Moulana Mohammed Askari Majalis 2 2008
http://majalis.mypodcast.com
I have recited an ayat that discusses an important aspect of human life. Every
man desires
profit and not loss. He wants benefit and not loss in things he does. Allah is
not speaking
of a particular thing. He wants us to ponder on this important fact. The
investment a man
makes in his life he has but one chance to get it right. How can man make his
'trade' of life
a benefit for himself. The Allah who does not need to take an oath takes an oath
to discuss
this topic to make us realize the importance.
He says asr. Asr means an era. Which era? Some say this was the era of the
prophet. The
era when the prophet guided misguided men. Those who were in open error were
guided
by the prophet.
Others say that asr means not the time of the prophet but the time of the Qaim.
When he
will reappear from the occultation. When he perfects the religion of the
prophet. When the
religion of Islam overcomes all other religions. Others claim that Allah is
speaking of the
time of the salaat of asr. Othres say asr means the summary as per Arabic
grammer
language. For example aseer means the juice or summary. Asr means the summary of
the
universe or the Imam of this time. I will not discuss which of these opinions is
stronger.
Allah says by Asr certainly all men are in loss except---. By separating with
except Allah
shows that man can save himself from loss. Allah is showing us the package to
save
yourself from loss.
As you have different packages being sold to you. If you take all the things
offered in the
package then and only then it benefits you. If you take part of the package then
you will
not really benefit from it. If you leave a part of the package it will not
benefit you. Allah
has shown us the package to save us from loss. There is no fine print in this
package. He
has made all parts of the package clear for us. Allah wants us to get the
benefit from the
package thus He has made all these things clear for us. He wants to give us if
we have the
ability to take it.
You make friends by saying salaam and He is giving you reward for this. you are
benefited
by saying salaam and He is giving you reward. If you respond to a salaam He
gives you
more reward. He is generous and there is no end to His treasure so He rewards.
What is the package. It has three parts.
1)Belief
2) Good deeds
3) Be patient and be on the right (haqq)
Belief
He clarified what we should have belief in. He said that 12 you have to do more
than face
either the east or the west. Those who have brought belief in
1)Allah
The true owner creator sustainer of the universe. Believe in Him. If man does
any thing he
has a point of view or belief before he does a thing. He has a theory and
according to this
he acts. For example if you go to a function and go home then you take off the
shoes at
the door and take the jwellery to the safe. You never do the reverse. This is as
you have a
belief. You believe that the shoes are cheap and you can buy them easily but the
jewels are
expensive. Based on this belief you leave the shoes at the door. Any action of
man has a
belief behind it. Man does not act without a belief. If you think that this is
an abandoned
house then you will use the house as you wish. If you know that there is an
owner of this
house and if you do good with the house you will be rewarded and otherwise you
will be
punished. Thus you behave differently based on your belief. If you believe in
Allah this is
similar. The man who believes that the universe has an Owner and He has created
it and
made rules for it and that there will be a day of judgment. If you do good deeds
you are
rewarded otherwise punished. 16
If you do a small good deed you will be rewarded and similarly every small sin
is
punished. Allah will take accounting of every small thing you do. Every good
deed will be
rewarded. The people of the world are thankless and give you a bad deed in
return for
good deeds. Allah always rewards good deeds. He sees all things. 17
Allah sees all things including things hidden in your heart. When I came to USA
for the
first time and went in a persons car. He stopped in front of a strange
beggar-machine. He
stopped in front of the machine and put coins in it. He paid toll and I thought
this was a
robot beggar instead. He said that I paid tax. I said you paid tax so easily. In
India you try
to escape this somehow. I said you became very honest in USA and even though
there is
nobody around you paid toll. In India we would have jumped the toll. He said
that moulana
we have not really changed. If possible I would have escaped the toll. Had you
looked up
moulana you would have seen the camera. If I fail to pay the toll and leave then
I will have
to pay a ticket. Once you saw the camera you believe and pay. There is another
camera
that never fails. 21
The Quran says that does man not realize that Allah is seeing him. If you
remember that
someone is watching you then you will not sin. People hide their cigarettes when
they are
caught by their father or mother. But if man remembers that his father is
watching he tries
not to smoke in front of him. If man knows that Allah is watching him then he
will not sin.
