Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam),
his Noble Companions and Family.
Brothers and Sisters, Muslims whose relationship with Allah Azza Wa Jall is
one of responsibilities and duties and one of tasks and obligations....
audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/khutbassermons.htm (25-05-2007)
ALI (R) AND PUBLIC OPINION
In this khutbah, as in the previous ones, we will continue to expose the dark
corners in some peoples minds and to fold back the dark areas in some peoples
psychology. You and I know- wa lillahil hamd- that the pace is hectic now a
days in trying to stir bad feelings among Muslims. We should know by now that
we can’t cure these issues that are used for propaganda, which is utilized for
the militaries, which in itself becomes the matter of Muslims killing
themselves. We are trying our human best to get to the bottom of these issues,
and may Allah open up the hearts and minds of other Muslims so that we may
learn from ourselves and not accuse ourselves and so that our past history can
become a blocking force against what the enemy wants our future to be. We had
reached the time when Ali (radi Allahu anhu) became- without any triggering
mechanism, as was the case in the past with his three predecessors- by (with
the words of today) popular demand, literally speaking- even
though we looked at those who had reservations, were neutral, were reluctant
and even those who were opposed, but never the less, the popular trend, public
sentiment and popular demand insisted that he become the leader of the Muslims.
Remember, what we are going to speak about are issues that have been reduced to
emotional conflicts among Muslims, and it shouldn’t be. We still can’t
understand why these issues have become hardened emotions among the Muslims.
When Ali became the popular leader of the Muslims, Muslim public opinion was
not what it was when Uthman (radi Allahu anhu) became the leader of the
Muslims. When Uthman became the leader of the Muslims, the Muslim people,
especially those who were in Arabia were expecting a time of economic
prosperity and Uthman was forthcoming in opening up the Muslim treasury and
boosting the Islamic financial or living standards of the Muslims and among
many Muslims, he was popular. This happens to any ruler who comes and shows
his people economic prosperity. After he was assassinated, Muslim public
opinion felt gripped by (in a sense) the unknown. They didn’t know how the
immediate future was going to develop or unravel. What they began to sense was
that there was a brewing or growing danger- they could sense this inside
themselves. They could compare the two previous assassinations- the immediate
one now, with the previous one of Umar (radi Allahu anhu). Even though the
assassination of Umar was violent and quick, the repercussions were manageable.
When Umar was taken away to his deathbed, he was heard to have said the words
and Allahs decree has become a calculated fate- there’s nothing that can be
done about this, it has happened. We covered the manageable reverberations of
this assassination, but the assassination of Uthman was not a quick and easy
affair to manage. The people who were involved in his assassination were many.
It was not an event that was local. Hundreds of people had come
from far away and they basically took over Al-Medinah. Just by taking control
of Al-Medinah, the people of Al-Medinah felt this internal fear, that things
are not normal. It was in these types of uncertain social developments that Ali
took over. In the public mind, they saw that the governors of Uthman in these
remote areas, instead of having the Islamic military do its duty at the Islamic
frontiers, now they began to think about the Islamic military turning into and
doing its tasks and missions inside the Muslim domain. Not only that, but the
Muslim military had its eyes fixated on the Islamic capital- Al-Madinah. This
also makes people fear what circumstances may become. It was this fear that had
become spread all over that characterized the time period in which Ali took
over. We don’t know why Islamic scholars, whoever they are- you can listen to
them, and please listen to all of them from both sides- don’t speak about this,
because this is very important to understand
why Muslims feel the way they feel today, wherever you encounter them. Public
opinion saw that the cousin of Uthman, who is Muawiyah, is in Damascus in
Ash-Shaam, was potentially a person who could cause the undoing the Islamic
authority as the Muslims have understood it so far. The information that we
don’t have because Muslim scholars want to remain silent- this information was
common knowledge among them. You can ask todays Muslims why? They always speak
about the 1st generation of Muslims, as-salaf as-salih, as-sahabah and ahl
al-bait- all of you are speaking about this- OK. If all of you are speaking
about this, can’t you or are you not able to bring us up to date on how they
were thinking pertaining to this issue because this issue was occupying every
ones mind. OK- if it is occupying everyone’s mind who is supposed to be our
models, how come we do not know or understand what was going through their
minds and what made them adopt the positions that they did? We
point our finger at todays silence and at these issues that are coming back to
become strategies in the world of kill the Muslims today. Public opinion in
Al-Madinah and Al-Jazeerah, was, at this time, when we said previously that Ali
wanted to open an investigation into the assassination of Uthman and he could
not do it. Ali was a person who was going to pursue truth and justice to its
end, wherever that may go. He wasn’t about to play a political game with this
issue. There were some people who would love to have used some political
leverage in these circumstances, but now, we are looking at a political ruler
who is not about the expediency of political leverage or influence. This was a
person who was looking at the truth and the facts and was out to do justice,
but what do you do when you have a non-co-operative society around you?
