Should Muslims Vote in Secular Elections?

4:65  Verily No!  By Your Lord, they will not believe until they make you the judge between them in all legal disputes and do not strive against legal decisions, but accept them fully, without reservation.

The Khawarij used to Ayat to support their contention that Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RAA) was an apostate for accepting an arbitrated agreement despite another ayat making Sulh fard.

3:159  It was by the mercy of Allah that you were lenient with them (O Muhammad), for if you had been stern and fierce of heart they would have dispersed from round about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult with them upon the conduct of affairs. And when you art resolved, then put your trust in Allah. Lo! Allah loveth those who put their trust (in Him).

42:38 And those who respond to their Lord, keep up prayer, who consult among themselves, and who give out (to the poor) part of what we have given them.  

The Harikat at Islamiyy and the Salafiyya also use this Ayat to support their contention Muslims should not participate in the civic affairs or political affairs of non-Muslim nations.  

During the Arab Spring, the Salafiyya issued fatawa and gave khutabaa' using this ayah and the ayah ordering Muslims to obey Allah, His Rasul, and wa uuliy l'amri minkum to support the idea that Muslims should not rebel against any government, even if the government is oppressive and unjust.  

4:59  O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and more seemly in the end.

We have addressed the true meaning of this ayat elsewhere, but suffice it to say here that this ayat is not talking about some human-developed political structure, but the Law or Shariah, and its interpretation.  Just because the president for life has a "Muslim" name does not mean that he is above the law and should be obeyed without question or opposition.  Nor does it mean that we should not participate in civic life if the president does not have a "Muslim" name.

The ayat above tells us to obey Allah and His Rasul, so let us take a look at the Sunnah of the Rasul to see how he dealt with non-Muslim governments.  When we examine the time the Prophet spent in Makkah before the Hijrah, we notice that he tried to talk to and reason with the leadership.  He did not obey them if they ordered him to do anything prohibited by Allah, including abandoning tawhid or worshiping the idols of the Quraish.  However, he did order Muslims to generally obey and respect parents and elders, to treat others well, to care for kith and kin, and to carry on trade and other civic activities.  He did not tell the Muslims to boycott or refuse to deal with non-Muslims.  He taught us to cheat everyone well and to do so equally.

Finally, the prosecution in Makkah became to great.  The first place the Muslims emigrated to was Ethiopia.  So what was special about Ethiopia?  Ethiopia or Habasha was, at that time, ruled by a righteous, just and religious king, the Negus.  The Negus was a coptic Christian, who ruled according to Christian teachings and law.  And the Prophet SAW recognized that because he was just and was someone who "practiced what he preached" as we say, that the Muslims would be treated fairly and justly in his land.

The Prophet also maintained good relations with another coptic Christian leader, the Maqaaqis or Prelate of Egypt.  Apparently, the relationship was good and the Maqaaqis even sent the Prophet gifts.

The greatest evidence of the Sunnah of civic engagement, however, come from the Dustur al Madina, the Contract or Constitution of Madina, between the Muslims, the pagan arabs of the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, and the tribes of the Bani Israel, the Bani Nadhir, the Bani Quraizah and the Bani Qanuqa'a.  They came to a mutual agreement among them to abide by the Dustur, and to judge among the people according to an agreed method.  The Dustur recognized a civil authority for judgment of disputes among people of the different groups.  The judge in this case was Rasulallah SAW.  Then, if the dispute was between two people of the same group, the Dustur recognized that the dispute would be adjudicated by the law of that group.  So, a dispute between two Jews would be decided by a Jewish judge according to Jewish Halaqah law.  This was Allah's way of handling diversity and handling the need for unified governance when the community contained various ethnic and religious subdivisions.

The next question we could ask here is how did this diverse community reach this agreement?  How did they choose to have the Prophet SAW be the civil judge?  They agreed to it in shura'.  They came together, they talked, they discussed, they voted.  That is how the tribes of Arabia decided matters in those days, by shura'.

Elsewhere we have discussed Islamic shura' or consensus government, and its superiority over majoritarian democracy.  Certainly, consensus is more inclusive and provides a viable solution to the problems we face in the United States, with a 50/50 split.  Majoritarianism might work if there is a clear majority, although its fairness is still questionable.  But majoritarianism completely fails where the two sides are equal.  Too many are being turned away from the table.  American bipartisan majoritarianism is no longer working.

Drumpf v. Rodham

Any Muslim who is able to vote and does not vote in this 2016 election for the United States President, should immediately go home.  Those who argue that Muslims should not participate in the non-Muslim government of the United States should ask themselves why they are here.  If you are here for the money, go home.  Those of us who are born here and do not have anywhere else to "return" to, do not need you.  You are taking jobs from us; you are taking resources from us; you are taking tax dollars from us.  Go home!  If you do not like the form of government or think that it is haram to participate, then it is just as haram to be here.  

Many of the Salafiyya argue this way.  They then claim to be doing dawa.  What dawa?  Many are living on public charity, on food stamps and other public benefits, or on wives they cannot afford to support.  I know one individual who had two wives who were supporting him, because he was "doing dawa."  He seemed to have conveniently forgotten the actual Book of Allah and the Sunnah that requires men to support women, and not vice versa.  Qawamun al Nisaa' is only because we men pay the bills.  If they pay the bills, .... 

Of course, the next issue is who to vote for.  Voting is a voluntary act.  However, this year we have someone who has made it clear that he supports violence towards Muslims.  It is not clear that the other candidate will be any better.  However, support for Drumpf - his actual last name before the family Anglicized it - is support for Islamophobia, violence against immigrants, bigotry, racism, fascism, and Russian hegemony in the world.  Consider who is currently supporting Bashar al-Assad. How can a Muslim support an amoral person who supports Vladimir Putin, even if he is a closet Tartar, and the regime of Bashar al-Assad.  

