Sermon 1: Subject of Tafarqa and Wahdat are Quranic syllabus and not presents in 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.
The actual field of life which is social we have handed over to non-religious constitution and only given a small portion of individual affairs to religion. The foremost in social life is formation of society and in this context the face, form which Quran has presented is of Ummah. A divine society gets formed as Ummah. In development of Ummah there are essential elements amongst which one important element is Unity which means the social and practical relationship amongst people. In every piece of land where 7 billion human being are settled they are all living social life which gets established through a relation which forms the society and it has a foundation. That could be community, race, region, trade, interests, facilities which have gathered people in one place and societies got formed which got divided across villages, town, cities, countries and continents. These are all divisions of society. The order which Quran is giving to form a society is not based on land, race, community, interests, facilities instead it is based on foundation of religion. The religion that is the constitution of Allah should connect and make relationships amongst people. And that constitution for the current generation is Quran. In this stage of formation of society, Taqwa should be preserved and with Taqwa Ummah should be formed. The relationships should be established on the basis of Taqwa. For this Allah in Quran presents the verses 102 to 106 in Surah Ale Imran
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.
Ehtesam is from Ismat, which means to acquire Ismat and Ismat means protection. This means in this verse you should secure and protect yourself through the essence of Allah and in the orbit of Allah.
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.
Now, when you have got faith, then acquire Taqwa the way it deserves to be acquired , delivering its worth and when you die then you should die as Muslim
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.
In 102, it was mentioned to do Ehtesam with Allah and now in this verse it is to do Ehtesam with Hablullah and everyone together should to do it and do not cause discord. And in this regard remember the bounty of Allah which he gave you to transform the hatred amongst you into love with each other else you were on the verge of extinction and standing on the brink of pit of fire of Hell. This is the way Allah communicates to you his sign that you get guided
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ تَفَرَّقُوا وَاخْتَلَفُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ {105}
And be not like those who became divided and disagreed after clear arguments had come to them, and these it is that shall have a grievous chastisement.
يَوْمَ تَبْيَضُّ وُجُوهٌ وَتَسْوَدُّ وُجُوهٌ ۚ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْوَدَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ أَكَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ فَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْفُرُونَ {106}
On the day when (some) faces shall turn white and (some) faces shall turn black; then as to those whose faces turn black: Did you disbelieve after your believing? Taste therefore the chastisement because you disbelieved.
You should become an Ummah inviting towards Khair and summon towards Maroof and prohibit evil. And these are the people who will become felicitous. And do no become like those who have caused discord. You also should not do discord and now it is said do not become like those who have done discord.
A divine life is formed when it is based on the foundation of Taqwa and Allah. At the same time it is mentioned to not divide. In this context it has been said that acquire Taqwa.
As mentioned before these verses and others are clear that Tafarqa is prohibited. Today Tafarqa has become religion, school, worship, means of acquiring Jannah, nearness of Allah and to provide your religiousness. And against this unity is disliked by all sects. This proximity with Tafarqa and distance from Wahdat has not developed in people on their own, it is the scholars of every sect who have taught this kind of religion to their people due to which the hatred, disliking towards Tafarqa has vanished. The one who is creating discord in Ummah does not consider himself as sinful, doing Haram but if you see from the perspective of religion Tafarqa is the biggest crime more than adultery, alcohol, steaking. Why this has happened and why the temperament of scholars have become like this and why they have made the same temperament in people.
Allama Tabatabai has mentioned that when religion, seminaries, hauza were made without Quran then the prohibition of Tafarqa ended and instead of Quran the things relevant to the sects got replaced. One were the sayings of the scholars of the sect, then the sciences which got compiled in the name of religion like Fiqh, Kalam, etc. played a fundamental role in creating sects and third thing which Allama says became the foundation of this was Hadith. The Quran is missing from all this which became the basis of corruption and hence there is no solution seen for Tafarqa. When you approach any sect, school, the sayings of their scholars are firmly standing which are against the Quran. The opinions made by the sciences are dominant over Quran and third are Hadith and narrations which some are authentic and some are non-authentic. When Muslims become sect, to testify they present hadith. Quran is completely out of nurturing in religion and this happened gradually and was not done by any government. When a sect comes into existence without Quran , then Quran is not having Tafarqa and need for Wahdat is in Quran and not in sects or personalities. When you remove Quran then what is left behind is Tafarqa.
Last week I could not present the actual text from Allama Tabatabai. This is a very beautiful discourse which Allama has presented in Vol 6. In Surah Maida, verse 19 this discourse is presented. The topic is about the thought which Quran is guiding towards. The verse in which Allama has gone into this discussion is not that much relevant as compared to other verses related to the same topic. He started from one other argument and ended up over here.
Allama says the way Hadith has come in Islamic syllabus became basis to disconnect the relationship of Islamic sciences with Quran.
