Friday Sermon: Sacrifice for your Jamaat in the Time of Need

مَنۡ ذَا الَّذِیۡ یُقۡرِضُ اللّٰہَ قَرۡضًا حَسَنًا فَیُضٰعِفَہٗ لَہٗ وَ لَہٗۤ اَجۡرٌ کَرِیۡمٌ ﴿ۚ۱۱﴾ یَوۡمَ تَرَی الۡمُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ وَ الۡمُؤۡمِنٰتِ یَسۡعٰی نُوۡرُہُمۡ بَیۡنَ اَیۡدِیۡہِمۡ وَ بِاَیۡمَانِہِمۡ بُشۡرٰىکُمُ الۡیَوۡمَ جَنّٰتٌ تَجۡرِیۡ مِنۡ تَحۡتِہَا الۡاَنۡہٰرُ خٰلِدِیۡنَ فِیۡہَا ؕ ذٰلِکَ ہُوَ الۡفَوۡزُ الۡعَظِیۡمُ ﴿ۚ۱۲﴾ یَوۡمَ یَقُوۡلُ الۡمُنٰفِقُوۡنَ وَ الۡمُنٰفِقٰتُ لِلَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوا انۡظُرُوۡنَا نَقۡتَبِسۡ مِنۡ نُّوۡرِکُمۡ ۚ قِیۡلَ ارۡجِعُوۡا وَرَآءَکُمۡ فَالۡتَمِسُوۡا نُوۡرًا ؕ فَضُرِبَ بَیۡنَہُمۡ بِسُوۡرٍ لَّہٗ بَابٌ ؕ بَاطِنُہٗ فِیۡہِ الرَّحۡمَۃُ وَ ظَاہِرُہٗ مِنۡ قِبَلِہِ الۡعَذَابُ ﴿ؕ۱۳﴾ یُنَادُوۡنَہُمۡ اَلَمۡ نَکُنۡ مَّعَکُمۡ ؕ قَالُوۡا بَلٰی وَ لٰکِنَّکُمۡ فَتَنۡتُمۡ اَنۡفُسَکُمۡ وَ تَرَبَّصۡتُمۡ وَ ارۡتَبۡتُمۡ وَ غَرَّتۡکُمُ الۡاَمَانِیُّ حَتّٰی جَآءَ اَمۡرُ اللّٰہِ وَ غَرَّکُمۡ بِاللّٰہِ الۡغَرُوۡرُ ﴿۱۴﴾

“Who is it that will offer to Allah a goodly gift, so He will double it for him, and he will have a generous reward. On that day you will see the believers, men and women, their light gleaming before them and on their right hand. Good news for you this day! — Gardens in which rivers flow, to abide in them! That is the mighty achievement. On the day when the hypocrites, men and women, will say to those who believe: Wait for us, that we may borrow from your light. It will be said: Turn back and seek a light. Then a wall, with a door in it, will be raised between them. Within it shall be mercy, and outside of it punishment.  They will cry out to them: Were we not with you? They will say: Indeed, but you caused yourselves to fall into temptation, and you waited and doubted, and vain desires deceived you, till the threatened punishment of Allah came, and the arch-deceiver deceived you about Allah” (The Holy Quran, 57:11–14).

A time comes in the life of a nation when its people are called upon to make sacrifices. If in the hour of need the people respond positively, they win an honoured position in the comity of nations. But if their reply is like that of the Israelites to Moses:

فِیۡہَا فَاذۡہَبۡ اَنۡتَ وَ رَبُّکَ فَقَاتِلَاۤ اِنَّا ہٰہُنَا قٰعِدُوۡنَ ﴿۲۴﴾

            “Go therefore you and your Lord, and fight; surely here we sit” (The Holy Quran, 5:24),

then they love their cherished goal for a long time to come.

Here, as a punishment, the Israelites were made to wander in the wilderness for forty years. During that long period, the generation who had refused to fight all died and a new generation sprang up who obeyed their leader and conquered the Holy Land.

Moses was a great prophet who rescued the Israelites from the tyranny of Pharaoh. Their disobedience brought their nation a bad name for all times to come. God had made a promise that the Israelites will enter the Holy Land, but their cowardice caused the promise to be withheld for forty years.

