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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : THE ENEMY : SHI’AH OR YAHUD

 

THE STREET MMBAR
JUM'AH KHUTBAH (29 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 brothers and sisters on a straight path to Allah
THE ENEMY : SHI'AH OR YAHUD
As you are familiar with this weekly khutbah- it comes to you with all of the affairs and the developments of the Muslims in mind. Obviously nowadays, many of these affairs have to do with the bloodshed that is claiming, literally, hundreds of lives everyday. There seems to be something like a sectarian bug that is meant to take shape from the Eastward areas in Asia to the Westward areas of Africa and it is a pity that when we look around and observe what is being said to the Muslim public mind, not much is presented to expose this mega crime that is unfolding in front of everyone's eyes- Muslim and non-Muslim alike. It's another area of sorrow in the heart to realize that Allah has given us enough information that would immunize us from this type of sectarian blood letting that's going on.
We know, from reading our common history, that there seems to be two elements, many times, that are involved in making what is happening possible. The first one is the ignorance that we are responsible for. If you and I are ignorant we should acquire the knowledge to diffuse or dispel this ignorance. No one is going to do it for you and for me. If I don't understand you as a fellow Muslims and you don't understand me as a fellow Muslim then there is a vacuum between you and I/me and no one is going to fill in this vacuum for us. We are responsible for this. Not only are we responsible for knowing ourselves, we are also to be held responsible for knowing the distant other.
… He has rendered us into peoples (or) He has rendered us derivatives of each other and correspondents of each other so that you will mutually come to know each other… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 13)
The human configuration is in such a way that people derive from each other and people correspond to each other so that you may come in a mutual way to understand each other. Inclusive in the word ta'arafu's meaning is you'll not be able to know me if I'm not able to know you and what a pity it is when we find that this lack of understanding (and) this absence of mutual recognition feeds into the frenzy of the sectarian atmosphere that is taking hold in some areas. So the first element of this is our ignorance which doesn't belong to us. Our ignorance doesn't belong to us.
The second one is the foreign hand in all of this. There are trouble makers, mischief makers, people who are up to no good who would like to see us bleed ourselves to death. This is the real world, brothers and sisters, and that is why there is ample information in the Qur'an to shed light on these type of characters from outside. How many times are we enlightened in this incontrovertible word from Allah about who these enemies are? We have this undiluted and unpolluted information that comes our way that says it's our responsibility to identify a criminal even if that criminal is in the highest offices in the land. It doesn't mean people who gain power and who gain wealth are beyond accountability to Allah and beyond being sized up by the book of Allah and by the Messenger of Allah. They are not exempt! They are human beings and if they commit crimes... This is the world today- if there's a petty criminal who steals and some of the times they steal because they want to survive then the justice system comes down on them with all it's might; but then there are leviathan criminals who steal the resources of the earth and then the justice systems of the world are no where around to be found. This is the type of real world that we are in and we thank Allah that He has broken this type of grip on the conscience and the mind of those who belong to Him and belong to His Prophet. Because of these two elements, (i.e.), our own internal ignorance and the aggressive and criminal attitude that comes from outside of us, link up together and then they begin to fuel these types of civil strifes that we are suffering from. We should not be here to repeat to you some of the information that comes your this past week from Jum'ah to Jum'ah. You know, just like every other human being who has open eyes and ears knows, that Muslims are being killed and in many of these instances Muslims are killing themselves. They are killing themselves by their own ignorance and then they are helped in killing themselves by the intrusion of those who Al Yahud, Al Mushrikin and Adh Dhalimin. All of them come together and say "why not! If Muslims are willing to kill themselves (or) if they are willing to light the fire (then) we'll throw more fuel on this fire." This is what we have. Now let's try to be a little more contextual about this- let's try to put these words in some type of context.
Allah, whose word is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, says
You will most definitely find the most intense in their hostility to committed Muslims to ne Al Yahud and Alladhina Ashraku… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 82)
Any Muslim without a sleeping mind or a mind that is stuffed with false information (or) anyone who in an objective way approaches this meaning will understand that Allah is telling the committed Muslims that your most serious enemy is Al Yahud and Alladhina Ashraku. Al Yahud here doesn't mean Jews as many of us are also trapped in presenting Islam with an Orientalist mindset. In this ayah the word Al Yahud means the political and the ideological and the military character of those who say that they are Jews. So Allah is telling us you'll find these to be your most inimical enemies in addition to Alladhina Ashraku. Now let us clear the air on Alladhina Ashraku. Alladhina Ashraku are those who are at fault and guilty of the most serious crime that a person may be accountable for and that is Ash shirk. What does Shirk- that is used many times by these sectarians that are today responsible and culpable for igniting a potential civil war amongst all the Muslims? This word, Shirk, that they hide behind and define very loosely to serve their purposes is fined tuned by ayaat in the Qur'an. Just follow a couple of them- one of them is
You will most definitely find the most intense in their hostility to committed Muslims to ne Al Yahud and Alladhina Ashraku… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 82)
The last ayah in Surah Isra' or Surah Bani Isra'eel- the sentence in this ayah that we are concerned with to facilitate the understanding of the other meaning in the previous ayah (is that)
… Allah has no partner, He has no parallel, He has no peer when it comes to affairs of being in possession of withholding or demanding an order pertaining to an individual or orders pertaining to society … (Surah Isra' verse 111)
Alladhina Ashraku are those who are involved in this. It's alright if we break this down a little more because people run away from explaining what has to be known! It's alright brothers- don't be hard if we say the Qur'anic language is the Arabic language- some people get incensed because they go off on some nationalist tangent or some ethnic direction. There are two words in the Arabic language- the word milk and the word mulk. In the first word, the first letter has a kasrah on it, meaning the meem is followed by a vowel equivalent to e or I. The second word is Mulk. The first letter, meem, has a vowel that follows it which is either O or U. There's milk (and) there's mulk. When human beings own something it becomes our milk. If you own a house it's your milk; (if) you own a car it's your milk. The word mulk is owning those who own and that can only belong to Allah. We can claim some land or some possessions in this world but who possessors those who possess? It is Allah.
To who does Al Mulk belong today, meaning on the day of judgment? (Surah Al Ghafir verse 16)
Because in this world there are those who said "but this country is our mulk or this domain is our mulk or the affairs of all of these societies is our mulk. We possess those who possess." These are (from) people who are in power and people who are in wealth and the worst of them are those who are in both- power and wealth. So what they do is they crowd out Allah from His mulk.
… He has no competitor, He has no rival, He has no associate in the issue of possessing those who possess (or) owning those who own … (Surah Isra' verse 111)
Ash Shirk are those powers- this can only be done by people who have power; if you don't have you can't do this. What those who have power do is they move into this area that exclusively belongs to Allah. These people who crowd out Allah from the countries of the world, the societies of the world, the civilisations of the world, the aggregates of the world are guilty of the crime of shirk.
