| THE STREET M JUM'AH KHUTBAH (13 January 2012) 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, Brothers and sisters …
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/186142 (01-06-2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxloUu5qJDI
STRUGGLE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SEERAH PART 5
We are living in developing times. We try our best to address (or) to speak to and to speak of these developments through our understanding of Allah and His Prophet. We have been, (in the past khutbahs), taking a closer look at some details that have been pushed aside through the pressures of tradition and monotony. We will try to continue on this course (to) relate those times with these times. We spoke in the last khutbah about what we call umrah Al Hudaybiyah. The Umrah that preceded which many Muslims are at least technically familiar with what is called Al Hudaybiyah. We said that around one-thousand-and-four-hundred Muslims went out from Al Madinah to Makkah in a peaceful, nonbelligerent manner. We also said that the history of Allah's Prophet before that was a history of civil protests or civil disobedience. This does not come through to the average Muslim of our time. It doesn't appear that Allah's Prophet is a person of civil disobedience. So something is wrong with our reading of his history and our interpretation of his Sunnah if he is not presented with the character of a person who is commanding and is formulating a public and a social movement of disobedience. Something is wrong! This is what's happening in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Masajid around the world in our generation.
We mentioned the agreements of Hudaybiyah which we summarized in four issues. One of them was that the Muslims now have agreed with the Mushriks- Al Madinah agreed with Makkah that there is going to be a period of ten years of non-belligerence, no wars, no battles, no bloodshed. One of the other Articles of Hudaybiyah is the tribes, the power configurations of Arabia are free to enter into agreements. No restrictions, no bullying. They now have the freedom to choose whether they want to be with a descending Makkah or an ascending Madinah. Another Article in this agreement was whoever leaves Quraysh or Makkah and goes to the Prophet is to be returned to Makkah and whoever leaves Al Madinah and the Prophet and goes to Makkah is not required to be returned to Al Madinah. Some people just look at some of these Articles and they just stop there! They don't see the overall context (and) the background that led to this (and) the movement in which this happened. They just take this out of context and they say, (more or less), "look- we Muslims are peaceful people. We are so peaceful that we can sign a Camp David or we can sign some other document that spells injustice." Muslims cannot be a party to injustice officially or in a popular sense! It cannot happen it cannot happen. It never happened! We don't have one example of it from the Prophet's life. A year after what we called Umrah Al Hudaybiyah- in fulfillment of another Article of Al Hudaybiyah- which was the Muslims wanted just to perform the Umrah. They were going to Makkah just to move around the Ka'bah but when they sat down and signed this agreement of Al Hudaybiyah the Mushriks of Makkah imposed a condition telling the Muslims you go back. We are not going to permit you into Makkah but the following year, meaning the year to come, you may come and perform your umrah. So here they are a year later and the Muslims are once again without declaring any war- because that was part of the agreement, ten years no war. So now here they are returning. Last year their number was around one-thousand-four-hundred this year the number is around two-thousand and the Muslims were moving towards Makkah. The Prophet of Allah this time he had one-hundred mounted knights travelling with or part of these two-thousand Muslims travelling on their way to Makkah. He also had the Muslims armed with their personal weapons. Like we said previously, the culture of that area of the world is you're armed. There's no such thing as "gun control" as it is called today. Everyone is armed. So with they didn't go to Makkah with what we call today heavy weaponry. They didn't go because they were planning a war. The way they went was in a defensive position. Sometimes when the word defensive is used in Islamic presentations or Islamic literature it's an apologetic word. The Muslims did not go in Makkah in an apologetic mode; they went preparing for the worst. They honor their word but they can't guarantee that the Mushriks or their enemy's are going to honor their word. So they proceeded to Makkah. What happened here? As the Muslims were approaching in this form (and) in this configuration Makkah what happened? What happened here is very descriptive of the power relationship between what used to be an arrogant, overweening Quraysh and now a more humbled and a more down-to-earth Quraysh. They saw (and) they heard all of this so they felt threatened. Quraysh, Makkah, the Mushriks felt threatened even though the Muslims are not in any war here. They're just moving to fulfill the agreement of last year- we are coming to the Umrah, we're coming to this tawaaf around the Ka'bah. So Quraysh now feeling intimidated, even though the Muslims objective is not to intimidate, sent one of their emissaries to the Prophet to try to figure out whether the Prophet is going to militarily take on Makkah. Because these people have treason and treachery flowing in their veins they think also the Muslims and the Prophet have treason