Women In Islam: Khutbah of Shaykh Al Yaqoubi
Allah is the Walī of Those Who Believe
Allah is the Walī of Those Who Believe
Khuṭbah
by
Sheikh Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān Al-Būṭī
All praise is due to Allah[1], praise that complies with His blessings and compensates His abundance. Our Lord, for You is all praise as befits the majesty of Your countenance and the might of Your authority. O Allah, I cannot sufficiently enumerate praises upon You; You are as You have praised Yourself. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone and He has no partner, and I bear witness that Muḥammad is His slave and Messenger and His sincere and intimate friend, the best prophet that Allah sent to the entire world as a herald of glad tidings and admonition. O Allah, pray upon, give peace and give blessings upon our Sayyid[2] Muḥammad and upon the family of ourSayyid Muḥammad, prayers and peace that last inseparably until the Day of Judgement. I advise you and my sinning self to have fearful awareness of Allah the Exalted.
To proceed, dear slaves of Allah:
Recently, an āya from Allah’s Book, Mighty and Majestic caught my attention and held it for a long time, and it stirred up overflowing feelings of security, tranquillity, pride and joy, and it is the statement of Allah, the Glorified and Exalted:
“Allah is the Protector (Walī) of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light. But those who disbelieve have false gods as protectors. They take them from the light into the darkness.” [Al-Baqara 2:257]
Then, more feelings of joy entered my thoughts when I came across the other āya that confirms and increases the meaning of this āya that caught my attention, and it is the one in which Allah says:
“This is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe and because those who disbelieve have no protector.” [Muḥammad 47:11]
Therefore, I am Allah’s pampered slave, living under His shade. I am His slave, safe under His guardianship and care, because I am from amongst those who believe in Him and know Him as One, Unique, Eternal Lord. From Him is the beginning and to Him is the end. I certainly haven’t been abandoned in the earth. I am not an orphan nor have I been orphaned in the deserts of the world. Psychological problems will never ensnare me. The maladies of depression will never ensnare me. The traps of transgressors and the forces of evil will never catch me, because I am shaded by Allah’s protection, because I am from those of whom Allah has said:
“This is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe.” [Muḥammad 47:11]
Indeed – dear brothers – indeed overflowing joy entered my being and a spirit of pride overwhelmed my feelings. Me! Who am I? I am Allah’s pampered slave, as I’ve told you, under His shade, and I believe that these feelings that entered my being when this āya in the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, caught my attention, must inevitably enter the thoughts of each one of you. Each of you must be struck by this āya and made to reflect on it:
“Allah is the Protector (Walī) of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light.” [Al-Baqara 2:257]
This overflowing joy will undoubtedly enter you. You will inevitably feel the tranquillity that you have certainly not been abandoned in the earth. You are not orphans and you haven’t been orphaned in the deserts of the world. Indeed, neither psychological problems nor maladies of depression will ever ensnare you. Various psychological problems will never lead you to drugs and intoxicants, and other such things, because you are living under the shade of Allah’s protection. You are living under the shade of Allah’s guardianship:
“This is because Allah is the Protector of those who believe and because those who disbelieve have no protector.” [Muḥammad 47:11]
Once this joy has entered your being, each one of you must rejoice and recite this verse that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has taught us when He addressed us, informing us:
“My Protector is Allah, who sent down the Book. He takes care of the righteous.” [Al-ʾAʿrāf 7:196]
Yes, yes my Lord:
“My Protector is Allah, who sent down the Book. He takes care of the righteous.” [Al-ʾAʿrāf 7:196]
Indeed I believe that these feelings should enter the thoughts of all Muslims. They should enter the being of the entire Islamic world, embodied by its people and its leaders, as long as we have been honoured by true faith in Allah, as long as we have been honoured by knowing that we are His owned slaves and that we are connected to this protection – His protection of us and His guardianship over us – that is because He is the Creator of the entire universe. That is because He is the administrator of the entire world. These feelings must enter the being of the entire Islamic world, wherever it is, and be embodied – as I have said – by its people and its leaders.
I am amazed, dear slaves of Allah, I am amazed at those who know Allah and know how they are under Allah’s protection and know how they are under Allah’s guardianship, yet they insist on falling down from the throne of Allah’s protection over them and submitting to the transgressors and the forces of evil, and then making themselves enslaved prisoners before them, enslaved prisoners of the transgressors. I am amazed at those who exchange Allah’s protection for the protection of the transgressors from amongst Allah’s slaves, Mighty and Majestic.
These forces of evil, which kick the Muslims around, left and right, right and left, play about with them as if they were playing with a ball; they proclaim democracy[3] and they call to it, and they threaten those who haven’t enjoined it upon themselves, and they do this as long as it is the vessel that they are able to ride in order to realise their interests, as long as it is the trustworthy servant that the forces of evil are able to herd towards their benefits and their stolen goods, for when the forces of evil see that democracy only serves its adherents and that democracy only guides its adherents towards the truth and they cling to it, and they turn away from falsehood and reject it,[4] see then how quickly the forces of evil turn and call for despotism and for the protection of despots, until the very last drop. Indeed it is not democracy or despotism, but rather special interests that the forces evil desire to make use of. The forces of evil desire to ride us like a vessel in order to realise their benefits and achieve their goals.
