THE STREET MIMBAR Khutbah (28 July 2006) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] webpage: www.geocities.com/khutbahs http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_street_mimbar Suggestions & Criticisms: PLEASE E-MAIL It is 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, his Noble Companions and Family. Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah is one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations.... audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbassermons.htm?archived=1&page=8 (12-02-2005) CONSOLIDATING THE MUSLIM RANK AND FILE PART 13 KING MU'AWIYA- (1) With reliance upon Allah, we will continue to break through the walls of ignorance and misunderstandings and offer our effort to Allah in trying to consolidate at least a common understanding that will preclude us from what is otherwise a bleak and a doomed future. In the previous khutbahs, we took a closer look at the way our previous, 1st generation of Muslims dealt with the issue of power. We tried to follow as conscientiously as possible the information that we have available to us, and we pursued that line of information closely as it unraveled or as it developed until the 1st king of Islam took his position by force from a camp or a block of Muslims , beginning with Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) and ending with Hassan (radi Allahu anhu), who were concerned with, 1st and foremost, the issue of justice, a free Islamic conscience, the equality of the committed Muslims and with Islamic participation in the decision making process. We followed this type of concern and how it eventually gave way to another type of concern, which is to govern and not be burdened with the issues of justice, equality, participatory politics or the issue of a free Islamic conscience and mind. This is a new set of people which we have to reconsider in light of what happened, because all of this was to usher in events that had no equivalent and no precedent- events like ibn Ziyad having the head of Al-Imam Husein (radi Allahu anhu) presented to him on a platter. Whichever way a person may understand Islam, this is not something that can be explained from the Qur'an or from the sunnah. Because of this unscrupulous obsession with power, as represented by the 1st king in Islam, we were to witness later on, the horses of this new power structure commit a massacre in Al-Medinah, referred to in Islamic history as Yawm Al-Harra- the horses came into the Prophets Masjid and urinated between his grave and the Mimbar. Because of this new set of rulers, we were to have a class of Muslim scholars who were going to say that Al-Imam Husein was slaughtered in accordance with the shari'ah of his grandfather (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam). Things that don't make sense at all were going to become part of our history. We were going to begin to have a class of Muslim scholars who would argue in a scholarly way- is it prohibited or is it not prohibited during the days of Hajj to bleed a mosquito or a fly or an insect, but they would not look at the shedding of the blood of the Mujahidin who stood for justice. They were more concerned with the blood of insects than they were with the blood of the Mujahidin who were inside the Islamic context, trying to stop a deviation that protended ominous days for future generations with these events in our history. With these events in our history, it should behoove us to take a closer look with our minds and our conscience and our combined understanding of the Qur'an and the Prophet, to see where the beginnings of all of this are. To do that, we are going to have to muster enough courage to take a hard look at the formative years of what later on became a monarchy, or in the words of Allahs Prophet, in the hadith in which he refers to the sequence of Islamic Governance- the Khilafah and then, Al-Mulk Al-Adud- the type of monarchy that we are going to take consideration of. How and where are the roots and the beginning and the genesis of this monarchy? With our best understanding of this early era of Islam, we can trace it back to the feelings of solidarity that predate the Prophet, the Qur'an and Islam. There's something we can call nowadays, Al-Usrah Al-Umawiyah- the Umawi family, Al-Ashirah Al-Qurashiyah- the tribalism of Quraish and Al-Qabaliyah Al-Arabiyah- which can be roughly upgraded today to mean Arab Nationalism. These elements were at work prior to the Prophet, the Qur'an and to Islam. Then, all of a sudden, as if coming from no where, this society that had these three important and integral elements to it was presented with a problem- Islam is Justice, Allah is Just and the Qur'an is justice, and family solidarity, clannish interests and nationalist priorities don't recognize this type of justice. So the struggle began, and it continued during these years that we are familiar with- the years referred to as the Makkan era and the era of Al-Medinah. We don't have to cover this territory, because we have a sense of what it was about. The area that we have to cover though is towards the 23rd year of this cumulative life-long effort which was centered around justice, equality, participation of the people, freedom of conscience and thought. What happened was the forces of the Umawi family, the tribalism of Quraish and Al-Qabaliyah, that clung to these notions found themselves at a loss. They lost this confrontation with Allah and His Prophet and the committed Muslims who broke out of this mode. They no longer recognized family relations, tribal clannishness and nationalist interests- that no longer was part