ARBA-EEN: THE MOVEMENT AGAINST IGNORANCE

Jumu'ah Khutbah delivered on 26 October 2018 (16 Safar 1440) by Brother Bashier Rahim at the Ahlul Bait (a.s) Masjid, Ottery, Cape Town

There was a time in history before the coming of Islam, that human beings lived such an undignified life that used to be unimaginable for most of us, however real life occurrences during our own time has given us a good glimpse of what that period was like.

And we are very familiar with the details of this period wherein the social condition of the Arabs was deplorable as it was steeped in immorality.

- Human sacrifice was commonly practiced

- Drinking wine was embedded in their culture such that few Muslims who embraced Islam at the time of the Prophet (sawa) can claim that they did not previously drink wine

- While being in a state of drunkenness, all shameless acts were practised

- Gambling was a favourite pastime

- Adultery was part and parcel of life

- They burnt their enemies alive

- Pregnant women had their wombs slashed

- Innocent female babies and young daughters were buried alive even while screaming for mercy

- Interest and Usury crippled this society economically

- Women had no rights or respect. A man was free to marry any number of women and could divorce as he wished

- Women were deprived of the right of inheritance. The Arabs were embarrassed at the birth of daughters

- It was a custom for the eldest son to take as wives his father's widows

- Human slavery was another curse

- Robbery, murder, human bloodshed happened daily

- Never ending meaningless wars, and so much more

That was the state of this society which was termed a Jahiliyyah society or the period was called the Age of Jahiliyyah or the Age of Ignorance. All of this lifestyle had a foundation in it and that was the ideological foundation that Arabs were idol worshippers.

Islam calls this period Jahiliyyah because it represents their:

- Ignorant beliefs

- Ignorant practises

- Ignorant rules

- Ignorant laws

- Ignorant customs

- Ignorant values

- Ignorant perverted behaviour

THE TERM "JAHILIYYAH" IN QURAN

Interesting to perhaps note is that the term “Jahiliyyah” appears in the Quran 4 times and it is worthwhile having a brief look at its application as it has a particular meaning and not just the meaning of being ignorant.

In Surah Aali-Imraan Verse 154 we read:

"Then, after that grief, He sent down security upon you (in the form of) slumber coming upon a group of you, while another group have cared only for their own selves, thinking about Allah unjustly, the thought of ignorance (jahiliyyah)".

Here a certain way of thinking regarding Almighty Allah is termed to be Jahiliyah.

This verse refers to the Battle of Uhud when many of the Muslims ran away from the battlefield and wherein Prophet Muhammad (sawa) was left exposed and even badly injured and after an initial victory, Muslims suffered a humiliating defeat.

When the dust settled, those who ran away came back to the Prophet (sawa) afterwards bit by bit. Among these who returned, Almighty Allah refers to them as 2 groups -

the one who were forgiven and given honour yet the other group did not receive this forgiveness or honour.

 

In relation to this second group of people in the Battle of Uhud who ran away and returned, we see something interesting regarding their belief.

 

The reason that they were not accorded the same honour as the first group who returned to the Prophet (sawa) was due to their ideology still being polluted with the ideology of Jahiliyah! They were Muslim,

yet they had Jahiliyah inside them that went to their very core.

 

So what was really the issue?

In Al-Mizan we read that during the period of Jahiliyah, Arabs believed that Allah was your Creator and the Creator of everything.

In fact the Quran alludes to this specifically in various places when it says that if you should ask them who created the heavens and the earth, that they would answer Allah created it. So they believed that Allah created everything.

But then, while having this belief, they also believed that virtually everything also had it's own Lord like the Lord of love, the Lord of life, the Lord of death, the Lord of war etc. And they used to then separately worship these individual Lords.

So in relation to this Battle of Uhud, even though Allah was their Creator, they believed that they had this affair purely under their control and power as Almighty Allah does not control everything.

They imported their shirk into Islam thinking Tauheed works the same like the days of Jahiliyyah.

 

So when they lost the Battle of Uhud the verse says about them:

"They say: ' Is there anything for us in the authority?"

 

For them, just like their old Jahiliyah beliefs, besides Allah they also had their own power and authority to determine victory as Islam is supposed to be the true religion.

So if they were to lose in Battle like it happened in the Battle of Uhud, they questioned the truth of Islam as they or even the Prophet had no authority to ensure victory which is something they supposed to have as Islam is supposed to be the true religion and Allah promised victory to the true religion.