Allama Tabatabai was leaving after completing his studies. His teacher taught
him this ayat
that Allah is watching and said that as long as you remember this ayat you will
not sin.
In the Quran the story of Yusuf is discussed. Quran is a book of guidance. If
there is a
story discussed it is not to tell you a story but to guide you instead. It tells
us a story to
awaken us. When Zulayqa invited Yusuf to sin after closing the door she put a
cloth over a
statue. She said I stopped this 'god' from watching as I cannot sin in front of
it. Yusuf said
oh Zulayza your 'god' may be made blind but my God is always watching. This
belief saved
Yusuf from sin. 25 In the sura Yusuf the Quran said she intended Yusuf and Yusuf
would
also have desired her except he had seen the signs of Allah. In other words if
he did not
have belief in Allah he would have sinned also. Ismat means to know Allah.
Suicide is
haraam. If someone tells me to jump off a 10 floor building I would never do
this. I know
that if I jump I will not be able to collect the million dollar reward promised.
You will
therefore never jump off the building. As you are certain that you will die the
infallible
Imams have a stronger belief in Allah than our belief that we will die if we
jump off a 10
floor building.
The first part of the package is belief. Belief in Allah. Belief in the day of
judgement. If you
believe in the day then you will never sin. We accept everything with our tongue
not our
heart. If we always remember heaven and hell like the friend of Suleiman.
There was a youth passing a blacksmiths shop. He screamed and fell on the ground
unconscious. Salman helped him and asked him why did you faint. He said that
when he
saw the blacksmiths work he remembered the ayat of the Quran about hell. 30 The
angels
of hell hit the sinners therein with hot iron rods. I fainted after this. The
youth did not live
much longer after that. If you remember this you will not sin. If you know that
you will be
punished then you will not sin. If you think that someone such as the FBI is
watching you
then you are careful in that you do. If you are in a place where you know you
will not be
held accountable then you will not do mistakes. In the court of Allah then the
tongue will
not speak. If man speaks the truth and this is his nature then he learns easily
how to lie.
Once he learns this then he can lie easily. Learn from the kids. The kids who
have not
learned anything from society yet. If someone answers a telephone and you do not
want to
speak to him. You tell the child to tell the person on the phone that you are
not at home.
The child tells the person on the phone dad says that he is not home. The child
is not used
to lying. One you become used to lying then you lie more easily than speak the
truth. Allah
does not let the tongue speak on the day of judgment. As the tongue has become
used to
lying Allah will not ask it. 35 He says that He will put a lock on the tongue
and ask those
who are not used to lying. He asks the hand the foot every part of your body
will give
witness. Man will feel very sad on this testimony. The skin will say I slept 38
in a haraam
place and wore haraam clothes. Then man says I did all this for you and you
testify against
me. You steal something and sleep on the stolen matress this is for the comfort
of the
body and not of the soul. The first time you steal the soul will be unable to
sleep. you ate
haraam things the tongue tasted these things but not the soul. All the pain went
to the
soul. you did the sins for the body and on the day of judgment this body gave
testimony
against your soul. The soul did all the sins for the body and the body testifies
against the
soul. The soul is surprised that the body is speaking. This is by the command of
Allah. It is
your day of judgment and did you use the things given to you by Allah in His way
or not.
38 The one who has given the power to all things taught us to speak respond the
body
parts. If man remembers that he has to go to this court on the day of judgment.
In our
courts some judgemnets are correct and others are wrong. Sometimes the judge is
bribed.
