WHAT FOR OBEDIENCE TO GOD?

Brethren-in-Islam!

I have repeatedly told you this very single fact in my previous several lectures that " Islam " means obedience to Allah and His messenger, and that man cannot at all become " Muslim " unless he eschews subservience to everything such as his desires, the prevalent customs and the wishes of worldly people, and, instead, resorts to submission to Allah and His Messenger only.

Today I want to explain to you as to why so much stress is laid on obedience to Allah and His Messenger. One may ask: " Is God hungry for our subservience that He demands from us obedience to Himself and His Messenger? Is God also ambitious, like the rulers of the world, to impose His authority, and demands, just as they do, that He alone should be obeyed. Today I want to give an answer to this question.

Man's well-being lies in obedience to God

The real fact is that Allah's demand for obedience from man is intended for the well-being and betterment of man himself. He is not like the rulers of the world. It is for their own benefit that the rulers of the world make the people submit themselves to their will. But Allah is above all benefits. He is not in need of taxes from you He does not require to build mansions, buy cars and amass articles of luxury from your earnings. He is pure He is not needy of anything. Whatever is in the world belongs to Him alone and he alone is the Master of all treasures. He demands obedience from you simply because He desires your welfare. He does not want that the creation whom He has made the noblest of creations should be servants of Satan or of any man or bow his head before despicable beings. He does not want that those whom He has made His vicegerent on earth should grope in the darkness of ignorance and like animals become slave to their own lust and thus degrade themselves to the level of the lowest of the low. Therefore He urges: "You obey Us. You go ahead carrying on the light We have sent through Our messengers. Then you will find the straight path, and by walking on it you will get a place of honour in this world as well as in the Hereafter".

"There is no compulsion in religion. The straight path of righteousness has been made clearly distinct from the crooked path of ignorance. Now he who from amongst you discards false deities and beguiling masters and believes in Allah, hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer and Knower of all things. Allah is the Protecting Friend of those who believe. He brings them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are evil ones. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful dwellers of Fire. They will abide therein." (Al-Qur'an 2: 256-257)

Obedience of objects other than Allah— Heresy

Now let us see as to why a man gropes in darkness by obeying others besides Allah and why is it that light can be obtained only from obedience to Allah.

You observe that your life is fettered with countless links. Your first link is with your own body. These hands, these feet, these eyes, these cars, this tongue, this heart and brain, this stomach---all these have been given to you by Allah for your service. You have to decide as to how to take work from them. With what to feed the stomach and with what not? What work to take from the hands and what not'? on which path to make the feet walk and to restrain from which of work to take from the eyes and ears and R :nth? What type  what not to take? For which talk should the tongue be utilized 7 Which type of thoughts are to be entertained in the problems for the brain to ponder over? You Can take good as well as had work from these servants of yours. They can make you sublime and also plunge you into a state worse than that of animals.

Then you have ties with the members of your household. There. are father, mother, sister, brother, wife, children and other relatives with whom you have to deal continuously. Here you have to decide how to behave with these people? What rights have you over them and what rights have they over you? Your comfort, your happiness and your success in world as well as in the Hereafter depend on your correct behaviour with them. If you behave wrongly, you will make this world a hell for yourself. And not only in this world, in the Hereafter too you will be strictly answerable to God.

Then you have connections with innumerable people in the world. Some are your neighbours, some friends, some enemies. There are also many who render service to you. To some you have to give something and from others you have to take something. Somebody relying on you entrusts you with his work while you relying on others entrust your work to them. You are an officer over some people and someone is officer over you. In short, you have to deal continuously with so many people that you cannot count them. Your happiness, your honour and your good name in this world--all depend entirely on your ability to maintain these relations, which I have mentioned to you, on correct basis. Similarly, you can acquire a place of honour in the Hereafter near God, only when you present yourself before your Master in such a condition that you had never in your life usurped the right of any person and had never done injustice to anybody, Also no one should bring there any case against you and no charge is leveled against you for having ruined anybody's life or having caused harm illegally to anyone's honour, life or property. Therefore you have also to decide as to how to maintain these innumerable relations in a proper manner, and what are those actions which adversely affect these relations and should be avoided.

