| THE STREET    MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (23 January 2015) 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 … 
    
 
    
    
    
 
    
MUSLIMS ARE NOT TERRORISTS
    
Allah says in a manner consoling  the Prophet (and) with a tone of advice
    
وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ  صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ
    
We know  that your chest feels constricted due to what they say (or) you feel tight in  your chest because of what they are saying. (Surah Al Hijr verse 97)
    
We know these are Allah's words  and the reference is to Allah. Allah's speaking to the Prophet. The antidote to  this is the following completion of the ayah
    
فَسَبِّحْ 
    
When you  feel like that, (Allah is saying), the consequence of that should be say  subhanAllah… (Surah Al Hijr verse 98)
    
In the case of the Prophet it is  more than just verbalizing a word, it is actualizing the meaning- something  that is lost on many Muslims. 
    
بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ
    
… praise  Allah … (Surah Al Hijr verse 98)
    
And the way and the manner and the  meaning in which Muslims praise Allah is that He, in His affairs- and we are  part of Allah's affairs- there can be no interference by what they say or by  what they do. There's no interference in Allah's affairs.  
    
 
    
بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَكُن مِّنَ
    
… praise  in the bounty or blessings of Allah (or) your Sustainer with the bounty of  Allah and be of those … (Surah Al Hijr verse 98)
    
Here the human mind finds an area  to understand what being a sajid means. Allah's telling His guided  Prophet in conditions and circumstances like this to honor Allah. This is as if  to say (that) when you emotionally give in to the harmful words that come from  the opposite side (or) from those who are against you (or) from those who are  against Allah you are taking away from Allah's honor.  
    
 
    
وَكُن مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ
    
… and be  of those who honor Allah. (Surah Al Hijr verse 98)
    
So if you are honoring Allah,  whether this honor is a type of general honor just like we understand the word  honor and respect or whether it is the technical honor and respect of Allah  when we go through the sajdah in our salah. The ayah is  comprehensive of both the specific and the general. 
    
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ  يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ
    
And  conform to your Sustainer (or) and comply with your Sustainer until certitude  comes to you.  (Surah Al Hijr verse 99)
    
Once again, if we connect the  meanings of the ayah if we begin to emotionally slip (then) that is an  indicator of the absence of thorough certitude in the way that Allah will take  care of these issues. 
    
 
    
Now why are we beginning this with  these ayaat? Why are we saying this in the context that we are  in? Obviously we are here (and) this is a no nonsense Friday khutbah.  We're not here to tap on people's emotionalism, we are not here to present  fancy statements or bide our time. We are here, as directed by Allah, to deal  with the real issues. One of the real issues that we've been living with for  the past, (we don't know), 10 days or so is the issue that: "look at  Muslims. They go around killing people." Then these news items that become  headlines- they could minimize these news items if they wanted to but here they  deliberately, and as the larger plan dictates, work up and amplify these events.  What happened in Paris and before that what happened in Sydney, Australia and what  continues to be happening in Iraq and in Syria and in Nigeria and in Yemen and  in other areas; there's so many geographies- take your pick: Pakistan, Somalia,  North Africa and from time to time in the Caucasus, etc. et. We are in the day,  in the moment (and) in the circumstance (and) when we look at ourselves we find  many of us want to listen to what these newsmakers and what these planners of  these events are saying and how they are characterizing all of this. We  actually have Muslims who listen to all of this and they fall for the  information that is engineered by those who are not fair and who are not  equitable. We, Muslims, have a weakness and Allah is helping us out with our  own weakness. Our weakness is (that) we listen to two categories of people that  some of us are impressed by and others feel inferior towards them. These two  categories of people per the words of the Qur'an are the Mushriks  and the Munafiqin. The ayah in Surah At Tawbah  which is ayah 47 and this is in reference to these Munafiqin, (i.e.),  the ones that pretend to be Muslims but in fact are not. Then here is the catch  word that sheds the spotlight on our psychology
    
