| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (18 October 2013) 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…
THE KHAWARIJ AND TAKFIR
The annul Hajj is quickly approaching and we know (that) habit has it to precede the Hajj by a few weeks and speaking about what the Hajj means and that we will do in the second khutbah but because of the importance of the issue that has been dividing the Muslims and killing the Muslims yours honestly is going to continue with the effort to try to shed light on the origins of this problem so that hopefully- with Allah's help and guidance- we won't become victims of our own ignorance or preys of our own misinformation. Allah says
and don't be like those who were divided and went into dispute and disagreement among themselves after clear evidence, manifest truth (and) visible guidance has come to them or don't be like those who were divided and then went into deep disagreement after Allah's Books were revealed to them, after Allah's Prophets lived with them and showed them the way forward- after all of this don't disunite, don't dispute (and) don't be divided… (Surah Aal Imran verse 105)
One of those divisive issues that have historical thread (and) a historical line that goes back almost a thousand and four hundred years is what is called Al Khawarij. Al Khawarij were a type of an Islamic party that has its own argument for the type of positions that they stood for in their time and in their circumstances. The word Al Khawarij is taken from the word al khuruj and in today's language that would be like insurrection and insurgence. Its detractors give it a negative meaning but they themselves give it a positive meaning. So any person or any group of people that break away in a social and then in a military sense from a legitimate ruler could be called Khawarij whether it was a thousand four hundred years ago or whether it happens today or whether it happens a thousand or more years from now. The persons who did not give bai'ah to the first successors to Allah's Prophet could, in this sense, be called Khawarij. When some notable Muslims disagreed the leadership of Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) they could in a linguistic sense be called Al Khawarij; but then there is the positive meaning of this word and it is taken from the ayah one hundred in Surah An Nisa'a
… and whoever is active in this khuruj from his residence on a journey to Allah and His Messenger and then he dies in the process his reward is due from Allah… (Surah An Nisa' verse 100)
So to be objective and to be impartial about this issue the word- even though it gained through its historical accumulation a very negative meaning and connotation it doesn't necessarily have to be like that. It just happens that the forces in history that go under (and) that lose never have the opportunity to present what they stood for and to explain what they were all about. This happened to many other groups in history- in the Islamic context and in the non-Islamic context and in this particular case it happened to this type of orientation. They have other names (or) they are known by other words. Another word calls them Al Haruriyyah that is in relation to a town or a place called Al Harura'. After the battle of Siffin and the difference of opinion inside the camp or the army of Imam Ali (radi Allahu anhu) there were those who disagreed with the way Siffin was coming to an end- what was called in Islamic history at tahkeem (or) arbitration. There were people who disagreed with that and said this is wrong. This should not happen. So after leaving Siffin and going back to Al Kufa these people who disagreed with him Ali didn't follow him back to Al Kufa. They went to Hurura' so some historians refer to them as Al Haruriyyah. They are called Ash Shura', the plural of shaaree. Sharee has a double meaning- it could mean to sell or to buy. So some historians refer to them as those who transacted their lives for Allah and they refer this back to the ayah in Surah Al Baqarah
… and there are people who will transact or sell their lives for the satisfaction of Allah… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 207)
Then there are those in history, and you can sense from the designation of this political trend in Islam, who refer to them as Al Marika. Al Marika means, (we're going to come down to today's language so that you can understand what the inference of the word is), in the street language those who were slick. This is taken from a hadith of the Prophet. The Prophet of Allah was talking about a certain type of people they will slip through ad deen the same way an arrow departs from a bow. So they called them Al Marika. Then there are others who called them Al Muhakkeemah because when this dispute began- something that could happen anywhere by any Muslims- and when this dispute of arbitration divided the rank of Ali this particular strain of opinion said
… but governance belongs to no one except Allah. (Surah Al An'aam verse 57)
So because they said la hukm ill li Allah they were called Al Muhakkeemah meaning that when anyone wants to discuss the issue of governance and ruling and sovereignty and decision making all of that belongs to Allah. Now we want to remind you once again- this khutbah on this day of Jum'ah is not meant to fill in some vacuum in your mind (or that) we're just giving some information. No. If you're here just for getting information maybe you should go and sign up for a class somewhere and get, at the end of your information gathering effort, a piece of paper to hang on the wall. What is meant by us revisiting these facts is to gain an awareness and then a character that is immune to the troublemakers today who want to divide the Muslims along these fault lines.
