| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (1 November 2013) 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, committed Muslims…
Today's one of those days of raining and stuff like that so we'll try not to have you get very wet. Allah can help us.
THE PROPHET'S HAJJ
This is the time in which Muslims are arriving and have been arriving in Al Hejaz particularly in Makkah and in Al Madinah to relive or at least to try to relive the meanings of the Hajj and what better could it be than for us to trace how the Prophet performed some of the obligations of the Hajj. In this final Jum'ah before waqf al Arafat and before Eid Al Adha, we will try to follow the Prophet's footsteps. To begin with, the Hajj pilgrimage was made a faridha (or) a mandatory act of devotion to Allah in the tenth year of the hijrah. We know this sounds some what odd to some Muslims who have grown up thinking that the Hajj and all of these other arkan of Islam were mandatory at the beginning of the Prophet's mission and those who are going to find this statement unusual actually should look at themselves to find their information inaccurate. So the Hajj became a fardh upon every committed Muslim towards the end and the beginning of the tenth year of the hijrah when the ayah often quoted by yours truly here ayah number 97 in Surah Aal Imran in which Allah says (we're trying here not to quote the whole sequence of the ayaat).
… the station of Ibrahim or the status of Ibrahim and who ever enters it, enters it in security and it is incumbent upon those who are able from amongst mankind that they do the Hajj to the sanctified House for Allah for those who are able to do so… (Surah Aal Imran verse 97)
See- in this ayah which was revealed at the end year of the ninth year of the hijrah Allah says that the Hajj now has become a wajib (or) a faridha- it has become an obligation and a mandatory duty towards Allah. Another thing that might strike some people as odd because they haven't thought very cogently about the Prophet in what he was doing (is) even though the Prophet was born in Makkah and even though the Prophet went to the Haram so many times that no one has been able to count how many that was the case before he was a "Muslim" (and) before the Wahy came to him and when the Wahy came to him, (he must have gone there thousands of times and in those years), there was the Hajj and in those years people used to go for the tawaf around the Ka'bah and the Prophet was there but the only Hajj that the Prophet performed was the one in the last year of his life in the last year for the hijrah and this Hajj is referred to by the average person out there as Hajjat Al Wada', the pilgrimage of farewell or leaving. Now this same Hajj, the only Hajj that the Prophet performed, is also called Hajjat Al Islam and it is also called Hajjat Al Balaagh but we here, after fourteen hundred years, are only living with one nomenclature for this Hajj. Everyone calls it Hajjat Al Wada'. You have Muslim friends, you have Muslims scholars, you have Muslim spokespersons- have you ever heard anyone of them call it Hajjat ul Islam or Hajjat ul Balaagh? No. That also is another indicator of how we have slipped on our scale of living up to the meanings of this Hajj. The reason it's called Hajjat ul Islam is because it's the first Hajj- it was the Prophet's last Hajj- for the rest of the Muslims of the world that was performed in accordance with the final message from Allah which is Islam; therefore it's called Hajjatul Islam. Another designation of it is Hajjat ul Balaagh, the pilgrimage of communication because in this pilgrimage the Prophet gave what is referred to by some people as "the sermon on the mount" in which he began by saying O People- your lives, possessions and honor are as sanctimonious as this day in this month in this city and he goes on. So we, the Muslims, as an indicator of who we are today have dropped from our vocabulary two very important designations of this Hajj of the Prophet. In this Hajj- the only Hajj of the Prophet, the first and the last Hajj of the Prophet but the first Hajj of the Muslims- Allah revealed the ayah in Surah Al Maa'idah that begins with until Allah says
… today I have perfected your deen for you and I have completed My blessings upon you and I am satisfied with Islam being your deen… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 3)