The way I said that we have sects divided on different basis but in general if we see all sects whether Usooli or Akhbari all are followers of Hadith.
He says that all Islamic sciences are the fruits, outcome of the pure tree of Quran. They should have been established on Quran. If you act with precision, think, ponder then you can see these syllabus of Islamic sciences which are taught in Madrassas are compiled in such a way that there is not even a single instance where students need Quran.
Now listen to this painful statement
Even it is possible a student of seminary might study all the sciences of religion like Sarf, Nahv, Fiqh, Usool, Bidaya and till the end, after which he becomes a Mujtahid in these sciences gaining mastery over them and during this entire tenure of his studies if he has not touched or read the Quran for not even once, then also he can become expert and Mujtahid. So what is Quran meant for in madrasa? It is meant for reciting for the sake of blessings, sacredness, rewards or for seeking children or their protection from accidents. Take lesson if you are from those who take lessons.
The Quran has been left for these purpose and not become the basis of sects and religion. This is the current system of education in seminary. Allama has not written but looks like he is trying to present the pain about the Quran which then he left over here and returned back to his subject. Allama took a historical dive to see how Hadith and Sayings took the place of Quran, from which sects sprouted out and then these sects abandoned Quran. The Prophet is saying in Quran that this community has forsaken, abandoned Quran. If we ponder we can see that Quran is still abandoned. This sectarianism is the biggest evidence that Quran is forsaken. If any sect refers to Quran then Quran will foremost tell them that sectarianism is prohibited. This sanctity is not present in any sect. If you take the syllabus of all these sects where it is written that Unity is obligatory and Tafarqa is prohibited? In all the sects where Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Deoband you can see on the social media as you are not allowed to enter their madrassa you can see the outcome of what has come from their base of Hadith and sayings.
Quran is giving guidance to us in every field of life and one important field is social life. The 90% of your life is social and only 10% is individual. Quran has guided most in social life which is the actual field of life. We have changed the direction of every guidance of Quran and removed the social dimension of Quran and transformed them into Fatwas which are only guidance for individual life.
The first step of social life is to form the society which has been titled as Ummah by Quran. In the formation of Ummah the foremost is the relationship amongst people. We can see around us that people from one area with one language live together. The language is not having this much power to fulfill all the needs of ours. The only thing which can fulfill all our needs is Ehtesam with Hablullah and Allah. We have done incorrect meaning of Ehtesam as to hold. Ismat means protection and Ehtesam means to acquire protection. We all need to get connected with Allah and become secure this way. And then acquire Taqwa whereby both Ehtesam and Taqwa are protection in its roots but with a difference.
Taqwa, Ismat and Hifz are all protection and we do one translation for all three but in terms of attributes the protection type is different. There is no contradiction in the meanings, it’s the attributes which change.
اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ Some scholars say this verse is related to another verse which says that acquire Taqwa to the extent possible. The Quran is saying deliver the rights of acquiring Taqwa. This is a key verse which completes the subject of Taqwa. You have to acquire Taqwa which has various levels and degrees, and you have to acquire Taqwa to the extent that you deliver the rights of Taqwa.
SECOND SERMON
Sermon 2: Ahlulbayt (a) are central support to abstain from Ghuluw and Tilw
The practical form of Taqwa can be witnessed in the Seerah and wise sayings of Ali (a.s). If we look at the day and night life of Amirul Momineen (a) then it is Taqwa in a physical form. If we refer to the wise sayings of Ali (a) in Nahjul Balagha then they are the practical commentary of Taqwa on which Ali (a) has acted upon by Ali (a)
In saying no 109
. وَ قَالَ عليه السلام: نَحْنُ النُّمْرُقَةُ الْوُسْطَى بِهَا يَلْحَقُ التَّالِى وَ إِلَيْهَا يَرْجِعُ الْغَالِى .
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: We (the members of the Prophet’s family) are like the pillow in the middle. He who lags behind has to come forward to meet it while he who has exceeded the bounds has to return to it.
It is highly esteemed saying, whereby he says “We” means the progeny of Prophet (s). Numruka in Arabic is referred to pillow.
He is presenting the status of Ahlulbayt (a) and also the state of Ummah where they should be moderate but are victims of extremity on either side.
Numruka is that pillow which is used as back support for sitting. Some have even said that the saddle kept on the back of camel is also called Numruka that is Arabian pillow. The Arabs in their culture used to sit and sleep on floor. Today the culture is changing where people sit on chairs and sleep on bed.
In the tribal system of Arabs, the chieftain would have a central seat and his pillow would also be different. People would sit around him, left and right. All the pillows at the back of everyone are all Numruka(نُّمْرُقَةُ ). The one which was used for the chieftain would be termed as Numruka Wustha (النُّمْرُقَةُ الْوُسْطَى) that is the central pillow. If someone wanted to disturb the gathering due to some disputes, he would disturb the sitting. Those who were lower in status used to sit far and will come and sit in front and push back the elites to the back. They were Gaali, who were crossing limits. Anyone who crosses any limits of knowledge, ethics are termed as Gaali. In the terminology of religion, Gaali is the one who crosses the limits of religion ordained by Allah. Then Taali is the one who remains behind.
