| THE STREET MIMBAR EID AL ADHA KHUTBAH (27 November 2009) webpage: http://www.facebook.com/The.Street.Mimbar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar/ PLEASE e-mail Suggestions & Criticisms to khutbahs@yahoo.com It is in such a manner that We make plain Our signs so that the course of the Criminals may become clear. | Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and sisters, Committed Muslims… Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbassermons.htm (02-22-2002) EID AL ADHA And proclaim/pronounce for the general public the gathering for the pilgrimage in the Hajj and they will come to you on modest means of transportation; they will come to this assembly walking… (Surah Al Hajj verse 27) What is Allah saying? If this call/the adhaan for the Hajj goes out to all the people then they will respond by coming to Makkah and Al Madinah on their feet and meager resources. Vehicles or modes of transportation to get them to that destination. … they will come from very distant and remote areas of the world. (Surah Al Hajj verse 27) What is meant by this ayah? Makkah and Al Madinah are open cities for the committed Muslims from around the globe. Allah is saying that this is an open invitation to an open Holy destination for everyone who is able to come to Makkah and Al Madinah. That is what Allah says and intends, but what do we have here? (We have) the humanisized deity who impose themselves on this ayah and contravene the meaning in this ayah. They say "no! This is not a call to all Muslims." Then, they begin to exclude Muslim on a numerical basis. They say "out of every 1,000,000 Muslims we're going to permit 1,000 Muslim." Does this agree with the ayah? This is an uninhibited Hajj, but the Saudi government has made it a restricted Hajj in violation of the clear meanings of this holy text. This officialdom that rules in the land of the Haramain- Makkah and Al Madinah- says that Muslims have to go there within a couple of weeks and then leave immediately. When did this ever occur? Where do they have the justifications for this in the Qur'an and Sunnah? When committed Muslims assemble in the vicinity of Al Masjid Al Haram they are supposed to be witnesses to advantages/benefits/good that comes on their way. What type of manafi' or benefit are Muslims witnessing in and around the Kaábah except that the expression of their brotherhood is stifled and we're supposed to go there and make believe that we satisfying the obligation of the Hajj when we are not even supposed to communicate to each other what it means to be Muslim brothers in today's world of hostilities and animosities! What type of manafi' are Muslims witnessing in this type of Saudi defined Hajj? Who (else) says (that just) like the Saudis are saying "we have to go there in a couple of weeks and we have to leave in a less than a week." Where did this come from? Allah says in unambiguous words and plain language Al Hajj is a matter of known months… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 197) Three months of Hajj! Why have the Saudis gotten away by reducing/crippling the Hajj to only three weeks of Hajj? We- the couple of million- say… Imagine- out of one-and-a-half-billion Muslims in the world- because of the policies of restriction and the regulations to stifle this Hajj, we have 1,4 million Muslims coming from outside the Arabian Peninsula and another 800,000 or 900,000 coming from inside that Peninsula! What happened to the rest of the Muslims? Why can't they go to the Hajj? Why are these restrictions? We say this so that you can bring, (at least in the mental sense), these people to accountability for what they are doing. Who says if we are going to Hajj we cannot communicate with ourselves? Where did the Saudi government come with this mammoth bidá of all times from?! Muslims cannot communicate there with a Muslim who is injured in Palestine or maimed in Afghanistan or handicapped in Kashmir or an invalid from the Balkans! This Muslim body that reassembles itself in Makkah is supposed to make believe that we cannot communicate with each other?! What is the meaning/value of brotherhood if we can't express our brotherly feelings to our own selves inside of our own body? This is the type of hollow/empty Hajj that is performed by individuals nowadays! Is it true that we are responding to/resonating with Allah when we say "Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik?" Many of these officials who go there are supposed to be saying these words. But (take a) look. Their tongues say these words, but their hands express the opposite meaning. They don't place their confidence/resonate/respond to Allah; they place their confidence/resonate with the Shayateen of the world i.e. those who have super imposed themselves upon the power of Allah in the minds and hearts of these officials Muslims who read the Qur'an, pray and fast, but that's all they have of their Islam- motions, and a figure/image of a Muslim but the content is anti-Islamic. Or else we won't be in the conditions that we are in today. This is a Masjid here that held its Eid ceremonies today. Do they speak to the issues? Do they have the confidence that comes from reliance upon Allah- a reliance that is expressed on the model of Al Hajj? "Labbaik Allah humma labbaik…" They don't say and mean it! They say that because it is a religious and traditional ritual that is inherited from previous generations; meanwhile they violate every meaning/sentence that is expressed in the Hajj by everything they do. They are men of every season and they are slaves of every master, especially when it comes to the European white man. They are their inferiors because they can't express their independent Islamic character, strategy and objective. Didn't the Prophet of Allah despatch Aba Bakr and Ali (radi Allahu anhuma) to Makkah during the 9th year of the hijra with the 1st 