Hujjatul Islam Ustad Syed Jawad Naqvi
(Principal Jamia Orwatul Wuthqa – Lahore)
Delivered at: Masjid Baitul ul Ateeq
Lahore – Pakistan
Friday Sermon – 4th November, 2022
Sermon 1: Quran is decisive overs teachings and fatwas of sects
I invite you all bondsmen and myself towards Taqwa and counsel, emphasize you to establish your lives on the basis of Taqwa. It is the protection mechanism of life for every segment from Allah (s) and humanity remains preserved through Taqwa without which it turns into beastliness. Allah has ordained Taqwa for every segment and section of life.
Quran emphasizes a lot on Taqwa and all those affairs of life when presented by Quran, Taqwa is also presented along with that. In Surah Ale Imran, verse 102 Allah has presented Taqwa in on more field of life.
وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ ۗ وَمَنْ يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ {101}
But how can you disbelieve while it is you to whom the communications of Allah are recited, and among you is His Messenger? And whoever holds fast to Allah, he indeed is guided to the right path.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ {102}
O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims.
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْقَذَكُمْ مِنْهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ {103}
And hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your hearts so by His favor you became brethren; and you were on the brink of a pit of fire, then He saved you from it, thus does Allah make clear to you His communications that you may follow the right way.
To refrain from discord and establish connection with Hablillah is considered as Taqwa. To keep the believers connected in one stream and to come out of discord this verse is presented. To make discords and sedition is not permitted and here the Muslims openly challenge the Quran and go against the Quran.
Tafarqu is to make sects, nurture and worship them. They first make sects, then they worship their sect by leaving religion and obey what they have made themselves. Allah made religion and not made even a single sect. These people have made sects for their own interests or doubts or certain agenda. They worship their sects and then on the basis of sect they arouse differences and then start battle on the basis of sectarian. The curse of sectarianism in which Pakistan has been indulged through the hands of scholars, Muslims who possess Quran. This is a clear example of religion which people make without Quran and we at present can see that every sect follower believes that his sect is Quranic religion and they have some verses of Quran to justify. This is an illusion and misunderstanding.
I have discussed this before as well related to Allama Tabatabai who has revived the Quran in Shiite and he mentions in vol 6 of Tafsir Al Mizan that in our seminaries (Hauza) our entire syllabus is without Quran.
Without Quran if something else is made as base whether he is scholar or believer the sectarianism starts unintentionally. Those things which are basis of sectarianism are the sayings of scholars. So and so scholar has said this, that Faqeeh has said that. When this happens then sects will get formed. The sayings of scholars are their understanding and not what actually is being said by Allah. The sayings say that this scholar has understood this from this meaning. What you are listening to the sermon now and if you go and narrate to others, you would be narrating what you have understood. It is not necessary that what you are narrating is exactly what was meant by the Imam of Jumah. It happens in our routine affairs also in dealings that we say that I understood this way and he says I was not telling this, I meant this. A difference comes in understanding and saying. The scholars understand religion and should be kept that way. You should not take away the rights of others to understand religion and every one has rights to understand religion.
Allah says that from every community a group should go out to understand religion deeply and then they should return back as teachers to make people understand. The way Allah ordered Prophet to present religion with the method of teaching. It is not that Prophets should say that we have understood religion from Allah and no need for you to understand and just follow us. People should teach others about religion. The best amongst you is one who teaches Quran to others. The one who has read Quran and taught Quran to others for the sake of Allah is the best valued person in humanity. He is the successor of Prophet and treading on their path. The Prophets could have done what we are doing now. The scholars learn religion and then tell us you don’t need to study religion and just take Fatwas from us. Whatever Allah has descended in Quran teach the people and not tell people to only come for Fatwas to us. Oration is not teaching that is a skill to arouse passions in believe. Allah taught the Prophet and they taught to their successors and people. The Prophet taught the Imams, they taught their students and people.
