| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (29 June 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.
Brothers and Sisters, As Salaamualaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/videos/videos/show/16537444-imam-muhammad-al-asi-at-the-universal-justice-network-conference-05-04-2012-indonesia (05-04-2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5AfM9GYAcE
ISLAM AND HUMAN RIGHTS PART 1
I would like to begin with apologising for not being able to speak your language. Obviously the communication process would be much easier if I was speaking the language that you know best and because I don't know the language I have to stand in front of you and begin my presentation with all due apologies. Nevertheless, I will try my best to scale down my choice of words and try to present my ideas in a more, (let's say), pedestrian vocabulary or the vocabulary of the average person.
The subject matter that we are speaking about basically has to do with human rights and the whole subject matter of human rights comes to us from those who are in power. If you research the literature on human rights, you will find out that it is initiated in countries and histories that are basically against Islam. What we mean by that is obviously Euro-American history and what they call, (we don't), European civilisation. It is in that context (and) that history that we find somewhat recently the subject of human rights. Now a valid question can be presented here (and) that is: we are Muslims and we have a civilisation of our own. We have our own history. So why don't we find the issue or the subject of human rights prior to it coming to us from the Euro-American context? In the Euro-American context we have the Magna Carta in Britain , we have the French revolution in France and we have what is called the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the United States of America
We have indeed dignified the Children of Adam… (Surah Al Isra' verse 70)
Whoever these children are doesn't matter- whether they're Muslims whether they are Christians or Jews or Hindus or Buddhists or whoever. Whoever comes from Adam (alayhi as salaam) by his or her birth has a dignity and an honour to them and that comes from Allah. It doesn't come from any Muslim legislator, it doesn't come from an ijtihad of a scholar. It comes from our source of morals and our laws. We are speaking about human rights- this gives every born life in this world a minimum degree of dignity that cannot be violated on anyone. When you think about yourself as Muslim and when you think about the ayaat and the hadith that you read, you realise that we are responsible for the dignity of every human being in this world. So when a human being is violated in their dignity and in their standing in society, (in a sense), we are responsible for that even if this person happens to be half way around the world. At one time early in Islamic history a couple of Muslim rulers said I'm afraid that someone is going to come to me and ask me why I could not see to it that justice is done to a person or to a people who are outside of my jurisdiction because this is the way we understand this Islam. Besides this is a shrinking world; this world has become like a village. A long time ago when there were no communication or transportation like the world is interconnected and one part of it is so close to the other as it is today, there might have been some type of room for wiggling out of this sense of responsibility, but not any longer. Then we have, (excuse me if we have a personal maybe emphasis on words; we have spent many years with the Qur'an and its vocabulary and choice of words and these things), of course all of you read the Qur'an and in there you will find the word Insan. Many times in the Qur'an you will find the word Insan in short surahs (and) in long surahs. The word Insan is translated, (of course I don't know how it is translated into your local language here, as I said I'll have to apologise for that part, but we are speaking English), and the way people translate the word in English usually is man- which means the species of man, the human race or humanity; that's how people usually translate this word but that's not an accurate translation. If we knew what this word meant at its roots then we'll sense also a factor of human rights. In the word itself there is an element of human right and human equality in the word Insan. There's an extended philosophical argument, (which I'm not going to go in obviously, over here), about the root of this word among those who deal with language and the philosophy of language and all these things; suffice it to say that al Insan means a social being. This is much more than saying humanity. Humanity is like a general word- every human being out there is part of humanity but when you look at other individuals or other societies as social beings, that means that there's some type of affinity between you and the other. Part of the problem in the issue of human rights that we are speaking about is the violation of these human rights, (using the Western vocabulary in the Western mindset), many times if not in the majority of times comes from the fact that there's a me or an I and there is the other. So when you have massacres and you have people dropping an atomic bomb and committing atrocities inside themselves there is a rationalisation for that because they are doing it to the other- the other race, the other colour, the other ethnicity, the other religion, the other sect. Whatever that other may be, there is a justification in the human mind and in public thought that there's nothing very much wrong with that. Obviously we know there's a lot of things wrong with that but the genesis (or) the origins of that wrong comes from that perception that "this is me and that's the other and because he's not part of me I can justify the wars that I launch against them and dislocation of populations and the occupations of their lands." All of these are massive issues of human rights violations and they stem from this very much unnoticed subtle human fact but when we say Insan, a social being- therefore I relate to the other because he is part of the social order of this world as I am. So something, (in a sense), inflicted on an Insan is inflicted on me; it may be directly on that other person or other population but because I relate to him as an Insan it also indirectly is inflicted upon me. Arifah, from which this word Insan is taken, is to familiarise (or) to acquaint yourself with the other. Part of the violation of human rights in this world has been this distance between we or me, (however we define that), and the other and therefore you have segregation. Part of the vocabulary, the political vocabulary, or the social vocabulary is segregation of society- at this level there's a violation of human rights.
