| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (3 January 2014) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar/ PLEASE e-mail Suggestions & Criticisms to khutbahs@yahoo.com It is in such a manner that We make plain Our signs so that the course of the Criminals may become clear. |
Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
SOCIAL JUSTICE
These ayaat are the eighth, ninth and tenth ayaat of Surah Bani Isra'eel or Surah Al Isra'. These ayaat have a general meaning and at the same time they have a specific meaning. In the general sense the ninth of these ayaat is presented as
This Qur'an guides to that which is most upright. (Surah Bani Isra'eel verse 9)
This particular translation captures part of the meaning but in the specific sense in the meaning of this ayah quite a bit of that meaning is lost with this particular translation for in this particular sense this ayah refers to a particular class of people in society but in order to understand who that class is and what responsibility it is supposed to discharge in society it would behoove us to look more closely at the wording of this ayah and try to more deeply understand the meaning of it's words within the context of the other ayaat in between which it is revealed. Allah says
Indeed this Qur'an guides to which is aqwam. (Surah Bani Isra'eel verse 9)
So we'd like to spend a little bit of time on the meaning of this word aqwam and we want to go beyond the personal application of this word and extend it to the social dimension. The word aqwam comes from the root word qama and the word qama means to straighten- to straighten the posture of a human being, to stand upright. So when we talk about the posture of a human being we talk about the shortest distance in its straightness from the head to the feet. The shortest distance is a straight line. It is not a hunched over position, it is not an awkward position. A straight posture is one that is congruent with a straight line. Another word which is associated with the word qama and one that is perhaps more recognizable by us is as sirat al mustaqeem, the straight path. The word mustaqeem comes from the same root, qama. So when we talk about a straight line we talk about the shortest distance between two points and so when we talk about the straight path as sirat al mustaqeem we are talking about the shortest distance between the life that we are living and the life that we expect to go to merge with Allah's bliss, His provision and His mercy. So as sirat al mustaqeem is the shortest distance between two lines. So the word qama and the word aqwam are associated in this sense. The particular construction of the word aqwam is as a superlative. So if we talk about qama meaning to straighten the word aqwam would mean the most straight or the straightest. In a similar sense if we had the word alima (i.e.) to know, the word a'lam is the most knowledgeable or more knowledgeable. So when we talk about the word aqwam within the context of the Qur'an- in general, the purpose of the Qur'an in a word is social justice; it is meant to achieve or to nurture a balance of justice in the life of man, in the life of man's community and in the health of man's relationships. So when we refer to the Qur'an as being aqwam we are talking about the shortest distance between the model of social justice presented by the Qur'an and the achievement of social justice on the ground. This is where the behavior of human beings becomes important for if the behavior of all human beings is disciplined with the objective to justice then the possibility exists to have social justice on the ground; but in the particular context of these ayaat, these ayaat are referring to a particular class of people within the body of humanity and if we refer to the other ayaat which surround this particular ayah we notice that Surah Al Isra' starts with a description of the relationship between Al Masjid Al Haram and Al Masjid Al Aqsa. Then these ayaat go on and they proceed to describe the fact that Bani Isra'eel will assume a preferential power twice in the history of man and then at some point after they achieve this position of unrivaled power in the world then a group of principled people who are endorsed by Allah and who endorse Allah's program on earth will come to reverse this corrupt power position of Bani Isra'eel and so these ayaat in the midst of these particular ayaat that we are focusing on were revealed refer to a class of people which have a power influence upon other human beings (and) who have the capacity to alter the behavior of other human beings by assuming a different power direction in the world. So when we refer to this ayah we are referring to a class of people which alter the behavior of other people. In short the Qur'an is referring to the performance of leaders in society. So when the word aqwam refers to the shortest distance between two points, what it is referring to in this instance is the fact that the shortest distance between the model of social justice presented in the Qur'an and that achievement of the social justice on the is the performance of leaders in society. So if these leaders model their behavior on the discipline that is presented in this ayaat then they can expect to have a balance of justice in their society but on the other hand if these leaders misbehave or they behave wrongly then their societies can expect an imbalance of justice and we notice this imbalance of justice presented in our lives as a proliferation of crime, as a general feeling