Hillary Rodham is not the best alternative, Jill Stein may be, but Hillary is a known quantity.  Her team will be the people who worked for Bill Clinton or Barack Obama.  That said, both had problematic policies in regard to the Middle East.  However, at least there is a hope for peace if Ms. Rodham can be convinced to pull out support for al-Assad and do what really needs to be done to stop the fighting - naming the complete and total ban of all weapons in the region and a blockade to achieve that.  This action combined with the institution of Qisas as required in such cases by Allah, will stop the fighting.  It stopped the Aws and Khazraj in their tracks.  When you have to, as leader, pick the person who will be killed and then look your own loved one in the eye when you kill them, Qisas is a total solution to violent tribal warfare.  And we should not be mistaken, the nonsense going on throughout that region is nothing more than high tech tribal infighting - ancient, childish and stupid.

Beyond the Vote

So, yes we should vote, we should vote for somebody.  And we should take our own polls and our own statistics showing the power of our vote as Muslims.  We need to show the American politicians that our votes matter.  We have never done that.  Yes we invite them to mosques and they come and give speeches, but we have never really shown them poll numbers.  

And our involvement cannot end with the election.  We must put pressure on politicians and government officials to pursue policies that are of benefit to Muslims, particularly in the Middle East. We have tried to influence State Department policy on Syria, but we have failed.  If we can demonstrate our political power this election, then we will have the power to shape policy.  How do you think the Jewish lobby got so powerful - votes and money.  How did the Gay community get recognition of same-sex marriage - votes and money.  So what are we doing?  Talk, talk, talk...  Talk is cheap.  

If we are not prepared to participate in civic life in the America, we need to go home.  Otherwise, if we continue as we have, they - all the other Americans - will send us home.  And since some of Drumpf's supporters are violent and have already planned for an after election attack on immigrants and Muslims ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/militia-terror-plot-fbi-kansas_us_58014995e4b0162c043c1e90), some of us may be sent home in a box.

THE MEMORY OF UTOYA

In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik unleashed his horrific rampage as the Labour Party’s youth wing were at a summer camp on Utoya island.

“Hundreds of youths were chased around on this little island. Many were injured for life, 69 never made it,” Mani Hussaini, Leader of the Labour Party Youth Wing, said at the service.

“The reason we are here today, should never have happened. Nobody should be killed for what they believe in. The loss and the sorrow is there all the time and for many, that is felt extra strong today.”

http://www.euronews.com/2016/07/23/remembering-the-victims-of-the-utoya-massacre-five-years-on

Donald Trump and the New Fascists

When Donald Trump first declared his intention to run for the Presidency of the United States, many did not take it seriously.  At the time, those running for the Republican nomination where “the usual suspects:”  Chris Christy, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich.  The potential nominees represented to two poles of the Republican party;  the fiscal and social conservatives, and the Tea Party.  However, there was one other candidate, Jeb Bush.  While Bush would seem to represent the conservatives, he also had many enemies in that camp.  He also had enemies in the Tea Party camp.  The Bush family and their self-centered policies have not been good for America.  Under both George the First and George the Second, the stock market collapsed, and it took a Democratic president to rebuild it.  We have still not recovered from the mortgage debt crisis of George W. 

So we entered the political season with the Republican Party agreeing on only one thing.  It did not want another Bush in the White House.  Neither side wanted economic disaster.  The conservative wing represents big business.  The only big business that did well under the Bushes are those associated with the family, particularly Haliburton.  The Tea Party is dominated by franchise owning, small business people, who also suffered greatly under the Bush administration.  They are the ones that lost their homes when they went underwater.  And since their businesses are mostly service oriented, when their clients also lost everything, they lost their businesses. 

Into this atmosphere of anti-Bush sentiment, stepped Donald Trump.  At first, I thought his sole purpose was to drive Bush out of the race early.  And at first, he led an effort to defeat Bush.  But when Bush dropped out, Trump stayed in.  By that time, the media had lavished attention on him and turned him into the spokesperson for white angst.  He appealed even more to the Tea Party constituency, than the Tea Party itself.  The fact that Cruz lost to Trump, shows that the Tea Party has lost its support.  The franchise owning, trust fund babies, who own small service business found their voice in Trump.

It is telling that Sarah Palin, the former poster child of the Tea Party, was banned from speaking at the Republican Convention, by the Trump crew.  The Tea Party has been usurped.  It may have represented a “grass roots” movement amongst the upper middle class.  But it has been hijacked by a megalomaniac. 

Megalomaniacs taking over middle class parties – it has happened before… in Nazi Germany.  The Nazionale Socialist Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NAZI) was taken over by Adolf Hitler.    

However, unlike Hitler, Trump has no other agenda than taking power. 

It is easy to see the appeal Trump has for the Tea Party crowd.  His Art of the Deal book has sold around 200,000 copies.  And, his personae is well known.  For the small business men and women who started their business with daddy’s money, and consider themselves “hard working,” he is their poster boy.  He started his business career with $1 million of daddy’s money, and his tireless self-promotion has fooled everyone into thinking he is successful. He has endured four bankruptcies.  Many of his followers have a bankruptcy or two under their belts.  They too have failed marriages and a string of spoiled, afluenza kids.  Yes, they are “hard working” but mostly at self promotion in the local business and political circles.

Like Trump, his followers rely on managers and minions to do the actual work of running their lives.  They are “dreamers,”  “deal artists;”  not the real doers.  They are not capable of dealing with the details.

And, so would Trump run this country.  He shouts that he will make America Safe, America Great Again.  How?  He will fight ISIS but will not send troops overseas.  He has threatened to pull out support for South Korea, Japan and NATO.  So who are we going to trade with to become great again?  The list of promises and catch phrases grows, but no details.

And there is no indication of a team of managers and minions who would do the actual work.  Who is going to run the agencies, create programs, draft legislation?

Ah, there’s the rub.  Legislation.  Trump forgets we are a democracy, a representative republic.  We have three branches of government – legislative, judicial and executive.  The executive’s role is to enforce the law made by the legislature.  It is the legislature that makes the law.  The judiciary then sees that the legislation and acts of the executive do not transgress the bounds set by our constitution. 

So how is Trump going to do all that he shouts?  The Congress, our legislature is divided.  And not all Republicans will back his plans.  And even if they do, should a back lash occur, he will lose the majority in Congress.

