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/apps/podcast/podcast/92212 (05-20-2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcSw_rcjcgM OVERCOMING A CRIPPLED PSYCHOLOGY PART 4 Allah says to us/everyone who is willing to listen provided we are willing to think through what He says and live by those meanings. The ayah is 120 in Surah Al Baqarah; an ayah that you probably hear from time to time. (This) one ayah demands our attention. This ayah says, (obviously we are trying to capture its meaning in a lesser language), And never will Al Yahud and An Nasara be satisfied with you until you follow their millah; say: "al huda is Allah's huda"; and if you were to follow them after the knowledge that has come to you, you will not have Allah as your adjunct and supporter. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Many Muslims recite this ayah and many Muslims listen to it and it seems like it doesn't capture its real meanings in these Muslims lives. Let us try now to engage our God-given mind with this God-given ayah. We know it's a little difficult for some of us who are withdrawn from the direct communication of the Qur'an, but let us help ourselves out in this regard. First of all, this ayah is speaking to Allah's Prophet. Allah is saying to His Prophet directly Al Yahud and An Nasara will never be pleased/content/comfortable/satisfied with you, (O Muhammad) ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Now this seems, (to some people), a phrase that is hard on Allah's Prophet. Allah is expressing a fact to His beloved one in a tone that to some people doesn't fit in. The Prophet of Allah is Habib Allah/the Mustapha of Allah/Murtadha of Allah/Ma'sum from Allah- then why is Allah speaking to him with these types of words? Al Yahud and An Nasara will never be pleased/content/comfortable/satisfied with you, (O Muhammad) ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) It's like saying "pay attention/be careful." Al Yahud and An Nasara are not going to respond to you favourably ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) There are other ayaat in this guiding book that also have, (what some people may call), strained words in Allah speaking to His Prophet. In another ayah in Surah Az Zumar Allah says If you behave in a manner that can be called Shirk, all of your deeds have failed … ( Of course, Allah's Prophet is not going to be involved in any behaviour relevant to Shirk. The wording of it is strong words to Allah's Prophet. Another ayah, (and these are only examples), in Surah Al Haaqah If he, (in reference to Allah's final Prophet- Muhammad), were to contrive statements and refer them to Us/manufacture some ayaat and say they are issued by Us, We would take action against him with our hand of power and then we would severe his lifeline and there's not one of you that can stand between him and Us to be a barrier to these acts. (Surah Al Haaqah verse 86) These are strong words and obviously we know that Allah's Prophet is not going to conduct himself in such a manner. So why is the wording in such a manner? Because there's going to be people who are affiliated with Allah's Prophet and in this extended people's/Muslims relationship with Allah's Prophet- as strongly as they identify with him- the strength of these words are extended to them because of this relationship of them with Allah's Prophet and Allah's Prophet with them. So we go back to the ayah in Surah Al Baqarah. The wording/translations that you see/read says "Al Yahud and An Nasara are the Jews and the Christians." This is partially correct but it is not the intended meaning of the ayah. We are going to have to understand Allah's Prophet's position when these words/ayaat were revealed to him vis-à-vis Al Yahud and An Nasara the way he felt/thought of the way they were approaching/thinking about/to act/react towards him. When Allah revealed this Qur'an to this Prophet there was common ground between Muslims/the Qur'an/Allah's Prophet on one hand and those who had received earlier scriptures from Allah, viz. Al Yahud and An Nasara. So when Allah's Prophet began to express this guidance from Allah, there was an expectation that people from prior scriptures would find a common ground/would respond either en masse or with considerable numbers to what in essence is the Torah/Injeel. But they didn't. This weighs heavily on the conscience of a person in the Prophet's position- "How can this be? I mean Allah has presented me with the Qur'an and the Qur'an authenticates/clarifies the Torah/Injeel. The Qur'an, (in a sense), is an extension of the Torah/Injeel" The Qur'an is all of this and much more, and then you present the Qur'an to these people and they look at you as if you are a strange person and then they begin to treat you with a behaviour /mentality that wants you to respond to them in a favourable manner. This is extremely important to understand. These people at that time who call themselves "Jews and