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Khutba # 37
May I ask you to hold to Taq’wa, which means piety and righteousness, and to revere Allah and obey His Divine Commands! Let us be aware of our eventuality and departure into the everlasting life. May Allah provide us all with the spirit of righteousness and obedience as best means for all of us.
The Glorious Quran is Allah’s Word as revealed to His Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh). Allah gave some miracles to every Prophet, but those miracles became history when the Prophet was gone. Thus, those miracles were local, transient, and could not be seen again by the following generations. On the other hand, Allah gave Muhammad (pbuh) an imperishable miracle; it is the Holy Quran. It is a perpetual continuous miracle for all generations and ages. The Quran is the Word of God, a magnificent piece of Arabic literature full of wisdom and guidance to mankind that cannot be imitated.
No man could ever write such perfect guidance on so many subjects. The Quran is a Divine and sacred Book. The Quran itself challenges man to produce the likes of it, or even a verse like it, but no man was ever able to do the likes. The Quran asserts in Surah 17 (al-Israa), Ayah 88: قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَن يَأْتُواْ بِمِثْلِ هَـذَا الْقُرْآنِ لاَ يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا “Say: If the whole of mankind and Jinn were to join forces to produce the like of this Quran, they will not produce its like even though they support each other [in the effort]”. It is also a miracle that the Holy Quran has remained unchanged and unaltered during the past 1400 years, and it shall remain so till the Day of Resurrection, for Allah has taken it on Himself to protect it. Allah says in Surah 15 (al-Hij’r), Ayah 9: إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ “Verily! We who have sent down the Reminder [Quran]; and We shall certainly guard it.” From the time the Quran was revealed till today, some people have tried to cast doubt about its Divinity, but they have failed consistently, because it contains the Truth. The Quran gives guidance and wisdom; it has a great deal of good to offer.
Every right-minded reader can derive benefit from it any time he wishes. Nowadays, about one and a half billion Muslims believe in it, live by it and die by it. The Quran urges man to think, to ponder and to understand, and it forbids one to drown his reason or belief blindly.
To understand the Glorious Quran, it is necessary to know the lives of the Prophet (pbuh), Imam Ali, Hadhrat Fatima, Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husain, who translated into action every command the Quran came with; Muhammad being the perfect example for men, Ali for youths, Fatima for women and al-Hasan and al-Husain for children at the time.
The Holy Quran is like an ocean; the less learned men collect the trivial (pebbles and shells) from its shores; while the scholars and thinkers bring out the gems from it. Contained within the Quran are gems of high philosophy, wisdom, and rules of perfect living. It is all for the taking: free!
The Holy Quran, like every sacred text, should not be compared with human writings, because it is a Divine message in human language. The Quran is coherent but man himself is the incoherent; and it takes much effort for man to integrate himself into his Center so that the Message of the Divine Book becomes clarified for him and reveals to him its inner meaning.
The difficulty in reading the Quran and trying to reach its meaning is in the immeasurable level between the Divine Message and the human recipient. In other words, between what God speaks and what man can hear —in a language which despite being a sacred language, is nevertheless a language of men. The language of the Quran is a sacred language because God has chosen it as His instrument of communication. Allah always chooses to `speak' in a language which is primordial that expresses the profoundest truths in the most concrete terms.
This language is profound in depth and usually little developed on the surface as can be seen in Quranic Arabic. Every word of the Quran carries a world of meaning within itself.
The Quran consists of chapters and verses, some of which are didactic and explanatory, others are poetic, usually short and to the point.
The Quran contains several grand themes: 1. First of all, it deals with the nature of reality, with the Divine Reality and its relation to the realm of relativity. 2. Secondly, the Quran says much about the natural world and in a sense the Islamic sector of the cosmos that participates in the Quranic revelation. 3. Thirdly, the Quran contains many pages on sacred history, but the episodes of this history are recounted more for their significance as lessons for the inner life of the soul than as historical accounts of ages past. Sacred history in the Quran contains, above all, moral and spiritual lessons for us here and now. 4. Fourthly, the Quran also deals with Laws for the individual as well as for the society, and it is the most important source of Islamic Law, or the Shari’ah. 5. Furthermore, the Quran comes back again and again to the question of ethics, of good and evil, of the significance of living a virtuous life. 6. Finally, the Quran speaks, especially in its last chapters, in majestic language about eschatological events, about the end of this world, about the Day of Judgment, paradise, purgatory, and hell.
According to the Prophet and Imams, the Quran has many levels of meaning, of which, the highest is known to God alone. In the same way that God is both: the apparent (al-Dhahir) and the innermost (al-Baatin), His Book (the Quran) also has an apparent and inner dimension or, in fact, several levels of inner meaning.
The chapters (Surahs) and verses (Ayahs) of the Quran are both the path and the guidepost in the Muslim's earthly journey. In the Quran you find everything Islamic, from metaphysics and theology to Law and ethics, and from the sciences to the arts.
Every movement that has begun in Islamic history, whether religious, intellectual, social, or political, has sought legitimization in the Quran, and the permanent flow of the daily life of traditional Muslims unaffected by such movements has also been marked in the deepest sense by the presence of the Quran.
Jurists have sought to interpret the Quran’s legal verses; and the Sufis its inner meaning. Philosophers have drawn from its philosophical utterances, and theologians have debated its assertions about God's Attributes and His relation to the world.
Imam Ali has taught us the Du’aa after finishing reading the whole Quran:
Also we can recite this Du’aa after reading The Holy Quran (also produced forth by Ali):
Practicing Quranic teachings brings dignity, power, and wellness for the Muslims, The Holy Quran calls man towards knowledge, insight, piety, sacrifice, and kindness. Today, as when it was revealed, the Quran remains the central reality of Islam and the heart of the Muslim both in its individual as well as in its social life.
For the end of the 1st part of the Khutba, read Surah Al-Asr, take a short intermission, then start the 2nd part of the Khutba with a short Du’aa.
Let us talk about Imam Musa al-Kadhim. He was born on 7th of Safar year 128 Hijrah. Imam Musa al-Kadhim was legendary for his piety and well known for his prayers, generosity, and munificence, to such an extent that whenever people mentioned him they would say he was a lover of prayers, servitude, and devotion.
Imam Al-Kadhim was the epitome of good character and the paragon of virtue. The outstanding merit (Al-Fadh'l) and perfection of character were gathered in him
Musa Al-Kadhim restraint and forbearance were known wide and far, it was proverbial, hence the nickname of Al-Kadhim, meaning the Restrained, the one who controls himself no matter what befalls him.
Being the head spiritual man of his time, Imam Musa Kadhim paid no heed to the ruler of the Islamic nation at the time (Haroon al-Rashid). The ruler, though the most powerful man on earth then, was an erratic, indulging, unjust, man. Therefore, al-Kadhim stood up to this ruler, exposing his inequities and the wicked things he committed. Al-Kadhim ordered his friends and followers to avoid cooperating with the authority, or extending a hand in teamwork with them. Though Imam al-Kadhim prevented many from co-working with Haroon the ruler, he ordered a segment of capable and faithful men to enter the governmental machinery though, to build influence and help friends of the Imam when they were in difficulty.
We pray Allah to help us deliver the message of Islam, offer it to others, to be faithful advisors, grant us the opportunity to achieve both knowledge and piety.
Finally, let us read Surah Al-Nasr with a short Du’aa to close the Khutba. |
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