THE STREET MIMBAR – Khutbah (25 November 2005)
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They want to extinguish the light of ALLAH with their mouths but ALLAH will complete and perfect HIS light, it doesn’t matter how averse the kaafirs and the mushriks are there-to 	
Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem. 
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad, his Noble Companions and Family. 

Brothers and Sisters of the Islamic way...

Little do the Muslims who go to the Hajj know that this obligation has become an empty shell that has been drained from its quint-essential meanings. Allah Jalla Jalaluh  did not impose on us rituals that have no meaning to our responsibilities in life. Every “ritual” that we perform is meaningful and relevant and practical within our responsibilities on earth.

The Hajj is a matter of months.  (Surah Al-Baqara verse 197)
Now, just like they serve us fast food, they’re giving us fast rituals. You’re supposed to go to the Hajj and perform what is supposed to be a matter of months in a few weeks. Therefore, we are not able to bring into full fruition the meanings that are supposed to dwell in our souls and penetrate the core of our feelings in the Hajj.

Allah says concerning the Ka’ba Al-Bayt Al-Haram,
Allah has rendered Al-Ka’ba, the Holy sanctuary Qiyaaman for people.  (Surah Al-Maida 100)
Where’s the lost meaning here? The lost meaning here is that the Ka’ba is no longer a place for people to make statements on a worldwide scale. Has anyone heard of Muslims who go to Mecca and Al-Medinah nowadays and have a statement to make to the world? You don’t hear about it, because it doesn’t exist! There’s no statement coming out of Mecca to the world. The Hajj has become aimless! 

Listen, (Brothers and sisters), Allahs Prophet says:
A Muslim is a brother to the other Muslim.
or in another hadith,
A committed Muslim is a brother to the other committed Muslim.
Brotherhood has a meaning. When you are someone’s brother, you understand him well and he understands you well. There are no barriers between you and him. Where else can Muslims express this brotherhood? Does this exist in the Hajj, where it is supposed to exist? Visually, everyone becomes equal, they take off clothes, because when you put on the different clothes, you make a statement. Some people see through the clothes that you wear- the status you come from or the inferiority you suffer from or the class that you belong to or your national origin or how clean or otherwise you may be. All of that visually comes down when one puts on the ihraam. Everyone is supposed to be equal to facilitate the process of communication. But, what do you do when you put on this ihraam and there’s no process of communication? Whats the ihraam for? You want to bring down all stereotypes, all pre-conceptions, all the pollution that is in the world that interrupts the process of communication between you and the other Muslim beside you. But no-one is allowed to communicate. Hajj has become an activity once a year in which Muslims are forbidden to communicate. How can we express ourselves? Try congregating in the Haram and discussing the affairs of Muslims, and see what the guards will do to you? If Allah is saying:
Indeed, this ummah of yours is one ummah.  (Surah Al-Mu’minun:52)
Would you know that by going to the Hajj? Would you feel that this is one ummah by going to the Hajj? How can we become one ummah, when a few of us cannot communicate and consolidate our hearts at that basic level and at that central position in Mecca and Al-Medinah? If we are not allowed to do so, then how do we say that this is one united ummah? You have Muslims coming from the bleeding part of the ummah to the Hajj. Do you think there’s not hundreds and a few thousand Muslims who make it to the Hajj from places like Chechenya, the Balkans, Palestine, Kashmir, parts of Asia and Africa, etc. who are suffering and are oppressed, discriminated and prejudiced? It’s in our body, and we call ourselves brothers?!

In Mecca and Al-Medinah, Muslims are supposed to express a sense of globalisation. Right now, who is defining globalisation? Who is telling Muslims and non-Muslims where this world is going as barriers are coming down and people are coming closer together? But on whose terms are they coming together? On the terms of Shaytaan, on the terms of big money and business, on the terms of trans-national capital and profit, not on our terms of humanity, brotherhood, equality and justice! 

It was and still is a revolution against the social and class discrimination- at a time when the Quraishi feelings of superiority was at their peak and when Quraish in the days of Hajj use to stand at Muzdalifa and then proceed from there while the rest of the pilgrims used to stand at Arafat, and proceed from there. The revolutionary defiance and directives were revealed as Muhammed (alaih salaam) who belonged to the Quraishi citizenry stood with the rest of non Quraishis at Arafat, and with the Qur’an addressing Quraish
Then pass on at a quick pace from the place where it is usual for the multitude so to do (Surah Al-Baqara verse 199)
The Quraishi pomp and pride could not accept or see a Quraishi daughter or sister married to an average Arab or commoner. Then comes the Prophet who was from the best stock in Quraish and adjoins his cousin Zainab bin Jahash in marriage to the socially inferior Mawla Zaid. Today, Quraish reincarnated as the royal family of Saudi Arabia performs its Tawaaf, after vacating the premises of the Kaaba of the other Muslims. Today the daughters and sisters of Saudi Quraish are not wedded to the other Muslims, although they may be on occasions be married off “conveniently”.