Al-Medinah was still under siege, and these rebels who came and assassinated
Uthman inferred to Ali that if you continue this type of
investigation, we will have you join your predecessor. What do you do when you
have a public opinion that we have to understand more about? Uthman had send
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (radi Allahu anhu) to Hajj, to Makkah. We know that ibn
Mas’uds was an opponent of Uthman and he read the communication of Uthman to
the Muslims at the Hajj, in which Uthman extricates himself from this popular
movement against him, and refers to them as al-jawr adh-dhulm. We are not to
judge these personalities, we are here, to have the facts surface as much as
possible- when the average Muslim was in Makkah, listening to this and knowing
what was happening in Al-Medinah, public opinion grew more weary to listening
to the assassinated leaders (before he was assassinated) message he sent to
them in the Hajj. So now, we have a public opinion (to put it in straight
words) that is scared. They are scared because they see the military that was
doing its job, almost in an exemplary way in previous years,
has the potential of turning against itself and against the Muslim public-
that’s how they understood these developments. Now, what is going through this
informed public mind? They see that Ali had become the leader of the Muslims
and they know what was said about this Imam, from the Prophet himself- they
know and they lived this. They didn’t know this just from reading it in some
books, they were living these facts themselves. They knew that this current
leader that they chose was brought up in the household of Allahs Prophet. They
knew that he attended all the battles that Allahs Prophet attended (with one
exception). They knew that he carried the Prophets banner in the most serious
of these battles. They knew that the Prophet gave him whatever he was entrusted
with when the Prophet had to escape for his life from Makkah under those
threats. They knew that the Prophet put him in his bed to sleep when he fled
the Quraishi attempt at eliminating him. They knew that when
the Prophet went to Al-Medinah, he had fraternatized between the muhajirin and
the ansaar (radi Allahu anhum) and in exception to that, the Prophet made a
fraternity pact with Ali, who is a muhajir- he’s not an ansaari. They knew that
Ali is the Prophets son in law and also his cousin. The Prophet used to call
him his brother and Umm Ayman (radi Allahu anha) who was in the Prophets
household made fun of that in a very innocent way. She told the Prophet you
call Ali your brother and then you have him marry your daughter. Muslim public
opinion was aware that the Prophet said in the presence of everyone, on a most
demanding military day in the Islamic clash with yahud in Khaybar, I will give
the banner tomorrow to a man who loves Allah and His Apostle and who Allah and
His Apostle love him. They listened to Allahs Prophet when he deputized Ali to
stay in Al-Medinah when he went on the last military mission to Tabuk, saying-
the Prophet says to Ali- are you not satisfied to be
in relationship with me as Haroon (alah salaam) is to Musa (alaih salaam),
except there are no Prophets after me? They heard Allahs Prophet say whoevers
Mawla I am, then Ali is his Mawla. O Allah, be the Supported of those who
support Ali and be the tormentor of those who torment him in his last year- all
of this is in the Muslim public mind; a public that is scared and can’t do
much. This Islamic public had to decide on the 1st successor to Allahs Prophet
and they decided on Abi Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) by-passing all of these
statements from Allahs Prophet, they agreed to have Aba Bakr their leader and
Ali knowing what was said to and about him also gave his bai’ah to Abi Bakr-
knowing the public around. It may have been some time (we don’t want to get
into these petty historical arguments) but finally he went to Abi Bakr and he
gave him the bai’ah or allegiance. They may have been some misunderstandings
here, but these misunderstandings were not hostile
mis-understandings. Fatimah (radi Allahu anha), the Prophets daughter may have
felt that Aba Bakr does not understand that the Prophets family is entitled to
inheritance, just like all the other families are entitled to inheritance. Abu
Bakr was not conspiratorial in stating that he heard Allahs Prophet say we, who
are Prophets do not bequeath inheritance. Whatever we leave is a Sadaqah. This
is a serious, but not a hostile misunderstanding. This is where uninformed or
emotionally informed Muslims go wrong. There was no hostility or animosity
between Ali and those who became leaders before him, knowing what Allah was
saying when he was trying to nominate him throughout all of those years. It
wasn’t only the Prophet, Umar (radi Allahu anhu) said about Ali, indeed Ali is
the most informed among us concerning legal issues. Umar said about Ali, if
Muslims were to give the leadership responsibility to this person- meaning Ali-
he would have carried them straight on to a course
to Allah. In todays language, it’s a highway- of course there was no traffic
and trucks on the wide and open access lane toward Allah. But, what do you do
when you have Muslim public opinion caught between what they heard the Prophet
say about their new leader and the fact that they are scared of this military
turning against itself and against them. This is a fact that Muslim scholars
want to bury. Whenever they speak to you about Ali or the events that took
place in Al-Medinah, tell them we want to know how Muslim public opinion felt
and thought at that time so that the enemies who are listening to our ignorance
don’t come through this door and create war among us like they are doing now.
That’s one thing Muslim public opinion was in. The other thing that Muslim
public opinion was in was they knew Muawiyah- the long lasting governor or
ruler of Ash-Shaam had accumulated serious power. Muawiyahs cousin was
assassinated in Al-Medinah. This brought back pre-Islamic notions.
This brought back the rivalry between Bani Haashim and Bani Umayyah. It
brought back the stature of Abi Sufyan, the person who became the leader of the
Mushriks after Badr. Muslim public opinion was very familiar with this
character. He was the leader and commander-in-chief of the Mushriks when they
took on the Muslims in Uhud and in Al-Khandaq. It was Abu Sufyan, the father of
Muawiyah. Family tribal and clannish feelings were still there, even though
many people had become above the surface Muslims. It was Hind who instigated
Wahshi top kill Hamzah (radi Allahu anhu) and then, after that, she goes to the
war bed and battle field. She locates the body of Hamzah, busts open his
abdomen, takes out his liver and begins to chew it. Do you think that these
facts are absent from Muslim public opinion? All Muslims, in their literature,
refer to those who were amnestied after the Fath Al-Makkah refer to those who
amnestied as At-Tulaqa’. Abi Sufyan and Muawiyah were from these
Tulaqa’ and Muslim public opinion understood that now we had an issue of
At-Tulaqa’ who are in positions of power. Al-Abbas (radi Allahu anhu), the
Prophets uncle, who was close to the power structure of Makkah and therefore
was also close to Abi Sufyan- when Makkah was finally conquered and liberated,
Al-Abbas uses his personal rapport with Abi Sufyan and tells him now is the
time to become Muslim. He takes or parades him to see the Islamic military on
display and Abu Sufyan says to Al-Abbas – Muslim public opinion was aware of
what Abu Sufyan said and what he meant- today, the domain of your nephew had
indeed become extravagant and colossal. Finally, when Al-Abbas convinces him to
come to the Prophet and proclaim his Islam after the Fath of Makkah, he comes,
(like every Muslim who wants to say he’s a Muslim, he has to utter or pronounce
Ash-Shahadah) Ash-hadu An laa ilaha illalah wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammedan
Rasulullah. So, Abu Sufyan comes here (remember, public opinion,
the Muslim population and the Muslim occupants of Al-Medinah and Al-Jazeerah
know all of these facts) so Abu Sufyan says Ash-hadu An laa ilaha illalah and
he wants to stop there. Everyone hears what he wants to say and he pauses and
fails to say wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammedan Rasulullah, Al-Abbas reminds him and
says, now you should say wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammedan Rasulullah. He said to
Al-Abbas concerning this meaning concerning me saying wa Ash-Hadu Anna
Muhammedan Rasulullah, I have something in me against that. There’s something
in me that doesn’t agree with this. Muslim public opinion knew that (if we
wanted to become sentimental about this)- Oh! My God! What are we approaching
now? Are we approaching a polarization of forces with all of these issues
coming to the fore and the only way that they are going to be settled is
through warfare? That is why when Ali was pressured at this time to become the
leader of the Muslims through this popular movement, he insisted on
having Talha and Az-Zubair (radi Allahu anhuma) go public with their
allegiance- and they did. They may have had their own ambitions, and there’s
much to think that they had their own political ambitions or agendas, but
nevertheless, they went public and gave their bai’ah to Ali. We looked at those
segments of society whom were not harboring any underground activities against
the leadership of Ali. Now, the 1st thing that had to be done was to replace
some governors that were appointed by Uthman. Ali wanted to bring in Al-Ansaar.
