Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : POLITICAL OPPOSITION, ISLAMIC OBLIGATION

 

THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (18 April 2014) webpage: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182501078290&ref=ts 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 …

 

Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/339503 (04-04-2014)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwTIxiWKYMI

POLITICAL OPPOSITION, ISLAMIC OBLIGATION

Allah says in (the) ayah in Surah Aal Imran that follows the couple of ayaat that precede it that speak about togetherness, Islamic unity (as it were)

Let there be from among you an Ummah i.e. a consolidated effort that calls all and sundry to prosperity  (and) a consolidated effort that authorizes and enforces what is good in a self evident way and delegitimizes and dis-establishes al munkar which is whatever is bad and destructive in a self evident way and they are the successful. (Surah Aal Imran verse 104)

If this effort is undertaken by a consolidated effort of people then these people are truly successful. We begin this khutbah with this ayah simply as an introduction to one of these issues on a matter that has been deliberately taken away from our thoughts and our conscience. This matter pertains to political opposition. We know some people think "this is a touchy issue" and other people think "this is an off limits issue" and yet others say "this should only be discussed within closed circles and only among the elites and scholars and all of this." This is a Qur'anic ayah (and) this is a Qur'anic issue; it is an issue in which the Prophet demonstrated his character and his behavior. So how do you make this a special issue or a private issue or a selective issue? How does this happen? Where did this come from? The Book of Allah and the Prophet of Allah are accessible and they beg our attention and our thoughts. This political opposition is a matter of relocating ourselves in the materialistic and secular society that we are in- this is a fact of life. We live in a non Islamic social order. They began to speak about human rights back in the eighteenth century at the beginning with the French revolution and the ideas of John Jack Rousseau and Jefferson here in the United States. They put together these ideas that have to do with human rights which they also call natural rights and then this writ became the ideal of the world. It had nothing to do with Islamic civilization, nothing to do with Chinese civilization, it had nothing to do with Indian civilization, it had nothing to do with African civilization, it had nothing to do with South American civilization- it had nothing to do with any of this. This is a European phenomenon. So they took the lead on this and they began speaking about human rights and within their documents and declarations of this subject they spoke about freedoms and they spoke about human rights and they spoke about political opposition (i.e.) that people have the right to express themselves. Let's say you and I disagree with a particular policy or with a particular leader or with a particular regime or a particular ideology you have the right to speak against it. We have the right to expose it. So the rest of the world adopted this first in the League of Nations back in the first quarter of the twentieth century and then by the United Nations and its declaration of the universal human rights in the second half towards the second half of the twentieth century, 1948. All of this was made public information that seeped into all corners of the world and thereby we are supposed to judge and evaluate according to this as if we don't have any recourse or we don't have any sources that speak about this issue. Actually political opposition in Islam, in our history, is there; it just depends on whether you want to consider it or you don't want to consider it. Then if you want to consider it, how do you want to consider it? Remember (and) keep this in mind as we trail our thoughts- we're speaking about political opposition, we're not speaking about religious differences, we're not speaking about religious polarizations, we're not speaking about sectarian issues. Unfortunately if many people today want to speak about political opposition they mix that up with purely Islamic doctrine meaning, (this is what we mean here), political opposition as a freedom that is granted to us by Allah has become to some people an article of faith. So if you are not of the political opposition you become a lesser Muslim- theologically speaking. This has no place. Political opposition is a human right. It belongs to every human being in the world. It doesn't belong to a particular way you perform your salah or a particular way you perform any other sha'ira from the sha'aa'ir in Islam- it has nothing to do with that. So when we want to trace this let's see- because some people come… We can see it from the very first step. We report to Allah and His Prophet- that's it. So in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of his Prophet is there anything that tells us political opposition is legitimate? Is there anything that tells us political opposition is a right? Is there anything that tells us that political opposition at times becomes an obligation? Let's see. We have our common history- let us review it and see what we have on the matter of political opposition.

 

Number one- we begin by taking the day the Prophet passed away. There was an assembly in saqifah Bani Sa'ida, the canopy of Bani Sa'ida. This means that there was a roof over them so to speak; not like today's structures but something over their heads. They met there and they began to discuss who is going to be the decision maker now that the Prophet has passed away and most of the attention in that saqifah with those who were present in the saqifah, (because some were not present in the saqifah), was concentrated on Sa'd ibn Ubadah (radi Allahu anhu). Sa'd ibn Ubadah was the headman of Al Khazraj. Of the two blocks that make up the Ansar (radi Allahu anhum)- Al Aws and Al Khazraj- Sa'd ibn Ubadah was the head of the Khazraj in those two blocks. So most of the attention began to drift towards him and there was some type of validity for that. We, (in detail), went through these historical particulars but we can explain the drift of attention towards Sa'd ibn Ubadah because he was the head of this substantial block of Al Ansar called Al Khazraj- that's number one.