of their heart and soul, but some people still had that. When Allahs Prophet returned to Makkah, there was a class of people who fought against him. There was a population of people that spent a generation in a war against him and now they had to make up their minds. They could either become Muslim, or they would have to leave that territory altogether or they would have to fight and die. Looking back at 22years, they saw and they thought that the best thing to do or the only choice left is to become Muslim. We are speaking here particularly about Abu Sufyan and Muawiya. So, they became Muslims and the rest of Muslims became Muslims. We may refer to them as Quraish At-Taleeqa, the nationalist Quraish that were amnestied by Allahs Prophet. To refresh our memories, we have to remind ourselves that Abu Sufyan and Muawiya took charge of the military force in Makkah against the Islamic forces in Al-Medinah after Badr. In Badr, shuyukh, senior commanders died and the opposition in Makkah needed a leader and Abu Sufyan was to fill in that gap, and he thrust the mushrik forces against the Islamic forces in Al-Medinah. In other words, he brought an army from Makkah to Al-Medinah to threaten the Muslims twice- in Uhud and in Al-Khandaq- and in both instances, there was no victory. So, Makkah was beginning to feel the psychological defeat of its encounter with the devout and committed Muslims of Al-Medinah. But now, these age long enemies of Islam became Muslims. When this Prophet of Allah went to Makkah, how did he deal with these people who said that they are Muslims? They'd been fighting the Muslims for over 20 years and now when the power of Islam grew to an extent that they no longer could challenge, they said "Now, we are Muslims." What did the Prophet do at this moment? When he saw that Makkah is no longer resisting, he said "Whoever enters the residence of Abu Sufyan is secure or safe." The Prophet also gave Abu Sufyan and his son Muawiya 100 livestock. He gave each one 100- why? Because- we have to take a moment to think about this- you are not permitted to help Ash-Shaytaan against these types of people- these were living in the higher positions of society and now they were defeated. So, the Prophet of Allah called them At-Tulaqa so that he would give an accurate definition of their status- the Qur'an called them Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum, those who are left to be won over through their hearts- in a condition like this, you want to be forth-coming to those whose hearts and minds have been broken after all of these years, so, he and the Muslims were generous towards these Tulaqa, these Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum. There was a revenue from the Islamic budget that would go to them to help them overcome this psychological retreat and this inferiority position that they found themselves in. Also, remember- this is hard for some people to factor in, but this was part of real life at the time- the Prophet of Allah was married to Abu Sufyans daughter, Umme Habiba (radi Allahu anha). So, this is not that easy and simple thing of blindly going to condemn people because lines here are drawn on the basis of peoples character and not on the basis of family relations. All of this was to take the antagonistic and belligerent sting out of a generation that fought against the Prophet in Makkah. But, were Abu Sufyan and Muawiya really won over to the psychology and character of the Committed Muslims? The facts later on indicate otherwise. Even though, as far as we know, they never challenged the rituals of Islam- none of them ever took issue with the salaah, or the siyaam, or the zakaah or whatever constitutes the personal responsibilities of Muslims- never have we come across anything like that. What we do have though, is a set or a class of people who have the old attitude of opposing Islam from under a veneer of Islam. This is the new development that occurs at this time. So, the Prophet of Allah passes on, trying to blunt the Shaytaani inclinations of people who used to have power but now lost that power. It was in a sense demeaning to call these opponents and enemies of Allah and His Prophet when they finally surrendered to the wave of Islam in its innocence, when they were called At-Tulaqa and Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum, they felt inferior. Then, if you read these books of history and seerah etc., you will find that the committed Muslims at that time were not socializing with these Tulaqa- they would not communicate or associate with Abu Sufyan and Muawiya and the rest of this class of people. When the Prophet of Allah came into Makkah and Islam became the order of Makkah, it is reported in the common books of history- we're not plucking out information from a particular side, we're trying as much as possible to stick to the common history that we have- in the shades of the Ka'ba, when the Prophet of Allah came to express this sense of equality, justice and common-hood of the Muslims to the new adherents of this Islam, when he was stating to them the new value system that many of them reluctantly, in an opportunistic manner, just to avoid the problems and the trouble if they chose otherwise he said to them "You- the folks of Quraish! Allah has relieved you of the upper class man-ship of this pre-Islamic era, of the jahiliyyah culture that you belonged to and of magnifying your ancestry, i.e. Giving your tribal affiliations a status in society- Allah has relieved you of that too. Are we not from Adam? And Adam comes from clay." Then, he quotes the ayah (13) from Surah Hujurat that we are all familiar