Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore, Jamia Jafaria – Gujranwala)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq, Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 10th June 2022
Sermon 1: Lust of Leadership – Most destructive desires
I invite you all and myself towards divine Taqwa and emphasize you to live your lives in accordance with Taqwa. It is the divine plan for Human life whether individual, social, political, economic, communal life all under this plan only are secured.
Today we witness the entire world and specifically our community , nation where human life and lives of Muslims on this land of Pakistan is insecure due to Taqwa not being present. There is not a single segment of life where we are satisfied and everywhere there is insecurity and human energy is spent in survival. Today the problems, calamities which the Pakistani nation, government, religion, people are suffering the protection from these is only possible through Taqwa. Without Taqwa this devastating state will continue. The economic and political state of Pakistan has acquired the status of wrath. There are various stages of difficulties, where first it is a difficulty, then it becomes calamity and after turns into a wrath. The causes of these wrath have been arranged by us only.
In the discussion of Taqwa we are going through the chapter where Allah has ordered for Taqwa. In the current situation we will make the Quranic argument practical, so that this discussion on Taqwa gives outcome and results in our life. It should not be that we discuss about Taqwa which has no relation with our practical lives . In education, preaching most part is not related to the practical ground life of man. And also we have look at Taqwa as something to be experimented and not just that we keep Taqwa as a belief in our heart , mind and our hereafter will improve. Such faith will neither help in this world nor hereafter. And majority of religious concepts on which we have been invited are all to be experimented but in the Tashree and Tafsir of religion we have only made this as visionary and hence we only have faith on it and nothing practical.
Today this nation has become empty of Taqwa due to which conflicting state of Taqwa is dominating that is Fisk and Fujoor. There is a storm of Fisk o Fujoor on Pakistan which has taken over every member of the community including men, women, children, scholars, religious people, non-religious ones, political, rulers, nation and no category is unaffected by this. Even the feeding infants are affected by this. It is apparent that Quran has compared Taqwa with Fisk o Fujoor (transgression). Surah Shams Allah says فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
Allah says man has two states and society is not empty of these states of Taqwa and Fujoor. If there is no Taqwa then there is Fujoor which means to jump out of protection state. There are four actual fields of ground life. The heavenly life has many fields which are just promises made and no solution is presented for the current life. Whereas religion is for the current life where we are experiencing the ground life. This ground life has taken the state of wrath.
Every human being is living his life in these four fields irrespective of their gender, class, status , sect and every category. One big field of life is economy which are the income, means of living for this worldly life. All these food, clothing, housing are all economic life of man and is the big and actual field for which Allah has given strength, ability to man and also guided man on how to acquire means of life and how to use them. The purpose, objectives , methods of means of life has been guided by Allah. This is the actual life and no one is out of this even the infant who is just born. The first need of infant when born are living means, that is milk and health. If you start to send the just born to some academy, give lectures, present faith is of no use. You need to arrange first milk, health and means of life.
The second field of life along with economy which is experienced by everyone and they are all living in that. They are desires and lust. Every human being is living their lives in the field of desires and lust irrespective of their category and this is a natural demand.
The third field of life is religion. Every human being has some other religion. Even if someone is infidel they are also playing some role in religion. This denial of religion is also relation of religion. They are also living some form of religious life.
The four field of life is politics. Every human being is living a social life and a big element of social life is politics. When it comes to politics the first thing for Pakistani community that comes may be due to some preaching from Maulana are elections. Politics does not mean election ; it means management of affairs of nation. To make plans for the affairs of nations are all politics. Everyone is living their lives under the shadow of politics. The way everyone is under summer now the same way we are under politics.
These are the four actual fields of life in which man needs guidance rest all other fields are prerequisites. As an example there is a playground which is the actual place where teams compete. There are stadiums, seats, pavilion as well which are not the actual fields but instead secondary part of the stadium. The actual thing is to play in the field.
In all these four fields the plan of Taqwa is required. In the field of economy you need Taqwa. There is need for Taqwa in desires as no human being is free from desires and if someone is free from desires then he is not a human being, he is an angel. Similarly religion and political field we need Taqwa whereby man has to live his life in accordance to some constitution. Today while we are in Friday prayers you are still under political field; you are in economic and desires field. Rest all are prerequisite.
In Pakistan we are living our lives without Taqwa in all these four fields. There is no plan of Taqwa in any field and this is due to the fact that the scholars who had to preach Taqwa did not consider this as their scholarly duty and instead they took interest in other fields. They should have nurtured people in all these fields on how to adapt Taqwa. They should make people understand Taqwa in managing economy, desires and politics.
