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Friday, December 27, 2013
Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : THEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES, NOT ANIMOSITIES
| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (27 December 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…
THEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES, NOT ANIMOSITIES
We are approaching that time of year when people around us in this society are celebrating Christmas and in many parts of the world Muslims come into contact with Christians, whether it is in those societies where Muslims are numerically less or whether it is in other societies where Muslims are numerically more and many times we, the Muslims, display a character that lacks confidence and we begin to make something of a hostile issue because of the differences between Muslims and Christians and it need not be that way and it should not be that way. There are differences- yes! But these differences are not scrutinized in light of what Allah and His Prophet say and explain to us. Some of us don't have a healthy attitude when it comes to differences. We don't have an open and an inclusive mind when it comes to these types of differences. We would like to begin by quoting some ayaat from the book of guidance, the impeccable Qur'an that we have. Ayah number one hundred and eight in Surah Yusuf says
Say: this is my way. I call to Allah in a manner that is enlightened with insight. (Surah Yusuf verse 108)
So we are supposed to be informed. The information pertaining to this difference between Muslims and Christians that we have comes to us from Allah therefore we are informed, we are enlightened, we have foresight and we have insight concerning this area of difference- that's number one. Sometimes when you see Muslims speaking about this issue you begin to think that Muslims don't have the confidence to speak concerning the issue that divides Muslims and Christians at least in the theological sense. OK- whether we are Muslims or we are Christians we all know that there are these differences. When we have these differences there's another ayah that describes our attitude (and) how we should behave and how we should communicate with those who differ with us- it says.
… certainly it is us or you who are guided or in manifest deviation from the truth. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
You see- if you're speaking to, (let's say in this case Christians, it could be others who differ with us but to begin with a general approach), people who differ with you, your attitude should not be confrontational because you are informed or least you are supposed to be informed. When you have solid information why does anyone become confrontational? Your information is solid. Your information is reliable because it comes from Allah. So you say
… it is either us or it is either you who is in a direction of guidance or in a direction of clear deviation. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
So you're including yourself to begin with when you're including a person who in his mind and in his heart is different than you are on issues that to begin with are theological issues. We say "Allah is one. We say Allah doesn't have a son. Allah doesn't have a partner." Some people out there say "well, God has a son" or "there is a trinity" or "there are other gods." These are the two positions. When you approach them, you approach them not by saying "you're wrong, I'm right." You see- there is a methodology of communicating with the other.
… it is either we or you who is right or wrong. (Surah As Saba ' verse 24)
(Do) you see how you're including them in the discussion from step number one.
Then, in the same surah, Surah As Saba ' ayah number twenty five says
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Listen to this very carefully. OK- there's two sets of people, we the committed Muslims is one set and on the other side is those who disagree with us- they could be Christians, (they could be others but in this case because we're approaching the subject of Christmas and the son of god and the trinity and all of this you may have Christians on your mind in particular.) We're speaking to them. Allah is teaching us how to speak to them. He says
Say: you're … (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Whether you're Christians or whether you're Jews or whether you're Buddhists or whatever you are.
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
(Did) you listen to that? When you communicate with someone else its like, (if we wanted to make this more understandable), the way this ayah is phrased (or) the wording of this ayah is (that) Allah is saying
You say … (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
Allah is telling you the way to speak to those who you differ with
… you're not going to be held accountable on against the day of Judgment for the crimes that we are responsible for, (i.e.) serious offenses Allah… (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
So we're saying to them
… you're not going to be held accountable for the serious misdemeanors that we commit and we are not going to held responsible for what you do … (Surah As Saba' verse 25)
In the phrasing of this ayah there's no equivalency because when we're speaking about ourselves we're speaking about ourselves as if we may be responsible for crimes and they, the others, are responsible for what they do. We're not saying that they are responsible for misdemeanors and felonies. So here we put ourselves to begin a conversation with the other in a serious position and we relieve them of thinking that they are in a serious position. This is like martial arts- you use the strength or the vulnerability of your opponent against them. You bring them into your sphere of information because you have the information and you have the confidence to communicate this information so psychologically you draw them in. Many Muslims don't have this approach. They want to almost mentally slaughter the other and this is not the accurate (and) the Qur'anic approach even though the difference is a difference that is a serious difference because it's a fact. We're speaking about a fact. When we dialogue (or) when we speak with those who disagree with us theologically or ideologically one phase of it is we approach them in this method (or) in this way.
