Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 7th April, 2023
Sermon 1: Start releasing your mortgaged souls by seeking forgiveness
I invite you all, myself and emphasize you to acquire Taqwa in your lives and make your lives in accordance with Taqwa. It is the divine plan for human life and its honor, respect and prestige. The arrangement for Taqwa made by Allah has one good opportunity as the Holy Month of Ramadan. The Holy Prophet (s) has expressed to believers the virtues of this month and all the means which Allah has provided in this month.
The Holy Prophet (s) says in his sermon that your souls, existence, life is mortgaged. The mortgaged thing is that expensive thing kept as guarantee against some wealth taken. And unless that wealth, money is returned the thing kept under mortgage does not return back to you. Allah says this is the state for all humans, whereby your lives are under mortgage against deeds. When you do good deeds your souls would be released. But unless you deliver those deeds your souls are mortgaged and if you do not make them free then they would be placed in hell for punishment. Hence get your soul released through your deeds.
Then he says, seek forgiveness and get your souls released. This is an established religious fact that man has not been made perfect and sent to earth but has been sent to become a perfect human being. In simple words when we see other creation, whereby we can see seeds being cultivated that grows into trees and bear’s fruit. Man is also like this only whereby he is born as a seed and then the tree of humanity goes out from it. The way you need protection for the seed to grow the same law is applicable for man as well. He is born as seed and the human capabilities and attributes should sprout from this seed. This has to be done by man himself though Allah has made all arrangements. Man has been made as gardener to grow humanity. For this Quran says this has to be done through faith and Amale Saaleh. The religion and Quran are the elaboration of these two only. Amale Saaleh is the performance and to accept the policies, laws made by Allah as way of life is Faith. The Emaan is not a feeling but to believe in acquiring something with trust. The actions which man does is the name of development of man. Every act of man is one stage of human life. The way layers of bricks are placed on wall similarly the acts of man are like this. if the act is good then good personality will get constructed. But if corrupt then the personality will be the same.
Man is continuously doing something, either good or bad. Like a farmer is not sitting idle either he is cultivating and looking after his farm by watering, taking car and this would be Amale Saleh, but if not then he is wasting his farm. Man is also like this and his life, soul is mortgaged. This means the soul is present in the state of potential, and you need to nurture to take it towards perfection by performing Amale Saaleha. The example of nurturing of human being is like farmer. To grow seed is Tazkiya. The Tazkiya is nurturing and it is similar in both plants and man. Man should not be nurtured like parrot but instead like a plant. In a parrot no ability reaches perfection, instead unnatural thing is made to be done by parrot to make it speak like man. The plant is nurtured and what is present in it is getting developed. Human nurturing is also like this whereby what is present inside has to reach perfection.
For the plants the entire year is not same for them to grow. When spring comes, the plants start to nurture and bosom. During autumn they try to remain alive but do not grow. For man as well the entire year is not like this, and here also an autumn comes and it’s a challenge for man to protect his existence. And when spring comes then the growth and nourishment starts. For man as well the month of Ramadan is this time. In this opportunity Allah has given this chance to man. And this specialty is not in the season or time. In spring the weather has a specialty which makes plants to grow. The plants are not given opportunity to perform certain acts for growing. This because the growth of plants is persuasive and not by choice. But Ramadan does not nurture man instead man has to nurture himself in Ramadan. The acts are of man and not the month. The opportunity has been given to man and the outcome has improved.
The souls are mortgaged and man has to get it released. Hence man has to release his soul through acts and the best act is forgiveness. This is the demand of Maghferat which means ending the bad performance in the past, that is before Ramadan. If that destruction remains present then nothing happens with Ramadan. Hence first you need to wipe off the past bad acts. Maghferat means to make something unseen like washing stains on cloth. The best act in Ramadan where man comes out of mortgage is to compensate. The forgiveness is a Dua as well as acts. A person said Astagfiruallah in front of Amirul Momineen (a) and he scolded him that do you know what is Istighfar. Then Ali (a) expressed seven stages for Istigfar. When something gets damaged by you then to repair it and bring it to same state is Istigfar. To wash clothes or a door is damaged, to repair and make it like new is Istigfar. To compensate for a crime, bad deed is Istigfar. Ali says first you should feel ashamed on what you have done, then intention to not repeat, then compensate the mistake by delivering the rights on you. Then Ali goes forward to say whatever you have done during the period of disobedience should be destroyed. The building that you have made with disobedience should be bought down. The government bodies bring down those building which were made on usurped land or not made as per design. Some people have made very strong building in their soul, those who do not submit, not believe, are stubborn and not having any humbleness. This need to be bought down and is an important stage of Istigfar. Ali says that your body that has been made with disobedience, you should melt the body to such extent that only skin and bones remain. The body also should be made in the state of obedience. This is Istigfar.