Allah says: 
And when the call to Hajj is made, people will come on foot and by means of transportation, from every corner of the earth (Surah Hajj verse 27)
But, the Saudi government imposes on Muslims its permission for Muslims to go to the Hajj. Where did all of this come from? Do you need anyones permission to perform your salaah? Do you need anyones permission to fast during Ramadaan? Do you need anyones permission to say Ash hadu Allah ilaha illalah wa ash hadu anna muhamedur rasulullah? Do you need anyones permission to pay your zakaah? (Not yet) Then, how do we need someones permission to go to the Hajj? The kaafirs who have an american passport go freely to almost all the European countries they don’t need a visa. Some of them just wave you by at the airport, they don’t even want to look at your passport. But its not enough to be a Muslim to be waved by to go to the Hajj. Why do we need someone to stare us in the eye and hassle us and then insult us during this period when we are there? We are not going to the palace of the King! We are not going to the homes of the princes! We are going to Allahs sanctuary. They are the first people to use the word bid’a, and no-one dares to use that word back at them. Small minor issues become such a bid’a in their eyes, that the majority of the Muslims in the world are kaafirs. This is what they say- privately- “No wonder the Muslims are where they are, because all of them are kaafirs.” And who do they mean by all of them? They mean the small guys, you and me- we are the kaafirs, and that’s why we have all these problems. But our problems are not from the small guy who toils in the field all day or who begins his day at dawn and ends after Isha, to bring home food for his family- the problem is not there. The problem is with the rulers who have taken away the livelihood of these people and then signed contracts of allegiance and dependancy with the mushrikeen- these truly are the kaafirs. 

Allah says during this annual Hajj assembly,
Allah and His Prophet are annulling, they are cancelling all allegiance and dependancy relationships that the Muslims have with the mushriks. Allah is saying that there should be a dis-avowal, we should dissolve the relationships with the mushriks. (Surah Al-Bar’a verse 1)
“Oh no, please don’t bring that to the Hajj,” that’s what they’ll tell you. “Don’t bring this ayah and this surah to Hajj.” Not just that, they will tell also their clergymen: “Don’t dwell on these ayaat throughout the year in the Masjids.” You see, they prepared their empty Hajj in the previous eleven months. When Muslim minds are not trained on the meanings of these ayaat, we will go to Hajj thinking that by obeying the Saudi guides who tell us where to go and when to go, we are fulfilling our obligations, but there’s no Bar’a. The Prophet instructed two of his companions, Abu Bakr and Ali, to declare publicly in the Hajj, this Islamic annulment of dependancy and allegiance relationships with all the mushriks.
And proclaim to the people on the Great day of Hajj that Allah and His Messenger are annulling and are are free from all allegiances and dependency relationships with the mushriks. So if you repent, it will be better for you, but if you are averse then know that you cannot escape Allah. So give tidings to the kaafirs of an excrutiating punishment. (Surah Al-Bar’a verse 3)
Imagine Muslims going with this message and declaring it publicly in the Hajj. With the stifled Hajj that they’ve made it, a measely three-million people go to the Hajj out of 1,6 billion muslims in the world. And then they don’t declare that Muslims should annul their relationships of allegiance and dependancy with the mushriks. This is the meaning that is now absent from these annual ceremonies. They take away from the Hajj what they want, they deflate the number of people who go to the Hajj, and they do this within an international system that helps them.

The Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam) is reported to have said whilst in a state of sakraat ie. Passing on from this Earthly presence 
Expel the Mushriks from the Arabian Peninsula
Now, this information is slightly out dated, it dates back to before the invasion of Afghanistan. From time to time, information leaks out, and they tell us there are three-hundred-thousand “Europeans and Americans” in the Arabian Peninsula. What are three-hundred-thousand “Europeans and Americans” doing in the Arabian Peninsula? These rulers have bases that the mushriks are using to drop bombs on the Muslims. They are mushriks, they don’t belong in the land of Muhamed (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam). And this is one of the demands of Usama bin Laden, may Allah be pleased with him, that all these mushriks must be expelled. So, who is on the Sunnah of Rasulillah (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam)? And they’re not going to fool the muslims by moving these troops to Kuwait and these other areas, because these artificial boundaries were demarcated by them. For the Muslims, Kuwait etc. falls into the Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa sallams) description of Jazeeratil Arab. 

The kiswa that they put around the Ka’ba. They embroider it with gold threads, do you know how much that piece of cloth costs? $4,5 million! Imagine spending $4,5 million dollars on a piece of cloth on the Ka’ba and there are hungry Muslims who come up to that Ka’ba, and they don’t know whether they are going to survive the endemics of hunger in their countries. This is Hajj?! This is taqwa. These people should be responsible for Mecca and Al-Medinah?! 

I would like to shed light on some of the policies from Allah, which strip people who are hiding behind rituals, there-by exposing their true reality. These kings, presidents, rulers, governors, princes and decision-makers make broad and far and wide reaching claims that they are from Alladhina aamanu. But Allah is telling them: “Don’t place yourselves in positions of a relationship with the political and the ideological expressions of Al-Yahud and An-Nasara. (Surah Ma’ida verse 51) And it is as if they are doing exactly the opposite. But the remainder of this ayah which did not work itself into Muslim brains and which did not seep into Muslim hearts, is beginning to be understood
Whoever it is from among you that places himself in that type of receiving or dependant relationship on the politics of Al-Yahud and An-Nasara is one of them and is no longer part of this ummah.  (Surah Ma’ida verse 51) 
These are the words of the Qur’an- he becomes part of the whole political system of kufr. Allah does not leave these types alone- “Whoever belongs to you, but then aligns themselves with political and ideological yahudism and nasarism, it doesn’t matter who he is, it doesn’t matter if he’s praying night and day until there are holes in his musallah, if he is going to Hajj and Umrah every year, if he’s fasting days on end, if he’s making tawaaf of the Ka’ba and sajdah in the Haram, it doesn’t matter how much he’s outwardly behaviour appears to be “Islamic”, he has left, he is no longer part of the Muslim crowd. These Saudi rulers that have occupied Makkah and Al-Medinah are equally as criminal as those who have occupied al-Quds. They want to make believe, that if Bani Israel put on the same type of clothes as Fahd and Sultan and Nayef and the rest, and then they begin to pray five times in the Masjid, that we should welcome them as brothers? We should go up to them and say “Hey, brother,” and shake their hands and kiss them on both cheeks!

Insha-Allah, I will conclude with one more illustration. There is a defining moment in the lives of social orders. That defining moment is when there is a call to military duty, which is the core definition of our commitment and devotion to Allah. This has been a historical fact- it’s nothing new. Allah has presented us with this test of our subservience and obedience to Him. He says to us in Surah Ma’ida, the gist of the meaning of these ayaat is the following: 
Musa (alaih salaam) speaks to the committed muslims around him and he says to them “That Allah has designated this Holy Land for them, and they are ordered to go into this Holy Land as liberators”
- which is a military task. This is not a ritualistic requirement, this is not a private responsibility. This obligation needs these committed muslims (who are the people of Musa) to make a life and death attempt at liberating this Holy Land. 
And, their response was “No, we are not going to do that.” 
And, we can’t say that logic was not on their side, because they explained their position. They said, “There is an awesome military power that dwells in the Holy Land, in what was called Palestine. So, we look at ourselves and we don’t have very much military power compared to the military power that occupies that land, so we’re not going to fight.” 
And they repeat that, “Musa- if you want to do this type of fighting, you and your Sustainer, you and your Lord can go, but you can count us out”. 
This is the lithmus test of our commitment to Allah- historically, thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, today and into the future. What happened to people who failed? They said “we don’t want to fight.” And so Allah didn’t describe them any longer as Mu’minin, He described them as “Al Qawm Al-Fasiqin.”- a degenerate people.
Musa said “I can only vouch for myself and for my brother, therefore separate us from degenerate people. 
Now, these may have been people who were fasting exactly like Allah told them to fast. We have no verifiable information that says that these people were lax in their ibaadaat. They may have been praying nights on end and fulfilling their personal responsibility, but when it came to this lithmus test, they failed. And Allah no longer described them as Mu’minin or as Muslimin- He said by the words of His Prophet Musa that they are “Qawmin Fasiqin” and by His own words:This land is prohibited to them for a period of forty years, in which they will roam the earth, Grieve not for people who are degenerate. (Surah Ma’idah verses 20 to 26)
What qualified them to be de-generate? It was their un-willingness, their reluctance, their objection to carry their commitment to the battlefield.
O you who are secure in your commitment to Allah, what’s the matter with you? Why is that when you are asked to mobilise for Jihad you become dead weight on earth? Are you satisfied with the enjoyment of this life to the exclusion of the hereafter? But the enjoyment of this life is nothing compared to that of the here-after. If you do not mobilise for Allahs cause, He will inflict upon you an excrutiating punishment and He will substitute you with another people, and you're not going to damage Him for He is able to do all things.  (Surah Taubah verses 38 to 39)
We ask that Allah guides us to understand that the “five pillars” are not so limited and restricted as they are being made out to be and that we realise sooner rather than later that there is a duty attached to them. We ask Allah, (whose mercy is abundant, and whose knowledge is infinite), to accept from those who try their best to do their duty. We ask Allah, (whose wisdom is infinite, and whose power is present), to check the excesses and to punish the evil of these individuals who have cut the Muslims off from each other and sent their poisonous propagandists around the Muslim world to abort our determination to live and to die for Allah. Our compensation for not being in those front line positions is that we should stand in a supporting position of those until Allah who hears us and who is near us grants us the privilege of sharing with them this type of front line position.