I am amazed at those who exchange Allah’s protection and shade and insist on falling from the throne of this divine protection, and then surrender to the prison of these transgressors, or surrender to the forces of evil, dear slaves of Allah.
As for us, we are Allah’s believing slaves, we believe in Him. We are His slaves who know Him as One Lord Who has no partner and we know that we are His slaves. We have pledged ourselves to Him to be upon that way that He has commanded us to be upon, with our utmost effort. We pledged ourselves to Him to turn away from everything that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has warned us against, with our utmost effort.
Therefore, our Protector is Allah, Glorified and Exalted. This is our identity, dear slaves of Allah. This is our reality. We will never fall down from the throne of Allah’s protection over us. We will never turn our faces towards any direction in the world that entices us towards it for its own interests and its own benefits, desiring to control us and our rights. How? How can we exchange felicity for wretchedness? How can we leave the felicity that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has assuaged us with and let ourselves drool at wretchedness? Who would drool at the wretchedness that is enticing him for its own purposes, dear slaves of Allah!
This is a summary, which I have mentioned to you, of the revelation of joy that entered my being, and I am saying the truth: when I recently came across this beloved āya, which is so dear to us:
“Allah is the Protector (Walī) of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light.” [Al-Baqara 2:257]
Indeed I say to you in truth, bring glad tidings, and I say to myself: as long as we live within Allah’s shade, Mighty and Majestic, as long as we are proud of Allah’s protection over us, as long as we are truthful in our pledge to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that we will never take anyone besides Him as a protector, then I give myself and you the glad tidings that security will never desert us, that tranquillity will remain inseparable from us and that the joy of felicity will remain within us. Who is it that doubts that when Allah’s protection, Glorified and Exalted, follows an Ummah, then this Ummah will achieve every kind of felicity?
Dear slaves of Allah, the last thing that I want to say to you is an answer to a question that may have entered the thoughts of many of you: do you think that these tribulations that keep coming from all around us, from the east of the earth and the west, will any of it reach us? I give you this answer: Have you heard the speech of Allah, Glorified and Exalted? Indeed, He responds to you, and it’s as if it were revealed yesterday. Indeed it is the answer that is contained with this good news for you:
“Those who believe and do not mix their faith with any wrongdoing, they are the ones who are safe; it is they who are guided.” [Al-Anʿām 6:82]
Have you heard? Have you reflected on this speech?
“Those who believe and do not mix their faith with any wrongdoing, they are the ones who are safe; it is they who are guided.”
Indeed I declare, in my name, in your name, in the name of our Ummah here in our Shām, that we are believers in Allah. We are confident that we will adhere to the covenant of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as far as we are able. Therefore, security and safety will be our ally. Security and safety will never desert us. This is glad tidings from the Lord of all Creation to us.
“Those who believe and do not mix their faith with any wrongdoing, they are the ones who are safe; it is they who are guided.”
O Allah, indeed we call on You as our witness, that we are believers in You, so make all of us, O Allah – leaders and people – O Allah, make all of us from amongst “Those who believe and do not mix their faith with any wrongdoing” so that we can be safe and secure in this life and the next.
I say this statement of mine and I seek forgiveness from Allah the Most Great.
Translated by Mahdi Lock – Mahdi Lock’s Blog
Click here for: Khutbah in Arabic
[2] tn: This word means master and is only used for human beings.
[3] tn: For more information on democracy, please have a look at this article which explains Plato’s position on democracy. Plato, one of the fathers of western civilisation, enumerated five types of government, from the most desirable to the least desirable:
- Aristocracy – this is the best form of government, according to Plato, in which the ruler is a philosopher, someone whose soul has been educated through the contemplation of arts and the exercise of the intellect. Having studied philosophy, this ruler would know the true virtues and, therefore, he would be able to lead people towards wellness and prosperity. Since the ruler would be virtuous, he would not want to deceive and abuse the citizens;
- Timocracy – this is the form of government ruled by warriors in which all the political decisions aim to bring military power and status. Timocrats may seek virtues just as the aristocrats, but they also pursue power, which can lead them to wars and combats. Timocracy, according to Plato, is a kind of government that arises when aristocracy starts to degenerate;
- Oligarchy – this is the system of government that establishes a division between the rich and the poor. The rich ones, which are fewer, rule and the poor must subject. This, according to Plato, is a problem because rich people are not necessarily virtuous, and when the power is in the hands of non-virtuous people, the rich will attempt to become richer and the poor might become even poorer due to bad policy, generating revolutions;
- Democracy – democracy is the child of oligarchy. Since people cannot agree with the rich ruling and deceiving the poor, people start to believe that if they could choose the ruler, their interest would prevail. The poor are greater in numbers so they elect one of them to be in charge. However, since the masses aren’t educated to become virtuous or to exercise the intellect, they are not apt to make political decisions that prioritize their real needs;
- Tyranny –democracy naturally degenerates into tyranny and society becomes a total chaos in which there’s no rule, no priorities and no laws. Whoever is stronger takes charge and does as he pleases. Nobody is able to remove a tyrant man from the power, as there’s no law to be obeyed.