The Holy Prophet (s) says release your souls from mortgage by your acts. I have tried to open this subject in certain lectures. We are generally not concerned about ourselves to the extent we are concerned about our deceased persons in family. Like when parents are alive we are not concerned about their guidance, but after their death the children are concerned about their salvation. The Majalis of Tarheem is not for deceased but for those who are alive. The one who has died his time has ended. If the soul was mortgaged it would remain as it is when death comes. Those who are alive they have the opportunity to get it released even if one moment is left before death. This has to be done through good deeds. Your soul has been kept mortgaged and get it released through acts. If you do outside Ramadan it can take time, but in Ramadan even one moment is enough to do this with first step as Istigfar. You need big machines to break the walls of building which has cement with iron rods and bars. The cement, rods of habits, arrogance, selfishness, pride , ego are all very hard to break and man can break these in the month of Ramadan. If your personality has been damaged then start by keeping the new foundation stone in the domain of obedience. The personality that has been made with wrong material , you destroy that and make a new personality as per Allah’s manifesto.
Then the Holy Prophet (s) says, the second problem you have is that your back is breaking with heavy burden of your mistakes, crimes, negligence, sins. The map which Quran has presented to the Prophet and the opportunities that were given to Prophet and see how much he availed of it. First, in Surah Dhuha, you can see what Allah has provided to Prophets is also our need. Whatever was given to the Prophets are the needs of man. The Prophets were not sent to become tired and they were not just a personality for presentation and show. Allah (s) made the Prophet as teachers and constructors and gave them all what was required to nurture man.,
In Surah Dhuha,
وَالضُّحَىٰ {1}
93:1 I swear by the early hours of the day,
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ {2}
93:2 And the night when it covers with darkness.
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ {3}
93:3 Your Lord has not forsaken you, nor has He become displeased,
وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ {4}
93:4 And surely what comes after is better for you than that which has gone before.
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ {5}
93:5 And soon will your Lord give you so that you shall be well pleased.
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَىٰ {6}
93:6 Did He not find you an orphan and give you shelter?
وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَىٰ {7}
93:7 And find you lost (that is, unrecognized by men) and guide (them to you)?
وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَىٰ {8}
93:8 And find you in want and make you to be free from want?
فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ {9}
93:9 Therefore, as for the orphan, do not oppress (him).
وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ {10}
93:10 And as for him who asks, do not chide (him),
وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ {11}
93:11 And as for the favor of your Lord, do announce (it)
Allah says we have not left you on your own or not forsaken you. If the current state is not suitable for you, then the outcome in hereafter which is the next step is really great and that has to be made from this current state. Your Lord will grant you something very soon which will make you pleased. We can figure out from these verses that the Prophet was not pleased with the situation and was not an ideal situation. But very soon your Prophet will grant you something that will please you. Were you not an orphan whereby Allah supported you, guided you and made you needless. So now you also should not deprive orphans, and the ones who seek. And mention the bounties Allah has given to you to get you out of that state. Then next surah Inshirah is continuation of this where Allah specifies what are those special bounties.
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ {1}
94:1 Have We not expanded for you your breast,
وَوَضَعْنَا عَنْكَ وِزْرَكَ {2}
94:2 And taken off from you your burden,
الَّذِي أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ {3}
94:3 Which pressed heavily upon your back,
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ {4}
94:4 And exalted for you your esteem?
فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا {5}
94:5 Surely with difficulty is ease.
إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا {6}
94:6 With difficulty is surely ease.
فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانْصَبْ {7}
94:7 So when you are free, nominate.
وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَارْغَبْ {8}
94:8 And make your Lord your exclusive object.
What were those bounties? We have given you Share Sadr, we lifted the burden which was breaking your back and you should express this to people. The Prophet got relieved from this burden, but is there no burden on us?
