The Sermon of Mina

In His Name, The Most High

 

The Sermon of Mina (4 Shawwal Dhu al Hijjah 1410)

Al- ‘Imam al Husayn’s Message to Religious Leaders

 

“O people, take lesson from the counsel God gave to His friends when He rebuked the rabbis by saying: “Why do the scholars and rabbis not forbid their sinful talk and consumption of what is unlawful ? Truly what they have done is evil.” (5:63)

“And God says: “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).

“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. However, God says: “Fear not men, but fear Me.” (5:44) And He says: “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)

“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.

“O scholars, who are celebrated and enjoy good repute on account of your learning! You have achieved a good name in society because of your good will. It is on account of God that men venerate you and stand in awe of you, so that even powerful fear you and the weak honour you, and those who are not subject to you and over whom you hold no authority grant you favours they deny themselves . When the people do not receive their due they seek your intercession, and you walk in the street with the majesty of kings and princes.

“Have you not earned all this respect and prestige because of the people’s hopes that you will implement God’s laws, even though in most instances you have failed to do so?

“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.

“(I am also afraid for you for another reason:) you see the covenant enacted with God being violated and trampled underfoot, yet you show no anxiety, when it comes to the covenants enacted with your fathers, you become greatly disturbed and anxious if they are only violated in part, but the pledges you have given to the most noble Messenger are a matter of complete indifference to you.

“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, moreover, command you to forbid each other to engage in them, but you pay no attention.

“The calamity that has befallen you is greater than what has befallen others, for true rank and degree of “Ulama” has been taken away from you. The administration of the country and the issuing of decrees and ordinances should actually be trusted to religious scholars who are guardians of God’s ordinances concerning what is permitted and what is forbidden. But your position has been usurped from you, for no other reason than that you have abandoned the truth (al-haqq), and have disagreed about the nature of the sunnah, despite the existence of clear proofs.

“Had you the forbearance to endure adversities and hardships for the sake of God, then all proposed regulations (God’s affairs) would be brought to you for your approval and for you to issue; authority would lie in your hands. But you allowed the oppressors to take away your functions and God’s affairs (i.e. government) to fall into their hands, so that they administer them by resorting to ambiguities and make arbitrariness and the satisfaction of lust their consistent practice. What enabled them to gain control of government was your fleeing in panic from (inevitable) death and your love of life, which shall in all certainty depart from you. As a consequence of that mentality, you have delivered the powerless masses into the clutches of the oppressors. 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. One of their appointed spokesmen mounts the pulpit (minbar) in each city. The country is defenseless before them, and their hands grab freely whatever they want of it. The people are their slaves and are powerless to defend themselves. One of the governors is a dictator by nature, malevolent and rancorous; another represses to recognize either God or the Day of Resurrection! It is not strange – how can one think it strange, that society is the clutches of a cunning oppressor whose tax collectors are oppressors and whose governors feel no compassion or mercy towards the believers under rule.

“It is God who will judge concerning what is dispute among us and deliver a decisive verdict concerning all that occurs among us.

“O God! You know that everything we did was not prompted by rivalry for political power, nor for a search for wealth and abundance; rather it was done to demonstrate to men the shining principles and values of Your religion, to reform the affairs of Your land, to protect and secure the indisputable rights of Your oppressed servants, and to act in accordance with the duties You have established and the norms, laws, and ordinances You have decreed.

“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.”

More on Hajj

Mudhafilah for Non-Hajjis

Mount Arafah for Non-Hajji’s

Tawaf for Non-Hajjis

Hajj Changed My Life!

Preparing for Life!

A Sacred Place

The Patterns of Our Lives

It’s Time to Get Real About Halal/Kosher Meat!

Tawaf for Non-Hajjis

Tawaf for Non-Hajji’s

By Hwaa Irfan

While many Muslims around the world commemorate ‘Eid ul Adha, the hajjis would have arranged to have their own animal sacrifice on the 10^th Dhul-Hijjah in commemoration of the sacrifice Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham made. Many would have purchased a sacrifice voucher from Mecca so that they would not be distracted from the pilgrimage. The sacrificial meat would then be packaged, as it has been allocated and shipped for charitable purposes in order to feed the hungry around the world. This is a practice that many Muslims, especially in North America, have adopted to feed the hungry in the localities in which they live, many of whom are non-Muslims. With the global economic crisis, and growing problem of starvation in the U.S., the bounties of the animal sacrifice grows tenfold, insha’Allah.

