Lord and I will not associate anyone with my Lord.

And why did thou not say when you entered your garden “Maa shaa Allaho Laa quwwata illa billahi” i.e “only that which Allah wills comes to pass, there is no power save in Allah.” If you see me as less in riches and offspring;
-It may be that my Lord will give me something better than your garden and will send on your garden a thunderbolt from heaven so that it will become bare slippery ground.
-Or its water will dry up so that you will not be able to find it.
-And his fruit was totally destroyed and he began to wring his hands because of what he had spent on it and it had all fallen down on its trellises. And he said Yaa laytani lam oushrik be rabbi ahada “would that I had not associated anyone with my Lord!
-And he had no party to help him against Allah nor was he able to defend himself.
-In such case protection comes only from Allah, the True. He is best in rewarding and He is best in respect of the final outcome.
From a cursory reading of these verses we understand that there are some persons who are very rich. Such persons are present in all ages. A rare few use their wealth to help the poor but very often than not those who possess such enormous wealth think that they got this wealth by their own intelligence or knowledge. They do not consider Allah to be the source of all blessings and they attribute this goodness or greatness to themselves. And in the end they are ruined. This is a parable that is repeated in all ages. Even today I can give you some examples but this not the purpose of the discussion. The person who does not practice “shirk” thinks of Allah as a source of beneficence, as a source of whatever is good; he knows “be yadehil khayr” i.e “in His hands is all that is good”. Those who do not associate partners with Allah know for sure that even if they are poor in wealth or children their Lord may have kept for them something even better than these wealth or children. They submit themselves wholly to the will of Allah and they trust him. They know that they ‘belong to Him and to Him they will return’. Whenever they see something good they will say “maa shaa Allah” and “Laa quwwata illa billahi” as has been explained above. They are not jealous of anyone. They place their hope in Allah and in no one else. It is towards this concept of Allah that the Holy Qur’an invites us to.

Furthermore we see that those who associate partners with Allah are not safe from the punishment of Allah. Once such punishment comes they are not able to defend themselves against it nor do they have anyone to come to their rescue. They become totally helpless. And Allah says: “In such case protection comes only from Allah, the True. He is best in rewarding and He is best in respect of the final outcome.”

As we have seen one of the meanings of “Shirk” is associating partners with Allah. And it is well known that the Christians think that Hazrat Isaas is the son of Allah (we seek Allah’s protection from such thoughts). In the Holy Quran Allah has condemned this belief of theirs. I will quote only a few of these verses here. Allah says that this Qur’an
“may warn those who say ‘Allah has taken unto Himself a son”. No Knowledge have they thereof, nor had their fathers. Monstrous is the word that comes out of their mouths. They speak naught but a lie.’’ HQ 18:5-6
At another place Allah says:
“And the Jews say ‘Ezra’ is the son of Allah and the Christians say ‘the Messiah is the son of Allah’ i.e what they say with their mouths. They only imitate sayings of those who disbelieved before them. Allah’s curse is on them. How they are turned away!
They have taken their priests (ahbarahoum) and their monks (rouhbaanahoum) as lords besides Allah and also the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were not commanded but to worship one God. There is no God but He. Holy is He far above what they associate with Him.”

That was the case of the people who received the book before the Muslims. Allah says that they were told to worship only one God. But they perverted the teachings that they received. They could not stay for long on the instructions that they were given. The Jews took Uzair or Ezra who lived in the fifth century before Christ to be the son of God. The Rabbis associated his name with several important institutions. Similarly the Christians have done the same and they took the Messiah son of Mary as a son of God and they also took their own leaders or pious ones as other Gods because they prayed to them and asked of them.

Allah in His infinite wisdom knows quite well how people behave. Muslims were told not to associate partners with Allah. And Muslims were taught the prayer “ihdenas siratal Moustaqim siratal lazina an’amta alaihim, ghairil maghzoubé alaihim wa lazzwaline” i.e “Guide us to the right path, the path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Favors, those who have not incurred Thy displeasure and those who have gone astray.” When asked who were “those who have not incurred Thy displeasure and those who have gone astray” the Holy prophet Mohammad (saw) replied categorically that they were the Jews and the Christians. And what made them become like this? They practiced “shirk”.

And we all know that Allah sent Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) to teach Muslims to adhere to the basic principles of Islam. And out of the wisdom that Allah gave him as an Arif Billah, one who knew about Allah, he has put “Shirk” as an abomination that all members of his Jamaat should avoid.

A very pertinent question at this point is “Are there traces of “shirk” in the way most Ahmadis are practising their religion these days?”

It is a very well-known and well-publicized fact that when in 2000, the late caliph Mirza Tahir Ahmad was informed about the Divine Manifestation in Mauritius, he rejected it offhand and even made some disparaging remarks. We have no more comments to make on what he did; his affair is with Allah. As far as the present caliph is concerned he has not said anything on this matter in public although we have heard that he may have made some private remarks. When he came to Mauritius some Ahmadis expected him to say something about this Divine Manifestation but he chose to remain silent and he returned without saying anything at all. Therefore we can reasonably infer that he stands by what his predecessor had said and so is his attitude- a complete rejection. May Allah have mercy on him and on the Jamaat for their ignorance.

