| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (8 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.
Dear committed and beloved brothers and sisters…
AL MURJI'AH CUM AHL AS SUNNAH
We'll try to do our human best in somewhat explaining a feature or a character that has been somewhat ambiguous in the one thousand and four hundred odd years or so of the past up until the present day. All of this ties into trying to have a better understanding and a firm grip on today's proclivities of some Muslims to point a finger of kufr at other Muslims. We're still not relieved of this understanding or of this ignorance that needs this understanding to help us relieve ourselves of what some people ask "what's going on? Why are certain people in Muslim countries killing other people in Muslim countries- all of them in one way or the other are supposed to be Muslims?" It causes a confusion and evokes many question marks and some people just don't have a very good sense of where this is coming from. So as we said many many months ago we're trying to get to the roots of this so that we can dismantle this ignorance that now is being put to use by warmongers and trigger happy people.
One component of this one thousand and four hundred year character of ours is, (as the other components are), traced to that initial history when Muslims disagreed because of their asabiyah as to how are we going to run our collective and social affairs. How are we to do this? Who's going to be the leader? This is the major issue that more or less was the divisive issue among the Muslims. We covered a lot of this territory but there remains one particular area that we think needs more enlightening information about. After what is known in our Islamic history as the tahkeem (or) the arbitration that took place between the supporters of Imam Ali (alayhi as salaam) on one side and king Muawiyah on the other side generated a beginning of political asabiyah. We spoke about Al Khawarij and we spoke about Ash Shia'h and here we speak about another group of people who were more or less disagreeing with Muslims fighting with each other. We're going to have to stimulate your memory a little because remember these developments (or) these notions that became trends and then became political parties and then became political parties with a strong ingredient of asabiyah was taking place when Muslims were trying to extend this message of Allah to the rest of the world and in the process, just like in today's world, there are military establishments (and) there are higher class interests in the world that simply don't like truth and justice to spread out because it will bring down military structures and it will take away from vested interests and there are streams of finances and budgets and money that go to trying to arrest the spread of truth and justice in the world. So the Muslims had to put up with that and that is called the external challenge; but internally they had to put up with their ownselves because when they began to express different types of asabiyahs, (they were not supposed to), but this is what happened. In doing that they began to fight themselves. So we had Al Jaml and Siffin and we had An Nahrawaan- these are major civil strife among we, the Muslims. As this was going on and, (what many people consider), innocent blood was flowing there's a particular notion in the Muslims (and) in this particular group of Muslims especially in the Arabian Peninsula where a lot of this was happening that said we don't think this is right. We don't think that what is going on should be going on like this. At that time in the history books- remember, this word doesn't survive until today. You won't one Muslim say "Oh- this Muslim meets the description of that word." The word has died! In the political and in the social words that we use today you say Sunni or Shi'i or Ibadi, or Khariji or Zaydi or this that and the other but there's a couple of words that just dropped as time went by because of the nature of the way governments behave. This particular word dropped! We're going to use and say it to you because the word right now, even though it dropped what happened later on was it was substituted for what is called Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah. This word that you don't hear very much about is called Al Murji'ah. The whole of what is called Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah began with what was more accurately called at the time Al Murji'ah. Some of this began to gain numbers when Ali was assassinated. When he was assassinated a good number of his followers and a good number of the followers of Talha and Az Zubayr (radi Allahu anhuma) sort of sensed that, (we're putting it in a way that you can understand it), it's better to go with the flow, meaning that it appears that Muawiyah has gained the upper hand so let's not rock the boat any more. So when a