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Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Dear brothers and sisters on our way to Allah…
TASHAYY'U WITH OR WITHOUT ASABIYYAH
Allah says
… but rather committed Muslims are brothers of one another… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
If Allah is describing this relationship that we should have with each other, do you feel towards the other Muslim as if he was a member of your family? We have a family of committed Muslims and you look at your own family, the biological family that you have, and you'll find that there are differences. So we're going to have to make room for differences among ourselves and making this room cannot annul the meaning of
… but rather committed Muslims are brothers of one another… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
As we said, we are not expressing these words at this time every Friday during the ceremonies of Al Jum'ah to try to satisfy some type of intellectual curiosity. What we are trying to do is contribute, as much as we can, to solving some of these chronic and debilitating issues that have placed a distance among the Muslims- among ourselves; and the distance has become so wide and so extensive that this word of Allah
… but rather committed Muslims are brothers of one another… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
has become very problematic to maintain. Right now today's Muslims take some of this distance between them and other Muslims and then they trace it all the way back to the first century of Islam- that's how they work (and) that's what they do- that's what is going on. We're not trying here to tell you something that you don't know. This is common knowledge but what's not common knowledge is what you're going to hear from this Mimbar on this day. We know some people, we're not saying everyone- this is a problem with asabiyah- who have this form of asabiyah in them will think about this speaker who's talking and then they'll say "oh this is so and so" meaning yours truly here and then they will say "oh so and so is a Sunni so why does he speak about Shi'i issues?" This is how some people think. The reason they express themselves like that is, whether they know it or not, they are infested with a type of asabiyah. We're not supposed to think of someone as being a Sunni or a Shi'i! We're supposed to think of Muslims as seekers of the truth. So can they come down from their asabiyah heights and look at a simple Muslim seeking the truth and in this push for the truth it doesn't mean what we are saying it is a matter of isma, meaning that it is not subject to correction. No, it is! Before we begin, to say anything, confess that what is going to be expressed is subject to correction provided that someone steps up who understands Allah and His Prophet and corrects it. It's not to be expected from asabiyah sources. So with reliance upon Allah we're going to go back to that portion of history in which today's individuals who are fuelling sectarianism, (they're around, don't tell us they're not around), we're going to go back to the building blocks of their sectarianism and try to take a look at this so that we can try to defuse it at its source.
OK- the Shi'is; and remember brothers and sisters- this is a word that is used in today's world without a depth of knowledge of what that means in those first one hundred years after the Prophet. It's used something like a tag that is automatically supposed to give you a simplistic impression of a person or a group of people. But back then when the Prophet passed away in those early years there were individuals who expressed their frank and their transparent commitment that Al Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu) is the leader, the Imam, the Khalifah, the Amir Al Mu'minin after the Prophet. They are very well known for that position. In the Shi'i literature four of them are prominent- Al Miqdad ibn Al Aswad, Abu Dharr, Ammaar ibn Yaser and Salman Al Farisi (radi Allahu anhu) but they were not called Shi'is the way people use the word today. They were not Shi'is. The reason why this information doesn't come to our mind is because we have not taken a thorough look at what happened. We have not, with our cerebrum (and) with our brains, taken this information and thought closely about it! What we have done is we have emotionalized some information- at least some of us.
Let's take a step back a little… In the aftermath of that event when Uthman (radi Allahu anhu) was killed the asabiyah of Bani Umayyah became more pronounced. We said multiple times before that this asabiyah was beneath the surface and then it began to gradually make its appearance. When Uthman was assassinated this asabiyah became palpable- you could feel it around. So to counter affect that there was a social trend to try to put back this asabiyah into its sub-social existence. No one wanted people to rule because they belong to the Umawi family but what happened was there was this call for the revenge for the blood of Uthman. Around this call around (or) this qisas (or) retribution gelled the Umawi asabiyah. We want us to go through this because this misinformation that we have today is the fuel of the psychology that becomes civil wars and all-out wars among Muslims simply because no one has gone through this information step by step and after thinking and reasoning and reaching a balanced understanding of what was going on. So we're trying to do this. How do you undo a civil war? How do you abort the strategies that want Muslims to kill themselves for a hundred years? This is where we go- we go to these building blocks. So when this Umawi asabiyah began to gain members or war numbers to it after the assassination of Uthman those who did not agree with the method pursued in this regard- there's nothing that said they didn't agree with the qisas for the death of Uthman, nothing of that sort. Everyone agreed whoever kills someone else has to be brought to justice. Everyone understands this.
For in the law of just requital, O you who are endowed with insight, there is life for you, so that you might remain secure against Allah's power. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 179)
It's a Qur'anic, it's an Islamic, (and) it's an imanic component of ourselves but the method that was being used was wrong. So there was a trend in society to either contain that method or to see to it that it doesn't break out into a travesty of justice. So some people in this Islamic society, maybe a hundred of couple of thousands of people at that time in the Arabian Peninsula , took the side of Ali because they were convinced of his merits, of his qualification, of his jihad, of his sacrifices, his struggle. His record speaks for him and they were convinced of it. They needed no one to tell them about the merits of Ali and up until now there's no one saying someone is a Sunni and someone else is a Shi'i up until now. The way these words are used today didn't exist; but then there were others who didn't necessarily agree that Ali is the legitimate leader right now and they have to oppose the Umawis because of the intrinsic quality of Ali. Their case was that they had a grudge against Bani Umayyah so because they disliked Bani Umayyah and they could think in themselves if the Umawis are going to take over then we are going to be marginalized so they joined the camp of the side of Ali. Of course, in today's world everyone refers to everyone, (this is once again because of our lack of information), at that time who was anti-Muawiyah or anti-Umawi as a Shi'i- that is not accurate. Some of these heard some of the rulers that were around who were saying Al Iraq now was the orchid of rulers who were in Damascus and in the Arabian Peninsula and all this. They didn't like what they were hearing! What do you mean? What- are you coming now to impose yourselves- something like authoritarians and dictators- and then claim what is ours to be yours? This is our land. Here we sense that there is a breakaway attitude that is developing because of the asabiyah that was growing parallel to each other. A breakaway tendency parallel to the concentration of power in a tribe. As these forces were taking shape in Muslim society there was another component of Muslims that were almost unnoticed. No one wants to pay attention to them, just like in today's racial societies- you look at a racial minority (and) no one wants to pay attention to that. At that time there was a class of people called al Mawali. These are like third class citizens. When they began to see that now there was a polarization in this Islamic society- hitherto they really didn't have much of opposition; everything as far as they were concerned were going more or less in the right direction but now no they began to sense that these people who have power also have the military on their side and now they've become something like an affluent class in society- an aristocracy so these Mawali also joined the anti-Umawi side in this beginning of a polarization in the Islamic realm. Later on you will see, if you carefully review and ferment this information in your mind, you will find out that, (and we don't want to go into today's wording and vocabulary that is used amongst ideologues and politicians because once you begin to use certain words then someone is going to begin to classify you- "look, you're coming from the political left or you are coming from the political right"), to try to avoid something like this we can say that those who were socially excluded who felt "now wait a minute here, this government that rules over us is excluding us in a social sense, in an economic sense, in a political sense- these disenfranchised (and) these dispowered Muslim citizens took the opposition side against what is becoming now an Umawi fait accompli (or) an imposed fact on the Muslims. So in a sense now what was beginning to become evident was that- and right now we're talking about after the years of Ali's rule, we're talking about an opposition that was called At Tashayyu'. This is when this opposition gained its nomenclature. Before that, as we said, there were tendencies, there were emotions and there was a psychology beneath the surface, etc. but it didn't become a concrete social and thus political force until Muawiyah finally became the imposed ruler over the Muslims. So this opposition that was called At Tashayu', as we said, part of it was one hundred per cent convinced of the leadership or the Imamah of Ali ibn Abi Talib and the others didn't want this Umawi problem spreading all over the Muslim realm and causing more problems into the future.
So in the context of that time Ash Shi'ah or At Tashayu' almost meant all the varieties of people who were opposed to any ruler who did not come from the household of the Prophet. It's like "we've had enough. I mean look at what has happened now. Muawiyah has taken over and it seems like all hell has broke loose so isn't it time right now for people to wake up and to put this affair of ruling over Muslims back where it belongs in the household of the Prophet of Allah- therefore Imam Ali, Al Imam Al Hassan Al Imam Al Hussein and the other Imams (radi Allahu anhum) that would follow." This climaxed in the battle of Siffin there's a lot of information about this and right now is not the time to go into the battle of Siffin, suffice it to say this polarization between those who illegitimately were seeking to rule i.e. Muawiyah and the Umawis opposing those who were seeking a redress to where and who should be ruling culminated in the battle of Siffin. We know what happened in history after the battle of Siffin. There was the issue of at tahkeem (or) the arbitration and out of that came another splintering process inside what was up until now two opposite blocks of political opinions.