 

Number two- the Ansar of Al Madinah were the major support base of the Prophet. The land was their land; it was their geographical territorial state. The Prophet was the leader, the Prophet was the Imam, the Prophet was the ultimate decision maker, the Prophet was the Prophet but he was located in Al Madinah in a population of Al Ansar so they were his founding support base. Sa'd ibn Ubadah was also one of the twelve who gave the bai'ah to the Prophet before the Prophet moved or was forced out of Makkah on to Al Madinah. Sa'd ibn Ubadah attended all the battles and the military sacrifices that the Prophet himself attended. So there was an understanding of why people would say "well we think he might be a good leader." That was there. When this drift towards Sa'd ibn Ubadah occurred Umar (radi Allahu anhu) realized that the leadership of the Muslims may turn into the leadership by the Ansar. We don't want to cover this territory once again because we spent many khutbahs and many jum'ahs covering this territory. Everyone needed an argument for themselves- the Muhajirun (radi Allahu anhum) made an argument for themselves, the Ansar made an argument for themselves, Al Hashimiyun made an argument for themselves- we covered this in previous khutbahs. So when Umar sensed that there's good possibility that Sa'd ibn Ubadah may become the leader, the Khalifah of Rasulillah, he with Abu Ubayda (radi Allahu anhu) went to Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) and sort of, (in a sense), imposed the leadership of the Muslims on those who were present there. This was not done by force, it was not done by intimidations, it was not done by threats. This has a background to it. There are people (and) there are tendencies- there are Munafiqin in the Islamic society, there are internal enemies, there are external enemies and then you have that most destructive of all elements (i.e.) the asabiyah which we also cleared in previous weeks and khutbahs. So Umar, Abu Ubaydah and Abu Bakr along with other Muhajirin who were there in the saqifah made the case for Al Muhajirin- number one and then from among the Muhajirin (viz.), that those who were from Quraysh were the first and foremost to carry this responsibility of Islam, that they were the closest to the Prophet and the longest with him, that they are from Quraysh. As these dynamics were taking place there were some of the Muhajirin who would favor Uthman (radi Allahu anhu)- those who were from Bani Umayah; there were some from the Muhajirin who would favor Abdur Rahman ibn Awf or Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (radi Allahu anhuma)- those are from Bani Zuhra. It wasn't like all the Muhajirin had one mind or one conspiracy as some tend to cast this whole issue. This was not a conspiracy. This was an attempt to hold the house of Islam together when there were so many forces trying to pull it apart. What we want to say in this context with these delicate issues and this sensitive juncture in history (is) there were some committed Muslims Muhajirin who favored Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu) in this same context. They were not there en mass under the saqifah- some of them were and some of them were with Ali when he was doing the final funeral rites of Allah's Prophet. So when word got around that there was a bai'ah for Abi Bakr they refused. They said we are not going to authenticate or we are not going to endorse his leadership and first and foremost among them was Ali. This is a historical fact. Now you have different history books telling you but eventually he gave his bai'ah and we think that is a matter that only the most rabid muta'asibin (i.e.) those who are most fanatical in their point of view would take issue with it otherwise a rationale, a clam and objective person would know Ali gave his bai'ah to the three predecessors who preceded him but the fact of the matter was he expressed political opposition, (this was the initial idea). He expressed political opposition. Sa'd ibn Ubadah expressed political opposition when Abu Bakr finally became the first Khalifah (or) the first successor to Allah's Prophet he didn't say "I'm going to force you to give me a bai'ah." We challenge anyone out there to give any credible information that says the Khalifah forced the Imam to give a bai'ah. We challenge you. It never happened! Umar said to Ali the following, (and it means something like this), we are not going to leave you alone until you give your bai'ah; that doesn't mean they were forcing him to give the bai'ah. It means they were anxious for him to give his bai'ah. There was no bad blood between Umar and Ali. There was no bad blood between Abu Bakr and Ali. Where did this come from. Abu Bakr said to Ali if you don't give your bai'ah' I'm not going to force you to do so. So Ali continued to resist. This is political opposition. This is not war. This is not hate. This is not fanaticism. This is not sectarianism. This is political opposition. He continued, (we don't know- some historians (and) we don't want to get into this historical back and forth), whether it was six days or six months that he refused to give his bai'ah. Whatever it was, it was a demonstration of political opposition that did not cause hostilities and animosities. There was no hate here. You listen to today's hatred preachers around- Sunnis and Shi'is and you go back to this history and you say "where did this hate come from?" There's hate out there; where did it come from? It certainly did not come from these figures, from these leaders (and) from these characters. So after Fatima (alayha as salaam) passed away Ali- within other conditions (and) within other circumstances; there were wars now, breakaway wars. We covered hurub ar ridda (i.e.) these factions in Arabia who wanted to economically breakaway from the Islamic treasury and the Islamic state in Al Madinah. They said we don't want anything to do with you. Give you our money?! We're not going to give you anything. These were Muslims. They prayed, they fasted, they prayed the nights (i.e.) tahajjud. They did all of this. They only didn't want to do one thing (i.e.) they didn't want to be financially responsible towards the central Islamic authority in Al Madinah- that's all they didn't want to do. This was going to tear the Muslims apart. In these conditions Ali went to preserve, (number one), the consolidation of the Muslims, (number two) the sovereignty of the Islamic state, (number three), the brotherhood of committed Muslims. So after the Ansar, (like we said), heard these arguments (and) the give and take between both sides (i.e.) Al Ansar and Al Muhajirin… Remember, there was a pre-Islamic rivalry between the Aws and the Khazraj and when the Aws- these are committed Muslims, brothers and sisters. These are the ones who would go to the battlefields to give their lives. When this happened they did not want Sa'd ibn Ubadah to be the leader. They had Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (radi Allahu anhu) who is their leader so they said let's go and give our bai'ah to Abi Bakr and finally it ended with the overwhelming majority of Khazraj the people of Sa'd ibn Ubadah giving the bai'ah to Abi Bakr but Sa'd remained an opponent. He remained in his political opposition. Ali gave the bai'ah; Sa'd ibn Ubadah never gave the bai'ah. What did he do? Did he say "let's carry arms and fight the ruler and fight the Muslims and fight the state?" Did he do such a thing? Never! So as long as Abu Bakr was the Khalifah there was political opposition but there was no armed opposition except for hurub ar ridda- these were wars. These were not from within Al Muhajirin and Al Ansar.