It is common knowledge that for the past one hundred and seventeen years the Jamaat Ahmadiyya has been explaining to the world that a prophet subordinate to the Holy Prophet may come according to the teachings of the Holy Quran, the Hadiths and the sayings of several Muslim Divines. Moreover, we have been clamouring that the door of revelations will stay open until the end of times. And now that someone within the Jamaat says that Allah is speaking to him and he has been commissioned, the firsts to reject him are no other than the head of the Jamaat, namely the caliph.

So we may wonder what is the authority?of this caliph. If he follows the same Holy Quran, the teachings about revelations and the coming of prophets are still the same. Nothing has been added and nothing has been extracted. So how come he rejects what Allah says without making any proper investigation? And what is worse his people will follow what he says and not what Allah says! When he tells them to say ‘salam’ they do so whereas this same instruction exists in the Holy Quran since long and some (a majority) of the Ahmadis have been flouting it. Furthermore many Ahmadis say that if tomorrow the caliph says that this divine manifestation is true they will believe in it. Again they ignore what the Holy Quran says on such matters and they give more weight to what the caliph says rather than to what Allah says. Therefore there is no denying the fact that on this particular matter most Ahmadis are practising ‘SHIRK’ i.e they are giving more importance to the words of a mere mortal rather than to the words of Allah. And Allah says very emphatically in the Holy Quran “associate not partners with Allah. Surely associating partners with Allah is a grievous wrong” 31:14

Ahmadis should have done what Hazrat Masih Maooud as had advised, that is, to do istikhara under some proper conditions to know about the claims of someone who says he comes from Allah.

Now I will give some of the verses from the Holy Quran which speaks of the coming of prophets and guidance whenever Allah decides that they should be sent:
? And if there comes to you guidance from Me, then whoso shall follow My Guidance, on them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve. 2:39
? And whoso obeys Allah and His Messenger shall be among those on whom Allah has bestowed His Blessings-the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. And an excellent company are they. 4:70
? O children of Adam, if messengers come to you from among yourselves, rehearsing My Signs to you, then whoso shall fear God and do good deeds, on them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve. 7:36
? But those who reject our signs and turn away from them with disdain, they are the inmates of the fire; they shall abide therein.7:37
? ……And if there comes to you guidance from Me, then whoso shall follow My Guidance, will not go astray nor will he come to grief. 20:124
If you read these verses of the Holy Quran and then you say that what your caliph says is more important, you are committing “SHIRK” because you give the caliph’s words more importance than the words of Allah.
And do not dare to think that the caliph will be of any help to you when you will be presented in front of Allah after your death. You will be alone. There will be no Amir, no caliph to help you. They will be busy with their own questioning. Allah says in the Holy Quran:
And no burdened soul can bear the burden of another; and if a heavily laden soul calls another to bear its load, naught of it shall be carried by another even though he is a kinsman…..35:19
Therefore do not shirk your responsibility and put it on the caliph’s shoulders. He cannot give you any guarantee. He needs to prepare for his own answers. Do not make the mistake of thinking that it is virtue to obey your leaders in these matters. Allah says in the Holy Quran:
? On the day when their faces are turned over into the fire, they will say ‘O would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger.’
? And they will say, ‘Our Lord we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones and they led us astray from the way,
? ‘Our Lord! Give them double punishment and curse them with a mighty curse.’ 33:67-69

TAKE HEED O MEN (AND WOMEN) OF UNDERSTANDING
Some would say how I could dare to say such things. The fact is that through their behaviour many Ahmadis give more importance to what the caliph says rather than to what Allah says. When this starts happening in a Jamaat SHIRK has started to creep in. It is very important that this shirk should be purged again from Jamaat Ahmadiyya as once it was purged from Arabia. This is the reason why Allah has established Jamaat Ahmadiyya Al Mouslemeen to renew and preserve the true teachings of the Jamaat of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) with the same original mission. It is Allah who has established this Jamaat and no one on earth will be able to frustrate Allah’s plans. So beware before it becomes too late for you.

Furthermore you should not be surprised if Ahmadis can start practicing ‘Shirk’. The Holy prophet saw said that “the doomsday will not occur until some tribes of my umma have joined the idolaters and they will even worship idols” Tirmizi.
If this could happen in the Jamaat of Hazrat Mohammad (saw), we should not be surprised that it could also happen in the Jamaat of Hazrat Masih Maoodas. But as usual Allah intervenes by raising at least one of his servants to save the true believers.

Remember also that Hazrat Mohammad (saw) said: “This‘shirk’ in the Muslim nation is more inconspicuous than the creeping of the black ant on a black rock in the pitch darkness of the night”. This means that it is not easy to know that one is practicing “shirk”. Most who do practice it would say that they do not. Hence the need for people endowed with knowledge from Allah who can spot where it is being practiced and where not! In order to expiate for the “shirk” mentioned above Hazrat Mohammad (saw) has taught us that we should read the following prayer thrice in the morning and at night “O Allah I take your refuge from that I should ascribe anything as partner in your worship and I am conscious of that and I beg Your pardon for that sin which I am not aware of.”

The person who does not practice “shirk” becomes very bold. The fear of Allah delivers him from the fear of any one else. He is not afraid of any kind of boycott, excommunication, ostracism or any kind of pain that men can inflict. Such men and women are free and they cultivate only the fear of Allah in their heart. They do not care what others think or what others may do to them. They do their best to obey only Allah and they bow their head only to Him. This is the liberating influence of not practicing “Shirk”. May Allah help each one of us to always keep away from “Shirk” in all its manifestations.

Ameen