Populism will get you far in this country, but at some point you have to act and not just talk.  If Trump fails to do what he shouts, he will fall hard.

The Danger of Trump

Trump poses a danger for other reasons.  He poses a huge social danger.  His strident rhetoric and racists comments have infected the nation.  Over the course of my some fifty years on this earth, I have seen America take great stride towards tolerance and inclusion.  That entire legacy has been destroyed in less than a year.  Racial, religious and ethnic intolerance reigns now.  It’s ok to say anything about anybody, and to harbor violent designs against anyone.  The civil society is breaking around us.

We have all noted the rise in gun violence recently.  Trump’s “say anything you want with no consequences” attitude has led many to believe that it is ok to kill anyone you don’t agree with.  Acts of violence against Hispanics, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and Blacks, both African and American, have increased dramatically.  So have spree killings.  From workplace violence to attacks in schools, we have seen too many shooters. 

I am all for the constitution and the second amendment, but why do we need to be able to get assault rifles?  What man needs an assault rifle to kill Bambi?  If you need a semi-automatic anything to kill an animal, then you are not really a man.  I agree with Ernest Hemingway.  It’s not sporting.  My father was an expert marksman in the Marine Corps.  He could shoot a bird flying, while he was running.  He taught me to shoot, but he also taught me to despise guns.  They have only one purpose, to kill other people.  Our ancestors did not need guns to hunt.  They used arrows, spears and atlatles.  Guns are only designed to kill people. 

But even if we allow the people to bear arms, must we allow all people to do so?  Why must we allow known criminals, listed terrorists, and people with mental health histories to own and keep weapons?  Why would the NRA not support screening?  We have to pass tests to license drivers?  Why not guns? 

Clearly, Trump has already succeeded in emboldening people with anti-social and psychotic issues.  In all the recent shootings, the shooter legal purchased the guns.  The only thing missing was a belief that it was ok to act on your impulses.  Trump gave them the green light. 

However, the blame is not just on Trump.  The American media has fawned all over Trump.  They emboldened him.  They have led Americans to believe that you can act on impulse, so or say whatever, be totally uncivil, and that there are no consequences for such behavior.  We will make you famous.  We will reward you for your actions. 

It started with Reality TV.  We rewarded people for anti-social and uncivil behavior.  We told people that it’s not only ok, it rewardable to hurt others, to cheat, to steal, to do anything to get ahead, and to be shamelessly selfish.  Trump is the king of Reality TV. 

Now we Reality Politics.  But unlike the Reality TV world that is really fantasy, this Reality Politics affects real people in the real global world.  People are going to actually suffer, and die, because of foolish policies.

Trump is dangerous for the world.  His fantasy will create suffering on a global scale, and no one will suffer more than middle income to poor Americans.  

Trump Fascism

What is Fascism?  Democracy espouses a government by and for the people.  True, we have sometimes restricted who the “people” are, but in concept, the people all have a voice.  Majoritarian democracies, like America, hold that the majority gets to rule.  In America, that is not leading to problems.  The minority is not small – it’s half the population.  Polls keep showing that on almost any issue, the nature is divided nearly half and half. 

Communism also espouses rule of the people –despite its actual application in the real world.  However, communism has a different economic model.  Democracy in the West has long been associated with Capitalism.  Capitalism is not just private enterprise.  It also espouses capital accumulation – hoarding of wealth; and the generation of wealth through passive means – through interest.  We talk about making our money work for us, but in fact, the money is not worked for – its passively rewarded for allowing the money to sit in a bank.  That money is then loaned out to others to generate more money, so that both the bank and the party who let it set get some return.  But it is not directly invested.

Communism has long been linked to state ownership of wealth – Communist economics.  There is no private ownership. All wealth is pooled – supposedly.  However, while this model may have been utilized at the micro level, among tribal members or in small villages, it has never worked on a macro scale.  All Communist countries ended up with wealth falling into the hands of the few people at the top.  In fact, these countries were really totalitarian.

Fascism is also totalitarian, but Capitalistic.  True, there is a great deal of state ownership under fascism, but the state also encourages capitalist investors.  And the economy is based on hoarding of capital, mostly by the people who are on top.  In Fascism, the leaders dominate everything, both politically and economically, and they court the capitalists to buttress their regimes.  Communism has imposed totalitarianism, with repression of dissent and oppression of the populace.  Everyone other than the ruling elite, is equally poor.  Fascism imposes totalitarianism by coddling the elites in luxury they “deserve”, using “divide and conquer” tactics, creating fear of “the other,” and repressing any dissent.  Fascism encourages violence, intolerance and hate. 

Trump is a classic fascist.  His elite faction “deserves” luxury and privilege.  They work “hard,” after all.  Forget the fact that all the immigrants in this country work harder, doing jobs that the elites would never stoop to doing.  How many Trump supporters pick grapes, work in warehouses, or even clean out the grease in the fryers in the fast food franchises they own?

I once worked a job stuffing used shoes in burlap bags, so they could be sent overseas to poor people with no shoes.  Each bag weighed at least 50 lbs.  We worked 8 hours with a ½ hour break for lunch.  It wore me out after two days.  But there are people that do that everyday… .  No body is going to hand them $1 million to start a business.  They have to really work for every dime they make.

Utoya

Unfortunately, Trump has unleashed an ugly part of the human psyche.  Satan loves to prick us to hate.  He is very successful these days.  Da’esh is spreading hate of Islam across the globe, and our foolish youth are falling for it because we adult Muslims have failed to pass on Islam.  Some of us taught our kids to pray and make wudu, but little else.  They are not capable of thinking like Muslims.  So they fall prey to the same incivility as their millennial peers – selfish, self-centered, fantasy worlders – zombies.  Cradling their iPhones, and texting meaningless nonsense to a legion of names, with no substance behind them.  You can be anything on line – you can be successful, brilliant, all that you are not.  And you do not need to try to be anything in reality.  And Da’esh offers you a place to be somebody when you are nobody back in France or Belgium, or the US.  If you are a failure in the reality, you can do one thing well – killing people.  And its easy, all you need is a gun. 