 

Then when Umar became the leader Sa'd ibn Ubadah still refused to give his bai'ah. Sa'd ibn Ubadah died in the fourteenth year of the hijrah, meaning two years into Umar's reign he passed on. During all this time he refused to give the bai'ah. This, brothers and sisters, is political opposition and no one told him "hey- wait a minute. What you are doing is wrong." To the extent that during the time of hajj there was an Emir (i.e.) a person who is deputized to lead the hujjaj (and) Sa'd ibn Ubadah would not follow. He would be by himself. There was no hatred. There was no animosity (and) hostility. There was a difference of opinion and that difference of opinion was honored. Let us give you an exchange that happened between Sa'd ibn Ubadah the political opponent of Abi Bakr and Umar. Luckily it doesn't fit into this Sunni-Shi'i sectarian stuff that you hear nowadays. Sunnis don't speak much about him and Shi'is don't speak much about him. So what is this exchange that happened one day (when) Sa'd was on a horse and Umar was on a lesser animal than a horse. They met each other and its like both of them are preparing themselves for a verbal exchange. Sa'd said to Umar from a political opposition position, by Allah there's no one that I dislike their proximity more than I dislike your proximity  to me (or) I dislike you being near me. This indicates there's a serious political difference between the two individuals (or) between the two Sahabis but it didn't mean there was hatred! It didn't mean one had one religion and the other had another religion! You never could extract this meaning from it. Then Umar said to him whoever dislikes the closeness or the proximity of a man moves on, gets away (or) distances himself. Then Sa'd says I anticipate to vacate my position from you to a position of nearness to He who is more beloved to me than you and your companions. You feel, here, the serious political difference between the two but you don't sense that there is a hostility that verges on hatred and could go to war like the sectarians are trying to do today. They try to pick on these issues to have us go to war. This is one of the most intense and the most polarized encounters that we come across and there is no hate here. From what we read and from what we have in these books there is nothing that indicates that Umar threatened the person- something like today's rulers would do. They would say "who do you think you're talking to? You think I'm going to let you get away with that? Send in the guards! Throw him behind bars" and these types of things that take place today. None of that happened. Both of them expressed themselves honestly and parted. So today we ask: are we allowed political opposition? Can we be political opponents in this civilized way, with this character? Can we be like that or we have to hate? When you oppose someone you have to hate?! Where did that come from? The Prophet of Allah had his encounters with his enemies- and these were enemies who were expressing hatred towards him- he disagreed with them all the way to the warfront. Ali disagreed with these Mushrikin and the Kafirin all the way to the warfront. Was there hate? In the well demonstrated encounter with Ali and one of these Mushriks. The Mushrik wanted to save his soul and his life so he exposed his private parts. You can be assured if there was hatred in Ali he would have finished him off -private parts or not. There was no hatred. They were in control of themselves. This was a civilized, advanced character and personality unlike the sectarians of today. We go back to the ayah

Let there be from among you an Ummah i.e. a consolidated effort that calls all and sundry to prosperity  (and) a consolidated effort that authorizes and enforces what is good in a self evident way and delegitimizes and dis-establishes al munkar which is whatever is bad and destructive in a self evident way and they are the successful. (Surah Aal Imran verse 104)

Then we go to the Prophet's hadith you will in all certainty authorize and enforce what is good in a self evident way and you will delegitimize and disestablish what is bad in a self evident way… Al Ma'ruf and al munkar are terms belonging to humanity. Al Ma'ruf is something that is self evident to humanity (and) al munkar is something that is self evident to humanity. … and you are going to take adh dhaalim by his hands and you are going to frame him within the circumference of al haqq or else Allah is going to cause your hearts to clash with each other (or) to conflict with each other and then at that time you make du'a to Allah- Oh Allah, I want this, I ask you for this, I plead with you for that, I beseech you for that- there's not going to be a response from Allah to you. You foreclose of Allah's response. Then, especially for these scholars who don't report to Allah and His Prophet they report to the king and the president, the Prophet's hadith the best form of jihad is expressing the word of truth or the facts in the face of a tyrannical ruler or oppressive governor. Some people will say "ok- you spoke about Sa'd ibn Ubadah, you spoke about Ali, you can speak about other Mujahidin and other Muttaqin and other Sahaba and other individuals from Ahl Al Bayt, you can speak about an array about those who opposed wayward rulers but how about an organized effort? Can we have an organized opposition?" Yes, we can have an organized opposition.

Let there be from among you an Ummah… (Surah Aal Imran verse 104)

An Ummah ranges from an individual

Indeed Ibrahim was an Ummah of one… (Surah An Nahl verse 120)

And then it all the way goes to become a nation or a social combined collective effort.

