Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 17th May, 2024
Sermon 1: Misinterpretation of Waseela has distanced people from Allah
Sermon 2: End of Israel and oppressors is near through Ababeel of Hamas
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ {35}
O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and seek means of nearness to Him and strive hard in His way that you may be successful.
There are three orders in this verse, one address and one outcome. The address is to believers’ society which means when such a society of believers gets established than they become reference for this verse. All the three elements are fundamental in this verse and are three pillars of human society and there are other foundations also in other verses. In the social infrastructure the first element is Taqwa, second is Ibtegha of proximity, third Jihad and outcome of these is prosperity (Falah)
Taqwa here means when you have established human society now you have to protect it as well. The more the expanse of the city is more you will need protection. The personality of human being is like this as well, if the personality is lowly the protection mechanism would be also limited but one whose personality is esteemed the Taqwa will also of same vastness. Similarly for social life the protection mechanism would be related to the extent which we have our social life.
It is assumed over here in this verse that the addressees are believers because faith has to be testified. After Taqwa this society is asked to seek Waseela towards Allah. Here there is a lot of anxiety developed in the interpretation of verse to the extent that it has changed the direction of religion in a big way. The axis of religion is the essence of Allah but at times religion is interpreted in such a manner that the direction of religion changes towards humans. Like for Prophet Isa, the believers instead of turning towards Allah they considered him as God. This has happened in many instances in history whereby people out of ignorance have accepted certain persons as their God even though they themselves have not declared this. Allah has said explicitly in Quran that no bondsmen of Allah who has been given guidance, book has the rights to order people to become his bondsmen and worship me but instead he should tell people to orient towards the Lord and creator. These are established facts of religion. Like for Prophet Ibrahim Allah ordered him as first step to change direction towards Allah and move away from everything other than Allah. This order is for everyone to keep their faces, direction and path straight towards Allah. The saints of Allah have come for the purpose to orient the direction of people towards Allah and not themselves. Allah explicitly asked Prophet Isa that did you ask people to worship you, he replied that I have not asked them instead they do this out of ignorance and foolishness. I have ordered them to turn towards you and no Prophet, Imam oriented people towards themselves.
We see certain instances whereby the direction of people towards Allah is changed towards someone else and in this issue this verse comes on top whereby its misinterpretation has been resulted into this. The misinterpretation of this verse is such that you cannot go towards Allah directly that is without means. It looks like Allah has closed the doors of bounties, blessings, provision, mercy, forgiveness directly for everyone and only those who come towards him through some means they will get all these. This is because we interpret the word Waseela as means, whereas Waseela in Arabic does not mean this. In Arabic language this word is used very often but in Quran this word has been used only twice. We should consult Quran very often which our current generation does not do. I tell youths that one bombardment of bombs is going on in Gaza but there is much severe bombardment of corruption and culture going on everyone day and night. And this generation is buying at expensive prices the corrupted culture. To expect this generation to turn towards their Lord would be low but still we should not despair and there can be some people who can turn towards their Lord. We don’t have Raghbat towards Quran.
If you have Raghbat towards Quran then one point is that Quran is for everyone and no verses say that this is only for scholars. To understand Quranic terms, we have to refer to Arabic language and not other sciences. The academic sciences though help but they also create their own definitions of terms. The second thing to be attentive about understanding Quran are sects. The sects have adopted their own definitions of terminologies. We get the education from sects first and then we learn sciences from school and by the time we approach Quran we already have many things filled in our minds hence we interpret the Quran terms as per what is present in our minds. The sciences and sects came after Quran hence Quran did not take anything from these. Allah has selected the words from Arabic which was spoken before. We cannot give reference of sects and the sayings of scholars from sect for interpreting Quran. The sciences help in sharpening our brain and provide us tools but are not sources for understanding Quran.
Waseela is a word which has been interpreted abundantly by sects and thousands of books have been written on this term whereas Quran has only two verses. Hence, we have to refer to the Arabic language to understanding this term. Waseela in Arabic means to come near to someone based on Raghbat (ardent desires). At times we are near to others due to some reason or interest but not out of Raghbat. Like a child goes near to mother due to Raghbat and not just for needs. Raghbat is a strong, ardent desire , orientation towards something for which intention has been developed and motivation is also present to activate the intention and efforts are made. The education without Raghbat does not makes personality he can only pass exams. But at times we see one or two such students who stand out in academics and education which is due to their Raghbat. Like Martyr Motahari was such a personality and role model of students. In that atmosphere only one Motahari came out which means he was not made by the routine education because there were thousands of students present there. The same syllabus, students and books were there with others as well as Motahari. The difference was in Raghbat. Raghbat instills knowledge inside the soul of person. If you do anything like Salaat of 2 units with Raghbat, or listen to sermons with Raghbat and see the difference. This verse is asking us to do Waseela towards Allah means acquire proximity of Allah with Raghbat.
In Surah Isra verse no 56 and 57 the mention of Waseela is coming
قُلِ ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ مِنْ دُونِهِ فَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنْكُمْ وَلَا تَحْوِيلًا {56}
Say: Call or invite those whom you assert besides Him (as your Lord), so they shall not control the removal of distress from you nor (its) transference.