Quran should be spread through teaching. But when we leave Quran and make the basis of religion as sayings of Prophet. If you ask Mujtahideen their entire knowledge is that they know the sayings of all ancient Ulama. Then other sciences in the name of religion and after that only traditions. Anything that is classified as Hadith you should act on that is what sects teach. In the same hadith itself if you see Sheikh Abbas Qummi who has written Mafatihul Jinan. He is an expert on the science of Hadith. All the Hadith which he gathered it is clear that he is not having the sources of authenticity in Mafatih. He says that he made the basis a hadith that even if you get weak traditions about something which carries rewards , it can be considered as correct. Like if you see the book Sahih Bukhari, it says this book is correct but not that all the Hadiths are authentic. One Ahle Sunnah scholar who came to us few days he said something beautiful that with authentic source you can connect a fabricated tradition. Like today in photoshop graphics software where you can place the head of someone else on someone else picture. You can fabricate pictures. This scholar said that the same happens in traditions where the source is correct but the content of the Hadith is fabricated. The chain of narrators are correct but this tradition has not come from these sources. Now the people are looking at the chain of narrators and not what is inside Hadith.
Like in Shias we have four authentic books in which is Usool e Kaafi. Are all narrations correct in this? it is not true. We can never say blindly that everything in the book is correct. You assess on the basis of Quran and you can see that there is a mismatch in many hadith. We have to verify every sentence. Quran is the only book which is certain, authentic and there is no doubt in it. Apart from this there is nothing which can say is absolutely correct and no need to prove.
When sects are made, we take sayings, sciences and hadith. Allama Tabatabai in vol 6 says. He has a complete discourse on how Quran went out of the lives of Muslims gradually. Al Mizan is a seminary book of lectures and not that we just read its translations. Ayatullah Jawadi Amouli says that first 6 volumes of Al Mizan needs a teacher to understand. In Vol 6 towards the end he presents this discourse how Quran went out of lives, teachings and madrassas. We say that we have Hafiz of Quran, Qari, printing of Quran, we recite Quran and all these are not the basis of sect. The real point is show in your sect how much Quran is involved and not that you are reciting Quran on graves. This does not make Quran the basis of religion. If someone does continuously Istikhara from Quran then this does not make the basis of his sect a Quran.
Due to distancing from Quran several sects have come and are still being made. Everyone is busy in making sects and all this is due to distancing from Quran. Allama Tabatabai says that if someone sits in Hauza and does not read Quran even for a single day for the sake of education and deducing religion then also he become a Great Mujtahid of his era. How can a sect be made without Quran? Why should someone destroy his religion and hereafter in a sect which has no Quran. The Quran has declared sectarianism as prohibited. When you make sect without Quran then this is what happens that leads to sectarianism.
This dimension on how the servants of Allah should spend their life, whether they should become a sect or Ummah. What should be the Quranic way of life? The sects show various models of life but Quran presents only one way that is Ummah. Everyone should transform themselves into Ummah and do that Quran as guidance. To become Ummah you have to refrain on thing and one act you have to do is Ehtesambillah and Ehtesam be Hablillah. We do not recite the first verse. The thing you don’t have to do is Tafarqa that is to not become Sect. You will do these two things only when you possess Taqwa.
Next verse in Arabic
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تُطِيعُوا فَرِيقًا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ يَرُدُّوكُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ كَافِرِينَ {100}
O you who believe! if you obey a party from among those who have been given the Book, they will turn you back as unbelievers after you have believed.
وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ ۗ وَمَنْ يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ {101}
But how can you disbelieve while it is you to whom the communications of Allah are recited, and among you is His Messenger? And whoever holds fast to Allah, he indeed is guided to the right path.
Why you do Kufr when the Allah’s signs are recited to you and the Prophet is being present amongst you. Anyone who does Ehtesam billah he is on Seerat e Mustaqeem. If Ehtesame billah is not there you are not at all on the right path and you are on the path of Satan.
