Khutbah:

A Failure of Leadership

 Arshad Gamiet/Royal Holloway College/Univ. of London /UK.   13 August 2004

 “As-salámu 'alaikum wa rahmatul láhi wa barakátuh!”  [Wait for adhán]

“A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem.  Bismilláhir rahmánir raheem.

Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa.

May- Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh”

 All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds.

Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him.

I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, sws, is His servant, and His messenger.

 My respected Brothers and sisters in Islam,

 In the Holy Qur'an, in Sura Al-Ahzaab [33:71], Allah addresses the Believers in these words:

 Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a’maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.”

 “O you who Believe! Be conscious of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He will forgive your sins, and repair your deeds. And whoever obeys Allah and His Prophet, has already achieved a mighty victory!”

 Speak a straightforward word. We must not be vague or ambiguous. We must say what we mean, and we must mean what we say. We must therefore always be truthful and just, and we must not make any exceptions or excuses. In Sura Nisa? 4:135 we read:

 “O you who believe!  Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be [against] rich or poor: for God can best protect both. Do not follow the lusts [of your hearts], in case you may swerve, and if you distort [justice] or decline to do justice, truly Allah is well acquainted with all that you do.”

Brothers and sisters, these verses are very clear and really need no further explanation. It is with justice in mind, and speaking a straightforward word, that I wish to addres the crisis, the catastrophe in Sudan. 

If it is true that the Sudanese government is responsible for human rights abuses, if it is true that they are bombing and killing innocent civilians, unleashing the Arab Janjaveed to displace black Sudanese from their villages, then we must utterly condemn these actions. We would be hypocrites to raise our voices over Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya, and then keep silent over Sudan. We cannot condemn atrocities against Muslims when they are committed by others, and remain silent when fellow-Muslims commit them. Allah will not approve if we turned a blind eye and a deaf ear. The tragedy of Sudan is the familiar story of the failure of Muslim leadership at the very highest level.

Over the past 2 khutbahs we have reflected on the situation of Britain’s Muslim community, facing hostility from the outside, and a worrying degree of militancy amongst our youth on the inside. Yesterday we heard that British Appeal Court judges are now willing to accept evidence produced under torture. The implications are quite astonishing. It’s a torturer’s licence to force their victims to say anything that they want them to say. And it shows a disturbing new trend of eroding the standards of British justice.

 But let us return to the theme of our khutbah, the failure of leadership amongst Muslims. Let us speak a straightforward word. This is at the heart of our problems. We Muslims suffer a collective failure of leadership: From Muslim homelands, to our Muslim minorities in West. Our role model, Prophet Muhammad sws gave us leadership at every level: Individual, family, community, nation and civilization. We can also learn from successful minorities who have followed his example by adding value to the wider communities in which they live. Consider those Muslims whom Prophet Muhammad sws sent to seek asylum in Abyssinia. Their noble conduct so impressed the King of Abyssinia that he himself came over to Islam. In more recent times, Muslims in South Africa have survived 300 years as a minority. For half of that time they were forbidden to practice Islam openly, and they have only enjoyed full democracy and citizens rights for the past 10 years. Perhaps we can learn a few things from them.

 In our Muslim heartlands, almost without exception, our rulers are susceptible to manipulation by their colonial masters. Locally, our leaders and imams have brought too much cultural and emotional baggage from home. Many of them were not born here, they don’t speak good English, if any at all, and simply do the bidding of mosque committees who are driven by age-old tribal loyalties.  Brothers and sisters, let us speak a straightforward word.

 Before I joined this community at Royal Holloway, I spent 20 years attending Jum’ahs that were either in Urdu, Gugerati or Bengali, and always, there would be restless young boys fidgeting and making a noise at the back of the mosque. They were bored, just like I was, because they had to sit through a khutbah that they could not understand. And even if they could understand, they would still be bored, because the khutbahs were usually not relevant to the real problems of young people in Britain. Most of the imams, and mosque committees and parents cared very little about this lack of communication with the youth. Even to this day, the majority of mosques in Britain have no English language khutbahs and even the announcements about parking problems or fundraising, are made in languages other than English. I used to dread one day that someone may shout a fire alert in the mosque, and just because I don’t understand Urdu, I might be left behind to become a human kebab!

 But the serious side of this story is that many of those distracted and neglected young boys who were fidgeting with boredom at the back of the mosques a few years ago, might well have grown up to become the young men who are planning acts of unspeakable terror in the name of Islam.  Is this possible? Is it probable? I am very sad to say but this seems quite, quite possible to me. Let us speak a straightforward word. 

The question is, can we simply blame rabble-rousers, militant fanatic imams and shadowy political groups for luring our youth away from us? How did these young men get there? Were they ever exposed to a balanced, healthy, ‘mainstream’ Islam? Can we wash our hands off the problem and say that we had nothing to do with the alienation and disillusionment of our youth? Is it just a tiny bit possible, that if we had invested more time and effort in our youth, things may have turned out better for them, and for all of us?

