| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (27 December 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 Muslims…
THEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES, NOT ANIMOSITIES
We are approaching that time of year when people around us in this society are celebrating Christmas and in many parts of the world Muslims come into contact with Christians, whether it is in those societies where Muslims are numerically less or whether it is in other societies where Muslims are numerically more and many times we, the Muslims, display a character that lacks confidence and we begin to make something of a hostile issue because of the differences between Muslims and Christians and it need not be that way and it should not be that way. There are differences- yes! But these differences are not scrutinized in light of what Allah and His Prophet say and explain to us. Some of us don't have a healthy attitude when it comes to differences. We don't have an open and an inclusive mind when it comes to these types of differences. We would like to begin by quoting some ayaat from the book of guidance, the impeccable Qur'an that we have. Ayah number one hundred and eight in Surah Yusuf says
Say: this is my way. I call to Allah in a manner that is enlightened with insight. (Surah Yusuf verse 108)
So we are supposed to be informed. The information pertaining to this difference between Muslims and Christians that we have comes to us from Allah therefore we are informed, we are enlightened, we have foresight and we have insight concerning this area of difference- that's number one. Sometimes when you see Muslims speaking about this issue you begin to think that Muslims don't have the confidence to speak concerning the issue that divides Muslims and Christians at least in the theological sense. OK- whether we are Muslims or we are Christians we all know that there are these differences. When we have these differences there's another ayah that describes our attitude (and) how we should behave and how we should communicate with those who differ with us- it says.
… certainly it is us or you who are guided or in manifest deviation from the truth. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
You see- if you're speaking to, (let's say in this case Christians, it could be others who differ with us but to begin with a general approach), people who differ with you, your attitude should not be confrontational because you are informed or least you are supposed to be informed. When you have solid information why does anyone become confrontational? Your information is solid. Your information is reliable because it comes from Allah. So you say
… it is either us or it is either you who is in a direction of guidance or in a direction of clear deviation. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
So you're including yourself to begin with when you're including a person who in his mind and in his heart is different than you are on issues that to begin with are theological issues. We say "Allah is one. We say Allah doesn't have a son. Allah doesn't have a partner." Some people out there say "well, God has a son" or "there is a trinity" or "there are other gods." These are the two positions. When you approach them, you approach them not by saying "you're wrong, I'm right." You see- there is a methodology of communicating with the other.
… it is either we or you who is right or wrong. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
(Do) you see how you're including them in the discussion from step number one.
Then, in the same surah, Surah As Saba ' ayah number twenty five says
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Listen to this very carefully. OK- there's two sets of people, we the committed Muslims is one set and on the other side is those who disagree with us- they could be Christians, (they could be others but in this case because we're approaching the subject of Christmas and the son of god and the trinity and all of this you may have Christians on your mind in particular.) We're speaking to them. Allah is teaching us how to speak to them. He says
Say: you're … (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Whether you're Christians or whether you're Jews or whether you're Buddhists or whatever you are.
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
(Did) you listen to that? When you communicate with someone else its like, (if we wanted to make this more understandable), the way this ayah is phrased (or) the wording of this ayah is (that) Allah is saying
You say … (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Allah is telling you the way to speak to those who you differ with
… you're not going to be held accountable on against the day of Judgment for the crimes that we are responsible for, (i.e.) serious offenses Allah… (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
So we're saying to them
… you're not going to be held accountable for the serious misdemeanors that we commit and we are not going to held responsible for what you do … (Surah As Saba' verse 25)
In the phrasing of this ayah there's no equivalency because when we're speaking about ourselves we're speaking about ourselves as if we may be responsible for crimes and they, the others, are responsible for what they do. We're not saying that they are responsible for misdemeanors and felonies. So here we put ourselves to begin a conversation with the other in a serious position and we relieve them of thinking that they are in a serious position. This is like martial arts- you use the strength or the vulnerability of your opponent against them. You bring them into your sphere of information because you have the information and you have the confidence to communicate this information so psychologically you draw them in. Many Muslims don't have this approach. They want to almost mentally slaughter the other and this is not the accurate (and) the Qur'anic approach even though the difference is a difference that is a serious difference because it's a fact. We're speaking about a fact. When we dialogue (or) when we speak with those who disagree with us theologically or ideologically one phase of it is we approach them in this method (or) in this way.
