Shia Strength: Muslim Unite Sunni and Shia KHUTBAH : TODAY'S MUSLIMS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF YESTERDAY'S BANI ISRA'EEL

THE STREET MIMBAR

JUM'AH KHUTBAH (9 December 2011)

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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 in Islam…

Assalaamualaykum wa Rahmatu minhu wa Barakaatuh

Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/videos/videos/show/14747832-muslims-in-the-footsteps-of-yesterday-s-bani-isra-eel-1983-s-africa (00-00-1983)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_tzXmg4DaM

TODAY'S MUSLIMS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF YESTERDAY'S BANI ISRA'EEL – PART 1

For those who were present for the past couple or few days we hope that this presentation tonight will go in and complement the previous presentations and speeches that you may have heard. For those who are here for the first time, we hope that these humble words constitute and honest heart and eye opener into your commitment as Muslims. All of us- and all praise is due to Allah- refer to the Qur'an as it outlines for us the strategy and the program in our lives. We read it, we recite it, we understand some of it and we try to understand the other part of it. It is a continuous building up process and we hope that these lessons will contribute to that constructive effort of yours. In the Qur'an, (and this is not by chance), we find that many ayaat dwell on the history, the story, the progress and the reversals that were encountered by Musa (alayhi as salaam). If we were to try to count the ayaat in the Qur'an that speak about Musa and Bani Isra'eel and the history of Bani Isra'eel and their ups and their downs and the revelations that they received and the Prophets that they encountered and the Apostles that they dealt with and the Messengers that were sent to them and the Emissaries that they lived with and the envoys that communicated to them the revelation and the message of Allah we would find out that they come out constituting the largest segment in the Qur'an that deals with a specific experience and that is the experience of Bani Isra'eel. That is not a random collection of ayaat. It was in the everlasting wisdom of Allah that we will need to learn from the experiences of Bani Isra'eel, from their mistakes so that we may avoid becoming a duplicate of Bani Isra'eel vis a vis the final revelation that we are entrusted with. The ayaat in the Qur'an that speak about Bani Isra'eel are many. The lessons that are extracted from the historiography of Bani Isra'eel are also many but we will try to highlight some of them and maybe the next time you come to the Qur'an and you read these ayaat you try to build and construct relying upon your own experience in the course and for the sake of Allah the furtherance of the meanings of these ayaat. They cannot be developed in a vacuum. There has to be an element of sacrifice and fortitude in the process of understanding the Qur'an or else the Qur'an will stay meaningless words if you are not engaged and occupied in a struggle that means the sacrifice of your life, the sacrifice of your time, the sacrifice of your wealth and probably and ultimately the sacrifice of your life. We all know that the leadership that Musa came to confront was that of Phiraun.

Ta-Seen-Meem. Those are the ayaat of an obvious book. We will recite or rehearse to you from the news or from the information of Phiraun and Musa, but this recitation is only for people who possess iman. (Surah Al Qasas verse 1-3)

Iman is represented by a fact that settles in the heart and is transformed into action- that is the reality of iman. You cannot have iman by feelings that are locked up in your heart without those feelings taking on an extension in life (and) without those ideas energizing in the physical realm.

Phiraun a super power in his days had achieved a position of superiority and supremacy in this world… (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

Listen closely to the expression of the Qur'an. The position of Phiraun becomes one of supremacy- not in a certain land, not in a certain nation, not in a certain geographical location

Phiraun has become supreme in this world… (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

Meaning that his domain and his dominion is extended throughout the lands of this world. The same influence, (if you wanted to look closely that you will see), is characteristic of the trans-national powers in this world. The Soviet Union, the United States, France, Britain.

… and he has transformed the inhabitants of this world into different segments, into different compartments, into different nations, into different denominations of sects, into different classes, into different races … (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

It is nothing new that we find today in the world that we are living in friction among different people who occupy this world; friction that is built upon the antagonism that is artificially created between one race and another, between one nationality and another, between one sect and another, between one creed and another, between one class and another. In the state of nature of man there is no leaning to class, there is no leaning to race, there is no leaning to nationality or ethnicism.