and treachery flowing in their veins so they sent this emissary- let's talk. What's the purpose? Why are you coming here? There's one-hundred people here now who are mounted. The Prophet said to them, (and we quote), I don't know that I've treated anyone who is a senior or a junior except through trust and fulfillment of my word. This is in reference to last year's Hudaybiyah- ten years of non-belligerence. I'm a person of my word he is saying in his own words. The Prophet is still speaking to this Emissary- it's not my intention to budge into their society with my weapons but as a matter of precaution I have these weapons within reach. That's how he explained what appeared to Quraysh to be a preparation for a military clash. What happens now? This person goes back to Quraysh and assures them- Muhammad tells me that he has come in a peaceful journey to Makkah. The Mushriks of Makkah now leave Makkah. Not all the population of Makkah left Makkah but these leaders and decision makers and officials who were responsible for the past almost twenty years of a war against the Prophet themselves take to the hills around Makkah. For three days they permit the Muslims- two-thousand strong- to enter Makkah and go around the Ka'bah performing their tawaaf. Remember, just a few years ago- it was only seven years ago that the Muslims were wanted dead or alive. A decision was made by these same leaders, who are now in the mountains fearing the Muslims (and) watching them inside of Makkah, to assassinate Allah's Prophet. Now things have changed. Reading this integral and central part of our history we understand this to be, (what is called today), minus all the filth that goes with the word), a political movement. This Umrah Al Qadha' which followed Umrah Al Hudaybiyah is considered a political movement. Why? Because Allah's Prophet wanted to make it clear to public opinion in Makkah and all other public opinions around Makkah that Islam has become legitimate. It's no longer a crime, like it was in previous years, to be a Muslim. Now, the Muslims go around the Ka'bah. Are they doing this in today's religious sense of the word? The Ka'bah had three-hundred-and-sixty idols in it and the Muslims were performing tawaaf around three-hundred-and-sixty idols. With the way today's mind thinks, is this a religious Umrah? If this is a religious Umrah, why are Muslims performing their tawaaf when there are three-hundred-and-sixty idols in the Ka'bah?! Remember, we are not here yet at the time when Muslims enter Makkah and liberate it. Makkah is still under the control of the Mushriks and the Muslims have gone now to the Ka'bah and made their tawaaf when the Ka'bah is still in the image of the Mushriks, controlled by the Mushriks, adorned by these idols as per the Mushriks. Think- Muslims- of Allah's Prophet and what he was doing; understand what was being done. At this point it appears that Quraysh was not honoring the agreement of Hudaybiyah because it was faithful to it's word; it was honoring the stipulations of Hudaybiyah because it was fearful of the Muslims. This was change in the power configuration in Arabia . We want you to pay close attention to this- sisters and brothers- when the Muslims performed this Umrah they performed it to reflect or to project an image of strength and might. Why do we say this? What makes us say this? When the Muslims performed that Umrah as per the Prophet's instructions they took that white cloth- remember, today when you Muslims go to Makkah this is a lost detail in history but we want you to be conscious of it so that maybe next time when you go to the Hajj you will understand what you are doing instead of going to motions and movements mindless and senseless- and they put it over their left shoulder and under/in the armpit of the right shoulder so that the right shoulder is exposed. This was not something perchance or something that didn't have meaning. It was something that was required. The Prophet of Allah instructed the Muslims to do this to deflate all the propaganda of Quraysh and the Mushriks of Makkah because their propaganda machine was saying to the rest of public opinion the Muslims are weak. The Muslims are in bad economic conditions in Al Madinah. The Muslims are suffering from disease and poverty. The Muslims are ravaged by pneumonia and fevers of sorts. All of this was part of the Mushrik Makkan propaganda echo chambers. The Prophet of Allah wanted the Muslims to expose their right shoulders so that these Mushriks who are watching know the Muslims are not emaciated, the Muslims are not weak, the Muslims are not inflicted with these types of diseases and plagues that Makkah is talking about. Remember when the tawaaf around the Ka'bah is performed it is performed counter-clockwise. That means the left shoulder that is covered is towards the Ka'bah (and) the right shoulder which is exposed is towards the outside where viewers- these Mushriks who now have fear in their hearts- can see and evaluate who these people are. When they looked and they saw … Another detail that you have to know is the first three rounds around the Ka'bah were jogging rounds, meaning you don't just walk. You go around the Ka'bah at a faster pace. So these Mushriks saw the Muslims in their first three rounds around the Ka'bah going around it with vitality and with bodies that are strong. This is a projection of power. This is something that has become a sha'eerah, a demonstration of our Hajj. Everyone does that now. If you go through the fiqhi books and you read about this you will find that the Fuqaha' agree that it is encouraged if not mandatory if you can to perform