| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (14 January 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. Committed Muslims… I know it is cold- much more then a little cold and I always say to myself I will try to make it a short khutbah. This time I shall also try to make it a short khutbah. Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/33773 (01-07-2010) WHAT IT MEANS TO BE THE CENTRAL UMMAH We, (meaning the general Muslims of the world), have a common condition in the world that has disabled us from doing what has to be done. Regrettably, the condition that we are in has a religious gloss to it. This inactivity/sluggishness of the Muslims, (generally speaking), has a religious reference. It's not supposed to be like this. It is wrong for this to happen but this is the fact. We say/ repeat/listen many times to speakers to the Muslims/speakers on the Mimbar/spokespersons in public who often quote the ayah, (meaning approximately) … and in such a way/fashion We have rendered you Ummatan Wasata… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 143) Here we're following the language/words that are used in to rationalise the dis-functionality of the Muslims. … We have rendered you a middle of the path Ummah/the Ummah of the golden means/a moderate Ummah… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 143) The key word in all of these is concentrated on the meanings of moderate- a moderate Ummah. … so that you may bear/be the witness pertaining to the other nations of the world and so that the Messenger may bear witness pertaining to you… … (Surah Al Baqarah verse 143) This understanding of moderate has taken away the motivation of doing what has to be done. This moderation is many times explained as "we Muslims are moderates. We are located in a mid-way position between the materialism of Europe/the West and the spiritualism of the Orient/India"- something along those lines. So we are supposed to feel happy and think we've accomplished… What have we accomplished? Just by trying to explain the meanings of this ayah in a historical/ geographical sense what have we done? What has been accomplished by that? Another explanation of Ummatan Wasata is that … we are located on a scale that is centred half way between the dunya and the Deen… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 143) You know- we have some people say "the world is either a secular world i.e. the world of the duniya or the world is a religious world i.e. the world of Churches/Temples and these types of places." Here we are- someone/speaker stands up and says "we the Muslims are the Ummah of moderation because we have the virtues of deen and dunya." Now what is going to be accomplished by just saying something like that? What did we do? Life and the facts speak for themselves. Virtually nothing! We have Qur'anic words – aalim al ghayb/the world of the unknown/unseen/imperceptible and aalim ash shahaadah/the world of the present and the tangible. OK- we have this but what do we get out of saying "oh we have it right because we are located in a position that draws in the virtues of deen and dunya" when we are doing nothing?! Then we have those who explain Ummatan wasata in a very individual sense. They come to the individual and say "oh this individual is perfect as a Muslim because he has a balance between his soul and body." OK- so what? Just by saying that doesn't mean we have a balance between our souls and bodies! But just because someone expresses this we are supposed to be satisfied?! "Look how good we are?!" Then there are those, (we lived in the past couple of generations), a very furious dichotomy between those who emphasis the individuals basically the Capitalistic enterprises/structures and those who emphasis societies/Socialism and you know what that means- so here comes the Muslim who thinks he has accomplished something and he quotes this ayah … We have rendered you a middle of the path Ummah/the Ummah of the golden means/a moderate Ummah… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 143) Moderation/the moderate Muslim here is firstly supposed to mean that we are neither individualistic as Capitalists are neither are we Socialists as Communists are so we occupy the centre position here and therefore we have fulfilled our obligations. What nonsense! Knowing what Islam is and just expressing it doesn't mean that we have substituted what has to be done. No! Then we those who explain the moderation as being the Muslims Ummatan Wasata as "an Ummah that is central between peace and war/the pen and the sword." This is how it is expressed. So some writer/ intellectual stands up and says "we are an Ummatan wasata because we are not a militarilistic Ummah and we are not an Ummah that is given to non-violence/a passive ummah." OK- so what are you? He tells us we are "Ummatan Wasata." So what does that mean in the real world? Who are you? It's not enough to say "we are Ummatan Wasata." Give us more information about what Ummatan Wasata means. You cannot define yourselves by negating the negative; you have to affirm the positive. So what is the positive of whom we are? You see- this keeps on going. Then some others say "we are Ummatan Wasata because we combine the virtues of what is in theory with the virtues of what is in practice. We are not Utopians and we are not realists." OK- so what does that mean? We're not this and we are not that! If we're not this and we're not that but in the real sense of the word who are we? So in this type of definition of who we are not we fail to express who we are. Who are we? And Allah says Ummatan Wasata. The real Muslims of today are satisfied with the words of the Qur'an. In their minds these words of the Qur'an don't have a practical definition but nevertheless just by reciting the ayah and by duplicating the wording we are satisfied that "ah we have some type of characteristic/feature" but in reality we are the auxiliaries of superpowers/Dictators. Before we come today's world… We're probably going to leave today's world to your common sense and the common information that all of us have but let's go back to the time frame when Allah's words and Allah's Prophet were revealed. There was a generation or two/a few generations before