good number of people saw this happening they said you know (with) everyone out there and all of these differences that we have among our selves, we are in the final analysis Muslims and we don't want Muslim people to point the finger of kufr against other Muslim people. Remember, they were saying this on the backdrop of the Khawarij saying Uthman was a Kafir Because the rationale for today's in fight amongst today's Muslims (and) Muslim killing Muslim is the defining of the other Muslim as a Kafir. Once that is done you have at least in theory shed his blood; what is left is to shed his blood in reality. So these types were coming and saying everyone is a Muslim here. They looked around and saw the Khawarij saying Uthman was a Kafir, Ali is a Kafir and everyone who accepted the arbitration is a Kafir. Then they looked around on the other side and they saw some Shi'is saying Abu Bakr is a Kafir, Umar is a Kafir, Uthman is a Kafir, the Umawis are Kafirs. These were live messages that were going from people to people and from community to community and these people in themselves said we don't agree with all of this. All of you out there are Muslims, why accuse everyone of this kufr. Then another political trend was added to the mix. They were the followers of Abdullah ibn Az Zubayr and also had this kufr tendency and to point the finger of kufr against those who they considered as their enemies. When all of this was going around- much like you see in today's world… Look- when you look at today's in fight among Muslims you see, (number one) there's a lot of confusion and (number two) there's a lot of misunderstanding and add to the mix a whole bunch of ignorance. When you put all of that together you're going to find that "I'm disappointed." The feeling and the process of this is the feeling settles in that "I'm disappointed, I'm dismayed, I'm frustrated with all of this." When that type of feeling settles in when Muslims of today look at what is happening in Syria, what's happening in Iraq, what's happening in Pakistan and what's happening in these different areas of the Muslim world; an explosion takes place at a certain Masjid, a rigged car is detonated in a public square and this type of thing and Muslims are falling dead in the scores and sometimes in the hundreds every day in a particular area in the Muslim world and there are multiple areas where this is happening every day. Besides, there's ayaat and ahadith from Allah's and His Prophet that indicate Muslim blood is sanctified and you can't shed Muslim blood but here its going on in the dozens of places in the Muslim world.
… but committed Muslims are brethren of each other… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 10)
Whoever kills a Mu'min deliberately his recompense is the fire … (Surah An Nisa' verse 93)
A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim. He treats him not with injustice, nor does he frustrate him. He doesn't put him or give up on him. The ayaat and the ahadith are plenty. So they looked around and saw all of this happening. We saw this happening. We should have lived this experience. You see brothers and sisters- the reason we are expressing this type of khutbah to you is because the type of common information to you is not available (or) its not circulating and if we don't learn from our lessons of history then here we are going through almost the same motions with almost the same results all over again and we don't need that. The trend is there. It was there at that time and its here now. We mean, when you look at all of this you say "no, no- don't get me involved. I have nothing to do with any of this and I very much prefer to stay neutral." This was a notion. It wasn't a political philosophy, it wasn't a type of madh'hab that we can call from the Al Madhahib Al Islamiyah that are very well known. No! This was a type of public sentiment that was out there that said everyone out there is a Muslim. We're not going to say any one at all is a Kafir. Even though all of this is going on we believe they are all Mu'minun. So they were called Al Murji'ah. We want you to remember this word in your mind. Al Murji'ah has two definitions to it. One of them comes from irja' (i.e.) when you postpone or you delay something- that's called irja' So the way these people felt and later on the way they tried to think is all of these other Muslims that are involved in this we will postpone or we will delay our evaluation of them and we will give the final judgement to Allah. In the world to come He will, more or less, sort them out but to try to get us involved in this polarisation and this internal blood letting and all this- No. We don't want anything to do with that. We consider everyone- whether he's an Umawi or whether he's a Shi'i or whether he's a Khariji or whether he's a Zubayri or whatever he is all to be Muslims. Just don't get us involved in this internal civil war.