You will notice that democracy lies between oligarchy and tyranny, and it is effectively the oligarchy remaining firmly in control while giving the masses the impression that they have freedom of choice. In reality, they are easily taken advantage of because they are poorly educated; which would include being intellectually dependent and therefore incapable of making proper, meaningful decisions that would benefit them. Please see the post “Western Mass Education” for further details. For an article about how this does indeed work today, please read this article, in which the author says:
‘As Plato and Aristotle observed, the system allows the rich and powerful to manipulate the ill-informed and to influence policy to further their personal interests.’
As for tyranny, what Plato says is more or less a description of how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party came into power in Germany. Norman Davies, in his seminal work Europe: A History, states:
‘Hitler’s democratic triumph exposed the true nature of democracy. Democracy has few values of its own: it is as good, or as bad, as the principles of the people who operate it. In the hands of liberal and tolerant people, it will produce a liberal and tolerant government; in the hands of cannibals, a government of cannibals. In Germany in 1933-44 it produced a Nazi government because the prevailing culture of Germany’s voters did not give priority to the exclusion of gangsters.’ (p.969)
Allah the Exalted has said: “Allah never changes a people’s state until they change what is in themselves.” [Ar-Raʿd 13:11]
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “As you are, you will be ruled over.” (كما تكونوا يولى عليكم), as mentioned by Imam As-Suyūṭī in Al-Jāmiʿ As-Ṣaghīr.
For more details on authority and ruling in Islam, please see the series 13 Centuries of Islamic History.
[4] tn: i.e. allowing people to govern themselves, in whatever form of government, may not suit their interests.
Fiqh of Minorities (Part 2)
Fiqh of Minorities (Part 2)
Mawlid Khutbah[1]: Fiqh of Minorities is the most recent means of playing with Allah’s Dīn.
By Sheikh Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān Al-Būṭī
In the Name of Allah, The All Merciful, The Most Merciful
All praise is due to Allah, praise that complies with His blessings and compensates His abundance. Our Lord, for You is all praise as befits the majesty of Your countenance and the might of Your authority. O Allah, I cannot sufficiently enumerate praises upon You; You are as You have praised Your self. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone and He has no partner, and I bear witness that our Sayyid[2] Muḥammad is His slave and Messenger and His sincere and intimate friend, the best prophet that Allah sent to the entire world as a herald of glad tidings and admonition. O Allah, pray upon, give peace and give blessings upon our Sayyid Muḥammad and upon the family of our Sayyid Muḥammad, prayers and peace that last inseparably until the Day of Judgement. I advise you and my sinning self to have fearful awareness of Allah the Exalted.
To proceed, O slaves of Allah:
It has been authentically related from our Beloved Muṣṭafā, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, that he said: ‘None of you will truly have faith until Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to one than anything else.’ He also said: ‘None of you will truly have faith until I am more beloved to him than his wealth, his children and his own self that is between his two sides.’ It has been authentically related that one of the Companions asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, about the Hour, and Al-Muṣṭafā, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said to him: ‘What have you prepared for it?’ He said: ‘By Allah, I have not prepared for it with many prayers or much fasting, but I have prepared for it with love for Allah and His Messenger’, so he said: ‘You will be with those whom you love.’
We, O brothers, are believers, and for Allah is all praise. This means that there must be from us some portion of love, even it is a little, for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, and I hope that portion is not a little. I hope that it is as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said, that the love of Al-Muṣṭafā is greater than the love of wealth, children and one’s self. And if, in these days, the winds of remembering the birth of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, are blowing towards us, and the winds of feeling love for our Beloved Muṣṭafā, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, are circling our hearts, what will the effect be that these feelings will leave, which have soaked up and mixed with the winds of the remembrance?
O brothers, it is known that that which is called fiʿl [action] comes from the person by their volition, and that which is called infiʿāl [being acted upon] only comes from the person if it is forced upon him, and love is infiʿāl and not fiʿland the results of love are also infiʿālāt that are forced and not actions that are voluntary.[3]
If we want to imagine the extent of infiʿāl that should be invoked in the heart of the believer that loves his Master[4] and loves His Messenger Al-Muṣṭafā, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, then let us look at this last ḥadīth that is narrated by Al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ: ‘The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, was seen fasting one day and it was not Ramaḍān and it was not ʿĀshūrāʾor Tāsūʿāʾ[5], so one of the Companions asked him about that day and why he was fasting on it, and he said: ‘It is the day on which I was born.’ It was Monday that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, celebrated as the day of his birth. What does it mean that the Messenger of Allah celebrates the day of his birth, except that it is gratitude to his Lord and Master, Glorified and Exalted is He, that He honoured him with this mission, so which of us has more of a right to be celebrating? The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, who Allah sent as a mercy to all of creation or us, whom Allah has honoured with the Dīn by way of him, because if it were not for Muḥammad we would not have known our Lord, and if it were not for him we would not have known our slavehood to Allah the Exalted, which of us has more right to celebrate the day the Messenger of Allah was born? As for the Messenger of Allah, he celebrated it and expressed his celebration by fasting that day out of gratitude to Allah for honouring him with prophethood, but we have more right, O brothers. Our gathering here right now in this masjid and standing in front of our Master and Creator, the only preference in that is that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, he is the one who spread the message, and he is the one who fulfilled his trust. That is why the affair of every Muslim, when he stands in front of the resting place of the Messenger of Allah may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, he sends peace upon him and says to him: ‘I bear witness that you, the Messenger of Allah, have fulfilled your trust and you have conveyed the message. May Allah reward you on behalf of your Ummah with that which is better than what any prophet has been rewarded on behalf of his people and Ummah.’[6] It is our priority that the feelings of remembering the birth of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, are invoked between our ribs, as I have said to you. If the winds of remembering the birth of Al-Muṣṭafā are kindled with feelings of love for Al-Muṣṭafā in our hearts then the affair becomes something that is affected by force, and cannot be stopped by actions of volition. The love is affected by force. You have heard it now from the speech of our Sayyid, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, and he has reiterated many times that the slave does not have complete faith unless he loves the Messenger of Allah more than his wealth, his children and his very soul between his two sides. This is what the Messenger of Allah said to Abu Bakr.
