| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (4 April 2014) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar/ PLEASE e-mail Suggestions & Criticisms to khutbahs@yahoo.com It is in such a manner that We make plain Our signs so that the course of the Criminals may become clear. |
Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Dear brothers, dear sisters on As Sirat Al Mustaqim …
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/338647 (03-21-2014)
RULERS OF ARABIA THEN AND NOW
A very important segment of our thought which has been absent for so long has to become now the centre of our attention and that is (that) these people who have wealth and power have gotten away with camouflaging themselves with Islamic rituals. To put it in very frank words- people in who in their nature are criminals and thieves have been hiding behind as salah and az zakah and the private duties of Muslims. This has been going on for a long time and it is about time we cornered this behaviour with our attention and insight. We have today rulers in Arabia who meet this description and who qualify for the purposes that are stated here in. They have all of the wealth and they behave with this wealth in contradiction to Allah and His Prophet and those whom they hold in high esteem. Let us visit the models that they have themselves; in their books, in their literature, in their sermons, in their public communications they have this information available. OK- let us see where they stand. Let us see where they measure up to the ayaat and the ahadith and the role models out there. We mentioned in previous khutbahs- in the past two or three khutbahs- some ayaat and some ahadith that centre on this issue. We will go further now (and) mention some other ayaat, some other ahadith but in addition to that we will bring historical examples that prove (that those) in the Arabian Peninsula today are flunkies.
During the time of Allah's Prophet the Muslims were living a life of the bear minimums. There was no affluence. There was no wealth. There was no, (in today's jargon), significant class consciousness because they lived according to the principles and the values and the morals of Islam, of the Qur'an. The Prophet passed away as a poor man. His successor Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) who took over after him continued in the same fashion. He, himself, before becoming a committed Muslim was a very rich person but then when he understood his responsibilities- on the first day of him becoming the ruler of the Muslims he went to the market as was his routine before that day. He used to go to the market. He has to make a living. He has to support a family. So some Muslims say what are you doing? You are the ruler of the Muslims? Why are you going to the market? You have into look to the affairs of the Muslims. He says how can I do that? I have other responsibilities also. I have immediate responsibilities. At this time they said ok- we will, out of the Muslim treasury, take a certain amount of money and assign it to you so that this part of your responsibility towards your family, towards the people in your custody, whatever has been taken care of. So he spent his term, (which was a short period- he was eleven years older than the Prophet) and he passed away two years after the Prophet. There is no blemishes in this area as far as he is concerned. He did what he could do. So no one could say "this person is taking money and he's putting it in his pocket and he is putting it in his account and all"- nothing of that sort.
After he passed away the second Khalifah to the Prophet of Allah became responsible for these issues. During his extended reign the budget of the Muslims grew. It's no longer a simple budget. Now there was revenue that was coming from rich parts of that geography- from Egypt , from the Levant, from Iraq and from parts of Persia Arabia . We're not giving you here strictly lesson from history. No. So in addition to the ayaat that were previously mentioned and another ayah in Surah Al Baqarah
They will ask you what are we to spend (or) what are we to donate (or) what are we going to give? (Surah Al Baqarah verse 219)
The answer to that wasn't az zakah. The answer to that wasn't as sadaqah. The answer to that wasn't al khums or al ushr or al rub' or whatever. The answer to that was
… al afu'… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 219)
What does al afu' mean? It means everything that is extra. In your life you have resources coming your way, whatever they may be; you take care of your necessities. Whatever goes beyond your necessities becomes an afu'. So that's what you give. This is an ayah- oh you rulers of Arabia and everyone who is listening. That's the answer- al afu'.
