| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (15 May 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.
Committed Muslims, brothers and sisters…
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/354591 (05-08-2015)
SAUDI MARGINALIZATION OF ISLAM
Allah in His infinite wisdom has placed us (or) has located us in a place and at a time when we are required to put behind us many years and many generations of ignorance, misunderstanding and the opportunity for the trouble makers to come in. All of this has to be placed behind us. Some Muslims who know this fact (and) who know this requirement are reluctant to get involved because they say "the consequences are beyond their tolerance." We acknowledge (that) there are human beings who are weak in their constitution (and) their convictions; their pledges of fealty to Allah can be shaken by certain events- that's human nature. We can dismiss this category of people but the majority of us, the Muslims, live in a shell of ignorance and no one has an excuse here. Whoever you are, you have to break out of this shell of suffocating ignorance. If it wasn't for Allah we can find no way out of this. People who have the wherewithal, they have sources of information, they have information distribution systems, the mass media, academia; they're wherever information comes from. So how is a person to walk or to liberate himself or herself from this smothering condition? The only way left is to orient ourselves to Allah. He has given us something so precious- if we only knew- that once we abide (or) once we absorb these meanings (and) this direction from Him we are free. Nothing is going to come and set us back or knock us down. Nothing! Remember, in your salah- this is an imagery in your mind; how many times every Muslim in the world says in Surah Al Fatihah
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us to the straight path. (Surah Al Fatihah verse 6)
We are asking Allah. This is a form of du'a here.
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us to as sirat al mustaqim. (Surah Al Fatihah verse 6)
See the wording here? Allah is speaking about a sirat, a path and a direction. So there's movement here. This du'a could have been Oh Allah guide us. Finish; without adding ihdina as sirat al mustaqim; Which means in life we are moving, whether know it- just like the earth right now moves but we can't feel it in our lives as the days and the months go by we are moving. But where are you moving to? So when we ask Allah for guidance we're not asking Him for some kind of mental satisfaction or some kind of theoretical solution to something, we're asking Him for practical momentous guidance; movement. Towards this end something happened along the line in the 1,400 odd years since this precious Book came to us with the human embodiment of this Book which is the Prophet of Allah. Something happened in all of these centuries that was not supposed to happen. You know there are many ayaat in the Qur'an, we're just going to quote a couple, two or three of them, but you can go to the many others where you will see that there is always in the overwhelming majority of times there is always a linkage between al iman and al amal as salih. They go together. In ayah number two in Surah Al Mulk
الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ
Allah created death and life… (Surah Al Mulk verse 2)
Why?
لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ
… so that He will test you… (Surah Al Mulk verse 2)
For what?
أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا
… to know which one of you is better in their labor, in their efforts, in their work (and) in their duties… (Surah Al Mulk verse 2)
That is it. That's why we are here. We have to produce some type of palpable result.
Another ayah in Surah Al Kahf, ayah number seven- The meaning of this ayah is
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الْأَرْضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا
We have rendered whatever is on this earth as a matter of attraction… (Surah Al Kahf verse 7)
These are attractive things all around us this world that we see- but for what reason? Why is this like this? Once again,
لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا
… so that We put you to the test, (i.e.), which one of you is going to produce the best results in as far as your work is concerned… (Surah Al Kahf verse 7)
So actually there's a word that is used- not among Muslims; it's used amongst those who are not Muslims but it's taken from understanding these ayaat- (it's) something called work ethic. (It's) as if someone understood the Qur'an- this is when we don't think for ourselves- and then they took the meaning and they gave it their own words. The work ethic! This is what these ayaat are telling us except in the wording of the word ethic there is no presence of Allah- that's all! In our Islamic conscience there is a presence of Allah so that when we are involved (or) when we do have a work ethic we know that we report to Allah.
وَمَا نُرْسِلُ الْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ
And We only send Our messengers, (Allah is saying), the Prophets He sent to humanity and mankind He sent them with good news and news that warns people (or) information that has an ultimatum in it… (Surah Al An'am verse 48)
This is the function of Prophets.