On this blessed and glorious day I call upon myself and all of you to look for a place in our hearts for loving the Messenger of Allah. I call upon myself and you to ask one another about the measure of faith, and the measure of faith is as you have heard. It is the love of the believer for the Messenger of Allah after his love for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. I fear, O brothers, that the love of this world is triumphant today. I fear that the love of wealth, family and children has mastery today. I fear that egotism, conceit, and narcissism are dominant today. If that is the case then I ask Allah to grant pardon and well-being to myself and you, for we would know that we are in a serious situation. We would know that our faith is only customary and not the faith that Allah, Exalted and Glorified is He, requires of us and which was implanted in the hearts of the pious predecessors.[7] That is the most sought-after objective.
O brothers: when I imagine the love of the Messenger of Allah for his Ummah and his longing for his brothers and I turn to the reality of our situation and I turn to where our hearts lie, I feel great shame, and I feel distress that torments me and pulls at my heart. Imam Mālik narrates in his Muwaṭṭaʾ, as do others, with an authentic chain of transmission that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, once visited Al-Baqīʿ[8] with a group of his Companions and gave the greeting of peace to the people of Al-Baqīʿ. Then he said: ‘I wish that I could see our brothers.’ One of his Companions said to him: ‘Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said: ‘You are my Companions. My brothers are those who have not yet come, and I will be waiting for them at the Ḥawḍ.’[9] Someone asked: ‘And you will recognize them O Messenger of Allah? How will you recognize them when you won’t see them until you receive them at the Ḥawḍ?’ He said: ‘Do you not see how a man, if he has some brilliant white-faced and white-footed horses in the midst of some jet black horses that he would recognize them?’ Imagine if a man had a horse that had a white circle on its forehead and white bracelets on its legs and it was amongst some jet black horses, would he not recognize them? The man said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘And I will know them, because they will be white-faced and white-footed from the effects of wūḍū.ʾ’ When I stop at this speech and look at how the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and and peace be upon him,longed for us I have to ask: How is our longing for the Messenger of Allah? How is our yearning for the Messenger of Allah? Perhaps I’m just making a claim if I say that we yearn for him in the way that he yearns for us, but brother, this has nothing to do with claims.
Claims that are not backed by clear proofs are nothing more than claims for those who use them.
I must look for a proof that we long for the Messenger of Allah. What have I done to prove my longing for him? Have I revived a Sunnah that he left as a trust for us? Have I carried out the pieces of advice that he made us responsible for, that he made to be trust in our hands generation after generation? Have we preserved the pure white path that he left for us, the outward of which is like the inward? Look at the conclusion of the hadith, after he says: ‘And I will know them, because they will be white-faced and white-footed from the effects of wūḍū.ʾ’ He says: ‘Men will be driven away from my Ḥawḍ the way a stray camel is driven away.’ Meaning, men will be forced away from my Ḥawḍ the way a lost camel that has mixed in with other camels is forced away, and I will say: ‘“Indeed, come forward! Come forward!” But it will be said that you don’t know what they changed after you, and I will say: “Away with them, away with them, away with them!”’
I fear, O brothers, that we become of those who change things. I fear that we have obscured our conduct with claims that have no proof to back them up.
I repeat: Let us find a hiding place in our hearts for the love of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him. If it is true that we are still holding to the covenant and that our hearts are embracing the love of our Messenger Muḥammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him; let us find proof of that. Are we guarding the Sharīʿah and protecting it from being altered, so that it is not changed in the name of traditions, or circumstances or ‘fiqh of minorities’, or any other excuse?
Indeed, what I see is that we have changed many things and we have corrupted many things. Online fatwas that are being issued in the western world, in Europe and America, is something that frightens the minds of the believers, something that induces fear and can have serious consequences in this life and the next. I am not concerned with mentioning whoever is making the fatwas that change and corrupt things, but were the matter to continue in this way we will find ourselves, in a few years’ time, in front of a new Sharīʿah, in front of a new Sharīʿah that we will cloak in the excuses of time and place, environmental factors, the weather, welfare and whatever else there is.
Consider this point. If our hearts had been embracing the love of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, in the same way that he loves us, and if our hearts had embraced the yearning for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, in the same way that he yearns for us, would we be engaged in changing and corrupting our Dīn? Would we turn away from the authentic aḥādīth of which there is no doubt and hide them from examination and consideration and say: Indeed we are facing a bewildering trend called ‘Fiqh of Minorities’?
