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Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Dear committed brothers and sisters on as sirat al mustaqim…
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/videos/videos/show/18400361-unity-part-4-by-imam-muhammad-al-asi-12-13-2013 (12-13-2013)
UNITY PART 4
And hold firm to Allah's binding matter all of you- no exceptions- and be not divided; and bare in mind Allah's provision, favour and privilege upon you when you (who are now Committed Muslims), were once enemies of each other and then He reconciled your hearts and familiarized and acquainted you with each other and then, due to this provision, favour and privilege you became brethren of each other; you were on the edge of a pit of fire and Allah saved you from it; it is with this is mind and with understanding these dynamics and factors that Allah is going to guide us. (Surah Aal Imran verse 103)
The ayaat that we were listening to obviously are quoted many times when Muslims are thinking about what they generally referred to as unity. The impetus of this tradition is so strong that you have it in the program and then you have the program beginning with the recitation with these ayaat- the ayah beginning 103 in the third chapter in the Qur'an, Aal Imran. Aal Imran is the household from which Jesus (may God's peace and blessing be upon him) was born into. Now we want you to think- really, when we deal with these issues one of the problems is sometimes we take things for granted and therefore we pick up on them where our forefathers left off and sometimes that's not a very accurate thing to do. It requires us to think a little more. The word unity is a very ambitious word. Everyone would like unity. Probably we dream about it, probably some of us are frustrated about that we cannot see any consolidation of this unity even on an elementary stage. Some people won't say this in a lecture but if you sit down with them in a private setting and try to probe their internal thoughts and ideas and feelings they'll tell you "unity is impossible. There cannot be any unity among Muslims much less among others who are supposed to be one human family." Therefore we are forced to scrutinise this issue a little more (and) that requires our thought presence. We have to think a little more about that is what we will try to do in the forty minutes that we have.
Notice that in this ayah and all the other ayaat in the Qur'an do not mention the word "unity." It's not mentioned. We're familiar with Qur'anic terminology- you know that there is wahdah, there's tawheed, there's wahdaniyyah, there's ahadiyyah. There's so many of these words but none of them are mentioned in this context. So be careful next time when someone comes to you or someone wants to tell you "unity is something that we can fulfil." So what does that mean? Does it mean that we are going to be divided? No. It doesn't mean that. Does it mean that we are condemned to internal strife and misunderstandings and bickering and arguments and all of this? It doesn't mean that neither. So what are we talking about? We are talking about togetherness. Unity is one thing and togetherness is another. We're not trying to be philosophical about this or present a polemic along these lines- no, no. These are two different things. Now let us backtrack. Just stay with us. We want your mental alertness- that's all we ask of you.
(In) this ayah that was recited, the key and operative word is fa allafa bayna qulubikum. We don't know if the word ulfah or ilfah has made it to the Persian language; maybe it made it into some scholarly circles pronounced ilfat or ulfat- we don't know. Sometimes when words travel from one language to the next they gain a little flavour of their own in that other language but the key word that you have to zero in on is ulfah. Allafah is the verb (and) ulfah or ilfah is the noun. What we are looking for is
… to reconcile, literally, their hearts together… (Surah Aal Imran verse 103)
When we say the reconciliation of hearts it doesn't mean we don't have differences; we're going to have differences. This is in the nature of our human existence. Difference is built into the nature of humanity. Another ayah in the Qur'an says
Had your Lord willed it, He would have rendered people as one Ummah and if He were to do that they would continue to have their differences except for he who Allah or your Lord and Sustainer has graced; and for that purpose He created them. (Surah Hud verse 118-119)
So for the purpose of the differences that we have we were created. Anyone who wants to omit or to cancel differences from human life is fighting Allah's nature. He's in a war with the nature of things! You can't do it. You have to concede from the beginning that we as Muslims are going to have our differences and we as People of the Book are going to have our differences and we as a human family are going to have our differences. Let's concede that point. If we can develop our psychology to the extent of saying "hey look- it's in the nature of things. That's the way Allah created us and so we have to recognise that we have these types of differences." If we can manage to do that, believe it or not, we have surmounted one of the most major obstacles in our traditions and in our lazy thinking. This is a major thing to do! We concede "we have differences and everyone has differences." These differences can be racial differences, they can be linguistic differences, they can be ethnic differences and they can be mental or intellectual differences and we have to concede that and live with it. When this Qur'an was revealed it was revealed to people who were nomads and who were at war for between one hundred and two hundred years. The first Islamic togetherness was in Al Madinah and the occupants and inhabitants of Al Madinah, before the advent of the Prophet, were at war with each other; animosity ran very deep. Someone would think "how are you going to bring these people together?" And it wasn't a materialistic or an economic or a financial program that brought them together. Another ayah in the Qur'an says