So when Hassan stepped down- this is a historical fact. We want to ask some of you here and some of you who listen to this later in a week or the years to come- there's not much attention paid to Hassan's concession to Muawiyah. What happened? Why can't someone bring us the information pertaining to that time and say this is why Hassan for certain reasons stepped down from the position of leading the Muslims with conditions and then gave that responsibility to Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan? This didn't happen in a vacuum and because many of us don't have enough information about this no one wants to speak about it. It was done for a certain reason. Hassan, reversing what his father, Ali did- Ali went from Al Madinah to Al Kufa, that was the command center in Al Kufa; when Hassan stepped down from power he accompanied that by relocating from Al Kufa back to Al Madinah. If people in today's world understand Sunnis and understand Shi'is in the superficial manner that we understand them today then "yeah, everyone should skip this chapter in history! Why should anyone speak about it? Why?" We'll tell you why- generally speaking (its) because there's an asabiyah ingrained in you- whoever you are, Sunni or Shi'i it doesn't matter. There's an asabiyah- your Sunnism has become an asabiyah and you who is Shi'i, your Shi'ism has become an asabiyah so you don't want to look at this! You don't want to put it front and centre when you speak about what happened in this time frame (and) in this century after the Prophet passed away; because there's a lot of meaning in this. It's not like some people think "oh, if we're going to speak about Hassan we're going to being to speak about some weak position." Who said?! Were did that come from?! What defines weakness?! If you give up power, you're weak? If you don't seek the highest office in the land does that mean you are weak? If you stand on principle does that mean that you are weak? If you are preserving the lives of hundreds and thousands of Muslims does that mean you are weak? If you tell the ruler who is known to be not in the mould and in the model of Allah's Prophet and his successors you will rule until a certain time period and after you're gone I will resume that responsibility is that a matter of weakness? The problem is none of this is weakness- all of this is ignorance! Don't look at what was done as some type of withdrawal, some type of passivity, some type of passing the buck or some of these other things that come to people's asabiy interiors. This is what happens when first we don't understand and then we don't live on principle.
Then we had the movement of the opposition forces. During all of this time all opposition to Muawiyah was legitimate. The problem with the fragmentation of that opposition is its inability to effectuate the ayah
… but rather committed Muslims are brothers of one another… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
That's where we had an issue (and) a problem. So after the tragedy of Karbala Kufa in Southern Iraq regretted what they did. They said we will support you oh Imam Al Hussein. We will be with you. We will stand with you. We'll do whatever is required of us to do. Then when the time came where were they? Remember, these in the loose mind are called Shi'is- where were they? What did they do? They in effect set an Imam up for what had happened at Karbala
Then something happed in the history of the political opposition of that time, (some people very loosely call it Shi'ism or At Tashayu'). What happened was that Al Mukhtar- this was a person who was like a political and military leader- but he had to have someone with a scholarly and "a religious appeal." So he brought Muhammad Al Hanifiyah the son of Ali not from Fatima Az Zahra (alayha as salaam). No, from another wife. He brought him. Some people just don't learn! This is one chapter in our common history- this is Islamic history people, this is Islamic history brothers and sisters; you bring a person (and) you want to use a person for a political purpose as meritorious as that may have been. We mean we're not saying that he is trying right now to play some type of dirty politics- there was no dirty politics here but it's a matter of falling into the cost-benefit analysis. An Imam is an Imam in his own right- why bring someone and use him in that position? We don't learn? Here in the Washington DC Egypt
to wake up next month and next year and find out the assassination of Muslim leaders or potential Muslim leaders are done by the same people who come from the same Islamic background?! We don't learn because we don't listen (and) we don't think. So this political opposition that was called At Tashayu', (to make very brief right now), there are many, many branches of this tashayu'. Some of them have gone off the deep end by deifying Ali. No Muslim in his right mind would say this. They'd ask "what are you doing? What's all this about? You deify a human being?" Astaghfirullah. But some of them did that- it's part of history. Can some people learn from that and begin to chose their words with caution and with a conscience when they speak so that the listener doesn't get the impression "wait a minute here, you're making Ali superhuman." He wasn't superhuman. He was just like you and me, a human being but (this is) one of the historical issues that some haven't learnt from.
to wake up next month and next year and find out the assassination of Muslim leaders or potential Muslim leaders are done by the same people who come from the same Islamic background?! We don't learn because we don't listen (and) we don't think. So this political opposition that was called At Tashayu', (to make very brief right now), there are many, many branches of this tashayu'. Some of them have gone off the deep end by deifying Ali. No Muslim in his right mind would say this. They'd ask "what are you doing? What's all this about? You deify a human being?" Astaghfirullah. But some of them did that- it's part of history. Can some people learn from that and begin to chose their words with caution and with a conscience when they speak so that the listener doesn't get the impression "wait a minute here, you're making Ali superhuman." He wasn't superhuman. He was just like you and me, a human being but (this is) one of the historical issues that some haven't learnt from.