I said recently: If this path that is being travelled upon today is safe – and we don’t know where it will end, but indeed, where will it stop? If this way is safe and accepted in the Dīn of Allah, then why was emigration from the lands of Kufr legislated[10] if the Muslim finds that wherever he is able he can acclimatize himself with the environment that he is in by means of fatwas that he subjugates to the environment that he’s in, instead of doing the exact opposite?[11] That’s why we have been kept in order by the words of Allah the Exalted: ‘When the angels seized the souls of those who were doing wrong to themselves, they asked them: “What was the matter with you?” They answered: “We were oppressed in the land.” The angels replied: “Was not Allah’s earth spacious for you to emigrate in it?” Hell is the abode of such people.’ [An-Nisāʾ 4:97]. There is no need for this speech,[12] there is no need for emigration because the Muslims, wherever they are, it suffices them to assimilate with the place that they are living in.[13]
What is of greater consequence is that only recently we were expecting that these western societies, with the presence of so many Muslims, would gradually change into Islamic lands. We were expecting the peaceful, wise and serious Islamic current to become prodigious without any excessiveness, without any immoderation, without any terrorism – as they say – by means of the essential preservation of the realities of Islam and by means of patience and being more patient than others with the rulings of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. We were expecting, if things continued in this fashion, that the sun of Islam would rise in these places completely, just as our pious predecessors did on the day ‘Abdur Raḥmān Ad-Dākhil travelled to northwest Africa and with him were a group of his companions, and after a few years Islamic governance was established. He did not draw a weapon, he did not adopt a position of hostility and he never did any of the actions that are nowadays called extremism or terrorism, in any of their forms. It all comes down to two things: implementing the Sharīʿah as Allah has commanded and guarding it, and to act according to Islam’s distinguished manners, which is to implement the advice of the Messenger of Allah in which he said: ‘You will not increase amongst the people with your wealth, but you will be increased from them by having a pleasant face and beautiful manners.’ The sun of Islam radiated in those places and then spread and increased its rays far and wide, and quickly, for as long as Islamic governance was established there.
We were expecting that here as well, but today we are shocked to find that we are being threatened with the opposite. Muslims today, because of what is being called ‘fiqh of minorities’, are the ones who are being dyed[14] in the habits of this society and its conventions, circumstances and forbidden aspects. It is nothing other than us dying these customs that exist here in the dye of Islam and cloaking them in the cloak of the Islamic Sharīʿah.[15]
O brothers: When I look at this bitter reality I remember the words of the Messenger of Allah: ‘Men will be driven away from my Ḥawḍ the way a stray camel is driven away and I will say: “Indeed, come forward! Come forward!” But it will be said that you don’t know what they changed after you.’ O brothers, beware of becoming from these people. Beware, and the Messenger of Allah has yearned for you, that you cut off the outstretched ropes of this longing between you and him by means of the knife of changing and corrupting. Beware O brothers! Indeed it is a tremendous treasure. I hope that Allah the Exalted will honour me and you with him the day he said: ‘I wish that I could see our brothers.’ I ask Allah, the Lord of the Tremendous Throne, to make us from his brothers, those whom he longs for, and I ask Him, Exalted is He, to give us success in exchanging his longing for our longing. I ask Him, Exalted is He, to enable us to translate our yearning for him by preserving what he has passed down to us, by guarding the legislation that he has placed as a trust in our hands, made us responsible for, and made as a debt that we owe.
O brothers: Be vigilant with everything that you possess so that you do not change or corrupt anything. If someone says to you: ‘But the Sharīʿah of Allah the Exalted has much ease in it, and there is the maxim: ‘Wherever benefit is found then there is Allah’s legislation.’ We say ‘Yes’, but how we measure benefit and harm is based on the practice and understanding of our pious predecessors.[16] Return to the treasures of the Islamic Sharīʿah, return to what the Four Imāms have said. You will find in their fiqh and their fatwas that which suffices, and if you find yourselves in front of a red line then you have to be patient.[17] Al-Muṣṭafā said likewise in another hadith: ‘Indeed you will find many different ways[18] after me, so be patient until you meet me at the Ḥawḍ.’ By Allah, this advice is almost as if the Messenger of Allah is looking down on us. You will see after me the egoism of conceit, the egoism of passions, the egoism of desires and lusts. What position should we take? Be patient … be patient until you meet me at the Ḥawḍ.
O Allah, enable us to be patient. Enable us to be steadfast. Allah, make us by Your grace, Your bounty and Your favour, from the brothers of Your Beloved Al-Muṣṭafā, those who he yearns for. Ennoble us, O Lord of all creation, to yearn for him the way he yearns for us.
This is what I have said, and I seek forgiveness from Allah, the Most High, the Tremendous.
[Second Khutbah]
All praise be to Allah, much praise as He has commanded, and I thank Him for all of His manifest and hidden blessings, those I know about and those I don’t know, and I send prayers and peace upon our Beloved, Al-Muṣṭafā, Muḥammad, the son of ʿAbdullah. O Allah, send prayers, peace and blessing upon and our Master Muḥammad, prayers that please You and him and make You pleased with us, O Lord of all creation.