The Muslims have also been promised the predominance of Islam over all other religions in the Holy Quran:

ہُوَ الَّذِیۡۤ اَرۡسَلَ رَسُوۡلَہٗ بِالۡہُدٰی وَ دِیۡنِ الۡحَقِّ لِیُظۡہِرَہٗ عَلَی الدِّیۡنِ کُلِّہٖ وَ لَوۡ کَرِہَ الۡمُشۡرِکُوۡنَ ٪﴿۹﴾

“He it is Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the Religion of Truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though those who set up partners (with Allah) are averse” (The Holy Quran, 61:9).

We have seen this prophecy come through in many a country of the East. The Reformer of this age [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian] declared that Islam will get

“an honoured position in the West, but through me or through my Jamaat [Movement], which is a part of my being.”

The literature the Reformer produced literally shook the European continent and Islam entered the hearts of many prominent men through literature as well as by the personal example set by the illustrious pupils of the Reformer. Many of them left their prestigious positions to become the torchbearers of Islam in this country [England] inhabited by a nation heading one of the mightiest empires of the world. They held aloft the banner of Islam.

George Bernard Shaw once prophesised that if advancement of Islam continued with the same speed as it was then, then the entire Europe will embrace Islam within one hundred years. He uttered these words probably in 1933.

But we find that the advancement of Islam has been checked, and not only by the Christian scholars. On the other hand, their researches have given us new weapons. It is our own indifference to the propagation of Islam. It is our own lethargy that is responsible for this retrogression. Let us search our own hearts. Are we Muslims? Yes, we are, but in name only! How many among us have endeavoured to learn Islam? How many among us can claim to have studied the Quran even once in their lives? A man who is without light himself cannot show light to others.

Propagation of Islam needs sacrifices: sacrifice of time, sacrifice of comforts, and sacrifice of money. Whatever we spend in the way of Allah is a loan He will repay us many times. The sacrifices made here will not only pave the way of successes of Islam here in this world; those will illuminate our future in the Hereafter. The verses recited in the outset mention that light:

یَوْمَ تَرَی الْمُؤْمِنِیْنَ وَ الْمُؤْمِنٰتِ یَسْعٰی نُوْرُهُمْ بَیْنَ اَیْدِیْهِمْ وَ بِاَیْمَانِهِمْ

“On that day you will see the believers, men and women, their light gleaming before them and on their right hand” (The Holy Quran, 57:12).

It must be kept in mind that the light in the next life will be carried from here. The Quran has left nothing unexplained. It says:

وَ مَنۡ کَانَ فِیۡ ہٰذِہٖۤ اَعۡمٰی فَہُوَ فِی الۡاٰخِرَۃِ اَعۡمٰی وَ اَضَلُّ سَبِیۡلًا ﴿۷۲﴾

“And whoever is blind in this (world) he will be blind in the Hereafter, and further away from the path” (The Holy Quran, 17:72).

And when the blind (whom the Quran calls by the name of hypocrites who do not spend in the way of Allah) will say to those who believe, Wait up for us that we may borrow from your light, it will be said, Turn back and seek a light in your past life. It means you were to carry light from behind, your earthly life.

Light in the earthly life is to be generated only by a believer who believes in the wisdom of God. In the Quranic terminology, a niggardly person is called a hypocrite. A belief becomes belief only when followed by good deeds. A believer when called upon by God to make financial or physical sacrifices does not hesitate or sit back. He is always in the forefront. A nation of hesitants or hypocrites has no right to survive. For them, here is the verdict of Allah:

ہٰۤاَنۡتُمۡ ہٰۤؤُلَآءِ تُدۡعَوۡنَ لِتُنۡفِقُوۡا فِیۡ سَبِیۡلِ اللّٰہِ ۚ فَمِنۡکُمۡ مَّنۡ یَّبۡخَلُ ۚ وَ مَنۡ یَّبۡخَلۡ فَاِنَّمَا یَبۡخَلُ عَنۡ نَّفۡسِہٖ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ الۡغَنِیُّ وَ اَنۡتُمُ الۡفُقَرَآءُ ۚ وَ اِنۡ تَتَوَلَّوۡا یَسۡتَبۡدِلۡ قَوۡمًا غَیۡرَکُمۡ ۙ ثُمَّ لَا یَکُوۡنُوۡۤا اَمۡثَالَکُمۡ ﴿٪۳۸﴾

“Look! you are those who are called to spend in Allah’s way, but some of you are miserly; and whoever is miserly, is miserly against his own soul. And Allah is Self-Sufficient and you are needy. And if you turn back He will bring in your place another people, then they will not be like you” (The Holy Quran, 47:38).