Now we come to the subject because you know one of the news items just recently said "in the United States Christians and Jews are losing interest in their religion and what is on the rise in the United States
… there is nothing the same as He is … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
That's one way of translating this. Another meaning of this is
… there's nothing or no one equivalent to Him … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
Another delivery of the meaning of this ayah
… there is nothing or no one similar to Him … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
When we speak about Allah we speak about Allah knowing that there is nothing that resembles Him- nothing! That's a given. This is an ayah. Anyone who wants to give some type of imagery to Allah (or) some type of form to Allah (or) some type of reflection of Allah will not be able to do that because Allah says of Himself
… there is nothing the same as He is … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
In another ayah Allah says
… Allah is not in the range of our view but we are in the range of His view … (Surah Al An'aam verse 103)
OK- so when it comes to us speaking about Allah, we speak about Him the way He speaks about Himself. We don't have the knowledge, we don't have the authority, we don't have the information to say who Allah is. We are not gods! We don't know. We know Him through what He tells us about Himself so we can't draw definitions from a dictionary or from an encyclopedia to tell us who Allah is. Human language is a human possession; information pertaining to Allah comes from Allah (and) is a possession of Allah not a possession of ourselves. The ayah one hundred eighty of Surah Al A'raf says
Belonging to Allah is the most perfect names or designations or attributes so you call upon Him by invoking or vocalizing these names and you part with those who try to finagle His names, His attributes and His designations; they will be compensated for what they did or what they do. (Surah Al A'raf verse 180)
Did you catch the subtlety in this ayah? Allah didn't say sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yad'un or sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yaqulun or sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yasifun. No! Allah is going to compensate those who develop arguments of deviation pertaining to Allah's asma' one way or the other not because of what they said- which is a difference between us and them- but because of what they used to do. This is a transition from having a mental disagreement with the other- in this case with the Christians- to looking at or trying to evaluate them, not by what they are saying, but in accordance with what they do. Some Muslims have difficulties with this because we are different from Christians in the matter of monotheism as opposed to trinity. We can't (or) we are not allowed to build a case of contention and division with them strictly on what they say. That's not allowed!
So when we take a look at the ninety nine attributes belonging to Allah besides the word Allah we find that they fit into two categories- a category of beauty and a category of majesty. Some of these ninety nine attributes belong only to Allah and of some of these ninety nine attributes belonging to Allah, relatively speaking, we have shades of them in ourselves. So when we say Allah, Al Khaliq. One of Allah's attributes is the Creator. We can't say that human beings are creators. Creation is bringing something into being from nothing. No human being can bring something into being from nothing. We can't create. So we can't say so and so is a creator. Allah and only Allah is the creator. He's the only one who brings something into being from nothing but in human language we say "a person is creative." As simple as this may sound this has caused much tension in human history. When we say "a person is creative" it doesn't mean he is a creator but some people, some Muslims, (who belong to this closed mind that they have), say "you can't say a person is creative." If someone wants to say something like that some of them will go as far as accusing someone who says something like that of a bid'ah that becomes shirk but when a person- whether he's a Muslim or not a Muslim- generally speaking says "a person is creative" that doesn't mean that he's some type of god. So the point to understand here is that some of Allah's attribute rub off on us. If we follow the ayaat of the Qur'an very closely all of us know that Allah is Ar Rahman and Ar Rahim- every Muslim knows this. Bismi Allah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim- the Mercy-giver and the Most Merciful. If we trace and trail the ayaat of the Qur'an we'll never find reference to Rahman pertaining to us, human beings. There is no Rahman because we can express mercy but we can't give it. When we go through the ayaat of the Qur'an we find that even though we can express mercy (and) someone theoretically speaking can be Rahim (or) merciful (and) gracious- this can happen (and) you can be that- but in the Qur'an we don't find that Allah said of any human being that he is Rahim. He said of the totality of the committed Muslims that they are ruhama'.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are fierce and ferocious and firm with the Kafirs and compassionate amongst each other… (Surah Al Fath verse 28)
That's the only time you'll find it in reference to human beings. The only time this word Rahim, which in this word is in the plural, is mentioned pertaining to us human beings is in this ayah. This creates a problem and it becomes a theological problem. Let us explain why. (Well let us get to that in a moment. Just give us a little breather here for a few minutes and we can express something else to you). There's an ayah in the Qur'an in Surah Al A'raf, ayah number one hundred and fifty five, that says
… you are our Wali, forgive us and have mercy on us; you are the best one to forgive. (Surah Al A'raf verse 155)
Banu Isra'eel in their history at one point said, speaking to Allah, This gives the impression that there are others who can forgive, (i.e.) besides Allah there are others who can forgive. Yes- human beings can forgive but we can't forgive on the scale that Allah forgives. This is extremely important to understand because in this area we have differences between Muslims and Christians and we have differences among Muslims themselves. We take this word ghafara, to forgive. There's a couple of ayaat in Surah al Baqarah. We're going to state them (and) without going into an extended translation of these two ayaat the last sentence here says
Good words and forgiveness… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 264)
Which means we, human beings, can express our common sense and express our forgiveness. That doesn't make us divinities (or) deities.
