Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 15th March, 2024
Sermon 1: Path of Ramadan leads to acquiring pleasure of Allah
Sermon 2: How Sawm (fasting) develops Taqwa inside man?
The Holy month of Ramadan is an arrangement for Taqwa and are the most effective ones. The month of Ramadan is the workshop of Taqwa whereby for a limited period of time man can activate all the means, causes for acquisition of Taqwa thus organizing his life in accordance with Taqwa so that he can spend his entire life as per this exercise done in Ramadan
One source for acquiring Taqwa and understanding Ramadan is the Dua no 44 of Imam Sajjad (a) which he recited on the advent of Ramadan.
Imam (a) says in this Dua
الْحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي هَدَانَا لِحَمْدِهِ
Praise belongs to God who guided us to His praise
وَجَعَلَنَا مِنْ أَهْلِهِ، لِنَكُونَ لِإِحْسَانِهِ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ
and placed us among the people of praise, that we might be among the thankful for His beneficence
وَلِيَجْزِيَنَا عَلَى ذلِكَ جَزَآءَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
and that He might recompense us for that with the recompense of the good-doers!
He is praising Allah because Allah has guided us to praise him. In another Dua Imam Sajjad (a) says the same about Shukr, whereby he thanks Allah for giving him the opportunity to be grateful to Allah. He has counted us amongst those who are grateful people for his favor. We are not counted among those who do not thank Allah for his bounties. Imam (a) presents three concepts; one is Taufeeq of Hamd, counting us amongst Shakireen and then the compensation that Allah grants us.
وَالْحَمْدُ للهِ الَّذِي حَبَانَا بِدِينِهِ،
And praise belongs to God who showed favor to us through His religion,
وَاخْتَصَّنَا بِمِلَّتِهِ، وَسَبَّلَنَا فِي سُبُلِ إحْسَانِهِ،
singled us out for His creed, and directed us onto the roads of His beneficence,
لِنَسْلُكَهَا بِمَنِّهِ إلَى رِضْوَانِهِ،
in order that through His kindness we might travel upon them to His good pleasure,
حَمْدَاً يَتَقَبَّلُهُ مِنَّا، وَيَرْضَى بِهِ عَنَّا.
a praise which He will accept from us and through which He will be pleased with us!
In this second paragraph Imam continues to praise Allah for granting us with the favor and gift of religion. The second praise has singled out believers, Muslims to be his nation (Mellat). In Arabic Mellat means the path, creed, way or school of thought. The path of Allah is the Mellat of Ibrahim or of Holy Prophet (s) and this is the path through which servants of Allah can reach him and Allah has singled out this path for us. The others also have this path but they did not adapt it. It was not that Allah made religion only for Muslims, believers and followers of Prophet (s) and deprived other human beings. The addressee of Allah’s religion, Quran, Prophet (s) is entire humanity. When these means of salvation are established for entire humanity then others have not acquired this path except the Ummah of Holy Prophet (s) hence while walking on this path Allah has singled out us. Then Allah has established path of his favors, placing us on this path so that we can traverse this path and reach his good pleasure.
Rizwan means increased and abundance pleasure or we can say the source of pleasure. We are presenting such praises which are accepted by us. The criteria which Allah has kept while granting bounties is not that you should be good, Muslims, etc. instead he has looked upon everyone as creation. It is enough to be a creation to seek and get anything from Allah. Allah has given bounties unconditionally and has not mentioned that I will give you only if you are true believer. Thus, Allah has granted bounties to infidels, hypocrites and even his own enemies. Since Allah is the Lord (Rabb) it is his responsibility to grant the needs of everyone. But at the second level of accepting he has kept conditions. When you will return these bounties to me then it is conditional that I will only accept from those who are Muttaqeen. Taqwa is the condition for acceptance of deeds. And this is where man has to demonstrate his skills to return what Allah has granted and get it accepted. If someone does then he is talented person who has fulfilled all conditions. And then after acceptance Allah should be pleased.
Acceptance and getting pleased are two status which Allah has kept for believers. You should get your deeds accepted and make Allah pleased with these as well. Every person wants to please others and they are all busy in pleasing someone or other. The parents, children, friends, employees, traders, others and one category are Ulama. They are always thinking to please people so that they can take benefits from the pleasure of people like making money, earn respect, acceptance and other personal gains. To make people dislike them they consider this as a punishment. They consider that person as unsuccessful who could not, please people. I have recited this Hadith, that a person who displeases Allah for the sake of pleasing people Allah hands over such person to people. In general Allah and people won’t be pleased together on one common thing. When those who want to please Allah then they earn the displeasure of Allah. The way Imam Sajjad (a) in his sermon in the courtyard of Yazid, whereby an orator was mounted on the pulpit to deliver a sermon to control situation. The orator praised Allah for granting dignity to Yazid and humiliating others. Imam Sajjad (a) stopped the orator there and said that you have displeased your creator for the sake of pleasing creation. And this is something which we are doing day and night. Every person is in the thoughts of pleasing people, but you are delegated to earn the pleasure of Allah. The same Hadith say’s if someone displeases people for the sake of pleasing Allah then Allah takes care of all his affairs in his own hands. This is because he has not cared for the displeasure of people for the sake of Allah. Reaching the pleasure of Allah is very significant for believers but practically we do not give importance to the pleasure of Allah in any affair. We spend life in pleasing wife, husband, children, parents, relatives, kins, neighbors, political parties, leaders, masses and Imam e Masjid for pleasing his followers. They do not give importance to the pleasure of Allah.
وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّه الَّذِي جَعَلَ مِنْ تِلْكَ السُّبُلِ شَهْرَهُ شَهْرَ رَمَضَانَ،
And praise belongs to God who appointed among those roads His month, the month of Ramadan,
شَهْرَ الصِّيَامِ، وَشَهْرَ الإِسْلاَم، وَشَهْرَ الطَّهُورِ،
the month of fasting, the month of submission (Islam), the month of purity,
وَشَهْرَ التَّمْحِيْصِ، وَشَهْرَ الْقِيَامِ،
the month of putting to test, the month of standing in prayer,
الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيْهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدىً لِلنَّاسِ،
“In which the Qur’an was sent down as guidance to the people,
وَبَيِّنَات مِنَ الْهُدى وَالْفُرْقَانِ،
and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Separator” (2:185)!
In this para-Imam Sajjad (a) presents the attributes of the month of Ramadan. Prior to this he praised Allah for presenting us those paths which can lead us to the pleasure of Allah. Now he says amongst those paths one important path is the month of Allah which is Ramadan. The first attribute of Ramadan is that it is a path (Sabeel). When you have come into this month, the bounty which we are going through is the path which Allah has granted us. When man gets something without cognizance then man would either waste it or corrupt it. In the materialistic world as well without awareness if we get something then we misuse it. Like for Quran if we have correct cognition of Quran then we would not have wasted and misused Quran. We respect Quran utmost but due to lack of awareness we waste it. We do Istikhara, take oaths, recite on dead persons, or for seeking rewards. The Quran is guidance and gets wasted if we don’t take guidance from it even if we recite or make others recite throughout life. Similar is the month of Ramadan. We can see how many months of Ramadan Allah has granted from the time we have developed sense and maturity. A child develops sense means the ability to discriminate between right and wrong. There is a part of childhood where child lacks this sense and hence, he talks right and wrong things both as could not discriminate. This is the age of lacking sense which is generally below 10 to 12 years, though there would be some exceptions. It is possible that someone might not develop sense even after reaching 100 years and such persons are special models. We should observe children from the time they develop sense and make them used to religious practices. The children can fast. If girls who are weak but still at 9 years of age, she has to fast then why can’t a boy not fast at 9? One non-religious scholar from outside came to Pakistan and said that Allah has made things easy for us, hence you should do whatever is easy for you. If reciting Salaat is hard for you then don’t do. If fasting is easy then do it. He was preaching this criterion on whatever you find easy you do and whatever is hard leave it. For this scholar religion is business.
Allah has used the word “Kulfat” for worships. Allah made man Mukallaf which is a big stage and degree for man which is a great blessing on man. “Kulfat” means hardships which Allah has endowed on us, but to what extent? To the extent of the ability given to you. The thing for which you don’t have strength those are not obligatory on you. In fasting there is hardship and hence fasting has been made obligatory. Salaat, Wudhu and everything else other than lust, pleasure there is nothing that is easy. Getting educated is hardship. Allah does not want to see you relaxed and comfortable. What is the religion which you are teaching people?
Allah has granted you a path of Ramadan which you start from children who have developed sense of discriminating between right and wrong. This is the practice of religion where results are not obtained but to get the child on path the fasting should start. Ramadan is the track.
Imam Sajjad (a) says praise to Allah for showing us path and one track of Ramadan. So, on what age we should get on this track? The earliest age of sense, even though punishments would come later at the stage of fifteen. If a sensible child is not placed on the track of religion, then he would step on the path of Shaitan. This is because Shaitan is not waiting for the child to reach puberty. Quran says Shaitan starts the attack much earlier even from the time the child was in the stage of sperm. Shaitan wants the child to be born on his track. He attacks the children in the womb through an immodest, unchaste, corrupt mother. The Ramadan should be recognized as a path on which we should step on. This path ends on the pleasure of Allah. When man acquires the path of Ramadan he reaches the pleasure of Allah. When someone gets pleasure of Allah, he has got everything. Imam Hussain (a) says one who has found you what has he lost? One who has got pleasure of Allah he has got entire universe and one who has not got pleasure of Allah he has not got anything. May Allah make us traverse the journey of servitude as per guidance of Imam Sajjad (a).
Sermon 2
Sawm (Fasting) is one arrangement of Ramadan
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ {183}
O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil).
Surah Baqarah, verse 183 Allah addresses the believers that Fasting has been ordained on you, the way it was for people before you so that you can acquire Taqwa. If Taqwa is acquired then this is Sawm else this is just starvation. There are etiquettes of Sawm and its limits which if Allah gives Taufeeq, we will present that on the basis of Dua of Imam Sajjad (a). This same protection plan of Taqwa can be acquired through Sawm. From the time we have started Friday prayers we have mentioned and other great scholars like Motahari has also said that meaning of Taqwa has been presented incorrectly as fear or abstinence. Few days back a doctor came to us, he is Ahle Sunnah and does programs for university students. Since apostasy is spreading in universities and we said you are doing a great job. He said there was a time when I myself became apostate and left religion. I went outside country for higher education and during that period I repented and again became Muslim. He is now studying religion with research and there is a complete group. He used to mention again and again on how we bring students near religion, but I wanted to know how you became apostate and left religion. He was very cautious and not speaking openly. I want to know why our new generation are becoming apostate. He said one big reason our professor was non-religious who would create doubts in our mind and we would take these doubts to scholars who had no reply and this was developing trust on the apostate professors. Some scholars would abuse us, some would say this is conspiracy and no one would give even a simple answer. When we did not get any answer, we moved forward on the path of apostasy. I have presented this evidence as an argument that incorrect interpretation of religion makes people non-religious. Shaheed Motahari referred to one famous ethical book as a book of misguidance. He says because the expression of religious concepts is wrong and kept distorted ethical foundations and after reading this book a person will get misguided. Motahari was very annoyed on the meaning of Taqwa done as fear and abstinence. If you assess this verse 183, then you will find this as true. The purpose of Sawm has been kept as Taqwa. If Taqwa is fear then does Sawm creates fear? Or some develops the ability to remain protected which is the correct meaning of Taqwa? So Sawm is obligatory so that you fear? or you develop abstinence? or for you to develop the ability, power of remaining protected.
In month of Ramadan during daytime you should remain in the state of Sawm. You can practice Sawm throughout the year but the obligatory ones are in the month of Ramadan. Sawm is for day even though Ramadan is for day and night. Sawm develops the big power of Taqwa. When you step inside the reality of Sawm then you will realize what gets strengthened inside you. You might say that in state of Sawm man becomes weak. So how the protection ability increases? The actual power which Allah has given as foundation to man which makes man privileged, superior over all other creation is will power (Iraada). Man has will power and this is the secret of man. Even though body is weak, timid but if will power is strong man can do many tough things. If will power is weak then he won’t be able to do even small things. With will power man protects his life. Thus, the foundation of Taqwa is the ability of will power. This will power gets strengthened with Sawm. When will power become strong then with this man can acquire all protection plan through this. Thus, Allah has made Sawm obligatory so that your life and hereafter becomes secure. May Allah grant us such kind of Sawm. And with this Sawm the dead feelings of man get aroused. We are all dead bodies who are breathing, and the sign of this is that humanity feeling is dead and the prove of this is that in the presence of 8 billion people the humanity is being butchered in Gaza and everyone are sitting as silent spectators.
In Turkey few days back a person killed a street cat by kicking and this got captured on CCTV which came on social media. The people of Turkey protested to file case on this person and the person was punished for 15 months. He was in prison and had good behavior in prison, was released before completing punishment. The moment he was released the people again protested on social media, came in front of court and the situation of Turkey became so bad that Erdogan had to intervene and order to again imprison him and increase his punishment. You can see Turkey is a Muslim state and for killing a cat so much voice is raised. The same Turkey, Pakistan and other Islamic states you can see their sermons, Iftar. Hundreds of children, women, men are dying every day in Gaza and no one is even talking about them. This means humanity has gone dead. This dead feeling would be aroused with Sawm. One benefit of Sawm is to arouse the dead humanity inside us. May Allah grant salvation to these oppressed from these tyrants and destroy them.