Sometimes it is because of a bribe or because of fear. Sometimes the judge gives
incorrect
judgment based on false testimony. He is swayed by the lies told in front of
him. The
manner in which the lies are said. The expertise of a lawyer at lying is a
measure of his
expertise and fame. The false testimonies are presented in front of Islamic
judges also.
One testimony was of the kaffirs and the other of muslims. When the prophet was
asked
to leave on hijrat he made Imam Ali sleep in his bed. The murders who were
waiting
outside to kill him did not take their treasures given to the prophet for
safekeeping back
from him as he was very trutsworthy. Had the prophet left without leaving Ali
behind then
all would say that he left and took our treasure without returning them. On the
night of
hijrat Ali saved the honor of the prophet. The next day when the prophet had
left then the
treasures would be returned to them. The kaffirs had decided to either kill the
prophet or
his personality. When they found out that Ali was sleeping in the bed and not
the prophet
then they came to claim their things from the prophet. Ali returned them their
treasures.
Some came with false testimony demanding things they did not give the prophet.
They
said that they had given 10,000 dinars given to the prophet. They brought
witnesses. They
made a case against the prophet. Had the judge been a material one he would have
given
judgemnet against the prophet. But the judge was Ali and none can give false
testimony.
He called the witnesses one by one and asked details of the event. The witnesses
had not
prepared earlier. Then their testimonies did not agree. All the witnesses gave
different
testimonies. If you are testifying about the truth then you will agree with each
other. If you
are lying then you will make mistakes. These mistakes were made obvious then the
personality of the prophet was saved.
There was another false testimony given in the battle of jamal. There were dogs
barking
and Ayesha remembered the hadith of the prophet. In Haub if the dogs bark then
remember that you are on the wrong path. She asked what place is this she was
told this is
Haub. She refused to go forward. When talha and zubair heard of this. They came
to her
and stopped her. She said that she had heard the prophet tell her in person
about this
event. Talha and Zubair said that this is not Haub. They collected 50 people who
came and
lied to her and said that this is not Haub. Then she went and stayed in the
battle.
Sometimes you make judgment based on false testimony. In the court of Allah this
false
testimony will not work. All your body parts will testify against you.
All those who believe in Allah and the last day 49. Those who believe in the
reward for the
smallest deed and punishment for the smallest sin. The angels who keep record.
The fact
that Allah has made laws, rules, prophets and messengers. The other two things
we will
discuss tomorrow.
Allah says by asr all men are at a loss except those with these three things.
The people who had these three things they never feared death. They did not care
if the
leapt on death or if death fell on them. They were certain that they are
successful. After
1400 years we are still proud of this victory. Oh that we were with you oh
shahids of
karbala. They had belief in these things. Hussain had liberated his companions
and they
were free to go where they chose to go. The companions of Hussain who were
faithful to
him did not leave him. Muslim was maryred and Habeeb went to him to take his
will. He
willed not about his son, his wife but about Imam. He said I will you about this
man
Hussain make sure you do not leave him alone. The men the children and the women
did
their part. There were many small childeren in karbala. After Muslim was killed
a small
child went with a sword to battle. This child was brought to Hussian and he said
I am the
orphan of Muslim. Hussain said go back to your mother and the child said oh
moula my
mother gave me this sword. His mother said this is my sacrifice from my side oh
moula.
The last child killed in karbala was Abdullah Ibne Hasan. The son of Imam Hasan
who was
10 years old.
Hussain fell on the earth in karbala. Abbas is killed Ali Akbar is killed. None
are there to
bring news back to the camp. The bibis are waiting with fear in their hearts.
Abdullah saw
his family restless and he went quietly into the battlefield with martyrs lying
all over. He
then reached his uncle lying in a pool of blood. A coward was attcking his uncle
with a
sword and Abdullah said hugging his uncle saying I cannot leave my uncle. The
hands of
the child were cut off. Hussain hugged his nephew. An arrow was shot and this
small son
of Hasan passed away in the arms of his uncle---. May Allah curse the
oppressors.