O people of the Earth be conscious of Allah Who has created you from one soul and from that one soul He has created many men and women; so fear and be conscious of Allah and don't let the divisions among you and don't let those values, (that are artificial and created by man not created by Allah), interrupt you in the process of your being conscious of Allah for Allah is ever watchful over you. (Surah An Nisa' verse 1)

This is the law of Allah- that there's no distinction or discrimination among men.

… the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah are those who are most conscious of Him- fearing Him and guarding against His wrath … (Surah Al Hujurat verse 13)

But there's another scheme in life. There's an imposition, there's an interference in this state of nature of man and you are aware of it probably more than anyone else if you are free of the conditioning factors of this society. You can see how the schemes and the plans of man divided man, discriminated among men. It is not new. This discrimination is not a new process in human history. Allah talks about it as it was the policy of Phiraun as it is the policy of everyone who is arrogant in this world and everyone who achieves a position of superiority and exploitation and the plundering of the people.

… and he has transformed its occupants into different categories among which exists a condition or a state of friction … (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

This state of friction is what makes the power of Phiraun go on to it's objectives of exploitation. (Take a) look at the world around you, not just at your limited society. (Take a) look at the world around because Phiraun's policy was not only a local policy, it was a worldwide policy. Look at the occupants of this world and see how they are divided into different shi'a, into different hostile groups on the basis of race, on the basis of Nationalism, on the basis ethnicism, on the basis of class and on any other basis that is feasible in dividing human beings and creating an air of hostility among them. The key issue here is dividing them. The policies of the exploiters of this world is to keep mankind in a state of division and the policy of Allah is to unite this mankind-two opposite directions, two opposite policies- and it is the Mu'min in this midst who has to make a decision. A Mu'min in not a closure; a Mu'min is not a drifter. A Mu'min is a person who is living this life with his senses, with his heart, with his body and with his mind.

We have guided man to the course, to the path, to Our way; either he becomes grateful and acknowledges Us, (meaning Allah), or he is one who rejects … (Surah Al Insan verse 3)

… he weakens different segments of them … (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

He cannot render them weak if it wasn't for his policy of dividing them- that is the key to the success of his policy- the divisions among them and once they are categorized into hostile groups this policy becomes feasible and applicable.

… he kills of their sons … (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

The sons of these people in this world that are supposed to be a singular human family who become different categories and different classes and different classifications; then it becomes possible for him to kill off the manpower, their sons. Is it a simple process of the Pharoah calling a person and then killing him off or is it a more elaborate process by which the manhood, by which the manpower, by which the sons of these different groups that he has succeeded in dividing become the victims of his policies of famine, of wars, health policies, contraceptives (and) the rest of the methods that are employed to serve master plan of Phiraun that perpetuates these divisions among the people.

… and he keeps the fertility of exploitation, the means of exploitation of the human kind alive … (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

If there are means to give more life to his schemes of exploitation then that will be his case and he will do so.

… indeed he is of the corrupt. (Surah Al Qasas verse 4)

Are we looking at a historical figure that has been buried in history books and in a history lesson that this Qur'an is bringing to our attention as we are reading it? Or are these ayaat speaking to us to identify the Phiraun of our day? If we all agree that the Qur'an is a book that is applicable in every time and clime then why is Phiraun a historical figure when we read the Qur'an and we fail to identify the Phiraun of our day? If we continue to read the Qur'an in this manner then we have rendered the Qur'an a history book that cannot be applicable today, that has no meanings of practical application today. But is that what is meant by the Qur'an, by these ayaat (that are? Referring and exposing Phiraun for us to see today? It was the ayaat that narrate for us the many experiences of Bani Isra'eel; it's there for a particular reason and that is the mistake of Bani Isra'eel in not being able to correctly identify Phiraun and Allah knew that the followers of the final message would fall into the same pitfall and would fail to identify the political corruption in the latter days of Islam as is the case today among the different Muslims who can't identify the Phirauns or the Musas of their days. But what does Allah say to these policies of global dimensions? In reply to these policies of divide and conquer- divide and conquer is not a creation of British or French or Dutch Imperialism that came into existence a couple of hundred years ago, these policies are inherited by the exploiters in world history for Allah had identified this policy in the days of Phiraun- but what is the outcome of these policies? Will Phiraun get away with these policies? Allah strikingly answers these policies by saying

