| THE STREET MIMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (1 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.
Ayyuha Al Mu'minun…
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/354312 (04-24-2015)
TRADITIONS ARE NOT DEEN
Allah states in His eternal Book
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ
As Allah has taken a pledge from the Prophets… (Surah Aal Imran verse 81)
In another ayah
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ
(As Allah has) a pledge from those who have been given scripture whether it is At Torah or Al Injeel or the Quran you shall most definitely explain it, meaning the scripture (or) the Holy Book, to people (or) clarify its meanings for people… (Surah Aal Imran verse 187)
Allah didn't say la tubayyinunnahu li Al Yahud, He didn't even say la tubayyinunnahu li An Nasara or He didn't even say la tubayyinunnahu li Al Muslimin or Al Mu'minin. He said
لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَكْتُمُونَهُ
… you shall most definitely explain it, meaning the scripture (or) the Holy Book, to people (or) clarify its meanings for people and don't conceal any of its ayahs (or) any of its surahs (or) any of its meanings… (Surah Aal Imran verse 187)
What did they do?
فَنَبَذُوهُ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ
… they cast it behind their backs… (Surah Aal Imran verse 187)
This is a description of those who present themselves as progressives, modern (and) forward looking- as if the Qur'an is reactionary or the Qur'an is ancient or Allah is irrelevant. The responsibility of expressing this message to the worldwide public is a responsibility that is placed on us, the committed Muslims, who are in the position and have been in the position of inheriting this historical task of al Anbiya' and al Mursalin. Then Allah points to an ailment that is part of human nature and part of human history and part of humanity itself- He says in Surah Al Baqarah ayah 170
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ
And if they are told… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 170)
We're speaking to the people, to the public (and) to anyone willing to listen. This is an expression of freedom. Allah's God-given freedom to mankind.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا ۗ أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ
And if they are told come let's follow what Allah has revealed (or) what Allah has brought down into our world and into our minds; they said "no. Rather we are going to follow what our forefathers and our ancestors have been following, (i.e.), we are familiar with them (or) what we are familiar is with the practice of our predecessors and our ancestors." What if their ancestors their forefathers were not reasoning and were not guided? (Surah Al Baqarah verse 170)
There are many ayaat in the Qur'an equivalent or parallel to this ayah.
Another ayah in Surah Az Zukhruf says
قَالَ مُتْرَفُوهَا إِنَّا وَجَدْنَا آبَاءَنَا عَلَىٰ أُمَّةٍ وَإِنَّا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِم مُّقْتَدُونَ
The elites (or) the very rich of society say we are accustomed to the ways of our ancestry, that's in reference to the generations back in history and certainly we are going to follow in their path (or) we are going to trace their direction. (Surah Az Zukhruf verse 23)
Allah assails this mentality (and) this attitude. This is not an excuse. You can't come and say just because you found your father and his grandfather and their grandfathers all the way back, (i.e.), just because they had a tradition you are bound by that tradition! The Qur'an says no; you liberate yourself from that attitude. That's not a rationale! Is there any reasoning in this? If someone was wrong in history they are wrong. If someone is right in history they are right. Our criteria is the Qur'an and the Prophet. These are the ones who show us. Allah and His Prophet show us who is right and who is wrong. Don't cage yourself in a tradition. Our traditions have calcified. They've become a very hard nut to crack! Besides when we inherit traditions and customs, conventions and ceremonies and celebrations and substitute those for a course of justice- that's our message, that's our duty, that's our responsibility; justice, social justice, fairness, equity (and) equality is who we are. (If) you come and substitute that with mechanical traditions, by habitual customs you self destruct per these ayaat. In the time of our beloved Prophet, his people, his relatives, his neighbors- the community in Makkah referred to him (or) they gave him a description, (i.e.) they called him ibn Abi Kabsha, the son of Abu Kabsha. Now who is Abu Kabsha? Abu Kabsha was an individual in Makkah who was known to worship Ash Shi'ra. Ash Shi'ra is one of those cosmic planetary locations in the universe and some would say it's a certain star. This person called Abu Kabsha broke with the traditions of his own people and worshipped that particular star (and) because he broke from his own people, (i.e.), that traditional society of Makkah, (they) called the Prophet the son of Abu Kabsha. In one of the hadiths of the Prophet he says
كل مولود يولد على الفطرة فأبواه يهودانه أو ينصرانه) جاء في كتاب صحيح البخاري و صحيح مسلم و سنن الترمذي و سنن أبي داود و مسند الإمام أحمد و موطأ مالك و فتح الباري شرح صحيح البخاري و كتاب السنن الكبرى و مصنف عبد الرزاق و المعجم الأوسط (
The person is born in his or her God-given state of nature, that is al fitra- that's how everyone is born, but what happens later on as people grow up and then they are inducted to their own traditions? The predominance influence that the Prophet refers to here is that the person who is born into that particular family of Yahud or Nasara becomes a Yahudi or a Nasrani. What the Prophet is trying to say here is you are not supposed to be who you are just because you are born into a family and a tradition and a heritage. You have to take yourself out of that and commit to Allah and His Prophet. Another assault on this tradition-cum-religion is an ayah in which Allah says
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ
The elites (or) the very rich of society say we are accustomed to the ways of our ancestry, that's in reference to the generations back in history and certainly we are going to follow in their path (or) we are going to trace their direction. (Surah At Tawbah verse 31)
This is an ayah that condemns the Ahbars and the Ruhban. These are the clergymen of Al Yahud and An Nasara because their followers designated them as lords besides Allah (and) that's because they were not using their reasoning- there is no individual mind at work (and) there was no collective mind at work. When both these are absent then you have individuals blindly accepting the legislation, the orders, the strategies and the policies of Al Ahbar and Ar Ruhban and then we wind up after centuries and centuries of this calcification (and) of this hardening of traditions and customs (and) we wind up understanding these traditions and these customs to be our religion or our deen. Do away with the word religion. We understand our customs and traditions to be our deen. We use three words for that. We say they are our hujjah, our burhaan and our dalil. People hide behind these words. As we trace this and follow this we find that- permit us to say this; it has become a deficiency of some of our scholarly class that they transfer issues of fiqh and make them issues of iman. Let us tell you what we mean by this. We want to be more precise with you. In a certain madh'hab- Islam is madhahib; we have madh'hab which simply means lane. Look at that street there- it has four lanes to it. Some streets may have six or highways may have eight, etc. All of these lanes are bundled together and called Islam. Anyone who thinks he is going in one of these lanes (or) he or she represents authentic Islam is just looking at one lane and is not looking at the other lanes of Islam. When we in an objective and impartial way take the references (of) one of these lanes, the Hanbali school of thought- these are the people who occupy the Islamic Centre, those who come out of Arabia, the holier than thou accusing other Muslims of Kufr- one of the issues we find, (and we found a lot of issues in these past weeks and years), is a simple issue of fiqh. It's called al masah al al khuffayn. There are leather shoes that are called khuff and according to this Islamic school of thought- agree with it or disagree with it, it's an Islamic school of thought- it is permissible when you do your wudhu to wipe those leather shoes. You don't have to take off your shoes and wash your feet. You can just wipe over them in lieu of washing your feet. This is a fiqhi issue. Agree with it (or) disagree with it, it's up to your conscience. If you agree with it you're fine, if you disagree with it you're fine because this is an ijtihad. Some people following that lane, the Hanbali lane in Islam say "whoever does not agree with that is not a Muslim." This is the fanaticism that we are inflicted with. This is not permissible. Another issue that has become an issue of divisiveness is al iman bi Al Yawm Al Aakhir. We, all Muslims, are of the firm belief of the day of judgment. No Muslim of any persuasion argues that fact. Now concerning Al Yawm Al Aakhir there is in the Islamic informational books, (that we have), something called ash'raat as sa'ah, (i.e.), the conditions preceding (or) coming before the last day. One of the issues of ash'raat as sa'ah- all Muslims believe in the final day and it should rest at that but there are some details to this and some Muslims think if you don't believe in these details then somehow your Islam is invalidated. One of those details is Imam Al Mahdi. The other detail is the reappearance of Isa ibn Maryam (alayhi as salaam). Whether you believe in that or whether you don't believe in that is not going to invalidate your Islam; but who do we have who will come and take a hard look at traditions and sort these issues out so that we don't go around saying true Muslims are not Muslims? This is what happens. The rulers in Arabia want to spread the takfiri notion that if you disagree with them you become a Kafir and we're going to kill you for that! Astaghfirullah- but this is what we have. This is true. These are the facts of life. In our Islam, all Muslims- it doesn't matter which madh'hab they are in- believe in al amr bi al ma'ruf wa an nahy an al munkar. All Muslims believe in dissenting. We want you to zero in on this. All committed Muslims believe in dissenting from rulers who perpetuate injustice. This is an agreement among all Muslims. From the early history of Islam Al Imam Hussein, ibn Zubayr, Ibn Umar, Imam Zayd the four Fuqaha' (radi Allahu anhum) of what is called the Sunni schools of thought. All of them believed in this but something happened along the line! In one of these lanes of Islam something happened. You had a person by the name of Al Barbahari. He was the prominent Faqih of the Hanbali school of thought during his time. He died in the year 329 hijri. He said, (we're quoting him), and see here we have a departure from the consensus of all the Muslims,
ولا يحل لأحد أن يبيت ليلة لا يرى أن عليه إماما برا كان أو فاجرا) جاء في كتاب شرح السنة للبربهاري (
It is not permissible for anyone to spend one night (or) to sleep one night without having a leader whether this leader is a leader of virtue or whether he is a leader of vice (or) whether he is a compatible leader or a confrontational leader meaning confronting the truth not confronting al batil. You have to pay allegiance to leaders who are confronting the truth. This is not just one statement, it goes on. In another statement he says
ولا يحل قتال السلطان ولا الخروج عليه وإن جار وليس من السنة قتال السلطان فإن فيه فساد الدنيا والدين) جاء في كتاب شرح السنة للبربهاري(
Listen to that- this is where Muslims began to subdue themselves to every type of oppressive establishment, historically and currently. He says it is not permissible to fight authorities and to dissent from them even if they are oppressive (or) even if they are despotic. There is nothing in the Sunnah that indicates taking on these types of authority because this will corrupt the deen and the duniyah. Where does he get this from? Which ayah (or) which hadith? Right now these statements are reversing al amr bi al ma'ruf wa an nahy an al munkar. Then he says
إذا رأيت الرجل يدعو على السلطان فاعلم أنه صاحب هوى، وإذا سمعت الرجل يدعو للسلطان بالصلاح، فاعلم أنه صاحب سنة إن شاء الله) جاء في كتاب شرح السنة للبربهاري(
This means if you see a person who is making a favorable dua' for the ruler- doesn't matter what type of ruler, whether he is a good ruler or a bad ruler- then this person who is making that dua' is a person of Sunnah and then he says insha'Allah. Then we come to one of their major scholars ibn Taymiyah. He has this statement to say
Being patient with the despotism and the authoritarianism of rulers and being patient with their injustice is a foundation pertaining to the foundations of Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah. We don't know who put him the spokesman for Ahl As Sunnah wa Al Jama'ah! If it wasn't for the wealth and the resources in the Arabian Peninsula we wouldn't be quoting these sayings. No one would be paying attention to them! No one! But because they have money (and) they have the wherewithal their statements begin to reverberate in certain Islamic Centers (and) even in Makkah and Al Madinah. There is nothing whatsoever that validates this statement from the ayahs of the Qur'an or from the hadiths of the Prophet. We will end by quoting one of the Prophet's and the quote is in the Qur'an- the quote says
إِنْ أُرِيدُ إِلَّا الْإِصْلَاحَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُ ۚ وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ ۚ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ أُنِيبُ
… I only intend reform as much as I am able. And my success is not but through Allah. Upon him I have relied and to Him I return. (Surah Hud verse 88)
Dear committed brothers and dear committed sisters…
