Islam Guidance

SERMON 176 - Admonishing

(O creatures!) Seek benefit from the sayings of Allah, be admonished of Allah and accept the advice of Allah because Allah has left no excuse for you when He has provided clear guidance for you, has put before you the plea and clarified for you what deeds He likes and what deeds He hates, so that you may ac upon one and avoid the other. The Prophet of Allah (p.b.u.h.) used to say, “Paradise is surrounded by unpleasant things, while Hell is surrounded by desires.”
You should know that every act of obedience to Allah is unpleasant in appearance while every disobedience to Allah has the appearance of enjoyment. May Allah have mercy on the person who keeps aloof from his desire and uproot the appetite of his heart because this heart has far-reaching aims, yet it goes on pursuing disobedience through desires.
You should know, O servants of Allah, that a believer should be distrustful of his heart every morning and evening. He should always blame it (for shortcomings) and ask it to add to (its good deeds). You should behave like those who have gone before you and those ahead. They left this world like a traveler and covered it as distance is covered.

The Greatness of the Holy Qur’an

And be aware that this Holy Qur’an is an adviser that never deceives, a leader who never misleads, and a narrator who never speaks a lie. No one will sit in the company of this Holy Qur’an except that when he rises, he will achieve one addition or one diminution: addition in his guidance or elimination in his (spiritual) blindness. You should also know that no one will need any thing beyond (guidance from) the Holy Qur’an and no one will be free from want beyond (guidance from) the Holy Qur’an. Therefore, seek cure from it for your ailments and seek its assistance in your distresses. It contains a cure for the most serious diseases, namely unbelief, hypocrisy, rebellion (against God’s commandments) and misguidance. Pray to Allah through it and turn to Allah through loving it. Do not ask the people through it. There is nothing like it through which the people should turn to Allah, the Sublime.
Be informed that it intercedes. Its intercession will be accepted. It is a speaker that testifies. For whoever the Holy Qur’an intercedes on the Day of Judgment, its intercession for him will be accepted. He about whom the Holy Qur’an speaks ill on the Day of Judgment shall testify to it. On the Day of Judgment, an announcer will announce: ‘Beware! Everyone who sow a crop is in distress except those who sow (the seeds) of the Holy Qur’an.” Therefore, you should be among the sowers of the Holy Qur’an and of its followers. Make it your guide towards Allah. Seek its advice for yourselves. Do not trust your views against it and regard your desires in the matter of the Holy Qur’an as deceitful.

About the believers and their good deeds,
and the hypocrites and their bad deeds

Action! Action! Then (look at) the end results (of your actions and remain) steadfast. Steadfast! Thereafter, (exercise) endurance. Endurance and piety, piety! You have an objective. Proceed towards your objective. You have a sign. Take guidance from your sign. Islam has an objective. Proceed towards its objective. Proceed towards Allah by fulfilling His rights which He has enjoined upon you. He has clearly stated His demands. I am a witness for you and shall plead for excuses on your behalf on the Day of Judgment.

Wisdom to Humanity

Beware! What had been ordained has occurred, and that which had been destined has come to pass. I am speaking to you with the promise and pleas of Allah. Allah the Sublime has said the following: “Verily, those who say: ‘Our Master is Allah! and who persevere rightly, the angels descend upon them (saying): ‘Fear not, nor grieve and receive the glad tidings of the Garden which you were promised’” (Holy Qur’an, 41: 30).
You have said, “Our Master is Allah;” so, remain steadfast to His Book, to the way of His command, and to the virtuous course of worshiping Him. Thereafter, do not go out of it, do not introduce innovation in it, and do not turn away from it because those who shrink from this course will be cut off from (the mercy of) Allah on the Day of Judgment.
Beware of corrupting your manners and altering them. Maintain one stand. A man should control his tongue because the tongue is obstinate with its master. By Allah, I do not find fear of Allah benefiting a man who practices such fear unless he controls his tongue. Certainly the tongue of a believer is at the back of his heart, while the heart of a hypocrite is at the back of his tongue. When a believer intends to say anything, he thinks it over in his mind. If it is good, he discloses it, but if it is bad, he keeps it concealed. A hypocrite articulates whatever comes to his tongue, without knowing what is in his favor and what goes against him.
The Prophet of Allah (p.b.u.h.) said the following: “The belief of a person cannot be firm unless his heart is firm, and his heart cannot be firm unless his tongue is firm.” So, anyone of you can manage to meet Allah, the Sublime, in such a status that his hands are not smeared with the blood of Muslims and their property and his tongue are safe from exposition, he will do so.

Following the Sunnah
and Refraining from Innovation

Be informed, O servants of Allah, that a believer should regard lawful this year what he regarded lawful the past year and should consider unlawful this year what he considered unlawful in the past year. Certainly people’s innovation cannot make lawful for you what has been declared as unlawful. Rather, lawful is that which Allah has made lawful, and unlawful is that which Allah has made unlawful. You have already tested the matters and tried them; you have been admonished by those before you. Illustrations have been drawn for you, and you have been called to clear facts. Only a deaf man can remain deaf to all this, and only a blind man can remain blind to all this.
He whom Allah does not allow to benefit from trials and experiences cannot benefit from preaching. He will be confronted by losses as he witnesses them, so much so that he will approve what is bad and disapprove what is good. People are of two categories; followers of the Shari`a (religious laws) and followers of innovations to which Allah has not given any testimony by way of Sunnah or the light of any plea.

Guidance from the Holy Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an is the strong rope of Allah and the trustworthy means to reach out to Him. It contains the blossoming of the heart and the springs of knowledge. For the heart, there is no other gloss than the Holy Qur’an, although those who remembered it have passed away while those who forgot or pretended to have forgotten it have remained. If you see anything good, give your support to it, but if you see evil, avoid it because the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) used to say: “O son of Adam! Do good and shun evil; by doing so, you will be treading the Path correctly.”

Categories of Oppression

Be informed that injustice is of three kinds: 1) the injustice that will not be forgiven; 2) one, that will not be left unquestioned and 3) the one that will be forgiven without being questioned. The injustice that will not be forgiven is duality of Allah. Allah has said the following: “Verily, Allah does not forgive that (anything) be associated with Him” (Holy Qur’an, 4: 48, 116). The injustice that will be forgiven is the injustice one does to his own self by committing minor sins. The injustice that will not be left unquestioned is the injustice of men against other men. The retribution in such a case is severe. It is not wounding with knives, nor striking with whips, but it is so severe that all these things are insignificant compared to it. You should, therefore, avoid alteration with regard to Allah’s religion, for your unity with regard to something right which you dislike is better than your disunity with regard to something wrong that you like. Certainly, Allah, the Glorified One, has not given any person, whether among the dead or among the living, anything good from disunity.

The Necessity of Obedience

O people! Blessed is the man whose own shortcomings keep him away from (looking into) the shortcomings of others. Also blessed is the man who is confined to his house, who eats his meal, buries himself in obedience to his Lord and weeps over his sins, so he keeps himself thus busy while people are safe from his harm.

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