29 ayaat of Surat Bara'a? This surah represents the severence of dependency relationships on the Mushrik and Kafirs. Allah is expressing the disavowal on His behalf and on behalf of His Prophet to represent the rest of the Muslims in the world there shall be no longer any dependency relationship upon the forces of Shirk and Kufr in this world. (Surah Al Bara'a verse 1) But what do we have? We have exactly that! We have the Saudi and all of these governments imposing their decisions on the Muslims. We have them relying not on Allah, but relying on lesser gods, false deities (and) fallacious powers. This is not the meaning of the Hajj. If there was a true Hajj there would have been a movement of Islamic independence from kufr and shirk expressed in Makkah. These are the benefits that are supposed to generate from Makkah and Al Madinah at this time. We are not even able to express these benefits that come from disclosing our feelings/thoughts to each other. What do they want? Us to go to Hajj like we are the living dead on earth? We are supposed to be human machines that go around the Ka'bah or to Arafat or to Muzdalifa or Mina? We are supposed to be brainless/emotionless! What do they expect us to do? After all of this, why are many of us doing this? Why do many of us lack the courage to say to those who are misrepresenting Islam and trying to choke Islam in its cradle in Makkah and Al Madinah that "they are wrong when they are obviously and outrageously wrong." Why can't we, with reliance on the Qur'an and Sunnah that we have, say to them that "they are wrong when they are obviously and outrageously wrong." The way this Hajj is performed- this may be shocking to some of you- is a munkar. And whoever sees a munkar is required to change it... Who is willing to say "the way this Hajj performed is a munkar?" Let us have regenerating Muslims and revitalized thoughts that are embedded in the Qur'an and Sunnah that can come up to these enemies of Allah and the Hajj i.e. the Administrators, Rulers and Governors in and around Makkah and Al Madinah and say to them "you are responsible for this yearly mis-performance for the Hajj." This should be changed by what we do. OK- these officials have the money, but we have Allah. And if we have Allah they can have as much money as they have. What does that mean? If we have Allah we can go and say "who says today is Eid ul Adhaa in reference to when they erroneously declare the day of Eid on the 9th day of Dhu Al Hijjah." Often it is not the 10th but the 9th day of Dhu Al Hijjah but they impose on all the Hujjaj/pilgrims who go to Makkah to stand on Arafat on the 8th day and no Muslim is taking exception to this mistake. There's not even a committed core of Muslims in the Hajj who can come to the public and say "no! it is not the right day to stand at Arafat on the 8th. Muslims are not supposed to be standing on Mount Arafat on the 8th and tomorrow is supposed to be the accurate/correct/precise day of Eid." They are getting away with the aftershock of their controlled Hajj in Makkah. This is not a fleeting mistake or something that occurred once in a blue-moon. This is (almost) systematic/recurrent/annual. Every month they begin their lunar month on the wrong day so they have our Eid and ceremonies on the wrong day. They have been getting away with this munkar. Once again, why do you, Muslims, let them get away with this munkar? OK- at this time, we can't go to Makkah and Al Madinah and reorganize the mass of Muslims altogether to stand on Arafat on the right day and then to perform their Eid ceremonies on the right day- we know that, but we can go the 2nd expression of opposition to the munkar. Whoever cannot change this munkar i.e. performance of the Hajj the way the Saudi government and its masters have it, the least we can do is to express the adjustment of this whole affair with language, words, communication, ideas. This is what is supposed to be done until they are exposed to the light of day. This is a time/occasion of sacrifice. It's going to take some sacrifice to do this. Today, we are supposed to be celebrating the sacrifices that we give as Muslims on our path/journey to Allah. Ibraheem (alaihi as salaam) wanted to sacrifice his son for Allah. And we have an official in the US government- here in town, around the block somewhere- who says this religion of Islam… (Take a) look at when the Saudi instrument take over, how the kuffar and Mushriks come out and express themselves. We are living in a Saudi time because the Saudis are more-or-less in control of Islamic activities around. So we have these officials coming and saying "(take a look, Islam is a religion that requires you give/sacrifice your son to God and Christianity is a religion in which God gave his son for you." OK- (hasn't) Mr Ashcroft heard what Ibraheem did with his son? He says it's Is'haaq, we say it's Isma'eel (alaihima as salaam); nevertheless, both of them are sons of Ibraheem. Didn't he want to sacrifice his son for God? Now, does he want to distance himself? We understand that he is a religious man- he should go review his religious text. He should go back to scriptural history and see what Abraham did. Did he not want to give his son to God? What is it? He's so stingy that he doesn't want to give his possessions, life and part of himself to the God that has given him everything?! He is that parsimonious?! This is a time when we are celebrating the meanings of sacrifice and this is a time when our hands give. Our language says Allahu Akbar. Allah is Superior to all of these instruments of war. Why pick on the innocent/oppressed Muslims of the world? Why are they picking on us? Leave us alone in our Masaajid, Makkah, Al Madinah, our homes and families. We are not going to their religious sanctuary and placing military bases around them! We are not concocting laws that turn against decent and innocent