In this saying Amirul Momineen (a) is presenting the status of Ahlulbayt (a) whereby he says that our status is that of Numruka Wuthqa. Some say that he is referring to one sitting on this pillow and this pillow. They say that how can Ahlulbayt (a) be referred to pillow hence we should say that one sitting on this pillow. There is no need for this formality because this is a resembling meaning and referral. The way one sitting has to take support, the Ummah of Prophet (s) also needs support without which this Ummah cannot remain established and cannot tread its journey. The way Quran has said Orwatul Wuthqa which means a strong support. This support is required to remain on the right path and not get misled. Then this Seerate Mustaqim is a tough path where man is more in need of support and that support is mentioned by Quran and Prophet. Quran is also saying Hablullah, the purpose was to gather around religion but it says Hablullah, which is the Quran. You have to form the society on the axis of Hablullah and not for parties and elections. The religion is Hablullah and we have to gather around religion. Similarly Orwatul Wuthqa, Numruka are all resemblance example to explain the Ummah that they need support. If they do not get support then two threats are there, one is of Ghuluw and second is Tilw. Whereby either they will cross the limits and go forward and or they will remain behind.
We have said before that Ali says that an ignorant will always be in the state of either extremism or below moderation. He will never be in the state of moderation or justice. Adil (just) carries different objective reference in Fiqh and sciences. But when Quran is referring to Adil , it means the personality of human being should be balanced and not have extremism or below lower limits. His belief, practices, thinking should be moderate and remain on the established point. To go forward or remaining behind is also against Adl. To go forward is Ghuluw and to remain behind is Tilw and both are immoderate. Allah has ordained limits for every act in life,. There are limits for sleeping, eating, drinking, staying, sitting, walking and every act individual or social have limits. If you cross these lines going forward then this is Ghuluw and if you remain behind then that is Tilw. The one that is more common in sectarianism is related to Ahlulbayt (a). People as regards to Ahlulbayt (a) are either Ghaali or Taali. This means either they are deniers of the rights of Ahlulbayt (a) they are Taali, or there are people who instead of considering them as Imam, Wali they consider them as Allah or associate attributes of Allah to Imams, they are Ghaali. The one who crosses the limits of Allah does not mean he still remains as believer because we have to remain in limits and for that we need support and that support is Ahlulbayt (a).
Numruka Wustha are Prophets, Imams as well. Today we are entangled about Ismat of Prophet and Imams where Quran is ordering everyone to acquire Ismat (Wa Tasimu), which means to acquire means of protection. The Ismat which Allah has given to Prophets; Imams is not the same Ismat to be acquired by others. But how is it possible that those who are followers of Infallible are away from Ismat? If you are not possessing Ismat then what is your relationship with Infallible? The Quran says that pure ones are for pure ones. The followers of Infallible should also possess Ismat. The evils are for evils. No evil, unpurified person cannot be the follower of Imams. Imam Baqir (a) says that “O our Shias you should also become Numruka Wustha”. You have to become this support for others and for you Imams are the support.
Numruka Wustha has specifics that one it is center and second support is taken from it for seeking guidance, to reach purpose, to prevent misguidance. Today the Pakistani community in this darkness are not under such big tribulations. They have lost their senses through politicians, muftis so how can they understand the truth in religion. The Imams have given us the order to become Numruka Wustha but for us they are our support. It is the support which is in center, taking support and being contented, assured that you will not deviate after taking their support. This is the status of Ahlulbayt (a). You have to be associated with Numrata Wustha and not become Ghaali or Taali. If you take their names only being Ghaali or Taali then you are misguided. The Imams say when our love will give benefit. They say our love will not benefit Ghaali or Taali. And even Salat, Hajj, Ziarat, good deeds also does not give any benefit unless man gets associated with Numrata Wustha. This attempt was made in history to distance people from Imams. And the Imams were all connected with Quran. The Imams also say when you come across any of our sayings you should first assess if it is compatible with Quran. If not then throw it away.
Today we go after Hadith and take month to find the authenticity of Hadith then find it weak, so why not first thing to be done is to present the Hadith to Quran. For this you need to have awareness, relationship with Quran and check with which policy of Quran this hadith complies or is against. With Quran only we can connect with Ahlulbayt (a), else we will either become Ghaali or Taali. Amirul Momineen (a) is saying this before 1400 yrs. To assess anyone, the companions also should be assessed with Numrata Wustha. If someone breaks limits then Prophet and Caliphs would punish them. We cannot just connect with the subject and leave the Quran. The Ummah has to live on this criteria.