We want to favor the oppressed people in this world who were oppressed by the policies and tyranny of Phiraun … (Surah Al Qasas verse 5)

Not only does Allah want to favor them in the abstract

… and make out of them Imams and leaders… (Surah Al Qasas verse 5)

Make out of who? Out of the oppressed. Who can afford to send his children to College and pay his way through higher education and Post-Graduate studies? Are they the oppressed? Allah says

… and We make out of them leaders and We want to make of them inheritors of this world and to challenge Phiraun and the policies of Phiraun. We want to firmly establish them on this Earth, in this world … (Surah Al Qasas verse 5-6)

Establish whom? The affluent? The rich? The wealthy?

. We want to establish firmly in this world and on this Earth the oppressed and We will show Phiraun and Hamaan, (his Prime Minister and right hand man, his confidant consultant), what they were cautious not to see. (Surah Al Qasas verse 6)

All the precautions and all the policies that they applied in order for them not to see the rising of the oppressed will crumble because the will of Allah is alive and His promise is true.

… and We will show the forces and the troops and the armies of Phiraun and Hamaan the power of the oppressed (because the power of these must'tadafeen comes from the power of Allah). (Surah Al Qasas verse 6)

This is one lesson that we can draw from the many lessons that Bani Isra'eel failed to understand but we are supposed to understand because the Qur'an is an open book for us to read and assimilate the previous experiences so that we may avoid the pitfalls and the traps of Bani Isra'eel that incur the wrath of Allah upon them by statements of Dawud and Isa (alayhima as salaam).

Condemned are the deniers of truth from the Children of Isra'eel by the words, tongue, expression or language of Dawud and Isa the son of Maryam; that is because they, the Children of Israel, were disobedient to Allah and because they were aggressive or offenders. These Children of Isra'eel would never ever act in as social modality or character that rebukes the munkar- a munkar that they were responsible for… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 78-79)

Is the lesson of the oppressed a lesson that is not understood by any Muslim? If it is not understood, what is his excuse? Has he not opened the Qur'an and read this discourse to understand Allah's favor to the oppressed? If he has understood these ayaat what is his alibi, what is his excuse when he sees the condition of oppression around him, especially if his called an A'lim, and he withdraws himself from it, he alienates himself from it, he buries his head in the sajdah that he performs in the mihrab when he recites these very ayaat in the presence of Allah not knowing that these ayaat are striking back at his behavior and his deportment?!

We take another lesson from Bani Isra'eel- those who Allah cautioned us against becoming another version of them.

And remember when Musa said to his people "O my people remember that Allah has favored you by designating kings and Prophets out of you (or) appointing kings and Prophets from amongst you and He has given you what He has not given to anyone else from amongst mankind. My people… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 20-21)

Musa is speaking to his people.

My people: "enter the Holy Land, the sacred land that Allah has designated for you (or) that He has decreed to be yours and do not retreat in this process for if you do you will lose the encounter and the challenge." They said "O Musa, there is a super power that is occupying that land and we shall never enter that land as long as they are in it, but if they leave it, we will enter it." Two people, two men who had fear, stood up and said "make a military thrust against them for if you do you will become victorious and rely only upon Allah if you are truly Mu'mins." They said "O Musa, we shall never enter that land so go you and your Lord and fight, we shall remain here where we are." Musa said "O Allah, I can only vouch for myself and my brother so cause us to depart from these corrupt people. Allah said the land is forbidden for forty years during which these people will wonder so feel not grieved by these corrupt people. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 20-26)

This is the translation of these ayaat. Of course we have read the ayaat in the Qur'an. We came over these ayaat and we read them but what is the meaning of these ayaat? The same can be said today to the followers of Muhammad. Remember that Allah has favored you and given you the Qur'an and made of you the inheritors of this trust and this covenant of His. You, Muslims, have inherited the message of Islam from all the previous Messengers and Prophets that were sent by Allah; then when you are called forth to liberate the same piece of occupied land "you say that a super power is occupying that land." What's the difference between Bani Isra'eel yesterday and Bani Isra'eel today? Should we be fooled by names and by labels and by tags or should we look at the essence of the issue, the position and the will that designates people and gives them their character? These people were in the presence of Musa and the order came to them

… to embark on a military effort against those who are occupying that land of Palestine. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 21)

What did they tell Musa?