Trump and Da’esh have the same father – Shaytan.  Both feed the heads of our youth with delusions, and catch phrases.  And both lead people who are falling through the cracks to believe that you can be successful by being violent and spewing hate. 

Jesus AS may have gotten angry at the money changers in the temple – long story that – seems the Jewish establishment considered secular Roman money to be haram or impure, so you had to change your money to pure “religious” money, so you could buy your zabiha for slaughter in the temple.  It also removed any sinful taint from the earnings, including riba.  Anyway, Jesus realized the Jewish establishment was making money on this, because they controlled the exchange rate.  But the point is, he did not kill anyone.

Muhammad SAW had good reason to be upset at the Quraish, who had tortured and killed his followers.  But, his Fatah Makkah, victory entrance into Makkah, was nearly bloodless.  The individuals that dies where only ones that directly attacked groups of Muslims.  Against prevailing custom of the day, all other residents, regardless of tribe or religion, were granted safety.

This genie will not willing go back in the bottle.  I am not hopeful that our society will become more civil, tolerant and loving.  And where America goes, the rest of the world follows.  Social media sends our culture everywhere.  Only deep spiritual change will bring about a better world. 

When will we have enough of this hate? 

On a week that saw a killing spree in Germany on the anniversary of Utoya in Norway, we see starkly the face of this hate.  An immigrant boy, filled with self hate, so identified with the elitist fascistic ideology, that he butchered fellow immigrants, children, innocent children, in a wild fantasy of purification. 

How many Utoyas will we face in America, if Trump wins the day?

When will we have enough of this hate?

Fasting: The Pathway to Taqwa

FASTING IS PRESCRIBED ON YOU

Allah SWT says in the Qur’an a;-Hakim

2:183  O ye who believe! fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that ye obtain taqwa. 

Imam Bukhaari has recorded:

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." (Imam Bukhari) ...

Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:"... whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Imam Bukhari).

[Narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah]

The Messenger of Allah (saw) addressed his companions on the last day of Sha`ban, saying, "Oh people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which is a night better than a thousand months; month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer (to Allah) by performing any of the (optional) good deeds in (this month) shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time, and whoever discharges an obligatory deed in (this month) shall receive the reward of performing seventy obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity, and a month in which a believer's sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast, shall have his sins forgiven, and he will be saved from the Fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all."

Ramadan Mubarak!!!!  We have entered the most blessed month, the month in which the Qur’an was revealed, the month with a night worth a thousand months.

"Indeed We have revealed it (Qur'an) in the night of Power. And what will explain to you what the night of Power is? The night of Power is better than a thousand months. Therein descends the Angels and the Spirit (Jibreel) by Allah's permission, on every errand: (they say) "Peace" (continuously) till the rise of Morning!" (Q 97:1-5)

The third pillar of this deen of Islam is fasting.  Why has Allah prescribed fasting for us?  He has done so consistantly.  All major religions prescribe fasting. The Jews fast for Yom Kippur and the High Holy Days, Christians fast for Lent, and Hindus and Buddhists also fast.  

Allah Himself tells us that He has prescribed fasting so that we may be of those with taqwa, so that we may acquire piety and an unshakable faith in Him.

Taqwa is an illusive word, difficult to translate. 

49:13 O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in taqwa. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware. Q 49:13)

Most scholars say taqwa comes from T-Q-W indicating to protect oneself.  Certain acquiring this trait will protect us from the Hell Fire.  Some have translated it as fear, but it is not fear of Allah as in Khashiyah Allah, nor is it the fear or apprehension we may have in hayyat al duniyah.  It is not like apprehension and nervousness we feel if we think the boss will fire us, for example.  And it is not the awe and quaking we might feel before a great personage or magnificent scene in nature.  That is more khashiyah.

Taqwa is more powerful.  It is that feeling in the pit of stomach, that catching in the throat, that utter sense of inevitability when we are faced with our death.  And at that moment, we cling, we grasp, as if we are grasping our mothers.  We hang on for dear life. 

Contained within this word is Q-W-Y – the root of strength, Al-Qawi is one of the Names of Allah.  We grasp al-Qawi with all of our might and main.

 

2:256 There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower.

How does sawm increase our taqwa?

First, there are three levels of fasting;  physical fasting, mental fasting and spiritual fasting. 

Physical fasting – abstaining from food, drink and sex during the day light hours, increases taqwa by reminding us who is our Rabb – our Lord, our Benefactor, our Provider of all Provision and Sustainence – Allah SWT.

We become more grateful for all we have – our food, our drink, our families, our jobs.  Through understanding from whom our life stems, we can but cling closer to Him, fearing He will no longer support us, and hoping that He will.  Through our fear and hope, we cling ever tighter to our Allah.

Mental fasting – abstaining from negative thoughts and especially, their expression in speech, refraining from backbiting, slander, complaining, and negativity increases our taqwa by reminding us Allah is Al-Rahman Al-Rahim.  Allah is so merciful to us, so not only should we be grateful to Him and not complain about the state He has put us in, but we should be merciful to others.  Backbiting, slander and complaining and blaming others reveal our own lack of mercy. 

Yes, Islam obligates us to strive against oppression and to be just.  However, Islam also prohibits us from fitnah in the community and among ourselves.  Too many of us scream for what we think are our rights, but we do not always treat others fairly ourselves. 

The problem is our nafs.  We cry "Nafsi, Nafsi," and thereby we act selfishly and do not think about others.   While it is important to validate our own feelings, we also need to validate and not minimize those of others.  We need to inculcate empathy and respect for one another.  During Ramadan let us fast from our own nafs, and think only of Allah SWT and His Creation, our fellow human beings. 

Imam Malik narrates:   One day when Umar went in to visit AbuBakr as-Siddiq and found him pulling his tongue, he said, "Stop! Allah forgive you!" AbuBakr replied to him, "This has brought me down to dangerous places."

Imam al-Bukhaari narrates:   Some people asked Allah's Apostle (Sal-allahu-aleihi-wassallam), "Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?" He replied, "One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands."