If you were going to spend all the money in the world or all the resources in the world to reconcile their hearts together you wouldn't be able to do so. (Surah Al Anfal verse 63)
So reconciling people's hearts to each other has nothing to do with materialism. Nothing! It's another issue. What is the issue? What brings people together? Why should we be reconciled to each other regardless (or) in spite of our differences? What will bring us together? What brought them together? What brings other societies together? What should it be that brings us, the committed Muslims, who are supposedly in the front line of this historical process, together? Why should we come together? We don't have to go into details. We just have to throw it out there and remind you- people begin to go into these silly arguments (of) "this type of Muslim is this way and that type of Muslim is that way" and very silly things. Therefore, because of very silly things, we should keep our distance from "the other Muslim." Where did that come from? No one has any basis for that anywhere. Nevertheless this is our status quo. (If) we look at the world today we find out that there are Muslims who are victims of their own inability to think. They are victims of their own inheritance of unfiltered traditions and they are victims of real consolidated powers in the world. When we speak about our own internal self, don't think that we are isolated from the larger world around. If our ignorance is working against us there is also a real shoot to kill enemy who is working against us. This is real folks. So you look at today's scenario out there; we're a little hesitant to open this page here but this is a fact of life- you look around at what's happening in today's world in places like Iraq, Syria and Lebanon just to take a few places. Muslims killing Muslims, Muslims killing Christians, Muslims expelling Muslims, Muslims expelling Christians. Where did all this come from? Ask yourself why is all of this happening? Where did all of this come from? We want to tell you that all of this is not happening in a vacuum. None of this is happening in a vacuum. People have thought- think tanks, historians, politicians, strategists (and) ideologues have thought through all of this and they've studied what Islam is all about- they gave it some of their brain power, we don't give it any of our brain power! It's just some type of inherited religion?!
… They say "We found our ancestors on this"… (Surah Al Zukhruf verse 22)
As the ayah says just like was the case with the Mushriks of Makkah "hey look, our ancestors used to do this and we continue to do it." There's no thought process here. The Prophet was inviting them to, (you know), activate their minds even though they're primitive people (and) "give it a thought." So in today's world this is where we are and who we are and that doesn't mean that there are not other people in the world who think, study and analyse who we are. So they found these elements. (We're going to be a little short here). They found that "Islam is an inclusive religion", (we don't like to use the word religion but let's use it). Some of them came out with the conclusion, after thinking and studying and arguing back and forth and all this, "Islam is an inclusive religion. The nature of Islam is that it wants to bind with others." The ayah that are highly recommended to read in salah al fajr and the way we should be addressing Ahl Al Kitab goes something like this
Say: Oh People of Scripture… (Surah Aal Imran verse 64)
This is to address Jews and Christians throughout history. It's not whatever happened to those who designate themselves as Jews and those who designate themselves as Christians in our time frame is one thing and looking at them from beginning to end is another thing. So here the ayah is speaking about our relationship with Jews and Christians from beginning to end.
Say: Oh People of Scripture, let's come to some type of mutual type of wording between us and you (i.e.) that we conform and comply by no one except Allah… (Surah Aal Imran verse 64)
This is ibadah. Ibadah is not worship. We've been covering the territory of the meanings of the vocabulary of the Qur'an for about fourteen to fifteen years very closely and there are some very damaging mis-translations. The word ibadah is not worship (but we don't want to get off on that). So here in this ayah it says
… that we (the Muslims) and you (the Christians and Jews) should not comply with or conform to anything or anyone except Allah and we (as Muslims and Christians and Jews) shall not equate anyone with the authority and the power of Allah Himself … (Surah Aal Imran verse 64)
No one! Nothing!
… and none of us shall over Lord over any of us … (Surah Aal Imran verse 64)
Then it says
… if they decide to move away from this suggestion (or) this proposal then say to them that we are in a state of submission to Allah. (Surah Aal Imran verse 64)
That's an invitation that's an inclusive type of a thing. Here there's no argument about silly things (i.e.) you pray in a certain building that has certain stuff in it and it doesn't have certain stuff in it (or) about issues of God's attributes. None of this! Let's come and agree upon these three different things. If we can agree upon them then the other differences that we have are not very serious differences.
Then there's another ayah
Say (meaning to Christians and Jews, People of Scripture): We (the Muslims) are committed to God and we are also committed to that which has been revealed to us i.e. the Qur'an and we are committed to that which was revealed to Abraham, to Ishma'eel, to Isaac/Jacob and to their extensions… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 136)
We're here trying to have you aware of the fact that Muslims are inclusive. There's a history of revelation here that goes through what is called the biblical old Testament. Whatever was revealed in that history we also are committed to. It doesn't mean what they have today in their own hands and how they explain themselves is correct; but we are committed to that in principle.
… and we are committed to that which was given to Moses and that which was given to Jesus... (Surah Al Baqarah verse 136)
We are committed to that by our definition (and) by our nature.
… and whatever any or all other of the Prophets were given we are also committed to that; we don't discriminate among them and unto God we submit. (Surah Al Baqarah verse 136)
Finished! What more (or) how much more inclusiveness do you want?! We've taken all the history of Prophethood (and) all the history of scripture and we are that. So we go back and we ask- what brings people together if Islam is inclusive like this? We have the divisions that we have, what's going to bring us together in spite of these differences. What's going to bring us together is to seek justice on earth. That brings a Muslim, with a Christian, with a Jew with an atheist, with whoever it is that is suffering from injustice and they are looking to be righted then this is going to bind us together. So these people who have studied us, (they put their minds where we should be putting our minds), said "take a look at how Islam is inclusive," So they came up with a trick and they created this happy-go-lucky Muslim that is "hey- we're all roses and every human being is God's child and all of these things." You're aware of this because you're from Iran because this scheme was hatched in Iran
… there is nothing similar to Him… … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
Nothing! So some people come and they say no we don't understand God like that.
He is not within the range of our vision but all are in the range of His vision. (Surah Al An'am verse 103)
There is a difference here. Some people's perception of God is different then that. So there is a difference (but) it's not a fight to kill you difference! It's not a difference of hostilities but there is a difference. Then there's the attributes of Allah. He has ninety nine attributes besides His name- Allah. There are people of scripture who agree with these attributes or some of these attributes and people who disagree. We say "Allah is Waahidun Ahad, Samad" some people disagree with us. We say "Allah is one He is singular He is unique" some people's perception of God is different than that. They don't believe that so there is a difference there. So when Muslims have similarities with others they had the Baha'i contraption in our midst- this was thought out. This didn't come out of nowhere. Then when these colonialist thinkers looked at the differences that Muslims had with others they made it an issue of warfare. This is what is happening in today's world unfortunately. That also didn't come from nowhere. It was thought out and so the counterparts of the Baha'is in Iran became the Wahabbis in Saudi Arabia
We have dispatched Our Messengers, the Prophets with clear evidence and with scripture… (Surah Al Hadeed verse 25)
For what purpose?
… so that people are able to establish social justice… (Surah Al Hadeed verse 25)
That's what brings people together. It will bring Muslims together, it will bring non-Muslims together and it will expose the enemies of Muslims and non-Muslims alike who are trying to divide every human effort that is oriented in that direction. They'll be exposed! When we are justice centred we begin to see the nature of Zionists, the nature of Imperialists, the nature of their stooges all around whether they are in Hollywood
My time is up. I had to end it like that. Thank you for your patience. I hope you were attentive in your minds because that's all I ask. And peace and blessings of the All Merciful be yours.
Asalaamualaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of the Annual Conference of the MSA PSG on 21 December 2012. 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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