They said there's a super power there and it's impossible for us to liberate that land as long as that super power's there occupying that land. We will never enter that land until that super power evacuates it. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 22)

The same thing that is said today by these powers that are responsible for the Muslims! The recognition is forthcoming of the usurpers of that Holy Land but it truly belongs to the Muslims. Was this a vocal word that Bani Isra'eel said to Musa or was it the condition of them that was speaking? The Qur'an registers the will of man, it doesn't pay much attention to what man says but to what he does. This was the position taken by Bani Isra'eel thousands of years ago and it is a position of those people who are following in the footsteps of Bani Isra'eel. When a man comes along, an Imam in his own right, and asks the Muslims to make a thrust against Bani Isra'eel- the usurpers of our rights, those people whose very existence depends upon the division of man, the discrimination between man, the bias towards man- and what do these people say? They say the exact same thing- not as a matter of lip service but as a matter of policy- "the power that's in Palestine is a super power and we will never liberate that land until they evacuate it." What was the case? Allah registered for all Muslims to listen to two people, two men, from the midst of all Bani Isra'eel.

Two people, two men who had fear … (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 23)

Fear who? Who is there to fear?

Two people, two men who had fear of Allah… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 23)

That is what differentiated them from the rest of Bani Isra'eel. The rest of Bani Isra'eel feared the power and the might and the combined forces that was occupying the land and today the multitude of Muslims fear that very force that occupies the land today. But two men stood up who's fear was not displaced; they only feared Allah.

Two people, two men who had fear, stood up and said "initiate a military campaign that can break through their lines and once you do you will be victorious and upon Allah alone have your reliance and your confidence…". (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 23)

Today the very same message is communicated to the followers and the readers of the Qur'an and they stand in the same footsteps of Bani Isra'eel and they displace their fear. Instead of fearing the wrath of Allah for disobeying Him they fear the power that is assembled and all the superpowers that are assembled behind the Racist occupational Authorities in the Holy Land of Palestine. And when an Imam stands up to channel the revolutionary efforts of the Muslims towards that liberation the Regimes in the Muslim lands declare war not against the occupying Authorities in Palestine but against that Imam with their money and with their propaganda and with their military machines and with their religious disguises that they have even in the Masajid of Allah to try to declare a war against this Imam from the Mimbar of Rasulillah. After these two men spoke out and the rest of Bani Isra'eel capitulated to the super power Bani Isra'eel once again, to drive home that bitter issue for every reader of the Qur'an

They said (listen, for the second time what we are saying to you) "O Musa, we shall never enter that land… " (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 24)

Today they are saying this to the Islamic leadership in no uncertain terms. They are saying it with their tongues and they are saying it with their military machines- we will never embark on a military campaign against the Zionist occupiers of Palestine. Further yet,

"… go you and your Lord and fight, we are staying right here." (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 24)

Sounds familiar? The same mouth pieces and organs of Bani Isra'eel today are repeating the same words- "we will never fight this super power that is occupying Palestine and whoever wants to fight can go to this war. If you believe in Allah then you and Allah liberate Palestine."

"… we will stay put where we are." (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 24)

And they stayed put where they are. They are initiating a war against those who believe and have reliance upon Allah. Have reliance upon Allah not upon these super powers, not upon the military strength or the military connection upon one or the other super powers but upon Allah. After that emphatic reply to Musa, what happened? What did Musa say? What did he do? What did he think? Did he say "O Allah- Bani Isra'eel, my followers need educational institutions. They still need da'wah." What that the reply of Musa? The ayah is there, is that what it says?

Musa said "O Allah, O my Lord, I can only vouch for myself and my brother so cause us to depart from these corrupt people. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 25)

These are corrupt people! Musa stayed year-and-years, decades, scores of years with them educating them a lifetime, teaching them a lifetime, culturing them a lifetime- they were praying, they were fasting, they were obeying Allah in their rituals- but when the time of proof came, when these rituals were put to test, when they were to give up their life for the ideology of Islam, for submission to Allah they turned their backs and they tell Musa

"… go you and your Lord and fight …" (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 24)

What do these rituals mean? What did this past mean? It meant that they were Fasiqs.