Now we come to the subject because you know one of the news items just recently said "in the United States Christians and Jews are losing interest in their religion and what is on the rise in the United States
… there is nothing the same as He is … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
That's one way of translating this. Another meaning of this is
… there's nothing or no one equivalent to Him … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
Another delivery of the meaning of this ayah
… there is nothing or no one similar to Him … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
When we speak about Allah we speak about Allah knowing that there is nothing that resembles Him- nothing! That's a given. This is an ayah. Anyone who wants to give some type of imagery to Allah (or) some type of form to Allah (or) some type of reflection of Allah will not be able to do that because Allah says of Himself
… there is nothing the same as He is … (Surah Ash Shura' verse 11)
In another ayah Allah says
… Allah is not in the range of our view but we are in the range of His view … (Surah Al An'aam verse 103)
OK- so when it comes to us speaking about Allah, we speak about Him the way He speaks about Himself. We don't have the knowledge, we don't have the authority, we don't have the information to say who Allah is. We are not gods! We don't know. We know Him through what He tells us about Himself so we can't draw definitions from a dictionary or from an encyclopedia to tell us who Allah is. Human language is a human possession; information pertaining to Allah comes from Allah (and) is a possession of Allah not a possession of ourselves. The ayah one hundred eighty of Surah Al A'raf says
Belonging to Allah is the most perfect names or designations or attributes so you call upon Him by invoking or vocalizing these names and you part with those who try to finagle His names, His attributes and His designations; they will be compensated for what they did or what they do. (Surah Al A'raf verse 180)
Did you catch the subtlety in this ayah? Allah didn't say sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yad'un or sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yaqulun or sa'yujzawna ma kaanu yasifun. No! Allah is going to compensate those who develop arguments of deviation pertaining to Allah's asma' one way or the other not because of what they said- which is a difference between us and them- but because of what they used to do. This is a transition from having a mental disagreement with the other- in this case with the Christians- to looking at or trying to evaluate them, not by what they are saying, but in accordance with what they do. Some Muslims have difficulties with this because we are different from Christians in the matter of monotheism as opposed to trinity. We can't (or) we are not allowed to build a case of contention and division with them strictly on what they say. That's not allowed!
So when we take a look at the ninety nine attributes belonging to Allah besides the word Allah we find that they fit into two categories- a category of beauty and a category of majesty. Some of these ninety nine attributes belong only to Allah and of some of these ninety nine attributes belonging to Allah, relatively speaking, we have shades of them in ourselves. So when we say Allah, Al Khaliq. One of Allah's attributes is the Creator. We can't say that human beings are creators. Creation is bringing something into being from nothing. No human being can bring something into being from nothing. We can't create. So we can't say so and so is a creator. Allah and only Allah is the creator. He's the only one who brings something into being from nothing but in human language we say "a person is creative." As simple as this may sound this has caused much tension in human history. When we say "a person is creative" it doesn't mean he is a creator but some people, some Muslims, (who belong to this closed mind that they have), say "you can't say a person is creative." If someone wants to say something like that some of them will go as far as accusing someone who says something like that of a bid'ah that becomes shirk but when a person- whether he's a Muslim or not a Muslim- generally speaking says "a person is creative" that doesn't mean that he's some type of god. So the point to understand here is that some of Allah's attribute rub off on us. If we follow the ayaat of the Qur'an very closely all of us know that Allah is Ar Rahman and Ar Rahim- every Muslim knows this. Bismi Allah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim- the Mercy-giver and the Most Merciful. If we trace and trail the ayaat of the Qur'an we'll never find reference to Rahman pertaining to us, human beings. There is no Rahman because we can express mercy but we can't give it. When we go through the ayaat of the Qur'an we find that even though we can express mercy (and) someone theoretically speaking can be Rahim (or) merciful (and) gracious- this can happen (and) you can be that- but in the Qur'an we don't find that Allah said of any human being that he is Rahim. He said of the totality of the committed Muslims that they are ruhama'.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are fierce and ferocious and firm with the Kafirs and compassionate amongst each other… (Surah Al Fath verse 28)
That's the only time you'll find it in reference to human beings. The only time this word Rahim, which in this word is in the plural, is mentioned pertaining to us human beings is in this ayah. This creates a problem and it becomes a theological problem. Let us explain why. (Well let us get to that in a moment. Just give us a little breather here for a few minutes and we can express something else to you). There's an ayah in the Qur'an in Surah Al A'raf, ayah number one hundred and fifty five, that says
… you are our Wali, forgive us and have mercy on us; you are the best one to forgive. (Surah Al A'raf verse 155)
Banu Isra'eel in their history at one point said, speaking to Allah, This gives the impression that there are others who can forgive, (i.e.) besides Allah there are others who can forgive. Yes- human beings can forgive but we can't forgive on the scale that Allah forgives. This is extremely important to understand because in this area we have differences between Muslims and Christians and we have differences among Muslims themselves. We take this word ghafara, to forgive. There's a couple of ayaat in Surah al Baqarah. We're going to state them (and) without going into an extended translation of these two ayaat the last sentence here says
Good words and forgiveness… (Surah Al Baqarah verse 264)
Which means we, human beings, can express our common sense and express our forgiveness. That doesn't make us divinities (or) deities.