Also, on the 10^th , hajjis will return to Masjid El-Haram in Mecca to circumambulate, to do the first tawaf az-Ziyarah. The circular dance of the Sufi Whirling Dervishes exemplifies the tawaf , representing the way in which the planets turn according to the Laws that define their hemisphere, without ever colliding ir going off course. The foundation of Islam, is the Laws of Nature, but as we become increasingly pulled to act according to the laws of man, we increasingly step outside the Laws of Nature.

We do not realize the importance of this, as we have lost sight of what that means, it is only with increasing problems that complicate human relations, and our relationship with our environments that we may reflect and seek answers, but how much more simply could it stated when Allah (SWT) said:

{Then set your face upright for religion in the right state – the nature made by Allah in which He has made men; there is no altering of Allah’s creation…} (Ar-Rum 30: 30).

Tawaf is to following the course of nature, and the nature of the planets, each in its own orbit, as each hajji will circumambulate the Ka’aba in Masjid El-Haram in their own orbit, just as the cytoplasm of each cell of our body circumambulates around the nucleus of that cell. Are you in balance or out of balance? Ask yourself this question, and then look at whatever imbalances you and then ask the question why?

The energy of the hajjis moving anticlockwise around the Ka’aba adds to the notion of fixing the axis of a sacred place. The Ka’aba is an exact cube with the corners oriented towards the points of the compass, with the east and west walls aligned to the sunrise of the summer solstice, and the sunset of the winter solstice. The southern wall points towards the rising of the brightest star Canopus of the constellation Sirius.

{And when we assigned to Ibrahim the place of the House, saying: Do not associate with Me aught, and purify My House for those who make the circuit and stand to pray and bow and prostrate themselves} (Al Hajj 22: 26).

In Western Gnosticism, the  Ka’aba acts as a mithaq, a primordial covenant between Allah, the Creator, and man, the created. It represents the balance between stillness/the Supreme Reality, the Ka’aba and movement, the circumambulation of the hajjis, the manifest. “Squaring the Circle”, which is what happens when hajjis circumambulate the Ka’aba, and is known in Sacred Geometry as transformation of heaven onto earth, thus uniting the elements to a primordial state.

This highlights the sanctity of our relationship with our Creator, and a greater purpose than living our lives as automatons, and/or slaves to our desires. When water goes down a drain once a plug is pulled, spiraling anticlockwise with the rotation of the earth. Repeat this seven times around the Ka’aba, and we have seven, the number of the universe, the microcosm = us going round the macrocosm – the universe – seven is also the first number to combine the physical and the spiritual with the law of seven repeated in the major planets, circles of the universe, ages of man, pillars of wisdom, days of the week, and notes of the musical scale.

All His creation manifests according to the Laws of Nature, the nature we now deny within and without us! How many of us are ruled by our minds, instead of our souls, when the soul is who we are?

{O mankind! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you of a single soul…} (An-Nisa 4: 1)

Sources:

Cooper, J. C. “An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols.” Thames and Hudson, U.K. 1988.

Related Topic:

It’s Time to Get Real About Halal/Kosher Meat!

Mudhafilah for Non-Hajjis

Mount Arafah for Non-Hajji’s

Hajj Changed My Life!

Preparing for Life!

A Sacred Place

The Patterns of Our Lives

Mudhalifah for Non-Hajji’s

Mudhalifah for Non-Hajji’s

By Hwaa Irfan

When was the last time that you were exposed to the elements that Allah (SWT) bequeathed to us as a roof over our heads, and the ground as our bed who else does one trust but Him? This is what our hajjis will be experiencing in Mudhalifah after descending the Mount of Mercy, Arafah. 

{ There is no blame on you in seeking bounty from your Lord, so when you hasten on from “Arafah”, then remember Allah near the Holy Monument, and remember Him as He has guided you, though before that you were certainly of the erring ones} (Al Baqarah 2: 198) 

Mudhalifah is a valley between Mina and Mount Arafah where El-Mash’ar El-Haram is located. It is where hajjis will spend the night until Fajr (dawn) of 10^th Dhul Hijjah— the next morning. One will pray Maghrib (dusk), ‘Isha (evening), and Fajr prayers in the open, for the earth is our masjid. The aim is to gather pebbles (70) to throw at the pillars of Mina in the ceremony of Ramy. Seventy are the major sins in Islam:

1. Associating anything with Allah

2. Murder

3. Practising magic

4. Not praying

5. Not paying Zakat (charity)

6. Not fasting on a Day of Ramadhan without excuse

7. Not performing Hajj, while being able to do so

8. Disrespect to parents

9. Abandoning relatives

10. Fornication and adultery

11. Homosexuality(sodomy)

12. Interest(Riba)

13. Wrongfully consuming the property of an orphan

14. Lying about Allah and His Messenger

15. Running away from the battlefield

16. A leader’s deceiving his people and being unjust to them

17. Pride and arrogance

18. Bearing false witness

19. Drinking Khamr (alcohol)

20. Gambling

21. Slandering chaste women

22. Stealing from the spoils of war

23. Stealing

24. Robbery

25. Taking false oath

26. Oppression

27. Illegal gain

28. Consuming wealth acquired unlawfully

29. Committing suicide

30. Frequent lying

31. Judging unjustly

32. Giving and accepting bribes

33. Women imitating men and men imitating women

34. Being cuckold

35. Marrying a divorced woman in order to make her lawful for the husband

36. Not protecting oneself from urine

37. Showing-off

38. Learning and concealing knowledge of the religion for the sake of this world

39. Bertrayal of trust

40. Recounting favours

41. Denying Allah’s Decree

42. Listening (to) people’s private conversations

43. Carrying tales

44. Cursing

45. Breaking contracts

46. Believing in fortune-tellers and astrologers

47. A woman’s bad conduct towards her husband

48. Making statues and pictures

49. Lamenting, wailing, tearing the clothing, and related actions when an affliction befalls

50. Treating others unjustly

51. Overbearing conduct toward the wife, the servant, the weak, and animals

52. Offending one’s neighbour

53. Offending and abusing Muslims

54. Offending people and having an arrogant attitude toward them

55. Trailing one’s garment in pride

56. Men’s wearing silk and gold

57. A slave’s running away from his master

58. Slaughtering an animal which has been dedicated to anyone other than Allah

59. To knowingly ascribe one’s paternity to a father other than one’s own

60. Arguing and disputing violently

61. Witholding excess water

62. Giving short weight or measure

63. Feeling secure from Allah’s Plan

64. Offending Allah’s righteous friends

65. Not praying in congregation, but praying alone without an excuse

66. Persistently missing Friday prayers without any excuse

67. Unsurping the rights of the heir through bequests

68. Deceiving and plotting evil

69. Spying for the enemy of Muslims

70. Cursing or insulting any of the Companions of Allah’s Messenger

As the sunsets they will be expecting to spend the night out in the open with only a sheet to lie on, and a sheet to cover – more than the increasing many whose homes are the streets, and sometimes they have no one to turn to.

Wuquf means to “halt/stop”- it is also interpreted to mean to be present. The Wuquf of Mudhalifah is liken to the Wuquf of Arafah, to be present, and to be present means to not be in the past or to project oneself to an imaginary future. When one is present in the present, one’s energy is in focus and not dispersed, given credence to the present, and being open to what the present has to offer.

How many idols of the heart can one think of? How have those idols benefited you and/or others? 

We can spend this precious night in wuquf, away from the demands of life, thinking about those idols, and even making a list of them so that we can see them as clear as day like the pillars of Mina. In preparation for the pillars of Mina, we can collect balloons instead of pebbles, and in each balloon, blow one of those idols into one balloon. Then we can take each balloon out into the open air, and pop each balloon as the hajjis throw one pebble at the symbolic pillars of shaytan. Can you think of any other way of objectifying the shayateens of one’s life? The process of identifying helps to give less power over one’s soul – one is then more able to see one’s own weaknesses and how we turn them into virtues/excuses in one’s daily life, so it is worth trying to establish a method. Family members will know what those weaknesses are, and doing it as a family activity could help to heal the family if it has been going through some serious problems in connectedness/bonding. 

Source:

Islamic Thinkers Society

Related Topic:

Mount Arafah for Non-Hajji’s

Fasting for Change

Preparing for Life!

Mount Arafah for Non-Hajji’s

Mount Arafah for Non-Hajji’s

Through being in the state of Islam, Allah (SWT) has called on those able to make the journey of a life time, towards a greater unity, which is symbolic of the Unity in Him. The social aspects of tawhid  cannot be underestimated for as in a state of prayer we are all the same in the “eyes” of Allah (SWT), and as represented by the men and women pilgrims, every culture is represented on the pilgrimage and it remains unknown to the onlooker what their status in life is. As the hajjis are reminded as they focus on the nature of their relationship with our Creator, be reminded to of your relationship with our Creator, and that Islam came as a mercy to mankind as a whole, not mankind in part for in Him we are one.