Slaves of Allah! Fear Allah in what He has commanded you and desist from what He has forbidden and rebuked. Remove the love of this world from your hearts, for indeed when it becomes dominant it takes prisoners. Know that Allah has commanded you decisively with a command in which He began by mentioning Himself and then the angels who glorify Him, the Almighty, The Wise, when He said: {Indeed Allah and His Angels send prayers upon the Prophet. O you who believe! Send prayers and much peace upon him} [Al-Aḥzāb 33:56.] Increase in your prayers upon Muḥammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, on this glorious day, the day of Friday. He [may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him] said: ‘Increase in your prayers upon me on the radiant day and the radiant night.’ So on this day we increase in our prayers upon our Beloved Al-Muṣṭafā, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him. O Allah, send prayers upon our Master Muḥammad and upon the family of our Master Muḥammad as You sent prayers upon our Master Ibrāhīm and the family of our Master Ibrāhīm, and bless our Master Muḥammad and the family of our Master Muḥammad as You blessed the family of our Master Ibrāhīm and the family of our Master Ibrāhīm, in all of creation, indeed You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Glorious, and may Allah be pleased with the rightly-guided Khulafāʾ and those who follow them in excellence until the Day of Judgement.
O Allah, forgive the Muslim men and women and the believing men and women, the living from amongst them and the dead, and join their hearts together, O Lord of all creation.
O Allah, indeed we ask you for guidance, chastity and sufficiency. O Allah, indeed we ask that You don’t cut us off from You because of our sins, and because of the ugliness of our vices. O He who holds both difficulty and ease, we ask You O Allah, nothing is hidden from You. O Allah, purify our hearts from any quality that takes us far from Your witnessing[19] and Your love. Prolong for us Your Providence and veil our sins with Your beautiful veil. O Allah, convey from us the greetings of peace to the spirit of our Master Muḥammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him. O Allah, as we have believed in him without seeing him, please do not deprive us of seeing him in the Paradise, O Lord of all creation. O Allah, assist us in guarding your Dīn. O Allah, do not make us from those who change it and corrupt it. O Allah, enable us to be patient with the treasure of this Dīn that you have honoured us with, O Lord of all creation, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity. O Allah, indeed we ask you in the submissiveness of our slavehood to You and the severity of our destitution towards You, to give victory to Your believing slaves who are being oppressed, vanquished and persecuted in Palestine and in the eastern lands of the Earth and the western lands, wherever they are O Lord of all creation, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity. O Allah, Revealer of the Book, Mover of the clouds, Vanquisher of the confederates, vanquish the transgressors who enter the Muslim world with their pride and their arrogance, opposing You, and they have declared war on Your Islam and Your Qurʾān, O Lord of all creation. O Allah, no-one knows Your armies but You, inflict upon them an army from your armies that will make them a lesson for those who reflect from amongst Your believing slaves, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity. O Allah, indeed Your Prophet Nūḥ supplicated to You and You answered him, and indeed Your Prophet Yūnus bin Matā supplicated to You and called upon You from the depths of darkness and You answered him, and indeed Your Prophet Zakariyā called upon You in secret and You answered him. Indeed Your Prophet Ayyūb supplicated to You and You saved him from grief and answered him, and indeed Your Prophet Muḥammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, supplicated to You on the day of Badr and on the day of the Confederates and You answered him, and we are Your believing slaves, O Lord of all creation. Make us from amongst those selected people whom you honoured and answered their supplications, even though we have not reached their rank, O Lord of all creation, but You are the Generous, Generous, Pitying, the Answerer of prayers, make us from amongst them. Answer our supplication as well, O Lord of all creation. We have extended to You our hands in supplication, do not leave them disappointed. We have extended our hands in submissiveness to Your door, we are knocking on the door of Your Mercy, O He who does not close His door on anyone, do not leave us disappointed, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity, O Lord of Power and Favour, You said: {It is a duty upon Us to give victory to the believers} [Ar-Rūm 30:47]. We are believers in You, O Lord of all creation.
Fulfil the promise that Your Exalted Essence has imposed upon itself. O Lord, You said: {When you begged your Lord He answered you} [Al-Anfāl 8:9]. Here we are begging you as Your Prophet Muhammad and those with him begged you. We are wallowing in our sins and we are wallowing in the burdens of our responsibilities that You have placed upon us, O Lord of all creation. You are the Loving and Forgiving Lord. Pardon us with Your beautiful pardon. You said: {Say: Everyone does things their own way} [Al-Isrāʾ 17:84]. Your way is the way of mercy. Your way is the way of forgiveness. Your way is the way of repentance. Forgive us our sins, and rectify our states.
The rulers of the Muslims, O Lord, gather their speech upon that which pleases you. Bring them to Your straight path and direct their hearts to what pleases You, purify them from the love of others. O Lord of all creation, purify them from the veils that take them far from you, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity. Rectify the affairs of all the Muslims and unify their hearts and their ranks. May Allah send prayers and peace upon our Master Muhammad, the Unlettered Prophet, and upon his family and all of his Companions, Āmīn, Āmīn, Āmīn.