Another ayah says
… Allah has no one that is associated with His ruling, with His decree, with His orders, with his directives and instructions… (Surah Al Kahf verse 26)
No one plays that role of coming between man and Allah's sovereignty in man's relationship to Him. Then, if there is someone- a king, a president, someone with power (or) someone with authority- that tries to occupy that position then they are guilty of this Shirk. Here we are- we have a whole world around us, look for yourselves (and) watch who's doing this. The way this world is composed (is that) they want to distract your attention from this area because by doing that they get away with all of the crimes- war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of a conspiracy nature, you name it- because Allah no longer is a reference point in this area. He's out. He's not out in reality but He's out in our own minds and the war is in our minds. We go back to the first ayah
You will most definitely find the most intense in their hostility to committed Muslims to ne Al Yahud and Alladhina Ashraku… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 82)
Meaning Al Yahud harbour more of this animosity. And Al Yahud is who we say Al Yahud are, it's not who they say are and it's not who some un-informed or some mis-informed Muslims say they are. OK- the meaning is established. On paper and in theory we know what this ayah is saying
Those who harbour the most intense hostility to Alladhina Aamanu are Al Yahud… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 82)
OK- who is Al Yahud in today's world? As we said, minutes ago, Al Yahud are those who are militarily, ideologically, politically and diplomatically against the committed Muslims. They have this deep down inside animus towards committed Muslims. If we take a look at today's real world, where is this definition with Al Yahud with power, with affluence, with clout, with a striking force, with a control and command position over many affairs of men? Are they somewhere located back in history and thus the Qur'an becomes a history book?! Or in addition to being there in history they are also with us today and now and here? And if they are, where are they? Come on- let's look for them! Let's find them! Where are they? They want to hide. This is their nature. They changed their names, they changes their appearances, they changed definitions, they changed language- because they're hiding! If is wasn't for this Qur'an we would not be able to disclose them, to find them and to point to them; but if a person just gives it a little of his God-given mind (and) his God-given thoughts he will find that they are- Zionist Israel. That's how it breaks down. OK- now the ayah is telling us they are the ones who hate committed Muslims. Their animosity and their hostility has no bounds. This is the wording of this ayah is of that magnitude. Some people, just like they had difficulties pinpointing who Al Yahud are, they're going to also have difficulties pinpointing who Alladhina Aamanu are. Who are Alladhina Aamanu? It's easy to figure it out. This is the formula in the ayah- those are the one's Al Yahud want to finish off. Take a look at today's real world- who are the one's that Al Yahud want to finish off? It's Hizbullah, it's the Islamic state in Iran. Just by reading one simple ayah- there are many other corroborative ayaat in the Qur'an but just take one like this one and look at the real world, who do Yahud most intensely hate? Right now they are involved in campaigns on all levels- on mental levels, on social levels, the media, their one on one contacts- to try and muster as much support as they can to tell the committed Muslims "you are not allowed what everyone else in the world is allowed, i.e. the development of peaceful nuclear technology." As we speak these Yahud are obsessed and are willing to go to the end of the earth to see to it that committed Muslims don't have what every other human being in the world may legally and legitimately acquire through whatever secular law you're looking at from international organisations all the way down to nation states. They all concede that. So ask yourself- this ayah is clear and it's telling you just like the light of day (that) Al Yahud are our most rabid enemies (but) how come we turn and find that our most rabid enemies are ourselves?! How can this happen? Because now Muslims are killing Muslims! And some Muslims are convinced that the number one enemy is not Yahud even though Allah is saying that?! Allah is saying that but they turn around and say "no- the number one enemy is not Yahud." So who's the number one enemy? Here you find it's a Shi'i Muslim or on a lesser scale it's a Sunni Muslim. That's what you're beginning to hear nowadays in contradiction to the Qur'an. There are many other ayaat and ahadith that we spoke about that demonstrate how we are supposed to be one body of people but here, looking at it from another perspective, what happened that here this ayah with it's clear meaning has been subverted and instead of us altogether expressing our solidarity against these who hate us the most in the world we turn our guns against each other?! How can this happen? How come some of these sectarians, (because even though sectarianism now is in both contexts- you'll find it in a Sunni context and you'll find it in a Shi'i context- but it is most intensely encountered in the Sunni context- that's the fact of the matter), who call themselves Sunnis upset and incensed and agitated and tense when they find that there are some Shi'is who are critical of what happened in the first century of Islam after the Prophet? These types of sectarian Sunnis become incapable of drawing the line between informed criticism, which exists in the Shi'i context and fanatical criticism which also exists in the Shi'i context. Therefore if there's a hundred informed and enlightened Shi'i scholars who want to place the first one hundred years of Islamic history in an Islamic frame of mind, when it comes to sectarian Sunnis, these one hundred scholars don't count but there is some type of agent provocateurs who bad mouths the Prophet's wife or wives (radi Allahu anhunna) and bad mouths some close companions of the Prophet and they see those one or two individuals- one of them is living in London, England and the other one is living somewhere else- (and) all of a sudden these two represent all of the Shi'is of the world and therefore all of the Shi'is of the world now supercede Al Yahud in their hostility to the committed Muslims! Does this pass any mustard- for those of you who think out there? Does this make any sense? But this is what is happening! And they don't listen to Allah closely when He says look at what Yahud are saying about Allah. If you are incensed about some Shi'is, who don't represent At Tashayyu', and use foul language and that's about the Sahaba (radi Allahu anhum)- it's not about Allah and His Prophet, it's about some Sahabis- why are you incensed by that and then when) Allah is telling you what Yahud said, take one ayah from the Qur'an- there are many ayaat (but) just take one ayah
They, meaning Yahud, said Allah's hands are tied… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 64)
Meaning when it comes to being generous Allah's stingy. He's hands are tied, He can't give us what we want. The response from Allah to them
… rather your hands are chained and condemned and cursed are these Yahud for the words that they say… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 64)
But are there any Muslims around thinking of what Allah has to say to them? There are many other ayaat in the Qur'an that go down in this direction (and) that press forward towards this end but what do you do when ignorance is the name of the game? Ignorance has become right now the factor that they are working up and who's relaxed and who's comfortable when Muslims go to war with each other? Al Yahud and Alladhina Ashraku. Those are the ones now who feel "look at these Muslims- if they're killing themselves, all power to them. Let them finish themselves off. At least they spare us. What we want to do to them they are doing to themselves." An ayah to comment on our sad state of affairs
And they say (on the day of responsibility when we are all brought to judgment), if we only listened and reasoned we wouldn't wound up being with the occupants of the flaming fire. (Surah Al Mulk verse 10-11)
These types who don't pay attention to what Allah is saying to them and therefore run their own course in life
Dear committed brothers and sisters on as sirat al mustaqeem…
This imagery in our prayers- as sirat al mustaqeem- gives you the impression that we are moving. As sirat is somewhere where you keep on moving. You're not static, you're not frozen. You're in a movement of sort- a movement that is straight forward.