Unity is emphasized in the traditions of the Arabs that state that Jebel Arafah was where Adham/Adam and Hawa/Eve separated after they were sent out from the Garden of Eden, and where they met again to unite. He made us not of flesh alone, but of spirit as well, so in spirit join in unity with our hajjis. While we are here in the world struggling with our nafs and the populist secular reaction to the veil, look at how we are doing with the veils of conceit, desire, deception, pride, selfishness, and tribalism (concern for our kith and kin only). We are reminded of this veil of tribalism in the ultimate sacrifice that Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham was asked to make of his son IsmailIshmael. IsmailIshmael too acted for the sake of Allah (SWT), when his father told him he was to be sacrificed on Jebel Arafah. Their faith was tested to the point that Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham drew a knife, to find that what was slaughtered was a ram, not his son.

These veils separate Muslims from Muslims, as we seek to forget that we are all on the same journey, with the same lessons, but with custom designed curriculums. When we seek to look only at what is different, and not focus on what is common, we create veils of separation when Allah (SWT) said:

{O mankind! We have created you of a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other; surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful (of his duty)…} (El-Hujurat 49: 13)

{And no one has with him any blessing for which he should be rewarded, except the seeking of the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High} (El-Layl 92: 19-20)

When we seek his pleasure we act on behalf of mankind for all that is created is created by Him. He gives us the opportunity amongst ourselves and collectively to seek his Mercy and forgiveness for the veils of separation we have thrown over ourselves. Sometimes a veil is self-deceit and not veil of deceit of another, but a veil is still a veil. Jebel Arafah is about salvation from our sins, and seeking forgiveness so, which is liken to climbing/overcoming the mount of our own sins. We do not have the longevity of our ancestors, whereby it is said that Adham/Adam and Hawa/Eve were separated for 200 years wracked with guilt and penitence, and that Allah (SWT) out of forgiveness allowed them to meet on Jebel Arafah. Each day may be our last, so let each day count towards our salvation. We might not be present on Jebel Arafah on 9^th Dhul Hijjah, to receive the blessings of collective worship, but our hearts can be with them for all of us from sunrise to sunset. Our hearts and our renewal can be with them when we reflect on the words of Prophet Muhammed (SAW) Last/Farewell Sermon (Khuṭbatu l-Wadā), which took place on the Day of Arafah in the Uranah valley of Jebel Arafah (632 A.C):

“O people, hear me well: I explain to you. For I do not know; I may well not meet you again in this place where I now stand, after this year of mine. 

“O people: your lives and your property, until the very day you meet your Lord, are as inviolable to each other as the inviolability of this day you are now in, and the month you are now in. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. So let whoever has been given something for safekeeping give it back to him who gave him it. 

“Truly, the usury of the Era of Ignorance has been laid aside forever, and the first usury I begin with is that which is due to my father’s brother ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. And truly the blood-vengeance of the Era of Ignorance has been laid aside forever, and the first blood-vengeance we shall start with is that which is due for the blood of [my kinsman] ‘Amir ibn Rabi‘a ibn Harith ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib. Truly, the hereditary distinctions that were pretensions to respect in the Era of Ignorance have been laid aside forever, except for the custodianship of the Kaaba [by Bani ‘Abd al-Dar] and the giving of drink to pilgrims [by al-‘Abbas]. 

“A deliberate murder is subject to retaliation in kind. An accidental death from a deliberate injury means a death resulting from [something not usually used or intended as a deadly weapon such as] a stick or a rock, for which the indemnity is one hundred camels: whoever asks for more is a person of the Era of Ignorance. 

“O people: the Devil has despaired of ever being worshipped in this land of yours, though he is content to be obeyed in other works of yours that you deem to be of little importance. 

“O people: postponing the inviolability of a sacred month [claiming to postpone the prohibition of killing in it to a subsequent month, so as to continue warring despite the sacred month’s having arrived] is a surfeit of unbelief, by which those who disbelieve are led astray, making it lawful one year and unlawful in another, in order to match the number [of months] Allah has made inviolable. Time has verily come full turn, to how it was the day Allah created the heavens and the earth. Four months there are which are inviolable, three in a row and forth by itself: Dhul Qa‘da, Dhul Hijja, and Muharram; and Rajab, which lies between Jumada and Sha‘ban. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. 

