| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (6 February 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, brothers and sisters …
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/352342 (01-30-2015)
KING VS KHALIFAH
Being that the khutbah is meant to interact and to address what is on the minds of Muslims and what impacts their lives and being that we are living in a constricting and shrinking world we shall compare the rulers or the ruler in Makkah and Al Madinah in a very brief manner, obviously, with one of the rulers of Makkah and Al Madinah from the Prophet's generation. This is going to be done in light of the ayah in Surah Al Bara'ah or At Tawbah in which Allah says
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الْأَحْبَارِ وَالرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
يَوْمَ يُحْمَىٰ عَلَيْهَا فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ فَتُكْوَىٰ بِهَا جِبَاهُهُمْ وَجُنُوبُهُمْ وَظُهُورُهُمْ ۖ هَٰذَا مَا كَنَزْتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُم فَذُوقُوا مَا كُنتُمْ تَكْنِزُونَ
Oh you who are secure in your commitment to Allah: there are many clergymen and monks who consume, who obtain and spend, who invest and who hoard, and who save gold and silver and they do not spend it for the cause of Allah and they deter and they retard and they bar from the course and the cause of Allah, and those who save, those who withhold, those who hoard, those who monopolize gold and silver and do not spend it on a course to Allah and for the cause of Allah pass on to them good news: they shall encounter awesome torment. On that day the fire of Jahannam the heat is going to turn on and turn up because and due to this gold and silver which they possessed in worldly life and as a result their foreheads, their sides and their backs are going to be died with this gold and silver, they're going to be marked with the effect of burning iron on their skin- the skin of their forehead, the skin of their sides and the skin of their backs- this is what you have saved now have a taste of what you were saving and hoarding and monopolizing and all of this in your worldly life. (Surah At Tawbah verse 34-35)
This ayah, (to save us the time of translating this ayah word by word), is relaying the message to committed Muslims that many religious figures- in this ayah, Ahbaar and Ruhbaan- are apt to illegally obtain and spend or consume or monopolize or hoard people's wealth, people's money and those who do so and don't spend out of that wealth or gold or silver of currencies or assets etc. then the news that is to be broken to them is of a torment that is painful. This is in reference to the approaching day of judgment and its consequences. On that day these instruments of wealth that they had, namely gold and silver is going to be heated and it's going to burn their skin, (that) specific part of the body is mentioned in this ayah and then they're going to be told "this is what you've been hoarding in reference to this world or this is what you have been saving or these are your savings accounts." Now we mention this because there is plenty of wealth in the Arabian Peninsula . We're not speaking about poor people who are ruling in Arabia . We are speaking about the filthy rich who are princes, who are officials, who are politicians, tycoons and businessmen. They are filthy rich- so rich that it has become a matter of their national security not to speak about it (and) not to mention it in their media. It's one of their state secrets; that's how rich they are. OK- we think this is a given. No one's going to argue that these people aren't rich. Now let us go back to one of the Khulafa' that they pride themselves on defending and see if the behavior of this Khalifah is a condemnation of current day rulers in Arabia ? The second Khalifah Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said to Abi Musa Al Ash'ari- this was one of the governors during this second Khilafah- it is due to the average or sub average Muslim (or) what is due to him (i.e. the average or sub average Muslim) of justice is basically in two areas: al hukm which basically means judicial justice and al qism which means the distribution of wealth. We don't know of any public statement which comes from these rulers in Arabia , with all the wealth that they have, who are advising their governors or their deputies or those who execute their orders to be keen on doing justice to their citizens and to be fair on the distribution of wealth among their inhabitants. Umar had a statement that he sent out to the individuals that he appointed to the different areas of the Muslim domain (and) he said to them have people (or) give people enough food in their homes, feed their families (so that) they will have better mannerisms and morals. We think this is a statement that could go out to the crime areas of the world to see, to detect (and) to investigate whether there's a lot of crime in the poor areas of the world, in the ghettos (and) in the slums or are these crimes that we hear about in our local news committed in the affluent parts of the cities and metropolitan areas where the rich people live? Where are these crimes committed? Then Umar said- and we think the rulers in Arabia should tune in to these statements; you see, they selectively defend Umar when there's a sectarian issue involved, "Oh- he's the champion of the Muslims" but when we come to economic or financial or judiciary or equality issues then he's a forgotten personality!