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