In the administrations of the three predecessors, but more specifically in the
administration of Uthman, Ansaar were virtually excluded from the political
process, so Ali appointed Suhayl ibn Hunayf (radi Allahu anhu) who was a
predominant Ansaari to become the governor of Al-Basrah. He appointed Qays ibn
Saad ibn Abi Ubadah (radi Allahu anhu) to become the governor of Egypt.
Remember, immediately after the Prophet passed away, when Saad ibn
Ubadah (radi Allahu anhu) saw that the political affairs of the Muslims had
become an affair exclusive to Al-Muhajirin, he just stepped out of Islamic
politics (as it were.) He refused to give his bai’ah to Abu Bakr or to anyone.
Now, Ali wanted to take the Muslims back to that initial moment and bring back
the general muslim public opinion and get it involved in deciding its own
affairs. Then, Ali tried to have Uthman ibn Hunayf (radi Allahu anhu), the
brother of Suhaly to replace Muawiyah as the governor in Damascus. He also sent
Ubaidallah ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhu) to become the governor in Al-Yemen.
When the two governors that Uthman had appointed in Al-Yemen and Al-Basrah- the
1st one, Ya’la ibn Ummayah and the 2nd one Abdullah ibn Aamir saw the new
governors coming to take their place, they collected whatever money they could
collect and they left their posts from Al-Basrah and Al-Yemen and where did
they go? You can quiz yourself right here on how informed or how
uninformed we are. Probably 99% of the Muslims, because of the type of
speakers we have, don’t know where these two Uthmani appointees went. Of all
places, they went to Makkah. Remember what we were saying about Makkah. This
was further proof, if proof be needed, that Makkah was a magnet for those
forces that were still opposed to Islamic governance and leadership, even
though some of them had declared that they had become Muslims. Did they go
there by chance or is there something happening or in the making and they are
trying to regroup in Makkah? They know Ash-Shaam is off limits. The Islamic
government in Al-Medinah knows that Ash-Shaam has to be dealt with and to
complicate things more, Talha and Az-Zubair, who were kept in Al-Medinah. Ali,
more or less dealt with whatever was left of Al-Muhajirin and those who were
left of Al-Quraish who had become Muslims dealt with them the same way Umar
dealt with them- virtually limiting them to Al-Medinah. Talha and Az-Zubair
came to Ali and said we want to leave Al-Medinah. Give us permission to leave
Al-Medinah. He had said to them, immediately after becoming the Imam or the
Khalifah of the Muslims, he realized that Talha and Az-Zubair probably don’t
want to remain in Al-Medinah because they have their popularity in Al-Basrah
and Al-Kufa. They want to go to areas where people adore or idolize them (in a
sense). So, he said to them I want you to remain here. He wasn’t blunt like
Umar and expressed it maybe in a way that would hurt peoples feelings. His
words- your presence here is an adornment for me in Al-Medinah and I will feel
lonely if you depart from here and leave me by myself. That was at the
beginning. Muawiyah had sent one of his representatives to Al-Medinah in
defiance of Ali. Here is where he tried to take the public pulse- how people
would feel if there is a military encounter between Ali and Muawiyah. True to
the fact, public opinion was scared and in the middle of all of this,
we had Talha and Az-Zubair saying we want to leave. Ali said OK- where do you
want to go? They say we want to go to Makkah- meaning we want to go to Makkah
to perform our Umrah. What do you do – brother and sisters- remember, we are
taking this body of information one step at a time. At every step you should
realize that people don’t rule in a vacuum and people don’t rule without the
so-called social contract from those who they are supposed to rule. This is the
condition that we are speaking about here. Did Ali have supporters and those
who understood the whole issue and were fearless? Yes, but they were few. You
can’t carry a social program only on the support of a few people like Ammaar
ibn Yaasir or Miqdaad ibn Al-Aswad (radi Allahu anhuma) or the others who we
spoke about briefly in the past. This is not public opinion. The harsh and real
public opinion that Ali had to deal with is the one that we are speaking about.
