In the name of Allah

The All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful

28th Rajab 1445 (9th February 2024)

Islamic Universal Association

20 Penzance Place, Holland Park

London, W11 4 PG

www.arafeh.co.uk

 

 

Imam Ali (a.s.)’s advice in the Nahjal-Balagha – Part 13

In Sermon 76 Imam Ali (a.s.) urges people to perform righteous deeds and to use every opportunity to gain reward for the hereafter. The sermon reads as follows:

 

“May Allah bless whoever listens to a point of wisdom and retains it; when he is invited to the right path he accepts it; he follows a leader (by holding on to him) and finds salvation; he keeps Allah before his eyes and fears his sins; he performs actions sincerely, acts virtuously and earns the treasures of heavenly reward; he avoids vice, performs good deeds and reaps recompense; he faces his desires and rejects (false) hopes; he makes endurance the means to his salvation and piety the provision for his death; he rides on the path of honour and sticks to the highway of truth and makes good use of his time and hastens towards the end of life and takes with him good provisions.”

 

Valuable points

 

• Imam Ali (a.s.) prays for the believers as they have insight and wisdom and they follow the right path. Hence they will attain salvation.
• They keep Allah (s.w.t.) in their mind and heart and are mindful of the Day of Resurrection. They sincerely do righteous deeds and shun prohibited acts and sinful deeds, thereby earning the treasures for the hereafter.
• They ignore whimsical desires and false hopes and at every opportunity they use their time to prepare for the hereafter,
• They steadfastly tread on the path of honor with patience and adhere to truth and piety and hasten to the next world with good provisions and a bright future. To be continued

 

Second Sermon

The Holy Prophet (s.a.)’s mission

The Holy Prophet (s.a.)’s first embarked on his merciful mission on 27th Rajab and I take this opportunity to congratulate Imam Mahdi (a.s.) and the Muslim Ummah. I invoke Allah (s.w.t.) to help us to follow in his footsteps and to make us prosperous and triumphant against the enemies of Islam.

 

The Holy Prophet (s.a.) is undoubtedly the leader of all the prophets as he brought the final revelation and completed the religion of Allah (s.w.t). The flow of his divine message which continued for twenty-three years proclaimed the Unity of God and demolished the edifice of superstition, ignorance and disbelief and set up a noble conception of life and devotion to one God. More than 1400 years have passed since the time of his appointment, yet his core message of salvation, his motto of the oneness of God, his weapon of nobility, his path of light, his program of guidance and his invitation to unity are still valid.

 

The Holy Quran defines the reality of his mission which has primarily been characterized as a blessing of Allah (s.w.t.) upon man: “Indeed Allah conferred a great favor on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting unto them His signs, purifying them, and teaching them the Book (Quran) and the wisdom (the Sunnah of the Prophet). While before that they had been in manifest error.” Moreover, the most prominent feature describing his mission is a mercy to mankind as provided in Ayah 107 of Surah Anbiya: “And We sent you O’ Our Messenger, but a mercy unto all the world.” The Holy Prophet (s.a.)’s message was thus to communicate the mercy of Allah (s.w.t) to the entire world without restrictions. In fact, he declared time and time again that he was not the prophet of one tribe, but the prophet of all times for men of every race, color, nationality or geographical location. He brought the message of Allah (s.w.t); the Book and the religion perfected by Allah (s.w.t) having in it all the good that was endowed in all previous messages, with the truth to its maximum fullness.

 

It is highly recommended to take a ghusl (bath) on that day and fast as its reward is equivalent to a reward of fasting for seventy years and to recite the Ziyarat of the Holy Prophet (s.a.) and Imam Ali (a.s.). It also advisable to perform other recommended acts and deeds as provided in relevant books. Moreover, Sheikh Al-Toosi, the great Islamic scholar, has reported in his book, Misbah, that Rayyan ibne Salt narrated that Imam Jawad (a.s.) would fast on the 15th and the 27th of Rajab and he has advised others to fast as well and to perform a 12 rakat salat.