So in one of their statements and this sort of defines where they are coming from, (of course they had many statements), responding to Abdillah ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) the Khawarij are speaking to those who were with Ali because just a few days ago all of them were on one side (and) this difference didn't occur. This difference began when the Masahif went up on the swords and the losing party in the war was suing for peace- a grand deception, but some people took it as a way to save Muslim lives or bring this warfare to an end. Remember this is Al Khawarij speaking to the side of Ali and they say in an affair that belongs to Allah you arbitrate this to men... This is when both sides- Imam Ali's side and King Muawiyah's side- agreed to have two representatives to represent each side to solve this chronic bloodletting, civil strife and war within the Muslim Ummah. So they go on to say … in the meantime Allah has said His final word on Muawiyah and his party. What is that word? There's only two solutions to Muawiyah and his military might- either they are killed or they retreat from their positions meaning they acknowledge the leadership of Ali- this is what Allah says about this whole affair. So if you bring in Amr ibn Al Aas representing Muawiyah or you bring in Abu Musa Al Ash'ari representing Ali- Al Khawarij were saying what's all of this about? We don't understand this? Before that in whichever way we called them to Allah's book, (i.e.) this Qur'an that they are raising up on these Masahif, they refused. Now you've reached a point in which you are going to sign an agreement between you and he meaning Muawiyah?! Now you have placed between you and him a type of cordiality and getting along?! They said Allah has severed (and) has cut this cordiality and this getting along between the Muslims and people of war since the revelation of Surah Al Bara'ah except for they who pay the financial dues. Then, in another sentence that tell you who they were, these Khawarij said the committed Muslims have a commander, that's in reference of Ali, but when he arbitrated an issue pertaining to Allah's deen he has stepped out of iman (or) he has left al iman… Then they said he should make a tawbah (or) he should express his remorse, his guilt, confess to his mistake and ask Allah for His forgiveness after he has acknowledged his kufr. You see- brothers and sisters- right now we speak about this takfiri mentality and this takfiri strain of Muslims who are armed and killing left and right; this is one of the first times that committed Muslims were brave enough to express what they have on their mind and in their hearts. Agree or disagree (but) one feature that these Khawarij had to them is they would express exactly what was on their mind. They wouldn't withhold one word or they would not withhold one meaning from anyone. This is obvious. (Take a) look at the way they are speaking. Just a few days ago Ali was their Imam. They were on his side. They accepted him as the legitimate ruler of the Muslims and now all of a sudden after this decision by Ali to accept this tahkeem- and this acceptance was done, mind you, because the majority of the Muslims who were with him wanted to sue for peace. It wasn't his preference. They knew this but still they put him in a position that they designated as a Kafir. They said to Ali- once again they were frank (and) they were blunt- make a tawba (or) express your tawbah for your mistake and retreat from your affair. Lead us to our enemy. We will fight them until we meet our Lord and Sustainer. These were in today's words die hard revolutionaries who, in their mind, could not see that a leader is answerable to the people who put him in that position. In their mind he's only answerable to Allah. Well that's partially true. Of course every leader is answerable to Allah but how about the people that you are ruling over? Are you not also answerable to them? What if all the people or eighty percent of the people who are with you want to accept an arbitration? What do you do? You create another internal civil war? It's enough that now Muslims were divided into two opposing camps you want one of those camps itself to be divided into two opposing camps? They couldn't understand this. So Ali answered them and he said to them I wanted you to go that way meaning to fight until the end but you disobeyed me. We want you to understand that there's a very tricky area here in Islamic history because some of these Khawarij were saying initially we want to go for peace but when the decision was made to go to arbitration and to peace then they flipped sides and joined the others who said we don't want this to begin with. So in those few days some of them straddled both sides- this is also a fine point in history that goes either unnoticed or unexpressed. This is not history. Brothers and sisters- when you're listening to this you're listening to human nature. This can occur anywhere (and) anytime among any group of Muslims and like we said repeatedly, if we don't learn from our mistakes we're going to be condemned to repeating those same mistakes. So he said we now have signed what amounts to an agreement between us and these people meaning Muawiyah's side of the issue and we now have agreed to certain conditions and to that end we have given our trust and signed our contracts. You can't do this. After you enter into this tahkeem process you can't after ending it renege and say "oh no I have nothing to do with this!" We can't do that. We don't know if we mentioned this- there were about twelve thousand of them. This is not a simple group of people. The ones who broke after Siffin and instead of accompanying Ali back to Al Kufa they went to Al Harura'. Twelve thousand! This is a significant number of people with this mentality (and) with this mindset. So the first major encounter with them was at An Nahrawan between Ali and these Khawarij and they lost in a very significant way. Some history books tell you all of the Khawarij were killed except nine and these nine went to certain areas- they went to Yemen, they went to Oman, they went to parts of the Arabian Peninsula, they went to North Africa and they spread their message there. Sajastan also.
What stands them out as far as today's world is concerned? Please remember, when we're saying this we can't every sentence break from history and come to today's world (and) then go back to history (and) then come back to today's world. You're going to have to make that connection or else the khutbah will keep on going for two hours (or) three hours. What stands out in their position is that they equated at tahkeem with kufr. Anyone (and) everyone who accepted this arbitration in their eyes is a Kafir- period! Now you would ask- with the type of violent language and violent interpretations that they had of the ayaat, of the ahadith and all of this how do they continue to survive? If in An Nahrawan they were virtually wiped out how do they jump back into existence? Well, let us give you a sense of how they gained this popularity even though they were very confrontational. Remember when we covered this area some months ago- the major polarisation between Al Muhajirin (radi Allahu anhu) and Al Ansar (radi Allahu anhu) at one time and between Al Qurashiyin and the Umawiyin or the Hashimiyin and the Umawiyin at another time was that they all had a sense that the leader should be from Quraysh. These Khawarij said nonsense! Who understands Islam like this? So they said as long as the leader is just (or) as long as he rules with justice he is a leader. The quality (and) the qualification is justice. Don't tell us he is to be from that tribe or that nationality or that group of people, whatever. Don't get lost in this maze. What is clear is the leader has to be just. Then if we bring a just leader to rule and then he changes his conduct (and) he violates justice there's only two solutions to it- you either relieve him of his duties or you get rid of him altogether. Finish him off. Kill him- that's their language. Kill him. So if a just person comes to rule he could be from Quraysh he could be from non Quraysh, he could be an Arab he could be a non-Arab, he could be a freeman he could be a slave. Now in those times with the asabiyah that we're speaking about they tried to cut through all of these asabiyaat and by doing that the average person listening to them would say "hey wait a minute- this sounds fantastic. I think I'll join these people." So they regenerated numbers because of what they were saying. Most of these Khawarij were not from Quraysh, they were not from Thaqif, they were not from the Ansar, they were not from all of the rest of that area that we were covering previously. Most of them lived in Southern Iraq in Al Kufa and Basra
They also refused the Muslims having a central authority. This is an argument that comes up in political science nowadays. "How far are we going to decentralise? Should we have most of the power in one city or should the different areas of the Muslims share their power equally among themselves?" Their point of view is there shouldn't be a concentration of power. This power has to be decentralised. So the people in Kufa and the people in Iraq feel like they have their own type of power that is consolidated with the other people in Arabia who have their type of power and so forth and so on. Don't tell us we have to report to one place that has ultimate power and ultimate decision making. They didn't understand the world like that.
These were warriors. These were fighting people. They wanted the benefits that come with fighting and giving your lives for the cause of Allah, in other words if they were out there on the boundaries or the frontiers of Islam and there was a war with some enemies and they gained new territories they thought that these gained territories should be administered by military men, (i.e.) you get what you fought for. Don't tell us we're going to give up our lives and some people somewhere in Arabia because remember right now the frontiers of Islam were way out in North Africa and way out in Central Asia- they said to themselves don't tell us when we are doing the fighting way out there in North Africa and Central Asia someone in Arabia is going to be telling us that we have no input in areas we liberated with our lives.
A lot of Mawali entered. Mawali, like we said, is what you consider in today's USA
Finally they came up with this conspiracy to kill three individuals- Amr ibn Al Aas, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and Ali ibn Abi Taalib. They lost all their wars against Ali and in this assassination plot they were only successful in killing Ali. Abdur Rahman ibn Muljam whose wife had many family members who were killed in all of these wars against Ali. Eventually they were shattered. Historians can't even count how many divisions Al Khawarij even had. The least is twenty- twenty sub-Khawarij persuasions. All of them had this in common- they agreed that Uthman and Ali are Kafirs. We can't help it- we want to right now break for a moment and think about those today who are saying that so and so is a Kafir. This didn't come from thin air. This has a root and it has an argument here in history and because we- you and I- have not opened up these pages and thought through them and learnt from the lives and the deaths and the martyrdom and the blood and the mayhem located here almost fourteen hundred years ago look what's happening now. They agreed that the two Hakams are Kafirs, those who went to war in the battle of Jamal are Kafirs. Everyone who accepts arbitration are Kafirs.