فَمَنْ آمَنَ وَأَصْلَحَ
… so whoever commits to Allah wa aslah… (Surah Al An'am verse 48)
You see- iman by itself has no meaning! These things go together. In today's world, because of the high dosage of ignorance that has fermented in Muslim generations people think "oh you have this type of iman which to them means a belief and that's it! You're done! You're on your way to Allah." No you're not! You haven't done a thing unless you begin to have some effort (or) some input on your sirat (or) on this movement that you are asking Allah for guidance in that direction. Allah didn't says fa man aamana wa sallah or fa man aamana wa saam or fa man aamana wa hajja. Nothing of that- no rituals here
فَمَنْ آمَنَ وَأَصْلَحَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
… so whoever commits to Allah wa aslah they don't fear and they don't regret. (Surah Al An'am verse 48)
This is Surah Al An'am ayah number 48.
Now, these are what the ayaat in the Qur'an say. There are many other ayaat that supplement these ayaat and you get the gist here. Now we make a transition (and) we move from what Allah is telling us for our own good (and) for our own salvation, (so to speak) and we come to the real world. What do we have in this real world? The likes of what's happening here you know- you see this Masjid (or) this Mosque here? This Islamic centre that is under occupation lulls the individuals that go into it with their rituals into a state of being satisfied with these rituals- that's all! They can leave and they can invest their effort in any project or in any strategy that is counter-productive and that may even be at cross purposes with the meanings that they are supposed to be repeating in their salah. The following examples are from real life. These are not something that are rare. We are not speaking here about exceptions. We're speaking about things that happen very frequently. It's very frequent that you may encounter a person who's a Muslim, who studied Islam. He went to the university, he got his degree in this particular case ilm al hadith; this person spent many years studying the hadith of Rasulillah; many, many years. So it's not odd. You will encounter someone like that says… Look, this is a person who is supposed to know better but you'll hear him say "putting an end to slavery is not part of Islam (or) ending slavery has nothing to do with Islam." This is an insult. This is a type of mentality that comes from the type of people who have occupied not only probably millions of Masajid around the world in addition to Makkah and Al Madinah and to them they way they study al hadith they say "ending slavery has nothing to do with Islam." Now, don't turn emotional; be normal, sit down with this person and say "take it easy. Here is a cup of tea. You mean to tell me that if there were people in this world who looked at the human condition and saw that some human beings have enslaved other human beings that is something that agrees with your common sense? Or with your human nature? Is it something that agrees with that?" Of course he'll probably say "look, we are Muslims and we refer to Allah and His Prophet- don't ask me about my human nature, don't ask me about common sense. Don't throw these questions in my direction. I have nothing to do with that." OK- we go to the Book of Allah. In the Book of Allah there's no such thing. (There's) not one ayah (or) not one word in the Book of Allah that substantiates slavery- none! To the contrary, in the Book of Allah there are ayaat that speak about i'taq.
فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
It is the freeing of a person in bondage. (Surah Al Balad verse 13)
Where have you been? You've spent all of these years and, (stay cool here, don't get emotional), just tell them your problem is you never put the hadith or tried to fit the hadith in the Book of Allah- that's your problem and that's why you say what you say and that's why we have people like this! This is another form of misinformation and distortion of Islam. We should be proud that we have this Book of Allah and this Prophet from Allah who taught us to get rid of human beings exploiting and enslaving other human beings and don't let some funny person who has posted on his wall a piece of paper that says he graduated with a degree in hadith get away with the statement that "there's no such thing in Islam as doing away with slavery." Nonsense!