To take just the past year or two in what is called "the Arab Spring". We sensed (and) we watched (and) we paid attention that at one time there was an attempt to have tourists go between two countries (viz.) between Iran and Egypt. This fits into the larger picture of li ta'arafu.
… so that Muslims will come to know each other… (Surah Al Hujurat verse 13)
Is any Muslim afraid to encounter another Muslim? We never heard of this! But then all of a sudden from the Egyptian side of this issue- remember this is done when Muslims now are in the decision making seats of power- voices began to be heard inside Egypt that "these Iranians who are coming from Iran are coming to proselytize us. They're coming to convert us from being Sunnis to becoming Shi'is." Think about this in your time of leisure. Muslims who are coming from Iran are not coming with a fluency of language. Probably ninety percent or so of them are going to be ignorant of communicating in the Arabic language. So how are they going to convert you? What are you afraid of? First of all it indicates that you, yourself, don't have enough Islamic information of who you are so you're afraid of another Muslims who, in your mind, has more information than you have about Islam therefore you're going to become vulnerable (or) you're going to become a target. So there was a campaign in a country (or) a flare up that was now run by the Islamic types. You're afraid of what?! This says more about you than it says about the other. Then the Egyptian government has a policy of open doors to Israeli tourists.
You will most definitely find the most intense in their hostility to committed Muslims to ne Al Yahud… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 82)
Why did they open the doors for these Yahud that we sere speaking about? You're afraid of a Shi'i who is critical of some of the policies of a thousand and three hundred and some odd years ago or a thousand and four hundred years ago but you're not afraid of Zionists who have their own agenda and who have their own way of thinking about Islam and the Prophet and all of this?! What's wrong? What is it in you that makes you behave like this? In your own constitution you guarantee freedom of belief. One of the articles in the constitution that was written in Egypt in the Arab Spring guarantees freedom of conscience and freedom of belief. Well- if that's the case, doesn't that apply to those- and who are they? We haven't come across a validated number (and) this is a problem with Muslims all over the world- no one counts Muslims and no one counts variations of Muslims so it's an educated guess), some of them say "twenty thousand plus Egyptian Shi'is" and the others go as far as "between two hundred (thousand) and three hundred thousand of them." We don't know- these are educated guesses. But whatever the case is, the Egyptian constitution that you wrote with your own hands gives people who are of another faith, forget about the internal Islamic set-up, the freedom to be who they are (but) when it comes to a Muslim, he's no longer free to be who he is?! There are other problems in Egypt. Unemployment, traffic issue, food (or) feeding their own people, housing. People in Egypt live in cemeteries- that's where they go to sleep. They go to a cemetery and they sleep there and probably in the hundreds of thousands! That's not an issue?! All of a sudden the issue is someone who has their own madh'hab in Islam. We're supposed to be so obsessed with that. But this is what makes for sectarianism. This is what give the takfiri types who are out there the go-ahead to kill and to kill. How do you think other people are going to think about us, Muslims, if we begin to kill ourselves?! How do you think a person who's not a Muslims looks at us? "Oh- they can't tolerate themselves- they're going to tolerate us?!" Whether these are Christians or whether these are Jews or whether these are some other minorities or some other religions, how do you think they're going to think?! From the expansiveness and inclusiveness of Allah and His Prophet to this fanatic, exclusiveness, supremacist, takfiri mentality- if they have a mental presence- this is where we are and this is a touch of reality.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 22 November 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C. The Imam previously led the daily and Jum'ah prayers inside the Masjid. His speeches were revolutionary and thought provoking, and eventually irritated and threatened the Middle-East Ambassadors who control the Masjid. Finally, the Imam, his family, and other Muslims faithful to the course of Islam were forced out, into the streets. This khutbah originates from the sidewalk across the street from the Islamic Center, currently under seige.

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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN KINGS AND KHULAFA’

 

THE STREET MMBAR
JUM'AH KHUTBAH (22 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 brothers and dear committed sisters


DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN KINGS AND 
KHULAFA'
Being that we're in the shades of that occasion (i.e.) a couple of days ago a certain percentage of Muslims were, with differing degrees, aware of the encounter between Al Imam Al Hussein and his few dedicated and devout followers on one side and the tyrannical concentration of abusive power represented by king Yazid on the other side what is due is to try to put some of this remarkable historical confrontation in the parameters of some ayaat and some ahadith (or) some verses from the Qur'an and some guiding statements from the Prophet. An ayah which is one hundred and fifteen from Surah Hud says for everyone who reads it and is willing to live by it
Don't rely upon those who are tyrannical, those who are oppressors (or) those who are practitioners of injustice…. (Surah Hud verse 115)
By Allah's word you can't. Ar Rukn literally means the meeting of two walls and that is an area that is supposed to be a protective area. If there is danger around (or) there's instability, whether it's physical instability or its psychological instability, that place offers a form of reassurance. So this same meaning is delivered to us.
Don't find a place of security or refuge with adh dhalimeen…. (Surah Hud verse 115)
After every ayah and after every hadith we want to remind those who were either absent minded during the past week or were only emotionally present during the past week that Allah is saying
Don't find a place of security or refuge with adh dhalimin…. (Surah Hud verse 115)
Hussein obviously understood these ayaat very well. So for those some of us who were emotionally high in the past week or ten days since the beginning of Al Muharram this is a reminder. An ayah from the dear book to remind you! What is it? An occasion (or) a day (or) a week that you are emotionally attached to Hussein and then once this goes by you go back to business as usual?! There's a world out there of injustice, of aggression, of intimidation, of usurping your rights (and) infringing on your life- all of this is reality out there. What do you do? You climax during the tenth of Muharram and then after that you're back to the cozy relationship with adh dhalimin?!
Another reminder is the couple of ayaat in Surah Al Baqarah,
There are people who say "we are committed to Allah and the final day" but they are not committed to Allah and the final day. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 7)
How beautiful the wording of this ayah that deliver these precise meanings.
There are people who verbally state "we are Mu'mins, we are people of iman, we have faith in Allah, we believe in the final day…" (Surah Al Baqarah verse 7)
That's what they say. Allah's retort to that is
… they are not Mu'minin. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 7)
It doesn't stop here.
They are in the process of attempting to deceive Allah and the truly committed Muslims… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 8)
Listen to this- their efforts are exerted to try to deceive Allah and the committed Muslims.
… and they only fool and deceive their own selves and they don't feel (or) they can't feel what they are doing. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 8)
This doesn't apply to fairytale figures out there somewhere in Disneyland, this is the real world. There are people out there (and) they say "we are committed to Allah and the final day" and how do they have you and me believe them? They go through the necessary rituals because if they do their daily rituals (i.e.) they pray, they fast, they even go to Hajj, and they do all of these things then on the surface of it you think that they are committed Muslims. Allah is providing you with further information about these types of people.