We are living in a time of fragmentation, in a time that is contrary to how Allah wants us to be. Allah says
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا
And hold on, all of you, to Allah's fortified extension to you and be not divided… (Surah Aal Imran verse 103)
The ayah that most of us are familiar with, the ayah which has been expounded on many times from this minbar- but what do we have today? We have individuals who became kings and presidents either through a hereditary process, (i.e.), they were born in a royal family so they became princes and then from there they became kings and monarchs or we have them come to power because they had the military initiate a type of regime change. This is what we have and look at the divisiveness. This is supposed to be one Ummah. This is supposed to be one solid group of people and that doesn't mean we can have these ijtihads and these schools of thought, these madhahib and these lanes. No! We're permitted to have that. That's part of our vitality and it should bring us closer together. It shouldn't be a cause for division and misunderstanding- the type of propaganda that's pumped out of the petroleum of Arabia. As you can see, there are brothers and sisters here today. It happens that the Turkish embassy is just a couple of buildings down to my left which would be to your right. This day commemorates two things to two sets of people. The first one is 100 years ago today there was a grand battle that took place. In that battle the authority in the Ottoman state- is was still officially the Ottoman state, it wasn't the secular Turkey that it became later on- defeated the combination of forces that had amassed to disintegrate (or) to cause at least the breakaway of the Western part of Turkey so it becomes part of Imperialist Europe or Colonialist Europe. It was a conflagration, a confrontation (and) a war theatre between two sides- a side that represented the unity of purpose between Muslims; one of the last stance to represent a military unity of purpose- Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Caucasians, Muslims from the Balkans and from other areas all fought together to maintain or to block the disintegration of a country. In that battle or in that war 70,000 Muslims gave their lives. As we said, Muslims from different backgrounds and for that purpose the European powers did not get away with dismembering Anatolia. It may be symbolic, (but at least it's the first step to the right direction), the president of Iraq Mr. Fuad Ma'sum comes from a Kurdish background. He participated in the commemoration of this day in solidarity with his Turkish brothers- he's a Kurd. This is something that is wanting; something that some Muslims cannot breakaway from their shell of traditions and be able to do. It may be symbolic but we need more of this symbolism among Muslims so that we can get our act together. This day means something else for another set of people and those people are Armenians. We want to draw the attention of those who are not mature enough to step out of their ethnicity and their nationalism and say that if there were crimes and excesses committed against the Armenian community- it is a matter of historical fact that some youth from the Armenian community during a time of war collaborated with Tsarist Russia against the overwhelming majority of people among whom they were living. This, in times of war is considered high treason. The reaction to that could have been excessive and if it was- and we know Armenian communities who live among Muslims weather they live in Turkey, whether they live in Halab or in Beirut or in Al Mosul or in other cities predominantly Muslim cities in predominantly Muslim countries- we haven't sensed that they are the type who would act with plans of subterfuge among the Muslims. So it would be high time- and it was a good gesture from the prime minister of Turkey to speak to the Armenian community so that both sides can outgrow the fanaticism of division and come back to the normalcy of justice and social justice. Was it an Islamic authority? The Armenians in this context use the word genocide. We don't use that word. This was a war, there was treason in that war. There was an action and a reaction- both, with an excessive character but it's high time that we recognize that it was the seculars among the Muslims who were making decisions at that time. This wasn't Shaykh Al Islam who issued a fatwa for acts of violence against Armenians in Anatolia. So let us get our history straight.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 24 April 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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