Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore, Jamia Jafaria – Gujranwala)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq, Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 29th july 2022
Sermon 1: The foundation of every religious act is on Taqwa
I invite you all and myself towards divine Taqwa and emphasize , inherit , preach you all to establish Taqwa in your lives. Taqwa is protection plan from Allah for human life and by implementing this plan human life remains secure within the fortress of Taqwa. The form of life without Taqwa is same what the current generation is going through and Muslims are suffering due to lack of Taqwa in their lives. The calamities which Muslims are suffering due to lack of Taqwa are enough to acquire lessons where we can see man lives a beastly life without Taqwa and human life becomes impossible.
The most mentioned order in Quran by Allah are related to Taqwa. There is one mention of Taqwa in Surah Baqarah verse 203 where the verses are related to Hajj.
وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْدُودَاتٍ ۚ فَمَنْ تَعَجَّلَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَأَخَّرَ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ لِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ {203}
And laud Allah during the numbered days; then whoever hastens off in two days, there is no blame on him, and whoever remains behind, there is no blame on him, (this is) for him who guards (against evil), and be careful (of your duty) to Allah, and know that you shall be gathered together to Him.
Prior to this verses as well there is mention of Taqwa only.
In verse 197 it is mentioned
الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌ ۚ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّ ۗ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ ۗ وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَىٰ ۚ وَاتَّقُونِ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ {197}
The pilgrimage is (performed in) the well-known months; so whoever determines the performance of the pilgrimage therein, there shall be no intercourse nor fornication nor quarrelling amongst one another; and whatever good you do, Allah knows it; and make provision, for surely the provision is the guarding of oneself, and acquire Taqwa Me, O men of understanding
The verse is ordering that Hajj can be done only in ordained months and many things which are permitted before Hajj becomes prohibited.
In this verse Taqwa is counted as Zaad which is necessary provisions of a journey like food, clothing, ride. In Hajj you are visiting for a great purpose and for that you need provisions. One provision are those which makes you reach Mecca like food, flight ticket, money etc. but there is another provision that makes you reach purpose that is Taqwa. Here Taqwa is not again abstinence whereby man refrains from certain Haram , here Taqwa means a person who has adopted security measures for self then he can achieve the purpose of Hajj. For Hajj neither training nor education is done. The way Imam Sajjad (a) mentioned to Shibli that even though you have delivered all outwardly rituals of Hajj but still you have not done Hajj and it got wasted. He has not left anything undone as per Fiqh and did all rituals correctly but still Imam says you have not done Hajj. Today as well people visit Mecca but Hajj is not done. For Hajj the provision is required Taqwa and there are prerequisites of Taqwa as well which are essential for Hajj. This provision is not exclusive for Hajj only because these are the provisions of life and hence the purpose of Hajj, life and creation is acquired form this provision of Taqwa. And Taqwa means protection and all those security measures, plans, affairs specified by Allah if acquired by man , he becomes secure and can find the purpose of Hajj and life. The one who is not secure but instead captive of desires, lusts, Satan, materialistic lives, leadership is insecure person he cannot achieve purpose of Hajj.
Then the same meanings proceeds to Verse 203
وَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَعْدُودَاتٍ ۚ فَمَنْ تَعَجَّلَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ وَمَنْ تَأَخَّرَ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ لِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ ۗ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ {203}
And remember Allah during the numbered days; then whoever hastens off in two days, there is no blame on him, and whoever remains behind, there is no blame on him, (this is) for him who guards (against evil), and be careful (of your duty) to Allah, and know that you shall be gathered together to Him
Here it is mentioned remember Allah in those counted days which are ordered for you. These are the 10th, 11th, 12th Zilhajj. Whoever spends only two days that is 11th and 12th and returns there is no blame and one who spends one extra day; they both ones who have adopted Taqwa. And the verse orders to acquire Taqwa because you are being counted with Allah.