 For example, if someone took the trouble to engage young Muslims at an early age, in productive and creative activity, we might have cultivated in them, a sense of belonging, a sense of value and self-esteem. We might have trained and groomed them for positions of leadership and responsibility.  Instead, through sheer neglect, we may now have bred angry potential terrorists, victims of torture, whose evidence will be upheld in British courts. Will the accusing fingers point at us? 

Let me be clear. I am not saying that young men are turning to terrorism because so many mosques in Britain are virtually no-English zones. The factors that drive impressionable young Muslims to such desperate acts of violence are many and complex. The lack of English in our mosques is part of a many-faceted problem. But the duty of every Muslim is to hold up a mirror, and to ask some honest, soul-searching questions, like:

 That last question is really important, and it must underpin every motive, every action in life. Will we leave this world a better place than we found it? This must become a part of a true Believer’s psyche. We are all answerable, ultimately to Allah. When we meet Him, will we offer Him a pure heart and a clear conscience?

 “Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen.

 Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-‘alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma’een.

Ammaa ba’ad:

Innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema.

Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, wa alaa áli Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”

All praise is due to Alláh, the Lord of all the Worlds; may the greetings and peace be upon the best messenger, Muhammad, the unlettered prophet; and upon his family and upon all of his companions.

Behold, Alláh and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! Ask for blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.

O Alláh! Send your greetings upon Muhammad and his family,  just as you sent your greetings on Ibraheem, and his family. O Alláh, send you blessings on Muhammad and his family, just as you blessed Ibraheem and his family. In both worlds, you are praiseworthy and exalted.

Second Khutbah:

 Sub’ hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem.

 “All glory is for Alláh, and All praise is for Alláh; and there is no power nor strength, except with Alláh.”

 Dear Brothers and sisters in Islam,

 We Muslims face hostility, an irrational fear of Islam known as Islamophobia, from the outside. And inside our communities, our youth are in rebellion due to a failure of leadership.

 But, there’s no need to despair. Allah the Exalted knows and sees everything, past, present and future. Our changing fortunes are allowed by His permission. His plan is to test what we are made of. Sura Al Baqara says, in verse 214: “…We will test you like we tested those before you” … This is our challenge; this is our big test.

 We need practical solutions: what should we do to improve public face of Islam in Britain? And, what should we do to rescue our youth from misguided militancy? 

Brothers and sisters in Islam, THERE'S NO QUICK FIX!

 I am grateful to the brother who asked me after last week’s khutbah, to offer some ideas. It’s by no means a complete list but here are a few suggestions:

 “The faith of a believer is not complete, until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself.”

  Inside our community,

“Hold you all fast to the rope of Allah, and do not be divided amongst yourselves.” Try to heal wounds, don't aggravate them. Keep our nafs under control, individually and collectively, and if someone else’s nafs is out of control, don’t try to compete. In the battle of the egos it’s better to lose than to win.

 "A Muslim is he from whose tongue and hands, other Muslims are safe. A Mu'min [true Believer] is he in whom all of mankind has an asylum, a sanctuary for its life and property." This is one of my favourite Hadith. 

Let this be one of our personal goals: Let us eagerly aspire to become true Believers in whose custody all people and their possessions will be safe. Our noble and illustrious ancestors always protected the weak and oppressed. They were just, and Allah loves those who are just. And that’s why He once gave us power and sovereignty for a very long time.

 For 13 out of 14 centuries Muslims had a Caliphate, a political authority. It is only for the last 80 years that we had none. It is this great sense of loss that we all feel so deeply, that must now spur us on to positive actions. The Caliphate as a locus of power for the ummah ended in 1924 with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. But inside each and every one of us is a Caliphate of the individual Muslim, who must account to his Maker for how he managed his subjects. And in principle there is no difference between a Caliph who rules an empire and Caliph who leads a family, and who runs a business or profession. Big or small we all have our own little empire to manage properly.

 Whether or not Muslims will ever regain the power and influence that our ancestors once held, is a matter for Allah. Our job is to do the best we can with the resources we have.

 O Allah, help us to concentrate on being your loyal servants. Help us to fulfil our duties to you and towards others, just as our beloved Prophet Muhammad sws showed us throughout his life. Let us not be distracted or disheartened by the difficulties. You could have put us into another century and in another place, but in Your infinite wisdom you have put us here, and given us now. This is our place and our time. Help us do the best we can, so that we can return to you with a pure heart and a clear conscience.

 O Allah, we pray that our return to You will be a joyous return, with our hearts filled with peace and contentment. O Allah, grant us wives and offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and give us the grace to lead the righteous. Let us be among those who respond to your invitation in the last verse of Sura Al Fajr.

  “Fadh ghulee fee ‘ibaadee, wad’ khulee jannatee”

“Enter you, my devotees, enter you My garden!”

 Ameen. Aqeemus salaah!

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