 

This false Jahiliyah belief was meddling with the Lordship of Allah and Almighty Allah thus replies to them:

"Say: 'Verily the authority belongs to Allah entirely"

Authority is only with Allah - no one else or lord or deity gives you victory. If you want victory, Allah who is the only authority put a system in place of cause and effect through which all phenomena occur.

So in the series of causes if there are hypocritical actions involved, then Muslims, even though they claim to follow Islam which is the true religion - they will still lose and the idolaters, even though they follow a false ideology - they will still win.

There is nothing wrong with the religion of Islam, there's something wrong with your belief and action.

 

So Jahiliyah has to do with your flawed intellect and is thus a state where your Tauheed and especially Tauheed of Rububiyyah or Lordship is compromised - in that people believe that Control and Management of this universe is with other than Allah

- and this belief then caused them to also practically worship those other than Allah without even realizing that they doing so. This then results in the humiliation on so many levels that human beings suffer.

In Surah Fath Verse 26 we read

"When those who disbelieve had entertained in their hearts pride and arrogance, the pride and arrogance of the time of ignorance (Jahiliyah)"

This verse refers to the incident in the 6th year AH when Prophet (sawa) and 1400 people traveled for the first time since the Hijra to Makkah with the intention to perform Hajj.

At a place called Hudaibiyya they set up camp and the Prophet (sawa) sent Uthman ibn Affan to inform the people of Makkah of their intention to perform Hajj and that they came unarmed.

The leaders of Makkah refused and the Muslims were prevented from performing Hajj and were literally sent back home to Madina without performing Hajj. It was indeed a great disappointment.

However on this same ocassion the Prophet (sawa) did conclude with them the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah which opened the way for peace and future visits to Makkah which itself is described by the Quran as a "clear victory".

 

But at the same time the Quran describes the underlying reason why the Kuffar of Mecca would not allow entry to the Muslims during that same year when they came all the way as there was no legitimate reason to refuse this request.

So this verse says it was due to their arrogance and pride of Jahiliyah.

Jahiliyah is thus also related to the state of one's heart being polluted with the illness of arrogance and pride through which you resist the truth.

In Surah Maidah Verse 50 we read

"Is it then the judgement of (the era of) ignorance that they are seeking?"

 

It has been narrated from Ibn-Abbas that a group of the leaders of the Jews once plotted and decided to go to the Prophet Muhammad (sawa) with the hope that they might be able to change him from his religion.

With this planning they came to the Prophet (sawa) and said: "We are the wealthy and the learned men of the Jews. If we follow you, other Jewish people also will imitate us.

But, there is a conflict between us and another group (about a murder or something else).

 

If you judge in this conflict for our benefit, we will believe in you." The Prophet (sawa) refrained from such a judgement (which was not just), and so the above verse was revealed.

After Jahiliyah being grounded in matters of intellect and our heart, it then manifests in society and how they and their authorities deal with each other and the social disaster that it brings.

And among all the social ills, the women seemed to suffer the most.

So interestingly in Surah Ahzab Verse 33 we read how Allah addresses the wives of Prophet Muhammad (sawa) who needed special protection and a code of conduct as follows:

“And stay in your houses and do not display yourselves, like the displaying of former times of Ignorance (Jahiliyah)"

This was an admonishment to the wives of Prophet (sawa) and we will not go into the details of whether it was fully upheld, but the lifestyle of women during Jahiliyah was something to be avoided at all costs.

So this Jahiliyyah has its basis in the way of thinking which translates into a particular lifestyle.

One point that must be emphasized, even though the Arabs were illiterate and not scientifically advanced, they were not called being in Jahiliyyah due to their backwardness,

because previous nations had amazing scientific ability and engineering skills but were still regarded as being in jahiliyyah...read the history of the abilities of the people of Aad and others to see that despite their great abilities,

they were still considered ignorant and destroyed.

The Quran compares the backward state of the Arabs and the developed state of various nations before them and still finds their commonality of being in jahiliyyah.

WHY IMAM HUSAYN (A.S) AROSE

 

Now a mere 50 years after Prophet Muhammad (sawa) had left this world and established the ideal state of Islam in Madina, this Islamic state expanded exponentially in all directions...into Africa, Europe and the Far East. Yet this great power could be internally captured by a drunkard like Yazeed who practically had nothing to do with Islam.

 

Why did Imam Husayn (a.s) arise?