- people will remain on a path of straight forwardness, without any zig zagging in their public life, in their private life (and) in their civil life as long as their leaders and their guides are straight forward. What is this sentence or statement saying? We wish these words were repeated in the Arabian Peninsula from the Manabir in khutbahs and in lectures. (You) see, people are going to remain straight forward (and) there's always exceptions to the rule (or) there's always one or two individuals but generally speaking the public is going to remain a straight forward public as long as the leaders are straight forward leaders and the guides are straight forward guides. Citizenry is going to feel responsible to the leader as long as the leader feels responsible to Allah. This is a profound statement. We have leaders in the Arabian Peninsula- and we speak about the Arabian Peninsula because there is where Makkah and Al Madinah are located… People are going to feel obligated to their leaders only when their leaders feel obligated to Allah and if the leader begins to indulge in worldly affairs, meaning in materialism, in the desires and in the leisures of this world then his people are going to begin to do that. We don't know why these words (and) these guiding statements are not reverberating in the Masajid in the Arabian Peninsula where they were first pronounced? The second Khalifah was concerned. He's living in Al Madinah and he was concerned with the affairs of the people in Al Yemen, he was concerned with the affairs of the people in Al Iraq to the extent that he said if there was going to be a camel that was going to fall on the banks of the Euphrates he was afraid that he was going to be personally responsible for it.
Then, (and this is extremely important- we will mention the affairs of the hajj from time to time and this is one of those times), during the time of hajj during the reign of Umar ibn Al Khattab he had his governors who would come to the hajj face the people, the Muslims, around the Ka'bah. This was a yearly political time of accountability. Hearing today's rulers in Arabia and listening to their statements they would say that Umar is politicizing the hajj! He wasn't politicizing the hajj! He understood Islam much more than they understand it. So why would he have people feeling responsible to take to account the actions and the behavior of their own governors and their own local decision makers? That was being done in the hajj. We wonder what happened to that? What did that not live on? We don't have that occurring in the centuries after that (and) we don't have that occurring today! Something went wrong. He used to call upon his own governors in Southern Arabia, the governors in Eastern Arabia, the governors in Northern Arabia (and) the governors in the extended areas beyond that in the presence of the massive annual meeting of the hajj in front of all the Muslims and then Umar would say to everyone there people- I didn't send my, (in today's words), public servants so that they will have a share of your flesh or a share of your wealth. The reason I sent them is to do justice among you and to see to it that the revenue is distributed equally to you. This is speaking in today's language "politics in the hajj" and it is speaking "economics in the hajj" and it is speaking "equality in the hajj" and it is speaking "justice in the hajj". What happened? Why don't these rulers in Arabia re-institute this Sunnah as one hadith by the Prophet says whoever establishes a pattern in the methodology of the Prophet favorable then he will have its reward and the rewards of those who effectuated until the day of resurrection. Then Umar says with all of these Muslims listening whoever has experienced from these deputies, from these governors or from these officials anything otherwise let them stand up and speak out. Why can't this be done in the hajj today? Will you ever hear the governors, the leaders (and) the decision makers in the Muslim world coming to the hajj? We know from scant reporting that some of them do go to the hajj but does anyone meet them? How many of you have gone to the hajj? How many of you have met these decision makers, much less, how many of you have had the opportunity to listen to what they have to say (and) more than that, how many of you were put in the position to hold them responsible for their policies, for their strategies (and) for their decisions? None! Why? This is not haphazard. This is not an act of nature. This is because it's planned. There's a plan that you, Muslims, are silenced during the hajj. Muslims are supposed to shut up and just go there as if we were cattle. They drive us into Makkah and Al Madinah during a certain time period and then they drive us out of Makkah and Al Madinah during a certain time period! They not only have a hoarded and monopolized wealth and finances, they've also hoarded and monopolized sanctuaries- Makkah and Al Madinah, Al Bayt Al Haram, Al Ka'bah Al Masjid (and) An Nabawi. All of these you can add to their acts of dispossessing the Muslim and accumulating their possessions, their estates, their properties, their territories and all of this amounts to occupation of Makkah and Al Madinah when we cannot do what the Prophet did (and) when we cannot do what the disciples of the Prophet did.