 
    
وَفِيكُمْ سَمَّاعُونَ لَهُمْ ۗ  وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ
    
… and  among you there are those who are ever willing to listen to what they have to  say and Allah is very well aware of adh dhalimin. (Surah At Tawbah verse 47)
    
Notice (that) in this ayah,  (and this is just an attempt at stimulating the Muslim mind), there's no  mention of adh dhalimin. Listen- this is in Surah At Tawbah  and it's speaking about Muslim conditions at times of war
    
لَوْ خَرَجُوا فِيكُم مَّا  زَادُوكُمْ إِلَّا خَبَالًا وَلَأَوْضَعُوا خِلَالَكُمْ يَبْغُونَكُمُ الْفِتْنَةَ  
    
If they, (and  they is in reference to the Munafiqin), were to exit with you (or) if they were  to go on this military mission with you the only thing they would do is to  increase your instability (and) they would go back and forth, to and fro for  purposes of seduction (and) of confusing your determination… (Surah At Tawbah  verse 47)
    
Remember this is in a military  atmosphere. Then Allah says 
    
وَفِيكُمْ 
    
… and in  your midst… (Surah At Tawbah verse 47)
    
Allah is speaking to the committed  Muslims, to you and to me. He is saying 
    
وَفِيكُمْ سَمَّاعُونَ لَهُمْ ۗ  وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ
    
… and in  you there are those who are ever willing to lend their ear to what these  Munafiqin have to say and Allah is very well versed on adh dhalimin. (Surah At  Tawbah verse 47)
    
The word adh dhalimin here  is in reference to the acts that are generated by what the Munafiqin say  and our going along and accepting what these Munafiqin say.
    
 
    
Another ayah in Surah Al  Imran, 186 
    
لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي أَمْوَالِكُمْ  وَأَنفُسِكُمْ 
    
Allah's  going to try you in reference to your wealth and your possessions and in  reference to your own selves- whether it is your personal self or whether it is  your family self or whatever self you have… (Surah Aal Imran verse 186)
    
Here, once again, Allah created us;  He knows our tendencies, He knows our weaknesses (and) He knows our  deficiencies. One of these deficiencies is that we listen to what they- and  they here is everyone who disagrees with us in an aggressive manner. 
    
وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ  أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا 
    
… we tend  to listen to them… (Surah Aal Imran verse 186)
    
Now we have an accommodating  approach to Ahl Al Kitab. We are not hostile to people of scripture,  we are not aggressive towards people of scripture as long as they are people of  scripture but notice here people of scripture are conjoined with Al Mushrikin.  So when that is the case then this behavior of accommodation and coexistence  and the rest goes on alert but many Muslims they don't notice this.
    
مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ  مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا 
    
… those  who have been given scripture aforetime (or) before your time and from the  Mushriks a tremendous amount of harm… (Surah Aal Imran verse 186)
    
 
    
There's another ayah,  actually there's a full surah, Surah Al Munafiqun but in  particular ayah number 4 from that surah says 
    
وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ  أَجْسَامُهُمْ ۖ وَإِن يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ
    
… if you  see them, you're impressed by their physique and if they speak (or) if they  verbalize their thoughts you tend to listen to what they have to say… (Surah Al  Munafiqun verse 4)
    
