Shia Strength: Muslim Unite Sunni and Shia KHUTBAH : THE INTRINSIC MEANINGS OF ISRA’ AND MI’RAJ PART 1

THE STREET MMBAR

JUM'AH KHUTBAH (3 May 2013)

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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, committed Muslims …

Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbasarchive.htm?archived=1&page=11 (07-25-2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy4pwgIgDD4

THE INTRINSIC MEANINGS OF ISRA' AND MI'RAJ PART 1

In the coming week Muslims, (those who are aware and mindful), will observe what is called the occasion of Al Isra' and Al Mi'raj, (i.e.) the Prophet's night journey from Makkah to Al Quds and his ascension to what is called Sidrat Al Muntaha, (i.e.) the convergence of the end time and place. This occasion is most of the times remarked by Allah's opening ayah in Surah Al Isra' when He says

Extolled and exalted is He who has taken His conforming subject on a night journey from Al Masjid Al Haram to Al Masjid Al Aqsa the environs of which we have blessed so that We may demonstrate some of Our ayaat to him for He, meaning Allah, is All Hearing and All Seeing (or) nothing escapes His attention nothing escapes His detection. (Surah Al Isra' verse 1)

The traditional approach to Al Isra' and Al Miraj has omitted the struggle within which an Al Isra' and Al Mi'raj gained the pertinent significance that were meant for us and for humanity. So unlike the traditional speeches or Jum'ah khutab we will break with tradition as Allah's Prophet broke with tradition and we will say the following to have a better understanding of this critical and defining moment in our common and collective history. The Prophet of Allah began a struggle- this is something that when we speak about him is almost unidentifiable! Many people (or) many Muslims quote Allah's Prophet but in the majority of times they don't have a sense that we are speaking about a person who spent his lifetime in a struggle. The way this struggle began was, of course, to spread the word; and spreading this word began within the immediate life of Allah's Prophet- his wife, his cousin, his best friend, his stepson- these are his immediate circle. The way this word was spread at the beginning was in an underground fashion and that had to be the case because the meanings of this word conflicted with the powers that be; unlike today's spreading the Islamic word means to reconcile with the powers that be. The spreading of this word of Allah means that there's going to be a coming clash with governments, with institutions, with interests, with false ideas and ideologies. The Prophet of Allah spent the first three or four years of spreading this word in a non public way. He just spoke to his immediate circle and then after there was some adherents, probably no more than fifty in these three or four years of spreading the Islamic word, he went public. OK- let the people now know what this Islam is all about so he went public with Islam to the rest of the Makkan society. Here is where the opposition, the pressure (and) the struggle began in earnest. Here is when the officials of Makkah were going to show the Prophet that they were serious about putting an end to what he is saying and to what he wants to do. So the Prophet of Allah and those few individuals who committed themselves to him in the course of this struggle in Makkah were to feel all the pressure that comes to bear by all the instruments of society and state against those who are opposed to that type of society and that type of state. So the years go by and the Muslims were tortured. The Muslims had no power, they had no finances, they had nothing to speak about and the establishment was out to get them. It wanted to break the back of what the Muslims stood for at this time only in theory- nothing else they had. This establishment of Makkah as is the case with all establishments what they understand that there is a threat to their structure, to their invested interests, to their class advantages, to their national or racial idiosyncrasies out of which we have nationalism and racism there and here (and) as we will continue to be the case and there wasn't much that we can speak about in the way of success. What was there that the Prophet of Allah could point to in the form of concrete success, cumulative success (and) comprehensive success? Virtually nothing! We can't say that this was a successful effort when we had a person like Bilal (radi Allahu anhu)- an underclass individual; someone that mainstream society doesn't pay any attention to being tortured with the historical details that you should be aware of- what was this? A success? You think that Allah's Prophet was proud when he would pass by or know of or listen to the news coming to him from other Muslims that his companions are being tortured? You tell us- in the mainstream mind what type of success are we talking about? The Yasir family- the first individual to fall in the line of Islamic duty (or) to lose their life belonged to this Yasir family. Ammaar (and) Sumayyah (radi Allahu anhuma) were tortured in front of the Prophet's eyes. You think this is a success in the dictionary of the real material world around us? The Prophet would say to them patience family of Yasir for your scheduled meeting place is Al Jannah. People- whether they were in the underclass of society or whether they were better off- Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) came to Allah's Prophet and he said I'm giving you all that I have and the Prophet asks him what have you left for your family? He says I left them with Allah and His Messenger, I left them in the care of Allah and His Messenger. Uthman (radi Allahu anhu) was another person who gave for Allah. When he decided to become a Muslim in the Makkan era and was whipped by his uncle to renounce this new orientation in life, he refused. He wouldn't do it. This is a success story? Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas (radi Allahu anhu) whose mother struggled with her own son- my son, reconsider (or) rethink yourself. What are you doing? This is not the right way to go and his mother fell ill and it was a serious illness. What does this son say to his mother when the choice is between kufr and iman? A son tells his mother Wallahi- if I was to see you dying one hundred times and then coming back to life and then dying again to have me denounce my deen; I will never do it. This struggle continued until society and state brought more pressure against the few Muslims. We're not speaking about hundreds and thousands of Muslims in Makkah, we're speaking only of scores of Muslims. They isolate them in Sha'b Abi Taalib for three years. The Muslims were subsisting. They were living at sub survival levels throughout three consecutive years until finally from within Makkan society some young individuals got fed up with the policies of their own establishment and they went to the Ka'bah and they ripped this declaration of excommunicating Allah's Prophet and isolating those who were with him. You tell us- is this a success? Allah works in His, (what is supposed to be to us), detectable ways. When all of this pressure was increasing on the Muslims from the organised society of Makkah (and) from its establishment and state then we have personalities who were not marginal in that society who would come out and become Muslims- Humza ibn Abdul Muttalib (radi Allahu anhu). In the middle of this organised, premeditated (and) planned strategy against the committed Muslims as few as they were- the issue here is not numbers, the issue was quality, principles, values- was the Prophet an isolationist? This was the best time for those who wanted to develop an argument for stepping out of society. This was the best time for the Muslims to say "we can't take it any more, we need a break. Let us retreat from this pressure, regroup, become reinvigorated, catch our breathe and step back into this society and challenge the headhanchos of this society." But what did Allah's Prophet- who we say is our reference, is our pace setter, is our example- do? He intensified his contact with this hostile society. Memorise that. He intensified his contacts with this hostile environment and peoples around him. He would go to the Ka'bah more frequently. He would establish contact with people who were there at the Ka'bah and with people who came from distant lands to the Ka'bah, he would send some of the people around him to Africa, he himself attempted to go and re-establish a base in At Ta'if, he met with delegations that came from Al Madinah in what is called the three Aqabah encounters. He wasn't stepping out of this struggle. He was causing all of those who had the power in this world to react to his position of power with Allah and weakness with man.