One is that Hajj starts from 8th Zilhajj, where on 9th day is of Arafah and then the night of 9th he spends in Mashar and after sunrise there is permission to reach Mina. He does the rituals over there like sacrifice, head shaving, stoning of Satan and then after removing Ihram he stays there for two more days. There is also permission he can stay for one more day in Mina that is 13th Hajj, whereby he can do Zikr of Allah. That specific mention of Zikr are the Tasbih of Eid which are ordered for everything that for 10 prayers after Eid continuously for 10 times in every Salaat it should be recited. Then there is order there as well to acquire Taqwa here as well in Mina. We think that by going for Hajj we get Taqwa which we assume to be some spiritual station which we get. As per Quran you will be able to accomplish Hajj only when you acquire Taqwa.
In Surah Baqarah at the start itself is mentioned that Quran is guidance for Muttaqee and they are those who have faith, do Salaat, Infaq and believe in last day. Here it is mentioned that Muttaqqee is one who will do this and not that one who does all these becomes Muttaqqee. This means faith is outcome of Taqwa. Then Salaat, Infaq are all outcome of Taqwa.
In this verse 203, Allah is saying if you acquire Taqwa then your Hajj would be complete, whereas we think that by going to Hajj we become Muttaqqee. The reality of Taqwa which Quran has mentioned are the foundations of religion. Quran is saying if you are Muttaqee then you will do all these acts of worship which includes Hajj as well.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يُعْجِبُكَ قَوْلُهُ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ {204}
And among men is he whose speech about the life of this world causes you to wonder, and he calls on Allah to witness as to what is in his heart, yet he is the most violent of adversaries.
وَإِذَا تَوَلَّىٰ سَعَىٰ فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ {205}
And when he turns back, he runs along in the land that he may cause mischief in it and destroy the tilth and the stock, and Allah does not love mischief-making.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ أَخَذَتْهُ الْعِزَّةُ بِالْإِثْمِ ۚ فَحَسْبُهُ جَهَنَّمُ ۚ وَلَبِئْسَ الْمِهَادُ {206}
And when it is said to him, guard against (the punishment of) Allah; pride carries him off to sin, therefore hell is sufficient for him; and certainly it is an evil resting place.
This verse 206 is related to the Hadith of Imam Sajjad which we were discussing before where Imam has asked us to avoid those who are after leadership, popularity and fame as they will destroy your religion.
This verse says that the sign of haughty, populist person is that when he is asked to acquire Taqwa the feeling of false, criminal dignity comes in between. He feels that you have stampeded my honor by commanding me to acquire Taqwa. If these people become guardian of land they destroy the earth, tilth and Allah does not like corrupt persons. When such people are told that you destroy the country, he develops the feeling of insult to dignity. Izzat is resistive strength which makes him immune to the effects coming from someone else. Like today someone whispers we get deceived by them. We can see how easily the Pakistani community submits to propaganda of media, lies of politicians, confusions of Mufti’s, frauds of businessman. One who gets effected by someone, means one who is so soft that he gets effected by everything is Zaleel in Arabic. This person is not having Izzat in him that is perseverance which protects him from the effects. If someone threatens and a person gets afraid then he is Zaleel, which means a person who is so weak, that due to this weakness he has become so soft that he gets effected by everything. We can assess ourselves whether we are counted amongst Aziz or Zaleel. If we accept false propaganda than you are Zaleel, if you resist then you are Aziz. At times passions, sentiments, circumstances become effective on man. Aziz is one who is not affected but accepts Haqq and does not show hardness against truth. If you are showing hardness against truth then you are stubborn (Ladood). There are some people who are so stubborn that they don’t accept truth. There are some people whose body is Zaleel means weak against diseases and get effected very soon. There are some who are strong by body who are not affected by diseases but they might be weak physically.
The one who shows hardness, stubbornness against Taqwa is a crime. It happens when someone does wrong and someone does Amr Bil Maroof on him, it hurts him and dislikes. This is the identification of Izzat and Zillah. If Amr Bil Maroof is done on us and we dislike it then we are Zaleel, but if we accept the admonishment then we are Aziz. Quran says he acquires criminal stubbornness.
Against Taqwa also present softness and accept it. If someone says directly to acquire Taqwa or gives a suggestion about some objective reference of Taqwa like we are asked to do Friday Salaat. I am just giving example of Friday prayers and other affairs are also like this. This way the Quran is guiding us to make Taqwa as the basis for every segment of life.
