Islamic lessons

Allah al^Aliyy al^Adheem revealed an explicit verse whose meaning is:{when the angelssaid:“O Maryam!Allah sentyou from His partthegood tidingsofan advent:hisnameis the Messiah, ^Isason of Maryam,illustrious in the world and one of thoseAllahgranted a most high rank.(45)He will speak unto people in his cradle andin his manhood, and he is of the righteous.(46)}1Brothers in faith!This is a good dayfor usto speak ofa great prophet, one of the‘Oolu_l^Azm,one ofthe greatest prophets to whom Allahgranted a significantdistinctionbycreating him without a father,whichis not a difficult matterfor AllahasHecreated ourforefather “Adam–peace be upon him–without father nor mother. Allahrevealeda versewhose meaningis :{withregards to Allah, the likeness of^Isais as the likeness ofAdam.He created himfromsoil, and thensaid unto him: “Be!” and he was.}2Dear brothers! The mother of our master ^IsawasLadyMary–^alayhassalaam–the bestwoman of this lower world whomAllah ta^aalaadescribed in the noble Qur’anassiddeeqah:righteous and truthful. She received a pureand chasteupbringing, and was educated in thefear of Allah, fulfilling her duties andstaying away fromharaamwhile indulging in manyvoluntarydeeds.She is the lady to whom angels brought the good tidings that Allah ta^aalaahad elected her, of all women, purified her of any filth and abjectness{andwhen the angelssaid: O Maryam! Verily Allah has chosen you, made youpureandelected youabove thewomen of creation.}3Brothers in faith! Angels are neither male nor female, instead they are honoured slavescreated from light. They can shift to male shapes without theprivate parts. It is in thisappearance that Allah sent Jibreel-^alayhi ssalaam-oneday, to Lady Maryam, in the shape ofa young man with a white face. When our Lady Maryam saw Jibreel in the form of a manwith a white face whom she did not know, she was frightenedby him and troubled. She fearedhe might harm her and thought this was aman seeking to abuse her, so she said what Allahinformed us about{She said, “I seek from Allah protection against you,if you fearGod”}4that is to say: “if you are god-fearing and obedient to God, do not harmme”.Heanswered that Allah had sent him toher so as to bring her a virtuouschild, pure of any sin, soshe asked: “How can I have a boy when no husband has come to me and I am notan immoralfornicator?”Jibreel-^alayhi ssalaam-answered her that creating a child without a fatheriseasy for Allah ta^aalaa,that Allah would make him a sign for people and a proof of hisabsolute power subhaanahoo wata^aalaa, that he would be a mercy and a grace uponwhomever would follow him, believe him and have faith in him.{She became pregnant with him and retired with him to a remote place(22)The pangsof childbirth drove her unto the trunk of thepalm-tree. She said:“Oh, would that I haddied before this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten!”(23)Butsomeonecried toher from below her, saying:“Grieve not! Your Lord has madea stream to flow beneathyou;(24)shake towards you the trunk of the palmtree, it will drop on you fresh ripedates:(25)So eat, drink and be consoled and if you meet any mortal, say:‘Lo! I havevowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal’.(26)}51Sura‘Alu ^Imran 3:45-462Sura ‘Alu ^Imran 3:593Sura ‘Alu ^Imran 3:424Meaning of suraMaryam 19:185SuraMaryam19:22-26

