Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 5th May, 2023
Sermon 1 : Act on this one verse and you have acted upon entire religion
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 plan for divine protection from Allah for human life and all its aspects. The human life from every perspective is under threat. The things that destroy human life and takes it away from its purpose needs to be secured. One segment of this life is following religion (Itteba-e-Deen). This means man should not make his life free and not consider as irresponsible like animals.
Allah has created man , ordained a purpose and for acquisition of that purpose guidance has been arranged. The guidance is the collection of acts, beliefs , policies. This manifesto is religion. Here also Allah has ordered man to secure their religion. Within inside and outside of existence of man there are activators present that arouse man for disobedience. Man generally submits himself to these elements of misguidance thus stepping out of the domain of obedience. This is that stage in which he keeps the foundation of destruction, this distancing from purpose. He enjoys some things in life, satiates lust, desire but looses his hereafter.
In Surah Maida , verse no 7
وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمِيثَاقَهُ الَّذِي وَاثَقَكُمْ بِهِ إِذْ قُلْتُمْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ {7}
And remember the favor of Allah on you and His covenant with which He bound you firmly, when you said: We have heard and we obey, and acquire Taqwa of Allah, surely Allah knows what is in the breasts
The Nemat is mentioned in general form which means to remember every bounty that Allah has granted you. The second thing to be remembered is the covenant which you have done with Allah and he has taken that pledge from you. That covenant is that we have listened to divine message, accepted and obeyed it. Acquire the protection mechanism by Allah, that is Taqwa and Allah is aware of the things concealed in your heart.
We have mentioned several times about what is Zikr which is not oral recitations and repetitions of names of Allah. In Quran nor in language Zikr is not an act of tongue. It is an act of heart which also means the ability to receive and understanding things. Zikr is the act of mind and heart. It means remembrance which is not done by tongue but is present in mind and heart. Mind and heart are various names of the ability of reception and understanding based on certain specific attributes. The way man listens with ears, sees with eyes similarly he thinks with mind and heart. Thinks, remembers and memorizes by mind and heart. Whatever man senses through the five sensual organs gets transferred to mind automatically. An example of this is camera which are only capturing images but they are getting saved in memory. These cameras are made by keeping eye as reference. Whatever we see, listen, taste , smell , touch are all getting transferred to mind. There are two parts of memory (Hafiza). Whatever you sense through eyes, ears some move into Hafiza (memory) and they are those things which mind categorizes as not useful for me. Hence it enters into the temporary memory which only keeps fresh things inside and when new things further comes the past things goes out. Then there is one permanent memory where those things which you intend to be present are placed, but you have to repeat them again and again like qur’anic verses. If you keep on repeating then they remain preserved else they leave. Then there are certain things which do not enter Hafiza but stays inside Zakira (remembrance). This is another part of mind which preserves the important things to be done on routine. Like you have invitation for dinner somewhere, which you keep in Zakira. This means you have to act on this information. The things on which you have to act upon are placed in Zakira which is the remembrance part of mind. These are intentions, decisions and things which you have to act upon in every condition. The thing that you keep in the Zakira is where man makes arrangement to act upon it.
In this verse Quran says keep all the bounties of Allah in Zakira (remembrance). At times we say that I did not remember. The bounties should be kept in remembrance. In the tone of verse and specifically Surah Maida is moving on a specific context and important subject which is Wilayat and Imamat. Imam Baqir (a) says that the bounty which Allah has emphasized to remember is Wilayat and Imamat. We have Imamat in our memories but not in our remembrance. If things are only in memory than it is not the practical schedule of man on daily basis. We make a daily schedule on things to do on this day. The employees have this in their memory to wake up at this time, then prepare for leaving to office, go to office and have to do such and such things, then on return I have to do these things.
We have been asked to study or to do oral recitation of Allah. But Allah is not a subject of study to be placed in memory so that you can write in exam. In Quran the subject of Allah is in remembrance. We have been asked to remember Allah and bounties. The Wilayat and Imamat are not the subjects of memorization but instead of remembrance. Imamat is something to be always in remembrance. The verse says remember the bounties and the covenants that you made with Allah. This covenant should be our objectives in remembrance. One important covenant is of Ghadeer that is of Imamat. This covenant was taken when you said we listened and obeyed it. It was not hat you listened and forgot or denied. So have we listened to the message of Ghadeer and acted upon it? Apart from one nation all Muslims have forgotten the system of Imamat. If you have listened then establish the system of Imamat. If you have not then you have listened and denied it. You have listened to Ghadeer and established democracy. The forsaking of denying bounties becomes the basis of sins and disobedience.
If we see there are millions of bounties in yourself, existence and around you. We do not even realize even one. We have blindfolded our eyes on this and the thing that makes us forget bounties is Shahwat. It could be lust of sex, food, wealth or power which means man blind and cannot see anything. He cannot see any bounties due to lust and hence we forget our covenants. Allah is aware about what is in your essence of heart. Allah knows much beyond what we express or say. We can have any claims on our tongues but Allah has knowledge of everything.
The verse is saying to remember bounties, covenant and then acquire Taqwa as Allah is aware about what is in your heart. If we have act on any one verse then this is that verse. If we do these three things, acquire Taqwa, remember bounty and covenants then we have acted upon entire religion and Quran. These three are foundations which Allah has kept for salvation of human being.
SECOND SERMON
Sermon 2: Refraining from dubious, useless acts is WARA
In saying number 113, Imam Ali presents a beautiful system for believers.
وقال عليه السلام : لاَ مَالَ أَعْوَدُ مِنَ الْعَقْلِ، وَلاَ وَحْدَةَ أَوْحَشُ مِنَ الْعُجْب، وَلاَ عَقْلَ كَالتَّدْبِيرِ، وَلاَ كَرَمَ كَالتَّقْوَى، وَلاَ قَرين كَحُسنِ الخُلْقِ، وَلاَ مِيرَاثَ كَالاْدَبِ، وَلاَ قَائِدَ كَالتَّوْفِيقِ، وَلاَ تِجَارَةَ كَالْعَمَلِ الصَّالِحِ، وَلاَ رِبْحَ كَالثَّوَابِ، وَلاَ وَرَعَ كالْوُقُوفِ عِنْدَ الشُّبْهَةِ، وَلاَ زُهْدَ كَالزُّهْدِ فِي الْحَرَامِ، ولاَ عِلْمَ كَالتَّفَكُّرِ، وَلاَ عِبَادَةَ كَأَدَاءِ الْفَرائِضِ، وَلاَ إِيمَانَ كَالْحَيَاءِ وَالصَّبْرِ، وَلاَ حَسَبَ كَالتَّوَاضُعِ، وَلاَ شَرَفَ كَالْعِلْمِ، وَلاَ مُظَاهَرَةَ أَوْثَقُ مِن مُشَاوَرَةٍ
113. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: No wealth is more profitable than wisdom, no loneliness is more estranging than vanity, no wisdom is as good as tact, no honor is like Taqwa, no companion is like the goodness of moral character, no inheritance is like civility, no guide is like promptitude, no trade is like virtuous acts, no profit is like Divine reward, no self- control is like inaction in time of doubt, no abstention is like that (which is) from prohibitions, no knowledge is like thinking, no worship is like the discharge of obligation, no belief is like modesty and endurance, no attainment is like humility, no honor is like knowledge, no power is like forbearance, and no support is more reliable than consultation.
وَلاَ وَرَعَ كالْوُقُوفِ عِنْدَ الشُّبْهَةِ
These are golden principles which Amirul Momineen (a.s) is setting up for the lives of believers. It is in the Fitrat of human being to go after benefits of self. In the creation of human being his orientation is towards benefits and gains. This can be materialistic or spiritual. Every act which man does has a benefit for himself. There is a difference between benefit and purpose. At times the purpose itself is benefit. The benefits are certain if purpose is achieved, but if the eyes are set on only benefits then he might not achieve purpose. Like in education you study to gain worldly benefits which is not the purpose of education which is to again knowledge, awareness and find the purpose of creation and move towards it. If someone acquires knowledge for this purpose then benefits will come with that. But like today in general the purpose of education is forsaken and only rush is after benefits. You are getting degrees, salaries, jobs, pensions but the purpose of life has got lost. If we keep purpose in mind then definitely you get benefits.
In Arabi Ribh is that profit which comes through trading. The other benefits, profits have different names. The Ribh is the profit that you gain when you give and take something. Amirul Momineen (a.s) is guiding man if you want to earn Ribh then the best profit is divine rewards. In the last statement it was about Amale Saaleh as being the best trade. Amale Saaleh is not clear to us which we always understand as some good work. Like today everyone is doing good things. Quran says that when they are not told not to do corruption they say we are doing good things. If guidance is not clear then corruption is also seen as good work.
If you want to do best trading then it is Amale Saleh. We will explain this more in our lectures of Tabeen. If you have done trading then acquire Amale Saleh. The benefit that comes out of every trading is Ribh, which is reward. Thawab comes from Sawb which means something that can be turned. Like one corner can be turned towards its other corner. In terminology anything that turns back towards you is Thawab. If you do good or evil and if that turns back then it is Thawab. We can see in this world whatever man does the same happens with him. The Thawab of hereafter is whatever man has done in this world which turns back to man in hereafter. It is your own act, thing which is being turned back towards you. The Thawab is not compensation coming from somewhere else, it is the same what you gave is turned back towards you. Allah has kept this system that he returns back everything which man does.
Amale Saaleh is the best trading and the reward is the best profit because whatever Amale Saaleh you do Allah returns everything and not even a small percentage is kept by Allah , instead says it is returned at times as double or even upto seven hundred times. This is the blessing of Allah that he returns with increase towards man. Hence this is the best trading that we have to do. In our current trading , we spend money and buy something. In Amale Saaleh the Ribh is whatever you earn is after giving your goods. In Amale Saaleh you get your capital as well multiple times profit.
Then after this Amirul Momineen (a.s) says
وَلاَ وَرَعَ كالْوُقُوفِ عِنْدَ الشُّبْهَةِ
To stop at doubtful things, acts is the best Wara. Taqwa is to stop at places where you will suffer harm or loss. Wara is beyond this whereby you stop at those things as well where there is no proven threat. It means when you do not see any major threat but there is a doubt or not necessary for me to go forward as well then to stop there is Wara. It is like to talk something wrong is crime, to stop when bad thing comes in mind but you do not speak is Taqwa, but when something that comes in mind which won’t be a crime to speak but it is something useless; then to refrain from speaking such a thing is Wara. We spend time on useless things and everyone is indulged into these useless acts. Someone who stops at things that are useless, will definitely stop at things which are harmful. The one who maintains extra precaution when there is no threat will definitely stop when there is threat. When we do not know something is Halal or Haram, we should stop. To stop at Haram is Taqwa but to stop out of care is Wara on doubtful things. When it is confirmed something as Halal, and he knows that I only need this much Halal he takes that and refrains from excess, this is Wara. If someone refrains from such things then he remains protected from Haram. When someone does not talk useless, purposeful things, to talk just to show someone lower.
There is a tradition, that the most disliked talk in front of Allah is MIRA, which is that dispute that has no benefits, but an argument done to just close the mouth of each other, to show one lower then me. This is worse thing in front of Allah. It is a calamity of scholars; they get entangled and keep on speaking. Your tasks is to deliver the truth, whether they accept or not. I was questioned that some say I do not believe in Wilayat e Faqeeh, I told them just reply Go to hell. If you have given arguments, evidences but if someone does not believe then leave it. Why you want to become the destination of wrath of Allah by doing Mira. The believers also now have the same power of Mira like scholars. Those who jump into corruption by closing eyes they are Faasid, but one who stops from dubious, useless things is Wara. If you want to do trading then do Amale Saaleh, if you want to earn profit then Thawab and if you want Wara then stop from doubtful, useless acts.