The Sahaba (radi Allahu anhum) upon hearing this were moved. They had a feeling (or) a sense that this was an end of the Prophet's life or the Prophet's life was coming to an end and one of the companions of the Prophet was moved and tears were running down his cheeks and he was asked why have you turned emotional. He said because what comes after perfection is imperfection. This is a very authentic understanding of human nature and if we were to gage the history of the Muslims after that we find that was true. That was the pinnacle of Islamic materialisation, (so to speak), and then from there on we began to see how Islam began to gradually wind down, (so to speak). So how did the Prophet begin this Hajj? What happened? Did he wake up one day and he said "well I'm going for Hajj. He collected his belongings and he walked from Al Madinah to Makkah"? How did this begin. Obviously it begins by a niyyah. Everyone has the intention to perform the Hajj. The prophet expressed his intention and determination to go to the Hajj. After that he made it known to the public and then after that, of course, he prepared himself (with) whatever it takes. You need some supplies, you need some belongings, you need this that and the other to go on this journey and he motioned (and) he moved himself towards Makkah. Now when the word got out that the Prophet is going to Makkah to perform the Hajj then almost everyone was interested in going to the Hajj and they wanted to accompany him. So many Muslims from Al Madinah joined him in his journey to Makkah. On the way word also got out to surrounding areas in the Hejaz and in the Peninsula and some people on the Prophet's way from Al Madinah to Makkah began to join him there. He left Al Madinah after praying adh dhuhr- four raka'at in five days that were left of the month of Dhi Al Qa'da, meaning around the 25th of Dhi Al Qa'da the Prophet left towards Makkah which would mean that he left about two weeks before standing on mount Arafat and then Eid Ul Adha'- about two weeks. He expressed himself to those who were accompanying him. Remember, eventually when everyone was present there in Makkah there was over one hundred thousand Muslims performing the Hajj. If we were to be somewhat fair to our history, (and sometimes we're going to have you think), during that time when the Prophet was in his last year there are wobbling estimations to the number of Muslims who were now committed to Allah and His Prophet and they may wobble between a half a million to two million. Let's take for purposes of the argument today that Muslims are going to the Hajj without any barriers- this is the argument that some ignorant people and some malicious types throw out there. They say "Oh the Hajj is open. Muslims go to the Hajj and everything is normal. No one should be making a fuss about the accessibility of Makkah and Al Madinah or the regulations that are imposed on the performance of the Hajj and also the Umrah." So for purposes that will give numbers or give the benefit of the doubt to numbers on their side we'll say that the number of Muslims when the Prophet passed away is about two million because if we say they were around half a million that's going to say that one fifth of the total Muslims in the world went to Hajj but if we say that the Muslims at that time were two million then it says one twentieth because if out of two million one hundred thousand went to the Hajj that means one twentieth of the Muslims of the world went to the Hajj. That would tell you, (probably it's a fair way to measure the Muslims in all of their varieties- whether they are truly committed, whether they are half-way Muslims, whether they are reluctant Muslims, whether they are hypocritical Muslims, whoever they are ), if we say one twentieth of the Muslims went to Hajj because at that time there were no barriers, there were no regulations, there were no dues to pay to certain governments and all of this that goes on today- the door was open. The journey was for anyone who had in their personal capacity the physical stamina and the financial wherewithal to go to the Hajj. So if we were to say this is the Muslim state of nature, (i.e.) one twentieth of them will go to the Hajj if all of these barriers came down, well why don't we have one-twentieth of the Muslims going to the Hajj nowadays? What's one twentieth of around two billion Muslims in the world? What would that come out to? One hundred million?! Why don't we have one hundred million Muslims going to the Hajj? The way we are programmed to think over there in these controlled Masajid is "Oh you can't think like this!" Why can't you? Bring this idea up (and) let people who are placing us in our positions today answer to why we don't have a grand Hajj as was the case in the time of Allah's Prophet.