human beings just like they are doing. They are going on the offensive and then they turn around and use these fancy words to getaway, not only with murder but to get away, with presenting yourselves as the forces for freedom and democracy in the world. They cannot even tolerate a step of democracy in the Islamic Center in Washington DC. Don't these people in the Justice Department know that we've been for 26 years. Why? Because we want elections and democracy in this little area here in Massachusetts Avenue in Washington DC. This is not a country. This is not hundreds of thousands of square miles and kilometers. If in a limited Islamic Center they don't want elections, yet they want to come again and tell the Muslims they "are for elections and democracy in such areas as Afghanistan and different parts of Asia and Africa." They're trying to lie to us? We've been living their duplicity and hypocrisy for the last two-and-a-half-decades at least and we have been witnesses in this street every year to their lies. They prefer to look the other way. Imagine if this was an erroneous presence on the street in Washington DC. They'd have their media, journalists, TV crew and everyone around saying "(take a) look at how the Muslims are in the streets. (Take a) look at how backward they are." But they can't come with their media and mouth pieces because they know they are going to look at this issue as "we (meaning the American government) placed these innocent and decent individuals in the streets for what reason?" Because they want elections in the House of Allah. We don't want a Monarchical arrangement that comes from Saudi Arabia to impose on the Muslim congregation in the central Masjid in Washington DC as to who the Director/Imam/ Administrator of this Islamic Center should be. All of this is done with the support and courtesy of the United States government that is loud-mouthing "that there's an Islamic predicament in the world." We say to all of this Allahu Akbar. We mean what we say. In past years, they'd go by and say "these are rowdy Muslims on the streets." But now, because of what is happening in different parts of the world, they are beginning to say "this may not be rowdy after all. There may be having something to say." They're in that phase/state of mind now. We don't care what state of mind they are in, we continue to say Allahu Akbar. They continue to lie and we continue to say the truth! What shall be the outcome of all of this? They drop bombs on Muslims and they say "they released their ordinances" and they don't want to appear to be criminal in what they are doing. Imagine if they were saying "we are bombing/exterminating/expunging/destroying.." They don't say that and that's what they are really doing. They are saying "they are releasing their ordinances" and then they're saying "they have smart bombs." They are saying all of these fancy language to conceal all the war crimes that they are committing against innocent and decent human beings in this world. We are not the only ones here in Washington DC. Their criminal activities extend around the globe. They are intoxicated with this power and they think no one can defeat them. We say to them Allahu Akbar. Allah is able to defeat them. Brothers/sisters- you tell them "we have a difference of religious orientation or scriptural interpretation, (we can see that and you know that), but beyond that, we are brothers and sisters in humanity and we tell you "(As long as American support is not moderated for Israel -which it is the obvious and pronounced utmost and premier utmost terrorist establishment and entity in the world- then await Allah interference. It's not us. You and we know who we are; we are the small David and they are the Goliath. You and we know this fact, but we know something beyond what our eyes and senses tell us. We know that Allah is Superior, more powerful, overwhelming and above whatever means that you may have." To this we say Allahu Akbar… To all of you and to all the Muslims on this day and within the circumstances that we are in, we ask Allah to replace these adverse conditions with conditions that are more favourable and to give justice its course in the common human society that we all belong to and to isolate those who have evil minds and powers that are at work, wherever that may be. For that we say, every year, should we observe this occasion with more blessing and prosperity: Kullu aamin wa antum bi khayr. Wa Assalaamualaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh. Eid Mubarak. Even though this is an expression that we exchange on this time and we know the barakah is coming from what we do for Allah, not in what we say. As a reminder, today is Friday and the Eid has occurred on Friday, and because when the Eid occurs on Friday it eclipses the congregation of Jum'ah prayers, we shall release ourselves from re-appearing here for the Jum'ah weekly obligation because of Eid occurring today. May Allah be with you in this day and in the coming days and until we surrender our responsibilities and lives to our Maker and Creator. May Allah's peace, blessings, presence and support be with you (during) every moment of your life until that moment is released to Allah. This khutbah was presented by Imam Mohamed Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 22 February 2009 on the sidewalk of Embassy Road in Washington D.C. The Imam previously led the daily and Jum'ah prayers inside the Masjid. His speeches were revolutionary and thought provoking, and eventually irritated and threatened the Middle-East Ambassadors who control the Masjid. Finally, the Imam, his family, and other Muslims faithful to the course of Islam were forced out, into the streets. This khutbah originates from the sidewalk across the street from the Islamic Center, currently under seige. |
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