Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 14th April, 2023
Sermon 1: First twenty days of Ramadan were preparation for the last ten
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 for its honor, respect and prestige. The opportunities where man can put on the garb of Taqwa one of them is Ramadan for which the Holy Prophet (s) has guided with a manifesto on what believers should do in this month. The outcome of these acts is Taqwa.
The Holy Prophet (s) says that an important act that gives materialistic as well as spiritual benefit is to present Iftar to those who are fasting. Serving Iftar to one person fasting is equivalent to releasing one slave which is a great act. This is mentioned to present the weight of the deed. We see two things which contribute to the weight of the deeds across narrations. One is releasing slave and other is rewards of certain number of Hajj , these two are always used to present the weightage of deeds. The releasing of slave was being mentioned in those days has the most esteemed act because the slaves were considered to be assets. Though keeping slaves has not been explicitly mentioned as forbidden but emphasis has been laid on releasing slaves. This act is equated to other deeds to show the significance. The other compensation is your sins get forgiven. Companions asked we all do not have capacity to serve Iftar. The Holy Prophet (s) replied that still you have to do and even if you cannot serve full mean then at least serve one half piece of Date. As such doing extravagance and formality in Iftar is not permissible which we generally do daily in our Iftar and specifically when we invite guest for Iftar. You should have multiple dishes on Iftar and just one single dish is enough and should be in accordance to the status of guest. This would be considered as complete Iftar if delivered by preserving the honor and dignity of believers. You should serve Iftar to the extent possible and the Prophet says at least one half of date which means minimum possible. It should not be that you invite your guests to Madrassa for Iftar and spend from Baitul Maal. The public treasury is only for certain specific people and not for everyone. You should do Iftar to the extent you can and again the least is to arrange one glass of water from your own. To serve water from the public water cooler is an etiquette but for Iftar you have to spend from your own pocket.
The Holy Prophet (s) says, O People! One who have made their behavior excellent in Ramadan. In the month of Ramadan if you give relaxation to your employees Allah will relieve your burden. The Holy Prophet (s) says one who protects his evil in the month of Ramadan which as such should not be done throughout the year. The other Muslims should remain secure from our tongues, hands and limbs. Specifically no hardship should come on anyone from us in the month of Ramadan and if he does then on the day of Qayamat Allah will stop his wrath on him. The one who honored orphans in the month of Ramadan Allah will honor him on the day of judgement. We have to give dignity and honor to orphans, what we do is to insult orphans by showing off to everyone that he is orphan whom I am helping. The month of Ramadhan is the month of mercy and one key of this is to have good relationship with your relatives so that you can receive mercy from Allah. The one who severed relationship with relatives Allah will break relationship with him on the day of judgement. The one who intentionally by will offers supererogatory prayers Allah has made obligatory to release him from the fire of hell. This is because in the month of Ramadan the rewards of deeds gets multiplied by seventy times. It is like of rate of goods going up in certain seasons, where you sell your products at that time. The one who delivered one obligation in month of Ramadan he will get rewards for seventy deeds as compared to ordinary months. The Holy Prophet (s) says the one who sent salutations on me in this month then Allah will increase the compensation of his acts. The one who recites one verse Quran in the month of Ramadan is equivalent to reciting entire Quran in other months.
O people! Allah has opened the doors of Paradise for you, so now seek from your Lord before he closes the doors. Allah will close the door only if man desires from Allah to close. This means if man does opposite of what Prophet is asking us to do in the month then doors will close. The doors of hell are closed in month of Ramadan and you should seek from Lord to not open it for you. Allah has fettered Satan in this month so you should seek from Allah to not release him. We have not understood the concept of Satan hence we are engulfed in satanism ourselves and others also do Satanic acts with us. We have been told that Satan is a Jinn who is very powerful, he does not sleep and is present everywhere and dominates the minds, hearts, intention of everyone. If someone is so powerful then he is not ordinary and is not visible. How can we protect from something which is not visible and Allah is asking us to protect ourselves from Satan. One Satan is Jinn and other Satan is within ourselves. Satanism means something that distances and takes us away from Allah. So you can see who distances you from Allah? Who has kept you away from Salaatul Jumah? It’s not some witch or ghost who has stopped you, but is your own self, desires, wife, children or some Maulana that prohibits you from coming to Salaatul Jumah. Like as you see in some business deal you do not get the benefits due to someone else who deprives you, and you are aware who has deprived. The Satan are the near ones who keep you away from your responsibilities and these Satan’s are the ones who are tied by Allah and now you go and open the ties yourself. They want to keep you away from Allah and you want to go near them? He takes your attention away like in this sermon. The Jinn has not come to turn your neck to look at somewhere else. The one who distances from knowledge, acts by inserting thoughts, giving suggestions. There are many suggestions that distances us from our purpose. In Ramadan these are tied up and man opens them.
Allah says that in month of Ramadan the Satan’s are tied up but in Pakistan all the Satan’s in politics, governments, institutes are all open. The Satanism done in this month is continuing now as well in Pakistan on this day. They are not Jinn, Iblis instead they are ones elected by your votes.
Amirul Momineen (a) asked Holy Prophet (s) during this sermon which is the best act in this month of Ramadan. The Holy Prophet (s) said O Abul Hassan! The best act is AL WARA , that is refrain from those acts which Allah has ordained as forbidden. Then the Prophet wept and Amirul Momineen (a) asked why are you crying? Holy Prophet (s) said that I am crying on the calamity that is going to fall on you in this month. I can see in this month that you are in the state of Salaat in this month the most wretched person in humanity rises and inflicts a stroke of sword on your forehead and your beard gets dyed with that blood. Ali (a) did not become concerned but instead asked when I would be hit by this stroke of sword would my religion be secure at that time? This is the privilege of Amirul Momineen (a) which distinguishes and makes him stand out as compared to everyone else in the Ummah of Holy Prophet (s). It is an oppression to compare Ali with someone else as to who is more superior and Ali had this pain. He even confessed at one stage that the world has taken me down to this extent that they compared me with Muawiyah which is a big oppression. The Holy Prophet (s) replied that your religion would be secured. The one who killed you killed me, one who antagonized you he did that with me. Your soul is my soul, your creation is my creation, Allah created me for Prophethood and you for Imamat. One who denied your Imamat denied my Prophethood. O Ali! You are my successor and father of my two children, that is Hassan and Hussain. You are the husband of my daughter and successor, Caliph over my Ummat during my life as well as after. Your order is my order and your prohibition is mine. I swear on that lord who made me Prophet and the goodness over his creation that you are Hujjat on my Ummah, trustee of secrets of Allah and Caliph over the bondsmen of Allah.
This was the sermon in which the Holy Prophet (s) made the Ummah aware about the manifesto of Ramadan. He addressed as O people and not to believers only. This great month came to us and is now going towards its end. The Prophet said this month has approached you and you welcomed it and now it is leaving us. During the remaining days try to compensate the shortcomings that would have come due to various occupancies of ours in which we are trapped voluntarily. These last ten days are very important specifically and in these is Laylatul Qadr as well. In these ten days there is descend of Quran and Angels. Whatever man has to achieve lies in these ten days specifically. The previous twenty days that have passed before these last ten days were for preparation for these ten days. Hence consider these last ten days as blessed opportunity and the sincerity which Prophet is demanding from us through fasting. The doors which Allah has promised to open we should get those opened and those which Allah has closed if we have got it opened due to our mistakes then let us get those closed. The Satan’s whom Allah have tied up we should get them tied up specifically the Satan’s of Pakistan. May Allah not just tie them but instead drown them so that no one like these should every come who would destroy the entire nation.
SECOND SERMON
Fasting should revive our feelings to stand for oppressed
Allah has ordained the month of Ramadan for acquiring Taqwa and specifically in this month Fasting is the act whose wisdom is to acquire Taqwa. As Allah says in Quran that Fasting has been established for you and generations before you so that you can acquire Taqwa. Fasting leaves a deep impact on us. There are traditions which mention that if you do deliver the rights of Sawm and then it is just starvation.
Amirul Momineen (a) narrates from Holy Prophet (s) whereby he says; there are several people whom fasting gives nothing else other than hunger and thirst. And there are many such worshippers of night who only remain awakened at night in worship but don’t get anything beyond that.
This is because Sawm is not just remaining hungry and thirsty, but instead Sawm comprehends the entire existence of man. One fasting is of limbs and second is of heart. Sawm means to stop and control. Man should first start with heart and intellect. The things that come in heart should be controlled. The whisperings start in heart where evil thoughts come. If the heart comes under Sawm then the limbs come under control on their own.
There is a tradition from Holy Prophet (s), whereby he saw a mistress abusing her maid in very bad words and the mistress was in the state of fasting as well. The Holy Prophet (s) asked her what kind of fasting person you are? Sawm is not just to refrain from food and water. Allah has ordained fasting to refrain from Halal so that you it becomes a reasoning for you to refrain from Haram, forbidden and corrupt acts. If the licentious and transgressing acts remain in your self despite of fasting then majority are starving and not fasting. The Holy Prophet (s) is saying that these people have only left eating and drinking but continue with all forbidden acts. The Prophet mentions that Allah says when you have not left Haram but have left eating, drinking which is Halal then this is not acceptable.
There is another dimension of fasting which is related to today. Imam Sadiq (a) says what is the purpose behind fasting whereby Allah has kept this hard worship. This is because that both rich and poor should become same. This is because the rich person cannot experience poverty and starving unless he fasts. The one who is rich never starves and hence his feelings of hunger and thirst dies. The one who is rich he arranges everything whenever he desires. Hence Allah has kept this worship so that the rich people do not kill their feeling of humanity. They should feel, realize the pains of poor and weak. Imam Sadiq (a) says Allah has made fasting obligatory to revive the feeling of hunger, thirst and specifically of the day of judgement. To develop humbleness, humility, lowliness of self; Allah has kept fasting.
In another tradition of Imam Raza (a) as to why Fasting has been kept by Allah. He (s) says that in this current life man should learn something from fasting. And whatever hardships that come due to fasting he should be pleased with the rewards he get. So that he gets the cognizance on what passes on poor and weak people in the world. To revive this feeling Allah has kept fasting. When they fast for 14 hours and then do Iftar, they should realize that this state of mine was for 14 hours but there are many who are in this state of hunger in the last 14 years and for more. Hence when man does Iftar he realizes this that the way Allah has satiated my hunger and thirst, I should be able to do that for others. Allah wants to revive this feeling in us through fasting.
Hunger and thirst are one feeling but it is possible today there are some who are suffering more oppression than hunger and thirst. It is possible they are getting food , water but their lives, dignity, nation and sanctities are captivated. Their lands and religion might not be free. Their necks are shackled by some and inhuman treatment is being done with them. Hunger and thirst are also pains which we are revived through fasting but there much bigger pains which also we have to revive in the month of Ramadan. Fasting brings life to our dead souls and when the souls become alive they feel what is going around them. Today our state is because of not being sensitive. We can see the nation of Palestine is captivated and oppressed for 75 years. The same is being happening with Kashmir and nothing of theirs is secure. When no one supported these nations, then Yemenis also became victim of this tyranny and then Syria, Iraq, Bahrain all became victims. This is because people did not realize the pains. Hence the Prophet said the majority are starving and not fasting. We are told about the etiquettes of fasting which are of starving. The one who teaches us the etiquettes of real fasting is Imam Khomeini (r.a). Fasting is not about from what time to what time we should not eat, etc. The fasting is reviving the human feelings which means those who are oppressed we should raise voice for them. And that day is today. Imam Khomeini (r.a) after one year of revolution announced that the last Friday of Ramadan should be dedicated by all Muslims to express the proof of them being awakened for the oppressed. If the Ummah would have welcomed this message of Imam Khomeini (r.a) then certainly Kashmir would not have suffered from the same state. Yemen would not have also not suffered because living communities whose feelings are alive they do not see their Muslim brothers being slaughtered in front of eyes. It is due to this negligence that Muslims are suffering globally. The Muslims in India remained silent on Kashmir and today they are in much worse situation then Palestine. The same Muslims never spoke for Kashmir because their fasting was not the one which was elaborated by Holy Prophet (s) but instead was just starvation. If that was really fasting then their senses would have been alive for Kashmir. Today they would not have been disgraced like this. He would not have been butchered in the name of cow dung. But about whom all we should complain as the worse situation is of ours. In our country even though Jews and Hindus are not controlling us but our rulers have worse behavior with Pakistanis then the Jews and Hindus. Whatever is happening with Pakistanis to revive this feeling is fasting and Yaum Al Qods which is today.
All believers who are healthy should participate in this. it is an symbolic act which is meant to get prepared for some real act. It should not happen that when Karbala comes you feel hungry and thirsty. That Karbala is for certain whether you want to bring it in your era else it would be activated by our Imam of Age (a.t.f.s). Anyone who is prepared will only stand with him and say Labbaik to him. Today is the day to practice that. May Allah revive the consciousness, sense and awakening in all Muslims. Everyone should participate in this event. It is the zakat of your security. It takes 2 to 3 hours for this participation but for these hours you are saying Labbaik to your Prophet , Ali and the Imam of Age (a.t.f.s) which is nothing. It should not happen that the Ramadan passes away and the oppressed keeps on looking that no one raised the voice for them. Israel has done a lot of oppression in this month by killing Palestinians, captivating them and oppressing them whereby yesterday also two were martyred. And the same situation is in Kashmir, India and you should raise your voice for them so that you prove that we don’t have dead hearts, we are alive and fasting has further made us alive.