"… so cause us to depart from these corrupt people. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 25)

A revolutionary attitude, a revolutionary response to the corrupt. He doesn't even want to be with them anymore because they have proven themselves and their affair is with Allah. What is Allah's reply to them, to Musa?

This land will be prohibited, it will be banned, it will be forbidden for them for a period of forty years in which they will live a life of disposition and dispossession … (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 26)

A life of exodus that came to be know as the ghetto life.

… lost in this world … (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 26)

These are the feelings that are rumbling in the hearts of the Muslims today, (and we stretch that word Muslims); the feeling that they are lost, the feeling that they do not belong, the feeling that they are in a worldwide ghetto. The same feeling that was imposed on Bani Isra'eel because they disobeyed the order of Allah, the word of Allah, the command of Allah. When we shirk from the same responsibility (and) when we retreat from the same obligation we are no exception.

It is not according to your whims and likes nor to the whims and likes of Ahl Kitab, of the People of Scripture; whoever does a bad thing will suffer the consequences and then he will not find a supported nor a superior besides Allah and whoever does. (Surah An Nisa' verse 123)

Does! That's the key word, not says.

And whoever does good deeds then he will be recompensed and he shall not see the slightest of injustice in his reward. (Surah An Nisa' verse 124)

The same condition- take a look at the Muslims wherever they are- uprooted. The largest tragedy in human history is the tragedy of our brother ?Muslims who are inflicted- not because of their particular shortcomings (but) because of the general shortcomings of the larger Muslim body. The largest displacement refugee problem is that of our brothers in Afghanistan. Six-million- one third of the total population! The Palestinians, (as they are called); the displacement problem in the Horn of Africa before the advent of Afghanistan was the largest refugee problem in the world with shifting hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in the Horn of Africa between Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Chad, Djibouti, Somalia and the rest. The shifting of populations here in the very surroundings that we are in, (that I went to in these few days), between places to places; Muslims used to live in one part of the city then they were shifted to the other and then shifted to the third and the process continues. Even those Muslims who think that they are living in their own land are living a life in which they are totally lost. If they want to leave their home- whether they are in Syria, or Egypt, or Iraq, or the Gulf or the Peninsula- go ten miles and then there's the police. "Where's your identification card?" What do they mean "where's my identification card?! I've been living here for three-thousand years! What are you asking for an ID verification card?!" So they driving home the alienation of Muslims even when they are under their own ceilings and roofs. What do you want? A theoretical tafseer? (Take a) look around you- the meanings of these words are hitting the headlines in all the newspapers. The Muslims are lost in this world. Why? Because when the time of test came they were supposed to prove their iman and give their lives for the course of Allah they turned and around and told their few good leaders and Imams

"… go you and your Lord and fight …" (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 24)

Like Bani Isra'eel and hence they are suffering the consequences like Bani Isra'eel suffered the consequences.

Brothers and sisters in Islam…

If you have the will and determination to be a Muslim and to live as a Muslim then this is Islam made very clear to you. It is made very clear in the Qur'an. There's no ambiguity, no puzzles in the Qur'an; but if you cannot carry this responsibility do not distort this message of Islam. The very bare minimum- do not distort this message of Islam. I have left you on a clear unambiguous proof, its night is as clear as day; whoever clings and adheres closely to it will never go astray. Brothers and sisters in Islam- we are only here for a day or two that is left), if we are to leave you with advice it is the activating of the meanings of this Qur'an. You can do it. Do not kill your own confidence. You are human beings and the Qur'an is addressed to you. You have faculty, you have the understanding, you have all that it takes to understand the Qur'an. Allah knows best.

You can observe for yourself why I mentioned that Shaykh is on the wanted list of Establishments of this world and especially on the wanted list by Royal Decree Shaykh Muhammad Al Asi cannot enter Makkah because Shaykh is one of the few in the world that is standing up for justice as a witness for Allah.

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi in 1983 in South Africa. 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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