For sure this Ummah of yours is one Ummah and I am your sustainer so conform to Me. (Surah Al Anbiya' verse 92)

So the ayah itself says yes, by all means you can be organized but it has to be civilized and it has to be a measured and it has to be a disciplined and a responsible organization. Right now because we don't have organized Islamic political opposition we have freelancers jumping into the fray so anyone now can put together an outfit and call themselves Islamic opposition and they are being financed and they are being weaponized by the Mushrikin and the Kuffaar. This is what happens when we ourselves cannot step up to the plate and act in a responsible way. Some people are afraid of the word hizb. You might not know this but some very limited minds out there in the Islamic sphere of things take Surah Al Ahzaab- ahzaab is the plural of hizb. It has a negative connotation to it- these are the confederates that came to fight the Islamic state in Al Madinah. "Why would we want to have a hizb? Why do we want to be of these ahzaab?" Another thing they take from the du'a during the Eid time …and He by Himself defeated Al Ahzaab… Then they add to that, in their cobweb minds, the so called hadith that the Muslims are going to be divided into seventy three factions so why should we become a faction? They put all that together and they say "you can't have an Islamic opposition." Nonsense! You can have an Islamic opposition. The word hizb in the Qur'an has a negative and it has a positive connotation. In Surah Al Fatir ayah number six

Ash Shaytaan invites his own hizb, his own faction, so they become the occupants of the flaming fire. (Surah Al Fatir verse 6)

Hizb here has a bad connotation to it- that's hizb Ash Shaytaan. Then you come to another ayah (in) Surah Al Maa'idah ayah fifty six

And whoever has Allah and His Messenger and the committed Muslims as their primary allies then this hizb of Allah are the ones who are going to be triumphant. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 56)

This hizb is going to be triumphant. There is a positive connotation and in this case we can have a collective organized, social, political, opposition. Another ayah (in) Surah Al Mujaadalah, ayah twenty two

Allah is satisfied with them, they are satisfied with Allah; they are the Hizb of Allah- indeed the Hizb of Allah are the successful ones. (Surah Al Mujaadalah verse 22)

So who is there to come and say you can't have organized political Islamic opposition? We'll end with the Prophet's hadith that says whoever sees a munkar (i.e.) something that all humanity knows is wrong something that is atrociously unacceptable to human nature should change it with their ability (or) with their hands if they can, and if they can't then they should change it with their communication, with their language (or) with their speech and if they can't the least they can do is change it in their psychology and in their heart and that latter one is the least expression of commitment to Allah.

 

Dear committed Muslims…

Taking this idea- here in the secular western world they talk about human rights- if we take a look at our Islamic sources what is called human rights in the west in the Islamic sphere are called obligations. One of these obligations- it's not only a right, in addition to it being a right it's an obligation- is to oppose those who are illegitimately in power. We think after many years of studying and reflection that this opposition should be concentrated on those who are in control of  Makkah and Al Madinah- that's where this opposition belongs and every Muslim who has a pulsating heart and a thinking mind should concentrate this opposition on those who have usurped the land of Al Haramayn. They get away with everything. They have a class of scholars who are dumbed down. They can't speak truth to power! They can't speak truth to wealth! They are silent. He who remains silent when it comes to expressing the truth is a dumbfounded Shaytaan. This applies to anyone and everyone who is incapable to exposing those who are illegitimate in Al Hijaz and in the Arabian Peninsula. We don't do this as anarchists. We don't say this as anarchists or terrorists or subversives in the negative sense of the word. No! We say this with knowledge and with yaqin, we say this because we are enlightened by Allah and His Prophet. A king comes and says "this is going to be my crown prince and his crown prince is going to be so and so" Where did this come from? Where did they get this from? They said "they had a bai'ah." They brought in a council of thirty four members that they themselves hand picked and these of course automatically gave their bai'ah and the Muslim world remained silent! There is no Sa'd ibn Ubadah in the Muslim world, there is no Ali in the Muslim world, there are no Mujahidin in the Muslim world- none of this! You have to deal with "oh brother, you know you can't rock the boat. You can't speak these types of words. You can't. So where did this come from? Who said? Is this what Allah is saying? Show me your proof. Quote me the ayaat and the ahadith that support your position." But they are not out there. Like we said in the beginning they do not report to Allah and His Prophet. They report to military power structures and they report to financial wealth structures- that's what they report to and exclude us from their company- Oh Allah.

 

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 4 April 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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Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : FINANCIAL CRIMES FROM ARABIA

 

THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (11 April 2014) webpage: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182501078290&ref=ts http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar/ PLEASE e-mail Suggestions & Criticisms to khutbahs@yahoo.com It is in such a manner that We make plain Our signs so that the course of the Criminals may become clear.

Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.

Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.