Now you should consider that in order to maintain correct relations with your own body, with the members of your household and with all other people, you need the light of knowledge at every step. You have to know at every pace what is correct and what is incorrect? What is equitable and what is false? What is justice and what is oppression? Who has a right on you and how much, and what rights you have on others and to what extent? In which thing there is real benefit and wherein lies real harm. If you endeavour to search out this knowledge in your own self, you will not find it there because Nat's is itself benighted. What else has it except corporal urges? It will instigate drinking of wine, indulgence in adultery and illicit earning because there is great relish in these. It will incite you to usurp the right of others and withhold that is due, because such a course is beneficial, i.e. you have taken everything and given nothing. It will also urge you to make others serve ycir: ends and you never be of service to anybody because this policy will yield you both benefit and comfort If you hand over yourself to such a benighted and perverted Nafs it will drag you downward to such an abyss that you will become a selfish depraved and corrupt person of the worst type, and your this life as well as the other in the Hereafter will both be ruined.

The second thing can be that instead of following Nafs you rely on other people like yourself, and submit yourself to their overall control to make them drag you in whichever direction they like. The danger involved in such a situation is that a selfish person may make you a slave of his own desires or a benighted man, who has himself gone astray, may mislead you also. Or an oppressor may make you his instrument and utilize you for perpetrating injustice on others. In short, here too you cannot get that light of knowledge which can guide you to distinguish between what is correct and what is incorrect so as to enable you to tread the right path in the life of this world.

Real guidance— only from

God Eventually there remains only that one Supreme Being from Whom you can get the necessary light. God is Knower and Seer. He knows the reality of everything. He alone can tell you precisely wherein lies your benefit and wherein is your real loss; which work is really right for you and which is wrong. Then Allah is above all needs too. He has no axe to grind. He has no need at all ( He is above it ) to secure any benefit by deception. Therefore, whatever directions that Hallowed and Self-Subsisting Being Will give you, will be without any ulterior motive and will be intended exclusively for your benefit. Allah is also dispenser of justice. There is not the slightest touch of injustice in that Pure Being. As such, His commandments will be based totally on truth and justice. In following His commandments there is no danger of your doing any injustice to your own self or to other people.

How to derive benefit from Divine Guidance?

Two things are necessary in order to derive benefit from the light emanating from God. Firstly, to believe sincerely in Allah and Ills Messenger, through whom this light has been transmitted. That is to say, you should be completely certain that whatever guidance Allah's Messenger has given under inspiration from God is absolutely right and true irrespective of whether or not you understand the wisdom behind it. Secondly, after affirming your belief, you should follow that guidance because without it nothing can be achieved. Supposing a man tells you that a certain thing is poisonous which is deadly, so do not eat it_ You say : "You are undoubtedly right. It is poison and a fatal one too". But, after knowing and admitting this fact, you eat that thing.

Obviously the result will be the same as it would have been if you had eaten it unknowingly. So what is the use of this knowing and admitting ? You can achieve real benefit only when you obey Allah's commandments following your affirmation of faith in Him. You should not merely utter : "We believe and testify as true" in respect of the commandments given, but you should actually carry them out. Similarly, you should not verbally promise to abstain from things which have forbidden but should in actual practice refrain from them. That is why Allah repeatedly urges:

"Obey Allah and obey the Messenger" (Al-Qur'an 5: 92)

"If you obey My Messenger, then alone you will get guidance." (A1-Qur'an 24: 54)

"And tel those who conspire to evade (Our Messenger's orders) beware lest grief or painful punishment befall them." (Al-Qur'an 21: 63)

Meaning of obedience to Allah and His Messenger (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him)

Brethren-in-Islam!

My exhortation to you again and again that only Allah and His Messenger must be obeyed should not be construed as an advice that you should refrain from listening to anybody else. No. In fact its purport is that you should not follow anybody blindfolded but always examine whether a person who asks you to do a certain thing is doing so in accordance with the injunctions of Allah and His Messenger or against them. In the former case you must accept his advice because actually you will be obeying not him but Allah and His Messenger, while in the latter case you must throw back his word on his face because obedience to nobody's order except that of Allah and His Messenger is incumbent on you.

You can understand this fact that Allah will not Himself come before you and deliver His commandments. Whatever commandments He had to give He has conveyed these to you through His Messenger. As regards Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him ), he left for his heavenly house thirteen and fifty years ago. The commandments given by Allah through him are preserved in the Qur'an and Hadith. But Qur'an and Hadith are not such things as can themselves move about and issue orders. They cannot come before you and give orders for doing certain things and for not doing other things. In any case, it will be men only who will help you conduct yourself according to the injunctions of the Qur'an and Hadith. Therefore there is no other remedy but obey the instructions of men. However, what is needed is that you do not follow people with closed eyes but, as I have told you just now you first see whether they arc advising you according to the Qur'an and Hadith, or not If they are guiding you in conformity with the Qur'an and Hadith, then it is incumbent on you to obey them. And if they lead you to a course opposed to it, then to obey them is forbidden.

• Fundamentals of Islam