Now we switch from these types of people who have their degrees in hadiths and we go to those who have their degrees fiqh. They studied very long years and they got these degrees in fiqh. Now this person will come to you and say- listen to this statement- "it is permissible for a Qurayshi, (i.e.) a person born into Quraysh to marry whomever he wants from the Arabs and from the non-Arabs but if a Qurayshiyah, (i.e.), a female person from Quraysh is going to get married then here is where we are going to have to look at the equivalency of the marriage." Where did that come from?! There is no ayah in the Book of Allah that expresses this discrimination in marriage- none! All of the ayaat and all of the hadith concentrate on the equality of human beings and here we are, because of this statement building into Islam- we have to reiterate (that we are not speaking about one or two individuals, we're speaking about hundreds if not thousands of individuals in this world who are in positions to influence people. Either they are lecturers or they are shuyukh or they are teachers or professors or whatever and they think like this)! If it was only limited to themselves and they remain silent maybe we can live with that but they want to spread all of this around and convince the others "yeah, this is what Islam is all about." So we wind up with individuals who look at a thinking Muslim and all of a sudden automatically that mind is suspect. We only gave a sample of them. To these types of people a mind that thinks is suspect! Something is wrong with you because you think! They don't want us to think.
فتقديم الحديث الضعيف وآثار الصحابة على القياس) جاء في كتاب إعلام الموقعين عن رب العالمين لابن القيم (
What does that mean? You know, there are many hadiths. Let us begin to say it- we, Muslims, have a problem with unauthentic hadiths (and) fraudulent hadiths- we have a problem with that. We don't care who you are (and) we don't care what's your background- none of that matters; we have a whole body of Islamic literature out there and in this Islamic literature there are hadiths that are frauds. But what we do have is hadiths that are sahih hadiths, that are original, authentic (and) meaningful hadiths that are compatible with the Book of Allah. Now, we have Muslims who have their priorities right. They take the Book of Allah and they established a mind that is formulated by the meanings of the Qur'an and then they take the hadiths that are compatible with this understanding of the Qur'an and then there comes an issue in life- whatever the issue maybe and they want to refer back to the Book of Allah and to the Prophet of Allah. So they find an analogy. They find that a particular issue fits a particular analogy taken from the unquestionable ayaat and the unquestionable hadiths. Now we go back to the type of people we were speaking about- they say "no, this analogy doesn't apply." What do they mean "it doesn't apply"? (Do) they want to take some type of hadith that is irrelevant and sometimes embarrassing- there are hadiths that they think that are sahih, authentic (and) unquestionable hadiths that are embarrassing and they prefer a hadiths that is embarrassing to an analogy that has its reference in the Book of Allah and the sahih of His Prophet?! These same type of people say "the publicizing of Islam is done by the sword and it's not done by reasoning." They've never studied their own history. This Islam of ours gained its adherents, (i.e.), people became Muslims because it made sense to them, it appealed to their mind and their hearts. The hundreds of millions of Muslims who were not Muslims who became Muslims didn't do so because there was a sword over their head! So what are they telling us here? What are these types of people- their counterparts here in this Islamic centre and all around the place- telling us? You want to force people to become Muslims? That's what we have. Here are some of their features. If you were to dress like a primitive Arabian then that becomes a symbol of your taqwa. See how we've deteriorated and hit rock bottom. They're telling us "dressing up like a primitive person in the desert is a symbol of taqwa." They want people to believe this! There is something is Islam, (we want you to know this very well because this issue pops up many times in many small meetings and larger meetings), there's an Islamic wording, (you may be familiar with it), called ghad al basar. Some people translate this as lowering your gaze. It means something like tinting your vision- that's almost the literal understanding of ghad al basar, i.e. tinting your vision. This applies to issues that have to do with the male and female; you know men are told
يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ
… which means they don't stare… (Surah An Nur verse 30)