The month of Ramadan affords us a time to train our nafs.  The Qur'an describes three stages of the nafs.  The first is nafsul ammarah bi suu', or the nafs that commands to evil. This is the nafs, untrained and unrestrained.  It is selfish, and concerned only with satisfying its every whim.  And not just physical pleasures, but also mental ones as well.  Many people controlled by their desires for things of this world, food, money, luxury goods, status, control, power, - all of these become obsessions.  In our increasingly atheistic world, people have lost their ability to control themselves.  They have become slaves to every passion.  

During Ramadan we can begin to train our nafs to exercise self-control and self-discipline.  We begin with control over the physical desires such as the desire for food, drink and sex.  After the first week, we find that we no longer feel so thirsty or hungry. Once the physical appetites are under control, we move on the mental ones.  

During the second week we can focus on our thoughts and speech.  We can concentrate on negative thoughts and signs of fitnah in our communities.  We must be vigilant against backbiting.  This is especially important since during Ramadan, many people return to the mosque or come for the first time in their lives.  Many love to backbite such people, thinking themselves to be superior. But we must remember, that this sin of kibriyya is the sin of Shaytan - "I'm better than him."  So, now during Ramadan, we remind ourselves of our brotherhood, and learn to control our mental and verbal expressions.

During this second week, we develop nafsu lawwamah, the soul that reproaches or rebukes itself.  This is the soul that is self-critical.  It begins to act as a "conscience" and learns what is truly beneficial and what is truly harmful to mankind.  

Spiritual Fasting – abstaining from anything other than the dhikr of Allah SWT and seeking only His Pleasure increased our taqwa by pointing out to us how often we focus on things other than Allah, and reminding us that the only thing worthy of worship, of ulluhiyyah, is Allah. 

During the third week of Ramadan, after we have gained control over our physical and mental desires, we focus our attention on developing nafs al-mutmayyinah, the soul that is at peace, contented.  During the third week of Ramadan, we have become used to fasting, and we have spent our nights in prayer in Tarawih.  We have enjoyed hearing the Qur'an, and we may now even hear this blessed message from Allah in our dreams.  Now we become more peaceful and cleansed in the body, mind and soul.  We end our beloved month in the best state from which to re-enter the hayyat al duniyya, the life of this world with the strength to strive on this path for a whole other year.

And our souls can only gain this contentment if they are focused on their true objective, Allah SWT, in tawhid.

Tawhid is of three branches:  Tawhid al-Ulluhiyyah, Tawhid al-Ruboobiyyah, wa Tawhid al-Asma’ wa Sifaat.  Ulluhiyyah refers to the fact that Allah SWT alone is worthy of worship.  Ruboobiyyah refers to the fact that Allah SWT is the sole source of our support, He is our Creator and Preserver.  Asma’ wa Sifaat refers to His names and characteristics that He himself has mentioned to us.  When we fast from all but remembrance of Allah, we focus on Tawhid, and realize all that we do over the course of the year that violates this tawhid.  In doing so, we grasp tighter to that secure handhold to Allah, the only handhold that will not break. 

May Allah SWT give us the tawfiq to have a successful fast this year.  And may Allah SWT forgive all our sins.

Indigenousity

HUMAN EVOLUTION

91:1. By the Sun
And his (glorious) splendour;
2. By the Moon
As she follows him;
3. By the Day as it
Shows up (the Sun's) glory;
4. By the Night as it
Conceals it;
5. By the Firmament
And its (wonderful) structure;
6. By the Earth
And its (wide) expanse;
7. By the Soul,
And the proportion and order
Given to it;
8. And its enlightenment
As to its wrong
And its right;—
9. Truly he succeeds
That purifies it,
10. And he fails
That corrupts it!

No thoughtful, intelligent person can deny that materialistic consumerism and its underlying philosophy of human dominion and control, is destroying our earth, our air, our water, and our souls.  We are in grave danger of global system failure.  We are in grave danger of failing because we have fallen into imbalance and corruption.

The Tea Party and other brainwashed people, who run away from reality and live in a world of their own making may deny global climate change.  But denial does not make a problem go away.  How can they deny the fact that people in island nations in the Pacific are being forced to uproot whole communities, established perhaps thousands of years ago, and move to Australia, in order to survive. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/kiribati/9127576/Entire-nation-of-Kiribati-to-be-relocated-over-rising-sea-level-threat.html)

Ignorance is bliss - so the saying goes - but in fact, it is not bliss.  It is down right dangerous.

How did our social order get so unbalanced?

حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَالِمٍ الْحِمْصِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ زِيَادٍ الأَلْهَانِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِي أُمَامَةَ الْبَاهِلِيِّ،، قَالَ ـ وَرَأَى سِكَّةً وَشَيْئًا مِنْ آلَةِ الْحَرْثِ، فَقَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏ "‏ لاَ يَدْخُلُ هَذَا بَيْتَ قَوْمٍ إِلاَّ أُدْخِلَهُ الذُّلُّ ‏"‏‏.‏

قَالَ أَبُو عَبْد اللَّهِ وَاسْمُ أَبِي أُمَامَةَ صُدَيُّ بْنُ عَجْلَانَ

Narrated Abu Umama al-Bahili:

I saw some agricultural equipment and said: "I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying: "There is no house in which these equipment enters except that Allah will cause humiliation to enter it."

(http://sunnah.com/bukhari/41)

I remember reading this rather odd hadith years ago.  What does it mean?  The Bible relates the story of Cabel and Abel with some variations we do not find in the Qur'an.  In the Bible, Abel is said to have made a sacrifice to Allah of a sheep, while Cabel sacrificed some grain.  Allah accepted Abel's sacrifice. While the Qur'an focuses on the intentions and sincerity of the two in making their sacrifices, the Bible focuses on the comparison between pastoralism vs agriculturalism.  The Jews were originally pastoral, raising sheep and goats. They looked down upon settled agricultural people.

The same prejudice against agricultural peoples can be found among the Aaraab or Bedouin people.  The Quraish used to send their children out to live in the desert with the Badu so they could learn manners, culture, language and the pure Arab ethos.  The Prophet SAW was also raised in this manner.  The Quraish felt that settled life in towns and cities had a corrupting influence.  

