| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (23 April 2010) webpage: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182501078290&ref=ts 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 (04-09-2010) INTERFAITH MEETINGS: THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER (PART 4) I know these are a few extended ayaat around 30-36 ayaat of Surah Bara'ah. What are the meanings? What does Allah say to us? He says- and listen- these are His words, the facts/truth. They, (and they here is in reference to Alladhina kafaru min Ahl Al Kitab- those who deny Allah's Authority and Power i.e. those who call themselves Jews and Christians)… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) So what do they want to do? Allah tells us … they want to extinguish/put out Allah's light that comes to man by what they have to say… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) Not by bombs/military warfare, even though military warfare and bombs are part their strategy; but the way they think about sniffing out Allah's light is by their propaganda/public relations institutions/management of information/vocabulary/choice of words. All of this is what they utter to try to put out Allah's nur/light. Muslims take stock of these instructions. This is the real world. If you- committed Muslims- are serious about your responsibilities, you now know that Islam cannot be caged in a Masjid and cannot imprisoned in an individual; this is a light unto humanity. These ayaat were revealed when the leadership of Allah's Prophet were engaged in a military effort against the Byzantines in what was to be Allah's Prophet last participation in a military expedition. Muslims at that time, (as Muslims today), think that there is something special about Jews and Christians- this is the subterranean concern. How can People of Scripture go to war against other People of Scripture? And Allah wants to put this concern to rest, i.e. we Muslims do not have issues with Jews and Christians as far as the moral issues of life. We have to be clear on this; but we definitely have issues with them when it comes to the institutionalized issues of life. There is the issue of governance, law making, societal interaction. There are many of these issues that they are dead wrong about. During the time of Allah's Prophet, they sensed that the Muslims in this forsaken area of Arabia were on the move and they had to do something about it. So they prepared their military forces and the Prophet of Allah prepared the Islamic military forces. When the Muslims set out to do their military Islamic responsibilities, they were setting out to do it with a clear vision of what they were doing. They weren't confused here: "Oh, these are Christians and Jews, these are People of the Book, these are People of Scripture, we have so many things in common" and all of this other confusion now that grips some Muslims that want "to think outside of the box" today. There's no confusion over here. Just go back to what Allah is saying. … and Allah refuses except that He accomplish/goes the full range with His light… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) There's not going to be any obstacle in the way of Allah. The Muslims with Allah's Prophet were listening to this. They were going up against a world power and they had limited resources, but they heard Allah saying that these Yahud and Nasara… Notice how many times in the Qur'an Allah mentions them together. Take notice, the next time you read the Qur'an how many times Al Yahud and An Nasara are lumped together. Allah has chosen the words in the Qur'an very accurately. He wants to teach us, but many of us refuse to be taught when it comes to Islamic self-determination, Al Yahud and An Nasara stand in the same trench and they speak with one voice. What is that voice? … they want to extinguish/put out Allah's light that comes to man by what they have to say, but Allah rejects everything that they are doing and He goes on completing His light… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) When the Muslims then and now listen to this, they understand that there's two forces here: there is the force of those who are in denial of Allah's Authority and Power from that population of people that claim scripture i.e. the Old/New Testament. These Muslims look and see these people have a lot of power but they listen to Allah when He says .. but Allah resists and then goes on to finish His light … (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) Now which side are you on? You are also listening to the same words, just like all other Muslims that preceded you. These are not new words! The picture is clear. (Can't you) see, when Allah is determined to spread His light to the end, another reality after the kafirs listen to this is … they begin to hate this dynamic/developments/fact that Allah continues to spread His light… … (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 32) And Allah doesn't spread His light by physically coming to the world and shedding light on the dark corners of our lives?! This light of Allah comes through the efforts/struggle/sacrifices/sweat/blood of committed Muslims- the first one was Allah's Prophet in this historical movement of committed Muslims. So they hated this. So are you Muslims ready? Many Muslims say to themselves "no, we don't want anybody to hate us." Of course, we don't go around fishing for hatred. No Muslim does that. But if you- in the obedient sense to Allah- are doing your obligations/duty/responsibilities/pursuing your objectives, and out of that these others who are in positions of power and wealth begin to hate that, then you have to know (that) this comes with the territory. This is normal. Actually, it is a testimony to the fact that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. You would have something to fear if the kafirs do not hate what you are doing. Then you should question yourself: "wait a