Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family. Dear Brothers and sisters on As Siraat Al Mustaqeem … Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/153892 (09-30-2011) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DyGCzm9W-E THE RITUALISTIC MIS-UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM PART 3 To try to build up on what we have already said in the past several khutbahs- it's as if the whole issue that was central and a priority in the time of Allah's Prophet at the beginning of this enunciation of Islam no longer exists in the crowd of Muslims today. What the Prophet and the first line of committed Muslims with him was concerned with was first and foremost Allah's legitimate power and authority and the illegitimate power and authority of the society around them- that's what they were concerned with. Today we have Muslims with whom the word legitimacy/illegitimate doesn't factor into their thoughts! You rarely hear it in Khutbahs if at all. There's not much published about the issue. What happened? Outside the fossilised mind of today's Muslims- even though there is a vitality now that is beginning to come of age- but within that general fossilised or calcified mind there is an inability to step out of the status quo and take a fresh look at reality. It just (that) the average or the normal Muslim, because of the constraints that he or she are born in and because of the chains that he or she acquire because of traditions and a monotony of what they call ibadah become incapable of breathing the fresh air that comes to us from Allah and His Prophet. Outside of this shrinking mind-set there are facts that are mentioned to us in Allah's book and that should be impacting us from Allah's creation. Allah says, for the healthy minds that can think outside the box … and it is the movement of time climaxing of societies that happen on a shared basis within mankind ... (Surah Aal Imran verse 140) At one time you see one society us and at another time you see it down and then comes another order or another civilization or another regime that you see at the peak and then after some time- generations, centuries- you look and it's at the bottom. … and it is the movement of time climaxing of societies that happen on a shared basis within mankind ... (Surah Aal Imran verse 140) You, (the Muslim who can think outside of the box), show us where ever has there been a social structure that has occupied the summits of time, that has outlasted all other societies sitting at the highest level of power and authority (and) where is it? It doesn't exist. … and it is the movement of time climaxing of societies that happen on a shared basis within mankind ... (Surah Aal Imran verse 140) Now this is nothing new. This ayah is not new. You've probably come across it, (we don't know), hundreds of times, (but), it never touched or stimulated your thoughts! This is the area that we are lacking. The ayaat seem just to go by having no real practical meaning or consequence! The Prophet of Allah and the first generation of Muslims with him were looking- they weren't just reading these ayaat- at these ayaat in motion. When they recited these words, they saw their meaning out there, in the world. They were not chained by traditions or caged by rituals- no! … and it is the movement of time climaxing of societies that happen on a shared basis within mankind ... (Surah Aal Imran verse 140) We have raised generational societies … (Surah Al Qassas verse 45) But what happens to them? … they could not survive their old age … (Surah Al Qassas verse 45) Which means these are social laws. These social laws that we are supposed to be aware of are blocked from our minds because of the performance of our traditional Islam. What stands as a barrier between us and our minds capturing these meanings and our hands developing these meanings is this traditional Islam that we have. Oh my God- you tell a Muslim or mention the word Sunni Muslim or Shi'i Muslim and his fiber begins to come alive! Where's this- you, the same person who begins to flutter when you hear these two words- two words in the Qur'an the way you understand them? Where are they? You're missing an ocean of meanings and you come alive when there is a drop of pollution?! This is what happens. This is the real human-relations world that we are in. We also have been subjected to old age. We aged just like other societies aged. We haven't been able to regenerate the youthful meanings of Allah and His Prophet because we are caught up in a whirlwind of traditions. In the time of Allah's Prophet, when Allah's Prophet came, (this was mentioned and we'll mention it again, because as many times as a person mentions it, it's not enough because there is a image of speeches and articles about Islam that don't touch on this area), those who were the followers of Ibrahim (alayhi as salaam) were an endangered species. Those who were following him in the true sense of the word, not following him by rituals because those who were following him by rituals were all around! Practically all of the Arabians who were in Makkah considered themselves followers of Ibrahim and Isma'eel (alayhima as salaam). Salman Al Farsi, Abu Dharr Al Ghifari (radi Allahu anhuma) and others- who as a spark of their genuine being- were enquiring about Ibrahim. They were going around- what is this? We want to know? Give us information. You couldn't get information about who Ibrahim was. Besides the normal, traditional, cultural, historical, tribal set-up that was in Al Hejaz, what was Ibrahim's message all about? Information wasn't around because those who were followers of Ibrahim, (as we mentioned previously), were very few and very threatened. When we speak about the condition that we are in, that resembles very much the condition that they were in, in the time of Allah's Prophet and before the generation of Allah's Prophet. Let us consider that human beings always are impressed by those who have power- Muslims included. Beyond their verbal affirmation of Islam people who say "we are Muslims" are impressed by people who have power and wealth; they consider those who have power and wealth regardless of their religious affiliation to be imitated, to be adored, to be revered. This is the