Dear committed Muslims …

Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/339068(03-28-2014)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_tZpo2WuyU

FINANCIAL CRIMES FROM ARABIA

Sometimes a person- and we are all human and we have our susceptibilities- reaches an area in the emotional realm in which he or she may feel frustration and despair. It is not that this is an everyday occurrence because if it was we would drown in our own failures. It's just one of these fleeting moments or minutes and it passes; not only does it occur to a regular human being like you and I but it also occurred to super human beings, (so to speak), as the Prophets and Messengers of Allah. An ayah says

… until a point at which Apostles or Messengers of Allah feel that this despair is coming on… (Surah Yusuf verse 110)

We have been, (and we say this in a very humble way), trying to communicate the words of Allah and their meanings (and) the teachings of the Prophet and his instructions throughout all of these years and obviously we are knocking on a brick wall when it comes to those who use their power and wealth to obstruct this course of Allah. In the previous khutbahs we spoke about the clout of wealth and the after effects of power when they come to bear on committed Muslims anywhere- whether this is in history or whether it's in our real time encounters with the real world out there. As is the case with the initial pulse- how do you speak to people who are your adversaries such as the ones who forced us to pray out here in the street for over thirty one years now? How do you speak to people like this? (Do) you begin to speak to them with a sense of maybe they will open their minds? May be they will open their hearts? These are people who are Muslims- at least nominal Muslims, who pray and who do whatever is required of an individual Muslim- but as we said it seems like this is a call in the wilderness and the major reason for that is these ayaat(which) we'll try to quote at the end of the khutbah. (These ayaat)characterises their psychology and their behaviour. This ayah with its few words gives us a panoramic expose of the fact of these types of people who are drunk with wealth and intoxicated with power. The ayah in SurahSaba' says

We, (in reference to Allah), have never sent someone to warn a people (or) to put them on notice (or) to tell them "hey look- what you are doing is going to lead bad, negative (and) destructive results. Watch it! Be careful. Reconsider what you are doing- your policies your strategies," Every time a warner comes to them… (Surah Saba'verse 34)

What would they say? These are the words of Allah

… they replied whatever you have been sent with- your scripture, your inspirations, your wisdom, whatever comes your way from your God- we are in denial and in rejection of that. (Surah Saba'verse 34)

Here is where we have a further breakdown of these types of people.

We have more money and we have more manpower… (Surah Saba' verse 35)

And then here's the arrogance. Here's where their true nature surfaces. If you can't see it yet you will see it in the final words in the ayah.

… and we will never be exposed to any type of punishment or any type of torment. (Surah Saba'verse 35)

They're above it all! They're above laws, they're above scripture, they're above listening, especially to regular people like you and me. Now the key word that we want to focus on is the word mutrafuha.We're trying to put the original meaning in a combination of words. Mutrafis the extravagantly rich. This will force us to look at some definitions. Some of you read the Qur'an, (we hope frequently), more important than that some of you try to understand the Qur'an more intensely which is important- you just can't satisfy yourself with vocalising words, you have to mentalize them and after that you have to let it become a behaviour. So we encounter words in the Qur'an such as al mutrafun or al mutrafinor utrifu. What does it mean? Ok-those who are extravagantly rich. This forces us to take some other related words.

We find in the Qur'an the word faqir or fuqara'and some times curious and forward looking Muslims ask "can you explain to us." Listen- this is extremely important. There are words in the Qur'anthat are translated (and) in the translation you don't get the subtlety of the difference between one word and the other word, for example fuqara' is aQur'anic word (and) the word al masakin is a Qur'anic word. One ayah says

But as sadaqat (i.e.) what you give to authenticate, via spending, the value of who you are… (Surah At Tawbah verse 60)

So when this ayah says

But as sadaqat is for the fuqara' and masakin… (Surah At Tawbah verse 60)

You can't say because the translation invariably of al fuqara' and al masakin in other languages seems to be the same word (i.e.) poor people (or) poverty stricken people- that's how the general average person understands it. There is a difference because if there wasn't a difference there wouldn't be two words used. If the meaning is the same the ayah would say

But as sadaqat is for the fuqara'… (Surah At Tawbah verse 60)

and skip the word al masakin and go on to mention another category of people or you'd use the word al masakin and skip the word al fuqara'.

But as sadaqat is for the masakin… (Surah At Tawbah verse 60)

Why mention the word fuqara'? So there's a difference and even though there has been a scholarly back and forth on this issue what concerns us here is to understand the refined or the subtle difference in meaning. Al fuqara' in its linguistic construct-because it was a meaning (and) it was a word used before the Qur'an was revealed so it had a type of organic meaning (or) a type of general meaning and what it meant in pre-Qur'anic times was it refers to the word fiqrahi.e. the backbone. So when you say a person is faqir, (we're just trying to give you the flavour of it); it literally means you can see his backbones or he is back bony. He is so poor that he has become so malnourished that you can now see very clearly the make up of his backbone, you can count his backbones. One, two, three, up to the thirty third backbone- you can count them. That's a faqir. Who is al miskin? Al miskin is a person who works but in spite of his labour and his sweat and his work he still remains in need. To al faqirthat's not necessarily the case. A person can be disabled and because he is disabled he is not able to go out and work so his health begins to deteriorate. Another ayah in the Qur'an that helps explain this even more (is) in Surah Al Kahf when Allah was speaking about that vessel that belonged to masakin.

That vessel belonged to masakin- their livelihood their labour livelihood was contingent upon them working (or) ploughing the sea or the ocean… (Surah Al Kahf verse 79)

So when we speak about faqir originally that's who we are speaking about. The reason we're speaking about al faqir is to understand al mutrafin. Sometimes it's easier to understand a concept by looking at its contrarian (or) by looking at its opposite. So take a look at the fiqhi (or) scholarly literature that we have, we find that there is a definition of al faqir. Now we skipped from the original linguistic meaning prior to the revelation of the Qur'an and the advent of the Prophet-the word faqir meant someone (who) you can see his backbones. He's so poor, he's so in need, he can't feed himself or herself so you can see their backbone; in the books of the learned fuqaha' you will find al faqir is defined by a person who is not able to provide for himself and his family for a year. They do not have enough food, they do not have enough sustenance, they don't have enough nourishment for a year.In Islam, if we wanted to take the fiqhi literature we have that's how we define the poverty level. If you don't have in your possession that which suffices you to live for a year you are a faqir even though your backbones not be showing. You see the transition from the linguistic meaning to the shar'i meaning! So when zakahtime comes (or) when distribution of wealth comes the first to qualify for this is the fuqara' (i.e.) those who don't have what will suffice them as far as survival is concerned for a year.