Another ayah, Surah Al Jaathiyah ayah number fourteen
Say to the committed Muslims to forgive those who don't anticipate the days of Allah… (Surah Al Jaathiyah verse 14)
So here, Allah is telling us to forgive but our forgiveness is not the equivalent of Allah's forgiveness. We know (that) we're going to drop a bomb right now (rhetorically speaking- no one's going to drop a bomb that's going to explode. Some people take these things a little too literally!) We know that we said that only Allah is the Creator. Everyone knows this. There's an ayah in the Qur'an, ayah number forty nine in Surah Aal Imran. We're going to quote the ayah for you. In one of Isa ibn Maryam (alayhima as salaam)'s encounters with his own people- the Rabbis, the literalists, the canonicals, the legalists; he said for them to hear- he's speaking to everyone but particularly for them to hear
Isa is saying "Indeed I create for you out of clay an image of a bird"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
Listen. We want Muslims to listen here because this harbors on the area in which Muslims and Christians come to differ. We're going to go over that again because it's a sensitive issue and it's so sensitive that many Muslims avoid it and we can't blame others for not visiting it. Isa ibn Maryam says and these are the words of Allah in the Qur'an and we advise in this society that we are in for every Muslim to go and read this ayah in your own time.
… "Indeed I shall (or) I will create for you out of clay an image of a bird, I will breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah's leave (or) by Allah's permission"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
For those of you who don't know much about this (or) about the history of some of this, some Christians use this ayah to approach some Muslims to say Look- you Muslims say that only Allah creates…" That's true. That's what we say- only Allah creates. Christians will say to Muslims "but look, read the Qur'an, go to ayah number forty nine in Surah Aal Imran and see what it says. Isa is saying that he creates." A superficial reading of the ayah (and yeh) that's what you understand. Now let us, with working minds, let us follow the words of this ayah
… Isa says "I am going to create for you out of clay an image of a bird"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
Even though the word khalaqa is used, khalaqa here is not being a creator it is being creative.
… "I am being creative in forming out of clay an image of a bird" and I'm going to exhale into it (or) I'm going to breathe into it… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
The other ayaat in the Qur'an pertaining to Adam and pertaining to Maryam (alayhima as salaam) with the word nafakha brings out life. The ayah pertaining to Mayram says
… And we breathed into her out of our Ruh … (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
This is what Isa is saying to them. (You) see, if Isa was saying he is a creator he would say inni akhluku lakum min at tin tayr. He didn't say that, he said inni akhluku lakum min at tin ka hayah tayr. Which means he is not a creator, he is being creative.
… and I will breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah's permission"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
A creator doesn't need permission. This is the area that Muslims and Christians begin to argue. Muslims argue because they don't use their mind. They have Allah's words in front of them but they don't use their minds to think out the meanings of these words and ayaat. Those who say that they are Christians don't have the whole Qur'an in their possession. We just took a few ayaat here and dwelled on them. There are many other supportive ayaat in this area but at the end of the day it becomes a theological difference and a theological divide and we should grant those who disagree with us the theological distance. If they want to believe like that, let them believe like that (and) let them think like that even though we know they are incorrect; but no Muslim in the world can force the other to a conviction that is Islamic. It can't happen. It will never happen. There is no compulsion in this issue so if they can see the light all the better but if they can't then we part theological company. That doesn't mean we become enemies! That doesn't mean we kill each other! That doesn't rationalize the policies that are at work in today's world! You begin to hear Christian voices saying Muslims are this, that, the other, (we think everyone of you know exactly what we mean by this), to justify wars against the Muslims and these types of Christians are matched by their Muslim counterparts who in some parts of Muslims territories (and) countries are killing Christians just because they are Christians with these theological differences, not looking at who's a Muslim and who's a Christian on a barometer of what they do not what they say. Remember the first ayah that we spoke about or one of the first ayaat that we were speaking about?
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
See- what counts here is what is being done, not what is being said. As simple as this matter is most of the Muslims are duped into condemning the other because of what the others say and not paying any attention to what the others do. We have our measurement instruments upside down and these ayaat are supposed to be here to clarify all of this for us and we hope we contributed to this contribution in this khutbah. One of the hadiths of the Prophet says don't think of Allah's self- that's beyond us. Our minds are not equipped to think of Allah's self. … rather think of His attributes- those ninety nine descriptions that we have of Him. That's the area in which our minds (and) our thoughts should be working .
Dear committed and listening brothers and sisters…
We know that Allah is one. We have people who share this belief. That what Yahud believe. The Jews believe the same thing- God is one. You say laa ilaha illa Allah, they say laa ilaha illa Allah. There's no trinity, there's no gods around- just one God. So as far as Allah's dhaat is concerned there's common ground here but we part company with them because they want to own Him. Just like they want to own everything else they want to own Allah so He becomes their god- the god of Israel
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 20 December 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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