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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/350972 (12-19-2014)
SUNNI- SELF CRITICISM
Allah says
Guard yourselves against Allah's immediate and corrective presence and when you speak, speak with precision and with as much accuracy as you can. (Surah Al Anzab verse 70)
This is a translation with some license.
In another ayah Allah says
… do justice as that is the nearest you can be to taqwa… (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 8)
Meaning justice is on par with a consciousness of Allah's immediate presence. We know sometimes it's very hard to look at our own flaws and our own deviations- this is what Muslims lack. It's difficult. Sometimes people need to exercise (and) to practice not their physical selves but their mental and emotional selves to be able to accept self criticism. This becomes more difficult when Muslims think about themselves as a dichotomy; in other words when some Muslims think of themselves as Sunnis and other Muslims think of themselves as Shi'is. Criticism in this context becomes very difficult so what is needed at this time are some Sunnis who have the confidence that comes from Allah and His Prophet to look at their own waywardness (and) their own mistakes. This is equally applicable to Shi'is. We need some of them who can stand up with the confidence and the courage that comes from Allah and His Prophet to look also at their waywardness and at their mistakes. It's not going to work very efficiently or very effectively if a Sunni is speaking about Shi'is or if a Sunni is speaking about Shi'is. As you can see in today's world, that's what's happening and that's why no one's getting anywhere; but if we can have those who are accountable to Allah from each one of these two contexts who can step forward and say "look, this particular issue is out of order or that particular issue is an exaggeration or a third particular issue just does not fit in the context of the Qur'an and the Prophet." This is what is needed but this is what is absent. What is needed is not there! What we are going to try to do, (this has been a person who has spent many many years trying to blur the lines between Sunnis and Shi'is and in the process he gets arrows coming from both directions. It doesn't matter because this is not meant to satisfy any particular individual or sect or interest group or whatever. This is said and meant for Allah), and in trying to speak truth about our ownselves if we can look at our age now, 14 centuries old (if) you take us altogether, and try- this is yet another contributory effort to uproot (and) to extract from its origins the issue of sectarianism. So we're going to be stepping on some individual's toes in this presentation and it doesn't matter (because) it's not meant to harm anyone (and) it's not meant to hurt anyone unless of course some people are jaded or they are self centered.
When the ruler of the Muslims became a king, (i.e.) no longer an Imam or no longer a Khalifah- to be precise we're speaking about the first king that has ruled over the Muslims, king Muawiyah- during that time period there was a shift that took place from speaking about personalities to speaking about countries or nations. The fact of the matter is these are the unspoken words that none of the sectarians want to dwell on, whether they are Sunni sectarians or whether they are Shi'i sectarians but particularly the Sunni sectarians. What goes absent here in this context of speaking about persons to speaking about countries, to speaking about "nation-states", (as it were), at that time it was a dynasty the fact of the matter is Muawiyah could not compete with Al Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu). One personality could not stand on something like on equal par with his rival so obviously when that is the case those who have power want to shift the attention. So they sought to shift the attention from the individuals (i.e.) from Ali and Muawiyah to Bilad Ash Shaam and Iraq Iraq Iraq
Ali had with him the Muhajirin and the Ansar and the Badriyun (radi Allahu anhum). Contrast that with Muawiyah- he had with him the A'rab from Lakham and Judham and Kalb and the rest of these tribes who many of them became Muslims after the Prophet passed away. They also did this maneuvering to overcome the obstacle of the hadith pertaining to Ammaar (radi Allahu anhu). The Prophet said concerning Ammaar the aggressive (and) offensive camp is going to be responsible for killing you or is going to kill you. They're responsible for that. Unfortunately even though this thing happened almost 14 centuries ago we still have it today. The effects of it endure until our time. The reason for that in one sense is that the Muslim political mind has been closed! (If) you close the political mind for 14 centuries how is it going to discover what went right and what went wrong?! Now, later on in the second and third and forth centuries there was a type of amalgamation that took place that tried to claim credibility for the Umawi monarchy by infusing the Umawis with those who were "Sunnis" who were neutral in all of this. Maybe we'll get to that if time permits. Now, on the other side this doesn't mean that we didn't have types of exaggerations and the manufacturing of hadiths