Allah's Prophet in which there was a real world out there just like there is a real world out here. What was that real world? Well- the geography of the Arabian Peninsula was basically a geography that was occupied by two powers of that time. There were the Byzantines and Persians. These were two worldly powers. As far there area/geography called Arabia that had a common language we find that these people were the client of either the Byzantines/Persians. The Byzantines had the Arabian Ghassanis/Ghassasinah, (some books say) Ghassanites. These were basically to the North of Arabia and what is today known as the areas of Jordan/Greater Syria and along the coasts of the Red Sea. These people were the puppets of the Byzantines. They had a King called Al Haarith. On the other side, the areas to the East/North-East of Arabia in today's geography that would be the Persian Gulf/Southern Iraq were the clients of the Persians and they were called Al Lakhmiyyin. They had a King called Al Mundhir. There was always this hostility between the Arabians who were the extension of the Byzantine interests and the Arabians who were the extension of Persian interest. This was a fact of life. Now in this history there is an area in Arabia that more-or-less is out of the sphere of these two interests- these were the Hejaz/Makkah/Al Madinah that at that time was called Yathrib. These did not come under the direct influence/control of either Byzantium/Persia. What happened in this history? What happened is that Byzantium- not Persia- makes an attempt to take over this last, (if you want to call it independent you may), area that is not under the control of either superpower. So what do they do? The Byzantiums don't come in with their forces to conquer these territories- no. They instigate another one of their clients i.e. Al Habasha, the African continuum of Byzantium to go into Arabia which they did. They came to Yemen which they occupied and then from there they wanted to make their way up to Makkah and occupy Makkah. They tried and they failed. But in our history, (for those of us who read it- and some of us say "oh these are sensitive/emotional issues and we don't want to go into this." Well, what's wrong with going into these areas and understanding what's happening? Is it better for us to have a blank in our mind when we look at the years that went into the formation of the people who were listening to Allah's words and Allah's Prophet or is it better to have background information so that we can understand the psychology/sociology/politics/orientations/trends of those days? The way we have been behaving is that "we rather prefer a blank. We don't want to speak about that." But when we open up these historical records we find that it was the Byzantines who made a military effort through their clients from the back door of Arabia, (so to speak), coming up from Yemen towards Makkah to finally destroy the Ka'bah. So the destruction of the Ka'bah had its roots in Byzantium/the West and they used this through their clients. Much like what they do today. They have clients and plans and they use these clients for these plans. At that time they wanted to use Africans/Blacks. They didn't want to come themselves. What is troubling about this is that there are some Africans/Blacks who report to the Byzantium boss then and now. What do they do now? If they have plans/schemes against us they put a black man in the fore front. They do this for the worldwide audience! The person who looks black is in the White House. So they have schemes- serious ones. Just recently in the news in the past few days they said "would Sudan explode on Obama's watch?!" Now for a person who's reading a news item like that and doesn't read history "it's just some President in the White House and some trouble in Sudan. There's going to be some type of vote. It's going to take place this coming week on whether the South should break away and become an independent Nation-state." But if we begin to understand the background history that we have then we know what's the magnitude of what they are planning. So it's not right for us to abandon our own information. This is part of the history of the Prophet- Aam Al Fil is a short Surah that practically every Muslim practically has memorised. You memorise a Surah and you don't memorise the context of this Surah and what went with it?! Eventually what happened was the Byzantines and their African-Arabian clients were defeated and we've gone into this previously. Then the Yemenis/the people of Yemen who finally got rid the tricks of Byzantium… Notice (that) in today's world there's a lot of activity in Yemen but in this war between the Ghassasinah/Ghassanis and the Manadhira/Mundhiris they would pride themselves of being the clients of their superpowers. One of them would attack the other and burn their own city and be proud of that. The daughter of the Ghassani King… This is an area which you're not familiar with- there's a proverb in the Arabic language that says Halima's day is an open secret. Who's Halima? Halima is the daughter of the Ghassani King Al Haarith. When his army went to take revenge against the Mundhiri clan of Arabians she was the one who came out with her beauty/attraction and she blessed this army that is going to fight other Arabians with the perfume/scents/fragrances off to the battlefield. She accompanied this army and they attack each other. One of them captures the son of the King. This time it is the clients of the Persians who capture the son of the King of the Ghassanis and offer him as a sacrifice to Al Uzza- one of the god idols of the Arabians. Who are these people? Why do they do these type of things? It is in this context that Allah liberated these types of people from being clients of the superpowers of those times. Were there traitors? Of course there were traitors. This is also one of the things that is probably new to your ears because you don't speak the Arabic language- but there is a person called Abu Rihaal. He is known for his treachery/betrayal/treason because he used to go and tell the Ethiopians who were in Yemen and the Byzantines who were their bosses who this/that Arabian is. What they are planning. What their internal thoughts are, etc. He