the first three rounds of tawaaf around the Ka'bah at an accelerated pace and to expose your right shoulder to the outside world. Now we ask you and we don't simply do this to harm anyone's feelings and we don't do this to prove anyone's ignorance, we do this to try to alert you to the fact that what we do in our Hajj (and) this is only one detail of that Hajj- some of you have already been to Makkah to the Hajj and to the Umrah and some of you have performed this tawaaf around the Ka'bah but what we do has become meaningless. These meanings, as they were originally initiated in the Hajj don't come to our minds. We don't think that we are there projecting power?! We don't think that we are there to show and make an appearance and to display and to manifest and to demonstrate our power?! We don't do that! This has been taken from us in these hundreds of years of the de-politicization of the Muslim mind and it's about time that we recapture these meanings. The Mushriks looked, observed, watched, monitored the condition of the Muslims, (and) the physical appearance of the Muslims and they said to themselves the following are these the ones that you claim have been ravaged by diseases and pneumonia? They are more versatile, they are more vital than so and so. Meaning they were impressed by what they saw of the appearance of Muslims. This brings us to the point- the appearance. The Muslims were projecting or demonstrating their power. So this is a demonstration. Don't get drawn into the secular world because the demonstration in the polluted context of a godless, secular world has negative connotations. This is the way a demonstration has to be. This is what is required of us (i.e.) to go to Makkah and to project our power. But what do you do when people have taken away this meaning? They didn't do it overnight. It wasn't done by one signature on a piece of paper. It was done throughout generations; hundreds of years of eroding the political and the ideological and the military message in our Islam, in our commitment to Allah until we wound up today the way we are (i.e.) going to Makkah and not really being the characters that we are supposed to be there. Let us say (or) let us come to today's mind (i.e.) those who say "demonstrations are not Islamic." First of all, if they understood their own history, they wouldn't say this.
The fact of the matter is some of them have the amamah on and some of them have a reflection of an Islamic character and these things- they come and say "demonstrations are not Islamic." Their definition of demonstration is taken from the secular world and if we impose the secular definition of a demonstration, well maybe we can say it's not Islamic; but is that who we are? We borrow our definitions from those who don't belong to Allah and His Prophet the same way these types are doing?! They know part of our character is Al Amr bi Al Ma'ruf and An Nahi an Al Munkar. They know this. OK- let us say we put together a crowd of Muslims who want to object to tyranny and injustice and with their collective Islamic character motivated by civil disobedience- which is the history of Allah's Prophet- and they express themselves in public; what's wrong with that? Is there any ayah or is there any hadith that says a Muslim cannot express Al Amr bi Al Ma'ruf and An Nahi an Al Munkar with a collective voice and with numerous numbers? Where? Show us? Present us with the ayah or the hadith. (to the) contrary, don't we say this is one ummah?
And, indeed, this is your ummah, [when it is], one ummah; and I am your Sustainer- and, thus, conform unto Me.
What better to prove that we are one ummah than to come together. We come together in Al Jum'ah and in al jama'ah. On Fridays we are together; when we pray our jama'ah prayers we are together. What do these prayers (and) the ayaat speak about? What do we say in our prayers? Aren't there ayaat in our prayers that we recite from this Qur'an that speak about jihad? Who understands jihad as being only a personal responsibility? Isn't it a collective responsibility in its overall meaning? The same thing with the ayaat that speak about qital/fighting- isn't this an armies responsibility rather than an individual's responsibility? When we speak about financial transactions, when we speak about the laws of inheritance, when we speak about the longest ayah in the Qur'an that teaches us how to transact a financial deal and the other ayaat… We can probably come across half the Qur'an that speaks about our collective character! So why is it that the collective character of the Muslims is unwanted? We can understand why it is unwanted by those who disagree with us but we can't understand why it's unwanted by those who at least on the surface agree with us? Why don't they want the Muslims to present themselves in their numbers when they have these numbers? What's wrong with that? In today's world when Muslims are beginning to wake up to these meanings we have certain Governments and regimes who are beginning to confiscate Masajids? These Masajid were there- and some of them for hundreds of years- but because the spirit of Islam was not in it, it was alright. "You can go and perform your prayers mindlessly and meaninglessly- that's alright; we encourage you to do that; but if you recapture these meanings of solidarity in civil disobedience… oh no! Close down that Masjid or take it over. Torch them!" In certain areas in the West Bank they're torching Masajid, they're lighting them with fire and destroying them. They're passing laws (that) "you can't express the adhaan in public." In certain countries this has irritated and annoyed