Let us look at some more particular details. If you think what is happening today is ugly look at the source of the ugliness. Some of the opinions with this Khariji type of thinking is that it is halaal (or) it is permissible to kill children, babies. They say it is permissible to kill babies if these babies belong to parents who are Kafirs. They say if a baby of a Mushrik dies that baby goes to the fire. They say at taqiyyah is not permissible anywhere by anyone due to any circumstances. There cannot be something called at taqiyyah. They also said anyone who commits a kabirah- you know there's seven kaba'ir, these are called the major sins- or anyone who's guilty of a major sin is a Kafir. That is some of the seeding that took place fourteen centuries ago and now if you failed to see the seeds you can look and see the fruition of those seeds in the takfiris who are killing other Muslims and thinking that by doing so they are going to Al Jannah and they are going to be rewarded with all of the rewards that come to Al Muttaqeen and the rest of this that we have in today's world.
… Don't be from those who have divided their deen and then became partisans here and there… (Surah Aal Imran verse 105)
As we have seen, if we can just open our eyes and see what we did. Now brothers and sisters- we know ninety nine percent of you disagree with what these Khawarij did, but that's not enough. So what? It's not enough to disagree. What has to be done in this lesson has to be presented to the Muslim public- the two billion Muslims in the world- so that they can distinguish what is right from what is wrong so that we are not once again producing in our generation and in our time our own Khawarij.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
As mentioned at the beginning of the previous khutbah even though time is besieging us the Hajj is approaching. It's a matter of another maybe seventeen or eighteen days before the Muslims will be celebrating Eid Al Adha. What we want to say in this short frame of time that we have is that Al Hajj is not a personal ibadah, per se because many of us who think we go to the Hajj, just like all the other personal obligations that we have, we have voided these personal obligations from their social content. We've done this to as salah, we've done this to az zakaat, we've done this to as siyaam and we've done it to the Hajj. Al Hajj has become something personal. A person goes to the Hajj and goes through all the motions over there and then comes back and he thinks "Alhamdulillah I have fulfilled my obligation." We say to that type of attitude you haven't fulfilled your obligation. Al Hajj is a social obligation. We will remind you of two statements from Allah's Prophet. The first one says all these people (or) all these creation of humanity is Allah's family and the one Allah loves more in this family is the one who cares more for the other members of this family. Does anyone go to Hajj and find this? If all of humanity is our family, we can say that we have an immediate family in the Muslims who are there in Makkah. Does anyone care for any members of his or her immediate family? Are you given the opportunity when you go there to know who the members of your immediate family are or are you once again faced with another type of asabiyah in the Hajj? This whole problem that we cannot come to terms with comes and haunts us in the Hajj. If you open your eyes and if you heighten your senses in the Hajj you tell us you cannot see asabiyah in the Hajj? This asabiyah that has caused us civil wars and divisions comes back to organise the Hajj and to divide us inside the Hajj. Another hadith from Allah's Prophet- a person has no iman or a person is not committed to Allah… Who is this? The Prophet says whoever goes to sleep at night on a full stomach knowing that he has a neighbor that goes to sleep on an empty stomach. You can do all of the du'as and all of the salah and all of the Ramadhan's and everything you want to do (but) one indicator that there's no iman in you is that you go to sleep on a full stomach and there's someone next to you, besides you (or) your neighbor who doesn't have enough to put in their stomach. Many of these types go to the Hajj. Actually now the Hajj in an indirect way is meant to have these people who have full stomachs go to the Hajj and for the rest who can make it to the Hajj- they have to struggle to go and make it- and when they meet there the one who has a full stomach is not allowed by policies, by organisation, by pre-determination to familiarise himself with the one who has an empty stomach. And you say "you've gone to the Hajj and come back and carry the honorific title of Al Haaj or Al Haajah." Rethink yourself and rethink this obligation.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 27 September 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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