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/khutbass ... d=1&page=6
(2-24-2006)
ISLAMIC OPPOSITION OF AL-NAFS AZ-ZAKIYA (R) by Imam Muhammad al-Asi
We will continue with Allahs help to uncover areas of ignorance before these
areas of ignorance become justification for our own undoing. You can see what
is happening today, you can see what has happened in the past couple of
days…how this issue of Sunnis and Shi'is has become the favorite instrument of
division by those who don't know better and by those who will use anything at
their disposal to polarize, divide and to instigate instability and bloodshed
amongst the Muslims. These past months have been an attempt to diffuse the
dynamite that we have contributed to by not bringing these issues to the fore.
If we can go back and untangle the information that we have in our possession,
then we will have spared ourselves what we see happening in front of our own
eyes- which translates into victimization, losses, displacement, casualties and
general warfare. We said previously, and we continue to say that Islamic
Opposition to illegitimate rulers is an integral part of our
being. It's just our lack of information that we don't understand that our
normal position in life is to oppose all types of authorities and governments
that institutionalize injustice, usurp power and inflict the results upon the
average person- you and me and the rest of us in life. We saw how after the
Imamah and Khilafah of Ali ibn Abi Talib (radi Allahu anhu), Muawiya came and
he stole power. He didn't come and gain the majority opinion of the Muslims
that he should become the ruler- that's not the way he operated. The way he
operated was- he imposed himself by the force of arms upon a reluctant Muslim
public the same way we have kings and presidents imposing themselves on a
disagreeing Muslim public today- nothing much has changed. We went through the
details, and we had to go through the details of Islamic Opposition to rulers
who are tyrants, authoritarians, autocrats and monarchs and to add to that
sequence, we will take another effort of opposition in the history
that we should be identifying with, provided that we have the right
information, because much of this information that comes from history books is
cooked to serve certain traditions or interests. We have nothing to do with
that, we try to take this information as objectively and positively as
possible.
The tragedy that happened in Karbala had its fallout on the Muslim public.
The Muslim public were aware that a few people, 70 odd committed Muslims with
Al-Imam Al-Husein (radi Allahu anhu), stood against a military killing machine
and in the calculations of the material and physical world, that conflict
resulted in the pulverization of the committed Muslims. This was an epic
tragedy that made people react in different ways. We're looking at the Muslim
public- there were some people who sought refuge or wanted to escape from all
of this by adopting certain methods of tasawwuf and zuhd. This was an escapist
way out from facing our own responsibilities and telling our ownselves that
illegitimate, unjust, oppressive and tyrannical rulers and governments have to
go, and we have to contribute to that process. Some people found in a peculiar
type of zuhd or tasawwuf out of this. In this way, they relieved themselves of
the responsibilities of mobilizing against illegitimate
governments and authorities. Some other people joined a trend in Islamic
society that gave legitimacy to the rulers. This trend, at the time, was called
the Murjiah. They simply said that it is Gods will that we are where we are and
the rulers are where they are and we can't fight Gods will. This officially
sponsored public trend or sentiment deflected criticism and analysis of what
these rulers by force were doing. Another trend that developed especially in
the aftermath of Karbala was a quietist trend. People were aware that the Bani
Umayyah kings were illegitimate, but as far as revolt, struggle and active
sacrifices goes, they were not going to do anything about it. Then, and this is
all societies, there are those types of people who begin to satisfy their
worldly cravings, they lead a loose life, they go into the area of sin to
relieve themselves from all of this pressure. This was basically the general
attitude or sentiment among the Muslims in the months and the
years that followed the sad event of Karbala.
One of the trends that is to be found in all of this is referred to as the
Mu'tazilah or they are called by another name, Ahl Al-Adl wa At-Tauheed, the
folks of Justice and Tawheed. This trend began in one of the Masaajid. If we
can recall correctly, it was in Al-Basrah when they had halaqaat, study groups.
Naturally and normally, you would find in the Masaajid study groups- a scholar
would present his ideas and his scholarly work to those who felt comfortable
with his way of thinking, and there were plenty of these scholars. In one of
these study groups, one of those students who was in the study group abandoned
it- I'tazala- he said "I'm no longer going to fit into this study group",
because he had taken some issues with the mentor in the group. From here on, a
trend and a movement began that emphasized the rational approach to the Qur'an
and the Prophet (sallahu aliahi wa sallam). This rational approach was to
become a numerically significant movement in Islamic
society. The person to whom this trend is attributed is called Waasal ibn Ata.
