Khateeb of Sunnis in Zahedan, Iran, expressed his regret over the heedlessness of human beings on spiritual advancement despite stupendous material developments. He was talking to the Friday gathering of Sunnis in Zahedan on 05 Sep. 2014.
Shaikh-ul-Islam Mawlana Abdol-Hamid began his Friday sermon by the Noble Qur’anic verses: «إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتُ الْفِرْدَوْسِ نُزُلًا*خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا لَا يَبْغُونَ عَنْهَا حِوَلًا», (Surely those who believed and did righteous deeds, theirs are the Gardens of Firdaus as entertainment. Where they will live forever, and will not wish to move from there.); [18: 107-108]
He said, “Nowadays people talk about material developments of different nations; the current era has been called the time of civilization, technology, computer and information. People are happy for enjoying various kinds of facilities. But it is a regrettable point that the whole focus is on material and outward advancements; most of the nations do not pay any attention to morality and spiritualty. People suffer from weak faith in Allah, humanity and morals.”
Shaikh Abdol-Hamid went on to point to the spiritual downfall of Muslims in the current time and said, “Muslims who believe in Islam as the chosen religion of Allah, also show negligence about the orders of the Almighty and directions of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. We meditate how to get beautiful houses, cloths and other tools, but there is no any effort to beautify morals and characters. People think they have conquered the world by opening the closed gates, but they do not know they suffer from massive spiritual downfall and an ignorance that is more dangerous than the ignorance and barbarism before the emergence of Islam.”
“There were not such tools and weapons to massacre thousands of people indiscriminately before Islam in the past time. But today there are various types of weapons of mass destruction. There are different kinds of missiles, drones and dangerous weapons which are serious threats to human society and environment,” he added more.
Disloyalty and hypocrisy; the second name of politic
Friday Imam and Khateeb of Sunnis in Zahedan city termed ‘disloyalty and hypocrisy’ the most important features of today’s politics. He then said, “The powerful states always plan how to loot and spoliate other nations and countries making them their colonies. Their pretensions do not conform their deeds; they appear with charming and piteous faces but with different intentions in their hearts.”
“Hypocrisy has been prevailed in the world widely; there is no any sign of truthfulness and loyalty. People name hypocrisy and duplicity ‘diplomacy’ and ‘politic’. it is really regretful that there is no any value for the blood of mankind in the current era; people are being killed widely. They have been being massacred without any guilt,” he underlined.
The rector of Darululoom Zahedan further said, “Unfortunately, today’s Muslims also suffer from such unrighteous behaviors and tendencies; they think the prosperity of mankind is in materialism and advancement of material tools. While, mankind can get salvation by strong faith and moral and spiritual advancement. Various kinds of sins and misdeeds shimmer in the society. Muslims violate the orders of Allah Almighty as they leave Sunnahs of the beloved prophet, peace be upon him, too. Muslims do not take steps on the path of the Qur’an and Sunnah, then how they can expect salvation and development?!”
Muslims should recognize their enemies’ conspiracies
The outstanding Sunni leader alluded to another important issue and stated more, “Many of Muslims cannot recognize their enemies’ conspiracies; it shows their lack of foresight. Even some of them suppose that colonial states are their well-wishers and they want to provide welfare to humanity. While those powers only work on their interests; they are ready to shed the blood of nations just to get their interests. They sell their destructive weapons to others, though in this process some countries may collapse and demolish. Despite it, many of the Muslims depend on them. If the so called super powers, the UN and Security Council were sincere, Muslims would have a much better situation.”
Mawlana Abdol-Hamid called the states proclaim to fight against ‘terrorism’ the main ‘cause of many problems of Muslims’ and said, “Every day we hear the neocolonial powers invade another country on the pretext of ‘counter terrorism’. Unfortunately, some simple-minded people consider them their ‘saviors’. However these are the roots of many crises in the Muslim world. They enter countries with colonial nature, and unjust views and aims. They may fight with one vice, but then they create dozens of more vices and crises. They enter Afghanistan and Iraq; the outcome is only insecurity and sectarian clashes. Pakistan was a safe and secured country; now see the condition!”
The member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) went on saying, “The West wants to fight with terrorism by bloodshed and violence; while it cannot be a durable solution. They can take the help of their sagacity, discretion and resolving the issue of Palestine to weaken terrorism. The international community must find out any fundamental solution with foresight and discretion in the case of counter terrorism.”
Shaikh Abdol-Hamid concluded his points by reminding the fact ‘fighting with outcome is wrong, the root should be fought’. Violence creates more violence. Battling and massacring cannot be absolute solutions to the ongoing crises.