Why all these fields are empty of Taqwa? What brings the wave of Fisk o Fujoor? The actual root of this lies in desires which are also termed lust (Shahwat). The desires we interpret from Quran as Hawa. The Hawa means to bend down or go downwards. Everything that takes man downwards is Hawa. The desires are termed Hawa because the fall of human being is due to this Hawa. When this takes birth man moves towards lowliness. There are various types of desires. If the desires take the form of Shahwat and if this becomes a tornedo then everything religion, politics, economic becomes its victim. There are various things but religion has graded them for our guidance.
Certain desires are such that they destroy the life of human being. Capitalists are not the ones who study accounts and it is possible that capitalists are uneducated. Similarly a religious person is not one who has taken degree in religion, he is not religious but he has knowledge of religion. When religion enters his life then he will become religious. There are many who have knowledge of religion and have certificates but unless man acts on religion as manifesto of life then you become religious.
The Quran is opening our eyes in Pakistan that if you want to protect yourself from this storm then you need to follow this. There is a topic of Hubbur Riyasah in desires. Riyasah is Arabic word which we generally translate as state. Like in Pakistan the head of state is President and head of government is Prime Minister. The constitution, land, assets of country are Riyasah. In simple words the Riyasah (State) is car and government is driver. Hence state does not change but government changes.
In Arabic Riyasah means leadership. To become chief, head, leader is Riyasah. This is necessary for running the state as well where you need a leader as without this the government cannot run and is the need of nation. The same need for nation becomes dangerous for man when its desires develop inside man and he becomes enticed, greedy for leadership. The nation will always demand for a capable leader but if this desire develops in man then he is dangerous person.
We always run the horse of imaginations which does not reach anywhere and we are doing this day and night. We need to come out of imaginations and come towards religion. Today when we are discussing about politics it is all out of imagination and not facts. We should see from Quran what guidance it is giving us
The topic is Hubbur Riyasat. There are various types of desires in Quran presented like love of world, women, children, wealth. We consider sexual lust as the worse desire which we condemn but at the same time we do it as well. We term that person as immodest who gets exposed on sexual lust. But in religion the worst lust is of leadership. We should see in Quran the same in Surah Qasas
تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًا ۚ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ {83}
(As for) that future abode, we assign it to those who have no desire to exalt themselves in the earth nor to make mischief and the good end is for those who guard (against evil)
Akherat is the life that is coming after this life, which we term as hereafter. The way the farmer what he gets after cultivation of crop. The verse says that the result in hereafter is for those who do not possess the desires to dominate over others. They do not desire domination and control over people in this world. Those who desire exaltation, ownership, leadership, elites of the world and corruption (Fasaad) they do not have the abode of hereafter instead for them instead there is hell. The good end is for Muttaqeen. The Muttaqee is the one who has spent life in this world but did not develop this desire for Riyasah, leadership inside him. The Muttaqee is free from this desire or Hubbe Risayat
There are many narrations on this which needs serious attention.
Imam Hassan (A) was told about a person who desires for leadership. So let’s see what Imamat says about such a person. You can judge how dangerous is this desire and lust for the nation. Imam (a.s) replied “If there is a flock of sheep and there is no shepherd as well. If a wild wolf attacks this flock of sheep it won’t be that dangerous for the flock as compared to the lust, desire, love of leadership which destroys religion.”
These wolves do not cause that damage to the unprotected flock though they tear them apart but the damage caused by persons who have desires for leadership is much severe. If we look inside ourselves we all have this desire and lust for leadership. As an example we make committees of students to manage the affairs of the Jamea. There are certain committees like cleanliness where no student is ready to become member or the head of this committee. But certain committees are such that everyone wants to become its head. Like for the committee of Hostel and discipline everyone is ready. It was once I asked who will become member of cleanliness committee no one stood up, but for Hostel committee everyone raised hand. What is the reason when I asked? One small child stood up and said it is due to feudalism. There is no feudalism present in cleanliness but in Hostel the committee controls everyone, who is leaving out, granting permission etc. are all governed by this committee. Wherever there is service only, hardship no one is ready, but where there is leadership everyone is ready. This means the virus is present inside but has not got opportunity to become active. Our teacher Hassan Zade Ameli would say that in this stage of Taqwa of studentship do not become false satisfiers that you are big Muttaqee. Do not establish wrong opinion about yourself that you are clean and pure, but let the time come then you will see. This Hubbur Riyasah makes a person worse than a wild beast who has the desire for power. The power for madrassa, committee, organization and if this lust comes up then become attentive.