with. When the Prophet of Allah was in the vicinity of the holy sanctuary in Makkah, stating this to the Quraishi public, Abu Sufyan and a couple of other prior mushriks were sitting around the Ka'ba and they were making statements- "How did we reach this condition that we are in now." feeling either negative or sorry about the condition that they are in. When these two people with Abu Sufyan were saying these types of things, Abu Sufyan said (we're paraphrasing here) "I'm afraid that if I were to speak, these stones around would inform on me." If this was a Muslim at this time, even though the Prophet was dealing in a delicate manner with the potential transitional psychology that this person may be in, this statement divulges to us the real self of this person. He goes up to Allah Prophet later on, and according to some sources of information- he pleads with him, "to have my son become a scribe, a person who will register the scripture that is being revealed to you.", and he wanted something else, he wanted a position of power- someone from his family, himself or someone from his sons to become a military commander- he didn't get that type of request, but his son Muawiya was given the leeway to write. The person knew how to write, let him write what there is of these ayaat and this wahy. When the Prophet passes away, and in As-Saqifa, this is another time where a persons real personality surfaces- when there was a little commotion around what's going to happen right now? Who's going to lead the Muslims? Who's going to fill in this vacuum? Abu Sufyan urges, (not that he had much clout, this was in Al-Medinah, this was a place where his power base that was in Makkah really didn't have much clout,) the Muslims to agree that Ali (radi Allahu anhu) become the leader of the Muslims. He doesn't do this because he recognizes the virtues, qualities and merits of Ali. He does this because he recognizes the group solidarity within Quraish- because Ali was closer to Abu Sufyan than Abu Bakr and Umar (radi Allahu anhuma) were to him. If we were to take the pedigree of Quraish, Abu Bakr and Umar came from Taim- they weren't the immediate cousins of the Umawi clan as were the Hashimis, from whom Ali (radi Allahu anhu) is an individual. So, on the basis of this Usrah and Ashirah and Qabaliyah, he spoke what was on his mind. But he didn't find a response because the majority of the Muslims who were around were convinced that they don't want the culture of jahiliyyah to influence their decisions, especially on this matter. So, the days and the years go by, without any break through until now as far as regaining that stature and that position of power in Makkah. During the rule of Abu Bakr and Umar- the Islamic territories had expanded into the North, the East, the South and the West and people are going to have to be given responsibilities. One of the responsibilities that was given to the sons of Abu Sufyan is that they should be... Let us track back a moment here. During the time of the 1st successor to Allahs Prophet, the Islamic forces were under the leadership of Khalid ibn Al-Walid (radi Allahu anhu), and one of the major generals, in todays language, around Khalid was Abu Ubaidah ibn Al-Jarrah (radi Allahu anhu). These basically were the military type of men. They were looking, as should be the case, at who qualifies to be in charge of this area- who is familiar with this area. We're talking about an area referred to in Islamic history as Bilad Ash-Shaam- the geography of today says that it is Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. They were looking at who qualifies to be in a position to administer this area. These were administration responsibilities. This responsibility was given to Yazid, the brother of Muawiya and the son of Abu Sufyan. This was done because, and this is also a piece of history that also goes un-thought of- the Umawis, before the advent of the Prophet and before Islam, used to track in their commercial pursuits between Arabia and Ash-Shaam. They used to go several times a year on commercial missions to that area. It is even said that there was a dispute- the grand-father of Muawiya and his grand-uncle had some type of fall out between themselves and one of them, the grand-uncle, moved from Makkah to Damascus. So, this family, not only was it familiar with these people, this territory and this culture, but they also had something like a residence there. So, you would want to give administrative responsibilities to people who had some qualifications here, and it may also have been with a streak of extending the concept of Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum, because up until now, they didn't show any outright hostility to the central Islamic government in Al-Medinah. So- give them this responsibility. After a short while, Muawiyas brother Yazid, who was basically in-charge of what is today Jordan passes and Muawiya becomes an inheritor to the area of Jordan in addition to the area of Damascus or Ash-Shaam. This is the explanation of why they occupied these positions. Also, when Amr ibn Al-Aas was given the governor-ship of Egypt, it is because he was a person who had traveled there many times and was familiar with and had experience with these people. You can't send someone, as sincere as they may be, but cannot have administrative qualities to perform the responsibilities and the duties that come from that position. This is how they began to climb the Islamic social ladder- it was through the military. But having this position would not fool Abu Bakr or Umar- as a matter of internal policy or internal decision making, there was