SUMMARY OF FRIDAY SERMON
by
the Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
August 12th, 2005
(NOTE: Alislam Team takes full responsibility for any errors or miscommunication in this Synopsis of the Friday Sermon by Sister Shermeen Butt)
The blessed model of the Holy Prophet
Huzuraba delivered his Friday Sermon on the subject of the blessed model of
the Holy Prophet expounding his characteristics
of simplicity, frugality and his sense of contentment.
Huzuraba said it was with his words and his deeds that the Holy Prophet set excellent standards for us to follow. He urged
his ummah (people) to keep the significance of worldly materials of aid and
assistance in perspective, especially in terms of their potential to deviate
one from remembrance of Allah, which, he taught should be one’s primary
objective in life.
Citing Quranic verses 20:132 (Surah Ta Ha) & 29:65 (Surah Al Ankabut)
Huzuraba said despite the grand honour and station in life that was granted to
the Holy Prophet in that he was the last law-bearing
prophet of God, he led his life in an utterly simple and frugal way.
Huzuraba explained that the Holy Prophet adopted
simplicity in every aspect of his life. He never allowed his two beloved grandsons
to have the impression that they were the grandsons of a person who was deeply
revered. He would enjoin others not to speak of him in overstated terms, for,
he said God made him a man first and a prophet later.
He would also stress that he should not be exalted the way the Christians did with Jesus (on whom be peace) adding that he was but a man of Allah and that he should only be called a man of Allah and a prophet.
His demeanour would be so simple that people visiting from outside would not
identify him as the Prophet of God. Huzuraba related a few incidents in this
respect including one which took place upon reaching Medina after the migration.
The Holy Prophet did not like any preferential
treatment given to him and liked to participate in all communal tasks, like
collecting firewood and digging trenches during war. He counselled his beloved
daughter the preference of engaging in remembrance of Allah by way of saying
Allah O Akbar 34 times, Alhamdolillah 33 times and Subhan Allah 33 times than
wanting to have ‘home-help’ to assist with the grindstone as her
palms had hardened because of its extensive use. Such was his sense of simplicity
and frugality that the dowry he gave to his daughter consisted of a silken
shawl, a leather mattress, a grindstone, a leather water carrier and two earthen-ware
water-pots.
Huzuraba recounted other incidents that demonstrate that the Holy Prophet himself slept on a mat made of date-palms, at time his Companions would make him a mattress but that too would be made of date-palms. Huzuraba recounted that once Hadhrat Ayesha (may Allah be pleased with her) folded a sheet of cloth on top of the date-palm mattress for the Prophet to sleep on. That night he did not awaken for Tahajjud prayers and told his wife to remove the bedding that had made him negligent towards remembrance of Allah.
Similarly he shunned clothes that had the potential to diverge attention from remembrance of Allah during Salat. Huzuraba said in this is an example for those who tend to be conscious of their clothes during Salat not to wear something that would take their attention away from remembrance of Allah.
Citing further blessed examples from the life of the Holy Prophet, Huzuraba said
that he always visited when invited by the disadvantaged and he highly valued
their gifts. Indeed he would pray to Allah
to keep him alive in a state of poverty/meekness, to give him death in a state
of poverty/meekness and to raise him on the Day of Judgment among the poor/meek.
Elucidating the frugality of the diet of the Holy Prophet’s household Huzuraba said for months they would live on dates
and water with the occasional ‘gift’ of milk given to them by the
neighbours, that he did not ever have bread made with sifted (barley) flour,
and he would eat most frugally from a cloth spread on the floor.
Illustrating that even people outside Islam appreciate this aspect of the
Holy Prophet’s life, Huzuraba quoted from
writings of Karen Armstrong, a renowned contemporary author on religion, on
the simple and frugal life led by the Holy Prophet.
In conclusion Huzuraba prayed that may we, who claim to be among his ummah, act upon his blessed model and adopt his example. Huzuraba said these examples are for us to follow and are not merely for listening and for story-telling.