Umar says don't hit people (or) don't strike people (or) don't beat people because you will humiliate them, you will disgrace them (and) you will break their spirits. (It's) as if these people who govern today in the Arabian Peninsula want to do the opposite of what is said in the Qur'an and the Sunnah and by those who for propagandistic purposes they champion; not for policy purposes, not for emulating (and) not for any character objective.
The policies that are at work are exactly meant to do what Umar was cautioning against. Today there are security agencies, there are security forces, there are military, policemen- you name it, and they are all there to hit, to strike, to beat, to hit (and) to humiliate Muslims- that's the result. That's what happens. Don't deny Muslims because if you deny them they will become Kafirs, don't withhold from them what is theirs. This is immense wealth that Allah has given Muslims is being withheld by a class of people. This reminds us of a recent survey in the past couple of weeks, (we think it was the PEW took a survey), of the world and they found that 80 individuals in the whole world own (and) possess what 3.5billion people in the world possess! What half of humanity owns, 80 individuals own! What type of world is this? Is this the justice and the equality that comes to us from Allah and His Prophet? This is what happens when the rulers of Arabia occupy Makkah and Al Madinah and we are left now with criminals on the throne.
Umar in another statement says how can I be concerned with the affairs of the people that I rule if I am not subjected to what they are subjected to? How can I solve the problem of hunger that they have if I am not hungry? How can I solve the problem of poverty that they have if I am not a poor person? These people today who are ruling in Arabia don't know what it means to be hungry. They don't know what it means to be poor. They can't solve our problems. Then, relocate yourself go to Europe- go to some Scandinavian countries. This has been related to this speaker by an eye witness who saw this with his own eye. This person, a Muslim who lives in Denmark, was at the airport waiting at the carousel to collect his luggage. As he was waiting the foreign minister of that country came and stood besides him waiting also for a small piece of luggage to collect. This Muslim, of course, coming from the damaged psychology that Muslims have was surprised. "How? This doesn't seem right. The foreign minister of this country is standing besides me, an average person, in this country to collect the luggage?" Of course he greeted him and exchanged some words of pleasantries and then he watched as this person picked up his small piece of luggage and then followed him and he saw that he after leaving the airport there was no limousine waiting for him. This is what happens in our destroyed societies where there's discrimination, where there's classism- you call it whatever you want. It is injustice in the final analysis. So he watches this person. This person gets on his bike! He has a bicycle. He gets on his bike, he wraps his little baggage behind him and then he rides away. This is an example or an explanations for one of the Muslim scholars over a century ago, back in the 19th century; he went to Europe, to France and he had contact with people there over a few years. When he came back to his home country, Egypt, he was asked "what happened? What did you see? What's your impressions about France?" He said "I noticed there was Islam in France but there are no Muslims. When I come back here I notice there are Muslims but there is no Islam." Of course, this is not to be taken in a literal sense but I hope a person who thinks can understand what the reference is here in his statement. This is the condition that many of us, if we just care to open our eyes and think, would realize and conclude. The ayah once again
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الْأَحْبَارِ وَالرُّهْبَانِ لَيَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ النَّاسِ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
Oh you who are secure in your commitment to Allah: there are many clergymen and monks who consume, who obtain and spend, who invest and who hoard, and who save gold and silver and they do not spend it for the cause of Allah and they deter and they retard and they bar from the course and the cause of Allah… (Surah At Tawbah verse 34)
This ayah was said pertaining to religious personalities but it doesn't mean it is constricted to religious personalities. Anyone who follows in that direction gains that description.
وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
… and those who save, those who withhold, those who hoard, those who monopolize gold and silver and do not spend it on a course to Allah and for the cause of Allah pass on to them good news: they shall encounter awesome torment. (Surah At Tawbah verse 34)
This goes to those who are hoarding and who are saving. They say "they are saving." This is a mild word. This money and wealth doesn't belong to them. Ayaat in the Qur'an tells them- these words go to people who have wealth and money
وَآتُوهُم مِّن مَّالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي آتَاكُمْ
… give the other people of the wealth and the money that has been given that belongs to Allah that is now in your possession… (Surah An Nur verse 33)
Allah has given you this, you pass it on. Do they do that?
Another ayah
وَأَنفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ
… and spend out of that which Allah has caused you inherit… (Surah Al Hadid verse 7)
This doesn't strictly mean the inheritance from father and grandfather. It means the wealth that has come your way.
Dear committed Muslims…
It is quite a contrast- Alhamdulillah, we say this with humility and meekness- to look at those who are ruling in Arabia with their profligate lifestyle, with their lavish nights and days (and) with the plush atmospherics that they are in. It's a contrast to look at those who are ruling across the gulf, (i.e.) those who are leaders in the Islamic Republic in Iran. What a difference?! We have no issues with Sunnis and Shi'is. This is an issue they create to divide the Muslims. Look at the lifestyle of the leader in Saudi Arabia and look at the lifestyle of the leader in Islamic Iran- its like looking at the difference between heaven and hell! One of them in the Arabian Peninsula is a creature of his worldly desires. If anyone cares to look up the economic, the military, the political, the social (and) the psychological facts of this statement please do so. It will come at you from all directions. On the other hand there is an Islamic leader in a neighboring country- what does he do? Does he spend his time going to resorts? These creatures in Arabia who are officials by birth spend their summers in the cooler atmospheres of the world. They will fly North to Paris and to London, they will come to Canada and the United States so that they can enjoy the weather. In times when they prefer to go to tropical areas they will. Just because they desire to go they go and they will take an entourage with them. They will ship in cargo planes- military and civilian- their luxury cars. They bring servants and maids in the hundreds with them. They go on shopping sprees where it is not unusual to spend tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars just in one day of shopping- picking some jewelry or picking some luxurious items. Contrast that with those who are in Islamic Iran. Can anyone bring one example, just one incident, of anything that comes close to a profligate lifestyle, to the mubadh'dhirin and the musrifin of Arabia.
إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ
These profligates or people who spend these enormous sums of money that belongs to the committed Muslims in the world are mubadhirin (and) these types are the brethren of Ash Shayateen… (Surah Al Isra' verse 27)
We have no compunctions about expressing the truth. The Imam (or) the leader in Islamic Iran addressed himself to the youth in the West and that made the news in the reluctant quarters of the propagandistic mainstream media. You think anyone would care if one king or one prince or one sultan in Arabia addressed himself to the youth anywhere, even in his own kingdom (and) in his own backyard? Would anyone care or pay attention? This is extremely important especially at a time like this- if in Europe and the United States the younger generations is fed up with official lies, with governmental propaganda, with social rumors (and) with religious defamation of everything that is Islamic so it would be a timely issue to look at these youth in the West but you just can't speak to them. They are more convinced if they see and they experience what Islam is like. So why is that not followed up with a thought out invitation to those who are young in positions of influence in their own communities- whether they are young minorities, the African Americans (or) the Latino Americans, it could be native Indian Americans, it could be Asian Americans? Look at the youth who come from the under class in the United States and these could be white Americans, they could be rural Americans in the farming, in agriculture, etc. Look at those in the West who have been discriminated against by society or by state. Look at the young ones in that context and have them interface and interact with Muslims so that they can experience first hand what Islam is all about. This is what this world needs. It doesn't need these archaic, backward (and) atavistic rulers in Arabia.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 30 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.
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