Then, his two support persons in life- the one who offered him psychological and family care and support his wife passes on and his uncle, Abu Talib, who offered him social and extended family support passes on. Here is a society with all the concentration of power and wealth in it that was suffering now from an erosion, (that's now it perceived this affect of Islam and iman). The Prophet of Allah, in all of these years, won over to his side individuals most of whom were youth. Most of those who became part of the Prophets party in Makkah were less than forty years old- the overwhelming majority of them. And the overwhelming majority of this overwhelming majority were those who were in their teens and twenties. This speaks volumes about a person who is in his forties and now beginning his fifties in life who now had an overwhelming majority of people following him who were half his age. Can we say that this message of Islam with all that was going against it in Makkah was losing ground? Well a person who belongs to this duniyah would look at it and say "well I feel sorry for this Prophet. There seems nothing to be developing in his favour." It was at this time as we see the whole world folding in on the Prophet in Makkah that Jibreel (alayhi as salaam) comes to him and we have in our history what is called Al Isra' and Al Mi'raj. This is how we have to understand the backdrop and the background to what other people would write books and volumes about- the miracle of the Prophet of Allah going from Makkah to Al Quds. We want the Muslim mind to think. Al Isra' was from Makkah to Al Quds- it wasn't to anywhere else in the world. When Muslims were at the end of their line (this the best way to put it in words), Allah opened a route for them from Makkah to Al Quds, from Al Masjid Al Haram to Al Masjid Al Aqsa. We don't know if Muslims today can even feel where they are much less think and know where they are?! This is a problem that has invaded Muslim societies and communities all over the world! We wish, we hope, we pray (and) we beg the ability of Muslims to know where they are! How come? Why can't we understand that the way the Prophet in Makkah was living an existential level we also are living at the existential level? And if we come to realise this then why can't we understand that Allah has given direction to His Prophet. When times like these develop Allah shows us the way. But the analogy has to be accurate. The Prophet of Allah was in a struggle with his social self. Makkah, Al Madinah, Al Hejaz, (and) Arabia was the Prophet's social self and when he was struggling with his social self and his social world in the material world appeared to be defeating him Allah showed him a way to Al Masjid Al Aqsa. If we want an analogy here, we ask ourselves are we in a struggle with our social self? If we are conscientious and if we are objective and if we are accurate we say regrettably we are not in a struggle with our social self. Our social self has claimed our Islam! Our social self has nationalised our Islam! Our social self has racialized our Islam! So how can we make believe that we are on a course of Allah's Prophet when the years that have gone by have proven that we cannot even launch a jihad against our extended self the way the Prophet of Allah launched his jihad against his extended self? When that was not going well Allah said to His Prophet and demonstrated to His Prophet and for the rest who are on His course and within His orientation and towards His objective