Idealistically, they knew who Ali was, but
militarily they also knew who Muawiyah and the other governors were.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
Today, some of you may have listened to some of the information that is
coming out of Lebanon. We have what is called Fath Al-Islam, that is dueling it
out with the Lebanese army. Some of you may think- we just spoke about or you
just listened to a khutbah and what does this have to do with the exchange of
fire and the body count that we are seeing there and in Palestine. In
Palestine, we have Hamas and Fath and in Lebanon we have an Islamic or at least
in the media an Islamic group of people against the Lebanese armed forces. What
is beginning to appear is that these people who have been working on a
Sunni/Shi’i civil war in Iraq, after tirering and running out of patience-
because the flames of that civil war have not spread around to the other areas-
they are trying to ignite it in Lebanon. How did they plan to do that? We find
Bandar, the ambassador who 24 years ago nationalized, confiscated and usurped
the Masjid, working behind the scenes again, advising Cheney,
(the person who lives a few miles down in that direction) on how to have
Muslims kill themselves. What is Bandars -the sickerphant and boot-licker from
the Saudi embassy for a couple of dozen years- genius idea that he comes out
with? He looks at the broad political map or picture in the area and he says
“OH- It’s Islamic fundamentalists who have the guts and motivation to fight.
OK- if that’s the case, let us sponsor or build up a Sunni fundamentalist group
of fighters. We will give them support, money and whatever is needed so that
they will reach a point where they can neutralize Hezbollah and we don’t even
need to fire a shot. As it is turning out, the American government, with Cheney
leading the charge- see, he’s been in and out of the area in the past months
and with Bandar also making his shuttle appearances in the Capitals in the
area- you know where he was two or three months ago- making the rounds- and
what we see and know is much less than what is happening in
reality and fact. It turns out that they were not capable of manipulating a
Sunni fundamentalist group the way they wanted to, so what do they do? They
send in another proxy of there’s- the Lebanese army. Now, it’s the Lebanese
army and you have an airlift of weaponry into Lebanon to crush these
Palestinians, hoping that if they couldn’t serve the major purpose- the basic
idea was to take on Hezbollah- so if they couldn’t do that, then what we do is
we will begin with them by cutting down the Palestinians. So, let them send a
message to the Palestinians to be followed by another message, in this case,
Fath taking on Hamas instead of the Lebanese army in Occupied Palestine so that
the Israelis will move in at the end of the project and appear as if they are
the invincible force that they always claim to have been until they were
defeated by Hezbollah last year. Where did the ideas of Bandar and Cheney go?
Cheney had Barnard Lewis go and teach and tutor him about the
sensitivities of internal sensitivities of the internal Islamic psychology and
Islamic history. Where are they now? There’s more of this, and if we continue
to be ignorant of our own selves, they will continue to hatch their own plots
and political programs to destroy our will to be. Therefore, these khutbahs are
not irrelevant or some discourse in historical details. These khutbahs are the
facts that go to build an Islamic character that is immune to civil conflict
and civil wears and is anxious to take on the imperialists and the Zionists
when they come calling with their armies.
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