Then what is the method of Ehtesam billlah, its means is to do Ehstesam e hablillah and this would become the basis that you will come on Seerate Mustaqeem.
Now if you see all the translations of Quran, old as well new where everyone says Ehtesam is to hold. This is not the right meaning in terminology. Hold is Tamassuk and not Ehtesam. The Ehtesama comes from the family of Esaam, Ismat. When you translate Ismat we say Infallible. Watasimu has the same meaning. Ehtesam means to acquire Ismat. Those who read Sarf and Nahv and get command on it, they forget all this when they come to Quran. The translators could not translate the adjectives correctly. Ehtesam means to acquire Ismat by connecting through Hablullah. Now Ismat is a close meaning to Taqwa as both meaning protection. WaTasimu means to acquire a security mechanism by connecting to the Hablullah unitedly (Jamean). The Jamean says you all have to be united to achieve this purpose. You will not become secure through Tafarqa but with unity. In between this the mention of Taqwa is coming.
Allama Tabatabai says one thing which was done was that Hadith was brought at par with Quran. Today we give preference to Hadith , they leave Quran if Hadith comes, whereas we have to leave Hadith if it contradicts with Quran. Quran is present more but practically Hadith are being acted upon. This way they have abandoned Quran.
Quran says openly to not do Tafarqa, it is prohibited but it is being openly, shameful manner. They are against unity and in their Majalis they spread Tafarqa. Without Quran religion has made this state of theirs. If they would have made Quran as basis then even if they would not have avoided swine, dogs, alcohol, adultery but would not have done Tafarqa. By eating haram humanity does not gets destroyed but with Tafarqa the Ummah gets destroyed. They ask if Quran is saying this what that Agha says about that. What has Agha to do with Quran? If there is Quranic verse then it is decisive. Anyone who spreads Tafarqa he has nothing to do with Quran.
SECOND SERMON
Sermon 2: Going below limits causes harm and crossing limits corrupts
In saying no 108
وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: لَقَدْ عُلِّقَ بِنِيَاطِ هَذَا الْإِنْسَانِ بَضْعَةٌ هِيَ أَعْجَبُ مَا فِيهِ وَ ذَلِكَ الْقَلْبُ وَ ذَلِكَ أَنَّ لَهُ مَوَادَّ مِنَ الْحِكْمَةِ وَ أَضْدَاداً مِنْ خِلَافِهَا فَإِنْ سَنَحَ لَهُ الرَّجَاءُ أَذَلَّهُ الطَّمَعُ وَ إِنْ هَاجَ بِهِ الطَّمَعُ أَهْلَكَهُ الْحِرْصُ وَ إِنْ مَلَكَهُ الْيَأْسُ قَتَلَهُ الْأَسَفُ وَ إِنْ عَرَضَ لَهُ الْغَضَبُ اشْتَدَّ بِهِ الْغَيْظُ وَ إِنْ أَسْعَدَهُ الرِّضَى نَسِيَ التَّحَفُّظَ وَ إِنْ غَالَهُ الْخَوْفُ شَغَلَهُ الْحَذَرُ وَ إِنِ اتَّسَعَ لَهُ الْأَمْرُ اسْتَلَبَتْهُ الْغِرَّةُ وَ إِنْ أَفَادَ مَالًا أَطْغَاهُ الْغِنَى وَ إِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ مُصِيبَةٌ فَضَحَهُ الْجَزَعُ وَ إِنْ عَضَّتْهُ الْفَاقَةُ شَغَلَهُ الْبَلَاءُ وَ إِنْ جَهَدَهُ الْجُوعُ قَعَدَ بِهِ الضَّعْفُ وَ إِنْ أَفْرَطَ بِهِ الشِّبَعُ كَظَّتْهُ الْبِطْنَةُ فَكُلُّ تَقْصِيرٍ بِهِ مُضِرٌّ وَ كُلُّ إِفْرَاطٍ لَهُ مُفْسِدٌ
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: In man there is a piece of flesh attached to him with a vein and it is the strangest thing in him. It is the heart. It has a store of wisdom and things contrary to wisdom or various states of wisdom. If it sees a ray of hope, eagerness humiliates it and when eagerness increases, greed ruins it. If disappointment overtakes it, grief kills it. If anger rises in it, a serious rage develops. If it is blessed with pleasure, it forgets to be cautious and protective. If it becomes fearing, it becomes heedless of precaution. If peace extends all round, it becomes neglectful. If it earns wealth, freedom from care puts it in the wrong. If trouble befalls it, becomes impatient. If it faces starvation, distress overtakes it. If hunger attacks it, weakness makes it sit down. If its eating increases, heaviness of stomach pains it. Thus, every shortness is harmful to it and every excess is injurious, corruptive to it.