These ayaat we take notice  of in the context that what we are in. You've listened; you've had a full week  or ten days to listen to the descriptions, to the analysis (and) to the recall  that comes to us not via our own selves. Ask yourself- when you listen to what  happened in Paris or when you listen to what happened in Sydney before that or  when you listen every day to what's happening in Syria or Iraq or Pakistan or  these other areas where there's this terroristic kill the other Muslim or kill  the other individuals or organizations where does this information come to you  from? Have you ever asked yourself where am I getting this information from? This  is a deliberate, well thought out plan to undermine our sense of balance and  our direction of guidance. They want to throw us off balance by these crazies  who go about. Now we know sometimes words seem or come across as being very  sharp, (i.e.) a Muslim saying about another Muslim or other Muslims who do  these types of things that they are crazy! The reason for that is… Inside of themselves  they could be very moral persons as far as etiquette is concerned (and) as far  as everyday mannerisms are concerned. These people can be very moral  individuals. We don't know. The enemy doesn't care to tell us that part of who  they are and we ourselves don't have the resources to investigate who they are.  So we are left with what is out there, (i.e.), "look, we have to tighten  security measures, we have to take away some civil liberties, we meaning the  establishments and the power centers have to begin to spy on these individuals  or these types of people, we have to listen to their telephone calls, we have  to watch their emails- we have to do all of this." All of us know or at  least we should know and be familiar with Islamic movements (and) the Islamic  pulse for independence and self determination. These individuals don't come  from that background! What Islamic movement do they come from? You tell us  (or) you ask yourself: where do they come from? The honest answer to that is  that they are a product of a type of Islamic emotionalism that is  presented to them on the internet and the internet can be anyone. How do you  certify (or) how are you sure that the site you went to on the internet is put  together by sincere, bona fide, Islamically committed individuals?  How are you sure of that? How is anyone sure that that is the case? We are not.  When this whole thing that began with Al Qa'idah and Taliban back  then 14 years (or) 15 years ago, (whenever it was and it continues to now), ran  out of gas now they come with a new instrument of theirs, calling it ISIS in  Asia or Boko Haram in Africa and they breath new life into this utility  that doesn't serve the Muslims. It has no basis in the Qur'an. Where in  the Qur'an or in the Prophet's hadiths does it say these types of  acts are sanctioned (and) this type of behavior is acceptable? Where does it  say this? As we say this and express this it doesn't mean we don't have Muslims  who are desperate. We do have Muslims who are desperate, Muslims who are poor  (and) Muslims who are in need- look at the condition of Muslims in today's  world. The majority of the refugees of the world, (we can say this comfortably),  are Muslims. A good amount of the poor people in this world are Muslims living  under the poverty line (and) barely surviving. So there are harsh economic and  social conditions that the Muslims are in (but) this does not justify murder  and mayhem. It doesn't explain doing these types of acts. 
    
 
    
Now we come to the core of the  issue. The core of the issue is that Muslims are upset that there is a  publication in France  that is abusive of concepts and figures that Muslims honor and respect- first  and foremost among them is Allah's last Prophet. OK- this has been going on ever since  Allah's Prophet came to the world. The Mushriks in Makkah made more fun  of the Prophet than these people in Paris.  The Mushriks in Arabia gave Allah's Prophet  wars and battles and confrontations. Can anyone bring one incident from the 23  years of the Prophet's struggle in Makkah and in Al Madinah when an equivalent  event happened that is reminiscent of what happened in Paris  or in Sydney or what is happening on a daily basis in many areas in Syria and in Iraq? Can anyone bring us one  incident equivalent to that? Absolutely not because there is no such thing! This  is not Islamic, it is not Qur'anic. It is not Prophetic to go to  a certain place and kill individuals as hateful and as bitter as they are  against Islam and the Qur'an and the Prophet, etc. Nothing! Our  approach is an approach of confidence. It's only people who don't have  confidence of who they are who do these things. They are doing it with direct  or indirect supervision from masters that they don't see and they don't hear;  (they are), financed by them (and) supported by them with weapons, with  logistics, with connections, with the ability to travel. (Do) you mean to tell us  (that) these states with their security systems (and) with their intelligence  organizations are unable to see to it that a Muslim doesn't leave their lands  with the destination being that ISIS area in Syria and Iraq? They failed to do  that?! They can't do that any longer? These are people who have satellites. They  tell us they have satellites that can read the license plates of these vehicles  and they are incapable of tracing and tracking wayward individuals who go to  kill in another part of the world?! All of a sudden all of the technology and  all of the organization that they had failed?! They want us to believe this?! They  want world public opinion to believe that "Muslims are no good, Muslims are  bloodthirsty, Muslims are killers"- that's how they want the whole world to  believe because they set up some patsy individuals to do these types of things.  They have media. Remember they have correspondents, they have writers, they  have investigators, they have researchers- they are not short of all of these; why  don't we know the Islamic background of these individuals? What is it? How  much Qur'an do they know? To which Islamic teacher they belong to-  whether it is a Shaykh, whether it is an Imam, whether it is a Mujtahid,  whatever. Just off the street like that?! And we're supposed to believe that these  are some type of Muslims of the future?! They, meaning these people who have  the master plans in their hands, take our ignorance for granted. Here we are. The  Muslims of the world are the underclass of the world. The Muslims of the world  are the bleeding class of the world. The Muslims of the world are the refugees  of the world. This is who we are but they overlook us in the hundred and  millions. We don't count in the hundreds and millions! They pick on a few  individuals that they themselves recruited (and) that they brainwashed and gave  them what is necessary as far as freedom of movement is concerned as far as  what it takes to eventually pull the trigger- they facilitate all of that and  then they parade these individuals in front of world wide public opinion and they  say "look this is what Islam is all about. These are the Muslims." That  is how they do it and we are supposed to believe all of this. Pity the Muslims  who don't realize what is happening to us. This is what happens when we  ourselves are disconnected from Allah and His Prophet. No longer is the words  (alive)- you see the ayah that was quoted earlier from Surah Aal  Imran, the ayah from Surah At Tawbah, the ayah from  Surah Al Munafiqun just sample ayaat 
    
