Friday Sermon 25 September 1998

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Surely success comes to the believers.

Those who are humble in their Prayers.

And shun everything vain.

('The Holy Quran'.  al-Muminun [The Believers]: 2 - 4).

The Promised Messiah (peace be on him) has translated these verses in 'Barahin e Ahmadiyya'.  Some Ahadith of the Holy Prophet ﷺ also specifically concern the theme mentioned in these sacred verses.  One Hadith states that the Holy Prophet ﷺ used to pray that 'O Allah! I seek your refuge from the heart devoid of humility and from the prayer that goes unheard and from the soul that is never satisfied and from the knowledge that carries no benefit.'  

The ability to be humble and submissive only comes from Allah and the Holy Prophet possessed this humility and submissiveness throughout his life.  In fact this Hadith speaks of the materialist hearts of the future that are never moved in remembrance of God and advises the Ummah to keep seeking God's refuge to be saved from the influence of such people.  This prayer is in fact a lesson for the Ummah otherwise the Holy Prophet ﷺ was always humble and submissive and his prayers were accepted and his knowledge was all good.

The new-fangled inventions of today are almost all western inventions and apparently for the benefit of humankind however they are not so because in fact the final achievement of their labours and efforts is to benefit themselves.  This is also the machinations of the materialists.  The states of this world can never change unless you understand this central point and seek Allah's refuge from the efforts that are not for the benefit humankind but of benefit to yourselves.  One should constantly scrutinise as to whether the final aim of any effort one is making is to benefit oneself or not.  Is our search, our efforts really devoted to receiving Allah's pleasure by benefiting others?

The Holy Prophet would weep and wail before Allah but when one cries and wails before God one suppresses it and sometimes a sound is released from the bosom as is presented in the metaphor of a pot on the boil:*

Abu Umamah narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said 'There is nothing more beloved to Allah than 2 drops and 2 marks: A teardrop shed in thrall of Allah, and a drop of blood shed in Allah's cause. As for the 2 marks: A mark resulting in Allah's cause and and a mark resulting from one of the duties Allah has made obligatory.'

(Tirmidhi, Abu Isa Muhammad.  'Jami` at-Tirmidh: iii'.  Tr. Abu Khayal.  Darussalam, 2007.  414).

Whoever has the good fortune of these drops has attained salvation.  This Hadith in fact speaks of an age when people will not be enthralled by God and there will not be many left to shed their blood in God's cause at such a time Almighty God would keep an eye on each and every droplet shed for His sake.  With the grace of Almighty God in this age the Ahmadiyya Community is able to shed many such drops in the cause of God.

Some think that it means a mark upon the forehead.  There is a mark that is exclusively upon the worshipers of Allah but is also found among others and that is the mark on the ankle.  All those who offer the Salat always have a depression under the ankle.  This Hadith does not speak of worship but of a mark received through performing the obligatory duties.  So there are many obligations in addition to worship.  A mark received for Allah is very dear to God wherever it may be.  There are hundreds of thousands of Ahmadis among you who with the grace of Almighty God are able to undertake Waqar e Aml [voluntary labour] and as a result of this labour they always receive many marks upon their body.  You Ahmadis have already earned the marks received for the sake of Allah mentioned in this Hadith.  So you should also look at these marks now and again with affection which God sees affection:

Abū Hurayrah reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
There are 7 whom Allah would give protection with His Shade on the Day when there would be no shade but His: a just ruler, a youth who grew up with the worship of Allah, a person whose heart is attached to the mosques, 2 persons who love and meet each other and depart from each other for the sake of Allah, a man whom a beautiful woman of high rank seduces but he rejects her saying 'I am in thrall of Allah', a person who gives charity so secretly that the right hand does not know what the left has given and a person who privately remembered Allah and their eyes welled up with tears.'

(Muslim, Ibn al-Hajjaj.  'Sahih Muslim: iii'.  Tr.  Nasiruddin al-Khattab.  Darussalam, 2007.  76, 77).

In fact a just ruler is himself the shade of Almighty God because there is no question of Allah's shade being where there are unjust chiefs.  This topic would continue into the following sermon.


* Ibn Hanbal, Abu Abdullah Muhammad.  'Musnad Ahmad  ibn Hanbal'.


The text http://www.alislam.org/urdu/sermon/FST19980925-UR.pdf

© The Tahir Archive / MTA International 2016.
Friday Sermon 25 September 1998

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