… whatever else there is that goes beyond what is necessary for you to have… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 219)
So going back to the policy now that we're looking at when the Arabian Peninsula was an Islamic one Umar said if I am going in the future to encounter what I did in the past then I will take the extras of the rich and then distribute it among the poor. Can these rulers in Arabia listen to what Umar said? Another statement attributed to him in this context means if I am going to live for another yearly cycle I will have those who are in the lower strata of society join those who are in the high strata of society. I will bring the last one and have him on par with the first one in society. I will have them appear as if they are one character meaning you can't distinguish who is poor here from who is rich. Then some people began to object to this. This is in human nature- you have a lot and you don't want to out so Umar, the second Khalifah, responded to them. He said by He who my life is in His hands- there is not one (or) not a single person except that he has a right to access this wealth and there is not one person who is more privileged towards it then another. You hear that- you Arabian rulers?! And I'm just one just like everyone else. Umar, the Khalifah (or) the ruler of the Islamic domain is saying I'm just like everyone else. Then he goes on to reinforced the meanings of equality. He says whatever a person's condition is- whether he has an extended history of sacrifice, whether he is affluent, whether he is in need, it doesn't matter- access has to be there for everyone. This wealth, this treasury this revenue is theirs. You hear that- you corrupt rulers in Arabia ?! And they say "they identify with Umar" and because of our weak mindedness and our sectarianism the knowledge is not there to come and tell them "this is the character of Umar! How do you measure up to that character? Where do you stand from that character?" can you say this about any of them who are rulers there? It is their revenue which Allah has provided them with. It doesn't belong to Umar nor to the family of Umar. Today's wealth that is in Arabia belongs to the king and the family of the king in contradiction to these words and they say "they are proud of Umar." They say this out of sectarian ill feelings! They don't say this because they mean it. They don't say it because they behave it. What happened after that- still up until this day brothers and sisters no one knows exactly what happened that Umar was assassinated. It's a mystery but that was the case. He was assassinated. He became a shahid. We know this is going to raffle some feathers out there but hang your sectarianism somewhere in the past.
Then comes the era of Uthman (radi Allahu anhu). Here we have another character- may Allah forgive him and may Allah give him according to his best of intentions. He didn't care very much about the social-economic-financial gap that began to grow in Islamic society and the average people began to feel discrimination that was setting into an otherwise egalitarian society. They began to feel wait a minute here- we are all supposed to be Muslims here; why are these people who have become governors and have become rulers in certain regions and areas become rich? So they wanted to complain to Uthman about all of this and it all resulted in the assassination of Uthman.
Then came Al Imam Ali (alayhi as salaam) and he immediately decided he is going to relieve the deputies of Uthman (and) the governors of Uthman of all their responsibilities. You are relieved. That's the way he began his administration. This was basically, in essence, an economic and a social rebellion against a deteriorating and polarising status quo. This sense of equality and togetherness had to be put back into the social character of the Muslims. He said, and these statements should ring solidly in today's world, Allah has mandated from the wealth and possessions of the affluent the sustenance of the poverty stricken meaning the livelihood of those who don't have is to be taken from the livelihood of those who do have. Then he goes on to say the only reason that we have a person who goes hungry is because we have another person who is over satiated with wealth. That's a reason for it. They ask you "why are there wealthy people in the world and why are there, (let us make it simple), poor people in the world?" Listening to what Ali said the reason there is poor people is because there is rich people. If we didn't have rich people we wouldn't have poor people. Then of course those during the previous administration of Uthman accumulated all of this wealth had to object now. What are you doing? Why are you doing all of these types of things? Where are you taking us? He said to them you are the subjects of Allah meaning you belong to Allah and this money (or) this wealth belongs to Allah. Allah distributes this wealth among you in an equal way, equally. There's no built in privilege in this process that favours one person over another. You hear that- rulers in Arabia ? Which also takes us now into the sphere of social responsibilities. If you and I are citizens of an Islamic state in an Islamic environment (and) if there is an absence of this equality (or) if there's no sense of rights and responsibilities- we're talking about social rights, economic rights, financial rights. If there's no sense of a person who has plenty giving someone who scantly has anything this is what happens and Ali put it in a beautiful way. He said if you are rich (or) wealthy in an alien society or in a foreign land you are at home even if you are in a society that is not your society but being rich you feel at home and then the flip side of this he says if you are poor in your own homeland (or) in your own home you become a stranger (or) you become a foreigner.