… they are definitely not committed Muslims. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 7)
How would I know that? How would you know that? Because they are in a life long process of trying to play tricks on Allah and the committed Muslims. But how do they get away with that? Because either they have power or they have connections to people who have power- that's how they get away with it. You see- the wording of the ayah is not yakhda'una, (i.e.), they deceive Allah and the committed Muslims- no! They can't deceive Allah and if the committed Muslims are with Allah they can't deceive the committed Muslims. But how come we have some Muslims who are actually deceived? Because they aren't with Allah! The power evaluation of them- not the ritualistic evaluation of them- places them at a distance from Allah so they are deceived! The result is they are deceiving their own selves and they have no perception of what they are doing. It is quite a responsibility of al Ulema', (i.e.) those who have pertinent and active knowledge and to be inheritors of the Prophets as the Prophet said the struggling and the involved Ulema' are the inheritors or the successors to Allah's Prophets. Allah is going to ask all of us (in) whatever capacity that we are in, especially those of us who have some workable knowledge. Allah is saying
We will bring to accountability those who had Prophets dispatched to them and we're going to bring to accountability Prophets themselves. (Surah Al A'raf verse 6)
The Prophet of Allah, (we mentioned this and we repeat), in the after shocks of Karbala' and Aashura' says whoever is not concerned with or involved in the affairs of Muslims is not one of them. We say this to a certain segment of people because this statement of Allah's Prophet can be applied in different circumstances and at different levels but in this particular instance we say this to people who feel uncomfortable because in their minds they perceive that the speaker is a Sunni Muslim, (i.e.) they get tied up with this Sunni-Shi'i dichotomy so they perceive the speaker here to be a Sunni Muslim and therefore they feel offended if this speaker tries to improve the lot of those who consider themselves Shi'is. They can't take a word of advice from those who they perceive to be on the other side of this divide. We just feel sorry for these types because, first of all, their perceptions are not accurate and, second of all, they should be welcoming advice from whatever sources it is coming to them. Why should they have problems with that? So in this sense and in this context the Prophet of Allah says whoever is not paying attention to and attached to the affairs of Muslims is not one of them. In another version whoever is not concerned with or involved in the affairs of Muslims is not a Muslim. There is a hadith from Allah's Prophet and see how these ayaat and these ahadith resonate? This is how it is supposed to be. Excuse our poetic expression- Allah and His Prophet are in a symphony with each other. It is doesn't sound like a hadith is out of order. It is how it is supposed to be. So we have a ruler like Yazid and we have, even now with the passage of all of this time, we have Muslims, and they are Muslims who consider themselves Sunnis or who consider themselves Shi'is, and they're still incapable, (we don't know why or how long this is going to take), of calling Yazid a king?! You would think that with all of the information in the Qur'an and the Sunnah available to us the least we can do- forget about standing against them like Hussein and his followers did for a moment- but can you (or) you don't have enough courage in yourself to name a king a king, an oppressor as oppressor (and) a dictator a dictator? What is it going to take just to do that simple thing. Compare the behavior- Yazid took no opposition. He couldn't tolerate any opposition. Compare that with the first successor to Allah's Prophet- Abu Bake (radi Allahu anhu). The day he became the ruler of the Muslims he said O People- I have now have become in charge of your affairs or deciding for you at this level and I'm not the best one among you. Yazid did not obtain the consensus of the Muslims in becoming the ruler. He couldn't say this even he couldn't say it lying about it. He'd never say "I'm not the best one among you." He claimed to be the best one even though in reality everyone knows he wasn't. In the case of Abu Bakr there are people who made the case that he was the best even though his humility made him say he wasn't but we're not going to open up this type of back and forth that has been going on for fourteen centuries. Abu Bakr said If I am doing what is best for you, help me and if I miss and do something wrong then correct me. Obey me as long as I am obeying Allah and his Messenger. If I disobey Allah and His Prophet you owe me no obedience. Those of you who are out there with all the historical information that you have accumulated in your life time- how can you equate a person like Abu Bakr with a person like Yazid? How can this be?
Then, when Umar (radi Allahu anhu) became the second ruler of the Muslims, once again from his mimbar he stood up and he said O People- anyone of you who sees a twist and a turn, a zigzag and a spin from me should set me straight. He's speaking to all the people. Remember, there's no guards around. This is a unique feature of unique leaders of Muslims. They were in front of there own people. Maybe that's why they were assassinated; because they knew that this was a responsibility that was going to place them in the face of people who disagreed with them. So a person stands up and says if we see a swerve and a turn (or) zigzagging behavior from you we will set you straight with our swords. A person who has some type of egocentric character or a person who is spoiled by power would say "take that man away." You can see that today. (In) the best so-called democracy in the world if a person stands up and says "you are wrong" there's security all around the place, layers of security; remember, we're speaking about rulers who had not one security attachment to them, no one layer of security! Some of you people here on the occasion of Aashura' get carried by your emotions and you can't identify merit where it belongs! These were leaders who were facing their own people and they knew they ran the risk of being assassinated. They knew that and they were assassinated. Three out of the four successors to Allah's Prophet were assassinated. The first one who was not assassinated was simply because he lived two years in office. If those two years were extended to seven or ten or twelve years he may also have been assassinated because he was in a war with those who broke away from the central authority of Islam in Al Madinah or who wanted to break away. So what does Umar say when one person stands up in front of everyone else and says if we see you going right or left and not on as sirat al mustaqeem we will set you straight with the arms, the force (or) the power that we have? What did he say? "Take him away or throw him in the dungeons (or) imprison him?" like kings and dictators say today, yesteryear, yester century, yester millennium? No! They didn't say that. He didn't say that. He said, listen to this, all thanks are due to Allah that He has rendered in the Ummah of Muhammad those who will set Umar straight with their swords. How can someone say "Umar is a Khalifah and Yazid is a Khalifah?" Something is wrong with people who say this. Either they don't read history right or they read it right but they have a grudge in them selves and they want to equate a king with a Khalifah. Yazid would never say something like that. Besides, he had at that time and from Mu'awiyah on layers and layers of security detachments around the rulers of Muslims. On this occasion of Aashura' (and) to be fair to people and to be fair to those who were in their own minds and in their own hearts trying to do their best- we covered this territory. We're not trying to speak to you with some blanks in your minds. This was an era where Muslims had to deal with asabiyah. The asabiyah that is monstrous nowadays. It's been monstrous in many eras of history and that was one of them. How can you equate someone like Umar with someone like Yazid? He said I want to exit this world the same way I came into it. He considered himself fortunate if he could die without and ajr and without any wizr just like a new born baby who comes into this world and you have nothing for you and you have nothing against you as far as good actions and bad actions are concerned. This was the way this person, towards the end of his life, wanted to see himself exit this world and this life. How can you equate someone like that with a womanizer like Yazid? (Or) with a drunkard like Yazid? (Or)with a murderer and a killer and a war criminal like Yazid? How can you do that (with) whatever background you have! They all knew the golden rule no human being is due any obedience if he is disobeying Allah. How many times (or) how habitual was the king, who killed Hussein, in disobeying Allah? Can anyone bring any merits to him? If you do bring any merits, it would be like today's merits that talk about a certain President or a certain king. "Oh- he's philanthropic. He's humanitarian. He gives out some assistance or some of this to those who are in need." Don't get fooled by propaganda. We can go on and on but simply because of the issue of time we cannot proceed and there's many more here. We're sorry we had to skip some of this. What brings all of this about is a hadith. We've mentioned this numerous times before and we continue to do so because no one else mentions these hadiths- if these hadiths and these ayaat and we'll quote before we get to the hadith another couple of ayaat so that you'll know that the ayaat and the ahadith go together reinforcing each other. Allah says
Those who conceal that which We, meaning Allah, has brought to our attention via scripture and revelation and Prophets of His books and His guidance after we have disclosed it and clarified it to people in scripture- those are the ones who are cursed and condemned by Allah and by those who condemn and curse. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 159)
We know some Muslims have a problem with condemning others and obviously the moral and refined mannerism of a Muslim character is that it's not in his or her nature to automatically and impulsively condemn someone with la'nah. That's not normal in a Muslim character just like it's not normal in a Muslim character to naturally and impulsively pull the trigger and go to war. That's not in the fiber of the Islamic character. That's why when we are called to arms it is with a reluctance. The ayah in the Qur'an says so.
