Khutba on Open Letter to ISIS
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي أكمل للمسلمين دينهم، وجعل قومه لا يخافون من اللائمين لومهم، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع
الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.
This deen of ours is glorious and perfect and there is nothing in it for us to be ashamed about, nothing for us to apologise for. It is the only blueprint for a successful life, all other systems and models fall short. Every instruction, every ruling, every facet is perfectly attuned to the human condition, and it is only when they are all put into place that justice and balance in the world can be realised. It is not in need of reform, it is not in need of modification. It does not need to be brought up to date to fall in line with the values of the modern age. We all know this and we all affirm it at one level – the Quran is the timeless Word of Allah. And yet, and yet, the words and actions of many of our so-called religious leaders and scholars belie this. Whenever they are confronted with extremism and barbarity on the part of some group of the Muslims, such as ISIS, their first response is not, as it should be, to return to the middle ground, the wasat, but rather to go to the opposite extreme in order to avoid being tarred with the same brush. They are worried about appearances and how they will be viewed by the dominant culture of the present day, despite the fact that that culture is based not on the divine but on humanism. In their rush to fit in and be accepted, they deny not just the erroneous interpretations of extremists such as ISIS, but also basic elements of the deen that seem to modern sensibilities to be barbaric and inhumane. They themselves become extremists of another ilk, not mufritin, those who go to excess, but mufarritin, those who fall short.
As an example of this, I would like to take a couple of points from the recent open letter to ISIS, the full version of which can be found at lettertobaghdadi.com. This letter was undersigned by over 100 scholars, many of them apparently reputable and beyond reproach, but its content is most certainly not. It is as if they are scared of being blamed. Now, there is no doubt that the position adopted by ISIS is wrong – it is extremist and kharijite, it takes them outside the main body of the Muslims. Its methodology brings no good and only leads to conflict and harm, and whenever they have reared their ugly head in the past, the Muslims have risen to strike it off. Everything about them runs contrary to the noble deen taught us by the Messenger of Allah and his Companions. They are a blight on the landscape and must be removed, but that does not justify reimagining the deen in order to criticise them and show them to be evil. There is no need for that – their true crimes are enough to condemn them without imagining some nonexistent ones. Let us go through a number of the points in the open letter.
Firstly, jihad: The letter says, “The word ‘jihad’ is an Islamic term that cannot be applied to armed conflict against any other Muslim; this much is a firmly established principle.” This is an untrue statement, and by filling their letter with untrue statements of this kind, they destroy their credibility and render any of the real points they make ineffective. The great scholar of Granada, Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi, says about muharabin, who are Muslims who raise their weapons against other Muslims and seek to rob or harm them, in other words, armed criminals and rebels,
وقتالهم جهاد ومن قتل من المحاربين فدمه هدر ومن قتلوه فهو شهيد
“Fighting against them is jihad. If you kill a muharib, know his blood may be spilt with impunity. If they kill you, you are shahid.” So jihad against another Muslim can be applied to armed conflict with Muslims. And, indeed, the example of the Companions backs that up with Sayyidina Abu Bakr not just fighting those who renounced the deen but also those who simply refused to pay him the zakat.
Then it says, “Jihad in Islam is defensive war.“ And later, “Hence, there is no such thing as offensive, aggressive jihad just because people have different religions or opinions.” This is a complete rewriting of the fiqh and ignoring of history. Did not the Prophet and his Companions wage jihad on the Persians and Byzantines. The purpose behind jihad is i’laa kalimati-llah, raising high the word of Allah. Even when peace reigns and all the borders of the Muslim land are safe, it is still, at the very least, recommended. Although many, such as Shaykh Khalil, considered it to still be obligatory. Ibn Juzayy says,
إذا حميت أطراف البلاد وسدت الثغر سقط فرض الجهاد وبقي نافلة
“When the borders of the land are secure and the gaps [in the defences] are filled, jihad ceases to be obligatory and instead becomes recommended.” It is as if they see the classical correct view of jihad as being somehow reprehensible and blameworthy and in need of reform.