Another ayah, Surah Al Jaathiyah ayah number fourteen
Say to the committed Muslims to forgive those who don't anticipate the days of Allah… (Surah Al Jaathiyah verse 14)
So here, Allah is telling us to forgive but our forgiveness is not the equivalent of Allah's forgiveness. We know (that) we're going to drop a bomb right now (rhetorically speaking- no one's going to drop a bomb that's going to explode. Some people take these things a little too literally!) We know that we said that only Allah is the Creator. Everyone knows this. There's an ayah in the Qur'an, ayah number forty nine in Surah Aal Imran. We're going to quote the ayah for you. In one of Isa ibn Maryam (alayhima as salaam)'s encounters with his own people- the Rabbis, the literalists, the canonicals, the legalists; he said for them to hear- he's speaking to everyone but particularly for them to hear
Isa is saying "Indeed I create for you out of clay an image of a bird"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
Listen. We want Muslims to listen here because this harbors on the area in which Muslims and Christians come to differ. We're going to go over that again because it's a sensitive issue and it's so sensitive that many Muslims avoid it and we can't blame others for not visiting it. Isa ibn Maryam says and these are the words of Allah in the Qur'an and we advise in this society that we are in for every Muslim to go and read this ayah in your own time.
… "Indeed I shall (or) I will create for you out of clay an image of a bird, I will breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah's leave (or) by Allah's permission"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
For those of you who don't know much about this (or) about the history of some of this, some Christians use this ayah to approach some Muslims to say Look- you Muslims say that only Allah creates…" That's true. That's what we say- only Allah creates. Christians will say to Muslims "but look, read the Qur'an, go to ayah number forty nine in Surah Aal Imran and see what it says. Isa is saying that he creates." A superficial reading of the ayah (and yeh) that's what you understand. Now let us, with working minds, let us follow the words of this ayah
… Isa says "I am going to create for you out of clay an image of a bird"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
Even though the word khalaqa is used, khalaqa here is not being a creator it is being creative.
… "I am being creative in forming out of clay an image of a bird" and I'm going to exhale into it (or) I'm going to breathe into it… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
The other ayaat in the Qur'an pertaining to Adam and pertaining to Maryam (alayhima as salaam) with the word nafakha brings out life. The ayah pertaining to Mayram says
… And we breathed into her out of our Ruh … (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
This is what Isa is saying to them. (You) see, if Isa was saying he is a creator he would say inni akhluku lakum min at tin tayr. He didn't say that, he said inni akhluku lakum min at tin ka hayah tayr. Which means he is not a creator, he is being creative.
… and I will breathe into it and it becomes a bird by Allah's permission"… (Surah Aal Imran verse 49)
A creator doesn't need permission. This is the area that Muslims and Christians begin to argue. Muslims argue because they don't use their mind. They have Allah's words in front of them but they don't use their minds to think out the meanings of these words and ayaat. Those who say that they are Christians don't have the whole Qur'an in their possession. We just took a few ayaat here and dwelled on them. There are many other supportive ayaat in this area but at the end of the day it becomes a theological difference and a theological divide and we should grant those who disagree with us the theological distance. If they want to believe like that, let them believe like that (and) let them think like that even though we know they are incorrect; but no Muslim in the world can force the other to a conviction that is Islamic. It can't happen. It will never happen. There is no compulsion in this issue so if they can see the light all the better but if they can't then we part theological company. That doesn't mean we become enemies! That doesn't mean we kill each other! That doesn't rationalize the policies that are at work in today's world! You begin to hear Christian voices saying Muslims are this, that, the other, (we think everyone of you know exactly what we mean by this), to justify wars against the Muslims and these types of Christians are matched by their Muslim counterparts who in some parts of Muslims territories (and) countries are killing Christians just because they are Christians with these theological differences, not looking at who's a Muslim and who's a Christian on a barometer of what they do not what they say. Remember the first ayah that we spoke about or one of the first ayaat that we were speaking about?
Say: you're not going to be responsible for our crimes and we are not going to be held responsible for what you do. (Surah As Saba ' verse 25)
See- what counts here is what is being done, not what is being said. As simple as this matter is most of the Muslims are duped into condemning the other because of what the others say and not paying any attention to what the others do. We have our measurement instruments upside down and these ayaat are supposed to be here to clarify all of this for us and we hope we contributed to this contribution in this khutbah. One of the hadiths of the Prophet says don't think of Allah's self- that's beyond us. Our minds are not equipped to think of Allah's self. … rather think of His attributes- those ninety nine descriptions that we have of Him. That's the area in which our minds (and) our thoughts should be working .
Dear committed and listening brothers and sisters…
We know that Allah is one. We have people who share this belief. That what Yahud believe. The Jews believe the same thing- God is one. You say laa ilaha illa Allah, they say laa ilaha illa Allah. There's no trinity, there's no gods around- just one God. So as far as Allah's dhaat is concerned there's common ground here but we part company with them because they want to own Him. Just like they want to own everything else they want to own Allah so He becomes their god- the god of Israel
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 20 December 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : AQEEDAH IN PERSPECTIVE
| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (20 December 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.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
AQEEDAH IN PERSPECTIVE
This particular ayah is the ninety third ayah in Surah An Nisa'. Translated into English it means
And whosoever kills (or) slays deliberately another Muslim he will end up in the hell fire and he will be condemned by Allah and Allah will reject him and Allah will prepare for him a formidable suffering. (Surah An Nisa' verse 93)
Within the cause of all of the sectarian violence which is consuming the lives of many innocent Muslims across the world what are the imperatives that are presented to any public gathering of Muslims by other Muslims is the necessity of unity. To that end there are some Muslims intellectuals and scholars who are waking up to their responsibility and they are holding forums across the world where finally they are beginning to put the divisive issues on the table for the purpose of debate, challenge and ultimately convergence. Now unity has many facets and some of them have been discussed here, on the street, on this occasion an in some of those occasions it has been mentioned that unity is a byproduct of iman. But unity exists is the public domain; unity of thought, unity of perspective, unity of action and perhaps a unity of results; but because unity exists in the public domain it is impossible to talk about unity with a personal iman. So if unity exists in the public domain and if unity is a byproduct of iman then we must talk about a social iman. When we even mention a social iman we cannot even talk about it when there is a divided public mind. If we are to face facts we have to admit to ourselves that we have a divided public mind- that mind is divided along various fault lines. It could be divided due to gender considerations, that public mind could be divided due to national considerations, due to racial considerations and finally due to sectarian considerations; but when you have a divided public mind that means that you have no public mind! If we Muslims are to accept the mandate and the obligation of having to confront institutional injustice in our world and to confront the illegitimate exercise of power in our world there can be equivocation, no vacillation and no tarad'dud as far as our public mind is concerned. Indeed Allah says,
And as for those who reject Allah's participation and sponsor of human affairs, they are allies and sponsors of one another and if you Muslims do not do the same… (Surah Al Anfal verse 73)
Meaning that you are not allies and sponsors of one another (or) meaning that if you have a divided public mind
… then there will be on earth a general ambience of corruption and a transcendent destabilization. (Surah Al Anfal verse 73)
If we look around us at the world today there exists the general ambiance of corruption- it doesn't matter what system you focus on, be it economic, political, social, financial- which suggests that the Muslims are not being allies and sponsors of one another for if they were allies and sponsors of one another this level of corruption and destabilisation and lack of security would not exist and so that suggests that we have a divided public mind. A Muslim public mind is necessary to focus on the major issues that affect us all, issues of family, issues of poverty, issues of oppression, issues of injustice, issues related to the polarisation of wealth, issues related to the degradation of the environment. All of these demand a unified and a unitary public mind that knows what strategic objectives it has to deal with and this public mind is based upon a foundation of deliberation and challenge. Most of us, (in fact you can say this about ninety nine percent of all Muslims in the world), have an individual attachment and connection to Allah but at the same time that they have this individual connection and attachment to Allah they fail to take this connection into the public space. In fact many of them fear to take this connection with Allah into the public space. We have our individual beliefs and we have our individual methods of translating those beliefs into a connection with Allah but when we take those beliefs into the public space, (let us back up into the individual realm), does any body challenge our beliefs in the individual realm? When you are observing your individual connection to Allah (and) your individual attachment to Allah does anyone come up to you and challenge you and ask you why do you believe as you believe (or) why do you act as you act? That only happens in the public space. When you take your beliefs and your ideas and whatever comes to you from the Qur'an and from the example of Allah's Messenger that is when you receive the challenge "why do you act as you act (or) why do you believe as you believe? Why do you behave as you behave?" For unless you take your beliefs and activities into the public space and unless those are not challenged in the public space you are never force to justify why you believe what you believe in and why you behave in a certain way. It is only when you are forced into the public space to justify and to back up and to rationalise what you believe in that your belief becomes a conviction. Your belief becomes a conviction when somebody challenges it and when you are forced to justify it. So, in a sense, because we only have a personal connection to Allah we have no convictions! That's right brothers and sisters- we have, in the public space, no convictions because we are afraid to justify why we believe a certain way and why we act in a certain way in the public space.
One of these issues that requires a public mind but at the same time divides it is this issue of aqidah. This word is thrown around by many people without them taking the time to define its historical context and its definition. When we talk about the issue of aqidah today what we mean is a theological perspective and by the word perspective we don't mean this persons view or that person's view (or) this person's perspective or that person's perspective. By the word perspective what we mean is something like- let's put this into perspective so that when we talk about aqidah in a few words (and we will expand on this in a little bit), it is the idea of a theological perspective, (and we want you to keep this in mind), because there many people out there who are translating this word as a belief structure or as a creed or as a ideology or as a doctrine but all of these definitions come from a position that accepts the idea of a separation of church and state. So we want you to efface all those definitions in your mind and think of aqidah in the terms of a theological perspective.
One side of our public mind, (we hate to use these terms but because we have a divided public mind we have no choice), says that the other side of our public mind has a defective aqidah. So you have some on the Sunni side of our public mind that say "the Shi'is have a defective aqidah" and then they extend this so called defect into the domain of takfir and they say "because these people have a defective aqidah thereby they are Kafirs and, further, because they are Kafirs it is ok to justify their killing and murder." If we had a mature public mind, the first question this public mind would ask is this concept of aqidah a Qur'anic or a Prophetic concept. If we had a mature public mind, that ought to be the first question it ought to ask. Can we ground these ideas in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah. If you were to do your research you would find that the word aqidah is not a Qura'nic and Prophetic word. You would not find the word in a single ayah or in a single hadith of the Prophet. Also with regard to the attachment that the concept aqidah has to takfir one of the other things that you will not find in the Qur'an is that the word kufr is not used in a liberal fashion. The word kufr is applied almost throughout the ayaat of the Qur'an to people in power who use that power in an abusive fashion. The word kufr is never applied to the ordinary individual because generally that ordinary individual, especially within the realm of those who abusively and excessively apply power, is oppressed is oppressed and he does not have the time or the luxury to join an organised opposition to the truth or to the authority of Allah. When we talk about kufr we are talking about an organised opposition to the truth and an organised opposition to the correct exercise of power. So this word aqidah doesn't appear in the Qur'an and it doesn't appear in a single hadith of the Prophet and it doesn't mean this concept in entirely useless. This concept is not entirely useless if it is presented in the context of its inception and subsequent development. When the early Muslims expanded outside the Arabian Peninsula they met people of other faiths and in particular they met the Christians or what are considered to be today Eastern Orthodox Christians, they met the Christians of the Byzantine empire and they met the Zoroastrians of the Persian empire . The clerical hierarchies of these two religions had been working with the theology that had been evolving over hundreds and perhaps thousands of years and so they posed an important question to the Muslims. They said we are people of scripture and you are people of scripture so what makes you distinctive from us? This was a challenge that was issued to the Muslims, we are people of scripture, how are you different? So the Muslims had to respond to this challenge and in response to this challenge they started enunciating a theology and the majority of the work that was done in this area was done by a group known as the Mu'tazilah. This is the so called rationalist movement in Islam. It emerged because of the necessity of this question of enunciating an Islamic theology and it died out when this necessity faded. Ironically, in today's world, who champion the idea of an aqidah and use it to accuse other Muslims of being Kafirs, those are the same ones who reject the Mu'tazilah as those who went off on a tangent of kufr?! Nonetheless, this concept of aqidah emerged not to differentiate a Muslim from another Muslim but to differentiate a Muslims from non-Muslims. That is the genesis of this concept; but at the same time that this concept emerged there were illegitimate governments that were ruling over the Muslim world and as this concept was maturing and developing these governments- all of whom were illegitimate- picked up these immature and under developed concepts and they used these concepts to silence political dissent in their societies, meaning that they used these immature ideas of aqidah and accused their political opponents of kufr. Has anything changed in the fourteen hundred years since this idea was developed? Don't we have illegitimate governments in our world today who use the same ideas that were applied to non-Muslims? Don't they use the same ideas to accuse political adversaries who are calling for justice of kufr and there-by rationalise imprisonment and their murder? To be sure, aqidah is a matter of shura. If we are going to try to develop those criteria that define exactly what a Muslim is, this is a matter of discussion and debate and challenge. This is not a matter of individual scholarship. Convergence on what a universal Islamic aqidah can only take place when all of the existing ideas are brought to the table from all different factions, from all different schools of thought, even from Islamic political parties. Put all of your ideas on the table and let's compare these ideas through the filtering mechanism of the Qur'an and the Sunnah and let's engage in this debate. No matter how great and how expansive and how deep the scholarship of an individual is he cannot come up by himself with the criteria of what a Muslim is and what a Muslim isn't. This can only come through putting your ideas on the table and having other people of core knowledge come and challenge these ideas. That is how convergence on the issue of aqidah can take place but it can never take place by an illegitimate government endorsing a particular position and ramming it down the throats of everyone else. This is what happened in Islam history.
In the early days of the intellectual Islamic ferment which was basically within the first and two hundred years when the Muslims were engaging with people of other scriptures there was a high degree of exchange between Muslims of all schools of thought. A sort of an unofficial shura was taking place but before this unofficial shura between Islamic intellectuals, heads of schools of thought, progenitors of different theological views could reach a conclusion it's preliminary results were hijacked by illegitimate governments and these illegitimate governments chose a particular position not because of its particular value but in order to secure a political advantage over their political opponents, not necessarily their theological opponents. By the way, by this same prescription and by this same procedure this is how wahabism emerged in the Arabian Peninsula . If there was a public mind at the time there is no way on earth that wahabism could have become a theological and thereby a political and military force but because a public mind that engaged in deliberation and challenge didn't exist at the time that is what enabled wahabism to emerge as a theological concept.
The issue of aqidah cannot be separated from the behaviour of criminal governments. It is these criminal governments that forced all dissenting positions, be they theological positions or political positions, into hiding and thus the shura that should have taken place in the Muslim world has been replaced by individual scholarship and as we have already mentioned, no individual scholarship regardless of how expansive and hop deep and how proficient and how efficient it is can replace an Islamic shura because any individual scholar has to have his ideas tested by other scholars within the domain of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. If these ideas are not challenged by other scholars and other people of core knowledge (and) if this debate does not take place then it is impossible to qualify what a shura is. What we are saying is a shura (and) the issue of a public mind demands a public mind. It cannot come out of the mind of individuals. This is one of those things that has to have a public mind in it in order to qualify what it is and to the extent that individuals qualify what an aqidah is, whether they're in the Peninsula or whether they're anywhere else in the world, they give themselves the right to dispel shura and to court individual scholars to come up with what an aqidah is. This kind of process is defective! It's not that people have a defective aqidah, the process to qualify an aqidah is defective. So these criminal governments forced all political opposition into hiding by the threat of death or the threat of imprisonment or the threat of torture. So we Muslims today have inherited the legacy of this scholarly discord where these scholars couldn't communicate with each other and because of this scholarly discord of the course of fourteen or fifteen centuries we have a situation today where we have a divided public mind. We're thirteen hundred years behind schedule this shura of what defines a Muslim finally took place! This was called at taqrib bayna al madha'hib al Islamiyyah, The Institute for the reconciliation between the Islamic schools of thought. This was a series of engagements that took place between the Islamic seminaries in Qum and the Islamic seminaries in Egypt Peninsula you know that you have to reject it. This is the kind of stuff that takes time. Convergence doesn't happen over night. Convergence happen when other people share your conviction and when you justify what you believe in and why you believe that way! If you don't have the capacity to put it in a public forum then you don't have the capacity to develop a public mind and that is what this Majma' was trying to do, (i.e.), to develop a Muslim public mind. So it came out with a conclusion that if you happen to belong to anyone of eight schools of thought then none of the members of those eight schools of thought can accuse another member of a different school of thought as being a Kafir. Those eight schools of thought are the following: the four, so-called Sunni schools of thought, (i.e.) the Hanafi, the Shafi'i, the Maliki and the Hanbali; the two major Shi'i schools of thought, (i.e.) the Zaydi and the Ithna Ashari, and the remaining two are the Dhahiri school of thought, the key member of that school of though is ibn Hazm and then the last one is the Ibadi school of thought which are the remnants of the Khawarij. All of these are considered to be Muslims and none from amongst them can characterise another adherent from another school of thought as a non-Muslim. Brothers and sisters- this took twenty five years. What we need to recognise here is that when this idea of an aqidah was developed it was never developed with the view to declaring another Muslim as a Kafir. It was develop to try and help non-Muslims and those who were becoming Muslims (on) what makes a Muslim distinct from other People of previous Scripture- that's why the concept was developed. What we need to recognise is that this concept in its immature stages was hijacked by fraudulent governments in order to expand the privileges of exclusivity.
Brothers and sisters…
In our divided public mind there are those who are using non-Qur'anic and non-Prophetic words to characterize other Muslims as Kafirs and there are those amongst us who are avoiding the use of Qur'anic words and Prophetic words to rescue our brothers from this accusation. There are those amongst us who say "the cure for this problem is knowledge. That our problem is ignorance." Well- we might agree that the problem is ignorance- ignorance of our history, ignorance of the complexities of political life, ignorance of the unifying and the binding ayaat of the Qur'an. We think that is a simple minded approach to not only defining the problem but coming up with the solution for if we don't characterize the problem properly we will have a bigger problem delivering the solution properly. Accumulating knowledge in and of itself without a directional course and without a filtering mechanism is not a cure for ignorance. Ignorance is contextualized by socializing institutions. In the world today we have an ignorance that is fostered, that is nurtured, that is perpetuated, that is expanded and that is exploited by criminal governments. Brothers and sisters- we have to understand that ignorance does not exist in a vacuum. Ignorance is socialized into our lives by corrupt power. We have to understand that. There is a connection between ignorance and the criminal exercise of power and thereby accumulating knowledge in and of itself is not a cure for ignorance. These criminal governments accomplish this overall ambiance of ignorance by liberally funding a broad network of court scholars and also by creating another broad network of academics, of pundits, of media personalities and others who populate think tanks and television stations and universities. This is how the criminal governments socialize ignorance into our lives so when we talk about ignorance we cannot afford to separate it from the role of criminal governments in our societies. Just one practical example of how this kind of ignorance is socialized into our public lives, of how this kind of ignorance divides our private mind… There's a prince in Arabia . He came out and said, referring to the royals in Arabia, "we support Israel against (Islamic) Iran Iran Somalia Georgetown University Georgetown
This khutbah was presented by Imam Afeef Khan on the occasion of Jum'ah on 13 December 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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Friday, December 13, 2013
Muslim Unite Shia and Sunni KHUTBAH : DIFFERENCES FOR AND AGAINST COEXISTENCE
| THE STREET MMBAR JUM'AH KHUTBAH (13 December 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…
DIFFERENCES FOR AND AGAINST COEXISTENCE
We have been on a journey of many months trying to tackle, with the light that comes to us from Allah and the love that connects us with the Prophet, this very difficult issue of sectarianism that has been virtually and literally killing us. It's not a topic of choice. Some people tune in to this khutbah and they realize there's too much emphasis placed going through Sunni and Shi'i issues and they think this speaker, (somehow in their minds), likes to deal with this issue or he specializes in this affair and that is not the case, obviously. We, and yours truly here, are more or less forced to speak about this issue because this issue has been forced upon all of us and is claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent people almost on a daily basis. So it's not a first choice to speak about this issue but to try to take something of a break from the many khutbahs that were dedicated to unraveling the tensions, shedding the light on the ignorant areas of our minds pertaining to what is called the Sunni-Shi'i division and being that we live in a society that to one degree or the other identifies itself as a Judeo-Christian society, (whatever that may mean to any person or any people), we'd like to visit a couple of ayaat before we begin to try to open up this subject of what you may call a part of Muslim history and a part of Christian history. Allah says (and we think we mentioned this previously), this is in Surah Hud
Had Allah decreed it He would have rendered all the people that we see one Ummah... (Surah Hud verse 118)
Many people read this ayah and because we read it with a very weak intellect we don't pick up on the refined meaning of this ayah. Allah didn't say wa law sha'a Rabbuka la khalaqa an naas ummatan wahidah or had Allah decreed He would have created people as one Ummah. There's a difference between khalaqa and ja'ala. The difference is when Allah creates something in a certain fashion it is subject to the laws of physical creation. If Allah had said khalaqa that means by the very nature of peoples creation they would have been one Ummah but He didn't say that. He said
If Allah had willed it His involvement in our lives would have been such that we would have become one Ummah... (Surah Hud verse 118)
Allah is involved in what we do. This is an area that pot many people concentrate their minds on. Allah is involved in what we do. So His involvement in what we do, had He willed it, it would have meant we would have been one Ummah which means Allah's involvement in what we do is in such a way that we are not one Ummah! People in this world are not one Ummah.
They, meaning people, will continue to be at odds with each other except for he or those who Allah has endowed with His mercy and that is why Allah created them… (Surah Hud verse 119)
So if we merge one ayah into the other we realize our conformity to Allah is done regardless of our differences (or) in spite of our differences because of the way we act, because of the way we behave, because of the way we socialize, because of the way we carry on. The nature of this makes us into different (or) a variety of people.
… and even if He were to render them one Ummah (or) one conglomerate of people they still would have had their differences … (Surah Hud verse 119)
Even when Allah becomes involved in our will we are still going to be at odds with each other.
… except for He who Allah has graced and it is for that purpose that Allah created them… (Surah Hud verse 119)
You see- at the beginning of the ayah la ja'ala and at the end of the ayah khalaqahum. Allah didn't say wa li dhalika ja'alahum. It is for this purpose that Allah has created us. He created us with differences. Can we come and settle on this fact as is outlined in this ayah. From day number one we have to concede, per the meaning of this ayah and per the nature of things, that we are going to be different.
There are other ayaat, (we'll just choose the shortest ayah).
Had Allah willed it He would have rendered you … (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 48)
Rendered is different from created. Created is khalaqa, ja'ala is rendered. Created is exclusively Allah's work, ja'ala is Allah's work in addition to our work together.
… rather Allah's will is to test you with what He has given you; compete then in doing al khayraat and to Allah is the return of all of you together so He's going to at that time when we return to Him, appraise us (or) inform us of the affairs on which we differed. (Surah Al Maa'idah verse 48)
OK. There's so many ayaat here (and) we're going to, for the nature of the day and for the sake of time, skip that.
We're speaking about people. Remember in these ayaat Allah's speaking about humanity, different societies, different communities, different cultures, civilizations- past, present (and) future. The whole range of it. Out of all of this we're going to take two. We're going to take those who say "they are Muslims" and we're going to take those who say "they are Christians." If we take a look at the differences that exist between these two blocks of people we'll find in the Bible references to "the God of Israel " or "the Lord of Israel
… The God of the worlds" or "the Lord of the different milieus" or "the Sustainer of all the habitats. (Surah Al Fatihah verse 1)
This is some of the meaning of Rabb al alamin. Everyone who if you perform your salah you say this. No one says Alhamdulillahi Rabb Muhammad or Alhamdulillahi Rabb Ibrahim as you will find many times in the Bible- "the God of Israel " "the God of Israel
Say: It is He, Allah, the Singular, the Unique; the Independent, the In-defatigueable, Who has not given physical birth and Who has not received physical birth; And Who is not matched by anything or anyone, and is not similar to anything or anyone. (Surah Ikhlaas)
Now we just take a step back to pre-Judeo-Christian times and we find that we have a Europe, (Europe has a lot of influence in the world in history and today- that had a concept, actually it's a Greek concept), that there are Gods out there. There's the god of thunder, there's the god of the ocean, there's a god of the sun, (there's) the god of the Sun, the god of "beauty" and different types of Gods. They had in the assembly of god or where these gods meet (or) where these gods meet. It's called the pantheon, all inclusive. You say pan (or) pan-American, etc. It's a word that's used (and) in this context and in this case pantheon. Theo means divinity (or) the gods- the inclusiveness or the coming together of the God's. This was before Judeo-Christian history. Then you have the gods that you are familiar with. There is those who have these names: Zeus, Jupiter, Neptune and then you have Mount Olympia Mount Olympus where one of these gods used to come and play with his children in the plane of Olympia
Now we go back to the ayah
If Allah had willed it He would have rendered you as one Ummah... (Surah Hud verse 118)
Now we come to us, the Muslims and we take a look, (just like we did right now (when) we looked at a brief pre-Biblical history of those who call themselves Judeo-Christians), at what existed in our pre-Qur'anic and pre-Muhammadi history. We also had idols and configurations that are supposed to refer to god. It is said in our history that there is a person by the name of Amr ibn Nuhay, who went to Ma'ab or Mo'ab (in some of the religious literature out there), and he saw people who were showing reverence, (we don't want to use the word worship- that's what everyone says), to idols. Ma'ab is in today's geography Jordan Jordan Hollywood
If Allah had willed it He would have rendered you as one Ummah... (Surah Hud verse 118)
Committed brothers and sisters…
We hesitate to say, but the truth has to be spelled out, that we the Muslims with our mixed history winding up today as we are- you can look at us and see what has happened to us. Why are we where we are today? What happened? The simple fact of the matter is what happens when you withdraw your mind from Allah when He is speaking to you is what happened. We have gone off on tangents. Let us tell you (that) around this ayah
If Allah had willed it He would have rendered you as one Ummah; but people will continue to be at odds with each other except for he or those who Allah has endowed with His mercy and that is why Allah created them… (Surah Hud verse 118-119)
This ayah makes room for differences (but) look what happens when our minds are outside of the communication area that comes to us from Allah. You have some Muslims who want basically to make (believe) everyone in the world (is) a Muslim. You have those types of people. As if there is no difference between Muslims and those who worship and conform to anything and everything except Allah. You know- there are differences. "There are differences?! What are you talking about?" These differences don't mean that we become hostile to those we differ with. There are differences and to be friendly with someone else you don't need to say there's no difference. You can be friendly with others emphasizing the differences. But when our minds are absent this is what happens. That's one extreme. The other extreme is an extreme that makes these differences a matter of hostilities and wars. The first category with no difference want everyone to be one happy family and the others want even one family that's made up of five members to be enemies of each other. One of them are so inclusive that they spoil Islam and the others are so exclusive that they spoil Islam. Let's take the two extremes and lets be practical here- the first one (says) "oh- everything is fine and dandy and we're one family and all that" i.e. the Baha'is went off on that tangent. The others (say) "no one is a Muslim" practically except the person speaking i.e. the Wahabis. One extreme and the other extreme! This is what we have and when these types of things begin to grow they do so because we are conditioned from these Masajid to absent our minds. When we enter the Masjid (its) "close your mind" or someone had some type of monopoly on explaining to you what Allah and His Prophet are saying to you. You're not supposed to think. This is where we are. Some people ask "why are we where we are?" This is it. This has many answers and one answer to it is what you just heard.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 6 December 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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