Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and sisters of a lifelong commitment… Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/61896 (03-25-2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3THR8DBMow MUSLIM MIND, ABSENCE PART 4 Before we state/quote some of the words of Allah and try to approximate their meaning to our frame of time and place we would like to preface that with a quick visualisation of what is happening to the body of 1.8 or more billion Muslims in the world. By and large there is a tremendous gap between those who rule and those who are being ruled. Those who are ruling over the Muslims live in a fairytale world their imaginations run wild/their pleasures are serviced they get a kick out of the type of entertainment that they are in to satisfy their lusts and they care less for the subjects that there are supposed to be ruling. On the other side, and before we go to the other side these ruling elites they are very-very limited in numbers when compared to the masses of the populations of Muslims in that expansive area that they rule. Now these Muslims who are being ruled are living in a general condition that can be described as pathetic/miserable/disquieting/painful/agonising. They suffer from all the maladies that can inflict the human condition whether you look at them through economic binoculars or political spectaculars or social microscopes; however you want to approach them, their general condition says that "there's no one who cares for them." We think the details of this can be filled in by the information you have and the common sense that you have. That being the background we come to Allah's nurturing/nourishing ayaat and His Prophet's directions/instructions. Allah says to us, (and not only to us but to everyone else), and this is an ayah that is almost repeated for everyone to hear every Friday except it is at the tail end of every khutbah. No one makes/formulates a khutbah about it. The first words that you hear with the conclusion of the khutbah … verily/certainly/surely Allah demands/orders/requires/commands justice… (Surah An Nahl verse 90) However way you want to try to capture this meaning you find that it is not applicable to our world. We are supposed to be people who are tuned in to Allah's guiding words and if we are then how come we listen to the full extent of this ayah but this doesn't ring a bell in your head?! The ayah that we're referring to that is at the end of the khutbah Verily, Allah orders justice and that you be patient and dutiful totally for His sake and that you be forthcoming to kin and He forbids evil deeds and the things which are prohibited and aggression and oppression. Allah admonishes you so that you may take heed. (Surah An Nahl verse 90) How come the effects/implementations of this ayah that has probably been heard hundreds if not thousands of times by Jum'ah attendees and by people who recite the ayaat of the Qur'an in their salawat numerous times a day is absent from our aggregate of almost two billion people in the world? Why is it that we lack this? We are supposed to understand it and then behave. It's not just for entertainment! It may sound good when it is recited by melodic reciters but that's not what is meant of it. There has to be some hard work to it to bring this justice to our society and social reality. (In) another ayah that is a continuation of this, (so to speak), in meaning not in the sequence of ayaat of the Qur'an Allah says and its as if nobody is listening to the ayah. Say (Oh Prophet/followers of the Prophet): … (Surah Al A'raf verse 29) What are we supposed to say? … My Sustainer demands institutionalised justice… (Surah Al A'raf verse 29) A step forward here i.e. not just the organic/elemental justice but here we have a thought out/ socialised/institutionalised justice. Once again, we look around- far from it! Where do we have social justice in these vast areas of the world? We don't! It's a fact- we just don't have it! Another ayah and this would bring… Just be/think with us- brothers and sisters… We wish we could see through people's minds to dismiss those who are not thinking. We've had people come to this khutbah sit down and then when a sentence/paragraph is vocalised to them that makes them think they get up and leave! We wish we could pre-empt that and see through people's heads knowing that they are not thinking and tell them "you're dismissed." We just can't do that! … Allah demands that you conform to no one except Him… (Surah Al Isra' verse 23) Now there has been a mutilation of the word ta'budu so people understand it, (this is when it has been reduced into almost a state of having its meaning diminished… OK- let us for a moment descend into the way abada/al ibadah is understood by what we may call "reduced Muslims." This is meant to be a healthy criticism of where we are as compared to where we should be, at least in our rational mind. They tell us the meaning of this ayah "… He demands that you "worship" only Him" … are you committed to some of the ayaat/scripture of Allah and then you turn your back/deny the others? / …Oh you are Mu'mins when it comes to some of the ayaat of the Qur'an but then you are Kafirs when it comes to other ayaat of the Qur'an ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 85) This exactly describes our current status quo/the Muslims all over. This is how we behave. Let's be honest with ourselves- doesn't this describe how we behave- not as you brother/sister so-and-so but we as the aggregate number of Muslims in the world- isn't this the way we are behaving?! This brings us to some of the more obvious concerns that we have. We come to some Muslims who have been localised. They've been localised so much that they don't want to think about the rest of the Muslims. Don't bother them with the affairs of the rest of the Muslims. Whether they are here in Washington DC/this general area on the East Coast/United States you see they have a contemporary political partmentalisation of Islam. Where does it say "you think only locally?" But let us also for a moment step down to the level that they are at and say Ok. Some of them… These are speakers. They go to the podium and they speak at conferences to thousands of people and their voices/ideas are amplified through the media all around. They say "OK- the money of zakah/sadaqa that we have should stay here in the United States." Where did this come from? Should the wealth that Muslims have, (and we do have plenty of wealth), not be distributed for those who are in more need of it/who deserve it more regardless of the geography/ethnicity/race or whatever the issue is. But no! They want to place a moratorium on Muslims giving