So as the Prophet was accompanied by these thousands of people who were now going with him to the Hajj he began to teach them the talbiyah (or) the conscious echo of reciprocating with Allah. He said to them you say on your journey on your way to the Hajj Labbayk Allahumma labbayk. Labbayk laa sharika laka labbayk. Inna al hamda wa an ni'mata laka wa al mulk. Laa sharika laka- that's what he said. These are his words to them. We want to repeat this again; because some of you who may be more anxious or technical about words we want to repeat this again. The Prophet taught those who were going with him to perform the Hajj this formula that all the Muslims now say not necessarily word by word as it is said here, (we'll get to that in a minute), but this is what he told them to say I respond to You, O Allah. I come to You, O Allah. I enlist for You, O Allah. All of these meanings are entailed here. Once again, I respond to You, O Allah. I come to You, O Allah. I enlist for You, O Allah; but here is the addition, You have no partner, You have no associate, You have no parallel, You have no co-other with you. Gratitude, blessings are Yours as is the dominion, the domain, the world. Once again reiterating, You have no co-other with you. Listen to this brothers and sisters: then here is where the Muslims around- remember he's speaking to hundreds or thousands of Muslims, depending on the occasion and the stations and the whereabouts from Makkah because he's on his way from Al Madinah to Makkah- were listening to him and were trying to repeat exactly what he was saying but some of them did not say it exactly the way he said it. Some of them added to it and some of them subtracted from it and the Prophet was hearing them. He didn't say "Oh, you're saying it wrong." He didn't make this a divisive issue the way some Muslims today, especially those who are supposed to be the guides in the Hajj, do if someone says, (we'll give you a good example), Inna al hamda wa an ni'mata wa al mulk laka. It's saying the same thing but rearranging the words. Instead of saying Inna al hamda wa an ni'mata laka wa al mulk you say Inna al hamda wa an ni'mata wa al mulk laka. The word mulk either comes at the very end of the sentence or it comes a word before the end of the sentence. The Prophet was listening to the Muslims saying this and he didn't tell anyone "you are saying it wrong." And there are other ways in which this same sentence; for those who are interested in fiqhi studies, you can go to the different fiqhi schools of thought and you will find the same sentence with the same general meanings formulated with different words of with different locations of words. There was nothing wrong with that. It wasn't an issue of divisiveness as some of today's controllers over there want people to think.
On the way to the Hajj formal Madinah to Makkah the Prophet went through a few areas. The first one is called Al Araj, the second one is called Al Abwa', the third one is called Wadi Asfan and the other one is called Dhi Tawa. Some of you may probably have heard these words for the first time now. It's odd but it's true. If the Prophet on his way from Al Madinah to Makkah went through these particular areas or stations, (as they should become, they become stations because the Prophet went through them), on his way from Al Madinah to Makkah then why aren't they house words? Why doesn't every Muslim know them and is familiar with them? Let's say, for these technical types who control the Hajj and the Umrah process over there with the use of brute force, some Muslim wanted to go to the Hajj the same way the Prophet went to the Hajj- its not mandatory, you don't have to do it- but let's say some Muslim says I want to do it the way the Prophet did it; he goes to Al Madinah and then he wants to follow in the direction and in the trail from Al Madinah to Makkah. So it's going to become very difficult for him to dig up this history. Why? Because its going to be very hard for this person to know where these stations- Al Araj, Al Abwa', Wadi Asfan and Dhi Tawa- are because the regime in control over there wants to bury Islamic history literally, technically, physically. A person is going to have a very difficult time going in the footsteps from Al Madinah to Makkah and it's not by chance! This is all thought out. So the Prophet stayed in this last station of Dhi Tawa. It was the night of Sunday. He prayed salah as subh, then he took a full bath and then he took unto Makkah. Of course, he came into Makkah from the Northern area of the city. He went until he reached the Masjid. It was mid-way almost between al Fajr and adh Dhuhr, around the Dhuha time of the day. So he goes up to ar Rukn. You know the Ka'bah is the cube. The word Ka'bah- you would sometimes figure does the word cube have anything to do with the Ka'bah? This cube that was there has Al Hajr Al Aswad in one of its corners called Ar Rukn if we understand it correctly. So when the Prophet entered the Haram area he went towards that corner of the cube and