A Research and Development Qur'anic Session Reflecting on Community Organizing

WITH ALLAH’S NAME, THE MERCIFUL BENEFACTOR, THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER

A Research & Development Qur’anic Session Reflecting on Community Organizing

Documented by Jibril Abdul-Hafeez (جبريل عبدالحفيظ)

E-mail: NewAfrica2@aol.com or new_africa_now@yahoo.com

Friday, November 14, 2008 / Yaum-ul-Jumu’ah, Dhul-Qi’dah 16, 1429

As Salaam ‘Alaykum: We thank Allah, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, we believe and put our complete trust in Him, Mighty and Sublime is He. We witness that there is no G’d but Allah, He alone is without partners, and we witness that Muhammed is His Servant and Messenger, the prayers and peace be on him, on his descendants, his companions, and peace be on Allah’s Messengers (all of them), and what follows after this devout invocation.

In the Qur’an, 98:5, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

وَمَآ أُمِرُواْ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدّينَ حُنَفَآء وَيُقِيمُواْ الصَّلَوةَ وَيُؤْتُواْ الزَّكَوةَ وَذَلِكَ دِينُ القَيّمَةِ

In the Islamic Community of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) in America, an important thing that we would like to see happen was demonstrated successfully by the community organizing strategy that led to the election of the next President of the United States of America. “Community organizing is said to be a process whereby people living in proximity to each other are brought together by an organizer/organization to act in their common self-interest.”

In the Qur’an, 3:104, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

وَلْتَكُن مِّنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

No one in the world has demonstrated more devotion to the task of community organizing as effectively as Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) in respects to delivering and teaching the message revealed by Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). What are the results of our contemporary community development efforts in this city over the past fifty-years? Now let us compare that with what Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) did to rid the world of ignorance, backward, superstitious uncivilized behavior that was commonly practices amongst the desert dwellers and now this community organizing movement is making its way into the heartland of institutions amongst those who have been cut off from society.

Prophet Muhammed’s (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) mission was not just going to the Masjid to give an esoteric talk. Ask the question, what is the leader of my congregation doing to bring about a better and more peaceful community for the family of humanity? Does the leader label everyone who hasn’t bought into his mindset, infidels (ﺗﻜﻔﻴﺮ)?

A hadith articulates a lost value that we should always abide by when making decisions that affects the human family, Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

ﻠِﻧَﻔْﺴِﻪِ ﻴُﺤِﺐﱡ ﻤَﺎ ﻷﺧِﻴﻪِ ﻴُﺤِﺐﱡ ﺤﺗﱠﻰ أﺤَدُﻜُﻢ ﻴُﻮْﻤِﻦُ ﻵ

None of you are believers until you love for your brother what you love for yourself. Is the Sunnah practice of loving one another being practiced by you and me? Be mindful that when we act from the motivation of hatred and decide to do bodily harm to one another, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has prescribed the law of retaliation to teach us that He created us equally from one essence.

Community organizing should focus on more than just resolving issues for the sake of what’s in it for me. The best community organizers seek to help human beings achieve the end goal of improving the quality of community life for humanity. This is the sunnah/standard of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ); so why are we cheating the world of humanity of the love that he brought into being by giving the world an ugly picture that does not reflect the true character and lifestyle of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ)? This is why we must due diligent research of the revealed scriptures and the life practices of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) so that we can give real meaning to loving for our brothers and sisters in humanity what we love and want for ourselves.

In the interest of community organizing, remember what Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) has said,

ﻋَﻠﱠﻤَﻪُ ﻮَ ﭐﻠﻗُﺮْﺁﻦَ ﺗَﻌَﻠﱠﻢَ ﻤَﻦْ ﺧَﻴْﺮُﻜُﻢ

The best of you is he who learns the Qur’aan and teaches it.

Let this be a call to action to develop a progressive Islamic community / ﭐﻠﺗﱠﺠْﺪِﻴﺪ ٲُﻤﱠﺔ in America. It started in the late ‘70s with Interfaith dialogues that resulted in audiences at the Vatican, audiences as the guest of the custodians of the Ka’bah in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, China, and former Presidents of the United States, Africa, just to name a few.