وَفِيكُمْ سَمَّاعُونَ لَهُمْ ۗ  وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالظَّالِمِينَ
    
… and in  your midst there are people who will listen to what they, (i.e.), the Zionists  and the Imperialists have to say… (Surah At Tawbah verse 47)
    
Now we wish listening to them  would have been about other issues but in this case we listen to them about  what they say concerning us and that hurts. Allah in His wisdom and in His  foresight saw our condition. He knows who we are and this is our weakness- we  listen to not only what they have to say about us but also to the wording that  they use about us. We listen to that and we begin to use there own words and we  fall victims of our distance from Allah and his Prophet. This need not be! They  would not be able to ever get away with this if we were in tune with these insightful  ayaat that shed light on the dark corners of their psychology and the  dark corners of our internal ignorance but here we are… These are the facts of  life. We are dealing with this type of crowd out there that continues to demonize  Islam and to dehumanize Muslims. This is the crowd and they are not  tired of it! You'd think after 10 or 20 years they'd get sick and tired of this  and they'd recognize the Muslims for who they are. We have no qualities to us!?  They say "we don't speak out against this." One of the issues that is  brought up in this context is freedom of speech. Now listen to this- they say "they  pride themselves on freedom of speech." We don't have the freedom of speech  to express ourselves in the House of Allah here in Washington DC.  There's no freedom! Who are they talking to? Freedom of speech?! How many journalists  have been killed just trying to relay a news item even though they are working  within the nexus of their own news organizations? They send them out to Syria and Iraq and they're killed every year  in the hundreds! People collecting news are killed in the hundreds but that  doesn't make it to public attention, that's not on the front page of a  newspaper (and) that's not a subject matter that becomes commentary over the  airwaves but something that serves them very well are these acts which they,  themselves, have financed and they, themselves, have sponsored.
    