Allah seems to have also supported this notion that agriculture is a corrupting influence.  However, for Allah, this is not a matter of prejudice.  He is all knowing and has far greater understanding of such matters than do we.  And in his understanding, He advises us sincerely and sends us guidance.  

We know that humanity is born on fitrah, the innate knowledge of good and bad. Even the earliest peoples understand right from wrong.  In the movie, "The gods Must Be Crazy,"  Xi and his family of !Kung Bushmen live in a society where everyone is equal and they share all that they have.  One day a Coke bottle falls from an airplane.  The people find all kinds of uses for it, but there is only one bottle.  Suddenly, the people begin to want to keep it and they begin to fight over it, until someone hits another with it.  They realize this is a bad thing, and decide to have Xi go and throw it off the Earth.  

After Adam receives guidance from Allah, Allah tells humanity that He will send us guidance from time to time.  

2:38. We said: "Get ye down all from here;
And if, as is sure, there comes to you
Guidance from Me, whosoever
Follows My guidance, on them
Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

When we study these incidences of revelation, we notice something.  All prophets were sent to settled peoples, and many came at a time when the society was in transition from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled lifestyle.  

Through most of human history, we lived in family groups like the Bushmen. Allah provided us our sustenance through provisions of wild game, plants, fruits, grains, nuts, and honey. We ranged widely.  Genome studies show diverse origins.  Humans are not the result of a great chain of evolution from one creature to the next. Instead, we are discovering a new paradigm, a much older paradigm. 

One of the most important lessons from science is that all things behave as either a particle or a wave.  When we seek to study light, we discover that we can either know its position in space or its movement over time. We cannot know both.  So, light is said to behave either as a particle - an extent located within the time/space continuum observed at a precise moment of singular duration; or it behaves as a wave - a velocity or movement observed over a finite duration. When we look at the development of life, we observe fossils.  

Fossils are discrete facts.  In order to explain these facts, we posit theories. One such theory put forward to explain fossils is Evolution.  

So claim Evolution is a fact.  This is false - it is a lie.  In Science and its rational support system, Induction, facts are listed as the particular premises of an inductive syllogism or qiyas - a simple version might be:

1. A fossil we call Homo Erectus exists and it dates to 70,000 years ago

2. A fossil we call Homo Neanderthalus exists and it dates to 50,000 years ago

3. A fossil we call Cro-Magnon Man exists and it dates to 43,000 years ago

4. Therefore, modern humans evolved from earlier hominids.

But, the conclusion is not really proven.  All we have shown is the relative probability of a particular conclusion, given the set of facts.  We could try another conclusion.  For example, Therefore, Allah created modern humans from Cro-Magnon Man.  We could also try other theories.  

Our purpose here is not to debate evolution versus intelligent design.  The point here is to show that induction does not produce certainty.  It produces only probability.  However, we will briefly note that the Theory of Evolution today is quite different from that of Darwinian Evolution.  Darwinian Evolution states that life evolved from one point to the next along a hierarchy of ever more advanced species.  So, life evolved from one celled organisms to more complex creatures like worms, to fish, to lizards, to mammals, to humans.  Darwinian Evolution has problems as a theory though - the "missing links" in this chain are often missing.  So modern Evolutionary Theory posits random jumps, perhaps caused by mutations and gamma rays, that just so happen to produce fortunate results. So, fig trees just so happened to develop inward blooming flowers, that were pollinated by tiny wasps that just so happened to have also developed at the same time. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus#Mutualism_with_the_pollinating_fig_wasps)

Personally, the probability of this theory is about equal to that of intelligent design. 

However, the point here is that when we look at the "particle" of human development the individual fossils, we are only seeing the points in time - a snap shot in time.  But, when we look at the complete genome, we see the movement, the wave, over time.  From this perspective, all life is a continuum from single celled organisms to the most complex. 

The conception of life as distinct species and the theory of speciation is not a complete picture. Humans developed and flowed across the landscape.  We met, traded, went off to other places, came back to our birthplaces.  We were nomads, co-operating, co-mingling, co-habitating. 

The "particle" view of humanity has produced several erroneous conclusions. One is that humans are naturally violent.  We assumed that each "particle" in the fossil record killed off the one before it.  Just a few years ago, scientists argued that modern humans killed off Neanderthals in Europe.  The debate became so heated that two of the leading scientists in the field refused to speak to one another.  A documentary was produced perhaps 10 to 15 years ago on this, but I was unable to find it at this time because the whole view on Neanderthals and human development has radically changed since the Human Genome Project results have become available.  A recent documentary, First Peoples," explores the new concept that human development is more of a wave, and that we co-operated with rather than killed off other human groups.

The Genome Project has also changed our understanding of the fossil record.  If you actually study how science looks at fossils and speciation, you will find that very slight variations in a tooth, a small bone, a skull, a leg bone, can lead a scientist to posit that he or she has discovered a new species.  Think carefully. Scientists depend on grant money.  Grant money is not easy to get.  You are not likely to get grants for the "same old bones."  But, a new species... And then, if its new, you get to name it.  With your name...  Scientists may like to portray themselves as unselfish monks, but they are not.  

So, fossils in a hierarchy or life in a continuum?  

We have a preference for hierarchies, as we shall see... and hierarchies mean something is better than other things.  That fits with Survival of the Fittest, that other part of Darwinian Evolution.  

Social scientists also liked the idea of Survival of the Fittest.  In the 1920s, fascists and racists used the idea of Social Darwinianism to justify racism, and capitalism.  It lurks behind the scenes of the 1% Society of today.  And this kind of thinking also justifies violence.  Survival of Fittest justifies killing the lesser peoples.  Hitler killed Jews, Slavs, Poles, Gypsies, and people with mental handicaps.  We can only wonder what our current proveyor of this philosophy, Donald Trump, will use it to justify.

So, Science, wedded to the Western obsession with hierarchy, assumed our ancestors were violent. All this projection of violence onto our ancestors is just that, projection of our behavior onto them.  

