My dear and esteemed brothers.
As all of you know, our Exalted Lord, who brought us into being from nothing and has blessed us with His various bounties, has placed this magnificent and unique universe at the command and service of us human beings. This divine offering rests on the wisdom and decree that the human being was created as the essence of the universe and the vicegerent of the earth. In accordance with this divine decree and subjection, while the universe works as an immense, many-sided factory for the continuation of human life, it is of course unthinkable that the human being, who holds such an important position, should be left to wander without purpose and live irresponsibly.
In correspondence with the divine “takwini” law and order to which this endless universe and the countless beings and worlds, great and small, within it are bound, there is a divine law and order called “tashri‘i”, to which the human being — who is called the noblest of creatures, possessing reason and consciousness — is also bound and ought to be bound; this is called the ‘Islamic order’ and the ‘law of the shari‘a’. This responsibility has been summarized in the decree “I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.”[1] Those who respond to this divine decree, which contains responsibilities on the plane of faith, deed, morality, judgment and law, with “Bala” and “Labbayk”, and who submit to Almighty Allah and His rulings, are called “Mu’min and Muslim”, while those who are disobedient, that is, those who do not accept it, are called “Munkir, Mushrik and “Kafir”.
The “Mu’min-Muslim” human being — who is glorified by the verse “We have indeed created the human being in the best of forms (a figure)[2] and regarded as a candidate for a station of “A‘la-yi Illiyyin” (the highest of the high) — is a symbol of honor and felicity, while “Munkir/Mushrik” and “Kafir” people are presented by our Exalted Allah as “…like animals, even more astray than animals”[3], and their station and rank are also indicated by the verse “then We cast them down to the lowest of the low (to the lowest of the low and the bottom-most layer of hell).”[4] The Noble Qur’an informs us that those called kafir, munkir and mushrik will lament on the Day of Resurrection, envying the animals’ turning to dust, saying ‘if only we too had become dust (like these animals)’[5].
In summary, our Lord of Great Glory, the exalted Creator of this universe, created human beings solely so that they should worship Him, and adorned them by equipping them with a great variety of characteristics and abilities. Worship of Allah takes place by following His commands and avoiding His prohibitions. For those who obey this divine command, which means living Islam and making it dominant over every front of life, there are eternal paradises and the pleasure and the beauty of Allah. For those who do not follow Islam but follow their own selves, satans or other “isms”, that is, human ideologies, terrible hells, fires of lava, and divine wrath and various torments have been prepared.
My most precious believing and muwahhid brothers… We and you, that is, all human beings, must act accordingly, bearing in mind that we face such an important test. While eternal paradises await faithful and Muslim people, we must understand that no way and no work other than seeking the way to be worthy of this and striving to earn it above all else is a wise work and way, and we must prepare accordingly.
So then: in this perishable world, in this temporary realm to which we have come as guests for a test, and in our very brief lives, we shall meet from time to time and hold talks so that we can fulfill as is due the divine commands and the duties of servanthood that our Exalted Allah has placed upon us. In these talks, by telling one another what we know and learning what we do not know, we shall strive to learn together the divine commands and common duties that our Exalted Allah asks of us, and to apply what we have learned — in proportion to our strength. Thus we shall try to prove — in thought and in deed — that we are believers and Muslims, Insha’Allah.
May our Exalted Lord make all of us recipients of His success and guidance. Amin
PEACE BE UPON YOU, AND THE MERCY OF ALLAH AND HIS BLESSINGS, FOREVER AND ALWAYS
[1] Adh-Dhariyat: 56
[2] At-Tin: 4
[3] Al-A‘raf: 179, Al-Furqan: 44
[4] At-Tin: 5
[5] An-Naba’: 40
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