Then we go to another word which is a Qur'anicword, al ghaniy. Al ghaniy is translated as a rich person, meaning he's not in need. How is that defined? Remember we're talking about a rich person here and notice the discrepancy between the Islamic definition of a rich person and the definition we have in today's world. A rich person in theIslamic legal sense of the word is a person who has what suffices him and his family for a year or more-that's a rich person.

Then we have al mustaghni. Al mustaghni is a person who is in addition to having a year and more of food and water and shelter and whatever- those are secure for a year is al ghaniy- al mustghni is if he has it for years. If he has secured whatever he needs for the survival of his and his dependants for a good amount of years he is mustghni.

Then you have the end of this spectrum the word we used at the end of this ayah in Surah Saba'.It didn't say aghniyauha, or mustaghnuha. It said mutrfuha, the extravagantly rich. In today's pedestrian language these are the millionaires and the billionaires that are around. In some of the numbers that come our way in this world there are eighty billionaires in the world that have in their possession more than what belongs to half of humanity! Now you see the lopsided world that we are in! So who's speaking in this ayah is not the average rich person, it is not the rich person that has the abundance of years of security; it is these people who are filthy rich (or) extravagantly rich- mutrafun. So these are the ones who are speaking in this ayah and God forbid the public mind out there as it is engineered by the corporate information sources that someone tried to bring the meanings of these ayaat such as the word mutrafin. Ok- who are they in today's world? "Oh you want to define who al mutrafun are in today's world? Get out of the Masjid!" (That's) basically the dynamic that has been at work for thirty one plus years now which brings up a very legitimate concern or question and that is when you speak about wealth, how in the Islamic remodelling of society do you define the acquisition of money or possessions? The answer to that, without going through many details, is the acquisition is halal as long as it is an acquisition that secures you from need and from want- that is legitimate acquisition but then what if you begin to acquire and you have more then that? Then that does not belong to you, it's no longer yours. So there is something in human nature that wants to accumulate wealth to the detriment of human beings and the Prophet of Allah says (and) he describes this- (we'll quote the hadith for you) the subject of Allah says "it's my money, it's my money" but the only thing he has in actuality of his money are three things:When you come to think about this psychology that says "its mine." These people (i.e.) the billionaires in the world (and) the elitist, (i.e.) those who have interlocked wealth and power are speaking they come and say "oh this is mine, but it is mine." Who said it is yours? Where did that come from? What if Allah is saying something else? Can u open your mind and hearts to understand what Allah is saying? So when you look at it, there is only three things you get out of this money. One of them has a jumbo jet that's custom made that costs $485million! What is this? This is more than the budget of one of those small countries in the world! These people who belongs to that establishment there with its network around the world have muzzled the Masajidso that these words of truth do not be spoken. What is it- $485million for a jet and let other Muslims die to death?! Who cares about Somali Muslims, who cares about Bangladeshi Muslims?! These are Muslims. Dare not speak to them about non-Muslims who are dying of hunger and malnutrition and diseases and poverty. Oh no! Don't talk to them about that. Don't remind them of that. A masjidis not supposed to be a place where this fact is brought to public attention. If it's going to be discussed it has to be behind closed doors and it has to be classified and it has to be by them not by you and me. Another reinforcing hadithby Allah's Prophet says the son of Adam- you and I- says "my money, my wealth." Now the Prophet is putting it in a few words. These people now to whom this hadith applies phrase it in a language that causes you to be friendly to them. You are not supposed to be friendly to them! These are criminals and crooks! We said at the beginning of the khutbah because we are only human beings you speak to them first as if they are your equals. You're concerned about them but when they face you with an iron fist and pressure and rejection and all of this you can only face them the way Nuh (alayhi as salaam) said

Oh my Sustainer- leave not of these who reject and deny You one inhabitant (or) one dweller on this earth. (Surah Nuh verse 26)

At one time in Egypt, trying to define these types of people, who are they? We mean they pray, they fast, they do all of this but are we defined by ceremonials or are we defined by content? Just like, (as was once said by some devote but somehow exaggerating types- but this is a statement worth reflecting on), "if you take a container that says sugar on it (i.e.) a sugar container and it says sugar and it maybe has pictures of sugar-canes or beads on it and gives you the impression that this is a container of sugar but you put salt in it. Now by looking at it, it looks white. Everything there indicates its sugar but when you come to taste it, it turns out to be salt. So are you to deceive yourself with the appearance or are you to test the content? What is this stuff in reality and that's what we have with these types of people." Are we going to judge them by their appearance or are we going to judge them by their content, their behaviour, their psychology, their interaction (and) their approach to people- what they are doing? The deeds, the work, the labour- that's how you define a person! Now they want us to get stuck in this sectarian, racist, nationalist polarisation and you're not permitted to look beyond these appearances into the character of who they are. That's not permitted! And Allah here is opening our eyes. Look! Notice, penetrate (and) see with your foresight and your insight. This is how we approach this. Brothers and sisters- you're going to read these words al faqir,al ghaniy, al mustaghni, al mutraf- these are Qur'anicwords; don't let some type of off the cuff translator mislead you. There are serious implications to this. We mentioned and we'll say it again- the ayahin Surah Al Baqarah