Secondly, slavery. The letter says, “No scholar of Islam disputes that one of Islam’s aims is to abolish slavery.” This claim is a blatant lie. And, in fact, the opposite is true: no scholar of Islam whatsoever says that Islam came to abolish slavery. The Prophet himself owned slaves as did his Companions after his lifetime. Allah says in surat al-Ahzab,
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَحْلَلْنَا لَكَ أَزْوَاجَكَ اللَّاتِي آَتَيْتَ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَمَا مَلَكَتْ يَمِينُكَ مِمَّا أَفَاءَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ
the translation of which is, “O Prophet! We have made halal for you: your wives to whom you have given dowries and any slavegirls you own from the booty Allah has allotted you.” And, according to the majority of scholars, at least one of them, Maariya al-Qibtiya, the mother of his son Ibrahim, remained a slave until his death.
The letter then goes on to say about slavery, addressing the leadership of ISIS, “You have resuscitated something that the Shari’ah has worked tirelessly to undo and has been considered forbidden by consensus for over a century.” The word they use for forbidden here is muharram or haram, and it is only Allah who can rule something as haram. We cannot do that ourselves. Allah even warns us against this, saying,
يَأَيُّهَا الذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تُحَرِّمُواْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا أَحَلَّ اللهُ لَكُمْ
the translation of which is, “O you who believe, do not make haram those tayyibaat/good things that Allah has made halal for you.” Something automatically becomes tayyib/good by being made halal for us. There is not even a dislike in owning a slave, although it is strongly recommended and a source of great reward to set them free. This so-called consensus had nothing to do with the people of knowledge of the deen, it is not even referring to a consensus of Muslim leaders, it refers to secular nation-states and arose simply as a result of the political realities of the day where the strongest military powers of the time were able to impose their values and their milla on everyone else. Needless to say, their milla was not Islam.
And by saying that the Shariah has worked tirelessly to undo the institution of slavery and only finally succeeded 100 years ago, they are in effect saying that the deen of Allah was not completed at the death of the Prophet, but only reached its final exalted form 100 years ago when enlightenment finally reached the Muslim lands. This is a shocking slight against the Messenger of Allah and a complete contradiction of the words of Allah revealed during the hajj al-wada,
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ
the translation of which is, “Today, I have completed your deen for you.” How any scholar can make such a claim beggars belief. These are a couple of the major points in the letter, but there are others including its claim that there must be consensus among the Muslims to establish caliphate, a claim that makes the present or future establishment of caliphate a practical impossibility. The entire tone of the letter is apologetic, not just for the excesses of ISIS, but for the rulings of Islam as a whole. It is as if it is saying, “These things that are barbaric in our deen according to your values, we declare ourselves free of them. We wash our hands not just of ISIS, but of anything in the deen that goes against your doctrine of human rights. Don’t worry, our version of Islam is not a threat to you and conforms in every way to humanist values. Those unsavoury elements are consigned to the annals of history and have no place in the modern-day world.” This is the essential message of the letter for anyone capable of reading between the lines.
Well, we have something to say to those who put their name to this letter. Islam is not a pick-and-mix stall where we take the bits that suit us and leave the rest – that is the road taken by the Jews and the Christians before us and is the swiftest way to losing the favour and support of our Lord. Allah says to the Jews in surat al-Baqara,
أَفَتُومِنُونَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتَابِ وَتَكْفُرُونَ بِبَعْضٍ فَمَا جَزَاءُ مَنْ يَفْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مِنكُمُ إِلَّا خِزْيٌ فِي الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنيَا وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَى أَشَدِّ الْعَذَابِ
the translation of which is, “Do you, then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other? What repayment will there be for any of you who do that except disgrace in the dunya? And on the Day of Rising, they will be returned to the harshest of punishments.”
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ.
الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته. قال الله تعالى في كتابه الكريم يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ
Allah says in Noble Book, the translation of which is, “O you who believe, if any of you renounce your deen, Allah will bring forward a people whom He loves and who love Him, humble to the muminun, fierce to the kafirun, who do jihad in the Way of Allah and do not fear the blame of any censurer.”
Leaving behind a part of the deen is the same as leaving behind the whole of the deen, and so is a form of irtidaad or ridda. And as soon as such a condition becomes dominant amongst a people, Allah replaces them with another. In this aya, Allah lists the qualities that that people will have, and so it follows that it is those qualities that protect them from ridda and those qualities which are lacking among the people who succumb to it.