from there he began his tawaf around the Ka'bah. The tawaf takes place counter clockwise. One of the explanations of this, (we're not saying this is the only explanation), is that a Muslim in performing the tawaf has his right shoulder exposed. When you wear the ihram, the ihram you put on in a way that exposes the right shoulder so when you are moving around the Ka'bah in a counter clockwise motion you are exposing your right shoulder to those who are watching or viewing. At the time in Makkah- even though Makkah in the past year had exceeded its status from a Mushrik urban centre now to an Islamic city- in this society of Makkah there were still Mushriks. Not everyone became a Muslim. There were still those who were opposed to Islam even though Islam now had become the order of the day. So one of the explanations to the form or to the motion of the tawaf is to show demonstrate your strength because the outer side of this ring of people is the right shoulder. So when the Prophet went around the Ka'bah in his tawaf- remember this is his first and only Islamic Hajj, first and last and only Islamic Hajj- and when he performed it he performed the seven tawaf, just like we all. Why do we do seven tawaf? Because he taught us the seven tawafs (or) the seven circumambulations (or) the seven surrounding motions of the Ka'bah he did three of them in a jogging manner. Its not he was walking and its not he was running. It's in a pace in between around the Ka'bah and then he did four while he was walking. Three and four- three jogging and four walking. That completes seven around the Ka'bah. Then he goes to Maqam Ibrahim. There's a station there- may Allah provide us with the opportunity to make it there one day. As he approached Maqam Ibrahim he quoted the ayah
Bear in mind that we have designated Al Bayt a retreat and a refuge for people or a place in which people recoup themselves from the affairs of the materialistic world and an area of safety and security, peace and tranquillity, and designate the Maqam of Ibrahim as a place to offer your salah … (Surah Al Baqarah verse 125)
We don't know if the Muslims of today are doing this in a conscious manner. They may be doing it in a physical manner, they may be doing this is a manner equivalent to a parrot and they may be repeating words and not being aware of what they are saying. Then he went to a position in which the Maqam was between him and the Ka'bah and he would pray two rak'aat and in these rak'aat he would read Surah Ikhlaas and Surah Al Kafirun. Then he'd go back to that corner of Al Hajr As Aswad or Ar Rukn and from there he'd go to As Safa. There's these two positions that we are all familiar with- As Safa and Al Marwah. There's the obligation of jogging between these two positions. When he reached As Safa he read the ayah in the Qur'an in Surah Al Baqarah
As Safa and Al Marwah are rituals belonging to Allah, are symbols belonging to Allah. For whoever goes to the sanctuary- Al Bayt Al Haram, the Ka'bah- for purposes of Hajj or Umrah, there is no violation of conscience and principle to jog between these two places, even though those two idols are still there on these two places… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 158)
Let us mention to you also something that not many Muslim speakers and not many Muslim scholars want to speak about, (i.e.) prior to this Hajj of the Prophet, the only Islamic Hajj in his lifetime, there was something that was called Umrah Al Qada'. The year before that because of the stipulations of what was called the agreement of Al Hudaybiyah, the Prophet was given leeway because Makkah was still not under the control of the committed Muslims. The Prophet still did not have jurisdiction over Makkah so the Mushriks said we will permit you, because of this Hudaybiyah agreement, to come to Al Umrah to Makkah. The Prophet went to what is called Umrah Al Qada'. In this Umrah he performed the same things
That he did during Hajj because during Al Umrah you do the same things when you go to the Hajj. So when he went to the Umrah Al Qada' the year before this Hajj he went to a Ka'bah (and) he went to As Safa and Al Marwah and there were idols all around. The Prophet of Allah goes to perform the Umrah when there were idols in the Haram, in Al Bayt Al Haram, in As Safa and Al Marwah. What do you say? How does this sit with today's people who don't understand how this Islam is to be constructed? Just drill this fact into their area of attention and ask them "how do you feel about this? Was the Prophet wrong? He shouldn't have gone to the Ka'bah, to Makkah, to Al Bayt Al Haram, to Al Masjid Al Haram, to Ar Rukn, to Al Maqam Ibrahim, to As Safa, to Al Marwah, to all of these other places?!" You, who understand Islam, will say to him as the expression is in the Arabic language- you approach Islam by hanging on to it by its tail! These are the types right now who are in control of the Hejaz , Makkah and Al Madinah. They don't understand the dynamics that are at work even though the ayah here is explicit.