He began this rational assimilation of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Previously,
we said that the movement of Imam Zaid (radi Allahu anhu) was almost in
conformity with this trend of I'tizaal. To further elaborate on that, remember-
we're speaking of the years after Karbala and the official oppression by the
state against its Islamic opponents, the founder of this movement, Waasal ibn
Ata, went to Al-Medinah, and he has a meeting in the Masjid, again- this is how
important and critical the Masaajid were, these were the hubs of the Muslim
minds and sentiments. In the Masjid, there were many supporters of the previous
opposition trends who came to the Masjid. At that time, the opposition to the
political opposition that occurred with the onset of Umawi rule was represented
by what is known as Al-Khawaarij, and we touched on this; then there was the
opposition that was represented by Ahl Al-Bayt,
Husein and Zaid and others, and we touched on this; then there was this
opposition of the Mu'tazilah, whom we are speaking about now. Their opposition
was that even though the Muslims have suffered an emotional and tragic setback
due to the consequences and results of Karbala, but active revolutionary
opposition to the Umawis should continue, but not the way the Khawaarij were
behaving. The Khawaarij were saying "that anyone who disagreed with them is a
kaafir". Al-Mu'tazilah said "that is wrong". Al-Khawaarij said that "the Umawis
and at least some of the Ahl-Bayt are kaafirs", Al-Mu'tazilah were saying "that
is wrong… opposition has to be principled, organized." In this meeting in the
Masjid in Al-Medinah, there were many supporters of Ahl Al-Bayt, and in this
meeting what happened was a split within the supporters of Ahl Al-Bayt. Some of
them preferred to stay more or less passive in their opposition to the Umawi
rulers, but as a consequence of this meeting, their were
also people from within the ranks of Ahl Al-Bayt who were convinced that there
should be revolutionary opposition to the Umawis. In this conclave or meeting
in the Masjid, we had people like Zaid, his relatives and extended family, and
as a consequence of this meeting was there was an exchange of words between
Waasal ibn Ata and Al-Imam Jaafar As-Sadiq (radi Allahu anhu), concerning
whether opposition should go into a revolutionary mode as Waasal ibn Ata was
saying or whether it should stay less than a revolutionary mode as Jaafar was
saying. This was an obvious split that took place early on within the "cadre",
if the word can be used, of Ahl Al-Bayt. We covered the revolt of Zaid and how
it ended. We mentioned how the rulers of the time used to parade the bodies of
their victims- these Muslim, legitimate opponents of illegitimate governance.
Zaids head was cut off and his body was put on a cross for years. We read about
the horrors that are taking place in Iraq- this is
nothing new, we can go back and re-visualize these horrors when they were
taking place during that time. Then, the son of Zaid, Imam Yahya (radi Allahu
anhu) also carried arms and fought against Al-Waleed ibn Yazid, the successor
Umawi ruler to Hishaam ibn Abdul Malik; also, what happened was a military,
material defeat of these Islamic free spirits with a revolutionary soul; and
obviously you have a Muslim public, just like we have a Muslim opposition in
todays world, and you can see how the Muslim public acts or interacts with
these events. In the midst of all of this, there was yet another personality
who would emerge. This persons name is Muhammed ibn Abdullah ibn Al-Hassan ibn
Al-Husein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (radi Allahu anhu). He is known by a title in
Islamic history, he is referred to as An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah. An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah
had participated in the revolt of Zaid, he was one of the young persons who
attended that initial meeting in the Masjid, in Al-Medinah, where
Waasal ibn Ata and Jaafar As-Sadique exchanged different opinions and he also
participated in the revolts of Yahya, the son of Zaid and now what happened was
that he was convinced that illegitimate authority had to be opposed by the use
of arms. These were the final years of Umawi rule of Marwan ibn Muhammed in the
year 132 of the hijrah, all the Islamic oppositional trends sensed that these
were the last days of Bani Umayahs political deviation so everyone was
preparing for who is going to rule or assume power after this horrible chapter
of Islamic political history. Also, there was a trend among the Muslims that
said "the responsibility of ruling the Muslims has to return to the Hashemis."
