This is a khutbah from the fb page of an lgbt mosque in my city. Thoughts ?
Imam Hussain, Privilege, and Racist Oppression
Khutba/sermon for El-Tawhid Juma Circle - Toronto Unity Mosque on Friday 12 December 2014.
Pre-Khutba Formalities
* Taslim
assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah
* Ta'widh
a'udhu billahi min ash-shaytani rajim
* Basmala
bismillahi rahmani rahim
* Hamd
alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin
* Shahada
Ash-hadu al-la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu, la sharikah lah. Wa ash-hadu anna Muhammad `abduhu wa rasuluh. (Allahumma salli `ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad.)
* Taqullah
ya `ibadullah, wa nafsi, itaqullah
God's peace be with you, and His mercy, and His blessings. I seek refuge with God from the outcast rebellious one and begin in the name of God, the Tenderly Compassionate, the Infinitely Merciful. Praise be to God, the Nourishing Sustainer of the universe. I testify that there is no deity except God, Who is One and without partner. And I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. (O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.) O worshippers of God, and myself, maintain due reverence towards God.
Verses from Qur'an
La`na al-ladhina kafaru min-bani Isra'ila `ala lisani Dawuda wa `Isa ibni Maryam. Dhalika bima `as.u wa kanu ya`tadun.
Kanu la yatanahuna `an munkari fa`luhu. Labi'sa ma kanu yaf`aluna.
"Cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary are those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved on account of their rebellion and transgression. They did not prevent each other from committing vile and corrupt acts; surely what they did was abominable." (5:78-79)
Body of Khutba
Imam Hussain's Sermon at Mina shortly before his assassination at Karbala has some points which might be applicable to the situation of Michael Brown, his surviving family, and our system of white supremacist injustice.
Imam Hussain quoted from the Qur'an:
"Cursed by the tongue of David and Jesus, son of Mary are those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved on account of their rebellion and transgression. They did not prevent each other from committing vile and corrupt acts; surely what they did was abominable." (5:78-79).
He commented on the verse, saying, "God reproached them because they saw with their own eyes the oppressors committing vile and corrupt acts, but did not stop them, out of love for the favours they received from them as well as fear of persecution and injury."
We in this society that is based on white supremacy and that we prop up with our white privilege are terribly disinclined to change those aspects of the system which actively privilege us. As a society, we have weakened the enforcement of civil rights laws. We have fought against affirmative action and continue our assault on unions, living wages, and public assistance. When reparations bills are introduced in Congress, we needn’t worry about being troubled by them. They are ignored to death every year.
When it is no longer possible for us to ignore the evils that are committed against black people and other people of colour, we pull out one tired, over-used trope after another from our repertoire of privilege-clinging: That wasn't about race. He was a criminal, so he got what was coming to him. Well, if he didn't want to get shot, he shouldn’t have robbed a store. We sit on a pile of "law and order" while stubbornly turning an unseeing eye to the fact that that it was the Ku Klux Klan that coined the phrase in the first place while promoting racist candidates for office.
In his sermon at Mina, Imam Hussain then quoted another verse to contrast with the attitudes discussed just previous:
"The believing men and women are friends and protectors to each other; they enjoin the good and forbid the evil; they perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and obey God and His messenger. Upon them God shall have mercy; God is Almighty, All-wise." (9:71)
He then expounded on that verse:
"God mentions the duty of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil (al- 'amr bi al-ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar) before all other duties, because He knows that if it is performed and is established in the society all other duties, the easy and the difficult, will also become established.
"The reason for this is that al-'amr bi al ma'ruf wa al-nahy 'an al-munkar means summoning people to Islam, as well as resistance against injustice, opposing and struggling against oppressors, and endeavoring to ensure that public wealth and income derived from war are distributed in accordance with the just laws of Islam, and that taxes are collected, levied and expended in due and proper form."
This is part of what we have been missing in the States: calls to do good and stop the hurtful. We are so frightened of what we would lose – our wealth, our class status, our singularity in being identified as beautiful and serving as the standard for beauty – that we make excuses for our refusal to take action. Yet Imam Hussain identifies the call to good and against evil as foremost among our duties. In fact, he tackles head-on the very issues that we face today which prop up white privilege at painful costs to blacks and other people of colour. He insists that we fight against inhustice and oppression, as well as support public assistance that is funded by taxes.
What Imam Hussain says shortly afterwards seems to address privilege and the attitudes of the privileged about their privileged status, as well as the propensity for those with privilege to negligently (even wilfully!) trample over the disadvantaged in their enjoyment of their privilege. His words even seem prophetic, given the state of our political affairs today.
"You have taken lightly your duties as leaders. You have neglected the rights of the oppressed and the lowly, but have assiduously pursued what you regard as your personal rights. You have not spent your money or risked your life for the sake of the One Who gave you life, nor have you fought against any group or tribe for the sake of God.
"Nevertheless, you desire - and regard it as your due - that He should grant you paradise, the company of the prophet, and security from chastisement in the hereafter. You have such expectations of God, I fear that the full weight of His wrath descend upon you, for although it is by His might and glory that you have achieved high rank, you show no respect to those who truly know God, while you yourselves enjoy respect among God's creatures on His account."