At present the nation is under the clutches of Hubbur Riyasat which we have forgotten and trying to solve the problems of nation through imagination. The solution for the nation lies in Taqwa in the four fields and this field of desire is the worse. If you understand then distance from the leadership desirous persons and also remove this desire from yourself then you have laid the ground of Taqwa in life. If there is a desire of leadership then you are worse then wild wolves. May Allah protect us from this calamity of Fisk and Fujoor.
Sermon 2: Four Things you should cautious about
Taqwa is the divine plan for protection and its practical manifestation is the Seerah and wise saying of Amirul Momineen in Nahjul Balagha
In saying 105, AM presents a policy related to Taqwa
. وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: إِنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَرَائِضَ فَلَا تُضَيِّعُوهَا وَ حَدَّ لَكُمْ حُدُوداً فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا وَ نَهَاكُمْ عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ فَلَا تَنْتَهِكُوهَا وَ سَكَتَ لَكُمْ عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ وَ لَمْ يَدَعْهَا نِسْيَاناً فَلَا تَتَكَلَّفُوهَا
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: Allah has placed on you some obligations which you should not ignore, laid down for you limits which you should not transgress and prohibited you from certain things which you should not violate. He has kept silent about certain things but has not left them out through forgetfulness, so do not burden yourself with them.
Amirul Momineen (a.s) presents four things on which the system of Taqwa gets established which Amirul Momineen (a.s) himself abided by.
First is that Allah has made certain obligations on you which are those acts which you have to deliver in all situations and cannot be neglected. These acts are made obligatory for man because they are essential for man. All the laws which Allah has established have a purpose and wisdom behind it. This argument is between scholars since long whether Ahkam has a purpose or not. Certain scholars believed that it is the will of Allah and do not question what is the purpose. It is possible that there is no purpose behind certain acts. These were the Asharites. Against these were Mu’tazila in Ahle Sunnah and Shia scholars believed that the Ahkam have purpose, objectives for which Allah has made some Wajib, some Mustahab.
In these duties which are made obligatory some are worships and some are not worships but still they are obligatory. If they are denied then man has to suffer serious losses in this. Do not cross limits
There are certain things about which Allah has not mentioned anything and these were not out of forgetfulness but they were not essential hence do not struggle for acquiring them. Four things; obligations (Farz), limits (Hudood), prohibition (Nahawi) and silence (Sukoot).
For obligations do not waste. For limits do not cross, and do not disrespect the prohibitions and do not put yourself in hardship for those things on which Allah has remained silent.
This is a very important guidance which we do not care for much. Even if see the religious category they do not even know the list of obligations. This should be present tin our mobile as to what are my obligations because mobile is our memory now.
Fiqh is one province of the constitution of religion. We have interest in Fiqh but that too in limited form. To what extent have we entered religion is something to be assessed. If someone acts on complete Fiqh as well then also he has acted upon the constitution of one province of religion. The national manifesto still remains. You can see Tauzihul Masael, there is no mention of Amr Bil Maroof and Nahy Anal Munkar. If someone has talked as well it is made conditional to several things. Like they say you should do only if there is no reaction. Second if you are certain that there is no harm. This means Amr Bil Maroof is practically not applicable.
One more obligation where religion emphasis is to establish the religious governance. This was the first obligation on the Prophet and he established it and then other Ahkam’s were for inside this system of governance. You cannot even act on Fiqh without Islamic governance. Now after 19 years of appeal our court has said that Reba is Haram. When the Sharia court has issued a verdict but the Minister has questioned the Sharia court on how to end Reba. Is there any scholar who can finish this? There are scholars who have changed the name of Reba to some other forms. How will you do banking without Reba. In Iran the interest rates are up to 22% given by Banks for deposits.
To end this system of Reba you need a governance system. If you visit our courts there is no judiciary system. The Khaybar Pakhtoon Khan court has first time issued life time imprisonment for sodomy with children. Where are these court laws implemented? The establishment of Islamic governance is the peak obligation but there are not verdicts about this. Since Imam is not present the religion, obligations are also in occultation. After the demise of Prophet nothing went away. If nothing of religion expired after the Prophet then how can after the occultation of Imam Sharia has changed. There is a big list of obligations which Allah has imposed on us and Ali (a) says do not waste these obligations. They are not to be ignored , when you leave an obligation you have closed a big door of guidance on you. Do not encourage anyone for breaking obligations, do not compromise on obligations anywhere.
