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WHY HAS 'SALAH' BECOME INEFFECTIVE
Brethren-in-Islam !
In today's lecture I have to explain to you as to why Salah, the
numerous benefits of which I have been continuously describing to you in my several
discourses, is not now yielding these benefits. Why is it that although you offer Salah,
yet your life is not ameliorated, your morals do not become pure, you do not become a
powerful army of God, the unbelievers are dominating over you, and you find yourselves in
a wretched and destitute plight? A brief answer to this question could be that, firstly,
you do not generally offer Salah and, secondly, when you offer it you do not
perform it in the manner prescribed by Allah and His Messenger. Therefore you cannot
expect those benefits from Salah which elevate a Momin to the highest degree
of excellence. But I know this much answer will not satisfy you. Therefore I shall explain
this point to you in some detail.
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You see in the clock fixed on the wall before you that lots of small
parts in it are joined with each other. When you wind it, all the parts start working and
as these parts move, the result of their movements starts showing on the white disc
outside, i.e. both the hands crawl to denote each second and each minute. Now you observe
carefully. The purpose of making the clock is that it should indicate the correct time.
With this aim in view all those parts which are necessary to show the correct time have
been fitted in. Then all these have been joined with each other so that together they move
synchronously, while every part performs that much specific work which it must to give the
correct time. Then the winding system was made so that these parts do not remain
stationary but move recurrently. Thus when all the parts were adjusted correctly and
winding was done, then only did this clock begin fulfiling the purpose for which it was
made. If you do not wind it, it will not show time. If you wind it but not according to
the method prescribed for it, it will stop, or, even it works, it will not give the
correct time. If you remove some of the parts and then wind it, it will be a futile
effort. If you replace some of the parts with those of the sewing machine and then wind
it, it will neither indicate the time nor sew any cloth. If you keep all its parts inside
it but disjoin these from each other then no part will move even after winding it.
Although all the parts will be present inside it yet their presence will not serve the
purpose for which a clock is made because you have disrupted their arrangement as well as
their connection with each other as a result of which they cannot move together. In all
these positions which I have described to you, although both the existence of the clock
and the act of winding it become useless, an observer from a distance cannot say that it
is not a clock or that you are not winding it. He will surely say that its shape is just
like that of a clock and will expect that it will be as useful as a clock. Similarly, when
from a distance he will see you winding it he will take it as a genuine effort on your
part to do the job hoping to notice the result which comes off from winding a clock. But
how can this expectation be fulfilled when it looks like a clock only from a distance
while in reality it has lost its existence.
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You can understand the whole situation from the example I have given
you. You can judge Islam on the lines of this clock. Just as the purpose of the clock is
to indicate the correct time, in the same way the aim of Islam is that you live in this
world as the vicegerent of God, as a witness of God against mankind and a standard-bearer
of the campaign of Truth in this world. You must yourselves follow the commandments of
God, enforce these on all people and make them submissive to the law of God. This
objective has been clearly stated in the Qur'an :
"You are the best community that has been raised up for mankind.
Your task is to enjoin righteousness on all and prevent them from misdeeds, and believe in
Allah."
(Al-Qur'an 3:110)
" And thus We have made you the best community so that you be
witness against mankind."
(Al-Qur'an 2:143)
" Allah has promised such of you as believe and do good work that
He will surely make them His caliph in the earth."
(Al-Qur'an 24:55)
"And fight them till the mischief of servitude to other than
Allah is annihilated and the worship is Completely for Allah alone."
(Al-Qur'an 8:39)
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In order to fulfil this purpose, in Islam also all the parts, like
those of the clock, have been assembled which are considered necessary and appropriate.
Religious beliefs and principles of morality, rules for worldly dealings, rights of God,
rights of His slaves, rights of one's own self, rights of everything in the world which
you encounter, rules of earning livelihood and methods of expenditure, law of war and
rules for making peace, laws of governance and the manner of obeying the Islamic
government---all these are parts of a clock, are fastened to each other in such a sequence
that as soon as winding is done, every part, in conjunction with the parts starts moving
and with the movement of all these parts, the real result, i.e. domination of Islam and
preponderance of God's laws in the world, starts continuously manifesting itself just as
with the movement of the parts of the clock in front of you, the result goes on appearing
on its white disc. In order to fasten together the different parts in the clock; some
nails and small pieces of metal have been used. Similarly, in order to keep together all
the parts Islam had to maintain their correct sequence, there is one instrument which is
called Nizam-i-Jama’at. There should be a chief of the Muslims equipped with correct
knowledge and adorned with the quality of piety and the brains in the Jama’at, should
jointly help him and the limbs of the Jama’at should obey him. With the strength of
them all, he should enforce the laws of Islam and prevent the people from violating them.
In this way when all the parts are joined together, and they are properly arranged, then
to set them in motion and to continue their movement, winding is necessary and that winding
is provided by Salah which is offered five times in a day. Then it is also necessary to
clean this clock and for this purpose fasting constitutes the cleaning process which is
observed for thirty days in a year. And this clock requires to be lubricated. Zakat is
that oil which is applied to its parts once in a year. This oil does not come from outside
but some parts of this clock themselves produce oil, and, after lubricating the parts of
the machine, enable it to function smoothly. Then it is also necessary to overhaul
it off
and on. Hajj is that overhauling which it is necessary to perform at least once in a
lifetime. And the more it is done, the better it is.