of insecurity, as disease, as corruption, as a polarization of wealth and a whole host of other factors which are connected to the performance of just leaders in society. So ultimately the most important group that is relevant to these ayaat happens to be the dominant power culture in society. The vast majority of the ayaat about oppression, about correcting oppression, about correcting injustice, about correcting an imbalance of wealth in the society are directed at the dominant power culture in society (and) how to correct its performance, how to alter it s behavior, how to move its objectives towards a modicum and goal of justice. So the vast majority of Allah's Prophets, in fact all of His Prophets, were directed to correct the behavior of the dominant power culture in society. So Ibrahim alayhi as salaam was sent directly to Nimrud and Musa alayhi as salaam was sent to Firawn and Isa alayhi as salaam was sent to the combination of corrupt religious power with corrupt social power or corrupt political power, (i.e.) the combination of the Sanhedrin and Rome and of course Muhammad was sent to correct the behavior of the hereditary aristocracy in Makkah.
So what do we mean when we talk about the dominant power culture? What we mean are those elements of society who affect how human beings engage each other on the political level, on the economic level. What are the basis of engaging politically and economically? What are the ideological orientations that describe the nature of these interactions? That is a dominant power culture. If we was to say it very simply, we would say that the dominant power culture is that element in society which affects the way that you think, which affects what you think about, which affects how you solve problems, which affects the approach you use to solve your problems- that is a dominant power culture. Let us go over a couple of practical examples to help us begin to understand how a dominant power culture going of course affects every aspect of our lives so when the Qur'an comes to challenge the behavior of this power culture it is doing it with a view to correct the most pervasive and the most intrusive influence in your life (and) to discipline this most pervasive influence in your life. So let's just go over a couple of practical examples in the world that we live in today.
All of us are familiar with the debt crisis. There is a crisis and this crisis if afflicting the entire world but the reason that it afflicts the entire world is because its origin is in the behavior of the dominant power culture. Brothers and sisters- don't elude this out of your mind. The problems that exist in the world today is related to how the dominant power culture goes about dealing with these problems so the debt crisis in the world today is related to the dominant power culture and in a practical sense if we were to identify this dominant power culture we would say that it's nexus is right here in Washington DC. So in so far as this debt crisis is concerned we are told and we have historical experience with this fact. The two successive US US
Indeed this Qur'an guides to which is aqwam. (Surah Bani Isra'eel verse 9)
We have a dominant power culture in this world (and) through its academic institutions (and) through its think tanks it is trying to convince you that this situation that is unsustainable is sustainable. It is trying to tell you that you can pump as much water into the balloon as you want and its walls are never going to collapse. They are trying to tell you to continue to put your resources into the US
Brothers and sisters- there are many other such examples. This is just one to try to help us to understand that the target audience at which the vast majority of these ayaat are aimed at is the behavior of the dominant power culture in society, (i.e.) those who make decisions on behalf of other people for if their decisions are not disciplined by Allah's guidance they will make the kinds of decisions that have driven us into the general ambience of insecurity that we live in today. These types of problems are social problems. They cannot be corrected by academic exercises, they cannot be corrected by the kind of ijtihads that have been made by individuals over the centuries (and) they can't be corrected by going up and bombing pharmaceutical factories or protesting in front of the World Bank or by exposing a sex scandal that the head of the IMF was engaged in. Individual acts of violence or protest that don't have any state muscle behind them are not enough to correct these kinds of problems. Social problems demand social mobilization and critical to social mobilization at this level is the performance of leaders. The more these leaders are disciplined by the ayaat of the Qur'an the more it is possible to have social justice as the thread that binds society together. The performance of leaders is the key to social justice and these ayaat are key to the performance of leaders for just leaders who lead a consolidated social momentum (their) results will be enduring, it is that orientation that is effective, it is that orientation which is lasting. When we look around the world today it is those Muslim leaders who are missing and because of the fact that it is Muslim leaders that are lacking the entire world is lacking leaders that are just. It is because of the lack of Muslim attention to these ayaat of the Qur'an and this deficiency that just leaders do not exist in other parts of the world and that is the meaning of this ayah.
Indeed this Qur'an guides to which is aqwam. (Surah Bani Isra'eel verse 9)
Dear committed and listening brothers and sisters…
The last segment was ended by identifying the fact that we have very very few leaders who discipline their decisions by adhering to these ayaat from Allah's Qur'an. In the past few months there are some Muslims around the world who experimented with entering into this leadership class. Brothers and sisters- it doesn't hurt to talk about our failures. We ought to talk about our failures so that we can learn what we did wrong (and) so that we can advance with confidence into the future; for if we do not analyze what we did wrong, (as the saying goes), we are condemned to repeat those same mistakes going into the future and we've been repeating those same mistakes for fourteen centuries and it is time that we put a stop to that way of doing things. We had an Islamic leadership in Tunisia Tunisia
Have you not considered or have you not seen there are those who claim that they are committed to what has been revealed to you, (O Muhammad), and what has been revealed to those Prophets before you; they want to refer their decisions or their judgments or their policies to At Taghut when they were ordered to take issue with At Taghut. (Surah An Nisa' verse 60)
These so-called Islamic leaders in that country made the rounds of Washington
Then we have our brothers in Egypt
Roughly translated this ayah, ayah number one hundred and twenty six of Surah Al An'aam, says
And when a divine sign came to them… (Surah Al An'aam verse 126)
This is referring to the people around Allah's Messenger in Makkah.
And when a divine ayah came to them they said "we shall never commit to it until a similar ayah comes to us" … (Surah Al An'aam verse 126)
They felt that they were more worthy of receiving these ayaat because they were people of power, because they were the aristocracy but Allah counters this type of behavior because he says
… Allah is more knowledgeable about where to place His guidance (or) where to place His message … (Surah Al An'aam verse 126)
And Allah saw through His wisdom an Islamic pulse beating in another part of the world and He placed His message and the extension of His message into the world in that spot and those who call themselves the Muslim brotherhood by the very virtue of their name they should have been the first to affirm that Islamic pulse in that other part of the world but they rejected it thinking because of their elitism and their supremism that the Islamic revival ought to start with them. This is the performance of leaders that we are talking about that ought to be disciplined by these ayaat.
Haven't you seen those who have been given a fortune of scripture, they commit to the power of the superpowers and the maximalist powers and the concentrated powers and they say to those who deny Allah's power that you are more guided than those who have made a secure commitment to Allah. (Surah An Nisa' verse 60)
So what is the result of this attitude and this position? The result is failure! We failed! There's no harm in identifying this failure. We're not piling on to the Ikhwan. We have the Qur'an and you have the Qur'an. You read the Qur'an and we read the Qur'an and we remind each other of these ayaat in the Qur'an and when we succeed and when we fail, regardless of that outcome, the criterion is Allah's ayaat; and especially when we fail we refer to this criterion which is Allah's ayaat and that is why we bring up these ayaat- to remind ourselves of our missteps and not to repeat these missteps into the future. The dominant power culture doesn't know what its doing. It is not asking for our help but we are affected by its decisions and so it is our responsibility, with us having the answers, to correct the performance of this dominant power culture; but to correct the performance of this dominant power culture goes beyond the efforts of individuals. It requires the kind of social mobilization which of an in itself requires the kind of leaders which discipline their activity with Allah's words.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Afeef Khan on the occasion of Jum'ah on 13 December 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
__._,_.___
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment