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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 dear committed sisters …
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/338198 (03-14-2014)
SAUDI ISLAM FOSTERS THE REFUGEE PROBLEM
As a follow up and as an extension to the general ideas that were presented in the last khutbahs concerning this whole phenomenon (of) the imposed administration and the occupying force (or) the occupying power in the Masjid- the occupation extends from Makkah to Washington- we mentioned that much of it is to do with an imbalance in worldly power. These people who force others to do certain things such as forcing us to pray outside here in the street simply have the wealth and the force that comes with it and for it and by it and to it. These two (i.e.) power and wealth go together. This didn't only dislocate us as we find ourselves being forced to pray in the street it also should not have dislocated our thoughts and our feelings. Some people suffer from a dislocation of thoughts and feelings! They think that if they don't have worldly power then they don't have power at all?! They don't know that this type of feeling and that type of idea tends to cancel them as subjects of Allah and we just make du'a for them. There's no bad feelings in our hearts towards any of them except if they know the truth and they are trying to play games with that truth. Those we are cautious of and we refer their affair to Allah. Back to this issue- they have power, they have wealth and all of this. This is a jum'ah, this is a khutbah- Allah and His Prophet are our reference points. What happens? What do we say to people who are dislocated and this dislocation has become a matter of refugees, a matter of dispossessed, a matter of people who find they have no homes and they have no homelands? We don't have a Masjid. OK- that's partial dislocation. There are people who don't have much more than that! They don't have a home to go to, they don't have a country that they can feel that is their own country. This is a real human condition in today's world. We find "hey wait a minute here- we have a problem here that never existed before." No it's not unique! This is a problem that seems to be a constant in human affairs and human history. It was there in the past, its here now and it will continue to linger into the future especially when we who are supposed to be responsible for straightening up these issues find that "wait a minute here, we don't have what it takes to do that."
We refer you, (and you can take these ayaat in the time of your mental accessibility, the time that you have off, or the time you find available to you), to these ayaat (which) are number seven through ten in Surah Al Hashr. These ayaat speak about dislocation, refugees, money, accommodations, commitment to Allah (i.e.) all the ingredients we have in today's world with the problems of dislocation, physical dislocation from the Masjid, emotional and mental dislocation from Allah even though there are rituals all around the place and then the larger dislocation of tens of millions (and) in some cases hundreds of millions of refugees in the world. We're going to read these ayaat and we're going to give you the gist of their translated meanings. It's alright- it a little long but bear with us; it's necessary for the khutbah. What are the meanings of these ayaat seven to the ayah ten of Surah Al Hashr? The meanings of these ayaat can be summarised, (this is the summarisation of these meanings translated into English)
The revenue that comes from Allah to His Messenger… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Many interpreters concentrate the meaning of revenue in the spoils of war (but it is) not necessarily so.
… whatever revenue there is that comes from Allah to His Prophet then that belongs to… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Remember when we said previously wealth (and) resources belong to Allah? Well this right now is a reminder of that.
… when you have people who are in need, people who don't have homes, people who don't have a country, people who don't have a place they can call their own- whatever revenue comes from Allah goes to them; to those who are closer to you… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Obviously if you have a relative who is a refugee then you are responsible for your relative who is a refugee then you are to a distant person who is a refugee (and) who has no relation to you.