minute, something is wrong here?!" Do you want a little more information… He, (meaning Allah), it is who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the deen of haqq... (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 33) Does anyone doubt this for one minute? OK- so we are very certain about this. The Prophet of Allah has set these responsibilities into motion and we know and can expect that these responsibilities are going to take us through the types of challenges that we are going through today. If you just spread these words that are being explained to you into the geography, political context, economic set-up and social realities of our world today, these types of issues are to be expected. What is not to be expected is the failure of will on our side. OK- why did Allah send His Apostle with guidance and deen haqq? … so that it will overwhelm all other forms of deen in this world/existence… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 33) "This is a big statement. What are you Muslims talking about? Are you serious? These words belong in the imagination, they don't belong in reality"- this is the type of interference/static that occurs when there is a failure of will to carry these meanings from Allah into the practical steps in our lives. When the meanings expand to the social/political/military domain, people say "you mean to tell me that Allah, His Prophet and the committed Muslims are going to carry this affair/issue of Islam until it over powers all other systems/paradigms/establishments?!" Yes! Notice in this ayah, even though the Muslims are charged with the day-to-day responsibilities, it is Allah who is responsible for the results. The Prophet and the followers of the Prophet cannot claim the success of this effort or else the ayah would have said li yudh'hira Rasulullahi deenuhu ala ad deeni kulli. No. Not even the Prophet of Allah can claim credibility/results of this jihad. Then, this is the most important part, (we think), the ayaat that follow… OK- Allah is speaking to you- you have fermentation of commitment in you and these words are planted in your fertile heart when you are committed to Allah. It is beyond a person's words/human language to emphasize the lesson that is contained in this ayah. O you who are committed to Allah, there are many clergymen/religious figures/rabbis/priests/reverends/rectors… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34) What is Allah going to say about them? Allah is speaking about a religious class of people, what is he saying? He says … they consume peoples money/wealth/possessions illegally and sinfully… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34) Muslims have this impression that there is a moral/ethical component to Ahl Al Kitab and this moral/ethical feature is present among the People of the Book especially in their religious circles, i.e. their Churches and Synagogues. Allah wants you to know that corruption dwells deep down inside this class of people that you think is immune from decadence/immorality. … they are involved in these illegal transaction of money in society or they gain money by illegitimate means and what they also do in the course of generating all of this money is that they work as barriers on the way to Allah, and those who hoard who stash away… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34) Some people would say, (in today's language), … those who save gold and silver and do not spend it in the cause of Allah, break news to them that an excruciating torment awaits them on a day in which these metals that they have monopolised in this world are heated up/the temperatures is turned up to an incinerating degree and then they are ironed on their foreheads, sides and backs because of what they were doing here, in this world… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34) Now, we have to be very frank with you and say that there is no investigation of the corruption of clerical people. Why? Because they are tied into the larger corrupt establishment around (and) they become part of it. So why would the establishment want to investigate some of its own? The same way they don't investigate corrupt politicians, they don't investigate corrupt ecclesiastics. Because they both belong to the same system, but are we to be fooled by the absence of information in the secular world of information or do we take our information directly from Allah? For some of the historical narrative on this, even though this was mentioned many, many weeks/months ago, this ayah … those who stash away/hoard/invest gold and silver or phenomenal amounts of this money… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34) Dollars/riyals/dirhams/dinars/Euro or whatever type of hard currency they have in the usurious world, that is causing/making a war to come between those who have and those who don't have. The eruptions here-and-there… What is happening in Kyrgyzstan this week is only a small detail in what is happening in the larger world when usury is the economic order of the day. Remember: we mentioned that Abu Dharr (radi Allahu anhu) took this ayah and began to try to explain it to people in Ash Shaam and he ran into the rulers/governor in Ash Shaam. He had a run-in with Muawiyah because of the meanings of this ayah. On one encounter between Abu Dharr and Muawiyah, Muawiya asks Aba Dharr but listen, you're using this ayah- this is a very severe ayah against those who want to use wealth/possessions on a grand scale for their own personal/class/elitists benefits- but this ayah was revealed to speak about the religious figures of Yahud and An Nasara? And Abu Dharr's exact response to that was it was revealed to speak about them- Al Yahud and An Nasara- and to speak about us. This is extremely important to understand because the question here is: are Muslims immune from committing the same type of social/economic/financial crime? Does this mean that Muslims in our religious personality who wear/put on the religious picture i.e. the Amamah/Thawb/Aba'ah or whatever are immune from hoarding wealth/piling up in their bank accounts… We wish it was theirs?! In the case of Muslims, we look around- they pile it up in the accounts of Al Yahud and An Nasara! So it looks like Muslims are guilty twice! First for the intention of hoarding wealth and then for not being able to hoard it themselves, but to giving it to their enemies to hoard! So, you can conclude from this ayah, (as well as other ayaat in the Qur'an that may have been revealed to speak about Al Yahud and An Nasara, but they equally apply to Muslims when Muslims behave the same way. What is so difficult to understand about this? In the previous segment of ayaat that precede this. What did they/Alladhina kafaru min Ahl Al Kitab meaning the kafirs of Al Yahud and An Nasara do? They designated their religious class of people as over-lords/lords or they vouch for them as being lords to the exclusion of Allah… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 31) There's a historical detail about this. There's a person by the name of Adi ibn Hatim. He was the son of another person called Hatim At Ta'i. Hatim At Ta'i, the father of Adi was the most generous man in Arabia. So generous that proverbs were coined because of his generosity. So, this person comes up to Allah's Prophet with a silver cross on his chest. There is nothing in the books of history, Seerah and fiqhi, etc. that says that this person was confronted by the Muslims and told "how dare you come up to the Prophet of Allah with a silver cross on your chest?" Never. We don't even hear a squeak of opposition of a person doing that. As Allah would have it, the Prophet of Allah was reading this ayah They have designated their Rabbis and Priests as lords to the exclusion of Allah… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 31) When he heard this he said to the Prophet of Allah, (remember, this is a Christian speaking), no, no. But that's not the case. They don't consider the Rabbis and Priests to be gods. The Prophet of Allah said but they do. In the sense that these Rabbis and Priests have rendered what is haram/illegal to be halal/legal and what is halal/legal to be haram/illegal and their followers/blocs accepted/went along with that/obeyed them. That obedience from flock to clergymen amounts to that flock having designated them as authorities on a par with Allah. In the ayah that speaks about these types, … they were only commanded/ordered to obey and to comply with Allah… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 31) The Prophet of Allah says this Islam is going to reach all the urban societies and all of the rural areas of the world through times in which there are going to be rulers of glory and in times that there are going to be individuals of humiliation and this affair/Islam/this light of Allah is going to continue regardless of how much/less you and I are involved in it. Brothers and sisters on a As Sirat Al Mustaqeem… If we gain a confident/substantial understanding of the words of Allah as they are located in the world of Allah- today's real world- we will realise that we have among ourselves shuyukh, Muadh, those who call themselves Imams and other religious titles who have registered themselves with the status quo i.e. this jahiliya and Taghut that inundate the world. They don't have much courage to come out with the unadulterated meanings of the Qur'an and Sunnah to defy this status quo among us. If Allah is saying … there are many clergymen/religious figures… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 31) If you wanted to get to the bottom of the meaning of these two words, they simply mean those who have a religious designation/function. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Jew or Christian even though when these ayaat were revealed they were speaking about the corruption within the religious class belonging to Jews and Christians; but the wording of the ayah is not limited to them. The ayah did not say Inna Al Baba or Inna Al Haakhamah or Inna Al Khawaarinah or Al Qisas, in the singular/plural. There are other words in the religious hierarchy of Christians and Jews. So Abu Dharr was right- the meanings of this ayah applies to Christians and Jews as it applies to us, the Muslims. But are there going to be any minds who can bring these meanings out and then begin to identify those who are on the bank roll of the financiers? The same way they rob the poor people of the world, they pay the religious class to be silent about it. "Don't speak about that. "Don't bring up the issues of jihad and Qital and Alladhina kafaru min Ahl Al Kitab- Al Yahud and An Nasara" All these are prohibited subjects. Can't you see- it all feeds back to our understanding to what Allah has to tell us. If there's still a deficit of understanding, it becomes the playground of these Shayateen who try to reduce our Islam to private issues- the inches/centimetres on your physical body and nothing to do with the regions/countries of social misery on the social body of people in this world. "Take Islam away from that area and lock it up in these petty issues" that they argue about. Open a satellite TV station and listen to these people who are speaking from Arabia! You would think the human being's life/destiny/potentials were created around his/her genitals. Brothers- this is not an exaggeration. This thing keeps on repeating itself day-after-day/week-after-week/year-after-year. Aren't we sick and tired of it?! But we guess if the Qur'an has become an opium that is peddled by the Saudi religious establishments, no one is going to become sick and tired of it because they are hooked on it! This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammed Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 9 April 2010 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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