As Ayatullah Khamenei says its correct to say on the one hand it was against the corrupt regime of Yazeed. That is the apparent reason.

But there was something more. It was not just against this individual Yazeed whose life would in any case be short lived.

Imam Husayn (a.s) arose to strive against the root of the humiliation that the Muslim world suffered from at the time and would suffer from in any era - and that was the issue of Jahiliyah or Ignorance.

 

And we read exactly this in the Ziyarah of Arba-een when we say:

"So he called to You flawlessly, gave advice, and sacrificed his soul for You, to save your servants from Ignorance (Jahala)".

The name of Islam was still there, yet the same Muslim society were living in a state of Jahiliyah.

 

Ignorance from it's very root had to be combated. If Imam Husayn (a.s) were to win the battle against Yazeed, then the society would be transformed at that time already.

 

But if he were to lose the physical battle, he was going to engrave his mission into the memory of history through his blood which is something that could not be erased.

His mission of wanting to combat Jahiliyah was going to be an eternal call that would continue to reawaken communities from era to era.

 

This state of Jahiliyah a mere 50 years after Prophet Muhammad (sawa) was so profound such that common people did not even recognize who the Ahlul Bait (a.s) were.

When they were brought into Kufa people celebrated over the fact that they were a rebel group who were defeated.

 

And the same when they were in Damascus. When a Mu'athin read the Athaan, he did not even know that the direct descendants of the same Prophet Muhammad (sawa) whose testimony of belief he expresses in his athaan,

were the ones they oppressed who were right there with him in the court of Yazeed.

 

This issue of their state and our own state of Jahiliyah is something that can be discussed at length.

But just for a taste of it, look at the issue of the development of Islamic thought over the centuries even long after Karbala. And look at it without the lenses of a particular sect - just look at it from a purely historical perspective.

 

SHORTFALL IN DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT

 

Allamah Tabatabai has a very interesting discourse on the development of Islamic Thought over the ages and demonstrates how most Muslims have been deprived and left ignorant in matters of Islamic thought.

 

He says when you look at the Quran then you find that, in its comprehensive nature, it covers all aspects of human life, whether as an individual or a group, small or big, male or female, white or black, Arab or non Arab,

civilized or primitive, learned or ignorant, present or absent, any time, any place. Quran guides all our affairs - our beliefs, our ethics or Akhlaq and our actions.

 

Quran invites you to think and presents all types of logical techniques in form or proofs and argumentation.

Quran wants us to acquire knowledge and discard ignorance or Jahl in every field whether it is related to the heavens or the earth and is even concerned with what is beyond that to the Angels and the Qalam and the Lauhin Mahfooz.

The purpose of all of this is to achieve Ma'rifat of Allah so that it becomes reflected in our personal and social life.

 

At the time of the Prophet (sawa), discussion was very simple and uncomplicated among the normal people and so their focus was more on memorization of Quran and transmission.

 

But when the Prophet (sawa) passed away, the Caliphate became an issue and the Ahlul Bait (a.s) became practically sidelined.

And then many reciters of the Quran became martyred which reduced the number of regular knowledgeable people around.

 

Emphasis was on the growth of the Islamic Empire, with less emphasis on growth of knowledge. And this growth of the Islamic Empire re-awakened in them characteristics of the Days of Jahiliyya. Which characteristics?

The spirit of domineering and oppression was awakened and you do not have to look beyond the actions of Muawiyya to see this.

 

Hadith spread widely, but so did the forgery of hadith also spread. Yet with the widespread growth in hadith recordings, history has proven that little was recorded from Ahlul Bait (a.s).

How much is recorded from Imam Ali (a.s) who was the first Muslim and remained alive after Prophet Muhammad (sawa) for over 30 years? And even less is recorded from Imam Hassan (a.s) and even less from Imam Husayn (a.s).

 

Yet everyone is aware of the most well known mutaawatir hadith of Thaqalayn that regards the Book of Allah and the Ahlul Bait (a.s) as inseparable.

By sidelining the Ahlul Bait (a.s), it resulted in the biggest loss regarding obtaining knowledge of the Quran!!

 

Ahlul Bait (a.s) were ignored so much even centuries after, such that people denied the magnificent sermons of Imam Ali (a.s) recorded in Nahjul Balagha regarding its authenticity and thus discarding it totally,

but at the same time no one casts doubt on the poetry of Yazeed wherein he glorifies alcohol!

And this sad state of affairs is not a one sided affair by the way. A research scholar said:

"The Sunnis took the Book of Allah and abandoned the Ahlul Bait (a.s). The result was that they abandoned the book of Allah too because the Prophet (sawa) said "surely they will not separate from each other".

And the Shias took the Ahlul Bait (a.s) and abandoned the Book of Allah. The result was that they abandoned the Ahlul Bait (a.s) too, because of the same Prophetic saying "surely they will not separate from each other".

Thus the ummah collectively abandoned the Quran and Ahlul Bait (a.s) altogether".

 

Every issue that arose, whether theological argument, philosophical argument, spiritual development, political theory, you name it - for each, the Quran and Ahlul Bait (a.s) had and has the answer.

 

RE-ESTABLISH THE POSITION OF AHLUL BAIT (A.S)

 

The Arba-een march that we see during these days which reaches its peak on Tuesday 20th Safar is something to really awaken a new way of thinking in us.

Irrespective of your religious beliefs within or out of Islam, by purely focusing on the humanitarian aspect of this event, there is no bigger and more grand display of true human values in the world today than this one.

And the purpose of our very existence is to become perfect human beings.

 

People walk from Najaf to Karbala which is 80km and they do it in 3 or 4 days. Young and old, healthy and sick, fit and handicapped, great ulama and simple laymen - all wanting to be in Karbala to salute the King of Martyrs, Abi Abdillah al-Husayn (a.s).

People walk from as far as Russia in the freezing snow for 79 days to be in Karbala on Arba-een. Somebody calculates that if you add all the kilometres walked together of all the za'ireen, it is equal to going to the moon and back a few times.

I would say they going past the moon - a walk to Karbala is a walk into Jannah.

 

Between Najaf and Karbala there are hundreds and hundreds of Mawkibs or shelters where every necessity of the za'ireen is catered for - free of charge! Hundreds of millions of servings of food and drinks are served to the za'ireen free of charge.

You get the biggest variety of cuisine you can wish for - Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese, Indian, Pakistani, European, African and let me say including South African - you name it - people compete with each other to serve you, massage you, give you water.

Iraqis will tell you that some of them survive by eating dates the whole year to save up their money to serve and feed the za'ireen of Imam Husayn (a.s).

 

Those who have been to Karbala will tell you that due to years of war, this city is still very undeveloped. It is not physically possible to host 20 million people at one time -

there is no facilities even to host 5 million people - yet 20 million people actually are in Karbala on Arba-een - and nobody dies... that is really a miracle!

And for us South Africans, who are a small minority as followers of the School of Ahlul Bait (a.s), while here we feel like we are just a few, when you go there you are inspired with certainty to know that

you are part of a much greater movement of hundreds of millions of people.

As Ayatullah Khamenei says, this magnificent international event of Arba-een is a symbol of the dignity of the Ahlul Bait (a.s). We have never seen these numbers ever in history of people coming to Karbala on Arba-een.

And this magnificent event should awaken within us the position of the Ahlul Bait (a.s) in our effort to move the world away from a state of modern day Jahiliyyah to a state of Ma'rifat of Allah.

 

SECOND KHUTBAH

So Insha'Allah at our mosque we will be holding a 3 night program for Arba-een from Sunday night until Tuesday night. Please join us in being part of the millions internationally who uphold this event and reconnect ourselves to the Ahlul Bait (a.s).

This event shows an outpouring of love for humanity on an enormous scale. That principle of courtesy to others and assisting them in their needs is the best form of da'wah to Islam and the School of Ahlul Bait (a.s). As we enjoy and feel proud to be part of this movement, there is the serious urgent need for that commitment to translate onto our local scene. We have great infrastructure in our mosque complex that needs to be utilized much more for the benefit of humanity.

 

I remind myself and you regarding our needs on a local level. Last weekend we saw that as a result of our hot weather that 2 serious fires in Khayelitsha and Phillipi caused thousands of people to lose everything.

Disaster management efforts are still under way and our community is called upon to participate in these efforts.

 

Also from a crime perspective we have seen in recent months how exhausted our community is from the impact of crime and have participated in movements to "take back our streets" in different areas.

These are very important initiatives as it is only social activism that will bring about the change we desire.

Right in our community in Lower Crossroads we have suffered from innocent members of our madressa or their direct families being killed and victims of violent crime.

 

And finally we also wish our matriculants well in their exams that they are currently writing and some are from our community as well. May Almighty Allah open the way to higher education for them as a result of this exam Insha'Allah.