truth of the matter. Behind words, there's a psychology that doesn't fit in to the words expressed by the tongue and such was the case with those Arabians in Al Hejaz, in … the way of Ibrahim- the upright one; and he was not of those who set up rivals with Allah. (Surah Al An'aam verse 161) This word Hanif is similar to the word independent in today's language. So if Ibrahim was independent and if these followers of Ibrahim in The Prophet of Allah came after Isa (alaihi as salaam) by around six-hundred years. This was a long stretch of time in the history of Prophethood, The history of Prophethood had sometimes multiple Prophets or a couple of Prophets in one generation. Ibrahim and Lut (alaihima as salaam) were of the same time frame, Isa and Yahya (alaihima as salaam) were in one timeframe, Suleiman and Dawud (alaihima as salaam) were in one time frame, Harun and Musa (alaihima as salaam) were in one time frame. Here we have an extended time period. No one had a Prophet around. Is there a parallel between that and the world that we are in today? Besides, let us draw your attention to the following: we Muslims- the product of traditions- we don't care what tradition you belong to; you have a tradition and that weighs heavily on your character and who you are. We are top heavy with rituals. When a person wants to become a Muslim the way to authenticating his Islam according to these rituals is the performance of as salah and as siyam and the rest of these private and personal obligations; but when we take a look at the way this was done in the time of the Prophet it wasn't done like today. A person is/becomes interested in Islam because he is fed up with the illegitimate system out there. He wants to break from that illegitimate system and he wants to join a legitimate one. That was the option; that was the definition of being a Muslim or not being a Muslim but look at today's world… Someone goes to some Islamic Center some where, (it could be this one here), and he says "I want to become a Muslim." Those, once we have anchored them with authority and power on Earth… (Surah Al Hajj verse 41) What do they do? … they socialize as salah, they systemise az zakah, they have the power and the authority to say things are legal and other things are illegal or things should be done and other things should be banned and to Allah is the conclusion to all affairs. (Surah Al Hajj verse 41) Brothers and sisters committed Muslims… We hesitate to express the following- not because it is not the truth, we think it approximates the truth but because it will be misunderstood by some who will hear it; this is the risk of standing up for what is right and expressing your Islamic mind and your Islamic conscience. (We use the word we with humility and meekness), we probably can say this far away from others who will be accused if they say it. The fact of the matter is, (we don't think we're exaggerating this, we think the powers that be understate the fact), we think there's about two-billion Muslims in the world. Of these almost two-billion Muslims in the world, at least four fifths of them are what they came to be known as Sunni Muslims. Skipping the merits of the history that has been associated with those who for one reason or the other identify themselves as Sunni Muslims we go to the point of trying to look at what has become the brake that prohibits the acceleration of this massive amount of people forward. We say this and we know what we're venturing on… The first issue is the Sunnis- those who consider themselves Sunnis first- are going to have to surmount the following obstacles… Obstacle number one is it is almost in their tradition- may Allah bless those who have stepped out of that tradition and still are fervent Sunni Muslims but for those who are still in that tradition- they have come to consider Al Bukhari and Muslim and some of them the other four sahaah, (i.e. these six books of sihah), to be on par with the Qur'an. Muslims who think like that are going to have to surmount those types of thoughts. This is the first and most demanding challenge that has to be overcome. If Al Bukhari and Muslim were as traditional Sunni Muslims think they are, then Allah's Prophet would have made reference to them. You will not find one hadith in which he alerted the Muslims, (at least we haven't come across), to the crucial role that is going to be paid by Al Bukhari and Muslim. It's not there. In the days of Allah's Prophet, he did not order anyone to write down his hadiths. This is an issue that has to be outgrown. The second issue that traditional Sunnis are plagued with and they are going to also have to out maneuver is the issue of takfeer. Now, (as we have mentioned many times before), the word kufr and its derivatives is mentioned hundreds of times in the Qur'an. The problem with the Sunni tradition is that it takes this meaning and then it turns it on its own. This is another problem that has to be surmounted. We can't turn this word kufr on Muslims and say "Muslims are Kafirs." You can't do that! Some people do this. This is dangerous and it has caused us to sink in our own grounds. The other issue that has to be outgrown is (that) there's a grey area between Muslims who rule and Muslims who are ruled. Take today's world… We have Muslim people and populations all around and we have rulers who are ruling over them but there is no significant well pronounced, well defined delineation between Muslims as peoples and those who illegitimately rule over them. This also has to be surmounted by the ayaat from Allah and by the verified hadiths of His Prophet. Another issue that has to be thought through- and there's enough ammunition, (so to speak), mental ammunition for the mind in this area- is Muslims of the Sunni tradition, (and you know every time we use the word Sunni and Shi'i we bleed inside), have a reverence for what is called Islamic history- as if nothing went wrong in this history. Everything is fine all along up until 1923 or whenever was officially declared that the Khilafah no longer exists by Kamal Atta Turk in This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 30 September 2011 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in |
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