And all Praise is due to Allah, Lord of all creation.
[2] This term means ‘master’ and only applies to human beings.
[3] Love is something that is forced upon the person and cannot be brought about by one’s own volition.
[4] Arabic: Mawlā, which can be used for both human beings and Allah.
[5] The ninth and tenth of Muḥarram.
[6] This duʿā can be found in the books of fiqh of all four madhhabs in the chapter on Hājj under the section on visiting the grave of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him.
[7] Arabic: As-Salaf As-Ṣāliḥ. When Orthodox scholars use this term they mean the first three generations of Islam. This is based on the hadith, narrated by Imams Al-Bukhārī and Muslim, in which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: ‘The best generation is my generation, then those who come next, then those who come next.’
[8] A graveyard in Madīnah where many Prophetic Companions and saints are buried.
[9] The Ḥawḍ is one of the meeting places for the believers on the way to the Paradise and it is the source of the Kawthar’s sweet waters. It is sometimes translated as ‘pond’, ‘pool’ or ‘basin’, but none of these terms carry the necessary grandeur and majesty that is required.
[10] According to Imam ibn Mufliḥ al-Ḥanbalī in Al-Adāb ash-Sharʿīyyah [v.1 pp.191-92], Dār al-Kufr are the lands in which the laws of kufr are predominant, while Dār al-Islam are the lands in which the laws of Islam are predominant. It is worth mentioning that Sheikh Ramaḍān Al-Būṭī, may Allah preserve him, holds the position that it is impermissible to come to Dār al-Kufr unless it is for one of the following reasons: 1.Daʿwa (calling non-believers to faith, preaching the orthodox faith to cultists, and military expeditions sanctioned by a Muslim ruler). 2. Dire medical circumstances and 3. Acquiring knowledge to take back for the benefit of the Muslims.
[11] The point the Sheikh is making is that legal decisions are arrived at in a certain way, i.e. there is the reality, then the revelation, then the ruling. For example, a person may commit fornication, which would be the reality, and the revelation from the Sharīʿah is that such a person is lashed. However, if upon investigation of the case it is affirmed that the accused is not sane, and therefore not legally responsible, the ruling would be that they are pardoned. The opposite of this is for one to look at the reality and then formulate a ruling, and after that to attempt to find evidences to establish it in revelation. With regards to fiqh of minorities, it is one thing for Muslims to live in Dar Al-Kufr peaceably, and at times require a fatwa for certain eventualities, but it is an entirely different matter to go into Dar al-Kufr with a whole series of pre-planned fatwas that are subjugated to the environment. The environment must be subjugated to the Law, not the other way around.
[12] i.e. the verse above.
[13] Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Al-Ḥanbalī (d.1389/1969), in his textTaḥkīm Al-Qawānīn (p.6), says the following: ‘The Judgement of Allah and His Messenger does not change in its essence according to changing times and conditions, or new occurrences. There is no ruling, be whatever it may, except that its judgement is in the Book of Allah, or the Sunnah of His Messenger, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, or it is given to us by a direct statement of the scholars, or a choice between two rulings, or it is derived from the text. Whoever knows this, knows it, and whoever is ignorant of it is ignorant. But what the scholars have mentioned regarding different rulings under changing conditions has nothing to do with what is thought by some with small minds or complete lack of knowledge of the legal rulings or their underlying principles. These small-minded people desire that the rulings should be according to their bestial desires and their worldly pursuits and their sinful bodies, and because of this you will find them stalking about making the texts follow their desires and when possible they will distort words from their original context and use them for their own whims, whereas the understanding of a fatwa changing according to changing circumstances and times, the scholars say: “This is to do with what the Revealer of the Law has stated, the worthy goals He has mentioned, and the overall outcome, which is for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, no matter what.” It is well-known that the law-lords who fabricate laws are far from what we have just mentioned. They only speak of what tickles their fancy, be whatever it may, and reality is the most truthful witness.”’
[14] The Arabic word is the same word that is used for baptism.
[15] Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Al-Ḥanbalī, in his text Taḥkīm Al-Qawānīn(p.7), mentions five types of people who are disbelievers because they are judging by other than what Allah sent down, and the most severe is the fifth type of who he stated: ‘Of all the types of kufr, this is the most immense, universal, and manifest form which is stubbornly resistant to the Sharīʿah. It is arrogant towards the Sharīʿah’s rulings and is in opposition to Allah and His Messenger. They completely oppose the courts of the Sharīʿah. They have laid down their own courts and laws, prepared them, root and branch, dictated them, judged by them and made it compulsory to follow. They have authorities that they return to and sources of guidance. Just as the courts of the Sharīʿah all return to the authority of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, these false courts and laws return to fabricated sources and numerous canons of law, such as French law, American law, British law, and other law codes. Some of these codes take as authority innovators that attribute themselves to the Sharīʿah and other things besides. These courts are in many of the urban centres of the Muslims, open for business with their doors flung open, people rushing to them in throngs. Their leaders judge amongst them by what contradicts the Book and the Sunnah within their law codes. The leaders make them judge by it and command them and encourage them to practice it. So, what kufr is above thiskufr, and what greater opposition could there be to the testimony that Muḥammad r is the Messenger of Allah, after all of this has been said?’ We quote this because of the rise of “American” and “British” Islam, and the rise of “American” and “British” Islam will ultimately lead to, if we follow it to its logical conclusion, new canons of law as Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim mentioned above.
[16] See note 8.
[17] If we go back to notes 14 and 16, this is what Sheikh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim is also referring to. Fiqh of Minorities will inevitably lead to new ijtihād and new madhhabs while the people doing it will not be qualified mujtahids, absolute or otherwise.
[18] This refers to all the various religions, ideologies, cults and other false notions.
[19] This is a reference to the Jibrīl Ḥadīth in which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained the true meaning of Iḥsān. Witnessing [mushāhada] means to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him. This ḥadīth is the first ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and the second in the Arbaʿīn An-Nawawiyyah.
Translated by Mahdi Lock. Click here for Original Arabic Version
Related Posts:
Fiqh of Minorities (Part 1)
Fiqh of Minorities (Part 1)
By Sheikh Muhammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān Al-Būti
“It is not a coincidence that the call to ‘Fiqh of Minorities’ has come together with the plan aimed a dividing Islam.” [1]
In an age in which the leaders of the ideological attack are planning, throughout the world, to divide the single global Islam into various local “Islams”, that differ and are in conflict with one another, [this ideological attack] follows in succession the voices calling to “Fiqh of Minorities” and these [two ideas] grant legitimacy to one another. In clarification of the matter, [Fiqh of Minorities] is nothing other than an Islamic garb that is appropriate for the Islam that is thriving today in the west, in Europe and America, not the other Islam that is prevalent in the traditional Muslim lands.
I have inquired before: ‘What are the reasons or foundations that make it necessary to give rise to this “Fiqh of Minorities”?’
The reply was: ‘There are many: the principle of benefits…necessities permit that which is forbidden…difficulty brings about ease…nothing has been made difficult for you in this religion. [See Al-Ḥājj 22:78]
I said: ‘But these reasons are not specific to Muslims living in Europe or America, rather they are reasons for a global Islamic fiqh that does not have a particular land. There has not been a day when there have not been reasons for what is called “Fiqh of Minorities” or anything else. Wherever you find a necessity, in its known legal meaning, the causative prohibition for it is lifted. And wherever you find a difficulty that goes beyond the usual limit, a legal dispensation is undertaken to lift it. And whenever the two benefits [the lifting of the causative prohibition and the legal dispensation] are opposed in the hierarchy of the objectives of Sacred Law, the first of them takes precedence. We have not found in the Qur’an or the Sunnah, and not in the speech of any of the imams of Sacred Law, that these reasons are particular to the circumstances of minorities that are living in Dar al-Kufr[2] , and that it is not permissible for other Muslims, living in the Islamic world, to take them or use them as a basis.
I was told: ‘Indeed the necessities that create the urgent need for a special fiqh for these minorities are a result of their presence in societies that are not Islamic, and have particularities that are distinct from Islamic societies.’
I said: ‘What Islam is this that decrees that the mere presence of a Muslim in Dar al-Kufr is considered a necessity justifying the legislation of a special Islamic fiqh for him, in harmony with what surrounds him from the tendencies of kufr, iniquity, and disobedience? So why did Allah legislate emigration (hijra) and command it, from Dar al-Kufr (if it is not possible for a Muslim to apply the rulings of Islam in it) to Dar al-Islam? Why didn’t the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, and his Companions, when they were in the midst of the polytheists in Mecca, depend on that which he did not know, called “Fiqh of Minorities”?
If the mere presence of Muslims in Dar al-Kufr brings about the necessity, justifying the creation of a new fiqh that is appropriate to those lands and those in them, then who are those whom Allah, Exalted is He, said regarding them:
“When the angels seized the souls of those who were doing wrong to their own souls, they asked them: “What was the matter with you?” They answered: “We were oppressed in the land.” The angels replied: “Was not Allah’s earth spacious for you to emigrate in it?” Hell is the abode of such people and it is a very evil abode indeed.” [An-Nisāʾ 4:97]?
And we were rejoicing because of the gradual increase of Muslims in the west, with their adherence to Islam and upholding of its rulings, causing the dissolution of the deviating Western civilization, dissolving in the stream of the Islamic civilization.
But we today, in the shadow of this beautiful call to what is known as “Fiqh of Minorities”, know that we are threatened with the opposite of what we were rejoicing about. We are threatened with the dissolution of the Islamic presence in the stream of the deviating Western civilization, and this fiqh is responsible.
[1] This was Sheikh Al-Būti’s Word for the Month for June, 2001.
[2] According to Imām ibn Mufliḥ al-Ḥanbalī in Al-Adāb ash-Sharʿiyyah [v.1 pp.191-92], Dār al-Kufr are the lands in which the laws of kufr are predominant, while Dār al-Islām are the lands in which the laws of Islam are predominant.
[This article is more or less the same as the one on marifah.net. However, the second article, with all the original footnotes, will insha’Allah be re-published next month on this blog as well as the Madani Timbukti blog.]
Translated by Mahdi Lock. Click here for: Original Arabic Version
Posted by Mahdi Lock at 21:25
Labels: Fiqh