… orphans, those who put out the effort to gain all the wherewithal in life but fall short, a person who's always moving from place to place… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
He's called, literally, ibn as sabil (which) means son of the path. He spends so much time on one road, and another avenue, and a third street, and a fourth access lane, etc. He keeps on going in these avenues in life because he or she don't have a residence, they don't have a place to stay. So what comes from Allah as revenue from Allah to His Prophet goes to them. The ayah is saying it but the problem with our understanding it (is) we have so much established ideas that we grow up with (that) when Allah is giving us clear instructions we just read it and we don't think! Give it a thought: "What does this mean in my life? What do I do? How did this play out?" Then the ayah goes on to say
And the poor from among the Muhajirin… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Here is where we come to concentrate a little bit more thought. We all say "the Prophet is our prototype. The Prophet is our model. We follow him." OK- what did he do when he was himself a refugee? He was forced to leave Makkah and there was a segment of society which was also forced to leave Makkah. They were called Al Muhajirin (radi Allahu anhum). These were refugees. What's a Muhajir? You know they say emigrant. Cut it out! Throw that word out of your mouth and dictionary! They're not emigrants. These were people who were forced (and) who were expelled due to the social conditions and the threats and intimidation and torture that they were subjected to. They didn't one day wake up and say "oh I'm going to immigrate, I'm going to leave Makkah and go to Al Madinah." That's the way it was?! How do you read your history? These were people who were in the "pressure cooker." They were being "fried and stewed" night and day until they were forced to leave their own possessions, their own territory, their own land, their own home, their own domicile, their own birth place. They had to leave it under threats of death- that's how the prophet left. They threatened him every way and he stayed but when they made up their mind in a collective fashion, (i.e.) let's all kill him together so that later on there's not going to be a civil war among us (and) when they agreed to do that he left Makkah. They wanted to assassinate him. He's an emigrant? And what- was he given emigrant status in Yathrib in Al Madinah? "Oh the Prophet of Allah is an emigrant in Al Madinah." Is that the way you perceive your history? That's the way you think?! Bluntly speaking he was a refugee- a special refugee because the people in Al Madinah acknowledged him as Allah's Prophet and he became the leader of Al Madinah. That's rare! A refugee becomes a leader of a certain other environment and society?! Well that's what happened. Along with the Prophet there were other refugees called Al Muhajirin. Refugee is not the most accurate word in the world but it is definitely more accurate then the word emigrant. He emigrated?! How upsetting it is when a person encounters this type of rendition or translation or version of history. You see- we destroy ourselves by the words that we use and this is one of them. OK, so these Muhajirin- a word that all of you are familiar with because it's a Qur'anic word, it's a Prophetic word; it and its derivatives are mentioned many many times in the Qur'an- had to leave Makkah and went to Al Madinah. So what happened? Ask yourself what happened? Were they left to be considered (as) "oh they are a sub-stratum of society? They are lower class" as refugees are today? Remember we're Muslims. We say "Allah and His Prophet" night and day! We say a lot of things with our tongues but what does our behaviour say? We have refugees among us- how do we treat them? Do we treat them the same way the Muhajirin were treated in Al Madinah? Allah in these ayaat says about Al Ansar (radi Allahu anhum), the human support base in Al Madinah
… they love (or) they like those who have come to them as refugees (or) as displaced people who took this effort of abandoning the domain of persecution in Makkah and coming now to their homes… (Surah Al Hashr verse 9)
That's how they were received. The ayah describes the Ansar
… and they prefer the Muhajirin to their own selves even if they were in need… (Surah Al Hashr verse 9)
Meaning if the Ansar of Al Madinah looked at their own condition and looked at the condition of this Muhajir, (i.e.) this displaced person, and even if they were in need of something (or) even if they were in need of whatever it was- food, some form of utility, whatever- they would give it to the Muhajir rather than have it themselves.
… those who are able to avoid this stinginess in them, then they're going to be successful. (Surah Al Hashr verse 9)
It's a give attitude. This is the psychology we are going to have to turn inside out from the type of psychology that we have. Today everyone wants to gather stuff and accumulate and collect and save and all of this stuff- that has to change. We have to act just when the Prophet came to Al Madinah. There was what was called al mu'aakhaat. He made brothers out of strangers. First of all the Muhajirin were brothers of each other and then the Muhajirun were coupled with the Ansar. We tell you- we read the Qur'an so many times and there are competitions for beautiful voices but there's no competitions for beautiful minds (or) beautiful ideas about the Qur'an! (There's) just competitions for beautiful voices, tajwid and tartil and all of this stuff but have you ever heard about competitions for ideas that are generated by the Qur'an? No! We're not supposed to generate ideas!? The same status quo problems that began way back then… In light of these ayaat we can tell you the ayah says
The revenue that Allah has given from Him, from these urban areas…
OK- what do you do with that? Where does it go to? Who does it belong to? This ayah says
Whatever revenue there is that comes from Allah to His Prophet then that belongs to Allah and His Prophet and people who are in need, people who don't have homes, people who don't have a country, people who don't have a place they can call their own, to those who are closer to you, the orphans, those who put out the effort to gain all the wherewithal in life but fall short, a person who's always moving from place to place… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
During Uthman (radi Allahu anhu) time most of this got stuck with
… to those who are closer to you… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Well, what happened to the others? What are we saying here? Uthman is a bad man? Nastaghfirullah. We're not saying that. Was he impeccable? No! But we can trace some of these mistakes. Why do you get stuck here? When he was asked (about) all of this money all of this revenue the treasury that's beginning to build up- you know the Islamic state at the time was very modest (and) very humble in what it had but the wherewithal began to come in and he was asked why is this disproportionate amount going to your relatives? He says well the ayah here says
… to those who are closer to you… (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
Ok fine, but only to dhi al qurba'? Why is it that we have simultaneously when there's an affluent dhi al qurba' we have a dispossessed yatama and masakin and ibn as sabil? Why? We can't ask? No! We're not supposed to think! These Masajid are created specifically to lock you out of your own mind! What are we saying? "Oh these are bad people?" These are victims of their own traditions- they don't know it. Oh Allah guide my people because they're ignorant. So they don't want these types of ideas to break loose. If these ideas can touch base with Muslims here and there we'd have a beginning of something; but no, one of their tactics is to lock you out. "Throw them out of the Masjid" for thirty one years. What do you think? Where's all the Muslims around? Come on- be just a common sense person (and) a reasonable individual. (Do) you mean to tell us for thirty one years Muslims are not aware of what is going on?! (The) facts speak for themselves.