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Now you should note that this process of winding, cleaning, lubricating
and overhauling can be useful only when all the parts of the clock are present in the
frame, when each one of these is joined with the other in the same order as was followed
by the clock-maker, and all are so fitted that immediately on winding they start moving
and begin showing result. But here the situation has become quite different. First of all
the very Nizam-i-Jama’at with which the parts of the clock were fastened together,
has ceased to exist, with the result that all the fittings have got loosened and
disjointed, and the parts left scattered. Now everybody does whatever comes into his mind.
There is nobody to question anything. Everyone is independent. If he desired, he would
follow the Islamic law, otherwise not. When even this did not satisfy you, you pulled out
many parts of the clock and in their place everybody, as he chose, brought any part he
wished from some other machine and fixed it therein. One person brought a part of sewing
machine which he liked, another brought a part of flour mill for which he took a fancy,
and yet another brought something from a motor lorry which he admired, and they all fixed
these pieces in the clock. The simile is apt because, you, being a Muslim, carry on
business in usury, you have insured your life with an insurance company, you get involved
in bogus law suits, you render loyal service to Kufr, your daughters, sisters, and wives
are being turned into Mem Sahibs, your children are being imparted materialistic
education. Mr. Gandhi is also being followed along with singing of songs in praise of
Mr. Lenin. In short, there is no un-Islamic gadget which our Muslim brothers have not
thrust in the frame of the clock of Islam.
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After doing all these antics you now desire this clock to operate on
winding it, and show the same result for which it was made. Also by the supposed cleaning,
lubricating and overhauling of it you expect the same benefits that naturally follow a
genuine process. With a little wisdom you can easily understand that in the condition to
which you have reduced the clock no result can be achieved even if you wind it, lubricate
it and overhaul it for your whole life. Till such time as you do not remove the parts
brought from outside and in their place put the original ones and fix and tighten them
with the same arrangements as was followed in the beginning, you can never expect those
results which were once shown by the clock.
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Please understand fully that the above is the real reason why your
Salah, fasting, Zakat and Hajj are inconsequential. In the first place, there are so few
among you who offer Salah, observe fast, give Zakat and perform Hajj. Due to the
dissolution of Nizam-e-Jama’at everybody has become totally independent. Whether he
fulfils these obligatory duties or not, nobody is there to question him. Neither those who
perform these functions, do so in a befitting manner. There is no constancy among them in
attending congregational Salah and if that practice is found anywhere, such persons are
selected as Imams in the mosques who are fit for no other work in the world. Those who
subsist on the charity-bread doled out to mosques and are uneducated, having no calibre
and morally depressed, have been appointed any you as Imams of that Salah which was
ordained to make you Allah's vicegerent upon the Earth. Likewise, the condition of fasts,
Zakat, and Hajj is such that it defies description. In spite of all these facts you may
assert that even now there are certainly numerous Muslims who discharge their religious
duties in proper order. But as I have stated, when the position is this that the parts of
the clock have been disjointed and scores of pieces from outside have been inserted in it,
it makes no difference if you wind it or not, clean it or not, lubricate it or not. Of
course from a distance it does look like a clock. An observer would say :"This is
Islam and you are Muslims". When you wind this clock and clean it, a distant onlooker
would conclude that you are doing it quite genuinely. Nobody can obviously deny its being
"Salah" and Fasting", but what do the observer know that inside this
outward frame all sort of "workmanship" has been spoilt?
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Brethren-in-Islam !
I have explained to you the real reason why religious deeds of yours
are today unproductive of result and why, despite offering Salah and observing fasts you
are in the clutches of unbelievers and an easy prey to every oppressor, instead of
becoming a divine inspector. But if you won't take it ill, I may tell you a far more
distressing fact. You no doubt regret this plight and feel its pang but there are nineteen
hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand such people, even more, who are not willing for a
change through the proper remedy. They cannot bear prefabrication of this clock of Islam
which has been dismembered and infested with accretions by all and sundry according to
their individual liking, because when the extraneous material will be jettisoned in this
process each and every body's pet article will be inevitably removed. It cannot be that
things liked by others are done away with but the extraneous part you have inserted is
retained. Similarly, when your piece is riveted, all other pieces will also be riveted
alongside. It is not possible at all that the pieces of all others are tightened and your
pieces alone are left loose. The central point, therefore, is that when these will be
tightened, others also will be tightened with these, and it is a labour difficult to be
tolerated by the people cheerfully.
That is why they want this clock to remain as it is as a piece of
decoration on the wall for people to be brought and shown from a distance as a bundle of
miracles. Those who are greater well-wishers of this clock than others would like to
repeatedly and zealously wind it in this very condition and also clean it most laboriously
but will never have its parts properly reset and tightened, nor will they desire to get
rid of the extraneous parts.
I wish I could fall in line with you but I am helpless because I cannot
negate my knowledge. I assure you that, in view of deplorable condition if, besides the
five-time prayer, you were to offer TaHajjud, Ishraq and Chasht prayers, and also read the
Qur'an for five hours a day, and observe, over and above Ramadan, extra fasts for five and
a half months in the remaining eleven months, even then no benefit will be achieved. The
position you ought to understand is that only after the original parts are set properly in
the clock and are riveted firmly, then even a slight winding will make it operate
smoothly, and a little cleaning and lubrication of it will also produce the desired
result. Otherwise, if you wind it for the whole of your life, the clock will never work.
Wama alaina illal balagh.
There is no responsibility on us except conveying the truth).
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