The first ayah in Surah Al Isra' or Surah Bani Isra'eel and the other ayaat in Surah An Najm

And indeed he saw him and the second descent at the convergence of the time and place. (Surah An Najm' verse 13-14)

Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims- these meanings are not meant for some theological argument. We said at the beginning of the khutbah that we break from tradition. How does tradition have it? They come to a theological argument. They say "was this Isra' and Mi'raj a spiritual one and the body of Allah's Prophet remained in the compartment where he was in Makkah or was this Isra' and Mi'raj both a physical and spiritual journey?" That's how they want to mislead us and distract us from the essence of Isra' and Al Mi'raj and its context of struggle. The Prophet comes back. In just one night he leaves and he comes back and he tells the people around this is what happened in the course of one night- I went from Makkah to Al Quds and from Al Quds I went to Sidrat Al Muntaha, the convergence of the end time and place. Of course, society makes fun of this. They say are we going to listen to this character?! When we go to Al Quds it takes us about thirty days to go one way and thirty days to some back the other way when we take our caravans and go loaded there; are you going to believe this person? He's saying he went there in one night! And not only there, he adds on to that that he went from there beyond the seven Heavens and society churned out its propaganda against the Prophet, making fun of him, belittling him, accusing him, maligning him (and) trying to falsify him. Even some Muslims said we don't want to take this anymore. We want to step out of this Islam now. We don't want to be Muslims any longer. These are facts. This is what happened? What do we come and do? Make this issue a miracle? It is a miracle by any definition. Muslims don't even mention it as a miracle because detecting Allah should not be in the physical movement of the Prophet from Makkah to Al Quds to Heaven, it is in the details of the struggle that brought the Prophet to the point in which the transition was made by Allah from Makkah to Al Quds to Heaven and back. All of those details are the miracle that have been undetected by spokespersons and spokesmen of Muslims for so long. The mind has come to arrest the traditional mind and to reinvigorate the Qur'anic and Prophetic thinking and psychology.

Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…

Allah speaks about Al Masjid Al Haram and Al Masjid Al Aqsa and now we have two synchronising regimes- one of them rules over Al Masjid Al Haram and the other one rules over Al Masjid Al Aqsa. They are cut from the same fabric. They are two theologies (or) two religious creeds that are different in Arabia and in the Holy Land but as far as behaviour and policies- they complement each other. The regime in Arabia is slowly and gradually and progressively eroding Al Masjid Al Haram and it's environs and we don't mean just in the physical sense with the construction that is going on, with the finances and the capital that are now renting and leading Al Masjid Al Haram's environs. They want to make money out of Islamic tourism to that area. This is besides the fact that the regime there has been like a termite in the House of Islam. They have been chipping away at any ideological fibre in Islamic individual entities or organisational entities and echoing these policies in the Holy Land we have a Zionist regime that is physically at work undermining Al Masjid Al Aqsa. What do you want brothers and sisters, Muslims? Do you want to wake up one day and listen to an elaborate news item that says Al Masjid Al Aqsa, Al Haram Ash Sharif, The Temple Mount has collapsed? Wouldn't that sound like something that is in the heart and at the middle of today's policies to strangulate Muslims who are trying to find direction and a way out of the injustice that they've been living through for so long? And truth be said, the passive and the lackadaisical and the indifferent and the isolationist behaviour of individual Muslims, of communal Muslims, of Muslims who make believe that they belong to a society when they have none, Muslims who are affiliated to governments that say "they are Muslims in one sense or another"- all of this is towing the line of the Imperialist locomotive that is moving at full speed to ruin and demolish our physical, our mental and our spiritual basis. Some Muslim brothers in Palestine have been ringing the alarm bells for so long now saying to the rest of the Muslims "mind you- pay more attention. These Zionists are working night and day at the foundations of Al Masjid Al Aqsa." Just a few weeks ago there were news reports that hospitals have gone on alert in the Holy Land and even in Lebanon because some seismologists are predicting a substantial earth tremor that will cause many many casualties and injuries. Could this be the approaching information or the subliminal first shots in what they have planned to destroy what belongs to Allah's committed and conforming human beings? Remember, we said so, we expressed the truth and the responsibility is yours and the results are Allah's.

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 25 July 2008 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C. 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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