a very serious disagreement between Abu Bakr and Umar as to how far or for how long is this concept of Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum applied. Is it going to be forever? Are we going to keep on paying these Tulaqa or these Al-Muallafa Qulubuhum this monthly stipend or there shall come a time when they're going to have to prove themselves. Umar was of the opinion that enough years had lapsed and they should prove themselves- they should not be on this, let's say, Islamic dough. Abu Bakr during his time disagreed with that. Nevertheless, these individuals gained these positions and they used the goodness in the Muslim hearts of Al-Quraish Al-Muhajirah. Remember, before we were looking at Islamic history as it unfolded towards the north and the east, Al-Kufa, Al-Basrah and the Iraqi areas, now, we are looking at Islamic history as it unfolded in the north and towards the west. We begin to have now, in this new dimension of Islam an excessive expression of opportunism. Remember how sensitive Ali (radi Allahu anhu) was to people who wanted to express themselves, even though they were against his own opinion; how he left them the freedom to do so, and when it comes to Muawiya, how a person like Hujar who refused to annul the Hadd, an Islamic legal procedure, and go along with him and his types was killed. This is what happens in autocratic dictatorial expressions of state functions and positions. This is a new type of government that the Muslims are going to have to take a good look at, without the type of sectarianism and without the type of nationalism that is interjected almost always into reconsidering and rethinking the details of this history. We have to mature enough to look at this and come out comfortably without the accusations and counter accusations of Sunni verse Shi'i or Arab verse A'jami- we have to outgrow all of that and look at the merits and the de-merits of these issues one by one, step by step, heart with heart and mind contributing to mind. This new chapter- Muawiya was in Ash-Shaam 20 years as an Ameer, as a governor, roughly speaking, and he was there also 20 years as a king. That's 40 years of a type of administration that does not countenance, that cannot tolerate criticism, plurality and even serious disagreements- it doesn't tolerate any of that. There was a type of lobby that lived on, from those early days in Makkah, when Makkah was finally subdued by the will of the committed Muslims according to the Qur'an and the Prophet which lived on to work to regain its position in power. It found its channel through the military and finally, it unfolded in some of the details that we were looking at- Al-Jamal, Siffin and from here on, we are going to have other experiences with it, that have throughout 14 centuries snowballed, accumulated and reached the peaks of autocratic, dictatorial, monarchical, non-representative governments that we have in our Islamic lands, countries and territories. Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims Today, we live in a world in which you and I can see for our own selves- just look at what's happening and you can see some Muslims who are anxious to align themselves with those who are at war with the Muslims. Need we say who they are by their names?! There's enough of them around that you cannot miss them. You can almost point to any government in the Muslim sphere of the world, and you will be almost 99% right that that government is anxious to side with the external threats and leave the Muslims to the tragedies that follow, and this is why what we are talking about is relevant to today. When the king to be, Muawiya was concerned and overworked with trying to defeat Ali, he was willing to pay the Byzantines to neutralize that front- at least for a while. That may have been the 1st detection of Muslims who were in power who were willing to ally themselves with the devil to tend to internal Islamic issues. Later on, we saw this happen. During the Abbasi era, the kings who were in Baghdad, Harun Ar-Rashid was willing to be on good terms with Sharlemon, in France, so that they could get rid of the Muslims in Al-Andulus. Later on, we saw how the Fatimis in Egypt, were willing to be on good terms with the Crusaders so that Salah Ad-Din would not be able to bring about the consolidation to liberate Palestine from that 1st form of colonialism and imperialism nearly 1,000 years ago. This is what we see today developing in front of our own eyes- it's just the re-run of what began to happen during that time. For how long are we willing to visualize these types of arrangements? This is going to go on for a long time as long as these Masaajid that we have don't bring this information and place it in our heads so that we can begin to make sense out of it, learn from our mistakes and improve the efforts of those who preceded us. This is what needs to be done today. And please- brothers and sisters, please- if anyone wants to try to help in this regard, leave out the issues of todays nationalism and sectarianism- anytime these issues are put into this mix, they just spoil the whole effort. Let us try to look at them with the maturity of our brotherhood, the sincerity of our togetherness and with the devotion that we all have towards Allah and His Prophet. --------------------------------- Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Ajaklah teman dan saudara anda bergabung ke milis Media Dakwah. Kirim email ke: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/media-dakwah/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/media-dakwah/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