Khutbat birth of ^Isa(peace be upon him)2Brothers in faith! Jibreel–peace be upon him-blew in the collar or Maryam’s garment, that isto say in the openingat the neck and so she became pregnant with ^Isa-^alayhi ssalaam-andthen shewent far away with her unborn child for fear of people’s comments when theywouldfind out she was bearing a childconceived without a husband. The pains of birth made herseek shelter by the foot of adriedpalm tree. Once there she wished to die becauseof her fearof the harm people might inflict on her,so Jibreel-^alayhi ssalaam-called her from a placebelow herat the bottom of the mount.He reassured her and informed her that Allah tabaarakawata^aalaahad put underneath her a small stream. He told herto shake the trunk of the palmtree to make the fresh ripe dates drop in order to eat them, to eat and drink from thesubsistence Allah provided her withand to be comforted, to tell thosewho would see her andask her about her child: “I have vowedto Allah not to speak to anyone”. In previous revealedlaws this was a validvow.After the blessed birth, beloved brothers, Lady Maryam–peace be on her-went to her people,carrying the newborn ^Isa-^alayhissalaatu wassalaam-as Allah ^azza wajalla informed us ina verse whose meaningis :{Thenshe brought him to her own folk, carrying him. Theysaid: “O Mary, you have really brought something amazing!”}6. Herpeople told her,“you have really committed a most abhorrent sin”, assuming the worst abouther, then theystarted to scold her and hurt her while she remained quiet, not answering as she had informedthem that she had vowed toarRahmaanto fast. When the situation became intolerable shepointed to ^Isa-^alayhi ssalaam, meaning: “talk to him” as mentioned in a verse whosemeaning is:{Then she pointed to him. They said:“How can we talk to one who is in thecradle, a baby boy?”}7.Brothers in faith! At this momentAllah almighty, by His absolutepower, made ^Isa-^alayhi ssalaam-talk when he was just a baby andwhat is reported in thenoble Qur’an of this is: {He said: Verily I am a servant of Allah;}Allahmade him speakfromthe cradle and the first words he uttered meant:{Verily I am a servant of Allah}recognising by these words his statusas a slave of Allah, the only God,the One-with-a-Crushing-power.{He has given me the Book and made me a prophet;(30)He has mademe blessed wherever I may be,}i.e. He has made me useful and a teacher ofgood whereverI go{and He has enjoined on me prayer and almsgiving so long as I live;(31)He hasmade me dutiful to my mother and has not mademeoverbearing or damned. (32) Peaceon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! (33)}8^Isawas well educatedand memorisedthe Tawrahin a schooland lived by the sharee^ahuntilAllah sent revelations to himand he started to address Israelites, as reported in thegreatQur’an:{andwhen ^Isason of Maryam said: “O Children of Israel! Lo! I am themessenger of Allah sentto you, confirming that which wasrevealedbefore me in theTorah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who comesafter me, whose name is thePraisedone‘Ahmad. Yet when he hascome unto them with clear proofs, they say:‘Thisis mere magic’.”}9^Isacalled his people to Islam as did all prophets and messengers beforehim: to worship Allah only and refrain from associating anything with him, but they calledhim a liar and envied him. They called him a wizard and only a few had faith in him. Theyharmed himandstrivedto kill him but Allahprotected him and raised himto heaven, as it istold inthe noble Qur’an.6SuraMaryam 19:277SuraMaryam 19:298SuraMaryam 19:30-339Meaning ofSuraasSaff 61:6

Khutbat birth of ^Isa(peace be upon him)3Just as the other messengers of Allah had done before him, our master ^Isa-^alayhi ssalaam-announced the coming of theSeal of Prophets (the last of them), our master Muhammad-^alayhi ‘afdalussalaati wa’atammuttasleem-andheinstructed his disciples tofollow andsupport himif they liveduntil his time. ‘AbuSa^d anNisaburiyy in his book “SharafalMustafaa”relatedthat four people leftYemen to go to Meccawhen our masterMuhammad’srevelationhad started–salla-llaahu^alayhi wasallam. One of them wasamancalled Ja^d ibn QaysalMuradiyyand night fell while they were in the wildernessso theystopped to rest in someplace. They all went to sleep, except for Ja^dibn Qays alMuradiyywho then heard a voice without seeing who was speakingand it said:Ocaravanwho stopped late atnight!Convey...when you reach alHateemand ZamzamTo Muhammad who receives revelations our greetings...which will accompanyhimwhere he travelsand goesAnd tell himwe are the followers of his religion...this is what the Messiah son of Maryam instructed us to doDearbrothers! Thevoice calling wasa Muslim jinn who had met our master ^Isa-^alayhissalaam-before his ascension to heaven. He believed in him and hadheardhis instruction tohave faith in Muhammadwhen he would appear and to follow him. For this reason, this jinntold Ja^dto convey his salaamto our master Muhammadwhenever he would reach Mecca, sowhen he arrived in Mecca he asked the inhabitants about Muhammadand he met him,believed him and became a Muslim. This was before the news spread about our masterMuhammad–salla-llaahu ^alayhi wasallam-in the Arabic peninsula;so may Allah raisetherankof our master Muhammadand of all his brothers: the prophets and messengers.This story shows again that ^Isa-^alayhi ssalaam-brought the religion of Islam as allprophets and messengers had done, as it is reported by alBukhâriyy that the Messenger ofAllah–salla-llaahu ^alayhi wasallam-saidwhat means: [Prophets are like brothers fromthe same father and their religion is one(that is to say: it is Islam)and they havedifferentmothers(i.e. the sharee^ah they received were different)and ofall people I am thesuccessor of ^Isason of Maryam, there is no prophet between me and him]I ask Allah to forgive you and me.