-meaning that strain of Quraish from which the Prophet of Allah, but they said
that "those who should be ruling are the sons of Al-Abbas, the Prophets uncle-
these are the legitimate rulers of the Muslims and they should be in charge of
Islamic governance." There were two personalities
or characters who were at the fore-front of this Abbasi/Ahl Al-Bayt trend. One
of them goes by the title As-Saffah, the butcher, who died early on in life
after the Abbasi political trend gained power and the other one is Abu Jaafar
Al-Mansur, who used to be a student of Waasal ibn Ata. This reminds us of
todays world- we have individuals who used to be students in the Islamic
movement but when they saw the opportunity to become rulers, they ran for that
opportunity and abdicated their Islamic duties and responsibilities. To make a
long story short, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur assumed power and there was a new form
of monarchy, but this time this monarchy had a propaganda leverage that it
represents the Islamic opposition which was furthest from the truth, but they
used that. People and governments that are in power use whatever they can to
justify whatever they wanted to do- this is what they were doing. History has
to be presented as frankly as possible- Abu Jaafar Al-Masur and
the Abbasi political trend assumed power because of a reaction to Arabian
nationalism that was represented by the Umawis. This reaction in Islamic
history is called Ash-Shu'ubiyyah, one nationalism, ie. Arabian nationalism,
under the suzerainty of Bani Umayah inflicted upon the Muslims another
nationalism that expressed itself in the areas east of the land of the two
rivers which is generally referred to as Persia. Muslims were in a reactionary
mode, but one nationalism does not justify another nationalism. Here is where
the reaction took place and this is how these persons with an Islamic
background got involved in just a counter part of the Umawis- the Abbasis were
a counter part to the Umawis. This reminds us in our generation of Algeria- the
Muslims did all the fighting, dying, sacrificing and struggling and then the
nationalist came and reaped the results. This same thing happened with the
Abbasis- the Islamic opposition did all the fighting, dying, they paid all the
price, the sacrifice and the struggle and then some people with a nationalist
agenda came along and reaped the results. Damascus was history and as the
Abbasis were consolidating their power in Baghdad, they were aware of the
Islamic opposition because they were close to this political opposition for the
past generation or two and what happened during this time of transition from
Umawi to Abbasi was that one of the well known Mu'tazilis by the name of Amr
ibn Ubaiy goes to Al-Medinah and he tries to consolidate and bring together all
the strains of the Islamic opposition in a Shura process to agree on a leader
in these critical circumstances. The majority of the Muslims of Al-Medinah,
through a Shura process, as was supposed to be the case through the past 100
odd years, agreed that An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah qualifies to lead the Muslims in
finishing the struggle of the past years and launching the Muslims into a new
era of Adl, justice, equality and political participation that
was lost in the previous years at that level. Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur knew what
was going on. People who are in power have informers all over the place, there
were mercenaries all over the place- he knew all this was going on and this new
form of government, which is just the counterpart to the previous one
established a department to keep an eye on all types of opposition,
particularly this new type of opposition that began in Al-Medinah. An-Nafs
Az-Zakiya understood that he is a wanted man. He gained the bai'ah of the
majority of the Muslims through a shura process and now he was wanted by the
illegitimate ruler. Now, there were two rulers, one of them was the one who had
power and he forced the Muslims to give him the bai'ah and the other one was
An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah who didn't have power but whose bai'ah was volunteered by
the Muslims in Al-Medinah and in all other places. We should hasten to say that
before all this took place, there were the military physical defeat of
Yahya that followed that of Zaid and in the area of Khurasan, the government
would not let the Muslim public express themselves and how they felt towards
Zaid and Yahya. When that Umawi government was gone and the new government was
on its way, the Muslims felt so strong about Zaid and his son Yahya, that for
one full year in the area of Khurasan, every male that was born was given the
name of either Zaid or Yahya, but these internal feelings of the Muslim public
were not given freedom of expression. If you say that today in the Muslim world
there is not freedom of expression, we can extend the absence of freedom of
expression all the way back to that time. The supporter that An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah
had on the popular level was no doubt a popular/across the board support.
