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WHAT FOR OBEDIENCE TO GOD ?
Brethren-in-Islam !
I have repeatedly told you this very single fact in my previous several
lectures that " Islam " means obedience to Allah and His messenger, and that man
cannot at all become " Muslim " unless he eschews subservience to everything
such as his desires, the prevalent customs and the wishes of worldly people, and, instead,
resorts to submission to Allah and His Messenger only.
Today I want to explain to you as to why so much stress is laid on
obedience to Allah and His Messenger. One may ask: " Is God hungry for our
subservience that He demands from us obedience to Himself and His Messenger? Is God also
ambitious, like the rulers of the world, to impose His authority, and demands, just as
they do, that He alone should be obeyed. Today I want to give an answer to this question.
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The real fact is that Allah's demand for obedience from man is intended
for the well-being and betterment of man himself. He is not like the rulers of the world.
It is for their own benefit that the rulers of the world make the people submit themselves
to their will. But Allah is above all benefits. He is not in need of taxes from you. He
does not require to build mansions, buy cars and amass articles of luxury from your
earnings. He is pure. He is not needy of anything. Whatever is in the world belongs to Him
alone and he alone is the Master of all treasures. He demands obedience from you simply
because he desires your welfare. He does not want that the creation whom He has made the
noblest of creations should be servants of Satan or of any man or how his head before
despicable beings. he does not want that those whom He has made His vicegerent on earth
should grope in the darkness of ignorance and like animals become slave to their own lust
and thus degrade themselves to the level of the lowest of the low. Therefore He urges:
" You obey Us. You go ahead carrying on the light We have sent through Our
messengers. Then you will find the straight path, and by walking on it you will get a
place of honour in this world as well as in the Hereafter ".
"There is no compulsion in religion. The straight path of
righteousness has been made clearly distinct from the crooked path of ignorance. Now he
who from amongst you discards false deities and beguiling masters and believes in Allah,
hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer and Knower of all
things. Allah is the Protecting Friend of those who believe. He brings them out of
darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are evil ones. They bring
them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful dwellers of Fire. They will abide
therein."
(Al-Qur'an 2:256-257)
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Now let us see as to why a man gropes in darkness by obeying others
besides Allah and why is it that light can be obtained only from obedience to Allah.
You observe that your life is fettered with countless links. Your first
link is with your own body. These hands, these feet, these eyes, these ears, this tongue,
this heart and brain, this stomach---all these have been given to you by Allah for your
service. You have to decide as to how to take work from them. With what to feed the
stomach and with what not? What work to take from the hands and whatnot? On which path to
make the feet walk and to restrain from which path? What type of work to take from the
eyes and ears and what not to take? For which talk should the tongue be utilized ? Which
type of thoughts are to be entertained in the problems for the brain to ponder over? You
can take good as well as bad work from these servants of yours. They can make you sublime
and also plunge you into a state worse than that of animals.
Then you have tries with the members of your household. There are
father, mother, sister, brother, wife, children and other relatives with whom you have to
deal continuously. Here you have to decide how to behave with these people? What rights
have you over them and what rights have they over you? Your comfort, your happiness and
your success in world as well as in the Hereafter depends on your correct behaviour with
them. If you behave wrongly, you will make this world a hell for yourself. And not only in
this world, in the Hereafter too you will be strictly answerable to God.
Then you have connections with innumerable people in the world. Some
are your neighbours, some friends, some enemies. There are also many who render service to
you. To some you have to give something and from others you have to take something.
Somebody relying on you entrusts you with his work while you relying on others entrust
your work to them. You are an officer over some people and someone is officer over you. In
short, you have to deal continuously with so many people that you cannot count them. Your
happiness, your honour and your good name in this world---all depend entirely on your
ability to maintain these relations, which I have mentioned to you, on correct basis.
Similarly, you can acquire a place of honour in the Hereafter near God, only when you
present yourself before your Master in such a condition that you had never in your life
usurped the right of any person and had never done injustice to anybody. Also no one
should bring there any case against you and no charge is levelled against you for having
ruined anybody's life or having caused harm illegally to anyone's honour, life or
property. Therefore you have also to decide as to how to maintain these innumerable
relations in a proper manner, and what are those actions which adversely affect these
relations and should be avoided.
Now you should consider that in order to maintain correct relations
with your own body, with the members of your household and with all other people, you need
the light of knowledge at every step. You have to know at every pace what is correct and
what is incorrect? What is equitable and what is false? What is justice and what is
oppression? Who has a right on you and how much, and what rights you have on others and to
what extent. In which thing there is real benefit and wherein lies real harm. If you
endeavour to search out this knowledge in your own self, you will not find it there
because Nafs is itself benighted. What else has it except corporal urges. It will
instigate drinking of wine, indulgence in adultery and illicit earning because there is
great relish in these. It will incite you to usurp the right of others and withhold that
is due, because such a course is beneficial, i.e. you have taken everything and given
nothing. It will also urge you to make others serve your ends and you never be of service
to anybody because this policy will yield you both benefit and comfort. If you hand over
yourself to such a benighted and perverted Nafs it will drag you downward to such an abyss
that you will become a selfish depraved and corrupt person of the worst type, and your
this life as well as the other in the Hereafter will both be ruined.
The second thing can be that instead of following Nafs you rely on
other people like yourself, and submit yourself to their overall control to make them drag
you in whichever direction they like. The danger involved in such a situation is that a
selfish person may make you a slave of his own desires or a benighted man, who has himself
gone astray, may mislead you also. Or an oppressor may make you his instrument and utilize
you for perpetrating injustice on others. In short, here too you cannot get that light of
knowledge which can guide you to distinguish between what is correct and what is incorrect
so as to enable you to tread the right path in the life of this world.
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Eventually there remains only that one Supreme Being from Whom you can
get the necessary light. God is knower and Seer. He knows the reality of everything. He
alone can tell you precisely wherein lies your benefit and wherein is your real loss;
which work is really right for you and which is wrong. Then Allah is above all needs too.
He has no axe to grind. He has no need at all ( He is above it ) to secure any benefit by
deception. Therefore, whatever directions that Hallowed and Self-Subsisting Being Will
give you, will be without any ulterior motive and will be intended exclusively for your
benefit. Allah is also dispenser of justice. There is not the slightest touch of injustice
in that Pure Being. As such, His commandments will be based totally on truth and justice.
In following His commandments there is no danger of your doing any injustice to your own
self or to other people.
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Two things are necessary in order to derive benefit from the light
emanating from God. Firstly, to believe sincerely in Allah and His Messenger, through whom
this light has been transmitted. That is to say, you should be completely certain that
whatever guidance Allah's Messenger has given under inspiration from God is absolutely
right and true irrespective of whether or not you understand the wisdom behind it.
Secondly, after affirming your belief, you should follow that guidance because without it
nothing can be achieved. Supposing a man tells you that a certain thing is poisonous which
is deadly, so do not eat it. You say : " You are undoubtedly right. It is poison and
a fatal one too ". But, after knowing and admitting this fact, you eat that thing.
Obviously the result will be the same as it would have been if you had eaten it
unknowingly. So what is the use of this knowing and admitting ? You can achieve real
benefit only when you obey Allah's commandments following your affirmation of faith in
Him. You should not merely utter : "We believe and testify as true" in respect
of the commandments given, but you should actually carry them out. Similarly, you should
not verbally promise to abstain from things which have forbidden but should in actual
practice refrain from them. That is why Allah repeatedly urges :
" Obey Allah and obey the Messenger."
(Al-Qur'an 5:92)
" If you obey My Messenger, then alone you will get
guidance."
(Al-Qur'an 24:54)
" And let those who conspire to evade ( Our Messenger's orders )
beware lest grief or painful punishment befall them."
(Al-Qur'an 21:63)
Meaning of obedience to Allah and His Messenger ( may peace and
blessing of Allah be upon him ).
Brethren-in-Islam! My exhortation to you again and again that only
Allah and His Messenger must be obeyed should not be construed as an advice that you
should refrain from listening to any body else. No. In fact its purport is that you should
not follow anybody blindfolded but always examine whether a person who asks you to do a
certain thing is doing so in accordance with the injunctions of Allah and His Messenger or
against them. In the former case you must accept his advice because actually you will be
obeying not him but Allah and His Messenger, while in the latter case you must throw back
his word on his face because obedience to nobody's order except that of Allah and His
Messenger is incumbent on you.
You can understand this fact that Allah will not Himself come before
you and deliver His commandments. Whatever commandments He had to give He has conveyed
these to you through His Messenger. As regards Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him ), he
left for his heavenly house thirteen and fifty years ago. The commandments given by Allah
through him are preserved in the Qur'an and Hadith. But Qur'an and Hadith are not such
things as can themselves move about and issue orders. They cannot come before you and
gives orders for doing certain things and for not doing other things. In any case, it will
be men only who will help you conduct yourself according to the injunctions of the
Qur'an and Hadith. Therefore there is no other remedy but obey the instructions of men. However,
what is needed is that you do not follow people with closed eyes but, as I have told you
just now you first see whether they are advising you according to the Qur'an and Hadith, or
not. If they are guiding you in conformity with the Qur'an and Hadith, then it is incumbent
on you to obey them. And if they lead you to a course opposed to it, then to obey them is
forbidden.
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