them so much that they're saying "if you want to voice your adhaan, that voice or that sound or those decibels cannot go out into public" in other words, you keep your adhaan within the four walls of the Masjid. The adhaan was meant to speak to, communicate with and arrive at the ears of everyone in the public- they don't want that. They're passing laws. In certain countries they're thinking the minaret can be only a certain height. Meaning they want to bring down this symbol of this Islamic demonstration of power. That's all. We had these for a long time but no one was speaking about it being against the law to build a minaret that is above a certain height?! But not they're beginning to pass these as laws! It's all because the Muslims are beginning to awaken and they are disturbed by this Islamic awakening. Allah says, speaking to the Muslims when they go to the Hajj in their yearly numerical projection
… so that they may witness or be witness to their own advantages and benefits. (Surah Al Hajj verse 28)
The way people go to Makkah and Al Umrah, because this (Hajj) is a yearly affair (but Umrah) is not once a year. The Hajj is once a year but the Umrah is not once a year. The Umrah is a continuum throughout the year even though the Saudi ruling clan has even prohibited the Umrah during a certain time in the year. How did they do that? Where did they come with this legislation? Can they substantiate it from the Qur'an or from the Sunnah? Of course not! But they take orders not from Allah and His Prophet but from Shayateen Al Ins wa Al Jinn.
Dear committed Muslims…
Because of the gaps and the vacuum and the vacuity that has set in to the Muslim public mind it appears to some people that it is odd and out of place in a Khutbah like this on Fridays to be speaking about a life-and-death issue that affects not only the Muslims of the world but the populations of the world. A person like yours brotherly here realizes the distance between where we are and where we should be. We say what we're going to say knowing and cognisant of that distance. In today's threatening world, who is living Islam and doesn't feel threatened? Those who feel very secure are not living an Islam and an iman from Allah. Right now is not the time to deal with them. We're speaking about those who are living this commitment and this conviction with Allah (and) for Allah- that's who we are speaking about right now. War is in the air- not like it hasn't been there. Those of you who have been living Muslims or living Mu'mins in the past ten/twenty/thirty years know that war has always been in the air fermented by Adh Dhalimeen, by tyrannical systems (and) by corporate deadly interests. We've been living this and we're on our way out. Most of our life now is behind us. There's only a least amount of years ahead of us. We're speaking to (maybe) our generation. Are we Muslims to be deaf, dumb and blind when there are threatening enemies moving against us? Is that what's required of us? Where do you find a justification for that in the Book of Allah or in the history of His Prophet? That's not what is required of us! If a war is coming our way we open our eyes and we open our minds and we assume our responsibilities. Is it haraam on us- the Muslims who should be enlightened by Allah and His Prophet- to say that Governments from Washington DC to European Capitals and even to the land of the Haramayn are stirring the hostility pot so that they can justify using the weapons of mass destruction that they have. We just made a transition from how Allah's Prophet dealt with the powers of Makkah to how we, the followers of Allah's Prophet, are required to deal with the powers who control Makkah nowadays. In those days, the superpowers of that time left the Arabian disagreement to the Arabians in Arabia; in our days they have their hands in the cities and in the statelets in Arabia . (There are) military bases- they don't speak about that so much anymore. They want that to go off our mental radar! Why? Are they scared to say that they have such-and-such military bases in Islamic Holy Lands. Are they scared to quote the facts? Are they scared to tell us how many foreign anti-Islamic troops are stationed in Islamic Holy Lands? Are they scared?! Tell us! Come out with the truth if you have the courage to do so! But we can understand that that's part of their warfare- its psychological warfare, its propagandistic warfare, its media warfare, its perception warfare. It's all of that and much more. But how about us? Allah has given us the vital information to look at these facts and say if the Israeli-Zionists in Tel Aviv and their sidekicks in Washington DC are planning war against us the least we can say is "we know what you are thinking and don't expect us to go down like cattle and sheep." This becomes more sinister as they are trying to ignite internal Islamic issues. They will try to light a match to any perceptive disagreement among Muslims so that we are internally inflamed by our own rages and by our own revenges. That's what they are trying to do. What do you want us to do on a day like this when we are to remind each other of taqwa, of Allah's power and authoritative presence that trumps all of their powers and all of their false authorities? This is what taqwa in its grain means. With all of this information circulating in your mind be assured of Allah's power presence and Allah's authoritative presence. What are you going to do? OK-
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 6 January 2012 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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