Then you had in At Tashayyu' Az Zaydiyah. The funny thing about Az Zaydiyah is- and maybe this is to their authenticity and their credibility and yours truly happens to fall almost in that category- the Sunnis don't want to speak about the Az Zaydiyah and the majority of Ithna Ashari Shi'is don't want to speak about Az Zaydiyah. What's wrong with you? You're unable to speak about it, to think about it, to consider it, to point out its merits and point out its demerits? What's wrong? But this was another flow of Islamic opposition in history.
Then we have the Imamiyah which when someone uses the word Shi'i in today's world at least ninety percent of people immediately think about the Ithna Ashari Shi'is, Shi'ah Twelvers or the Ja'faris and there's several designations to them- but these are the streams that have flown in to this political opposition. Much of these streams have been polluted by these asabiyah therefore making it almost impossible to humanize the ayah
… but rather committed Muslims are brothers of one another… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
This is how we should be. This is how we should project ourselves. With all of this, who are the people right now who are building bridges? Who are the people who are having no difficulty going into that Masjid and the other Masjid? Who are the people right now who can communicate with the Muslims who they consider as others or people who run their Masjid or their Islamic Centre as others? We find some Muslims very anxious to begin a type of communication and relationship with Al Yahud and An Nasara but they will not begin a communication and a relationship with other Muslims because they haven't identified their threatening asabiyah inside of them and outside of them.
My beloved committed Muslims…
We, the Muslims in the world whoever's physically and financially and otherwise capable, are now beginning to make their way towards Makkah for the Hajj. It's true that we've had one thousand and four hundred years of unstudied history that hasn't been thought through. Some of this history we ourselves have lost, some of this history we ourselves did not write- that's the orphanage situation that we are in but with the common sense (and) with the ability to think can we not agree on an issue that will bring all of us together with the differences that are legitimate and the differences that are intruding? Can we not agree that the asabiyah of history (and) of the one thousand four hundred years- all of the vices and the evil of this asabiyah is concentrated in the ruling family in Arabia . Can't all Muslims agree to that? What's wrong? If you can't agree to that re-track yourself (and) go back inside of your internal thoughts (and) inside of the depths of your conscience and heart and ask yourself "what is wrong? Why can't I see this? And if I can see it why can't I do something about it?" If we are unable to pinpoint this historical and contemporary enemy behind which the Zionists hide, the Imperialists hide- every enemy of Islam is hiding behind them. They are busy now going around the world to fuel civil wars among the Muslims for Muslims to kill themselves. They've now come out with these takfiri types- there are takfiriyun (or) takfiris in our world that if things continue the way they are going then if they see you doing something which embarks minimally from what they do, they could kill you. If you say in your shahadah in your praying at tashah'hud you raise your finger or you flop your finger up and down they could potentially kill you for doing something like that?! To them the definition of Kufr applies to Muslims but when it comes to Jews and Christians or Zionists and Imperialists "oh no they are Ahl Kitab." Could they be as generous enough to say to the Muslims that they disagree with "you are Ahl Kitab?" Because, once again, we're not taught to practice our mind (or) to put our mind to work there's a lot of things that we can do differently and we can do it with open hearts and minds and we don't violate any authentic ayah or hadith. We don't violate any of 'qat'i ath thubut and qat'i ad dilalah. If you were to read a book about the differences in the fiqhi Islamic schools of thought you'd say "masha'Allah, how Allah has opened the door wide enough for us to pursue our own convictions with all our hearts or souls and with all our minds." We don't need these takfiris to come and tell us "oh if you don't do something in a certain way or if you don't have your trouser above your ankle a couple of inches you are courting Kufr." What is this? Where did this come from? "If your beard is not so long you are also here infringing on Kufr" and they go on and on with this nonsense. The trouble is they don't have the decency to express their ideas back and forth with other, likewise, Muslims. They take right now AK47's, hand grenades and they're getting some other weapons from Imperialists and Zionists through the Saudi channel for us to kill ourselves! When we do it we have to feel, according to them, righteous about it?! Now tell us that's not the climax of asabiyah? Everybody is doomed! Seventy two branches of Islam are doomed and they are the only ones that are saved! They are the only ones that are al firqa an naji'ah! Enough is enough.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 20 September 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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