When the Prophet went to Al Madinah and he coupled in brotherhood Al Muhajirin and Al Ansar, what did this brotherhood mean? It meant that there was no discrimination. In today's world and in today's social psychology we have discrimination of individuals who are foreign. "Oh, you're coming from Makkah to Al Madinah? You belong in Makkah. You don't belong here." At that time these cities were like city states; just like today we have country states in those times they had city states. "Oh, you're coming from Makkah" is like being from another country. Don't get fooled by- all of this is in the Arabian Peninsula. Socially and psychologically speaking it's like today saying someone has one nationality and another person has another nationality. It's similar to that but when the Prophet brought them altogether that type of discrimination, by and large, was gone. We saw (and) we made reference on how it erupted a couple of times during his presence among them and he told them part with it, meaning this asabiyah, because it stinks, bluntly speaking (and) overloading the translation. That's what he said about this (but) we carry it with us. So the truth of the matter is discrimination was absent and equality was present. Then the Prophet went to the extent of making it mandatory that inheritance is applicable in this context, meaning that if one of these two brothers one from Makkah and the other from Al Madinah- they're not relatives at all. There's no blood relationship between them. The only relationship is this moral brotherhood (and) this social brotherhood between them- was to die he would be considered to be like the brother of the other in inheritance up until the time when the ayah in Surah Al Anfal was revealed.
… but blood relatives are nearer to one another regarding inheritance … (Surah Al Anfal verse 7)
That means here we had an ayah that is nasikhah and a Prophet's policy that was mansukha- nasikh and mansukh applies here. The question is what if we had all of these conditions regenerated again (i.e.) we had refugees, we had displaced people, we had two camps that were at odds with each other? What if the dynamics and the facts that were alive during the Prophets time came back now? Would anyone have the courage to say to some refugees who came to an Islamic domain "you are our brothers?" You ask yourself could this happen? Will this happen? Did this happen? Is it happening? You judge for yourself. Take the information that you have about today's world and see whether these types of things happen or they don't happen and see whether we measure up to the example and the prototype of Allah's Prophet.
We'll take it a step further if you want because we know there are barriers placed between us and extending these instructions and these guidelines to the social, political context to the world. We know some of you come from different backgrounds (and) we're going to take just one example. Have the Palestinians- who are displaced people, they're refugees. They are also forced to leave their homelands and their homes- been received in the same way the Muhajirin were received anywhere? We ask you and we want you to try to answer this question in yourself. The argument by officialdom in Arabian countries is "if we assimilate these Palestinians their whole issue is going to die. Then there will not be people and forces and policies and budgets, etc. to liberate Palestine." Ok- if we follow Allah's Prophet why don't we take this the other way around? Why don't we place today's officialdom in the context of Makkah and Al Madinah fourteen hundred years ago and why can't we say "well this is wrong. To have the few hundred Muhajirin from Makkah assimilate in Al Madinah is wrong because if they are treated equally (or) if they become equal citizens (or) if they become on an equal par (and) if they right now become subjects of the Islamic state in Al Madinah then they're not going to be bothered with Makkah. There's not going to be anyone who's going to call for the liberation of Makkah." Of course, that's nonsense. All of the Prophet's efforts and strategy was concentrated for twenty three years on liberating Makkah and the liberation came by making the refugees on an equal par with those they are living with. So if it applied then why can't it apply today? Who said if the Palestinians become citizens of an Islamic domain- we're not telling them become citizens of an secular state. The nature of a secular state is the way they think and express themselves, i.e. Palestinians have to be Palestinians, Syrians have to be Syrians, Jordanians have to be Jordanians, Egyptians have to be Egyptians, etc. That's how seculars think. The seculars in Egypt today destroyed a hundred and thirty seven tunnels. These tunnels go between Ghazzah and Egypt. It's the lifeline of two million people who are living in Ghazzah and they destroy a hundred and thirty seven of them. The Egyptian secular government is doing that while it is at war with its own Islamic component population! At the same time there are other tunnels in occupied Palestine right now that are expanding and being extended around Al Masjid Al Aqsa and beneath Al Masjid Al Aqsa and no one speaks about that! Why? Because they want to stifle the whole issue and it all begins where? When we are incapable of bringing these meanings up to date!
