In The Name Of Allah, The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful

THE FIFTH DIMENSION FOR GUIDANCE
(THE SACRED PLACES)

In the Name of Allah: No Assistance except from Him. Our praise to Allah: No Gratitude except for Him. Glories to you my Lord: You Created me and I am in full obedience to Your Command. I hold my covenant to You by whatever is in my power. I bear witness that there is no Deity except Allah. I send my prayers and greetings to the best among all creatures Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Messenger of peace who received the last message of the heavens to guide the worlds and delivered Allah's Integrated Legislation and Wisdom in a perfect manner.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, I greet you by the greeting of Islam: Asslamu Alikum Wa Rahmetu Allah Wa Barakath:

My topic today Inshaa Allah will be about the sacred places.

Allah Created Human Beings and the other three creations of Solids, Vegetation and Animals. These three creations are Glorifying Their Creator and Subjugated to serve mankind.

Allah Who Knows eternally the behavior of His Creation Categorized human beings into three categories:

  1. Believers
  2. Nonbelievers
  3. Hypocrites.

When you read the beginning of Sura # 2 Al-Baqarah, you will find the specifications of these categories: Believers in the first four Verses after alef lam meem, nonbelievers in the next two Verses and the hypocrites in the following thirteen Verses. From these 19 Verses you will conclude that:

First: THE BELIEVER:

  1. Believed in what was Revealed to him by His Creator for his guidance: And so, he lived in Peace with His Lord.
  2. The belief in his heart was identical to what he pronounced by his tongue. That is, he lived in peace with himself.
  3. Praised and Glorified Allah in his prayers at all times. The environment surrounding him loved to: hear and match this tone with their Glorification of Allah. That is, he lived in peace with all the other three kinds of creations serving him.

So, the believer acquired the total peace from its three dimensions:

  • Peace with his Lord and Creator: No opposition between his belief and what was ordained to him.
  • Peace with himself: No opposition between what he says and what he keeps in his heart.
  • Peace with the surrounding environment: No opposition between his continous Glorification of the Creator and the Glorification of all the other creations serving him.

The Second Category of human beings: THE NONBELIEVER:

  1. Did not believe in Creator, so, lost the Peace with His Lord.
  2. He pronounced by his tongue what he believed by heart, so, he lived in peace with himself as a nonbeliever.
  3. He opposed all the other three kinds of creations serving him while they are Glorifying Allah all the time. That is, he lost the peace with the environment surrounding him.

The nonbeliever: Lost the Peace with his Lord and with the surrounding environment serving him.

The Third Category: THE HYPOCRITE:

  1. Played the game of showing a face of a believer and hiding another face of a nonbeliever, thinking that he will deceive his Lord and the believers. That is, He lost the Peace with Allah.
  2. Pronounced and showed others by his tongue that he is a believer and kept the disbelief hidden in his heart. That is, he lost the peace with himself.
  3. Lived with an alternating personality between belief and disbelief while he is continuously served by other creations that witness all his activities which oppose their Permanent Praise of Allah. That is, he lost the peace with his environment.

The Hypocrite: conflicted and lost the Peace with Allah, with himself and with his environment.

In the majority of the Verses of the Quraan at different Suras, you find indications to one or more of these three kinds of mankind. This is another subject, which will be covered later Inshaa Allah. We will focus today on the category of the believers.

Allah Says in Sura # 47 Muhammad Verse # 17:

"But to those who receive Guidance and believed in it, He, Almighty Increases the dose of Guidance to the phase of help and assistance. That bestows on them Their Piety and Restraint (From evil)."

So, they escalate in spiritual advancement, each step makes the next one easier and more complete.

Allah Promised those who Believed in Him; Those who captured the three dimensions of: Peace with their Lord, peace with themselves and peace with the environment serving them. The promise is: since they accepted willingly His Guidance, He Will Increase for them the knowledge by which they will find it easy to be on the right track of Obedience to Allah.

Each activity of concern to mankind needs both: Time and Place

Allah's Promise to Increase the guidance for the believers is through:

  1. The Fourth dimension that is the TIME
  2. The Fifth dimension, that is the PLACE

Let's shed some light on the "Fourth Dimension" of guidance, that is guidance through The sacred months and the other sacred occasions like Ramadhan, Eid-ul-Fitr and the other days assigned during the Lunar year.
In these occasions Allah Grants high rewards for those who sacrifice for the Sake of Allah by fasting and doing good deeds.