… they will ask you what are we to spend (or) donate (or) give? Say: whatever else there is that goes beyond what is necessary for you to have… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 219)

This is before the technicalities and the formalities of az zakah set in. The general question out there with people who had some surplus (or) some extras came and they asked the Prophet what are we to spend what are we to give? There was no such thing as one fortieth of your wealth or one tenth of what you have or one fifth of what you have saved and all of these other legalities that afterwards came to limit the spending. It didn't come to spur spending, it came to limit it! You hear that? There's a difference. The psychology today is "oh what am I going to give of what I have? Look- I have this amount of money (and) I've had it for a year, what am I going to give? Is it the 2.5%? Is it the fortieth? Is it the ten percent or twenty percent? What is it? Tell me." Before anyone gave those answers the social psychology of Muslims (was) any surplus or any extra thing you give to those who are in need. This is the basis. Later on when these details kicked in, that was to limit from giving. In today's world it is topsy-turvy. You tell people about az zakah and sadaqah and these things to spur them to give that two and a half percent or that ten percent or that twenty percent. (Do) you see the difference of the worlds that we are living in? These people listen to the hadiths more than the ayaat-which is supposed to be the other way around. We are supposed to be grounded in the meanings of these ayaat and then the hadiths come in to either reinforce the meanings or to fertilize the meanings. It is not the hadithsthat you concentrate on (and) then you bring the ayaat to fit them into the body of ahadith literature. They have it wrong psychologically and they have it wrong scholarly! The Prophet's hadith says whoever has extra means of transportation… Dhaharliterally means back. Whoever has an extra back should give it to those who are in need of it and the back in those days referred to the back of a camel or a horse or a mule or a donkey or any other means of transportation they had on those days. Dhahar today means if you have an extra car or if you have an extra bicycle or if you have an extra whatever means of transportation there is then you give it to some person who is in need of it. … whoever has extra provisions (or) if you have extra food or extra nourishments you give it to those who are in need of it. Any person thinking along the lines of the Qur'an and the Sunnah would say why don't these hadithscirculate? Why don't people know about this? Why don't people speak about this from the Manabir and from the Masajid? Because obviously if this is going to become public knowledge and then public knowledge is going to become public thoughts and then public thoughts is going to become public behaviour then the public is going to unseat the crooks and the criminals and they're going to do so on the basis of what Allah and His Prophet instructed. Theayah in the Qur'an says

Rather, this social being … (Surah Al Alaq verse 5)

You and I and everyone else who shares the human nature and instincts that we all have in common regardless of what our religious persuasion is (and) regardless of what our ideological convictions- it doesn't matter- not al Kafir, notadh dhalim, not al fasiq, not al Muslim

Rather, this insane in his very inclination, in his very instinct and nature there's a propensity to concentrate power and abuse power… (Surah Al Alaq verse 5)

That is tughyan and taghut. When do you and me become taghiswith concentrated and abusive power?

… when you see yourself in the catergory of istighna… (Surah Al Alaq verse 5)

Remember the definition we just mentioned- al faqir, al ghaniy, al mustaghni and al mutraf? So when you leave the status of faqir and you go to the status of ghaniy you still, more or less, don't have that inclination oftughyan but when you reach al istighna you have much much more than you need then here is where you rationalize for yourself the policies that are in place (i.e.) institutionalized poverty- the number one enemy of humanity.Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu) says if poverty was a person I would have finished it off. That's how antithetical poverty is to you and to me and to everyone else in this world. We mentioned, (and it's worth mentioning again), that some people, especially this crowd that is brainwashed by the Saudi religious criminal syndicate say, "but brother- you are pious, you are God fearing, you are a man of God, does your prayer tell you to be involved in these things? You talk about economies, you talk about finances, you talk about powers and accumulation of wealth and all of these things, No! You should pray." You see- this attitude was addressed. Theayah in Surah Hud addresses exactly that mind. It says

The people of Shuayb, (a Prophet from Allah) addressed him: does your salah enforce you to tell us to part ways with the status quo of our ancestors, our culture, our history (and) our status quo? (Surah Hud verse 87)

Ibadah is not this super imposed false definition of worship. Idabah does not mean worship. Ibadah means conformity and compliance.

Or does your prayers tell you that we cannot do with our money what we want to do? (Surah Hud verse 87)

Quote this ayah to these people who are reinforcing the polarization and the status quo of a troubled world. This also appeared in the history of Bani Isra'eel.

And their Prophet said to them verily Allah has sent Talut to you as a leader or as someone who has the affairs of sovereignty over you. They replied: "but how can he have al mulk over us? How can he be a sovereign over us when we deserve it more than he does and he doesn't have all of that extra money (and) he doesn't have all of that wealth that we anticipate?" (Surah Al Baqarah verse 247)

We don't anticipate a person who is going to be our temporal sovereign coming from the lower classes.

Allah has chosen him for you (or) selected him… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 247)

This is a divine selection and you take issue with it? Of course they take issue with it. They took issue with it historically and they take issue with it today. They dismiss a person who doesn't come from an affluent background, "who is he?" This is the nature of these types of people who are corrupted by the possession of wealth and the control of power. The same thing happened to our beloved and blessed Prophet. The ayah in the Qur'an says about the people in the two sister cities in Hejaz,Makkah and At Ta'if- the major cities where the concentration of power and affluence was. How did they respond when they heard that a poor Hashimiman calling himself Muhammad is calling himself a Prophet?

If only this Qur'an was revealed to one of the two noble, affluent headmen in two habitats, (in reference to Makkah and At Ta'if), who is great in his own right (or) who's a well known figure. (SurahAz Zukhruf verse 31)

This could apply to al qaryah, it could apply to Makkah and At Ta'if, it could apply on a larger scale to the empires of the world. (If) you want a world leader, they expect the world leader to come from a superpower! They don't expect a world leader to come from some trashy third world country (or) banana republic. "No! A leader can't come from there." That's what happened in the time of the Prophet. That leader came, (in today's world), from a backward country (or) a backward environment (or) a backward family (or) a poor family!"That's not a Prophet! That can't be a Prophet" That's the attitude. What happens when people begin to think like that and act like that? The ayahin Surah Al Isra' tells us what happens to societies, to countries, to nations, to establishments (and) to power structures

… and if We want to bring down or destroy a social unit…(Surah Al Isra' verse 16)

When Allah wants to destroy it- whether it's an empire, whether it's a superpower, whether it's a nation state, whatever it is- what happens first?

… We command its super affluent class … (Surah Al Isra' verse 16)

Mutrafiha, not fuqara'ha not aghniya'aha, not mustaghniha.In another supportive reading it says ammarna mutrafiha which means we make the super affluent of that society its decision makers (or) its leaders. That's the first indication that a society is on its way down. You can take a look at any society (that) you want to take a look at. This is Allah's ever lasting truthful and uncontovertible words. What do they do?

… they go about causing individuals and citizens in that particular society to degenerate… (Surah Al Isra' verse 16)

There's a moral degeneration, there's an economic degeneration, there's a social degeneration (and) there's a psychological degeneration that sets in automatically. When you have rich people running the affairs of state that's what's going to happen. It's inevitable.

… at that time Our word (or) Our decree comes to pass and We will destroy it (or) obliterate it into smithereens. (Surah Al Isra' verse 16)

Dear committed brothers and committed sisters…

What we're about to say is not in violation of the khutbah,rather it is in attempt to bring the khutbah up to the level that it's supposed to be at. When we understand what Allah is telling us we can't close our minds. When we have a meaning or a definition in our hands we cannot drop it and say "it cannot apply to people (or) it cannot apply to societies (or) it cannot apply to military and political administrations." You can't do that. It's like you're thirsty (and) you have water in your hand and then you spill the water and say "I'm not going to drink it." If these ayaatapply to the regime that is occupying Makkah and Al Madinah and its twin that is occupying Al Quds then we say that these meanings from Allah and His Prophet apply to you. They have met the criteria, they have met the qualifications. Today the president of this country, the United Statesis there- in the land of the Prophet, the birth place of our Islam and iman.What are they discussing? They're discussing Iran,Iraq, Syria, Palestineand Egypt-that's on top of their agenda. They can speak about these issues but we, in light of Allah's scripture and in light of His Prophet's sunnah, are not supposed to venture in this area?! Why? Who said? Where did this come? Tell us, especially the religious class in the country of Al Haramayn-where do you get that from? Is it halal? Listen to this- just in the past few days the king in that country in Saudi Arabia appointed a second crown prince. We don't know… We've listened to a lot of things and we've been exposed but we've never heard there's another crown prince standing in a queue?! When this king dies there is Salman who will become king and if Salmandies now there is Muqrin- the youngest of the sons of Abdul Aziz-who is going to become king! It is like they're trying to secure (their family rule). Where is this? Where did this come from? Which ayah (and) which hadithis in support of that policy and that position and that decree? Where did it come from? Then all of a sudden news breaks out- the king who is ninety years old, (we have nothing against his person; may Allah guide him in his last days on earth), had a wife. They've been divorced for about eleven years now who is living in exile in London. Why live in London? Is there no place in Muslim countries? Anyways, she is appealing to the president of the United States. She took her case to an International United Nations humanitarian outlet saying"she has four daughters who are locked up in a building within the royal complex and they are not allowed to leave." She says "they are treated like prisoners." This king married this wife, who is Jordanian, when she was fifteen years old and he has these four daughters from that marriage and the mother is screaming and yelling for anyone to hear "free my four daughters." Even on that issue- this is a family issue (and) we care not to dwell on it more then just a passing remark but where is it? Tell us, especially you scholars for dollars in Arabia and beyond it, where are you to tell us what type of Qur'anic or Sunnatic basis there is for such a treatment-not to speak of the expulsion of hundreds and thousands of Muslims from Makkah,Al Madinah, Al Hejaz, Jazeerat Al Arab?! Who tells them they can do this? This has been an open land for all of humanity from time immemorial and they come right now and not only are they caging their family (but) they're caging the holiest of holy and they get away with it because they brainwash Muslims every week who come to the khutbah not to think (and) not to bring the meanings of the Qur'an and the Sunnahinto today's life. As before we refer their whole affair to Allah but in saying that we know that we are involved in that referral.

This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 28 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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