Christians" sort of had a reputation that they are "People of the Book/Scripture" so here is Muhammad in their perception of things "here's a new-comer, so what do you have to say?!" The Prophet of Allah is simply communicating Allah's words/meanings to the rest of society around. There are ayaat in the Qur'an that extend a hand to Ahl Kitab Say (O Prophet): People of Scripture, come to a common understanding between us and you… (Surah Ahl Imran verse 64) This is like an invitation/solicitation. … say (O People of the Book): you are committed to Allah and what has been vouchsafed unto us … (Surah Ahl Imran verse 64) But these so-called scripturalists are not in it for the rational content/guidance. No! They are in it to fortify their stature/status/desires/interests. So, human nature has a tendency to try to win them over but this attempt in winning them over results in damage done to the Deen of Allah and so Allah, knowing human nature/His Prophet/Ahl Al Kitab He said And never will Al Yahud and An Nasara be satisfied with you until you follow their millah ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Now in everyday life- whether it is our everyday life/the everyday life of fourteen centuries ago/of whatever time frame- you ask yourself "who is content on gaining face with the average Yahudi/Nasrani?" Unless a person is very psychologically damaged, the average person doesn't go about struggling in life doing what we have to do everyday, (the) many responsibilities- who cares what this average/normal person around the corner/block think about me/you? But on a certain level we may begin to think what are they are thinking about me. Now the key word here is they. Who's they? Al Yahud/An Nasara here are the opinion moulders. This is where your concern kicks in. You begin to think of yourself "wait a minute- I want to be accepted by the opinion makers of Al Yahud/An Nasara." And who are these? These are people who are in power/ influence public opinion/manufacture information/slant the news/responsible for public perception out there - here is where we take notice of Al Yahud and An Nasara. Allah is speaking about Al Yahud and An Nasara in these positions. And never will Al Yahud and An Nasara be satisfied with you until you follow their millah ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Now just as was the case was with Al Yahud and An Nasara, (two misunderstood words when taken out of the Qur'an into another language or when used in the Arabic language when the Arabian speakers of the language have been occupied/invaded by other people's thoughts/concepts. Millah has, (in today's usage of words), the civil character of a person/community. So Al Yahud/An Nasara will not be satisfied with you- the Prophet of Allah and the followers of the Prophet of Allah- until you become one member of their civil society. We don't mean by this just gaining citizenship; culturally you have to be one of them. Even in your understanding of your own religion you have to understand it through their religion. This is a deep penetration of the Muslim mind/psychology whereby what remains for a Muslim, (if that), the performance of meaningless rituals. In very other aspect in every other aspect you belong to them- your appearance/ habits/customs/traditions/thoughts/social character- everything is like them. When that is done they may be satisfied with you. … say "Allah's guidance is the guidance…" (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Allah has given us this book- why should we look for who we are somewhere else? You see brothers and sisters- without getting too much involved in theory/the abstract we suffer with the inability to be our own selves. This needs to be repeated. We, the Muslims, suffer from the deficiency of being who we are. We are not who the Muslims/committed Muslims are supposed to be or else how would you interpret all of these same Muslims we have around us who share our Masajid/rituals/dhabihah/Qibla- why are they so anxious to have Al Yahud/An Nasara endorse them? Why are they so thrilled when Al Yahud/An Nasara give them a stamp of approval? Some of them turn around and say "oh- we don't know! We can't understand what Allah is saying." OK- let's for a moment concede. Tell us then what He is saying? These words in the Qur'an are very obvious. We share the same wording. No one is changing a word/vowel/anything in the ayah. OK- so if we don't understand who Al Yahud/An Nasara are- you tell us who they are?! Are they the religious figures that you have interfaith meetings with? Obviously they are satisfied with you because you're having these meetings and you have praise for them and they have praise for you so there's satisfaction going in both directions. So where does this ayah apply? Tell us! If you know/can give us the meanings of the Qur'an then tell us to whom this ayah applies! Another way of looking at the meanings of this ayah is (to) look at today's world. We have power/influential/elite Yahud/Nasara- who are they satisfied with? (Take a) look at all of the Muslims in the world- who are they comfortable with? Who do they endorse/support/finance/protect with their militaries? The ones that have followed them! This is another way of understanding the ayah. The meanings of this ayah are widespread for the world to see! Our /the response of Muslims who have confidence in Allah/stand with Allah/live for Allah- they can stand up and say as stated in the book of Allah in the same ayah. … say: "al huda is Allah's huda"... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Why can't Muslims say that?! One sentence! We mean- they say it; this ayah is recited but they just don't mean it/they don't want to discover its practical meaning! This is what it's going to take (i.e.) Muslims who have the combined knowledge to say/mean it. And then Allah says … and if you were to fall in line with their interests/desires you cannot expect Allah to be your Wali and you cannot expect Allah to be your Naseer. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) Al Wali is a person who is closest to you and An Naseer is a person who always supports you. But if you have this attitude that was just outlined in the previous sentences- if you are inferior to/expect to gain status through Al Yahud/An Nasara then don't claim Allah because He's not there for you. You see- this is an area where not many Muslims think! Allah didn't say "if you were to follow their deen/legal system" because what describes the power elites of Al Yahud/An Nasara at this level of things is their interests/selfishness. So if you Muslims begin to concede to them your principles/convictions/commitment to Allah, then be advised that Allah is no longer with you. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims… You have just listened to one ayah that if understood in the course of our lives is an ayah of discipline/ boldness. If Muslims had the integrity of understanding their presence with Allah they would stand up and say … al huda is Allah's huda ... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 120) They don't need these stumbling/fumbling philosophies/ideologies/systems that are failing in front of our own eyes. Where are the Muslims in today's world who can stand up if their President/Ruler is lying to them to expose his lies with confidence? Brothers and sisters, all, (what they call), religions demand that their followers not lie- this is common among Jews/Christians/Muslims. Then why do we have Politicians/ Officials/decision makers lying to us? We can expect that from the majority of them but we cannot expect that Muslims in positions to speak out do not say that a certain Politician/President is lying. The lie that is still reverberating in different corners around is what happened in the past few weeks. The President of this country stands up in front of the citizens/the whole world and says "they killed enemy number one." There are many statements that the Government itself/its officials said in the past that rebut the lie which was carried all over the world just a few weeks ago. We have no opportunity here to go into details. The issue that stares at us in the eye is where are the Muslims/these people who recite the Qur'an- the word of truth/ guidance/facts to say that these are lies?! Yesterday the same President gives a speech about US policies in the This weekend there's a meeting of the movers and shakers in the world of politics here- in this city. AIPAC the number one Zionist Yahudi lobby in this country. Some of you have the opportunity to listen to the Muslim speakers all around in the previous days and the days to come- do they have the moral strength to come out with Allah's words and expose what this lobby is doing? There's talk about US policies in the Muslim world- the US Government has a military that is active in four geographical areas of the Muslim world and they make us look as if we have done something wrong?! They are acting everyday/every year on the wrong side of every issue that pertains to us and because we don't have people who speak with a unison voice we are made to believe that somehow we have something to apologise/make up for/to cancel from our Deen altogether. Let us remind you that what we see- this worldwide campaign against innocent people all around the world- didn't begin a few years ago/in our generation. There were over 100 million people in this continent- what happened to them? Does anyone ask where did the original Native Americans who inhabited this continent go? It's as if it was magic! They were eliminated and no one speaks about it. During the course of those centuries of genocide there were slaves who were brought across the This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Al Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 20 May 2011 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in |
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