You've been called to arms knowing that you dislike this… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 216)
It's not in your nature but when you have to do it you have to do it! It's the same thing when we have to condemn those who should be condemned. It's not in our nature to do that. /it doesn't come normally and naturally but here is an area where Allah says find it in yourselves to condemn these usurpers, these abusers of power, these war criminals, these dictators.
Those who conceal that which We, meaning Allah, has brought to our attention via scripture and revelation and Prophets of His books and His guidance after we have disclosed it and clarified it to people in scripture- those are the ones who are cursed and condemned by Allah and by those who condemn and curse. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 159)
There's an obligation. If we can identify and if we can come to terms and throw away the traditional junk that has polluted the Islamic atmosphere and begin to look at the facts you tear off this title of Khalifah from Muawiyah and Yazid and kings and dictators and call them for what they are. Then the ayah in Surah Ahl Imran
Allah has taken a pledge from those who were vouchsafed scripture aforetime... (Surah Ahl Imran verse 187)
That includes us. We've been given scripture. The remark here is made about those who preceded us but it doesn't exclude us if we begin to behave like them.
… (or) you are expected by Allah to explain this (or) to clarify this to people... (Surah Ahl Imran verse 187)
What's wrong? Why are the majority of Muslim scholars in the world numb? Why can't they speak pertaining to those who are in power- those who inherit power illegally, those who usurp power illegitimately? All of them! Where are the Muslim scholars? They should be up in arms now! What they do now, because they don't go by Allah's program- this is Allah's guidance set out for us in His book and in His Prophet's words- (and) because many people, Muslims, are withdrawn from these active meanings (and) these applicable ayaat and ahadith they become vulnerable to programs that come your way. OK- if you want to target a certain ruler because of sectarianism, sectarianism rules the day! Muslims become pawns on a larger board in which superpowers are moving their battalions, their commanders (and) orders are coming from those who have money and those who have power and Allah and His Prophet in their eyes are powerless and moneyless so they don't report to them. They don't report to Allah and His Prophet- it's the world that we are living in! What brought us to all of this? We're sorry we're not going to have enough time to go into the depth that we would have liked to pertaining to this hadith but at least you would have listened to its quote and then we will summarize its meaning. When the children of Isra'eel fell into disobeying Allah socially (and) massively their scholars came and said "don't do this. Don't go down this path. Don't socially behave…"- we're not speaking about individuals here; liberate yourselves from this individualistic relationship with Allah. Our relationship with Allah is much more than that so our social character should be in obedience with Allah. When Banu Isra'eel's social character went off course their scholars initially told them "no, no- what you're doing is wrong." Banu Isra'eel didn't cease what they were doing. They were going down the wrong course (and) they continued going down the wrong course regardless of what they were told. At this point these scholars of Bani Isra'eel are better than some scholars of Muslims. We say some because first of all these scholars of Bani Isra'eel, (as you'll see right now), themselves succumbed to the social infractions and the social deviations of Bani Isra'eel; some of our scholars today don't even have the courage to stand up to those who are wielding power and enforcing anti-Qur'an (and) anti-Prophet behavior into all levels of society. Where are they? We say this especially for those of you who have been climaxing in the past days and in the past week or so. So what happened after that? These scholars of Bani Isra'eel began to sit down with the same people they initially told "don't do this" and they became their buddy-buddies. They'd have meeting with them, they would eat with them, they would drink with them; in other words they would socialize with them. Allah then caused their hearts to conflict with each other. You begin to ask where did all of this division come from? These are the roots of it right here- listen! Just don't listen with your minds, listen with all the potential that Allah has given you. And Allah condemned them by the words of Isa and Dawud. This is in reference to the ayah
Condemned are the deniers of truth from the Children of Isra'eel by the words, tongue, expression or language of Dawud and Isa the son of Maryam; that is because they were disobedient to Allah and because they were aggressive or offenders. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 78)
It's not just a matter of disobeying- disobedience to Allah brings with it aggression.
They did not institutionalize al amr bi al ma'ruf and an nahi an al munkar … (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 79)
It's not that they did not just take issue with the munkar; the responsibility goes beyond what one person can say and what one person can do. The responsibility is what can we all do together here. What these scholars of Bani Isra'eel would not do is to maintain a principal and palpable opposition to the social deviation of their crown and their congregations and their communities- they couldn't do it! So they were condemned. Scholars were condemned. We didn't invent this ayah. We didn't even this hadith. Remember the Prophet's words a person who withholds the truth in tantamount to a Shaytaan who is speechless.
(Dear committed Muslims, brothers and sisters… )
In light of the ayaat and the ahadith, (i.e.) the verses in the Qur'an and the Prophet's guiding statements that were mentioned in the previous khutbah to try to have some of you updated as to who would be today's Hussein or his equivalent. Obviously there is no reincarnation here; we can't have Hussein in person in flesh and in blood among us but we can have those who approximate his character and that's what we are looking for without being fooled by ceremonials, appearances (and) the traditions and the customs that have mounted the centuries in our past. We have today people who occupy the position of kings, autocrats, despots. They're alive and kicking; more than that, they're alive and killing! And some Muslims run to the Masjid to hide there for one hour a week and then they come out to transact with the world that is what it is, (i.e.) full of tyranny, spying on us, listening to us, (you hear. We hope some of you read, at least, what's going on), placing cameras in the streets so that they can watch you when you say something and record what you are saying in the cars devices now with the technology they have, invasion of our privacy, targeting Muslims who just want independence and self determination, going on the offensive against us. They are going on the offensive against us. They are interfering in our internal affairs and all of that is made possible because of the dummy rulers that we have who are Yazids on steroids and because for many of us these ayaat and these ahadith are taken out of circulation (and) not elucidated during khutbahs and during seminars and during sermons. So we're left with what?! Some of you have the freedom to go to these Masajid around- what do they talk to you about? For those of you, (we say this as a minor brother of yours), have climaxed the day before yesterday on Aashura' (and) you discharged all of your emotions- when the Yazids of today are watching you they say "what do these Muslims do? They wait a full year for this occasion. They come to this occasion and spill out their feelings and then they come back to the world that we run and they interact with us on our terms." Who won here? If they can bottle you up into one occasion and you're satisfied with that and they're satisfied with that, what happened to all the struggle that the Imam that you are celebrating stood for? What happened? Go- whether you're Sunni or Shi'i- to your Islamic center (and) go to your Masjid and then feel reconciled with the world of dhulm that is imposed on humanity. The Saudi Arabian Yazidis are kicking out Muslims from Makkah and Al Madinah. Who said they have the right to tell any Muslim in the world "you can come to Makkah and then you have to leave Makkah by our permission?" Where did that come from? Even in the days of Yazid Muslims were permitted to enter Makkah and exit from Makkah without restriction, without laws, without law enforcement. But they've outdone Yazid. The Ethiopians are beginning right now to cry foul because it's happening to them more than it is happening to others and, as we said previously, we're not occasional Jum'ah attendees- just because the Saudis have done such and such a violation of the Sunnah this week we are going to zero-in on what they do this week. They're habitually in violation and in contradiction of Allah's words and His Prophet's direction. It's about time that we learned from ourselves and matured so that these war criminals no longer have it their way.

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 15 November 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C. The Imam previously led the daily and Jum'ah prayers inside the Masjid. His speeches were revolutionary and thought provoking, and eventually irritated and threatened the Middle-East Ambassadors who control the Masjid. Finally, the Imam, his family, and other Muslims faithful to the course of Islam were forced out, into the streets. This khutbah originates from the sidewalk across the street from the Islamic Center, currently under seige.

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : THOUGHTS ABOUT KARBALA’

 

THE STREET MMBAR
JUM'AH KHUTBAH (15 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


THOUGHTS ABOUT KARBALA'
Allah says- these ayaat are mentioned in the frame of time that we are in. The generalized meanings of these sentences are something like this
Of course, Allah has purchased from the committed Muslims their possessions or their wealth and their lives or their souls in exchange for Jannah so they do combat in that regard and they fell and they themselves are felled or they kill and they themselves are killed; this is a promise from Allah mentioned in the Torah, in the Injeel and in the Qur'an and who can be more truthful and who can honor his word better than Allah; so receive these glad tidings due to the pledge that you have made with Allah and He has made with you for that is the success in the full meaning of the word. (Surah At Tawbah verse 111)
The reason this ayah is quoted on this day is because we are in the first ten days of the month of Al Muharram, the first month of the year 1435 after the hijrah. On the tenth day of this month an event took place that is killed by the emotions of some Muslims and killed by the absent mindedness of other Muslims. The reference obviously here is to the tenth day of the month, Aashura', and the place being an area in Southern Iraq called Karbala'. As you may very well know, there are some people who observe this occasion as a matter of culture and as a matter of traditions and there are other people who are totally oblivious of this occasion also because of the details of their own history (and) how they perceived that event in such a way that caused them to forget all about it. In these two areas of what we have today of our Islam not many people pay attention to reconstructing the atmospherics of those times. Karbala' did not just happen one day. It happened in the course of sixty years. The build up to Karbala' took at least sixty years until that event happened and so in those sixty years there were forces, there was something called group think, there was propaganda, there was the asabiyah reality of life, (that we tried to cover somewhat to our satisfaction)- all of these elements were either clashing with each other or building up a momentum,. This is the area, (and we say this with sadness in our selves), that we have no one paying attention to whether they are oblivious of this and event or whether they are not. No one focuses in on what was in the background (and) what was going on before this event took place. Here is where we are going to try to fill in so that you know that events like this don't just happen out of nothing; they have a background to them, they have a backdrop to them, they have a context to them (and) this is what we should be aware of. (It's) just like in today's world- an Islamic event begins to move in reality- when an Islamic revolution, an Islamic assertion, and Islamic awakening and these types of things happen, they don't happen in a vacuum. There are other forces and counter forces at work. So to take a step back from the tenth of Al Muharram in the year sixty one of the hijrah, we're going to visit some of the propagandistic things or information or perceptions that were in the air.
As we said, in today's world an Islamic revolution takes place and then you have misinformation and twisted information about the event, about the Islamic revolution and so was the case with many other significant human events. Leading up to that sixty first year of the hijrah, in the air- we all know that the third successor to Allah's Prophet was assassinated and much propaganda came out of that assassination. Whether you agree with this or not is not what we're trying to focus in on right now. What we're focusing on is what is in the public Muslim mind in those years and even a shade of it exists until now and that is that there was this perception that these Muslims who were supporters of Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu) had a concept among them called ar raj'a. Remember, when we're speaking about these issues or perceptions or concepts we're speaking about them because they had an influence on what was to happen on the tenth day of Al Muharram in the area of Karbala'. This concept of ar raj'a was being used to try to distract or try to sway away from the legitimacy of the leadership of Ali. See how this goes. What did this concept of ar raj'a mean to some people at that time? Well, here's how it is presented in some history books. Remember, we're not arguing whether this is what actually took place or not. What we are focusing our attention on is that it was on the minds of people at that time. It goes like this…
A person by the name of ibn Saba'. He was something like what you may call a rebel rouser in the Arabian Peninsula going from place to place and saying "the Prophet is going to return. He didn't die, he's returning." He said "if Muslims believe that Isa (alayhi as salaam) is going to return then they should believe also that Muhammad (alayhi as salaam) is going to return." This is what is being said about this personality- whether he truly existed or not doesn't matter because as we said the perception is there and a perception is going to follow a good number of Muslims up until that day. So he said "how can they believe that Isa who is less important than Muhammad is going to return then by necessity a Prophet who is more important is certainly going to return." Then, as is the case with people who want to fuel these types of impressions he quoted the Qur'an, ayah number eighty five of Surah Al Qassas.
Certainly He who has mandated the Qur'an upon you (Oh Muhammad) will have you return for an anchor meaning to do this all over again (Surah Al Qasass verse 85)
He quotes this ayah, of course, out of context and stretching it's meanings to infinity, (so to speak), and he wanted to convince people that this is the case. We know out of personal experience there are people, even scholars, who argue the very existence of ibn Saba' saying "the person did not exist or it was a fictional character or it was a contrived personality that was used by the Umawis who usurped power to mislead the Muslim public away from legitimate leaders." From this type of concept of ar raj'a some people developed- because you have to reconstruct reality (and) what was going on. Islam was moving in all directions (and) new people were becoming Muslims. When new people were becoming Muslims and they were exposed to this idea of what is called ar raj'a then some of them began to develop a concept of tanasuf al arwah. Here is where some of these, (let's call them), "converts" to Islam from the East of the Arabian Peninsula had this perception of one single life of an individual going from one person being acquired by another individual- which obviously doesn't sit well with the understanding of the Qur'an and the Prophet; so if this perception was supervised by those in power and this person, ibn Saba', and his followers were trying to convince the Muslims of this idea, it becomes a turn off, meaning it could be very easily used by those in power to convince people that "look- these are the followers of Ali and look what they are talking about! They are talking about ar raj'a." What comes from that? An average individual knows all of this is nonsense. So don't think that when we speak about this is something that had nothing to do with the grand sacrifice that took place on the tenth of Al Muharram.
Then we had another one of these issues called al wisayah and that is the will that the leadership of the Muslims go from one leader to the next. This was also one of those perceptions that was in the air. Not many Muslims know, (because not many Muslims study, and we mean a systemic or a systematic study of other religions), in Jewish history there's something akin to al wisayah where leadership is passed down from one Prophet to the next so when someone begins to advocate this concept of al wisayah then the average Muslim is gong to begin to say "where did this come from!" You read the Qur'an, look at the Qur'an (and) you'll see in the context of Bani Isra'eel the word wassa (but) the word wisayah has a noun with this particular political meaning is not there in the Qur'an but still the origins of the word is there and when it is interjected into the political climate of the Umawi regime from the year forty until the year sixty one when Aashura' and Karbala' materialized then you get the sense once again that powers that be are using these issues to distract from people focusing on legitimate leadership. This is an incident that is related in Islamic history. We'll give you a piece of information that demonstrates (this). This is in Islamic history books. It's not something that is marginal or not mainstream- we try to avoid something that is marginal or not mainstream. So in this case, these people or folks that were influenced by ibn Saba', (whether he was fictional or whether he was real- this sort of is an academic issue and you can argue it both ways- the fact of the matter is that perception is there), so those who were influenced by ibn Saba' came to Ali and they said you are him or you are he. So Ali asked who is he meaning what do you mean by saying that? What do you mean by that? They said you are Allah. Nastaghfirullah, but that's what was said and that is what is there. So he gave instructions, of course after trying to see whether they are saying this and they are convinced of it (and) its part of what they believe (and) are they serious? After all this it surfaced that they are serious (and) they believe this so the history books tell us that he ordered them to be incinerated. Once again, we are not arguing whether this took place or it did not take place; we are arguing that this is in the minds of people. So when this actually happened when these individuals were in the flames they said now he has proven that he is Allah. The people who follow this type of thing say the only one who punishes with fire is Allah so if he punishes us with fire then he proves who he is. Why are we mentioning this? We're mentioning this because these types of perceptions that were there and influencing, probably, tens of thousands of people, should be accounted for when we speak about the build up that leads to Karbala' and Aashura'.
Another issue that was in the minds of people was the issue of Imam Al Hassan (radi Allahu anhu) having relinquished power and having that power vested in a new ruler, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan. That is also something that happened historically. Every Muslim agrees to that but it is not the habit of Muslims, even thinking Muslims, to account for why that happened. The fact of the matter is that that happened to spare the lives of innocent combatants who would go to war and that war had the potential of becoming the first and most enduring of Islamic civil wars. So when people- speakers, scholars, learned individuals, people in the education field (and) people in the religious field, all of them put together- speak about Al Imam Al Hussein (radi Allahu anhu) they don't speak about Imam Al Hassan. It's like some of them feel if they wanted to speak about Hassan they will become apologetic. They sort of interpret his position of being one of a weak position. This happens when Muslim fragment a combined effort. They look at one policy in isolation of another and they can't look at what Hassan did and what Hussein did (with) both of them being complementary to each other. It would be very informative for these speakers who speak on this issue especially every year during this time of year to try and take a holistic look at what happened. When Hassan agreed with the conditions- because it wasn't a blind surrender of power … (we mentioned this previously), there was a build up of a Muslim psychology that was sick and tired of war and going to war. They saw what happened at Al Jaml, they saw what happened at Siffin, they saw what happened at An Nahrawaan so this mentality and this psychology right now was at a point that "we don't want this anymore." So Hassan was responding to the psychology of the people. He was their leader and he was responding to their psychology but in the process of that what happened was those who were in power were stealing the moment- here is our lesson to be learnt. The Umawis were stealing that fact so they came along and they swept this popular sentiment to their side and they used these numbers of people and claimed them for themselves and they even gave them the name Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah which didn't exist before that. But these are the moments in history when these types of things happen and instead of us concentrating our attention on this lesson tear after year we go by without learning from our own selves. This also was a public perception that lived on until the tenth of Al Muharram, it lived on and it was there. People felt this way and as much as they can think, rationalized this feeling.
Then we had another, (what you may say was), attack by those in power on the public sentiment that was diffused among the Muslims. The Umawis had a policy of defaming Ali. This was official policy in the Masajid, in the different areas of the Arabian Peninsular, of Ash Shaam, of Al Iraq. Wherever they had control it was official policy when you ascend the Mimbar on Friday and you express the khutbah along with that you have to defame Ali and his descendants, his children. One such example of the chutzpah that the Umawis had, Muawiyah in particular, is that he told Mughirah ibn Shu'bah at that time who was the governor, (so to speak), of Al Kufa to express this foul language against Ali. One of the persons who was listening to this type of nonsense on Fridays stood up to him and took issue with him and told him (as) everyone was listening the personalities that you are defaming and that you are putting down are actually people of virtue. They deserve to be mentioned in a meritorious way and those that you are praising and glorifying you should be, (in the average language), knocking them down or you should be defaming them. This is the same Hujr ibn Adi (radi Allahu anhu) whose grave was attacked some months ago in Syria. He was buried in Syria and in the event of this civil strife that is going on over there some people who belong to this historical nonsense that we are speaking about and trying to explain attacked his burial place and they tried to… We don't know the details. Even up until now we don't know the details of what they did with his remains.
Prior to the tenth of Al Muharram one of the other social and mental perceptions that was out there in the public was the attempt by Yazid who came to power in an illegitimate fashion who gave orders to his deputy who was in Al Madinah, Al Waleed ibn Uqbah, to go to prominent personalities in Al Madinah and to obtain their consent or their allegiance to Yazid. So Al Waleed goes to certain people (and) one of them was Abdullah ibn Az Zubayr (radi Allahu anhu). He refused. He fled from Al Madinah to Makkah. The other person Al Waleed wanted to obtain consent from (regarding) the rulership of Yazid was Hussein. Hussein left Al Madinah and refused to agree with the leadership of Yazid. This is a very important segment of our history. We don't think it is one, (this is a humble after thought to these significant events), that should be addressed in an emotional manner. Obviously this occasion solicits an out pour of emotions which we're not detracting from (but) the problem we have is that there's no mental sizing up of what happened. This is what is absent. You out there- whether you are Shi'is or whether you are Sunnis- fail to present this issue in its mental framework! This is what has to done. It's a shame that we Muslims now after a lapse of fourteen hundred years are incapable of speaking about this issue in its thought provoking context not it's emotional stimulating content! Two different things! They may not be contradictory but they're different. A mind is one thing and the emotions and feelings are another thing. You can fill your emotions and continue to fill your emotions as has been the case for those of you who observe this occasion for around fourteen hundred years and what has come out of it? If you take a measured look at yourselves- what has come out of it? What has come out of it is, (in a few words): "Hussein a martyr who is drowned in tears on this occasion. He's a Shaheed. Shaheed Karbala'" and all of this. Ok- does anyone think about becoming a Shaheed? No! That part doesn't work out to that. If he was a Shaheed and you honor his memory as a Shaheed have you ever thought of becoming a Shaheed?! Does anyone on this occasion try to think about what goes into becoming a Shaheed? Because he took that position of principle and people nowadays want to run away from principle; even those who recall those memorable days want to run away from principle. That's one thing. The other thing is how convenient traditionalists have become! Very cozy life! Leave the Shahadah to Hussein. Then how about all of this responsibility of Islam? Can someone realize that we are responsible people? But no! That responsibility is delayed. The Shahadah was in the past- that's Hussein. He was honored with it (but) as far as we are concerned all of this whole affair is put on hold until the advent of Al Imam Al Mahdi. Between Hussein and Imam Al Mahdi there's a blank! It's being filled in with tears on ten days a year! That's it! That's the whole Islam?! Islam begins like that and ends like that?! Isn't this a sorrow state of affairs? Hussein leaves Al Madinah and he goes to Makkah and then from there as you may know the rest is that there are some people, (and here we're obviously going to have to abbreviate), in Al Kufa in Southern Iraq who by some accounts through around one hundred and fifty correspondences with Hussein- writing letters and sending emissaries and all this- we are your supporters and we don't have an Imam and we need a leader and you are for us and we are for you and all of this- these are the meanings. Then when the time comes and they are expected to honor their words and to defend their principles there's basically no one around. Of course there's a lot of details to this but that is all as they say history. We're not living in history? Are we living in those days? Can we go up to a person called Al Mughirah? Can we go up to another person called Muslim ibn Aqil (radi Allahu anhu)? Can we go up to another person called Abdullah ibn Az Zubayr? Can we go up to these persons? Are they here? Are they now? Or are we supposed to identify their equivalents who are, (believe us), busy at work today in a very sophisticated way. Hussein and Yazid- there's a lot of people who speak about Hussein in an emotional way and there's a lot of people also who speak about Yazid also in an absent minded way but no one tries to speak about them in a factual way. It may have been a part of their mind that was evil but there was a part of their mind that was working in a wicked way. That is what has to surface. If we don't look at what they were thinking about then we can't learn! For the first time we see that Yazid was a person who prayed. He went into the Masjid, he would sit on the Mimbar, he would lead the prayers just like every Muslim ruler in today's world would do. So what happened being a ruler who discharges Islamic rituals was done then and is done now and being an opposition that is not hiding behind Islamic rituals! The rulers then and now hide behind Islamic rituals and by doing so they delay the day of reckoning. They fool public opinion. Hussein parted with that façade of rituals. He was in Makkah and it was during the time of the Hajj and he leaves. The Muslims, you and I, have lost sight of the element of justice in the position of usurping rulers like Yazid all the way up to until Abdullah in Arabia today and we have lost sight of those who are seeking justice before or after rituals, in the presence or in the absence of rituals. No one can learn this lesson because no one thinks about these events.
Dear committed Muslims, brothers and sisters…
The love of Allah's Prophet extends to loving those who Allah's Prophet himself loved and obviously the Prophet loved his daughter and his grandchildren who lived in his life and he expressed his heartfelt emotions towards them. Any Muslim from whatever background they come from should be able to say these words free from any stigmatization or stereotyping and these other things that go on. It's a fact! Any Muslim should be able to state that fact. The problem is, (and let us be a little blunt and frank about this), a problem of perception even though we are not at the thinking level we should be at and you know this from the khutbahs you have been listening to. We are sub (or) below that level. That's a fact! If we just thinking at the level we are expected to think by Allah and His Prophet we wouldn't be in the condition we are in, (i.e.) Muslims killing Muslims, Muslims not understanding others, Muslims holding a grudge. Where did all of this come from? It came from the absence of our minds. This is a precious thing.
We said we're going to be frank with you. In the literature, the perception is out there- the Shi'is built something like a culture that in a sense you either belong to it and therefore you are acceptable on certain terms or you don't belong to it and therefore something has to de done for you to seethe light- something like that. We want to, brotherly and sincerely, ask our Shi'i brothers, (and we hope you take this question and you ponder it in the calmness of yourself and the light of your mind): is it necessary for a person, whether he's a Muslim or a non-Muslim, to become the Shi'i that you have in your mind or your understanding of a Shi'i (i.e.) this traditional honoring of Karbala' or the tears that are shed on the tenth of Al Muharram or the night before that- is that the only way a person can identify with Hussein? If that's the only way you have much thinking to do. You have know that there are many other methods and many other avenues to approach Hussein and to identify with him- many others. For those of you who are Sunnis out there, we say this to you as a brother also, deep down inside of you there is an area that you have not pondered (and) you have not thought about with your mind and that is if you love Rasulullah (and) there's no question that you do, then why can't you extend that love to those that he loved? Deep down in your history books, (we speaking to you who come from the Sunni tradition and you haven't even thought through yourselves), you know or you should know that Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad who was the commander of Yazid who was the one responsible for shedding the blood of the Prophet's household in Karbala' on Aashura' and in your books you say that some of this has to do with his mother and according to some of your books his mother was Persian. According to some of your books she came from Persian royalty and some of you try to blame the martyrdom of Hussein on the Persian origins of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. Can we not, both of these wings, just take a plunge into our deeper historical and personal selves and then from there on elevate with information and with a mind grounded in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah, in Allah and His Prophet, to emerge from all of this without the pollution that we have attached to us?

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 8 November 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C. The Imam previously led the daily and Jum'ah prayers inside the Masjid. His speeches were revolutionary and thought provoking, and eventually irritated and threatened the Middle-East Ambassadors who control the Masjid. Finally, the Imam, his family, and other Muslims faithful to the course of Islam were forced out, into the streets. This khutbah originates from the sidewalk across the street from the Islamic Center, currently under seige.

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