That's basically what the word ghad al basar means, (i.e.) you don't stare. If you're a man and you happen to come across a woman (or) a lady who is very attractive (so) you don't stare at her- that is ghad al basar which is part of ith'thar. It is part of the honest character and the clean character of the conscience of a committed Muslim. These types of people who are living in a concrete shell of ignorance and misinformation want this to mean adam al basar, (i.e.) you don't look. No! Ghad al basar doesn't mean you don't look. What do they want- to turn us blind? We're supposed to see but we're supposed to be mannered. We're supposed to have our morals and ethics when we see. We're not supposed to stare but they don't want any type of non-verbal communication going on between male and female which we speak about. These types of people are not understanding Allah and they are not understanding His Prophet. Then one other thing they want a practising Muslim to do (in order) to become very elevated in his Islamic character is to wear his thawb (or) his robe somewhere between his knee and his ankle. Now where did that come from? Where did all of these things come from? Is there an ayah in the Qur'an that says this? Is there a validated, authentic, original (and) established hadith that says that? They want people to believe this. They encourage people to pray in their leather shoes; something called ni'al. It's a small (or) a thin type of boot which is exclusively leather that comes up to the ankle. You can't find this in a shoe store around here but it's something that used to be worn and they want to bring this back into fashion. There's nothing wrong with this- if they want to wear this, OK; go ahead (and) wear it. There's no problem with that but to try and come and convince every Muslim in the world that in order for you to render a more fulfilling salah you have to pray with that ni'al on?! Where did this come from? Who are they trying to convince? Is this Islam? You see, unfortunately brothers and sisters we have Muslims who are poor in this world, we have Muslims who have been deprived in this world, we have Muslims who have been suffering from discrimination and from all sorts of exploitation in this world and then these types of people come along and they don't tell them the quality of your Islam is in what you do; the quality of your Islam is not in your na'al or in your thawb or in your beard that you want to hit the ground or whatever else?! This is not the quality of Islam that Allah is speaking about in His faultless Book. Then you open another subject with them and then they also want you to eat with three fingers. They wash their hands- OK, fine; all Muslims are required to wash their hands before they eat. You wash your hands and then you go to eat. If they want to eat with three fingers we have no problems with that. No Muslim should have any problems with that but to come and turn this around- let's say I'm not eating with three fingers; let's say I'm eating with a spoon and a folk and they look at me like I'm a suspect! As if there is something wrong with my Islam! What is this? What happened to al amal as salih? This is how we measure characters. Then they tell you, "you have to sit on the floor in a certain way when you eat." Not only do you need to eat with three fingers (but) you have to sit on the floor in a certain way. Then, (just for your curiosity), you ask them OK- what are the requirements of an Islamic governance of justice? What's required for that? (Do) you know what they will do? They will go to their history- they won't go to the Qur'an, they won't go to the Prophet; they might go to some hadiths of the Prophet to substantiate their erring position but they will go to what? They'll flip the history pages of Kufa and Dimashq and Balq and Baghdad and all of this in the history pages. When you speak about an Islamic governance this is what you do? This is what they do! Then they come up to you and say "I want to ask you- is serving in a particular army a form of paganism?" This is where their minds are. Instead of questioning the whole army and the whole system they ask you- and you're very innocent about responding to them; we say, (now please don't make fun of them (because) some of these people are innocent and some of them are sincere), "what do you mean by going into a particular army or armed forces or whatever being a form of paganism?" He said "well every morning these types of people salute the flag and the flag is a type of idol so they are saluting an idol." Look at this! Instead of the precious mind that Allah has given this individual evaluating what that armed forces is all about, (i.e. it) is involved in killing innocent people (or) are there policies and are there strategies to conquer and to defeat and to rob other people of their resources and livelihoods and to exploit them into economic slavery- no, no, no! It's that salute at the beginning of the day that's caused him to think of an army as a form of paganism! This is how they want to reduce us (and) to annihilate any shred of thoughts that Allah has endowed us with. We don't know where this comes from. Somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula where they have all this money; believe us, if they didn't have all this money none of this would be happening- none of it! We wouldn't be giving this type of khutbah. They stimulate these questions from the Arabian Peninsula and then these questions circulate all around the globe. They come to you and they begin to ask you about Al Mu'tazila. "Is the Qur'an makhluq or not makhluq?" Dear speaker, dear person, dear brother- this issue right now is 1,200 years old. It is gone. Don't bring it back to divide the Muslims because right now the overall plan is to divide the Muslims. We've had enough division. We're fed up with division. Then that's one type of question. Another type of question they'll come and they'll ask you "is vinegar halal or haram?" Listen to this- "is vinegar halal or haram?" These are the types of questions they ask and they want you and me to begin to argue about these questions. Any time anyone wants to make an issue out of these step out of the ring. Don't get involved in any of this. Then they want to score argumental victories over those who disagree with them. They bring out these words from hundreds of years ago- the Mu'tazila, the Ash'ariya, al murji'ah, Ash Shi'ah. the Ibadha. They bring all of this up and then they want to score verbal victories when they don't have any enemies. These are not enemies. Muslims are not enemies of Muslims. They want to create out of Muslims enemies. They want to create out of our own selves enemies of our own selves! Anything that will help them do that they'll do it. May Allah forgive us- we haven't mentioned the name of any one person; we just referred to attitudes, characters and behaviors that are in abundance around us and they caused us and they are causing us to be where we are today.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
As you may know, the rulers in Arabia are gearing up for acts of war. If we go back many years, it's uncharacteristic for the person who is in the haram of Makkah giving the khutbah on this day to be speaking about going to war. In today's khutbah in that place in Makkah the khatib, (i.e.), the person who was giving the sermon was speaking about the aggression that has taken place in Iraq, in Syria and in Yemen. He probably doesn't have enough information to understand what is happening because when you live in a land like that and when you live as a subject of rulers as exists in Arabia you're automatically insulated from the necessary information to see what is happening in reality; so the selective information that comes his way and the orders that he is given- remember, you can't speak your conscience. In Makkah Muslims cannot speak their conscience. In Madinah Muslims cannot speak their conscience. We dare say in most of the Arabian Peninsula Muslims are forbidden from speaking their conscience. So (from) the selective information that comes his way with the instructions he is given from his superiors, (i.e.), the royals of Arabia he comes and he says "whoever unsheathes the sword of aggression is going to be killed by it." That's the famous quote in Arabic. Who here is the aggressor? Who is the one who is unsheathing the weapons of aggression? Who is it? Can't you see who's beginning these wars and for what purpose? But they're not allowed to think. Remember, the types of issues that they spent their lives thinking about are the types of issues a sample of which was presented to you in the first khutbah. They spend their whole lives around those issues and now when it comes to militaries and regimes and establishments and warfare and intrigue and politics they are blank! And everyone who's not a committed Muslim wants them to be blank. It should bother us (and) it should disturb us that we have people speaking the khutbah in Makkah in the haram itself- and this is not just the people who are there who are subject to closed circuit TV monitoring but this sermon is broadcast via satellite. Who knows how many millions of people are listening in on to this distortion of reality and the facts. So they're trying to build up. Then another incident happens. Listen to this- and maybe this belonged to the first khutbah; on Egyptian TV in the past, two or three days ago, a person who's supposed to be a graduate of the Azhar says "it is haram for a man to comb his hair twice a day or more." When asked "why is it haram for a man to comb his hair two times a day or more?" he said "because if he does so he is imitating women. That's supposed to be for women. They're supposed to be combing their hair multiple times a day and a man is forbidden from acting like women so a man can't comb his hair two times or more a day." These are the types of people who have stifled us and they're given the opportunity to speak this nonsense everywhere! This is what we have. These are the facts. This is reality. You either see it and do something about it (and) have social conscience, (i.e.) al amr bi al ma'ruf and an nahi an al munkar or you don't. You're nothing in life. You're considered like fleas and flies- nothing! It's your choice- you want to be the committed Muslim Allah wants you to be or you want to be a flea and a fly to be exterminated by warfare and military intrigue? The choice is yours.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 8 May 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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