Thursday 9th April 2009
Zikr Lesson for the week
Polishing the heart
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said; “Behold ! there is a piece of flesh in the body. When it is sound, the whole body is sound, and when it is unsound, the whole body becomes unsound. Behold ! it is the heart.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
The main organ in our personality is our heart and the most important matter of our personality is our intention. Your intention comes from your heart. Prophet Muhammad (saw) is reported to have said; “Actions are judged by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
Allah (swt) speaks of the intentions of the true believers in Surah Al-Insan;
“And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive, - (Saying),"We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks.”
(Chapter 76, verse 8-9)
As long as your intention is Allah (swt), He will reward you. Our intention comes from the heart. This is why Satan whispers to the hearts of man. He wants to change your intention because the heart will influence the other organs. This is why we must keep our heart clean and pure. Everything centers around the heart. As long as your intention is good, Allah (swt) will take care of you, even though you may sometimes perceive the outcome as being unfortunate.
Allah (swt) says in His Holy Words;
“He moves between a man’s heart and chest”. (8:24)
What does this mean? The purpose of zikir is to try and polish your heart and make it God conscious. There is a special gem in our hearts called the ruh. This is made of extremely refined light. And, if properly nurtured it will grow inside of us and become bright.
We would all want this gem to be clean and shinning. But when we do wrong, our nafs puts a dark stain on it Allah (swt) says:
By no means, but on their hearts is the stain of the (ill) which they do. Verily, from (the Light of) their Lord, that Day will they be veiled. Further, they will enter the Fire of Hell. (83:14-16)
Let us therefore keep our hearts clean and shinning and Inshaa Allah the light that shines in our heart will penetrate the other cells of the body. By achieving this we would be able to reflect the Light of Allah (swt) in our bodies and when it is time to depart from this world the grave would not be dark and scary, instead it will become enlightened.
Rasulullah (saw) said that the heart gets rusted as iron gets rust. The Sahaabas asked him what could cleanse this and Rasulullah (saw) replied, “Frequent recitation of the Qur’an and Dhikr (remembrance) of Allah (swt).”
If we can keep our hearts bright and shining, it will have the capacity to reflect the light of Allah (swt). Then, wherever we may be, we will be reflecting something of the beauty and grandeur of Allah. We will then be a true Vicegerent of Him and will be able to be on the earth when every thing but His Nur will be on it. About this He says in Qur’an, the following:
“And He will cause the earth to shine with the glory of its Lord. The Record (of Deeds) will be placed (open), the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward; and a just decision pronounced between them; and they will not be wronged. (39:69).
One of the missions of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is to reflect the light of Allah (swt) into the hearts of his followers. This special mission was given to him on the night of Miraj, when he was alone with his Lord, and at that time, received from the Merciful One, a true reflection of Tawheed on his heart.
What we have to do is to be a recipient of this light by cleaning and polishing our heart, so that there will be no hindrance to prevent the light from reaching it. If we can do this the light from the heart will thereafter permeate through the entire body and our intentions will become refined.
Try and make your motive solely for the pleasure of Allah (swt). Use the assets and skills He has bestowed upon you for His sake and pleasure, and insha Allah He would take care of your affairs; put you with those on whom He will favor on that Day.
Wednesday 15 April 2009
Good Friday Sermon
GOOD FRIDAY SERMON
By Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed
After praising Allah and sending peace and salutations on His Beloved Messenger, I wish to recite what Allah says in His Holy Words. He says:
If anyone withdraws himself from remembrance (of Allah), Most Gracious, We appoint for him an evil one; to be an intimate companion for him. Such evil ones really hinder them from the Path; but they think that they are being rightly guided. (43:36-37)
We look at past historical events and see how these verses were applicable. Take for example, Pharaoh became so intoxicated with power that he said to the people: I am your lord most high. (79:24) This is because Allah allowed Satan to decorate the material things for him and caused him to forget about the mission of submission.
Also when Lot tried to discourage the people from the evil that they were doing they said: Drive out the followers of Lot from your city; these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure. (27:56) These people were also enticed by Satan to uphold the evil, and allowed themselves to be fooled thinking that what they were doing was right.
Of special importance is the people who are the progeny of Isaac, i.e. the Israelites. Allah had been especially generous to them in many ways. For example:
• He preferred them to all other tribes and nations. (2:47)
• They were delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh. (2:48)
• He separated the sea and allowed them to get safely to the other side. (2:50)
• They were protected from the heat of the sun in the desert. (2:53)
• They were fed by the Lord. (2:57)
• They were offered luxury, comfort and sustenance in a city. (2:60)
In spite of all the favours they kept on rejecting the Message and even slew some of the Messengers. Allah kept sending reminders all the time that they should believe in His Oneness and submit humbly to Him. But they rebelled.
Finally, Allah sent Prophet Jesus as the last of the Israelite Prophets, in a very miraculous way. Jesus had:
• a virgin birth
• he spoke in the cradle
• he displayed wisdom as a youth
• he performed many miracles
The Israelites never listened to his message. This frustrated him very much. He was looked upon as a faith healer, and the people used to go to him to get physical help rather than to listen to the word from God.
All this time the Israelites wanted a king to take them out of the yoke of the Romans, and they decided to make Jesus the king. Because he refused they decided to humiliate him and planned to have him crucified. Allah revealed in the Holy Qur'an about their plot the following verse:
They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but so it was made to appear unto them. (4:159)
When you examine the Biblical recordings of the alleged crucifixion, you will find the following uncertainties:
• Jesus was not carrying the cross to the place of crucifixion
• The place became extremely dark and remained like that for many hours.
• There was a terrible earthquake, which even threw out the dead bodies from the graves.
• All the centurions died, and so there was no one to keep law and order.
• Those who remained after all the turmoil and confusion must have crucified someone.
The question is: Who was the one that was put on the cross? Some Christian scholars believe that it was Judas, who was being punished for his betrayal of his master. Others believe that it was Simon, as he was the one carrying the cross. One thing is certain, and that is, there is no evidence that Jesus was actually taken and put on the cross. Some scholars believe that he ran away and hid in a cave.
Allah made it very clear in the Holy Qur'an that he was not crucified. He says:
For a surety they did not kill him. (4:158)
So today, when you see films and other display of the crucifixion of Jesus, you must understand that it is all part of the mischief of Satan who befriended them and makes the wrong appear as the truth to them.
Islam came to clear up all doubts about such issues. In the very beginning Allah says that there is no doubt in this Book. Because the Qur'an is truth and the words are the Words of Allah, we believe it to be authentic. So when Allah says that they did not kill him that is a fact. However, because He also said and so it appeared to them, the majority of the upholders of the Bible that he was crucified. So Satan has successfully implanted in their minds that belief. May the truth come to light.
We beg Allah to bless us with wisdom and understanding and to keep us on the Straight Path.
By Maulana Dr. Waffie Mohammed
After praising Allah and sending peace and salutations on His Beloved Messenger, I wish to recite what Allah says in His Holy Words. He says:
If anyone withdraws himself from remembrance (of Allah), Most Gracious, We appoint for him an evil one; to be an intimate companion for him. Such evil ones really hinder them from the Path; but they think that they are being rightly guided. (43:36-37)
We look at past historical events and see how these verses were applicable. Take for example, Pharaoh became so intoxicated with power that he said to the people: I am your lord most high. (79:24) This is because Allah allowed Satan to decorate the material things for him and caused him to forget about the mission of submission.
Also when Lot tried to discourage the people from the evil that they were doing they said: Drive out the followers of Lot from your city; these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure. (27:56) These people were also enticed by Satan to uphold the evil, and allowed themselves to be fooled thinking that what they were doing was right.
Of special importance is the people who are the progeny of Isaac, i.e. the Israelites. Allah had been especially generous to them in many ways. For example:
• He preferred them to all other tribes and nations. (2:47)
• They were delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh. (2:48)
• He separated the sea and allowed them to get safely to the other side. (2:50)
• They were protected from the heat of the sun in the desert. (2:53)
• They were fed by the Lord. (2:57)
• They were offered luxury, comfort and sustenance in a city. (2:60)
In spite of all the favours they kept on rejecting the Message and even slew some of the Messengers. Allah kept sending reminders all the time that they should believe in His Oneness and submit humbly to Him. But they rebelled.
Finally, Allah sent Prophet Jesus as the last of the Israelite Prophets, in a very miraculous way. Jesus had:
• a virgin birth
• he spoke in the cradle
• he displayed wisdom as a youth
• he performed many miracles
The Israelites never listened to his message. This frustrated him very much. He was looked upon as a faith healer, and the people used to go to him to get physical help rather than to listen to the word from God.
All this time the Israelites wanted a king to take them out of the yoke of the Romans, and they decided to make Jesus the king. Because he refused they decided to humiliate him and planned to have him crucified. Allah revealed in the Holy Qur'an about their plot the following verse:
They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but so it was made to appear unto them. (4:159)
When you examine the Biblical recordings of the alleged crucifixion, you will find the following uncertainties:
• Jesus was not carrying the cross to the place of crucifixion
• The place became extremely dark and remained like that for many hours.
• There was a terrible earthquake, which even threw out the dead bodies from the graves.
• All the centurions died, and so there was no one to keep law and order.
• Those who remained after all the turmoil and confusion must have crucified someone.
The question is: Who was the one that was put on the cross? Some Christian scholars believe that it was Judas, who was being punished for his betrayal of his master. Others believe that it was Simon, as he was the one carrying the cross. One thing is certain, and that is, there is no evidence that Jesus was actually taken and put on the cross. Some scholars believe that he ran away and hid in a cave.
Allah made it very clear in the Holy Qur'an that he was not crucified. He says:
For a surety they did not kill him. (4:158)
So today, when you see films and other display of the crucifixion of Jesus, you must understand that it is all part of the mischief of Satan who befriended them and makes the wrong appear as the truth to them.
Islam came to clear up all doubts about such issues. In the very beginning Allah says that there is no doubt in this Book. Because the Qur'an is truth and the words are the Words of Allah, we believe it to be authentic. So when Allah says that they did not kill him that is a fact. However, because He also said and so it appeared to them, the majority of the upholders of the Bible that he was crucified. So Satan has successfully implanted in their minds that belief. May the truth come to light.
We beg Allah to bless us with wisdom and understanding and to keep us on the Straight Path.
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