Not that we were never violent.  We may have been, but the old idea that Homo Sapiens killed off Neanderthals and other ancestral humans can no longer be supported by factual evidence in our DNA.  We are Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.  

THE AGRICULTURAL DEVOLUTION

So what happened?  Well, Gobekli Tepe holds some clues.  In the 10 millenium BCE, Neolithic peoples built great megalithic structures whose purpose was clearly religious. (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/?no-ist) Monuments like Stonehenge and Chaco Canyon were not built as housing blocks, but for religious celebrations, and for particular forms of religious celebrations - celebrations of the natural cycles of the sun, moon and stars.  

Many have speculated that we settled in cities first, and then developed "organized" religion.  It would appear this time line is false.  We developed "organized" religion before we settled in cities.  And what placed like Gobekli Tepe reveal is that we did, in fact, begin to "organize" religion.  

Humans began as hunter/gatherers, living in small bands and moving from place to place, as needed, in order to find food.  We moved into every environment possible, following migratory animals, following the seasonal availability of plants.  Later, as we became more numerous in the land, we began to move to gather with one another.  The recent research in Africa reveals that ancestral humans moved in trading webs and met up, traded and mated with one another.  What we used to perceive as distinct species were not so.  All of the archaic humans are living in our modern DNA.  Europeans carry Neanderthal genes; Asians carry Davidsonian and Erectus genes.  Our ancestors did not kill one another.  They traded and mated with one another.  

As we moved on the land and met at certain locations, those locations became special to us.  We began to meet there not only to trade, but to worship.  Chaco Canyon in the US, is one such place.  Makkah was another such place.  Both are places of little water and resources, but deep in spiritual meaning for the people who make pilgrimage to them.  Why did we choose such remote places to share our spirituality?  Allah ta'ala Alim.  Allah only knows, for Allah chooses them.   

Initially we did not live in these places.  We remained nomadic and only gathered there at certain times of the year.  Then, we began to move in.  We see this process in the Seerah when Qusayy decided it was easier to care for Makkah if he moved the whole clan there.  But, society began to change when he did that.  It began to degenerate.

The Quraish and their history in Makkah reveals much about what happens when humans settle in cities.  Whereas nomadic societies are egalitarian and communal, urban societies stratify along income and power lines.  Na'ibs become amirs, amirs become sultans, and the masses stratify into merchants and servants.  People can become property, become slaves.  As different groups move in, they bring their own ancestral "gods" and communal practices.  Powerful groups begin to dominate.  One way to dominate is to order the people into hierarchies, with the power groups on top.  As groups jockey for position in the chain, so their "gods" end up in pantheons.  Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Hindu pantheons, Egyptian polytheism all give us a view into who was who in those societies.  

As this hierarchy and organization arises out of the need to organize agricultural labor in urban/agricultural societies.  The Giza plateau around the Pyramids reveals the organization of the work gangs who built those structures.  Catholic padres recorded the organization of the Inca in work gangs to build monumental architecture.  We take our ability to organize farm labor and then apply it to support the perception of power for the king.  And the king then becomes a god himself.

What did Firawn say?  


79 : 24. Saying, "I am your Lord,
Most High".

Some think that the Firawn who said this was Ramses.  Allah Ta'ala Alim, but certainly, Ramses built a huge temple to himself, and had hundred of statutes of himself carved out, depicting himself as a god.  His mummified remains lie in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, a reminder that despite all the hype, he died. And all the power, money, and hierarchy fantasies could not keep him from dying.

THE LESSON OF CHACO

Around a 1000 years ago, the people of the Colorado Plateau also began to enter the Neolithic period.  They were a nomadic people who had begun to farm corn.  They moved in trade webs across the land, and began to meet in a place called Chaco Canyon, in modern New Mexico.  As they moved across the land, they notice movements in the universe around them.  Animals migrated, plants came and went at different times, and the lights in the night sky also moved. They noticed patterns in the movements and positions of the Sun and Moon too. They also noticed that on certain days, the lights from these heavenly bodies would fall in certain places, on certain rocks, in certain patterns, and so on. The whole universe seemed to have patterns of movement - of migration.  

Like many Neolithic peoples before them, they began to build stone structures. These structures replaced the temporariness of wood and hide.  The stone gave an illusion of permanence, absoluteness, certainty, finality - hierarchy.  And just like Qusayy, some one must have thought that such places need permanent care-takers.  A new hierarchy of priests and kings arose.  

Archeologists have noticed evidence of two types of settlements on the Colorado Plateau, southern facing pueblos, and pueblos with towers and T shapes. Archeologists have also noticed evidence of violence, brutal and unnatural - cannibalism.  Something terrible happened.  But, in the end, the sky centered hierarchy vanished, and the earth centered egalitarian pueblo culture continued. 

The people of the Colorado Plateau made a choice, a choice that no one else has yet made, that we know of... they gave up hierarchy and returned to an older, egalitarian paradigm. 

INDIGENOUSITY

A few years ago a skeleton was found in Kennewick Washington.  After dating the remain, scientists determined that he was perhaps the oldest skeleton found in North America.  Immediately, the native peoples of the area demanded that "the Ancient One" be repatriated to the tribe and reburied.  Scientists rebuked them.  There is no way this skeleton could be their ancestor...  

This is not a clash of facts, it is a clash of paradigms. No people today are "first people."  No one today is a "first person"!!!  We ALL have ancestors.  Being Indigenous is a point of view, a philosophy, not a biological fact.  The Umatilla People understand this philosophy.  Biological ancestry is not important.  Both the Ancient One and the Umatilla share something.  They can feel the webs of connection to him over time and space.  

The scientists, and their "superior" "educated" world view of hierarchies fought against the tribe for custody of the body of a human being.  Who really has the better interest of humanity at heart?  

In the end, a scientist from Scandinavia, in a respectful way, offered to help. He ran the DNA of the Ancient One and compared it to the present tribes.  In fact, the present tribes are carrying his DNA.  Science can be used for good and it can be used for evil.  It is a tool, but too many are treating it like a religion that cannot be questioned.