Apartheid, which is very good example of the massive violations of human rights, that were systemic and endemic- when we look at the origins of that thought, it lived in an atmosphere of social segregation. Whites live in one area, Blacks live in another area; therefore this distance is a violation of the definition of Insan. In the word Insan there is no separation. There is more or less a process of homogenisation- social homogenisation. The barriers begin to come down therefore we begin to understand who the other is therefore there is no incentive for me to inflict social injustice on that other, (which takes me to the next step).
There is another ayah. I think it was also quoted earlier.
Oh people, We have created you from male and female and rendered you as (shu'uban) derivatives of each other and (Qaba'il) correspondence to each other so that you may mutually come to know one another; the most honorable of you as far as Allah is concerned is the one who is most conscious of Allah's power presence/immediacy. (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
This ayah is mentioned many times. We're sure you have probably heard it hundreds of times before this quote. The key word in this ayah is li ta'aarafu. We don't know the translations you read but we happen to be able to have the capacity to give you the flavour of what this means. Al Haqq is saying
We've created you out of male and female… (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
We want you think. We don't care if there's only three people in this room. If there are three people who are thinking, it is better than having three-thousand people who are not thinking. Notice with me, Al Haqqu is saying
We've created you out of male and female… (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
Allah didn't say wa khalaqnakum shu'uban wa qaba'il. There's a significant difference here. Creation is something that-we think we have an understanding of what it is. Only Allah can create. We can't create. In some reference to our marriage, when we get married we say "we procreate" but we don't create. Allah is the Creator and the only Creator. OK- we understand this.
… and then We've rendered you into shu'ub and qaba'il … (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
Now, we don't know what your translations are but the word shu'ub means to branch out. You (and) me- the human race, the Insan- were created from a male and a female; that's creation. There's nothing we can do about that- that's Allah who is creating but something that we can do something about is the issue of shu'ub and qaba'il when we branch out from each other. The human family, (we're using license with the word here), is of two components as per this ayah- shu'ub and qaba'il. Shu'ba is like something coming out of something else. If we have a mainstream here or we have a source here and we have something else coming out of that source, that's a sha'b or shu'ba; as it refers to human societies in the plural, it becomes shu'uban. Qaba'il- this word sha'b or shu'ub doesn't mean, (as it is inaccurately translated in English as), peoples or nations. Anyone using those words to try to relay the meaning of the ayah is thinking like an Orientalist, he is thinking like the Euro-American because he is using terminologies that comes from the Euro-American or whatever other. Sha'b as we said just means (that) if we look at the different ethnicities and races and genetic pools in this world etc, (if all of us were doing our Islamic homework), we would find that this is characterised by two facts, one of them is the fact that there are strains of humanity that are an extension of others, shu'ub and there are other strains that are correspondent to others qaba'il, muqabala- one corresponding to the other. Now there is a sense of dignity, equality and sharing in this description. It's not like the tension that the world has today. If you're black, you're oppressed; if you're a Palestinian, you are made into a refugee; if you are an Iraqi or an Afghani you are occupied and all of these other stuff. This language doesn't permit this type of military and philosophical movement vis-a-vis what is called "the other." It just doesn't permit it. You see, in the Qur'an you are going to find two words that gets very much confused in the reader's mind- one word is khalaqa and the other word is ja'ala. Please, next time you read the Qur'an, (we think, most of you are students in Islamic Studies or in that area), follow these two words very carefully and you will find that the word khalaqa is in the domain of divinity, in the domain of Allah but when we see the word ja'ala there's an embedding of the will of Allah with the will of man. So here