بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ
Today I wish to
make mention of two pertinent ayats from the Holy Qur’an that will make us
understand our topic. Allah says in His
Holy Words;
And know that Allah cometh in between a man and his heart, and that
it is He to Whom ye shall (all) be gathered. (8:24)
What does this
mean? Only Allah really knows; but what
we can take from it is that Allah is with us and He is inside of us in a way
that He alone knows; and He is even closer to us than our life veins.
The other I wish
to reference is ayat;
It is He who sendeth the winds like heralds of glad tidings, going
before His mercy: when They have carried the heavy-laden clouds, We drive them
to a land that is dead, make rain to descend thereon, and produce every kind of
harvest therewith: Thus shall We raise up the dead: Perchance ye may
remember. From the land that is clean
and good, by the will of its Cherisher, springs up produce, (rich) after its
kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up nothing but that which is
niggardly: Thus do We explain the Signs by various (symbols) to those who are
grateful.
(7:57-58)
Firstly, these
ayats are a parable for us. Sometime we see the earth dry and parched. Allah sends rain clouds over which and after
the rain has fallen we see vegetation emerging sometime thereafter.
What is
Allah telling us? It is related to what was mentioned in the
first ayat quoted above. Allah is close
to us; closer than we can imagine. But
look at what He says in the other ayat.
When rain falls in some parts vegetation springs forth. In other places the rainfall has no
effect. For example if it falls on the
dry mountains the water simply runs off.
It has no effect and makes no difference. It even floods in some cases.
This is the way
with the Message and Mercy of Allah. It
comes to all human beings; some can acknowledge it, appreciate it and can
benefit from it. For others it makes no
difference to their current state. They
do not heed the call and don’t remember that Allah is close to them and every
day their thoughts and actions are being recorded and that one day they will
have to stand before Allah with their book of deeds.
While the
Message is there, those who accede to it will benefit from it just like that
part of the earth that absorbs the rainfall.
And for those whose mind is warped it makes no difference.
For example Abu
Lahab lived next to the most beautiful personality in all of creation and he
could not see nor understand the message.
Instead he did so much wickedness like throwing filth on the Prophet
(pboh) etc. Why was he so unfortunately
misguided? Abu Lahab was like that hard
earth that cannot absorb the beneficial rainfall. The message and blessed personality of the
Prophet (pboh) did not penetrate him.
And we find this throughout the history of all the Messengers. Some of the people accepted and obeyed the
message whilst others didn’t.
The important
question we need to ask ourselves is has the message penetrated us? Is good, beautiful vegetation growing from
you or are the blessings and mercies from Allah just running off? Our concern must be our own selves and then
our families and others.
How many of us
are trying to adhere to the straight path but some family members are focused
on other paths? The message is for
everyone. Those who accept, those who
ponder and take note and make sincere effort will benefit. Those who don’t will have to answer to Allah.
The message
today is universal; the Qur’an is for everyone.
I’ve asked people of differing faiths about the concept of God. There is the Creator, whom they all agree on
and then everything else are creatures.
The creature cannot be like the Creator.
So then why worship idols?
What should I
think of in front of me whilst praying?
A lot of people say the Kaba.
That is not right. If I say I
face the Kaba, the Hindus say they face Krishna
and the Christians say Jesus, then what difference does it make. Saying we face the Kaba is contrary to what
we say before we commence salaat;
Inni -y
wajjahtu wajh -e li- 'alladhe fat.ara as- samaawaat wa- al- 'ard. h.anef(an) wa-
"For me, I have set my face, firmly and
truly, towards Him (Who is facing me) Who created the heavens and the
earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."
Our direction of
worship is the Kaba but we are facing our Creator. Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have
said “When you stand
for salaat facing the Qibla understand that Allah is in front of you, and is
between you and the Kaba”.
Understand that
the message is Universal. Understand
that Allah is close to us and part of our mission is to realise how close He is
to you. This is what we do in our zikir
sessions; culturing our personality to resonate Allahu. Prophet (pboh)
realised how close Allah is to him on the night of the Mir’aj. And he says that salaat is the Mir’aj of the
believer.
Salaat helps us
realise how close Allah is with us. Try
to realise how close Allah is with you and make the best use of the blessings
that He descends on you. When you have
the health and energy utilize it smartly.
Make every
effort and if you can understand how close Allah is with you in the process you
will understand how close Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is to you. And you would have begun to benefit from your
zikir and good intentions.
Of course Satan
won’t want this so he will prevent you concentration on closeness with
Allah. This is a universal experience. Satan will try to divert your focus away from
you Lord. Thus when you’re faced with
trials understand there’s wisdom in it.
Bear it with patience and concentrate more on the relationship with your
Lord.
May Allah bless
us, guide us and protect us; and may He help us to ascend close to Him to
benefit from what He has provided for the righteous, insha Allah.
Transcript of discourse delivered by
Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed
Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed