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ أَيُّهُمْ أَقْرَبُ وَيَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَهُ وَيَخَافُونَ عَذَابَهُ ۚ إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّكَ كَانَ مَحْذُورًا {57}
Those whom they call upon, themselves ardently seek proximity to their Lord– whoever of them is nearest– and they hope for His mercy and fear His chastisement; surely the chastisement of your Lord is a thing to be cautious of
The verse is saying that if you call those whom you call besides Allah, they cannot remove your distress. They are themselves seeking Waseela towards their Lord. They are those who desire the proximity of more Lord. They expect mercy of Allah and are afraid of wrath. Those whom you are calling they are also seeking proximity of Allah. Such personalities whom people have made their Lords; Allah says they are themselves seeking proximity of Allah. You are victim of misguidance in this. Allah says you are calling and worshipping Prophet Isa whereas he is calling his Lord for mercy and seeking nearness towards Allah.
Now you don’t see whom they are seeking, you should seek the same but instead you are seeking them. In this verse is the order of Taqwa and Waseela. Then after ardently desiring proximity of Allah the third order is of Jihad which means strenuous efforts and then these three will make you successful. This is the secret which Allah has presented to us but our interpretation is such that the same verse which is presenting the way to approach Allah it has become the basis to distance us from Allah. We have been told to seek Waseela which means find people in between who will take us towards Allah and from this all these businesses have started in religion which can witness today.
SERMON 2
Today’s humanity specifically Muslim are experiencing life without Taqwa and they are suffering because of this. Religion without Taqwa is sectarianism, ignorance. Worship without Taqwa is just tiredness, knowledge becomes means of destruction. Politics, governance becomes tyranny. We can see how in our country how various classes are living their lives without Taqwa and their lives are such that a believer with Taqwa distances from them. At a global level without Taqwa we can see the reference of Palestine.
Yesterday a conference was done by Arab nations wherein they have requested Israel to not attack Rafah which already they have started and Israel is thinking that they will be declared victorious in their already failed objectives. They are doing this as last hope of success. The West and Arabs all have appealed Israel to not carry out this attack. The second demand they did was to request UN to place a peace force in Israel. Gaza has exposed and disgraced all the rulers, leaders of Islamic world. Imagine Israel is attacking Rafah after destroying Gaza and other cities, they have martyred the Palestinians and those who are left have taken refuge in Rafah but still Israel could not get their hostages released, nor they could dismantle or finish Israel. The Hamas fighters are still coming from underground and attacking Israel. The Israelis were presented as oppressed with the Holocaust lies in Germany. It has been proven that Holocaust was a lie and if Germany had oppressed them, they should have been settled in Germany and not in Palestine. All that was done as per planning. They were beasts hiding under this disguise and now entire world has seen their dirty face and everyone hates them globally which is a big disgrace for Israel. Another humiliation for Israel is that Hamas is a small militant group and not a big army. They are fighting for their rights and they have attacked Israel taking more than 200 hostages. To release these hostages Israel attacked brutally and still could not release hostages. The third disgrace was Israel started this war to finish Hamas and they had no issues with other Palestinian groups who are all treacherous. Hamas has the source of revolution and supreme leader. And till date they could not finish Hamas and they are convinced that even today Hamas has same battle strength which they possessed on 7th October. This is a big insult for Israel. Now they are thinking that Hamas is hiding in Rafah so if we attack Rafah, we will be able to finish off Hamas. They have started attack on Rafah and did not refrain despite of their own allies asking them not to do. The biggest treachery again is from Arab rulers. They are demanding UN peace forces. Saudi is playing a big role in Gaza war. They are creating secondary fake issues to distract minds from Gaza. Bin Salman called a conference for Islamophobia, then Imam e Kaaba issued verdict that Gaza war is Fitnah and people should not participate in it and they were condemned by Pakistani elderly scholars. Now what Israel could not do they want to get this done through UN Peace force. Around 45 nations have helped Israel but they could not end Hamas and resistance. Israel knows if they stop war they will get permanently destroyed. On the other hand, Israel has used all the powers, means from these 45 countries and still could not even achieve a single secondary purpose. To destroy cities, kill women and children is not war success but war crime. Now Bin Salman wants to achieve the same goal of Israel through peace force which will be from America, West and these Arab nations. They will fight with Hamas as proxy of Israel. The way this force did for Yemen but could not achieve anything. Allah says we give time to tyrants so that all get exposed. Allah has not stopped Israel till date because Allah intends to disgrace all like America, Western nations, Arab rulers, Erdogan and wans to bury them in Gaza. The current situation shows that they are on the verge of extinction. If Iran, Hezbollah would have attacked and destroyed Israel this would be defeat for Israel but not that disgrace which they would face by being defeated from Hamas. When Abraha attacked with elephants Allah sent the army of Ababeel (tiny birds). If Iran would have defeated Israel, then it would elephant defeating elephant but Allah desires to disgrace Israel and all these tyrants through Ababeel. The end of these tyrants is near now and may Allah give strength to the resistance.