“O people: verily you owe your women their rights, and they owe you yours. They may not lay with another men in your beds, let anyone into your houses you do not want without your permission, or commit indecency. If they do, Allah has given you leave to debar them, send them from your beds, or [finally] strike them in a way that does no harm. But if they desist, and obey you, then you must provide for them and clothe them fittingly. The women who live with you are like captives, unable to manage for themselves: you took them as a trust from Allah, and enjoyed their sex as lawful through a word [legal ruling] from Allah. So fear Allah in respect to women, and concern yourselves with their welfare. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. 

“ O people, believers are but brothers. No one may take his brother’s property without his full consent. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. Never go back to being unbelievers, smiting each other’s necks, for verily, I have left among you that which if you take it, you will never stray after me: the Book of Allah. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. 

“O people, your Lord is One, and your father is one: all of you are from Adam, and Adam was from the ground. The noblest of you in Allah’s sight is the most godfearing: Arab has no merit over non-Arab other than godfearingness. Have I given the message? — O Allah, be my witness. 

— At this, they said yes. 

He said, Then let whomever is present tell whomever is absent. 

“O people:, Allah has apportioned to every deserving heir his share of the estate, and no deserving heir may accept a special bequest, and no special bequest may exceed a third of the estate. A child’s lineage is that of the [husband who owns the] bed, and adulterers shall be stoned. Whoever claims to be the son of someone besides his father or a bondsman who claims to belong to other than his masters shall bear the curse of Allah and the angels and all men: no deflecting of it or ransom for it shall be accepted from him. And peace be upon all of you, and the mercy of Allah.” 

Translated by: Nuh Ha Mim Keller

Related Topic:

The Idols of Our Lives

Hajj Changed My Life!

Hajj Changed My Life!

 Hajj Changed My Life!

A letter by Malcolm X from Mecca to his colleagues in Harlem, U.S.

 April 1964 

“Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.

“I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca. I have made my seven circuits around the Ka’ba, led by a young mutawaf named Muhammad. I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. El-Safa and El-Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.

“There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.

“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered ‘white’–but the ‘white’ attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

“You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

“During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug)–while praying to the same God–with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions in the deeds of the ‘white’ Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana.

“We were truly all the same (brothers)–because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.

“I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man–and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their ‘differences’ in color.

“With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called ‘Christian’ white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster–the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

“Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities–he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth–the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.

“Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a ‘white’ man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. … Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors–honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King–not a Negro.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds”.

Sincerely,

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
(Malcolm X)
Source:

Malcolm X.org

Related Topics:

Letter to the Self #20: Sacred Spaces

Letter to the Self # 27: Destination or the Journey!

Towards a Journey of a Lifetime

Preparing for Life!

And He Shows Us His Signs!

Arguing God from Being?

Towards a Journey of a Lifetime

Towards a Journey of a Lifetime

This film doc presents the most intimate and three-dimensional documentation of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and sheds light on the universal principles of Islam during the days of the Hajj. Learn the historical significance of the city to Muslim and non-Muslim populations alike. And, experience the epic journey of a lifetime, the Hajj, as we witness the personal stories of the pilgrims and the mental preparation, physical strain and spiritual ecstasy they encounter on their life-altering pilgrimage of faith.

Fasting in Shawwal

By Imam Zaid Shakir

For those of us who are concerned about how to maintain the momentum of Ramadhan, the lunar month of Shawwal offers us the opportunity to sustain the benefits we earned during the month of Ramadhan.

Remember that being in sujud teaches that we are all the same in the Light of Allah (SWT), with no one person better than another. Let Hurricane Irene serve as a reminder of  our daily lives, that just as we may believe we are untouched by the many crises which are products of our miscreations,  His servant Nature always has a lesson in store for us all – so let’s introduce more humility into our daily lives.

Also, let us learn to live in less excess, and give of what we can to others, as well as to our own in time, and in well-being….

On a personal level we always have the opportunity to fast throughout the year.

Supererogatory Fasts: Fasting is considered mustahab on all the days of the year except:

The Imamis – Fasting on the days of 11th, 12th and 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah is prohibited only for those who are at Mina.

The Shafi’is – fasting is not valid on the 11th, 12th and 13th Dhu al-Hijjah both for those performing Hajj as well as others.

Hanbalis – it is haram to fast on these days for those who do not perform Hajj, not for those performing it.

The Hanafis – Fasting on these days is makruh to the extent of being haram.

The Malikis – It is haram to fast on the 11th, 12th of Dhu al-Hijjah for those who do not perform Hajj, not for those performing it.

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Letter to the Self # 30: Remember Me