those who are in more need than those who are in lesser need. They come and they want to speak about this. We are Muslims, of course, and we are responsible for seeing to it that whatever we have in excess goes to those who are in dire need of it. There are Muslims who are dying of hunger and there are Muslims here who are on welfare/surviving so you (can't) give what you have to those who will die tomorrow because they don't have anything just because they are thousands of miles away?! Where/how did this figure in/come from? Then, on the other hand these same types of people say "we are Americans." They want to convince us that we are Americans just like every other American. This is a lie! The US Government does not look at us like we are Americans just like every other American. We wonder where these people are living or whether they know what is happening to other Muslims around them? We are suspect now just because we are Muslim and if you need proof of this, try travelling. Go around. Exit this country and try to come back and see if you are not asked questions that mean that somehow you have done something wrong or are thinking of doing something wrong/becoming a criminal/breaking the law or better yet – becoming a terrorist. Once again, we want to descend to their level of thinking- assume for the moment, (it takes a lot of courage to assume this but let's assume for the moment), that we are Americans just like every one else on an equal par. If that is the case why can't you speak up just like Americans who are full-fledged Americans. They're not Muslims and they speak out and say "what's wrong with this country spending $12billion a day on warfare!" Speak out. Forget you're a Muslims for a moment; live in the fairy-tale land that you are living in and assume your responsibilities from there. The infrastructure all around is falling apart. They don't have money to fix the pot-holes in the road but they have enough money to spend on wars in other continents/the other side of the world. What common sense is this? Does it make common sense? How do you rationalise this thing? How do you accept it? Anyway you look at it- whether you're thinking about yourself as an American first and a marginal Muslim it doesn't make sense! Whether you're thinking about yourself as a Muslim first and a marginal American second it doesn't make sense! If you are thinking about yourself as an equal Muslim and an equal American at the same time it doubly doesn't make sense! So how come we have now a mentality/social attitude among the Muslims that "we want to be accepted as Americans and to be accepted as Americans we have to go with the flow?" If now we have an occupation of Muslim countries and we have all of this money… Recently, (brothers and sisters: these are not Muslims doing the counting; these are official/recognised/reputable institutions in this country who are doing the counting), they said, (we don't know if they exclude by that the legal residents of this country; forget about those who are here illegally/not Americans by citizenship), "49.1 million Americans don't have health insurance." What sense does it make? Put pathetic to anyone's mind- whether he's a Muslim/tertiary Muslim/American/tertiary American- place this question to him: How do you spend all of this money on these wars all around the world and here you have your own citizens/neighbours/co-workers who don't have health cover/insurance? How do you square that off in a Secular/Islamic mind?" Where does this come from? And you want to do all of this to gain the acceptance of the type of Government that is responsible for all of this injustice. Brothers and sisters: The word justice itself has been excluded from the policies that we see in motion. The word justice doesn't figure in. Go ahead, you can listen to programs/the most intelligent/informed pundits/columnists/ academicians- when do you hear the word justice? It doesn't figure in. They speak about peace endlessly. It's a word that appears to everyone. How can you take issue with it. How can you have peace if you do not have justice? How can that be? Impossible! But this is it. They have a dictionary of words and they speak about every issue and they pretend to be speaking about it with and open mind but somehow by chance/design they have left the word justice out of their discourse/presentation. You tell/explain to us with a sound conscience/ open mind how did this happen? And we on this day of Jum'ah/khutbah are supposed to factor in Allah's power presence how do we fail to shed light on these issues? The Prophet of Allah says whoever begins his day/wakes up and is not concerned/involved with/think about the affairs of the Muslims to the degree that he becomes psychologically involved… It's not just yufakkir; its yahtamm and al Brothers and sisters committed Muslims… Here is where it becomes exceeding improbable. Muslims don't want to take these meanings and address the issues of our time. Here we have militaries. Remember that word coalition? Eight years ago we had what was called "the coalition of the willing" who went and occupied an integral part of the Muslim homeland. This time around we have a coalition but the word is not making its rounds. These forces of invasion/occupation have been hurt so much that they are avoiding the vocabulary that got them into this mess in the first place! That's how deep their routing has been. Now you have this type of issue… Brothers and sisters- observe with me that there have been movements of people in Yemen/Bahrain/Syria besides Tunisia/Egypt that was to a certain extent saturated in the media for a particular frame of time. Now we have their intrusion. They give it an air of "international legality." They go to the United Nations Security Council and they vote on having a no fly zone in one of the areas of the Muslims in the world. We ask ourselves if we think, (and we are required to think). Are we not people who are supposed to think according to this Qur'an? There should be a sign placed- the ayah from the Qur'an at the entrance of each Masjid …for people who think. (Surah Al Ra'd verse 3) If you're not willing to think you can leave. If we are required to think then why is it that all of this military Euro-American coordinated force… Incidentally in the past couple of days, (and we don't know if this will continue), they have been at odds with each other. "What are they going to do? Who is going to lead this?" The Government here in This khutbah was presented by Imam Mohammad Al Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 25 March 2011 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in |
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