An ambivalent (uncertain) attitude is interfering with our ability to organize our community based on understanding the language environment spoken as words from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) that is recorded in the Qur’an.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُم

A Good Word is Like A Good Tree

WITH ALLAH’S NAME, THE MERCIFUL BENEFACTOR, THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER

“A Good Word is Like a Good Tree”

Documented by Jibril Abdul-Hafeez (جبريل عبدالحفيظ)

E-mail: NewAfrica2@aol.com or new_africa_now@yahoo.com

Friday, November 7, 2008 / Yaum-ul-Jumu’ah, Dhul-Qi’dah 9, 1429

As Salaam ‘Alaykum: We thank Allah, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, we believe and put our complete trust in Him, Mighty and Sublime is He. We witness that there is no G’d but Allah, He alone is without partners, and we witness that Muhammed is His Servant and Messenger, the prayers and peace be on him, on his descendants, his companions, and peace be on Allah’s Messengers (all of them), and what follows after this devout invocation.

Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 14:24,

كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِى السَّمَآءِ -

A good word كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً is like a good tree كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ, its root أَصْلُهَا is firmly fixed ثَابِتٌ in the hearts of believers and its branches فَرْعُهَا of good works reaches into the heavens السَّمَآءِ. In just a thousand, four hundred and twenty-nine years after Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) introduced the people of Madinah to a new language environment of good words, the good news أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللهِ has been planted into the heart of a person like me who was once too deaf, dumb and blind to realize that a everyday life of crime, drug abuse, fornication, adultery, strong arm robbery, burglary, larceny, gambling and all manner of sin and insanity was just another day in the life of a fool.

The Constitution of the United States of America reads, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution of the United States of America.

One of our noble martyr who was assassinated while working to actualize the blessings of liberty for humanity said, “I just want to do G-d’s will and He has allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I have seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But…we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

Election night in the United States, Tuesday, November 4^th, 2008 was the manifestation of a dream deferred and the fulfillment of the prayer that one day we, the people would lead this nation into a more perfect union, establishing justice, liberty and the blessing of G’d for all. Through the medium of television, I saw people rejoicing and jumping for joy in Africa, I saw people expressing exuberance in Japan, I saw people in Europe doing the same, wherever you looked people were overwhelmed in America. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has lifted a burden from us that goes back 1,429 years to Bilal ibn Rabah (ra) and the freedom he experienced in his faith when he proclaimed أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللهِ;

On the talking point of Divine intervention, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 94: 1-7,

أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ - وَوَضَعْنَا عَنكَ وِزْرَكَ - الَّذِى أَنقَضَ ظَهْرَكَ - وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ - فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً - إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً - فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ - وَإِلَى رَبِّكَ فَارْغَبْ

These great words which Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) planted in the heart of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) have taken on new life and meaning in America and now changed the mindset and makeup of people who came from a past wherein the crime of owning a person and buying and selling them was no different than using animals for domestic purposes. The President Elect wrote in The Audacity of Hope: “I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers’ lobby. But I also believe that when a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we have a problem of morality. Not only do we need to punish that man for his crime, but we need to acknowledge that there’s a hole in his heart, one that government programs alone may not be able to repair.”

On the subject of crime and punishment in the Islamic Community of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ), Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 2:178,

يـأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْقِصَاصُ فِي الْقَتْلَى الْحُرُّ بِالْحُرِّ وَالْعَبْدُ بِالْعَبْدِ وَالاٍّنثَى بِالاٍّنْثَى

On the subject of punishment regarding property rights in the Islamic Community of Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ), Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 5:38,

وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُواْ أَيْدِيَهُمَا

We, the people in America are Muslims, Christians, Jews, all humans should pray for strength to live up to the best that G’d calls us to as scriptural people working to remake the world.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُم

Is There Anything Wrong With Being Muslim in Country?

WITH ALLAH’S NAME, THE MERCIFUL BENEFACTOR, THE MERCIFUL REDEEMER

“Is There Something Wrong With Being Muslim in This Country?”

Documented by Jibril Abdul-Hafeez (جبريل عبدالحفيظ)

E-mail: NewAfrica2@aol.com or new_africa_now@yahoo.com

Friday, October 31, 2008 / Yaum-ul-Jumu’ah, Dhul-Qi’dah 2, 1429

As Salaam ‘Alaykum: We thank Allah, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, we believe and put our complete trust in Him, Mighty and Sublime is He. We witness that there is no G’d but Allah, He alone is without partners, and we witness that Muhammed is His Servant and Messenger, the prayers and peace be on him, on his descendants, his companions, and peace be on Allah’s Messengers (all of them), and what follows after this devout invocation.

Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 22:78,

وَجَـهِدُوا فِى اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَـدِهِ هُوَ اجْتَبَـكُمْ وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكمْ فِى الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ مِّلَّةَ أَبِيكُمْ إِبْرَهِيمَ هُوَ سَمَّـكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِى هَـذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ شَهِيداً عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُواْ شُهَدَآءَ عَلَىالنَّاسِفَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلَوةَ وَءَاتُواْ الزَّكَـوةَ وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِاللَّهِ

جَـهِدُوا a command from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) exerting us to obey His order as He should be obeyed by making the utmost effort (peacefully)! هُوَ اجْتَبَـكُمْ He has chosen you and has not made the religion difficult حَرَجٍ , it is the way of your father Ibrahim ( ﭐﻠﺳﱠﻼﻢ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ), He has named you Muslims before and in this (Qur’an), in order that the Messenger (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ) would be a witness for you and you be a witness for people; and establish Salaat and distribute the Poor rate and hold fast to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى)!

Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) created us to show the world that there is nothing wrong with being Muslim in peaceful obedience to His will. Every soul is Muslim in nature; as we analyze the root literal source for Muslim: ﺳﻠﻢ , what can we learn? ﺳﻠﱠﻢ : he saved; ﺳﻠﱠﻤﻮﺍ : greet, salute! ﺃﺳﻠﻢ : submit; ﺳﻼﻢ : peace, safety, security, immunity, freedom from fault or defects, obedience, heaven, good health, prosperity and a complete way of life; ﺃﻹﺳﻼﻢ : the name of the creed preached by Prophet Muhammed (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ). It is the preaching’s of all prophets in all times. It is a religion of peace, self surrender, submission, resignation to peaceful obedience to the will, service, and the commands of G’d; ﻤﺳﻠﻢ : one who peacefully surrenders his obedience to Allah’s will. This was the nature of the late Corporal Kareem R.S. Khan when he enlisted in the Army in 2005 and offered his life as the ultimate sacrifice dying ( ﺷﻬﻴﺪ ) of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device in Bagubah, Iraq, August 6, 2007. Is there something wrong with being Muslim in this country?

In the Qur’an, 16:120, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

إِنَّ إِبْرَهِيمَ كَانَ أُمَّة

For now, think about Prophet Ibraheem (ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﭐﻠﺴﱠﻼﻢ) is introduced as a metaphor for community and community is defined as: [1] a group of people who live in the same area, [2] a group of people with a common background or with shared interests within society, [3] a group of nations with a common history or common economic or political interests. With this mind look at what Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said in the Qur’an, 2:124

وَإِذِ ابْتَلَى إِبْرَهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَـتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ قَالَ إِنِّى جَـعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا

Prophet Ibraheem (ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﭐﻠﺴﱠﻼﻢ) was tested (ابْتَلَى) with Prophetic words (ﻜﻠﻤﺎﺖ) from His Lord which he fulfilled (ﺃﺗﻢﱠ) and His Lord said to him “I will make you Imaam (إِمَامًا) for the people.” Look up the word “Imaam ( ﺇﻤﺎﻢ )”: prayer leader; leader, president, model; example; any object that is followed whether a human being or a book. Connect the concepts: community (a group of people with shared interests in society); the shared interest for this community is Allah’s word in the Qur’an; think about community as a metaphor for the concept of Imaam (a book that is followed) that every member of this community recites daily as prayer in Al-Islaam; again, think about the Qur’an as a metaphor for the Imaam with the shared interest that we have for community life. The Qur’an gives us a shared interest that we must apply in the best manner, we are made into community by a shared body of knowledge that gives birth to a shared way of thinking and acting in obedience to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) and His Messenger (ﺼﻠﻰ ﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻮ ﺴﻠﻢ).

In the Qur’an, 3:64, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has said,

قُلْ يأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ تَعَالَوْاْ إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَآءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلاَّ نَعْبُدَ إِلاَّ اللَّهَ وَلاَ نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئاً وَلاَ يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَقُولُواْ اشْهَدُواْ بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ

Is there any wrong with living peacefully as an obedience servant of Allah in this country? What are the alternatives?

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُم