Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore, Jamia Jafaria – Gujranwala)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq, Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 17th June 2022
Sermon 1: Lust of Leadership – Present in everyone
A person who crosses limits is Faasik. He recites Kalema, does or does not worship, delivers rituals or without in all cases when a person breaks limits he will be considered Faasik and Fajir. The Quran has not kept the foundation of system of guidance not on Ahkam but on principles. Ahkam are for protection of those limits. The duties within limits are Ahkam. The limits are set and to remain within limits is guidance and to cross those limits is Fisk and Fujoor.
One sign of Fisk and Fujoor which Allah has mentioned in Quran get elaborated in traditions. In Quran Allah says that those who desire Uloohiyat or exaltation Allah does not like them. As per tradition this exaltation is Hubbur Riyasat. In Arabic Riyasat means leadership and Hubbur Riyasat is love and desire for leadership. When Faasik reaches the peak in breaking limits he desires power and leadership . When this Fisk of power develops in someone then we should see what Quran says about them. In Surah Qasas
تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًا ۚ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ {83}
(As for) that future abode, we assign it to those who have no desire to exalt themselves in the earth nor to make mischief and the good end is for those who guard (against evil)
One important trait of Fisk o Fujoor is leadership whereby i desire others should follow me, they should praise me, raise slogans of my name. This feeling is power worship. This trait does not remain constant it keeps on growing and this is from Shahwat (lust) and it grows. The more you satiate lust it further grows and becomes out of control. This is applicable for all forms of lust and but most dangerous is lust for power.
The verse says that hereafter is for those who do not exalt and not make Fasad on earth. The reason why Firaun got destroyed was because he had this desire of leadership, rulership and it reached such a level that he claimed Rububiyat. In the disciplinary methods of religion the way Quran has pointed and Ahlulbayt (a) have made human being attentive towards this disease where you have to protect yourself from other disease you have to protect from the desire of leadership as well which is the head. In Arabic “Raas” means head and since head is the superior organ of body in controlling the body and governing the limb the Arabs use the word Raas for Riyasat i.e. head , leader. If man has this desire to become head of tribe, community and entire body is under my control and order and from this Arab derived the word Riyasat. Raees is the one who has the capacity of being head of the community or state.
There is one tradition from Imam Raza which was narrated before, where Imam (a) mentioned about one person that he has love of leadership. About this person whose name is mentioned as Moammar ibn Khallar, who had love of leadership. Even if he comes near Imam then also for the sake of polishing his leadership. Various people have different objectives for what purpose they do religious work, do worship , carry out welfare activities or approach Imam. The purpose for some is to gain leadership of people with all these acts. If someone develops this bane of desire for leadership then what is the damage. Imam narrates the damage with an example. That example is about a flock of sheep without a shepherd grazing on its own, and if two hungry wolves attack these sheep then the damage caused by these two wolves on these sheep would be less than the damage caused to Muslims by a person who is a worshipper of leadership and power. These are the criteria’s which religion has expressed for us. The system of religion is based on values which are preserved by limits and these limits are protected by Ahkam. IF man does Ahkam but breaks limits then this person is Faasik. The worse state of Fisk is when desire of leadership develops. There are other desires also like of woman, wealth but these will not damage the religion of all and would only impact some people at individual level. The thing which destroys the entire system, state, nation is the lust of power which in traditions is termed as Hubbur Riyasat. They are more dangerous than wolves. IF there would have been only wolves and no leader then Pakistan would not have been damaged so much. Like if the Hindu extremists or Zionist would have been present they would not have damaged so much as compared to these lovers of leadership.
The companion stood up and told Imam that this love of leadership is present in me and all of us. We do not have courage to say that we have these diseases present inside us. When we listen to the traits of hypocrisy in Quran then we look towards others, but first we should look inside ourselves. And if we do then these verses and narrations would become guidance for us. The Love of leadership is not just in worldly political affairs to become president or prime minister of state. It can develop in any state for any person and most dangerous is when this develops in religious persons. If someone develops this then this dangerous than wolves. If someone has the desire for leadership of community, society then he is very dangerous. There are various examples of these. We can see in our family where one member develops this desire to become leader of the entire family. Then through his hands entire family gets destroyed. You can see religious centers gets destroyed when instead of people delivering services leaders are present. They make organization which are steps towards leadership. They make organizations and then try to become leader , do character assassination of others. When someone reaches the level of Ijtihad they desire that people should take my name, deliver my sermons and when people develop this desire then they are dangerous than wolves. We should have courage to find if this lust is present in me or not. When the narrator of this tradition said it is present in me, we should do the same.
In another tradition, Imam Baqir (a) mentions the fundamental difference between school of Ahlulbayt (a) and Banu Umayyah. The foundation of Banu Umayyah is based on lust of leadership which they made it possible through religion. They rented Fuqaha, scholars, narrators to present the interests of Banu Umayyah as religion. The religion of Ahlulbayt (a) is to follow principles. From the time Jamea got established by Allah and placed us to provide service from that time the issues that are going on we ponder over it. There are two ways of doing things, by following principles or considering personal interests. The systems running on personal interests are all successful but those who are Principalists are victims of big difficulties. The biggest example is the Islamic revolution, which came on the basis of ideology where principles should have been the foundation has been damaged the most by the personal interests of some. This loss has been such that it cannot be compensated. This topic is generally not touched because they are related to the security secrets of the nation. Similarly these issues of Islamic revolution are related to the security of the nation. The Rahbar has said whenever we have left principles and gone after interests we have suffered losses. The system on self interests runs because those who are gaining interests they keep the vehicle running. Hence they keep on running the system to the extent that they gain their personal interest. But principalism is beyond interests which has been taught by Quran and Ahlulbayt(a). The biggest example of this is the politics of Ali and Muawiyah. Why the politics of Ali failed and Muawiya was successful? The deficiency in the governance of Imam Ali was that personal interests of anyone was not present in Ali’s rulership and Muawiyah worked on providing personal interest of people. If the personal interests of people are kept then they keep on running.
In other narration it says that if two wolves attack from front and back on the sheep, will be damaged more by those who have desires of wealth and leadership. If a community is handed over to a person who has love of leadership then the damage caused by this person on the religion , dignity of Muslims is more than two wolves. If a community becomes victim of such a person they will get destroyed. These are the analysis of Ahlulbayt (a). If we visit any area where we see destruction of wealth, education, society then there would be someone desirous of leadership who has caused this damage. There are lovers of leaders in organizations, mosques, centers whom Imams have termed as wolves.
Imam Sadiq (a) says: Who is the worse person amongst you? We will say thief, adulterer, drunkard. For Imam Sadiq (a) the worse person is one who desires people to follow him. When he comes out of his home a big number of people walk behind him and there are slogans raised behind him. He desires people bowing, kissing in front of him. He is the worse person because due to this evil he will commit all other crimes. One who develops the disease of leadership he will commit all evils.
The Prophet says : The disobedience of Allah starts from six things. If any one is present inside a person he will definitely become criminal. The first trait is love of world, then love of leadership , love of food, love of women, love of sleep, love of comfort (does not like hardship and toiling). These six love gets satiated with sins. Man gets into prohibition, develops illicit relationship, when he becomes comfort lover always under fan, it would be hot in mosque , sitting at home under AC. This is the basis of crime. And under the light of other narrations and amongst all these the worse is love of leadership which has devasted everything.
We have paralyzed our minds hence these teaching do not enter our minds and we always find ways for ourselves. Has Imam not mentioned that love of leadership is the worse evil which is dangerous then two wolves causing damage? We see many such religious persons whose every word is revolving around this love of leadership. Those who are sitting at mujtahid level to the level of secretary of Anjuman, in everyone this one thing is deeply pressed inside that is leadership. If you just suggest one thing that you have been leader for long now it’s enough you should step down; he will become your enemy. They will destroy everything. You should do Taqlid of those who do not have any desires of leadership inside them. There are such personalities who never accepted the Marjaiyat, and when there was no one else other than them still they were not ready to accept the Marjaiyat and would ask people to remain on the Taqlid of previous ones. You should hand over the mosque to those who do not have love of leadership. Those who have love of leadership are ready to die and put their religion in danger for the sake of leadership. The worse person Imam says is one who wants people to follow him. Imam says this person would be either a liar or fool.
This chapter continues with more narrations. To understand this meaning that Taqwa is the basis of protection of human life and against Taqwa is Fisk o Fujoor and this gets manifested in its worse form as love of leadership and power. And the flock who accepts wolves gets destroyed. The most senseless community is one where the lover of leadership comes to power. And this community will get destroyed through his hands only.
SECOND SERMON
Current Generation has crossed all divine limits
The roadmap of Taqwa which means the practical Taqwa on ground that can be implemented in our lives.
In saying 105, AM presents a policy related to Taqwa
. وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: إِنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَرَائِضَ فَلَا تُضَيِّعُوهَا وَ حَدَّ لَكُمْ حُدُوداً فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا وَ نَهَاكُمْ عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ فَلَا تَنْتَهِكُوهَا وَ سَكَتَ لَكُمْ عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ وَ لَمْ يَدَعْهَا نِسْيَاناً فَلَا تَتَكَلَّفُوهَا
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: Allah has placed on you some obligations which you should not ignore, laid down for you limits which you should not transgress and prohibited you from certain things which you should not violate. He has kept silent about certain things but has not left them out through forgetfulness, so do not burden yourself with them.
These are four guidance principles which can be practically acted upon. The obligations are those affairs which are mandatory to be delivered. These are established things in a measure whereby its limits, position cannot be changed or moved. Such duties have been ordained by Allah and we need to have the lists of all these obligations always present with us. You need to have a diary where all duties , obligations should be listed whether you have delivered or not. The irreligiousness has spread due to wasting of obligations. If we would have delivered all the obligations then everything would be in their place then everything that is lost could be regained.
The second thing are the limits that are set by Allah and should not transgress that. Hudood in terminology is the final end or edge where that thing ends. There is a limit of everything and Allah has made everything with its ends and borders. Similarly Quran has used the same term for the laws of Allah as well for man. These are the limits of your life though you have been given intention , means but everything has been kept with limits which you should not cross. Todays’ generations have crossed all limits. This is because such ideologies like liberalism is taught. Liberalism is not freedom it is breaking limits. They arouse women to leave Hijab and their social, family duties. The women who are living their lives within limits they arouse them to break limits. They want women not to be confined by man as father, brother, husband and son. This has started in Pakistan. You can listen to the cases of women who have run away from their homes and now media is supporting them. They like women to break limits because this is the desire of man. The women will always get a secondary benefit from breaking limits as per their psychology like presenting themselves , showing off their beauty due to which she will get some money and at the end women will get destroyed. There is a limit for every segment and stage of life. You have limits of eating, listening, speaking which are ordained by Allah. Similarly there are rights which I have mentioned that in our culture there is no such thing as rights.
Amirul Momineen (a) says deliver your duties. Then there are limits which should always be present in your minds. Religious teaching demands making people confined to limits and not that after studying religion you break limits more and consider themselves as their rights because we are religious people. They consider every limit breaking as permissible. This is not correct , the limits are not meant for breaking, ,they are meant for being preserved. Allah has prevented you from certain things and you should not stampede these limits. The things which Allah has made as precincts and you are not allowed to enter. Like the private life of Na Mahram has nothing to do with you but man peeks inside Na Mahram more and prefers , desires Na Mahram more than Mahram. The Mahram are not so much desirous of each other than Na Mahram. Man leaves home well decorated. It is necessary to leave home in good manner so that you are not counted as being indisciplines so you look like a personality. At times man decorates himself to gain attention of Na Mahram, so why you don’t do this for your wife. The same thing which women does; they decorate themselves when leaving home. They wear tight dresses, put perfume, wear such shoes whose sounds is more than autorickshaw. You should do all this for your husband and not for Na Mahram. Do not break these limits. They are limits for Halal and Haram. All has established limits and stopped them. And then prohibited to break these limits.
At times we do something with permission. If something is prohibited then with permission as well it is wrong. A women gives permission to you for sitting near her. This is Allah’s order and limit; her permission does not make it permissible for you. This was the difficulty for Amirul Momineen (a). He said for me Taqwa is an obstacle to do certain things which Muawiya does who was very shrewd and clever.