when Allah speaks about shu'ub and qaba'il, He didn't speak about something that He created like He created us males and females. I didn't have a choice, did someone give you a choice before you were born saying "hey, before you are born (or) before you come out of the womb of your mother do you want to be male or female?" Has that ever occurred to anyone? No. It's like when you choose to marry someone else- that's of your own will and the outcome of that marriage, what comes out of that? Let's say a Malaysian is marrying an Egyptian- they do that out of their own will. If we are going to borrow the mindset of the Western man, there are two strains of genes involved here. There's the Malaysian strain, (and we're just using this as an example), and there's the Egyptian strain the resultant of that is the embedding of Allah's will with man's will. So whoever is going to be born out of that is what is meant by the word ja'ala. OK- out of this marriage what do we have? We have some one who looks a little Malaysian and looks a little Egyptian. Why should that be an issue of that type of person (being) a lesser human being than, (let's say), the Euro-American human being? Where did that come from? It exists in the world and it justifies policies and warfare and the killing of millions of people out there!
… and then We've rendered you into shu'ub and qaba'il … (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
For what reason?
… so that you mutually… (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
I've been told some of you study Arabic or know a little Arabic- you see, the word ta'arafu is, (we're not trying to alienate anyone here, we're just trying to explain in the best way we can), is on the order of the word tafa'ala; (tafa'ul, ta'aruf), which means I can't understand you without you being able to understand me. Or else the wording could have been li ya'rifa ba'dukum bad. Allah, (Who is accurate in His words), didn't say it like that. Allah doesn't expect you to understand me and we're finished there; but along with that He expects me also, in the process, to understand you. Another way of looking at this is: you really can't understand me if I can't understand you. We can take this beyond just the individuals. We're not speaking about you and me as individuals- one and two; we're speaking about concentrations of people in the tens of millions in the hundreds of millions.
… so that you will reciprocally understand each other… (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
That's the explanation for the ayah. What is that all about? Li ta'arafu- which will bring down all the barriers that stand between you knowing who I am and I knowing who you are. Those barriers have to come down. Once those barriers comes down then at that time we will spend the opportunity to realize
… the most honoured of you, from the perspective of Allah, are those who have the most taqwa… (Surah Al Hujuraat verse 13)
Taqwa is not this funny word or this Church word "pious." I ask myself and I wonder why other people don't ask themselves "what is piety?" How many times when you go out there in the real world (and) when you step outside of this university (and) you go to the market (or) you go to the city centre (or) you go to other places where there is a lot of people (and) when you look at all of these people, (there are literally thousands of them every day), and when you see them they say "oh I just saw a pious person." It hasn't occurred to me- I'm just an average person that thinks and tries to identify who is out there. I know what the wording in the Qur'an is but it never comes to me that this is a pious person?! It's just not there?! Or they say "God-fearing." God fearing comes a little towards the meaning. As is the case with many words in the Qur'an, we just don't have the practically correct understanding of them. Taqwa is just avoiding Allah. I know this is a little heavy stuff here. We avoid Allah. Yes you have to avoid Allah. Ittaqu Allah- you've heard that many times especially in jum'ah during the khutbah. According to some schools of thought, one of the arqan of the khutbah is to say ittaqu Allah. What does that mean? Avoid Allah? Yes; as much as we love Allah, His mercy, His grace we should also avoid His punishment and His retribution. Avoid Allah. This used to be a common statement way back then before Islam went into becoming just academics. Some comes up to someone and says "ittaqullah, avoid Allah" which means avoid the punishment of Allah in this world and the one to come. So how are we going to assess this? If we understood the ayah then we would know how we are to assess this. Many times you hear the word, the ayah, the sentence, the wording.
… Say: … (Surah Al Ankabut verse 20)
Of course this is an order to Allah's Prophet.
… travel through the earth or through the land… (Surah Al Ankabut verse 20)
It's an ayah. Can you do that in today's world? You want to go somewhere, (let's say to a certain country), can you just pack up? No. There are rules and regulations and laws and procedures and forms and declarations and many things that are there. Where did that come from? Allah is saying
… travel through the earth or through the land… (Surah Al Ankabut verse 20)
Which means the world, (if we understood the world as it comes across through the Qur'an), is an open world. We don't have an open world out there. We have borders, we have boundaries, we have barriers. Where did that come from? And what does it serve? If we just understood shu'uban wa qaba'il li ta'arafu, Insan. Then Allah is saying
… travel through the earth or through the land… (Surah Al Ankabut verse 20)
Then we say "wait a minute, we can't do that." What happened? Why can't we do that? There's something going on that is contradicting what Allah is telling us to do. Well- can't we just open up our minds a little and figure out what these barriers are which make for the violation of what is called "human rights."
One of these issues that comes up, (that was mentioned earlier), is freedom. You know, when you read about human rights then all of a sudden this word freedom pops up very frequently. Our understanding of what freedom is is freedom with responsibilities. The words that are absent are with responsibility. You have your freedom which is accompanied by your responsibility, therefore we don't have animalistic freedoms. Animals don't have responsibilities so they have an open ended definition of freedom. They can do whatever they want to do, we can't. There's a responsibility that comes with freedom and if we tag the two together then we understand that they fall within the rubric of justice.
Then we have a lot of times the issue of freedom of conscience or freedom of belief and there are other words for it. There's an ayah in the Qur'an in Surah Al Kahf . We hope everyone is reading it on Fridays.
And say al haqq is from your Sustainer… (Surah Al Kahf verse 29)
Then what follows?
… so whoever wants to commit themselves to Allah may do so and whoever wants to deny Allah has a choice to do that... (Surah Al Kahf verse 29)
This is not some Mujtahid or Faqih or scholar or A'lim saying this; this is an ayah. We, Muslims, if we're reading and understanding Allah's words, have to guarantee the freedom of belief of even a Kafir- that's not to say that we promote kufr, that's not to say that we agree with kufr, that's not to say that we sanction kufr. No, never; but as far as the freedom of man's conscience is concerned, we as Muslims are responsible for their freedom of conscience even if that means that they believe in kufr- but that's as far as it goes because is if you read the whole Qur'an, kufr itself is a dynamic. Kufr is not just a belief system or some type of persuasion, it takes on a life of its own and Muslims do not, cannot, should not permit any aspects of kufr to be socialised. If we guarantee freedom of conscience of people who are satisfied with their own kufr beliefs that doesn't mean that we guarantee that these beliefs become the norms of society or become institutions of society! Listen to another ayah in the Qur'an
Kafirs said to the Messengers, the Prophets of Allah, we're going to expel you from our lands or our countries or you come back to our millah; so Allah inspired and revealed to His Messengers that We are going to destroy Adh Dhaalimeen. (Surah Ibrahim verse 13)
At the beginning of the ayah- these were Kafir rulers who said to the Messengers of Allah but Allah at the end did not La nuhlikanna Al Kafireen because that very nature of kufr becomes detrimental to Islam and Iman and we can't permit that. We self-destruct if we do so.
(I'm sorry- I'm probably not half way through my presentation but I've been given a notice here that my time is just about out and I don't want to infringe on anyone in this program. I'm sure you have a program and we have other people who are speaking… I got an extension here- thank you very much).
This presentation was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on 4 May 2012 at the Universal Justice Network Conference in Indonesia
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