The guidance of Quran is social and individual life is in the laps of social life. All the orders which are present in our Tauzeehul Masael are individualistic, one social act for Friday prayers is present which also has been made non-obligatory. Today those who are of individualistic thinking then they are also in the laps of society. Today we can see whether scholars are in the laps of politicians or other way? These scholars are believers who abide by individual laws and when you have not taken social life from Quran then you will go in the laps of satanic social life. If we first start from social life then we get inside the laps of Quran.
When Quran is ordering Taqwa we have to accept it and not become stubborn. Quran is listing out all affairs that all these like Hajj need to be done under Taqwa. The Taqwa which makes you do Hajj is one level and the Taqwa you get from Hajj is another level. Hajj is done by that person who has protected himself by Taqwa. The prophet says an era will come where there will be three types of Hajj in my Ummah; one was trading, one for tourist trip and some to get the fame of being called Haji. These are Hajj of Non-Muttaqee. One who goes to Hajj with Taqwa he acquires the character of Ibrahim.
For religion Taqwa is the qualification ,the abilities based on which man gets some grade. The qualified person when he enters religion then he gets one by one various degrees in religion. This ability takes man to Hajj. If the Hajj is Ibrahimi and he becomes part of some Caravan then the Caravan puts all pressure to take him away from Ibrahimi Hajj to make him do touristic Hajj. The Maulana has got all Fatwa’s to get him away from Ibrahimi Hajj.
The Ibrahimi Haj starts on 9th Zilhajj with Ba’raat that is disassociation. You can visit all caravans and all of them would give you Fatwa’s that you should not do Ba’raat. If someone is Muttaqee then he will do Ibrahimi Hajj, and after this when he returns he will have higher and different ability of Taqwa. He went to Hajj as Muttaqee as a simple person but when he returns , he is Ibrahim who is idol breaker, one ready to sacrifice everything in the way of Allah. The initial Taqwa has made him reach there and he returned as an Ibrahimi personality and now will do the same in his society what Ibrahim did.
If this Taqwa becomes the basis of everything like education system, Mosque, politics, trading then the same outcome of Taqwa will come out which Quran has mentioned for Ibrahimi Hajj.
SECOND SERMON
Sermon 2: Heart is the store of Hikmah
In saying no 108
وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: لَقَدْ عُلِّقَ بِنِيَاطِ هَذَا الْإِنْسَانِ بَضْعَةٌ هِيَ أَعْجَبُ مَا فِيهِ وَ ذَلِكَ الْقَلْبُ وَ ذَلِكَ أَنَّ لَهُ مَوَادَّ مِنَ الْحِكْمَةِ وَ أَضْدَاداً مِنْ خِلَافِهَا فَإِنْ سَنَحَ لَهُ الرَّجَاءُ أَذَلَّهُ الطَّمَعُ وَ إِنْ هَاجَ بِهِ الطَّمَعُ أَهْلَكَهُ الْحِرْصُ وَ إِنْ مَلَكَهُ الْيَأأْسُ قَتَلَهُ الْأَسَفُ وَ إِنْ عَرَضَ لَهُ الْغَضَبُ اشْتَدَّ بِهِ الْغَيْظُ وَ إِنْ أَسْعَدَهُ الرِّضَى نَسِيَ التَّحَفُّظَ وَ إِنْ غَالَهُ الْخَوْفُ شَغَلَهُ الْحَذَرُ وَ إِنِ اتَّسَعَ لَهُ الْأَمْرُ اسْتَلَبَتْهُ الْغِرَّةُ وَ إِنْ أَفَادَ مَالًا أَطْغَاهُ الْغِنَى وَ إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ مُصِيبَةٌ فَضَحَهُ الْجَزَعُ وَ إِنْ عَضَّتْهُ الْفَاقَةُ شَغَلَهُ الْبَلَاءُ وَ إِنْ جَهَدَهُ الْجُوعُ قَعَدَ بِهِ الضَّعْفُ وَ إِنْ أَفْرَطَ بِهِ الشِّبَعُ كَظَّتْهُ الْبِطْنَةُ فَكُلُّ تَقْصِيرٍ بِهِ مُضِرٌّ وَ كُلُّ إِفْرَاطٍ ل لَهُ مُفْسِدٌ
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: In man there is a piece of flesh attached to him with a vein and it is the strangest thing in him. It is the heart. It has a store of wisdom and things contrary to wisdom or various states of wisdom. If it sees a ray of hope, eagerness humiliates it and when eagerness increases, greed ruins it. If disappointment overtakes it, grief kills it. If anger rises in it, a serious rage develops. If it is blessed with pleasure, it forgets to be cautious and protective. If it becomes fearing, it becomes heedless of precaution. If peace extends all round, it becomes neglectful. If it earns wealth, freedom from care puts it in the wrong. If trouble befalls it, becomes impatient. If it faces starvation, distress overtakes it. If hunger attacks it, weakness makes it sit down. If its eating increases, heaviness of stomach pains it. Thus, every shortness is harmful to it and every excess is injurious, corruptive to it.