The other definition of Al Murji'ah comes from the word raja'. Not irja'- irja' is postponing. Raja' is hope. So they described themselves with the hope that these Muslims, all of them included- remember they never said anyone is a Kafir- the Murji'ah never said anyone who they may have disagreed with is a Kafir so they said they may have been involved in many mistakes but our hope is for them is that they will gain some type of salvation in the world to come because they remain people of iman. They called them Mu'mins or people of iman. It's like saying all of these other Muslims in today's world who are in these types of civil wars or sectarian conflicts are Muslims and we have faith that Allah in the world to come will absolve them of the mistakes that they were involved in, in this world. So at the core of this type of belief is to stay away from wars. In today's world outside of the Islamic context it sounds pretty appealing. When you speak about a quaker or you speak about non-violence it has a good literature accompanying it. Al Murji'ah who were later on to be hijacked by governments to be given the title Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah don't have, (let's say), that type of positive or promising literature around them. They said- whatever policy you adhere to, whatever group you belong to, whatever organisation you are affiliated with etc.- if you in your mind and in your heart say - Aamantu bi allahi wa Malaikatihi wa kutubihi wa Rusulihi wa al Yawm Al Aakhir- if you're that type of person, as far as they're concerned that's who you are. And they accept you as such. They say if you have that iman then whatever you do we're not going to take issue with you. Then they say the opposite of that. If you are a Kafir whatever you do is not going to be of any benefit to you. If you're a Mu'min in the theoretical sense then whatever you do is marginal and we're not very much concerned with that and then on the other if you're not a Mu'min meaning you're a Kafir, then whatever you do is not going to be of any benefit- we won't even register that. So you can see here there's a type of departure from the meaning of iman in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah. In their definition of al iman and al kufr at that early time we find that there's a break from the original and authentic meaning of iman in the Qur'an and in the Prophet's statements. So they became almost the opposite of Al Khawarij. The Khawarij said iman itself is proven by what you do. Defining your iman is via your efforts in life. You evaluate a person's iman through the translation of that iman into lively labour. So here now we have polar opposites of definitions. The Murji'ah said- remember the Murji'ah later on because of the Umawi kingdom were to be called Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah- whoever commits a grave sin or a felony or a major crime (and) the kaba'ir are known such as killing an innocent person or fornicating etc. and he says Aamantu bi allahi wa Malaikatihi wa kutubihi wa Rusulihi wa al Yawm Al Aakhir you can't call him a Kafir. You call him a Fasiq. Here is once again, even though these people lived at a time when they should have known better, we find a discrepancy as they tried to define Fasiq and as they tried to define Mu'min and as they tried to define Kafir. There's a discrepancy here and we realise this discrepancy by placing their definition in the context of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The opposite of that were Al Khawarij.They said anyone who commits a kabirah becomes a Kafir. Some of the Murji'ah said iman is located in a person's heart or as long as in a person's heart there is this iman. Here is where we almost go into what is today the Judeo-Christian definition of faith. A person has faith- that's all there is to it. They can launch wars anywhere in the world, he can kill populations, he can do the worst things anyone can do but as long as a person has faith then you know there's salvation at the end of his life or in the hereafter and that type of thing. Well, the Murji'ah has that type of idea. You can have a ruler- any ruler; he can do anything he wants to do but as long as he says Ash Hadu an laa Ilaha illa Allah and then he prays and he fasts and he does these personal obligations that's it… There's a definition of salvation to that person.
Then the Murji'ah came to the issue of Imamah because at that time, (as it is today), it's an issue that is lively- who's going to be the leader of Muslims? They said that Al Imamah is the responsibility of any qualified person who can stand for the Qur'an and the Sunnah and then have as the vote of the Ummah, (so to speak), in today's language. All the people are for him and he is maintaining the necessities of the Qur'an and Sunnah in real life then fine he can be the leader. Of course here there is issue with the Shi'i interpretation or definition of Al Imamah and this has lived ever since that time. The only thing that's changed is the Shi'ah still maintain their definition or their designation but Al Murji'ah no longer are called Al Murji'ah; today they are called Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah.
One of their, (if you want to call it), principles or one of their precepts is anyone who faces the Qiblah and fulfils the five duties of Islam (or) the arqan al Islam you never call him a Kafir. If that is their conviction- in our world this is real- why do we have today people who call themselves Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah who very easily turn to other Muslims and say "you're a Kafir" not knowing that they are in violation of their own historical concepts. That is why there are some people now in the Sunni context who look at their own Sunni corresponding individuals and society who are involved in these acts of what is called in the media today violence and terrorism in the Arabian Peninsula say "these are not Sunnis" and then some of them might even say "they are not Muslims" falling into the same mistake and then they say "they are Khawarij." You probably heard this. We don't know how extensive you read but it circulates a plenty. So these Murji'ah never said the Khawarij are Kafirs. There's a serious disagreement but they never said "the Khawarij are Kafirs" as is happening in today's real world. Despite the serious disagreements between them they never said "the Shi'is are Kafirs" they never said "the Umawis were Kafirs" they never said "anyone is a Kafir." at that time. So within this same context how did it become possible today for these same group of people, as numerous as it is- these are the majority of Muslims in today's world. If we were to take a count and say there are around two billion Muslims around the world a good 1.5 billion plus of them fall into this grouping of people historically and by way of belief and agreement- so how come at that time when all of this Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah began (and) they were called Murji'ah they agreed among themselves seeing the conditions in which Muslims is in that we are not going to say that anyone who says he is a Muslim is a Kafir and then we whined up today with some of these people coming to us saying no, "they are Kafirs" meaning any other Muslims that they disagree with and some of them disagree with Sufis, some of them disagree with Hanafis some of them disagree with any follower of any Madh'hab, some of them disagree with Shi'is. They disagree with almost everyone so everyone becomes a Kafir?! But there are two types of people: some of them will come out and say that in your face- at least thank them for being frank; and some of them who will disguise this conviction in themselves but they'll never say it to you or in public. They don't even know that they've parted (or) they broke with the Jama'ah (or) with the people that they are part of. They don't even read their own history!