The Holy Prophet (s) says in the sermon that you all have back breaking burden which you have to lift yourself. Everyone has to lift their own burden. The one who has died has to do for themselves. Those who are left like children try a lot to relieve the burden of parents but they cannot. Allah will not break his laws for your parents. If you would have done something for them in life then it would have helped. Now after they have died we are concerned on what is to be done for them. Now anyone who says something we keep on doing.
If we send our deeds to the deceased then what will happen to them. I will mention sometime about certain things we do that increases the pains for the dead persons. These are authentic narrations on what causes harm to the dead. You have back breaking burden on you , which you have to relieve in Ramadan. This month relieves us by lifting this burden and is opportunity for everyone. This has to be done through prolonged prostration. One prostration is to keep forehead on ground whereby seven parts of the body should touch the ground. This has forehead, two palms, two toes and two knees. This is the outside of prostration. The soul of prostration is servitude, submission, acceptance of mistakes, humbleness and if this soul is present than Allah will relieve your burden. The Prophet says that Allah has taken oath that I would not punish those who do Salaat and Sajdah.
It is mentioned in narrations when Allah would be punishing people in hell, those who did Salaat and Sajdah would be excluded. These prolonged prostrations and Salaat is done throughout the year but this Ramadan comes with special privilege for this. Everything in Ramadan increases in its outcome in this month. These days which are repeated every year Allah (s) has made as the best suitable days where the journey of man is being made easy. This is an established fact of Quran that Allah created human being and after creation man has to develop and nurture his personality as per divine guidance and also protect himself from calamities.
SECOND SERMON
Sermon 2: Fasting of heart secures fasting of organs and stomach
Taqwa is the protection mechanism for human life and this mechanism is achieved through the affairs which Allah has ordained for man. An important means of acquiring Taqwa is to establish a security scheme in life and society of man is Sawm which we translated as fasting. Sawm means to stop or control yourself. We consider Sawm primarily to control eating and drinking. There are some people who don’t do Salaat at all but would definitely fast. Sawm means to control yourself.
The first general state of control is of desires, lust that too specifically when they are not under control of man and instead the desires are controlling man. Ishteha means desire to do something like to eat something, to see something. Then later this word became exclusive with sexual affairs, but in Arabic to desire anything is Shahwat. The self will have desires and that needs to be controlled. If you don’t control then you will get destroyed. For the current generation they do whatever they desire. Man has come under control of lust and desires. The desires have taken control of man and instead you should take desires under your control. If someone has usurped your land, car or wealth and if someone comes to get it back to you, then you would feel happy. Sawm means to recover these usurpation of self by the desires and lust. Like in Pakistan the top most authority in administration of state is Prime Minister and for governance it is President. Then you have ministers, secretary and other government authorities. Across the globe the Army ranks start under secretary of Minister of defense. The minister is above defense secretary. But if you see everything is under control of army. If you go by ranks, then Amry is below secretary but they are controlling everything. In our existence also it is same, Allah has given you heart that should control everything, but your desires, lust and not having any authority is controlling your self and running your system. How to revive the human system? This is done through Sawm, where your intentions, desires come under control of Aql and heart, and heart comes under control of Allah.,
The second state are the organs of body which need to be controlled like eyes, ears and tongues should be controlled. They are your staff and should be controlled. The third Sawm is of heart which is the center of intentions, thinking whereby the believes of man are formed. The place where the color of universe comes forward and man takes decisions is at heart. If this comes under control then everything under it can come under control easily. The entire story of man is heart , intelligence which are the abilities of reception in man. Man should have complete control over man. He should think with some intention and it should not happen that illusions, whispering, mischiefs, distorted thinking should come inside. Our heart should not become a waste plot where the entire locality dumps garbage over here. If there is Sawm of heart which means if there is no control, then all the garbage of social media comes on this heart. The filth of everything comes here, the personality starts to get destroyed here. Hence the Sawm of heart is the most esteemed.
Imam Ali (a) says: Sawm of heart is to control sins. The sawm of heart is that it should not think about disobedience. The imaginations , desires that come on heart when we are sitting and thinking should be controlled and this is the most esteemed.
Then in another hadith he says: The Sawm of heart is much esteemed then the sawm of tongue and this is more esteemed then the Sawm of stomach.
The degrees and pattern of these three Sawm are different. If we control our stomach then still heart and organs can remain out of control. But if we start from Sawm of heart then organs and stomach can come under control naturally. If the Sawm of heart is not there then sawm of stomach is just starvation.