went down in history as the Judas of the Arabians. Does this circulate in anyone's mind? Is anyone aware of these types of things happening? On the other hand we had people in Arabia in the same area; before we get to these few individuals… One of the rulers in Yemen- Saif ibn Dhi Yazal- met with the Prophet's grandfather Abdul Muttalib who from the year 520 on the Western calendar was the gatekeeper of the Ka'bah, (so to speak). Abdul Muttalib goes to Yemen in a delegation of the nobility of Quraysh and he meets with the Yemeni ruler Saif ibn Dhi Yazal. Why do they meet? Because they feel threatened and they want to protect themselves. In this atmosphere of political nothingness the Prophet of Allah came. There's an ayah in the Qur'an that can be understood in a more local meaning and it could be understood in a more expended meaning. The ayah in Surah Al Anfal says And bear in mind when there were a few of you and you are afraid that people/powers are able to dislodge you from your areas/domiciles/homelands and then He, (meaning Allah), offered you shelter, support and victory… (Surah Al Anfal verse 26) This could mean the Muslims of Al Madinah who were threatened by the Mushriks in the Arabian Peninsula and can also mean in a larger sense these Arabians who lived in the Peninsula who were living in a psychology of intimidation by the powers all around them. In this atmosphere, (this goes to show you how much history is absent from our public memory), there's a person by the name of Khalid ibn Sinan Al Absi. Has anyone heard of him? You can answer the question in your own mind at this moment. In the last years of her life his daughter who was an elderly/old woman went to Allah's Prophet and Allah's Prophet says to her welcome to a daughter of a Prophet who was disowned by his own people. Now some people are going to say "now who is this Khalid- a Prophet?" This Khalid Al Absi was a person who had broke with all that his society stood for/his culture/traditions and he began telling his people "there is one God." Now some individuals who take a historian's delicate/detailed view point of history say "well this person could have been included in the ayah in Surah Al Ghaafir." Allah says And We have sent Messengers before you, (oh Muhammad) and some of them we have detailed for you and some of them we have not mentioned to you... (Surah Al Ghaafir verse 78) The point that has to be absorbed here is where is this in our public minds? Which goes to tell us that our information about the extended life to which Allah's Prophet came to speak to/change is absent from us now- which obviously serves the powers of the world. There is another person by the name of Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufail. This was also one of these people who could see the light through culture/tradition/religious waywardness. He died four years before Allah's Prophet began to receive revelation. This person made intoxicants haraam upon himself and told his people "to part with this social vice." He told them "not to honour any of these idols." He used to spend one month a year devoted to Allah in the same place where the Prophet used to go- in Ghaar Hira. That month of the year was Ramadhan and the Prophet said about him he will be resurrected on the day of Qiyama as an Ummah by himself. Then we have another personality that we are much more acquainted with i.e. Abu Dharr (radi Allahu anhu). Years before word escaped from Makkah about a Prophet in Makkah this person discovered the general meanings of Tawheed through his life experience so when the Prophet came he responded immediately because it reverberated with his own knowledge/background. But where is this information? The point which is being made here on this day/time of taqwa is where is this in the Muslim public mind? Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims… Obviously it doesn't serve the purposes of those in power to begin to see the parallels between the time of the Prophet and our time today. Therefore it's very essential for those who are in power to delete this history from our minds because if we begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together we will begin to understand more thoroughly and more practically what has to be done. We ask you as brother-to-brother/brother-to-sister: is it in the interests of those who are loyal to a superpower today- not loyal to Allah- who are ruling in Arabia. You know the superpower today and you know the rulers of Arabia. Does it serve their interest to come and figure out through reading accurately the history of the Prophet's time that they had their equivalents? We Muslims had the equivalents of today's rulers in Arabia at that time. No. It doesn't serve their interests for this information to break out and become popular knowledge. They don't want that to happen. OK- we can understand them. They want to survive/continue to rule/serve their masters when Al Harith, the King of Al Ghasasinah's son scored a military victory for the Byzantines against the Persians he was given a crown by the Byzantines and he felt very honoured/an air or self importance/prestige that he was give this crown to put on his head. Today, we have the same type of rulers who feel that they are very honoured. A son of a King today becomes Vice-Chairman of the FIFA- this International Soccer Federation. The King of Jordan's brother, (let's be up-front about this), who is the son of the previous King. They call him "His Highness Prince Ali ibn Al Hussein." He is given this title and then they go about flashing this in their news and they feel so empowered that they were given this silly title. Isn't there a semblance of psychology between the rulers fourteen/fifteen-hundred years ago and the rulers in Arabia now. No one wants this area to appear so that we can resume our Islamic personality/responsibilities/mission without this Ummatan Wasata vagueness that many Muslims are satisfied with. no one wants this This khutbah was presented by Imam Mohammad Al Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 7 January 2011 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row 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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