What do the people who are ruling in Baghdad- the Abbasis, Abu Jaafar
Al-Mansur- do now that they see that there is a popular Imam who has been given
the popular bai'ah of the people and this is when Al-Imam Maalik, one of the
renowned four fuqaha, came in and when he was forced to express his opinion, he
said "Whoever is forced to give a bai'ah, that bai'ah doesn't count." -which
means that Abu Jaafar Al-Mansurs bai'ah is illegitimate, and because of that he
was tortured, jailed and persecuted. This is a little detail in history because
they don't want us to develop the political positions of those who are
considered fuqaha- well, this was the political position of Imam Malik that
goes detached from the overall circumstances from which it came. Just like we
have Islamic movements now, that function underground- we can also trace
Islamic movements underground all the way back to that time. An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah
goes underground and he has to disguise himself and Abu Jaafar
Al-Masur tried to track or find him. He went to Najd, Hejaz, Adn, Bilad
As-Sind, he came back to Al-Kufa and then he went back to Al-Medinah- all of
this he did while he was wanted dead or alive by the monarchy in Baghdad- they
were trailing him. In one of his escape attempts in the Arabian Peninsula, he
had his one year (or so) old baby with him. He was climbing the mountain and he
lost control of the baby and the baby fell and died. This is just a small
detail from the lives of underground Islamic opponents to illegitimate
authority. Finally, when he came back to Al-Medinah, this was about the year
145 after the hijah, almost 10 years after the Abbasi consolidation of their
form of deviant political governance. The people in Al-Medinah rushed to him
and guaranteed him their support. Brothers and sisters- once again we encounter
the public when they tell a legitimate leader that they are behind him and
supportive of him- this is what he had- the numbers were… in
Al-Medinah and Hejaz, there was around 100,000 who were behind An-Nafs
Az-Zakiyah. A side comment- look at these rulers, there geography condemns
them, because if they were Islamically ruling, what are they doing in Baghdad?
The same way with the Umawis, what were they doing in Damascus? If there was an
Islamic grain in them, they would be in Makkah or Al-Medinah, but they knew who
they were. Anyway, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur sends or dispatches thousands of
warriors to Al-Medinah and they lay siege to Al-Medinah- in todays language,
they imposed sanctions of Al-Medinah. Some people from within this popular
support that he had were trying to give him advice, they told An-Nafs
Az-Zakiyah, once again- this is not the 1st time we encounter this type of
advice, they said "We don't think the odds are on our side. The odds are
against us. We advise you to leave Al-Medinah and go to Egypt because in Egypt
you have much more support and Egypt can be an equivalent base where you stand a
chance to defeat these usurpers of power in Baghdad." The tyranny of Baghdad
was so bad that people who were opposed to the Umawis were saying that "we wish
the Umawis were back in power." This army that had come to Al-Medinah and laid
siege to it left an escape route, they left just one area for those who didn't
want to fight to escape from and get out of Al-Medinah. When An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah
began to realize what was going on among these tens of thousands of people in
Al-Medinah who just a few months ago were willing to fight to the bitter end
but now that they were under siege and suffering from sanctions, they began to
express that they are not able to go through with all of this, because they saw
that they had to fight. On the other hand, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur was concerned
with the movement of the Mu'tazilah, because the Mu'tazilah had there numbers
all around. Towards the end of the Umawi state, they were about to take over in
Damascus. They were successful for some
months in destabilizing the Umawi rulers, so Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur was
concerned with the movement of the Mu'tazilah who probably were in the hundreds
of thousands all around who would potentially come to the support of An-Nafs
Az-Zakiyah because of the way he began initially, way back when Waasal ibn Ata
came to Al-Medinah and was part of them. So, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur went to Amr
ibn Ubaiy who was concerned the head of Al-Mu'tazilah and he asked him "What
would you do if An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah were to come under pressure and was
threatened by military force?" He said "You know that I would not give you a
straight answer to that." Remember, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur who is the ruler used
to be a student of Waasal ibn Ata and Amr ibn Ubaiy- in other words, it's like
saying in todays world, he used to belong to the Islamic movement or the
Islamic revolution. Then Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur left and he had someone else go
to him and try to pick his brain because he was concerned with the
Mu'tazili numbers. Finally, Amr ibn Ubaiy told this person that "If there were
a number of individuals equivalent to and as committed as the number of Ahl
Badr, it doesn't matter what type of opposition is out there, it is legitimate
to fight against them (the rulers)." At that time, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur rest
assured because he wasn't going to find 300 odd Muslims who are in the