...
"The blind, the dumb, and chronically ill everywhere lack protection in towns and no mercy is shown them. But you neither behave in accordance with your function and rank, nor you support or pay any regard to those who do. You purchase your safety from the oppressive ruling powers with flattery cajolery, and compromise. All these activities have been forbidden you by God, and He has, more over, command you to forbid each other to engage in them, but you pay no attention."
Note the way that Imam Hussain describes the entitled attitudes of the privileged above, expecting favours from God even without having done anything to merit them. We have not put our monies, possessions, or bodies on the line for the cause of justice. We allow society to rot around us, with the poor getting poorer and lacking access to any kind of care. We live in safety as others are tormented and killed around us. Imam Hussain forcefully reminds us of the command of God to us in these regards.
Imam Hussain further describes the impact that this kind of negligence has on society: "While some cringe like slaves under the yoke of oppressors, and others have been reduced to destitution in regard to their livelihood, the rulers run the affairs of the government in accordance with their whims, earning ignominy and disgrace for themselves with their licentiousness, following evil counselors, and showing impudence toward God."
Even religious leaders are not excempt from Imam Hussain’s demands for societal justice. He closes his sermon with an appeal to religious scholars: "So (O scholars of religion!) You are to help us reach this goal, win back our rights from those powers who have considered it acceptable to wrong you and who have attempted to put out the light kindled by your Prophet. God suffices us, upon Him do we rely, to Him do we return, and to Him shall we return."
During this time, it is our duty to lend our support to those who lead the struggle against the kind of oppression that we have seen against people of colour. I don't think that it is for us, if we are non-black, to pretend to take up leadership role, but rather to let the public light shine on leaders of colour. We risk the danger of appropriation, self-aggrandisement, and White Saviourism.
As we offer our support, we need to do our homework. We need to read up about white privilege. We need to read blog posts from black leaders describing what kinds of support might be appropriate and which kinds are not appropriate. We should look for local movements spearheaded by black leaders, rather than foisting our own new organisations onto a possibly unwilling community and pushing our way into leadership roles so that the public spotlight is unfairly cast on us rather than local black leaders.
Taking from Imam Hussain's sermon, I think that it is the duty of all of us - especially those of us with the kind of privilege that allows us to escape the exhausting struggle that our siblings of colour endure in a world full of micro-aggressions, discrimination, and outright racist violence - to speak out against various forms of oppression. Call our civic and political leaders out on racist oppression. Ask our mosques why there aren't black people in leadership roles in the mosque. Write our media to ask why we aren't seeing and hearing more often from black community organisations and their leaders, independent black musicians, black authors, educational programming by black people for black people, etc. Put our bodies on the line to protest alongside our black siblings when they take to the streets.
Every day is Ashura. Every land is Karbala. Black lives matter. Hands up don't shoot.
Mid-Khutba Formalities
* Basmalla
* Hamd
* Salawat
* Istighfar
* Taqullah
Bismillah, walhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalam `ala sayyidina Muhammad wa `ala aalihi at-tayyibina at-tahhirin. Allahumma salli `ala Muhammad wa aale Muhammad. Astaghfirullah lil mu'minina wal mu'minat, wa lil `alamin. Ya `ibadullah, wa nafsi, itaqullah.
In the name of God. Praise be to God, and blessings and peace be on our dear Prophet Muhammad, and on his cleansed and purified family. I seek forgiveness for the believers and for the whole world. O worshippers of God, and myself, maintain due reverence for God.
Second Half of Service: Invitation to Discuss
Post-Khutba Formalities
* Verse
* Hadith
* Supplication
* Verse of Taslima (with yet another Salawat)
VERSE:
Wa ma lakum la tuqatiluna fi sabili Allahi wal mustad.`afina min ar-rijali wa an-nisa'i wal wildani al-ladhina yaquluna rabbana akhrijna min hadhihil qaryati ath.-th.alimi ahluha wa aj`al lana min-ladunka nas.iran.
And what is wrong with you that you do not fight for the sake of God; and for the weak among men and women and children, those who say, "Our Lord, help us get out of this place of oppression, and establish for us an ally from You; and establish for us a helper from You!"
(4:75)
HADITH:
Wa attaqi du`ata almath.lumi, fa innahu laysa baynahu wa bayna Allahi h.ijab.
And fear the dua of an oppressed person, because there is no veil between that person and God.
(Bukhari, Vol 2, Ch 24, H 573 [deprecated]; Bukhari 1496; Bukhari Bk 24, H 97)
SUPPLICATION:
Rabbi, inni maghlubun; fa-ntas.ir.
My Lord, surely I have been overtaken; so help me.
TASLIMA: Inna Allaha wa mala'ikatuhu yusalluna `alaannabi. Ya ayyuhalladhina 'amanu sallu `alayhi wa sallimu taslima. (Qur'an 33:56) Allahumma salli `ala Muhmmad wa aale Muhammad. Truly, God and his angels invoke blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe, invoke blessings on him, and complete peace. O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.
END
Topic: Khutbah on Privilege and Racist Oppression