وَ إِنْ جَهَدَهُ الْجُوعُ قَعَدَ بِهِ الضَّعْفُ وَ إِنْ أَفْرَطَ بِهِ الشِّبَعُ كَظَّتْهُ الْبِطْنَةُ فَكُلُّ تَقْصِيرٍ بِهِ مُضِرٌّ وَ كُلُّ إِفْرَاطٍ لَهُ مُفْسِدٌ
If hunger attacks it, weakness makes it sit down. If its eating increases, heaviness of stomach pains it.
If man has nothing to eat, he starves and becomes weak. A weak person cannot do anything, neither he can worship, learn or teach. This starvation is a wrath on human being though there is fasting as well which man has to do in a certain manner. The starvation that comes due to lack of means, and cannot get bread for one time as well. This poverty destroys man and he cannot deliver his duties, worship and is not present in those fields where he should be present and many other evils. In Quran and Hadith both it is present that extreme poverty leads to infidelity. Extreme poverty means there is nothing to eat itself. In Sufism they consider starving is good, that is by choice when you starve it trains man. But not this starvation which comes due to extreme poverty. On contrary there are people who have so much food that he overeats and due to his he becomes weak and cannot rise.
Kizza is that state which comes on man after overeating by which he cannot walk and even breathe. This state in Arabic is known as Kizza. Both the states where due to starvation he comes weak or by overeating. The way remaining hungry to become weak is not a virtue similarly overeating is also undesired act.
The conclusion of this saying is that any act in which you are below limits you will face harm and if you go exceed limits you will face corruption (fasaad). Practically either we are suffering corruption due to extravagance and harm comes when you go under limit. As an example he quotes food. If you don’t get food you suffer the harm of weakness. Some people remain hungry due to habits. They wake up late and no breakfast is there, they have to remain hungry. They don’t have courage to work and even asks guests to work as he is having strength to eat. When time for eating comes, eat limited so that energy is present in body. The students who don’t eat they become weak to learn and teach due to hunger. It is not recommended (Makrooh) for a person to remain hungry intentionally or as habit because he won’t be able to deliver his duties. Eat with balance at the right time and eat that much which is required. If you don’t eat that is also damaging and if you overfill your stomach then due that he cannot get up and feels the pain more than the one starving. He cannot digest, he develops diseases of indigestion. He eats the food of others and they remain hungry. Sometimes we get complaint that today food got over. This is because at times the food is made very tasty so those who go early to eat they overeat and later ones do not get any food. If food is tasty then also eat as per need and do not eat the rights of others. The stomach who has the rights of others that would be go in hell. Do not usurp the rights of others, take permission. This has the wrath of world and hereafter both. In the end Ali (a) gives a formula for life. Like for sleeping as well, those who sleep more it is corruption and if you sleep less there is harm. Similarly for talking, walking and everything in life if you cross limits you will become corrupted and if you go below then you will suffer harm.
This is best practical leadership guidance where people are told about the ways of life so that they remain healthy in every perspective. When food is made good somewhere they keep on eating, but if food is not good they don’t eat. One big corruption of over eating is sugar , cholesterol and other disease.