First meaning expressed was that man has heart, then this heart which has wisdoms and its controversial states. The third thing which Amirul Momineen (a) says that the states which gets developed in heart there is a system. As mentioned before that Imam Sadiq (a) says that there is a force of intellect (Aql) and a force of Jahal (foolishness). Imam (a) said that do you like if I introduce you to the battalion of intellect and foolishness. In this and other tradition the attributes are associated with family, where they originate from and what other attributes come out of them or are related to them. If we find this fact that there is no attribute that is alone, like we say this person only speak lies rest we have not found anything negative. But lie is not single there is a complete set of other attributes that comes along with lie. Similarly the good attributes are also present as a family. For Ali (a) one attribute well known to us is courage. But courage is not alone it has a complete family. Similarly against courage is cowardliness (Jubn) but if someone is coward then this does not come alone. Allama Ansari in his book says that if you find one attribute in someone then as per Fiqh you can associate other related attributes also to him.
Amirul Momineen (a) in this saying expresses the third meaning that if one attribute gets developed then others related to come. The first example is سَنَحَ لَهُ الرَّجَاءُ أَذَلَّهُ الطَّمَعُ . When hope develops inside man the second thing that develops is eagerness, then moment eagerness comes then it is greed. RAJA (Hope) is from positive traits and against this is despair. RAJA means desire to acquire something which can be acquired satisfactorily. The hope of acquiring something whose acquisition is possible, certain or giving contentment that it can be achieved in Arabic is RAJA. Like if you hope for rain in the monsoon season, then it is possible and at least you are contented that it will rain. This is hope (RAJA). Then TAMA is also desire , hope but of thing which cannot be ordinarily acquired and in fact man is contended that he might not acquire it. RAJA is the hope of that which is possible, expected and near to certainty. Then TAMA is the desires which is not expected to be fulfilled, no certainty and despair. Like a student has given exam but he is despaired of passing and he feels he is not expected to pass the exam. Then HIRS is also desire but that desire which dominates and takes over man. We have many desires which are suppressed in our heart and not told to anyone. HIRS is that desire which man cannot hide and becomes so dominating on the heart, mind of man. That desire if we want to hide then also cannot hide. Like someone is hungry, or someone desire of lust in such a way that even if he wants to hide he cannot.
Amirul Momineen (a) is saying that heart is store of wisdom and its controversial things. Then if something develops in heart then other one also gets develops which is more severe then first, and then the third which if it takes birth then it is more severe then second. When man develops hope in heart , then he develops desires for impossible things and when this develops then those desires which makes him out of control. Ali says till the time man has hope he is not humiliated, but TAMA disgraces him. When hope develops then keep it up to that only. The Prophet says I am worried about two things in my Ummah, one are long lasting hopes and second is following of lowly desires. RAJA (hope) is amongst positive trait because despair is a negative trait. We should also have hope and not despaired. Keep hope but not allow it to reach TAMA and HIRS. If man develops Hope, then TAMA disgraces hope and when the army of TAMA does aggression on man then HIRS annihilates man. Hope is positive trait, then eagerness is negative trait and desire is more dangerous. When hope comes we need to balance it and not allow to reach the next level. Those who have destroyed themselves are due to this.