The first is love of Allah. Love of Allah is demonstrated by one thing, and that is the following of His Messenger. Otherwise it is a false and empty form of love. Allah says, addressing His Prophet,
قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي
the translation of which is, “Say, if you love Allah, follow me.” ‘Walk in my footsteps, do as you see me do, take on my Sunna, and the Sunna of the rightly-guided khalifs after me, for their sunna is a continuation of my own, and do not stray from it. And put it into practice and do not discard any part of it as being unsuitable, for that is tantamount to abandoning it.’ That is what following the sunna means.
The second is gentleness to the believers, acting humbly with them. We do not treat them harshly or bring harm to them, except when there is no other course of action available. We greet with a smile and overlook their faults, and keep them hidden and secret. We raise them up, as Yusuf did with his parents and brothers, not humiliate them and grind them into the ground. We defend them and protect them with our every breath. Ibn Sirin said,
إذا بلغَكَ عن أخيك شيءٌ فالتمِسْ له عُذرا، فإن لم تجدْ فقل: لعلَّ له عُذرا لاأعرِفُه
“If you hear something about your brother, make some sort of excuse for him. If you are unable to find an excuse, then say to yourself, ‘Perhaps he has an excuse that I do not know about.’” It is by such treatment that the seeds of brotherhood are kept watered and the bonds that link us are strengthened and tightened. This quality is clearly lacking in those affiliated to ISIS.
As for harshness and ferocity, that quality must be reserved for kufr and the unbelievers. There can be no compromise when it comes to the outright rejection of Allah, and no acceptance of any of their practices. We cannot stand there and smile and ingratiate ourselves with people who openly disobey Allah as if that is nothing. Allah says,
وَلَا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ
the translation of which is, “He is not pleased with kufr in His slaves.” We cannot act as if kufr is nothing, as if it does not matter. And we most certainly cannot try and make our deen fit in comfortably with its milla, kowtow to them and apologise for and explain away certain of our Lord’s Commands. We must be firm and implacable towards the unbelievers, but flexible and understanding of our Muslim brothers. This is the quality of a people who are successful.
The final characteristic Allah mentions in the ayat is that they do not fear the blame of any blamer, the criticism of any one who criticises. There are two important things we get from this. Firstly, a lack of fear. We do not let imagined possible future outcomes prevent us from doing what needs to be done. We do not fret and worry about how others will perceive us if we continue along a particular course of action, rather we only worry about whether it is acceptable to Allah. What others say about us is immaterial – we are not here to please them, we are here to please Allah. We cannot leave aside some necessary obligatory aspect of the deen because it will lead to negative PR, or publicly renounce some other aspect because it will bring us positive PR. The only lawm, the only displeasure, that we should be worried about is that of Allah.
The second thing that this aya shows us is that following the path of Allah will inevitably lead to people blaming you and speaking out against you, will inevitably make you enemies. We are not here to please everyone. If someone has no enemies and everyone universally praises him and has nothing bad to say of him, even the enemies of Allah, then that is an indication that the path he has taken is not the right one, that there is something missing. Look at the Prophet, the man who was recognised and respected by all his peers, Muslim or non-Muslim, as having the best character of his people. And yet the unbelievers of Quraysh criticised him at every turn, calling him liar, calling him mad, calling him bewitcher and soothsayer. Falsehood cannot abide truth. And that is especially true in a time such as today, when those who reject Allah far outnumber those who accept Him, and control most of the channels of media. If you see so-called Muslim scholars being lauded by the enemies of Allah, or given a free pass, then be wary of them. A man is judged by his enemies, just as he is judged by his friends and companions. The true deen of Allah will never find acceptance with the unbelievers, and those who call to it will never be left uncriticised. Use your discrimination and do not be deceived.
We ask Allah to make us those people whom He loves and who love Him, who are gentle with the believers and fierce towards the unbelievers, and who do not fear any criticism. We ask Him to enable us to put the Sunna of His Messenger into practice, and do what needs to be done in this age. We ask Him for victory and His continued support, to us and to all those Muslims who are struggled and fighting in His way in these difficult times.
إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.
رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.