We're sorry to interfere with the programmed ideas that many people have and we've lived in the past hundred years with a political monopoly of words. There's a public mind out there that if you say the word communism goes "Ohh!"; if you say the word socialist, if you say the word Indian meaning American Indian not the Indians from the sub-continent but what the Americans call in a derogative way red Indian goes "Ohh!" At one time if you said the word Jew- "Ohh!" Now you say Muslim- "Ohh!" What's "Oh!" about? Where did this come from? We look at the true meanings of people (and) who they are so when we take a look at our own history we find there is an equality in these ayaat
… so that money does not become a closed circuit operation among a few who are rich from among you … (Surah Al Hashr verse 7)
A hadith from Allah's Prophet narrated in different ways says generic people or all the people share three things: water, fire and vegetation (or) what springs out of the earth. We're not talking about people who have their own land and they are farming it. No, excluding a person's farming of his own land everything that comes out of the rest of the land in the world is shared the rest of the people in the world. All the water in the world- all! Fire here indicates what we would call today heating. If you're going to use gas to heat (or) if you're going to use petroleum to heat that becomes a possession of the people. It's not a possession of royal families of a cartel or a certain government. No! This belongs to people. Another hadith says if you receive a price for water, for heating and for vegetation of the earth it is haram. Now you tell us, unfortunately, mankind had an experience of over a hundred years that wanted to socialise resources but did it in the name of atheism. How about socialising resources and doing it in the name of Allah and in the name of His Prophet? We can't do something like that? They'll say "what are you trying to do? You're trying to mix (atheism)?" No one is trying to do or mix anything. We're not inferior here, we are not second kicks to atheistic, communists or to God denying socialists, etc. Nothing like that! They wanted to do something good (but) they went about doing it the wrong way but we can't speak about these issues?! "Take them off the table. Oh, look who's talking about distributing wealth. It's the political left so you Muslims have to shut up! If the political left is speaking about these issues you cannot!" This is the mentality that is propagated in these manabir in these Masajid and that's why we are where we are today. For those who are especially particular of "where did you get the hadith?" Where did this hadith come from? It came from, surprisingly, the most authentic sources of those who don't want us to speak about these issues and that is ibn Hanbal and ibn Majah. They will find these hadiths in the most reliable sources that they have and we refer them as we did in the past thirty one years to Allah.
Dear committed Muslims…
We're doing this from khutbah to khutbah because we can't speak about Allah's instructions and His Prophet's teachings while making believe that there is no enemy in this world out to get you. We're not in a dream world! This is real and if you stand for justice there is going to be individuals and establishments that are going to be against you and it only takes a cursory consideration of our Prophetic history (and) our scriptural account of events to understand that this is in the nature of things. So why can't we speak about justice when it comes to those who have occupied our Masajid and displaced us in the tens of millions. If we're only about forty individuals in the street every week there are forty and a hundred and forty million refugees who have been displaced in the world and it can be directly attributable to those who are institutionalising our ignorance. (Do) you hear that? They are institutionalising our ignorance! You go to jum'ah every week (and) the same way you enter the Masjid you exit the Masjid, (i.e.) thoughtless and de-activated. That's what they want, they want the status quo to continue. Brothers and sisters- we heard two things (from) some of their so called scholars- these are Saudi scholars who toe the Saudi line- that may interest you. One of them… He was railing. He's a known person (who) gets invited all over the place. Listen to this, (we've never heard this before and we would not mention this except to prove to you how ignorant and how offensive that ignorance becomes), he said in a ranting of his against the Shi'is "these Shi'is take away Sunni babies in places like Iran or Afghanistan or Iraq and they boil them to death and after these babies die they wrap them up and take them to the homes of the parents who then unwrap these babies and look at the condition of their dead baby in front of their eyes." Now a person who's a scholar who should know that this is a total fabrication and a lie (but) this is coming out of the mouth of a so called scholar! Another "scholar" says, (listen to this), "it is haram for a Muslim to sit beside another attractive Muslim man." He was asked "why do you say it is haram?" He said "because the attractive man can stimulate the sexual appeal in the other man so its haram to sit beside him." That says more about that individual than it says about the whole history and the whole knowledge about sexuality.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 14 March 2014 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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