As Safa and Al Marwah are emblems of devotion to Allah, so whoever embarks on a Hajj or a Umrah he shall incur no sin to perform the sa'ee between them… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 158)
Why would Allah say this? Because there was an idol on As Safa and another idol on Al Marwah and Muslims felt in themselves wait a minute here- is this right? Are we allowed to perform this sa'ee or back and forth jogging between As Safa and Al Marwah when there are idols there? To answer one question that one of you asked at one time, "what's the difference between a wathn and a sanam." This also, because many Muslims especially those who are supposed to be communicative in the Arabic language can't understand the difference between a wathn and a sanam they use these words as if they are interchangeable. There is a difference obviously. Al wathn is something that you regard with devotion and with adoration but it has no feature to it. It could be a tree, it could be a rock- it's featureless. You can't make out a living being ion that thing; but once you define and defect characteristics of a living being, whether it's an animal or a human being, then that's called a sanam. So the ayah here for those who are willing to understand
As Safa and Al Marwah are emblems of devotion to Allah, so whoever embarks on a Hajj or a Umrah he shall incur no sin to perform the sa'ee between them… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 158)
The two idols there on As Safa and Al Marwah was called As Saaf and Naa'ilah. These were two idols (or) two graven images (or) two repugnant things to the conscience, to the heart, to the mind of the average Muslim. So Allah is saying
… even though As Saaf and Naa'ilah are there on As Safa and Al Marwah you incur no sin by performing your duty of jogging between As Safa and Al Marwah. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 158)
But who do you say that to in today's world? Who are we speaking to? Are there people out there who are thinking? We're sorry brothers and sisters- we have to curtail this khutbah at this point because of the weather and because of the circumstances.
Dear committed brothers and dear committed sisters on As Siraat Al Mustaqeem…
We want to bring your thinking abilities into the area of the ayah that says
You publicise the timing and the duty of going to the Hajj … (Surah Al Hajj verse 27)
This is supposed to take place months before going to Arafat and Al Adha'.
Hajj is a matter of months… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 197)
We are stricken by a deafening silence in the months that precede the Hajj. Instead of our senses being bombarded, (so to speak), with the information to go and to accommodate and to be welcomed in the Hajj. There's a deafening silence that comes from Ash Shaytaan himself. Then, all of a sudden there's this scurry- everyone's in a hurry to go and to get out in a couple of weeks.
… they'll come to you walking on their legs and on their feet and also using whatever other meagre means of transportation … (Surah Al Hajj verse 27)
Today we have this performance of the Hajj in which those who are - we say this deliberately and we hope it becomes the lingua franca choice of everyone- controlling the Hajj. The Hajj can't be controlled if we were reporting to Allah but some of us, especially those who are making laws and decisions don't report to Allah. They report to their phoney earthling deities. So instead of encouraging Muslims to come to Hajj they're telling people- you and I and the rest of us- "Oh, postpone your Hajj for this year and the coming few years because we have some type of construction efforts that we are involved in here to make it better for you and the Hujjaaj in the coming years." This is what they tell us. They themselves (per) their own sources of information say "so far the number of pilgrims who have arrived in the Holy Land is one fifth less than their numbers last year." It could be more or less, we don't know because these people are not in the habit of expressing the truth and the facts of the matter! On another account they tell us "they have thirty-plus cameras who are monitoring the committed Muslims." We need monitors there? We need people to spy on us if someone is speaking to someone else or contacting someone else or having a small group meeting and exchanging feelings and ideas? Of all places this should be done in the Hajj and the Umrah?! But no, they want to place cameras there! Did anyone tell them this is a bid'ah!? You can't do that! This is what happens when our minds lag behind and our bodies go to the Hajj just as they come to this Masjid- as if it's a call of nature (and) as if someone has to dump a load. So he goes to the Masjid on Friday and he dumps that obligation. They go to Hajj once a year and they themselves, who run the place, don't tell themselves "hey, you who have come from Jeddah or from Ar Riyadh or from another area in their Kingdom, you've been to the Hajj before- make room for the other Muslims around the world who don't have that opportunity." But they don't do anything like that and this is what we are faced with. If we don't wake up and understand our responsibilities and duties we're going to be run over by their merciless policies and we complain to Allah. We don't complain to anyone else.
O Prophet of Allah- there are Muslims committed to you and to Allah. Fourteen centuries after you trekked from Al Madinah to Makkah there are voices that still amplify your intentions, your responsibilities and your efforts.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 11 October 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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