These are the Khulafa' Ar Rashidin. These are the four successors to Allah's Prophet who ruled the best they could- with their mistakes (and) with their corrections. If we put them altogether there was no intentional break with Allah and His Prophet. So if you, rulers in Arabia , are looking at this where do you stand? Are you any Abu Bakr? Are you any Umar? Are you any Uthman? Are you any Ali? Any of these! Where are you? Where do you stand in all of this? Nothing! You don't measure up a scintilla on their scale and then you claim them! You right now are causing a sectarian war by monopolising them. You say "you are the ones who speak for them (and) who quote them (and) who do all of these things and if anyone else don't agree with you they are wrong." This is what you are getting away with! This is what we said at the beginning of the khutbah. You are hiding behind rituals. In your nature you are thieves and you are criminals but you're hiding behind going to the Masjid or going to the Ka'bah- that's what you are hiding behind- and it's about time for the Muslim public mind to wake up and see these people for who they really are.
Then we take a leap (and) we go from the Khulafa' rulers to Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, one of the Umawi rulers. This was about seventy five to eighty years after the reign of Umar. Here we find a person (who) was supposed to be a king just like these people in Arabia who are crown kings because they are born in a family. This person, Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, was born in a royal family. His father and grandfather, etc. were Umawi kings (or) Umawi royalty. When he became the ruler of the Muslims he also, just like Ali began to relieve the governors and the other officials right now who began collecting money because of their positions- kicked them out of office, (so to speak). He shunned royalty. He wasn't this person who had the fancy clothes on and the guards around him and the servants and the maids- none of that. All of that went and he wanted to bring some type of normalcy back to the Islamic social attitude and social mind. He wanted to bring it back to its Islamic origin and he began with his own self and his own family. Whatever extra he had he gave away. This wasn't a person who had a fortune. If he did have a fortune he gave it out. Whatever came from his parents and that line of royalty went. He placed it all back in the Islamic treasury and then he began doing it with the royal princes of the royal ruling family of Bani Umayah that's been ruling for the past sixty odd years now or so. During his reign the tension between the state and the opposition among Muslims- because there was opposition in Muslim society to this. When we speak about this don't think that everything is calm. There is opposition.- that opposition came to a stand still because it saw somebody's trying to correct the mistakes here. Al Mu'tazilah joined the state. The Khawarij put down their arms. They went into a ceasefire with the state. There were poets of the Shi'i persuasion that began to say very positive things about this ruler but of course his relatives his royalty said to him you know- what you're doing is not right. So they wanted to influence him. They sent him his paternal aunt Fatima bint Marwan to convince him. Look- speak to your nephew (and) tell him, you know, he can't do this. We have estates, we have wealth, we have fiefdoms. What is he doing? So she went to him. Listen to this- you rulers in Arabia who don't have a shred of this character in you. He said to her whatever is being taken away from these princes, (who are his relatives by the way), we're only taking what is above their necessities of their lives. We are not taking away something that is necessary for their livelihood and this extra is considered a kanz which is a Qur'anic word that refers to someone hoarding or saving whatever he or she does not need. This cannot be put in static. Money cannot be frozen in society. It has to circulate. It has to go out. So he told her this is a kanz and a kanz is haram.
Allah has condemned those who monopolise or hoard or withhold or stifle or arrest the movement of money in society… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34)
He said to her I am a ruler and I am responsible towards this Ummah, responsible particularly as concerns this more than necessary wealth that's out there. I'm going to be asked about this on the Day of Judgement if I do not return or move this money to those who are in need and those who are poor. Then to demonstrate this to his aunt he went and he brought some coins and he placed them in fire until they turned red and then he brought a piece of leather. He's doing this in front of his aunt. He placed a piece of leather in front of him and he took these burning coins, these red hot coins and placed it on that piece of leather and then the piece of leather began to crackle and burn with some smoke coming out of it and he said to her this is what will happen to me if I am not in a responsible way administering the wealth of this Ummah. That's more or less demonstrating to her the meanings of the ayah in the Qur'an
… this accumulative, frozen, wealth will become irons on their flesh (and) on their foreheads on Yawm al Qiyamah… (Surah Al Bara'ah verse 34)
We ask these people who are ruling in Arabia : do you come close to this? Where are you? You claim, you say, you preach, you write (and) you broadcast a monopoly on Al Khulafa' Ar Rashidin. OK-
They said: O Shu'ayb tell us, is your salah demanding you to have us part with the patterns and the structure that we have coming from our history and our culture and our ancestors or is it that your salah is telling you that we can't do with our money what we want to do? (Surah Hud verse 87)
Of course that's what his salah is telling him (and) that's what our salah is telling us (and) that's what as salah is telling these people who are ruling over Makkah and Al Madinah. To sum is all up, this body of wealth that exists in the world should be treated like we treat water. Whatever water is necessary you take. (Its) like a flowing river- if someone comes and says "this river belongs to me"- it's out there for everyone. You take of it what is yours. O you rulers in Arabia- this is one of the examples that Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (used) when he spoke to his aunt. He told her the Prophet left us with a river that was accessible to everyone and the first and second successors maintained it that way. When the third one came he diverted an stream away from that river. Then the rulers from Muawiyah, the first of Bani Umayah, began to also divert other streams until when I come to power right now the river has dried up because those who are streaming conduits away from it left it without any water running- this is Umar ibn Abdul Aziz speaking you rulers in Arabia. This is society today- that's what they have done to this treasure and to this blessing that Allah has given humanity; that is why we have hunger, that's why we have refugees, that's why we have poverty, that's why we have malnutrition (and) that is why we have the assortments of all of these problems because no one wants to take a look at how these things should be in their state of nature. Allah and His Prophet taught us but there are people in Arabia who refuse to learn.