conviction, the level and the standards of Ahl Badr. So he said "we are sure
that these Mu'tazilis are not going to be involved in this affair in
Al-Medinah." Who was head of the military force that had laid siege to
Al-Medinah? It was the great grandson of Abdullah ibn Abbas. We can recall who
Abdullah ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) was in those years way back during the
time of Uthman and Ali (radi Allahu anhuma). Imagine, his great grandson was to
lead this army. So, when we speak about families and great personalities, that
doesn't mean that automatically you are going to have a virtuous family
and a virtuous offspring. Abu Jaafar Al-Mansur wanted to preempt the revolt of
An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah, so what did he do? He brought An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah's brothers
and cousins and immediate supporters- among them was the great grandson of
Uthman ibn Affan- and he puts them in a dungeon or a hole next to the Furaat in
which they could not know night from day and some of them began to die and
their bodies decomposed in that dungeon. The news was going out to An-Nafs
Az-Zakiyah, who knew about his brothers, cousins and relatives who were treated
like that by a person who used to belong to the Islamic opposition and who is
now corrupted by power. He had to take a stand in Al-Medinah and he began to
fight back. The siege began the 1st day of Rajab 145 hijri year and then, on
the 12th of Ramadaan, the two armies engaged. The fighting continued for a
couple of days and An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah, once again, was an Islamic personality,
leader and revolutionary who had to succumb to the
insincerity of those who said they supported him and to those who committed
treason to their principles and became the monarchs and the illegitimate rulers
of the Muslims in Baghdad. Once again, what happened was when the Muslims lose
in Al-Medinah, this Abbasi authority takes the bodies of over 300 Muslims who
were killed fighting against the 4,000 who laid siege on Al-Medinah and they
crucified them- they put their bodies on crosses that extended from Thaniyat
Al-Wada', remember when the Prophet arrived in Al-Medinah, (look how they pick
places that will irritate) and what used to be the house of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz
(radi Allahu anhu), and the bodies remained there for days until the foul smell
of these bodies caused the people of Al-Medinah to force these people to take
these bodies down. When they took these bodies down, they went up to a mountain
and threw these bodies into a yahudi cemetery called Al-Mafrah. All of this
history is almost buried- because if you go to
Al-Medinah, are you going to see a place called Al-Mafrah? Would you know
where Thaniyat Al-Wada' is? Or where Umar ibn Abdul Aziz used to live? Or where
all of these events took place? There are hands that not only are trying to
destroy us mentally, but they are trying to destroy us physically. Just like
they took the head of Zaid and began to display it in public, they did the same
thing with the head of An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah. In other words, they beheaded
An-Nafs Az-Zakiyah and took his head and displayed it in public. So, do we or
do we not have Islamic political opponents of political deviation? We have
them, their sacrifices, struggles and jihad and we disavow ourselves from that
political deviation of the Umawis to the political deviation of the Saudis
today and everything in between who usurped this power and are still getting
away with it because what we are saying is not public information. .
Brothers and Sisters, Committed Muslims…
What we are expressing in these khutbahs is not irrelevant to what is
happening in front of our eyes in our world today. You heard, in the past and
you continue to hear that there's a possibility of a civil war in Iraq. We say
to anyone who thinks- that there will be a civil war in Iraq and if something
like that is going to happen, it will draw on our ignorance of who we are.
There is no reason for Muslims who think of themselves as Shi'is and Muslims
who think of themselves as Sunnis to shed their blood because of a larger plan
that wants to destroy the house of Islam due to nationalistic and sectarian
residues. We know that we cannot speak to 1,7 or 1,8 billion Muslims in the
world, but we can only express our mind and our conscience as best as they are
made from understanding the Qur'an and the Prophet at this time every week. We
only hope that there will be other Muslims who will wake up and begin to
express these facts before it is too late. There are (maybe)
hundreds of thousands of jum'ahs in the world every week- imagine if the Ulema
and the scholars were opening the minds of the hundreds of millions of Muslims
who are attending the hundreds of thousands of jum'ahs every week concerning
these types of issues where the record is set straight and there is no access
made into our internal affairs by the trouble makers who are either ignorant to
the point of fatalism or who are mercenaries to the tune of millions or dollars
or who are outright enemies of Allah and His Prophet. But, when you have
Masaajid and so-called scholars who are silent on these issues, then they have
us fall into the currents and the rapids of sectarianism and nationalism.
Through these khutbahs, we are contributing as much as we can to make that
impossible. What we say, we say for Allah and we stand by what we say and we
will go down with what we say with honor or we will overcome with victory.