as-Sadiq

Below are notes from a khutba by Imam Mustafa Umar given at IIOC in Anaheim, CA. You can view the lecture here.

Our situation as Muslims is getting worse. Now there’s an advisory that Muslims should be prepared for the possibility of forced exile. Also around the globe we find Muslims being slaughtered, as well as non-Muslims. Most people’s reaction is anger.

What should we be doing about this situation, what should we do about what our Muslim brothers and sisters are facing?

The Prophet (saws) said, “The strong person is not the one who is a wrestler; the truly strong person is the one who can control his anger at the time when he is angry.” What does control mean? That doesn’t mean you don’t get angry because that means you’re not feeling anything, and if you’re not feeling anything, then what’s left? “Whoever is aroused to anger and they don’t feel anything, they’re like a donkey.” -Imam Shafi`i

But the control of that anger is what’s important. Feel it, but when you manifest that anger, it should be in accordance with Islamic principles, and it should be a productive manifestation rather than destructive. So if we look at the situation, there are a number of things to keep in mind.

Allah says in the Qur’an about the battle between Dawud and Jalut (Goliath) in Surah Baqarah, “If it were not for one group of people stopping the oppression and wrong of another group of people, the entire earth would be destroyed.” That means that people of conscious have to do something. If people do not do something about the situation that they’re in, they won’t be able to get out of that situation, correct the wrong, and destruction will occur on earth.

Many times when Muslims face difficulties, they say that now is not the time to do something, say something, think something – now is the time to hide and lay low. But if we look at Islam in context, of course you don’t do something wrong, but Allah puts us in trials and when are you supposed to manifest that good character? So when the Prophet saws saw a woman in a graveyard and saw her losing control and crying, he said stop this and she said, you don’t know what I’m going through. Later on when she found it that it was the Prophet saws speaking to her, she said I didn’t know it was you, if I knew I wouldn’t have said that. He (saws) said that the correct reaction is at the time of calamity. Now that the test is over, you can’t react ex post facto and correct that.

So before we place any blame on other people, Allah wants us to look at ourselves. Do we have any role to play? Do we have anything we can adjust in our own mentality, lifestyle, and character? Allah says that He will never change the condition of a people unless they change that which is within themselves. With the rising Islamophobia, if we go back to the Qur’an, then we have to look at what Allah is telling us. If Allah tells us that if we’re going through some major hardship, then have we neglected some major duties that we should be doing? This is the first and foremost thing we need to understand.

In history, there is something that has taken place called Hilf al-Fudool. This was a treaty or contract that was drawn up by the non-Muslim pagans in the city of Mecca before the Prophet (saws) received revelation. The context of this treaty was that a man from the area of Yemen came to Mecca to do some trade. The man he was trading with ripped him off and said he wasn’t going to pay him any money. The man in Mecca was well-established; he had money, connections, he had authority, he had everything going for him. Then he said, on top of that, this guy from Yemen is a foreigner so I can trample on him and nothing is going to happen. So this man from Yemen became depressed and said what can I do. He thought, the only thing I have is the ability to speak and recite poetry, so he went to the Ka`aba. Poetry at that time was very powerful, so he went to the Ka`aba and recited poetry about how he was wronged. He said, O people of Quraysh, how can you allow me to be oppressed? So the people of Mecca started to feel something and thought, that’s right, how could we let them be oppressed? So they got together and made this contract called Hilf al-Fudool, which said that if anyone is wronged or oppressed, we will all unite together against that person and make sure that that person’s oppression and persecution stops. Later on, after Islam had been revealed, after they have their own Islamic state in Madinah, the Prophet (saws) said (recorded in Sahih Bukhari), “I participated in a treaty in the time of Jahiliyyah in the house of Abdullah ibn Ja’dan, that if I were now in Islam, if I had the opportunity to participate in that treaty one more time (with non-Muslims, pagans, with our enemies even), I would not trade it for a hundred red camels.” A red camel is like a Mercedes Benz.

How many of us would sell out? How many people would sell out for such a small gain? The Prophet (saws) is telling us that Muslims don’t sell out in doing what is right for anything.

So what do we need to do as brothers and sisters in Islam? What did the Prophet (saws) tell us? “Whoever amongst you sees something wrong, fix it with your hand.” This doesn’t mean you do something wrong, counterproductive, against Islam. “And if you’re not able to do so, then with your tongue.” Like the man of Yemen spoke, and that treaty came up in the time of Hussayn (ra). “And if you’re not able to do so, then with your heart. The heart is the lowest level of iman.” At least you have to feel something that’s going on. If you don’t care about anything, and you’re so busy with iPhone, eating, then that’s the lowest level of iman.

What can we actually do? Don’t be distracted by this world. Think of Surah at-Takathur. The majority of news articles that people read is the trash ones. The most clicked on articles are those about entertainment. Why would Hilf al-Fudool not work? The average American doesn’t know the reality about Islam and Muslims.

Allah will allow one group of people to overcome an oppressive group of people, whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim. Ibn Taymiyya says, “It doesn’t matter whether a group of people is Muslim or non-Muslim; if Muslims begin to oppress, Allah (swt) will work against them and remove them eventually. It doesn’t matter whether a group of non-Muslims is oppressive or deals justly; if they deal justly, Allah will enable them to succeed above the Muslims.” Allah enables justice to prevail in the world.

“No dogs. No Blacks. No Jews.” This is what it used to say not very long ago. Not long ago, Japanese were interned en masse and Native Americans were slaughtered. So we must know our history in order that we may avoid it.

Organize yourselves, and voice your concerns. Do not be afraid. Be wise, but do not be so scared that you cannot even speak the truth as a truth. And lastly, do not sell out.