Dear committed brothers and dear committed sisters…
The reduction of our commitment to Allah and the control that officials have over it is making us disagree with each other when we all should be cooperating with each other. Where do you think sectarianism comes from? We tried to pre-empt this problem of sectarianism taking the toll that it has taken throughout the past few years way before it happened. (We say this in a brotherly and a humble and meek way). Today these powers that be in Arabia with their supporters and with their minions are trying to spread this sectarianism all over the place. What are their fatwas nowadays? What are they concerned with? Just this past week a fatwa comes out from Arabia- listen (and) look at what's happening all the world and look at the fatwa they come out with! One of them, some scholar, comes out with a fatwa saying- not that we agree or disagree; this is not the point here. We just want you to see where their energy is going. When people in Syria to survive are eating rats and cats; some of them don't find insects and leaves to eat and are dying of starvation you'd think some fatwas would be oriented towards a concern for their plight. No! They are concerned with… this is their fatwa, issued by an Arabian scholar in the Arabian Peninsula in today's miserable Arabian times. This person says "it is haram to go to a restaurant where they are serving all you can eat food." Now when he's asked about that because that caused an argument of course- some of these people they have unending tubes in their bellies (and) they have to fill them up and how dare someone come and tell them "you can't go to an all you can eat restaurant." So they trailed him on this. You'd think maybe in his mind he would say "look we have brothers and sisters who are dying because they don't have any food to eat ." Well, maybe someone can understand something but what he said was- listen to this Bani Isra'eeli argument (and) explanation. He said "technically speaking, if a person purchases something, he purchases something that is well defined but when you go and pay for a meal you're paying for an undefined quality and quantity of things. So it's haram." Listen- if you just think about this for a moment there's no social content to the fatwa, there's no brotherly content to the fatwa. Its some type of legality that has to be paying a certain amount of money for a particular thing. If that transaction doesn't meet that definition it is haram. So if you go into a restaurant and you pay $15, for example, and you have all of this buffet in front of you, (they called it buffet), then it is haram for you to go and eat there. This is how dislocated we have become and these are the people who are calling the shots religiously and militarily. What do they do in the past year? They're rounding up people. They're telling Ethiopians, they're telling Africans and they're telling others "you can't stay in Makkah, you can't stay in Al Madinah, you can't stay in Al Hejaz." Isn't this another contribution to the refugee problem that we have? And who are they to tell any Muslim anywhere in the world "you can't come and stay in Makkah or you can't come and stay in Al Madinah?" How have they been getting away with having Khaybar being off limits to the Muslims of the world and how come the Muslims in the world never say in themselves we want to go to Khaybar? This has to be added as a Sunnah of the Prophet. Didn't the Prophet go to Khaybar and liberate it from the Zionists of those times? We have a land to liberate. Why can't we go to the first place that was liberated? But no! They're protecting themselves- the occupiers of Arabia are protecting the occupiers of Palestine
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 21 March 2014 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
__._,_.___
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment