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Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Dear Committed Muslims, brothers and sisters…
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/354031 (04-10-2015)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpDse-aHnZ8
POTENTIAL DISINTEGRATION OF SAUDI ARABIA
Allah says, and these words are to guide us lest we fall into the divisiveness that has been eroding our determination throughout the centuries and throughout the years,
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
Who could be more correct (or) who could be more satisfactory (or) who could be more pleasant in his expression than he who calls to Allah and does what is right and says "(for) sure I am from the Muslims?" (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
The ayah here doesn't say min Ahl As Sunnah or min Ahl Tashay'yu etc. The problem with our public attitude is we think of our secondary description as our primary description. There's nothing wrong with identifying first and foremost with Allah's Prophet- actually that's the way it's supposed to follow. There's nothing wrong with identifying with the beloved ones of the Prophet- that's the way it should be. The problem is when we take this secondary identification and we make it the primary identification and Allah is telling us no- that's not the way. And that's only the verbal part of it. We express ourselves but Allah is also looking at al amal as salih
وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا
… and does what is right … (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
This is the criteria. This is how we judge human beings. This is how we measure individuals. How do they act? What do they do?
وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا
… we are looking for those who do the right things (or) those who are doing the positive things (or) those who are doing the right things (or) those who are doing the productive things… (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
That's what we are looking at. Now mind
إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
… "(for) sure I am from the Muslims?" (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
Mind you, this is something the world right now wants to accuse us of. It's like a bad word nowadays if someone says "oh I'm a Muslim." If you want to identify yourself as a Muslim it's like you are inviting trouble and Allah is telling you, you identify yourself as a Muslim. Some people find an escapist route out of this: "I don't want to say I'm a Muslim. I'll say I'm something else." There's a slew of descriptions that follow that people who are supposed to know better are afraid to express what Allah is telling them to express. Allah says in another ayah
هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ
… He designated you (or) He called you (or) He named you Muslims from before… (Surah Al Hajj verse 78)
This is not something that we have invented. This is not something that we came into being 1,400 years ago in Makkah during the time of our beloved Prophet. It goes to times preceding that. Ibrahim (alayhi as salaam) says
وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
… and I am the first Muslim. (Surah Al Hajj verse 78)
So it goes back to times that are ancient.
In another ayah Allah says
إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ ۖ وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
… rather my compensation falls upon Allah and I have been ordered to be a Muslim. (Surah Yunus verse 72)
That's it! This should put an end to those who are coming and saying whatever. You know what we're talking about. We're not speaking to uninformed individuals. You've been with us on the journey of this khutbah for all of these years and especially during the sectarian components of these years. You know when people want to hide their identity, they want to hide their nature, they want to hide their character, they want to avoid saying
إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
… "(for) sure I am from the Muslims?" (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
(There's) nothing wrong with that and let the barking mouth pieces out there bark. One of the problems we have is in this issue called al aqidah. We want to draw your attention, (we don't know for how many times now because this is the issue right now that is troubling the Muslims), to a group of people, (and we think you know who we're talking about), who come up to you either personally or through their khutbahs and presentations or through their madrasas and classes and they will concentrate on the issue of aqidah, Now this word, al aqidah itself, is not in the Qur'an (and) it's not in the sunnah. We don't know and we don't know of anyone who knows the word aqidah being used by the Sahaba (radi Allahu anhum) or being used by the Tabi'in or being used by the scholars and individuals of reputation and status in the first three centuries of Islam. Even though it's an Arabic word it did not exist in our doctrine (and) it did not exist in our vocabulary but now it's the key word around which and through which individuals are defined, evaluated and then either accepted or rejected. This is it- the word al aqidah. Why don't we make the transition and part with the word aqidah and revitalize our thoughts and our hearts with the Qur'anic and Prophetic word al iman? Now that's a word we all are familiar with and that's a word that is used many times with its derivatives in the Book of Allah and in the pronunciations of the Prophet. So why can't we just come back? This is the word, al iman. Look at it with all of its configurations in the holy Book and in the verifiable Sunnah and from there we will proceed; but don't come and create these pitfalls and these tripwires called al aqida. Let's do away with all of the literature and all of the khutbahs that want to poison our Islamic relationships around this jaded understanding of the word al aqidah. Dispense with it and let's go back and say we are Muslims. Let's not say "I'm a Hanbali first" or let's not say "I'm a Hanbali." You can be a Hanbali, you can be a Shafi'i- there is no problem with that. You can be whatever you want in that area but don't come and superimpose that on your feature and your character and your reality as a Muslim. There are many ayaat- we can't exhaust these ayaat in the Qur'an.
So this issue (of) what is called madh'hab- you've heard the word madh'hab and that word travelled to other languages used by Muslims and it has its own connotations in these different languages; but let us try have you understand what it means. Literally, the word madh'hab means a lane. Dhahaba means he went. So when you go in a certain direction you are following a lane. So the madh'hab is a lane just like the highway has lanes on it- there's the first line or the right lane or the left lane and the centre lane, etc. there are these ma'dhaa'hib. They are all lanes that are leading us to one goal or objective- that's what is meant by lane and all of this highway (or) all of these lanes in it are called Islam. So we identify with this highway- we don't identify with one lane in this highway especially when we want to put barriers between one lane and the other lane which is happening and which right now has gone to the extent of becoming a sectarian division between one lane and the other among Muslims where you can't identify with another Muslim because of your "madh'hab." You can't see the other Muslim because of your "other madh'hab" or his "other madh'hab." So we fenced these lanes. It's not supposed to be like this. They're supposed to be free flowing lanes. When these Mujtahids developed their school of thought they didn't develop it with contradictions towards other Mujtahids. These contradictions are our productions. When we fail to think we invite these other problems and now we are living the consequences of these divisions we are in- that's when we speak about madh'hab as a school of thought but we have madh'hab as a doctrine (or) another lane. You could be a Sunni in your doctrine, you could be a Shi'i in your doctrine, you could be a Mu'tazili in your doctrine, you can be an Ibadi in your doctrine, you could be a Salafi in your doctrine, you can be a Sufi in your doctrine- you can be any of that. There is nothing wrong in that. What is wrong is when you make out of that doctrine a barrier between you and the other Muslim. You create a problem that doesn't exist in the Book of Allah and doesn't exist in the Sunnah of His Messenger and that's where we are living today. We have to bring down these separation walls of madha'hib whether they are schools of thought in the jurisprudential or in the legalistic sense, the philosophical, the ideological doctrinaire schools of thought. The walls have to either come down or have to become transparent. We can't have these barriers continue to divide us. Then we have to look at the Qur'an as the centre. Like we mentioned previously, it is nonsense today (for) those who finance this peculiar type of understanding of Islam (to) say
إن الكتاب والسنة لا تكفي، فلا خير في كتاب بلا سنة ولا خير في سنة بلا فهم السلف الصالح) جاء في كتاب قمع الدجاجلة الطاعنين في معتقد أئمة الإسلام الحنابلة(
There's no benefit to the Qur'an without the Prophet and they say there's no benefit to the Prophet without as salaf as salih. Nonsense! Ridiculous! No such thing! Never ever understand Islam like that! You can replace these words with others. We use the word as salaf as salih as an example because these people have the money right now and they are the ones who are preaching from the manabir (and) they are the ones who are controlling the majority of Masajid directly or indirectly and that is why you can replace as salaf as salih with any other type of peculiar set of people who are supposed to be the key. This third element is supposed to be the key to the Prophet and understanding the Prophet himself through that key is the key to the Qur'an. We have to return to centralizing the Book of Allah in our minds and in our hearts and do away with the exaggerations and the bigotry that is generated by the self centeredness that is prevalent today because of a peculiar understanding of that type of Islam. Let's be honest. The first step in all of this is we have to be honest with ourselves. There are people who go to the ugly extreme- Muslims, we are not saying they are not Muslims. Even though they say (that) we are not Muslims. We don't agree with them but because of our disagreement we don't denude them of Islam. No. They are Muslims. May Allah compensate them (and) reward them for whatever they have right and may He guide them, one way or the other, in the areas where they are wrong. They immediately express the word kufr against those they disagree with. You see this right now on a massive and on a horrible scale. What do you have now in Iraq and in Syria, in the Arabian Peninsula, in parts of Asia, in parts of Africa? What do you have? Some Muslims (are) coming and saying "because I as a Muslim don't think the way they think or don't read history the way they read history all of a sudden I'm a Kafir" Then they take it a bloody step forward, they say "we'll kill you!" They're not satisfied by only saying this. They do the real thing! They carry arms and go out there and kill innocent Muslims and innocent non-Muslims because these people do not fall within their interpretation or within their understanding Islam. There are others who go to the extreme and who say "if a person disagrees with them in their emphasis on the politics of Islam then that person is outside the pale." No. If a person disagree with you about an issue of Khilafah, (when we say the word politics this breaks down to the issue of Al Khilafah or Al Imamah), or if a person doesn't see history that way you're going to come and say "he's not a Muslim?!" This is the problem we have to solve. We have to have the courage to face it and say even though the other Muslim disagrees with me he's still a Muslim. You can't say he's not a Muslim. There's still amongst us those who fall into, (what you may call), extreme love and this goes all the way to blurring the line of hostility with Ash Shaytaan. You can't do that. There's a word for these. They polluted the word. We have the pollution all over the place! These are called Sufis. They go to the extent where-by there's nothing left in us to resist evil in this world. That's an extreme and if you disagree with them you cannot come and say they are not Muslims. This goes on and on and we find ourselves, after all of this, rethinking ourselves. We say "why are we incapable of getting our act together?" Well, this is why. Right now we're helping you look at the problem. Diagnose the problem first and then realize that we have much in common among ourselves. Let's build on what we have in common and then take a careful and a measured look at what we disagree upon. And what we disagree upon is trivial compared to what we agree upon but we don't know that if we have these barriers among ourselves. We've mentioned this before- how many of you really take to heart the ayaat that were mentioned
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
Who could be more correct (or) who could be more satisfactory (or) who could be more pleasant in his expression than he who calls to Allah and does what is right and says "(for) sure I am from the Muslims?" (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
You are saying that you are from among the Muslims. OK- then why do you go only to one or two Islamic Centers? Ask yourselves? Are the rest of the other people around not Muslims? If you are from the Muslims then you belong to this larger body of Muslims. You can go to another Masjid and Islamic Centre and disagree with what is said from the mimbar- that's fine but you can't say "because you disagree with what's said from the mimbar you want to withdraw." You want to withdraw from what? You want to withdraw from your own self? If you are from the Muslims what you are actually doing is you're schizophrenic! You are parting. Your individual self is parting from your collective self- that's the type of life we are living! But who's aware of this? Whose mind is working to realize that this is what is happening? See- we here want to go into this Masjid. It's not the lack of our will to be with other Muslims, it is the fault of other Muslims who do not want to be with us. Diagnose the problem. Then we have to go a step further and realize once we know these issues it's not enough just to express them. We have to prioritize what we do over what we say. In other words we have to cut down on the amount of words we say and we have to increase the good deeds that we do. Our words should follow our deeds, not our deeds that lag way behind what we say. Once we get this formula working- we do before we say- when we get that right (and) when we have that in correct proportion then we can expect a satisfaction, at least, in our conscience that I'm trying to be the Muslim that Allah has defined in His Book and through the lifetime of His Prophet.
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ قَوْلًا مِّمَّن دَعَا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
Who could be more correct (or) who could be more satisfactory (or) who could be more pleasant in his expression than he who calls to Allah and does what is right and says "(for) sure I am from the Muslims?" (Surah Al Fussilaat verse 33)
Da'a, amila, qala- if that sequence can come back to our lives we're on the right course but when we have it flipped around- we say it's qala then amila then da'a; (that's in the best, (i.e.) we're giving it a positive construct here (but) it's much more gobbled than that.
Dear committed Muslims…
What you are going to hear now is what you will not hear in the run of the mill khutbahs that the overwhelming majority of the Muslims are subjected to every Friday (and) every time they want to Islamically express themselves. This concentration of the mind and heart on the following issues that are going to be brought to your attention have to become the common language that we can analyze and understand. You know we have wars- we're not speaking in a vacuum. This khutbah does not come to you in a vacuum. This khutbah is not being expressed while Muslims are drinking tea in their own homes all around the world. This khutbah is not coming to you while Muslims are at the peak of their productivity. This khutbah is coming to you when Muslims are dying of natural causes, because of depravation, because of poverty, because of hunger, because of malnutrition and they're dying because of wars and conspiracies. So today and yesterday and this week there have been khutaba' or khatibs in the Arabian Peninsula- the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia in his khutbah today in Ar Riyadh called "for mandatory military service upon those who qualify, (i.e.), obviously the able bodied and those who can pass the tests for military service. All of the youth in that kingdom should go for military service." Last week the parliament in Kuwait passed a bill that its citizens should be subjected to military service but this will take affect in two years. The United Arab Emirates passed a law last August making it mandatory upon their citizens (or) their youth to serve in the military. Qatar did this about a year ago. What's going on here? All of a sudden they feel that their youth have to go to the military? What made them realize that now military service has to be imposed on their citizens? Did anyone occupy their lands? Is part of Saudi Arabia occupied, or the Emirates, or Kuwait, etc.? Do they have an occupation there? Yes- if we wanted to be truthful Saudi Arabia has two islands that are occupied by the Israelis but they never said "look, all of you here who are in your prime should serve in the military." That didn't bother them but all of a sudden now, in the past year, they've woken up and said "we have to defend our country." Defend it? Who's threatening you? Why are this time? Why didn't they wake up (before)? Palestine's been occupied- why didn't they impose military service on their citizens to liberate Palestine. This week, a couple days ago, a demonstration took place in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. Someone having a thinking mind would ask, (we don't want to go to sleep; people who go to these occupied Masajid go to sleep, we want to think), why are the Egyptians demonstrating in front of the Saudi Embassy. First of all the Egyptian government does not permit any demonstration that it disagrees with. So the question is why is the Egyptian government permitting a demonstration in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo? There are different attempts at answering this question. The first one is there is a very serious behind the scenes disagreement between the rulers in Egypt and the rulers in Saudi Arabia and it's not about the occupation of Palestine. This is the last thing on their mind. This is not about alleviating poverty among the Muslims. This is one of the last items on their agenda if it's on their at all. It has nothing to do with the welfare and the wellbeing of the Muslim peoples. So why is there a disagreement between Cairo and Ar Riyadh. Who's enemy number one? It has nothing to do with Israel. Riyadh is saying it is Iran. Egypt is saying enemy number one is Al Ikhwan Al Muslimin. This has caused them right now to become uncomfortable in their relationships. The rulers in Egypt feel very disturbed that the Saudi government is moving closer to the pro-Ikhwani axis of Ad Doha-Istanbul. This is frightening different Egyptian officials. So there are different interpretations why criminals fall out among themselves. Then there is the bitter Egyptian memory of the 1960's. Egypt got involved in a war in Yemen that continued for at least five or six years. They committed 60,000 troops to Yemen and the numbers range between 10,000 and 15,000 Egyptian troops (that) were killed from 1962 to 1967 in Yemen. So there are many grieving Egyptian families that do not want to see another Yemen debacle just because of their royal highnesses in Arabia. Egyptian blood is cheap?! That's how internally they may be thinking. What do you think- we're going to kill ourselves for these Saudis? We've been down that road before! Abd Al Nasser conceded in that time during the 1960's "Yemen has become the Egyptian Vietnam" and they don't want another Vietnam. Right now some experts are saying "the only qualifying force that can have boots on the ground in Yemen are the Egyptians. The Pakistanis disqualify for many reasons, the Turks disqualify for many reasons but the Egyptians qualify. The only thing they need here is the money and the support." Are they going to get it from the Saudis? We don't know but we have to keep an eye because this is an affair that concerns us. The Prophet says
مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ؛ إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى ) جاء في كتاب صحيح البخاري، وصحيح مسلم (
the equivalent of the Muslims is like one body, they care for themselves, they feel for themselves, they have sympathy to themselves, they show compassion towards themselves, if one part of that body aches, the rest of the body feels the pain. We're just like one body. You mean to say to us what's happening and has the potential of drawing the whole world into it in the Arabian Peninsula should not be our concern right now? We should think about it after the catastrophe strikes? No. We will pre-empt it and think about it before it happens regardless of what they have on their minds in these occupied Masajid. Then, we're not friends with the Saudi Regime and never have been friends with the Saudi Regime- 32 years out here in the street is proof positive of that but anyone who has any talking relationship with these Saudis should go to them and say in as penetrative a way as possible- we want to speak to someone who's listening; you don't want to argue with someone who doesn't want to listen to you and this is advice from one Muslim to another Muslim even though they say we are Kafirs- the plan is to fragment Saudi Arabia. There have been Zionist officials, academicians, diplomats, decision makers (and) officials in the United States and in occupied Palestine that have been promoting the fragmentation of Saudi Arabia. We are against any fragmentation. We are fragmented right now beyond our capability to put ourselves back together again. We don't need one other country to become three or four countries; but this is what they're planning. Individuals like Noah Feldman, Berhard Lewis, Dennis Ross and others. At that level this is what they have on their minds and the Saudis are playing right into this. Even the President in the United States in an interview with The New York Times said, (he didn't use these words, we're relaying to you the meaning not the exact wording), "the regimes in the Arabian Peninsula have nothing to fear of Iran." He's not trying to defend Iran. He's trying to promote this policy right now that has been going on for a couple of years, (i.e.), the discussions that have been going on (with) what is called the P5+1 and Iran. He said "these governments in the Arabian Peninsula are vulnerable because of their own populations- the disaffection, the frustration, the unemployment, the disorientation. These issues are more of a threat to these regimes than what they consider the external threat coming from Iran." We don't know if you know but the same Mufti, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Aal Al Shaykh said (or) he denied what is circulating in the social media. And what is this? An opinion that he gave that "it is permissible for a husband to eat his wife." We're not kidding you. This is circulating on social media, (i.e.), "it is permissible for a husband to eat part of his wife or more than part of his wife if that is for survival purposes. If he's going to die and the only way he's going to rescue himself from death is to literally eat his wife (then) that is permissible." Listen brothers and sisters- look at the world that we are in. This is supposed to be a person who's expected to have a little brains up here! And he comes out or denies or whatever- the back and forth is going on right now; but this is what happens when they put us to sleep. This is what they are doing. Every Friday, what they are doing in the majority Muslim world is a waste because no one is tapping on the most precious thing we have and that is our mind. Ok- we're 32 years in the street (but now) a plane carrying Muslims going for umrah flying from Iran to Arabia is told "you can't land. Go back." Why? Makkah and Al Madinah belongs to them? We've been saying this- how long (and) what is it going to take to demonstrate the true nature of those characters in Arabia. What is it going to take? They say "right now our enemies are Shi'is and Iran." The Shi'is and Iran were alright during the time of the Shah bur they're not alright now?! What happened? If we don't think, we won't know what happened! Iran does not have one soldier in the Arabian Peninsula- not one! The Shah of Iran had thousands of soldiers in the Arabian Peninsula, in Oman during the 1960's fighting a rebellion in the governorate of Dhufar which is today part of the nation state of Oman. Saudi Arabia at that time and even up until now don't mention anything negative about that. There was nothing wrong with that?! Why? Because it was Zionist Imperialist policy. There's another Shi'i government in the world and the Saudi Arabian regime, if it is true to its own rhetoric and propaganda should hate that government much more than Iran and that government is in Azerbaijan. The majority of the rulers in Azerbaijan are Shi'is; not only that, they come from a communist background- Aliyev, father and son. These are communist Shi'is who have a very warm relationship with the Israelis and the Saudis don't say one word. Go figure.
This khutbah was presented by Imam Muhammad Asi on the occasion of Jum'ah on 10 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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