Then there was, at that time, the issue of those who were Arab Muslims or those Muslims who were Arabic speakers and there were Muslims who were not Arabic speakers- that was an issue at that time because here you have to go back and put yourself in the developments of those times. Islam was spreading all around from the Arabian Peninsula almost in all directions and there were these people who just don't speak the language of the Qur'an. You know- they don't speak Arabic and there was a type of discrimination in that society- not a social discrimination as much as it was an official discrimination. The Umawi government discriminated, (and we think we mentioned that in the past in some of these khutbahs), so how did the Murji'ah feel about this? They said these Muslims who are not Arabic speakers who just became Muslims should be treated the same way every other Arabic speaking Muslim is treated. So they overcame this issue of discrimination and this issue of Arab and Ajam that were divisive at that time unlike some individuals today who consider themselves in this category of people- they don't call themselves Murji'ah, they call themselves Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah and they call themselves that still. And even though the Umawi government has been gone for a thousand three hundred plus years they still consider themselves living in those times and not understanding the details of that social life! It's the Umawis that placed this Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah nomenclature on a certain segment of people that had a lot of numbers to it and here we are just inheriting this. Brothers and sisters- we tell you, the type of let's go back to the basics. Allah says
… Allah is not burden a living being except within its own capacity or He's not going to tell you to do something you can't… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 286)
That's as far as you as an individual but sometimes what happens on cases of war or war takes places and you have many people die in certain societies then what sets in is a type of people feeling frustrated. They lose hope. They despair and even in the course of wars when things really are demanding Allah doesn't say that this despair should lead to an attitude of passivity or neutrality. You can break from certain efforts, you can neutralize certain powers, you can sign certain military agreements or political bilateral or multi lateral understandings. All of this can happen to relieve the pressure but there's nothing in there that says you are authorized to become neutral or marginal or passive or these types of things. There's nothing there! So if a society feels these types of things and the extended effects and after effects of wars that doesn't mean "you now- we have to become very passive (and) we don't care anymore. We did our best and now it's up to someone else" or something like that and all of these ideas that keep on going. This is normal human nature. This may occur. We can't say "human nature- you're not supposed to feel like this." No! It's something that comes with war. We reach moments of frustration as society, not as an individuals (but) beyond that as societies; that's why Allah says to these Muslims in different segments of history and in the lifetime of Allah's Prophet
… and how many times does it occur that those who are numerically inferior overcome and defeat those who are numerically superior by Allah's leave. And Allah is with those who withstand this course and don't desert or Allah is with those who are patient with the details and don't run away. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 249)
And then Allah says He reinforces you with His own troops, with His own Angels.
If there are twenty of you, you can overcome two hundred … (Surah Al Anfal verse 65)
But the problem with Muslims are when we reach that point when Allah wants to help us, at that moment we say "look- we're neutral." Astaghfirullah. We don't say this to Allah- no! Don't misunderstand us. No one is saying "Oh Allah- this is too much for me, count me out." No! No Muslim will say that. What we will do among our ownselves is we will rationalize this. We'll say "you know- we've given up (or) we've sacrificed so much that now is the time to step back and to take a deep breath and to be composed (and) take it easy." By doing that we disengage from our obligations, not knowing that at that moment when we are disengaging from our obligations is the moment that Allah is saying "I'm coming to help you." Little do we know that when Allah is coming to help us we're turning our backs! This happened in early Islamic history and we can get a sense of it happening in some quarters around us that is if we are aware, if we are conscious, if we are vigilant, if we are watchful of what is going on (and) if we are tuned in. If we are tuned in we realize what is happening. But then Allah says
Some of you want this dunyah … (Surah Aal Imran verse 152)
You put in an effort (and) you tried your best at one time but then when the day of proof comes you say "no, no. I want to take it easy now." So these Murji'ah were at peace with the Umawi rulers and the Umawi rulers began to favor them. They began to give them different positions in the state because now there's no active opposition. Opposition is gone here. The very definition of iman and kufr has done away with opposition as long as a person or king right there applies the Shari'ah- it's as if there's an echo to it in today's world in the Arabian Peninsula, "as long as the king applies the Shari'ah who are we to take issue with him." Where did this come from? You see- it came from the definition of words. It came from our lack of understanding our own history. It came from the interference of governments telling us who we are. The prime example of this (is) the Murji'ah who at one time had enough of internal Islamic fighting and took this position we don't want to get involved in this until they wound up more or less the functionaries of the powers that be who had parted from the model of Allah's Prophet. And Prophet's themselves may feel despair.
… up to the time or moment that Allah's Messengers felt despair? (Surah Yusuf verse 110)
Even Allah's Prophets begin to feel there's no hope and when Prophet's feel that, that is when Allah comes through.
In one of the statements of Nuh (alayhi as salaam), and his was a long struggle. (If) you think of a few years in your life and you feel that right now you are fatigued and you are drained and you think that was a lot then compare yourself to hundreds of years when that was the thing- when society is against you, when the established order is against you (and) when the powers that be are against you. All of these were ruling with injustice and he said
O my Sustainer: I am overwhelmed (or) I am virtually vanquished, present Your victory. (Surah Al Qamar verse 10)
Nuh was the one who was taking all the pressure but he's saying it has nothing to do with me; it is Your victory, I have nothing to do with it. That's when he was on the end of his rope. All of the rest perished and Nuh and those who were with him lived to survive.
Dear committed Muslims…
This carnage that has been going on in our own body for these years has multiple powers involved in them. In reading our Islamic history we say to you: unfortunately when we read about our internal affairs we don't see how our internal affairs are linked with external powers historically speaking. One of the discrepancies that we have is that we haven't even written our own history! History is always written by those who are in power and those who are in power don't belong to the rest of us. Powerless people don't write their history, Muslims included. When you know that it becomes obvious why when you read the history of a thousand and four hundred years ago and the civil war within the Muslim rank and file we see no connection between what is internal and what is external. But how about today's world? Does anyone have an excuse? Can you look the other way and say what is happening in places like Syria and Iraq Syria Syria
… don't consider that Allah is absent minded from what oppressors or administrators of injustice do. (Surah Ibrahim verse 42)
Where is the criminal who has us praying outside over the Islamic Center for over thirty years? He divided the Muslims here and he's gone on to higher Imperialist and Zionist responsibilities. He's trying to do the same thing in Iraq and in Syria , in the Arabian Peninsula, in the Persian Gulf, in North Africa . He was promoted from the Ambassador of his country. Let us remind some of you here we lived these affairs with our nerves and with our energy. This person was called by some of the so-called Islamic types in this country who have budgets and draw cheques and livelihood from the kingdom and all this stuff (in) 1984 and 1985 (when) in those years they had their periodicals and publications in this country "the Ambassador or da'ees or he is the da'ees Ambassador" and then they called him "the da'ee of the diplomatic core of the Ambassadors in this city or in this country." He was the Ambassador now he's the head of National Security or intelligence agency or whatever it's called in their kingdom of doom. Where are they today? What do they have to say after all of this? He is the one who is behind the bloodshed there. He has innocent blood of hundreds of thousands of children, men, women, the aged, the seniors (and) the invalid on his hands. At least we have the clarity of conscience to speak truth to that rampant power that is being expressed with millions of refugees as a result of all of that. Our Qur'an and our approach to Allah and His Prophet make it a responsibility to oppose such individuals. He's not going to escape Allah's supervision in this world and in the world to come.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 18 October 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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