لَتُبْلَوُنَّ فِي أَمْوَالِكُمْ  وَأَنفُسِكُمْ وَلَتَسْمَعُنَّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ  وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا أَذًى كَثِيرًا
    
Allah's  going to try you in reference to your wealth and your possessions and in  reference to your own selves- whether it is your personal self or whether it is  your family self or whatever self you have and you tend to listen to those who  have been given scripture aforetime (or) before your time and from the Mushriks  (resulting in) a tremendous amount of harm… (Surah Aal Imran verse 186)
    
 (Surah Aal Imran verse 186)
    
 
    
 
    
Dear  committed Muslims…
    
Two issues  here that we want to mention very briefly here. Issue number one- you know we  have been praying out here in the street for almost 32 years now. (In) another  month and a half or so it will be 32 years. During these 32 years- because of  the forces that are behind all of these shenanigans worldwide- we are  prohibited from entering this building, the Islamic Centre that you see  right here in front of your eyes. Yours truly, (just as an individual- nothing  more (and) nothing less than whom you are), is the elected Imam of that  centre right there. It happens to be that some people, who should know better,  have come up recently in the past several months, (and some of these people may  have been here at one time with us in the street), with a cute word to describe  the person who gives this khutbah here on the sidewalk every Friday. They  say "this is the former Imam of the Islamic Centre." Now if we were not  here may be your could find some type of explanation to say "this person is  the former Imam, he was there at one time now he is gone"; but we are not  gone! We've been here for 32 years and right now you're coming and saying "this  is the former Imam of the Islamic Centre." We wonder whether the type of  negotiations that are going on are beginning to show in that "well let's  take this a step forward and let's concede that this person is no longer an Imam  of the Islamic Centre." This is a shame! It is a concession and it doesn't  belong. How would these same people who right now are not only verbalising it  (but) they are putting it in writing like someone to refer to Al Imam Al  Hussein, (alayhi as salaam) as the former Imam of Karbala'? How  would that go down with them? But once again, there's a master plan here and we  are cognisant of every comma and every full stop in that master plan,  especially when it comes our way. So these people who are conceding- and they  can concede whatever they have- or trying to concede the struggle of others  better watch their language.
    
 
    
The other  issue has to do with that kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula.  That kingdom in the Arabian Peninsula has an  ailing king who has been admitted to the hospital because his health is failing.  Then some news papers write about, maybe, the eminent death of that monarch and  they may use their own journalistic language in doing that. Why does anyone get  upset? Why is anyone upset if journalistic language is used with the hope that  this king passes on to His Maker? Why does anyone get upset with that? Is there  also here the same thing going on behind the scenes? "Oh- we cant step up on  the toes of the Saudis?" No. We can step on their toes, we can step on  their robes and we can step on their nasty character! There's nothing holy  about them, there is nothing reverential about them! They are fools of the  earth! Let this statement echo from one place to another- they are the fools of  the earth! They bring down the price of petroleum. Their foreign minster meets  with the foreign minister of Washington and then they decide (that) in order  for these negotiations to go well in Europe, (i.e.), the P5+1 and that stuff "you  have to put more squeeze on them so pump more oil and bring the prices down."  These same people in the Arabian Peninsula who  are in control of this abnormal exporting of oil- a few weeks ago (over) just  one weekend their economies took a hit of $49billion- they lost. The Saudis who  are spearheading this effort are beginning to withdraw money from their reserves  for the first time- that's an act of war and it's not disproportionate to say  that we hope the head of that hierarchy goes to where he belongs in the life to  come. That evil of nonsense!
    
 
    
Just last  week one of their "scholars" one of their "Ulema'" gave an opinion which  he thinks is binding that "it is haram for Muslims to build a snowman."  Look at this- where are we living?! Where is this person living?! Is that what  occupies his mind? If the Muslims get some snow they're going to make a snowman?!  Can't he see what is happening to the Muslims of the world and in close  proximity to him? The Saudis are building a 600 kilometre long fence. The  political cousins of the Zionists and Israelis who built that fence in the Holy  land now are being copycatted by the Saudis who are building a fence between  them and Iraq  in the north of their kingdom. Speak about discrimination, speak about racism,  speak about bigotry- there you have it. The events prove it to us who is who! The  Saudis and the Israelis are cousins of interests.
    
 
    
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of  Jum'ah on 16 January 2015 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.