among the Shi'is. We had it. It exists! We don't want to dwell on this simply because in our time, even though we find sectarians among them and even though they have terrible examples but they are not the power house of the sectarianism that is killing toady- that powerhouse is in Arabia ! But that doesn't mean we have to be blind to the facts. The facts are that just as there were pro-Umawi manufacturers of hadith there were also in reaction to that pro-Alawi manufacturers of hadith. It's hard for a Sunni to say the first part of this and it's hard for a Shi'i to say the second part of this. As we mentioned earlier, there were those who were neutral in the conflict between Ali and his camp on one side and king Muawiyah on the other side. They were not with Muawiyah, they were not with Ali, they were not with the Khawarij, they were not with Talha and Az Zubayr (radi Allahu anhuma). They withdrew themselves from this whole affair. They preferred to not get involved in killing other people even though they endorsed the legitimacy of Ali's leadership. Their sentiments also, not physically but in their own words and communications, were with Ali in his fight against Muawiyah and against the Khawarij. Some of them came to regret this neutrality when they died. We quote Abdullah ibn Umar (radi Allahu anhu) as he was dying I have no regrets in affairs of this dunya except for not being a participant alongside Ali in his fight against the offensive and aggressive side as Allah ordered us to do. That's in reference to the ayah in Surah Al Hujurat
If two camps of committed Muslims come to military blows against each other then (Allah says) the popular sentiment (or) your duty now is to reconcile the differences that brought them to the warfront; but if one side decides to continue its transgression against the other side then all of you become one force against the aggressive side. (Surah Al Hujurat verse 9)
This neutral segment of Muslims was gradually, as time went by, somehow consumed within the Umawi power structure. This began in some areas of Al Basrah and Iraq
Let us look at a little numbers here that will give you the impression of what's going on. There were four or five of these neutral types who participated in the battle of Badr. Out of those who participated in the battle of Badr who were with Ali there were between 70 or 80. Those who were neutral who participated in bai'ah ar ridwan were between 15 and 20. Those who participated in bai'ah ar ridwan who were with Ali were around 800. This gives you a feeling of what's going on. On the other side, if we take a look at Muawiyah and his camp there were no Badris with Muawiyah. There were no people from bai'ah ar ridwan with Muawiyah. None of the Muhajirin and none of the Ansar! So here the Umawi propaganda machine began to claim these neutral types. You just saw the figures- how many of these neutral types compared to those who were active on the side of Ali- but the propaganda machine began to convince the public that these neutral types were with it, not against it. This was the position later on and hopefully in the khutbahs to come we will see how this worked itself out among those who were extremist Hanbalis. Obviously in this context the Umawi power structure would use the services of those scholars for dollars. There are people who are looking for money. They want to make money out of the information they have in their head. So power structures, establishments, monarchies, republics, whatever will use these types then and now! So they began to exaggerate their fealty to Uthman and they began saying that Uthman is an Umawi and besides it was Uthman's shirt that justified all the conflict that they entered into. Al Hajjaj who was one of the governors of the Umawis in the Iraqi area (who was) very well known for his ruthlessness and his despotic statements said in one of his statements indeed the likeness of Uthman is like that of Adam, he was made from dust. This is an ayah in the Qur'an, the ayah says
Indeed, the similitude of Isa is with Adam, who was created from dust… (Surah Aal Imran verse 59)
They replaced that word. Instead of saying Isa (alayhi as salaam), they said Uthman. A ruler like that! It was that they only took some wording from the hadith and twisted it to there favor (but) as is the example of one of these blood thirsty rulers, they also took an ayah took the word Isa out and put the word Uthman in there. Khalid Al Qasri who was also one of these governors of Bani Umayah used to express himself saying that the Umawi kings are better than the Prophets of Allah. This is in one of the history books written by Al Baladhuri. Al Baladhuri is a historian recognized by everyone- Sunnis and Shi'is, it doesn't matter. This is what you'll find. If some people will just open up their political mind and began to read they'll find things like this. Now remember sectarians: you're listening here to some statements that are trying to evaluate ourselves. We're not trying to promote sectarianism- to the contrary, we're trying to smother sectarianism but sectarians will take this same information and then with their rant they'll rile the public. Sunnis will do it to Sunnis and Shi'is will do it to Shi'is. That's not the intent! The intent here is to take a critical look at ourselves.
Then we had, during the Umawi time, something called al jabr. Al Jabr is a type of resignation. People resigned themselves after all of this taking (place). You have to place these facts in your mind. There were battles, there were wars, there were conflicts, there was bloodshed, there were shuhada'. A lot of these things were happening so certain people just resigned and said this all is from Allah. There's nothing we can do about it. This happens in times of war and it also happens after many many lives are lost. Tens of thousands (and) hundred of thousands of lives are lost in war in a decade (or) in a century then people look back and say "there's nothing we can do about this. We have to resign ourselves to this." This was a popular current among people. It picked up and then the Umawis took advantage of this. They tried to promote it (and) they tried to enhance it they saying "yeah that's right" so that the person who would find maybe a little motivation in him to try to do something about correcting the social evil, the political oppression (and) the economic dislocations that were going on they would say "well, what am I going to do by myself? There's nothing I can do by myself. Look at all these people resigning themselves to this fact!" Then the Umawis would bring to their attention "why would you people want to revolt? Why would you want to change the government? Look at what happened in Al Madinah. The Umawis massacred the people in Al Madinah- were there any results to that? Look at what happened to Al Hussein ibn Ali." They don't call him Al Imam Al Hussein (radi Allahu anhu). They said "look at what happened to Hussein ibn Ali in Karbala
Then there was another popular trend among the people's of Muslims around that's called Al Irja'. These are the types who were reacting to the phenomenon of takfir. Just like we have at takfir today, (which) has become part of our societies in a violent way or just in a theoretical way. People right now are speaking about others as Kafirs. At that time this was going on just like today so what happens when this takfir phenomenon takes it's course and reaches its highest level (is) it generates a reaction to it. That reaction to the takfir at that time was called Al Irja'. So these people said it's enough for a person to say ash hadu an laa Ilaha illah Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammad Rasulullah. Once they say that we have nothing to do with it. Don't get us involved! This person says ash hadu an laa Ilaha illah Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammad Rasulullah And that person says ash hadu an laa Ilaha illah Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammad Rasulullah. We've seen what the takfiris have done so what do you expect from us? These are the types who when you ask "look at what happened at Siffin? What's your position on that?" "Well, don't get us involved! We don't want to say al haqq or al batil was with anyone or against anyone. We'll leave that with Allah. He'll judge this affair. Don't get us involved in this!" Some people ask, (we're saying this even though it's not customary to say it in a khutbah), "where's this information coming from?" There's a kind of authority in a neutral way on this history, neutral here meaning not taking a fanatical Sunni side and mot taking a fanatical Shi'i side. He has a book called Al Firaq Al Islamiyah fi Asr Al Umawi, The Islamic Factions during the Umawi Era; he has another book called Al Firaq Al Islamiyah fi Bilad Ash Shaam, The Islamic Factions in the Levant. The author's name is doctor Hussein Atwal. These people, (just like happens with the others), quote some Salaf, (i.e.) well known individuals who are from the Sahaba who came before them to justify their position. If Muawiyah used Uthman to justify his position they also needed some Sahaba to justify their position so they said "we are in the spirit or in line with the Sahabi Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and ibn Umar and Khuraym Al Asadi and Usamah ibn Zayd (radi Allahu anhum)." Those are their prototypes. So these are the facts of life that are used by today's sectarians with the twist and the spin that they give to it to have Muslims kill each other.
Guard yourselves against Allah's immediate and corrective presence and when you speak, speak with precision and with as much accuracy as you can. (Surah Al Anzab verse 70)
Remember that anytime you have the urge to speak about these issues. Or anytime you listen to some person speak about these issues bear in mind that the truth is not a monopoly of one side and that there are shortcomings all over the place (and) faults and flaws all over the place. It's like a mind field- when you enter it, enter it with caution so that you are not consumed by the explosive accusations that now are responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
Dear committed Muslims…
Just today the khutbah that was given by the khatib in the Haram in Makkah was lamenting the fact that tens of thousands of innocent children in Ash Shaam and Al Iraq are being killed. Of course, he wither didn't have the courage or did not have the knowledge to pursue this affair. These children whether they are immediate victims, meaning they were killed, or whether they are indirect victims, in the sense that they became homeless and refugees and stateless, didn't occur because of a natural disaster. There was no earthquake or hurricane that struck Syria and Iraq Arabian Peninsula out of which this rationalization for takfir and taqtil comes. They are the ones who exported this in contravention to some of their own statements. In their Islamic literature they don't want rebellion and revolt and revolution because it will lead to something worse than the status quo. This you will find. This is how they historically justified the monarchies and the dynasties that passed over 1,000 years. So why is it now that they are violating their own literature? In the rebellions and the revolts and the mutinies that are going on in these two geographical areas, in Syria and in Iraq Pakistan Arabia . These things keep on coming out. Just yesterday or the day before there was this Da'ish ISIS thing. They butchered a person North of Baghdad because they said "that person is a magician." You butcher a person because the person says he's a magician?! Where did this come from? Once again, if we had enough mental integrity in us we'd such- where does this come from? Inevitably if you invest enough effort you'll find the efforts leading back to Arabia . They come out with an official fatwa in Arabia in this past week saying "it is halal for Arabian and Muslim women who want to drive cars outside of Saudi Arabia but it is haram for them to drive cars inside of Saudi Arabia Arabia ?! Look- we're thousands of miles away from Arabia ! Where are we? We're in Washington DC
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 19 December 2014 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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