The examples indicated by certain days and months are stated as samples for the believers. It is revealed for each and every one of us to practice on these occasions, and more important to extend these days of good deeds to cover all the twelve months of the year.

That is the way Allah Gives Cure to Muslims and it is the prescription of treatment for the believers to preserve their faith and stay as examples to others.

When any one of us feels a pain disturbing any system of his body, usually he makes an appointment to see his doctor, who examines him and prescribes a way for his treatment. The believer follows the instructions of the prescription under the belief that Allah Is the Only One Capable of Curing him. So, he uses all the means possible to heal his body hoping for the Mercy of Allah to Make him regain his health.

If we flash back with our memories, we will remember that sometimes we feel disturbed emotions and that the systems of our bodies are confused while we cannot spot a single source of pain. Because a Muslim in this case is not able to pin point the cause of his disturbance to a doctor, he surrenders directly to the Creator of the doctor and try his medicine. He starts auditing himself: What he did wrong in disobedience of Allah's Commands, what he did wrong for himself and for the environment surrounding him. At that time he remembers that these commands represent the three dimensions of peace which when he fulfils first, Allah Will Give him the Cure in a treatment suitable for the disease. So, he will go back and retrieve all that he did and ask Allah Forgiveness. Suddenly he will find that he is cured.

How?

Allah Is Unseen, then His Treatment to hidden diseases will be unseen and the believer will find that all his unseen emotions are back in harmony. The same as when he gets a treatment for any sick organ of his body. This organ is apparent and materialistic, so the doctor's prescriptions are also apparent and materialistic. All of us tried the materialistic prescriptions through the doctors for apparent diseases. Try the other treatment yourself for the unseen diseases, that have no prescription. When you find that you are emotionally disturbed, make an Appointment with Allah by remembering what you did wrong and ask Allah Forgiveness if what you did wrong is related to yourself. Or ask others to forgive you if you wronged anyone. And Pray to Allah (the salat is your Appointment and Meeting with Him). I guarantee for you that before you end your prayer you will be cured and happy. It was narrated about the Prophet (PBUH) that:

"When the Prophet (PBUH) had any problem, he finds the solution in performing (salat)."

Before we continue on talking about the fifth dimension of guidance which is the PLACE, I like to share with you some thoughts about the significance of guidance in the holy Quraan. Allah Says in Sura # 42 Ash-Shura, Verses # 52-53:

"And verily Thou dost guide (mankind) To the Straight Way." (42-52)
"The Way of Allah, To Whom belongs whatever is in the heavens And whatever is on earth." (42-53)

So, Allah in these Verses Identifies that the Prophet (PBUH) was a guidance to mankind showing them the straight way.

Also, Allah Says in Sura # 28 Al-Qasas, Verse # 56:

"It is true thou wilt not be able to extend the guidance of assistance to every one Whom thou lovest; but Allah Extends His Assistance to whom He Will and He Knows best those who receive guidance."

In this Verse Allah Emphasized the two kinds of guidance,

  • First: He Negates that the Prophet (PBUH) can extend the guidance of assistance to those who received the Prophet's first stage of guidance to the Straight Way of Allah.
  • Second, Allah Specifies that He Himself Is the only One Who Knows the hearts of his creations and accordingly He Is the One Who Will Reward by the second stage of guidance.

In the Holy Quraan, you will always find two types of guidance for mankind in the worldly life:

  • First: The guidance to the Straight Way of Allah
    In this regard, Allah Showed the straight way to all Mankind: believers, nonbelievers and hypocrites.

  • Second: Those who believed in the straight way and Respected Almighty Allah as the One Prescribed it to mankind and honored His Commands and the instructions of His Prophet (PHUB).
    For only those, Allah Grants the second type of guidance, that is the assistance and help so that they perform all the Commands of Allah with pleasure and satisfaction. As much satisfaction they have in Obeying their Lord, as much increase in piety, pleasure, happiness and comfort they get in the worldly life and in the Hereafter.

An issue related to these two types of guidance, which comes frequently as an argument from the nonbelievers, quotes a Verse of the Quraan where Allah Says in Sura # 2 Al-Baqarah, Verses # 6 & 7, which specify the nonbelievers:

"As to the nonbelievers, those who reject faith, It is the same to them Whether thou warn them Or do not warn them; they will not believe." (2-6)
Allah Hath Set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing. And on their eyes is a veil; Great is the chastisement they (incur)." (2-7)

That is the Tradition of Allah in Dealing with the nonbelievers. As they deliberately covered the existence of Their Creator, He Will Give them punishment of the same type. He Will Help them to enjoy what they insisted on doing. Allah Will Set a seal (or cover) on their hearts so that neither the faith will enter nor rejection of faith will get out. The seal will cover their hearing so that they will not get any guidance, And their eyes will be covered by a veil so that they will not see how the guided believers have happiness in their hearts in spite of their comparatively limited resources. And Allah Promises the nonbelievers great punishment in additions to these sealing.

The question frequently asked in this regard by the nonbelievers and some Muslims is: If Allah Seals all the ports of guidance to me, then why He Punishes me?

The answer is simple: Allah Did that not to those who Accepted His Guidance to His Straight Way, But He Punishes only those who reject His Guidance. And another approach to this issue is: If this is a catch you are taking against the justice in the punishment and you believe that it is a logical catch, you should inquire about the opposite situation too: That is:

If Allah Guided me, so why He Rewards me?

Usually the nonbelievers and hypocrites are not thinking of this opposite situation because of their stubborn attitude and their insistence on being on the wrong track. The Response of Allah in many Verses of the Quraan is: You are insisting on your position, so Allah Is Helping you to be happy with your situation. And remember that Allah Will Be very happy for you if you return back and Repent to Allah, as it was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said:

"Allah Will Be more happy by His Repentant Human than any one of you who finds all what he owns after he loses the hope of seeing it again."

Ask Allah forgiveness and be sure that He, Almighty Will Respond and Reward you.

Praise be to Allah:

"Who Forgiveth Sin, Accepteth Repentance, Is Severe in Punishment, and Is all-Bountiful. There is no god But He: to Him Is the Final Goal."(40-3)

I ask Allah to shower His Peace and Prayers on Prophet Muhammad, his family and all his companions.

Dear Muslims:

After this long explanations of the types of guidance, let's shed the light on the fifth dimension that is the guidance through the place.

Muslims have the privilege that every place on earth is granted as a peaceful place to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his followers. It was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said:

"All the earth is granted to me as a place of worship, as a place of peace. And the earth surface was purified for me. Whoever will not find water for wadhua, will find the dust of the earth to replace water by Timum."

That is the whole earth in its generality. On the earth, there will be places allocated and selected by believers to be Mosques. These are peaceful places for prayer in congregation, for interchange mutual advice between Muslims, and for celebrations in the sacred months, for teaching religion to Muslims and non-Muslims and all the other cheerful occasions during the whole year.

Mosques are spread all over the world, and if you imagine these mosques containing believers five times per day, at different times and different spots, you will find that Allah Is Glorified on earth continuously at each and all fractions of the time.

The third place of worship is the House of Allah Selected by Allah at Mecca, "The Sacred Mosque".

Muslims wherever they are at any House of Allah by the selection of mankind are all directed in their prayers to the House of Allah by the Selection of Allah.

In addition to that, there are two other remarkable Mosques specified by the Hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) where it was narrated that he had said:

"Travelling and visitation should be to the three Mosques, namely: Al Masjid Al-Haram (The sacred Mosque in Mecca), The Mosque of the Prophet (PBUH) in Medina, and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem."

Next time, we will talk more about the sacred Mosque in Mecca Inshaa Allah, since we are in the month of Hajj (Zul-Hijja)

It was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said:

"Whoever prays at Al-Masjid Al Haram in Mecca, will be rewarded 100,000 times more than a similar prayer conducted at any other place. Whoever prays at the Mosque of the Prophet (PBUH) in Medina will be rewarded 1000 times better than a similar prayer conducted at any other place."

I will pray and ask Allah, Please say Amen