THE LEGACY OF HIERARCHY

This philosophy of hierarchy has brought upon us an unjust world.  We have noted before the original sin of Shaytan - Kibriyya/Arrogance.  "I am better than him (Adam), You created me from smokeless fire, and You created him from dirt."  Here is the first hierarchy.  The Greeks imagined all kinds of hierarchies - the Great Chain of Being.  This led to the idea that the physical world is lowly and evil, so man must have "fallen" into it.  That led to the doctrine of Original Sin.  

Now, this doctrine is leading us to utter destruction.  The 1% seemed to feel justified in having all the wealth.  We all feel entitled.  No one is grateful anymore.  We live in our own fantasy worlds, where we are the kings or queens, and when the real world crashes in on us, we go ballistic.  We have become the One of Plato's hierarchy of being, and nothing else matters.  

Like the people of Chaco, we are consuming one another.  We uses words like "competition" "survival of the fittest" "top this" "top that."  We have a culture of "est."  "Best" "Greatest" "Smartest" "This is the biggest of its kind to come out in the last five minutes..."  Everything must be a superlative.  

However, superlatives are not sustainable.

ISLAM IS INDIGENOUS

In order to survive, we must return to our origins, our roots as human beings, to our indigenous state.  To be indigenous is to remember, as Allah reminds us, that we are a part of Creation.  We are part of the web of life and we have a particular role in it.  We were created to worship Allah.  We were created to be the successors of the Malaa'ikah on this Earth, as its stewards and caretakers. We were created to be in communion with Allah and community with each other.  We were not created to be competition with Allah or with each other.

Islam means to surrender, to cease hostilities with Allah.  It is the essence of Indigenous philosophy.  To be at peace, the peace of the body, the mind and the soul.  To be in the correct relationship with Allah and His Creation.  To be in society with each other, respecting each others rights and performing our obligations and duties.  

It is unfortunate that many Muslims have also fallen prey to hierarchical thinking.  The Khalifaats did it.  Sultans did it.  Modern nations and their dictators have done it.  We have also fallen prey to arrogance and racism.  This is not Islam.

Like the people of Chaco, we should abandon the hierarchies and seek the webs that link us across time and space.  Only then can we link with our Islamic ancestors, the Sahabi and Ahl Al Bayt we all talk so much about.  Only then, can we overcome the years of "divide and conquer" politics we have all suffered through.  Only then can we appreciate the full potential of humanity, that potential that Allah SWT saw when He told the angels that He knew something about us that they did not.  

Striving Against Da'esh

9:73. O Prophet! strive hard against The Unbelievers and the Hypocrites,
And be firm against them. Their abode is Hell,—An evil refuge indeed.

74. They swear by God that they Said nothing (evil), but indeed
They uttered blasphemy, And they did it after accepting
Islam; and they meditated A plot which they were unable
To carry out: this revenge Of theirs was (their) only return
For the bounty with which God and His Apostle had enriched
Them! If they repent, It will be best for them;
But if they turn back (To their evil ways),
God will punish them With a grievous penalty
In this life and in the Hereafter: They shall have none on earth
To protect or help them.

In these ayaat of Surah al-Tawbah, Allah SWT commands us to strive against all who plot against our Deen of Islam, be they from without and from within.  The fact that there are those who have used our own Deen against us to seek revenge against us, should not be a surprise.  Such people have always sought to destroy us.  We only have to remember Abdullah ibn Salul and his followers.  They claimed to be Muslim.  They even prayed as we do, attended the masaajid, made salaat and paid zakat.  But, in secret, they plotted revenge on the believers, the Mu'minoon.

They swear by Allah, "Wa Llahi this, Wa Llahi that..."  But, in the end, they make all kinds of invalid, foolish arguments.  They use brainwashing techniques and separate our youth from knowledgeable people.  They uses ever trick up Shaytan's sleeve to destroy our Deen.

61:8  They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.

Here is Surah as-Saff, Allah reassures us that they will not be able to extinguish His Light, His Deen of Islam.  

The followers of Shaytan, the Dawlat ash-Shaytan, cite ayaat of the Qur'an and hadith in support of their agenda.  They take ayaat out of contexts or purposefully lie about the meaning of ayaat.  The most abused Surah by these devils is Surah al-Tawbah.  They distort the meaning of the Arabic text and brainwash our youth into thinking that Islam calls them to violence, killing and terror.  Most of the followers of these Shayateen are not fluent in fusa'a Arabic and do not know the Seerah of the Prophet.  Hence, they are easily misled by these liars.  

Not only do they tell our youth lies, but they tell them not to speak to those who do have knowledge.  The problem with being ignorant is that you are ignorant of the fact that you have no knowledge.  None of us has knowledge. NO OF US HAS KNOWLEDGE!!  Only Allah is Alim.  ONLY ALLAH IS ALIM!!!.  

If you want to learn the Deen, learn it from Allah.  His Kitab, the Qur'an, is mubin.  It is clear.  Just read it. Read it in context all the way through before you even start to study tafsir or listen to anyone else try to interpret it.  Ask Allah, make du'a to Allah, as the Prophet SAW once made du'a to Allah for Abbas, to give you understanding.  Too many recite beautifully, yet do not understand a single word.  A Qari is not an Alim!!!!.  An Alim may be a Qari, but a Qari is not an Alim.  Do not be fooled.  

Dae'sh and the Hubb al-Duniya

Recently, a young man who had been brainwashed into following Da'esh pleaded to be allowed to go home. He said he wanted to come home because he was disillusioned by Da'esh and he was upset because his i-Pod no longer worked over there.  Look in the mirror.  Are you living in a virtual world?  Does Da'esh and its activities sound fun to you?  It's not a video game.  You will have to kill real people.  And why?

Da'esh is selling antiquities to raise money for its cause.  Despite the videos of blowing up Palmyra and bashing statutes, they are also collecting artifacts and selling them.  To who?  One has to wonder?  Who buys ancient artifacts?  Museums, art galleries, private art collectors, rich people... So that is who is financing Da'esh.  Did the Prophet take money from the Qur'aish?  Did he ask the Romans or the Persians for money? Did he sell statutes to them?  Why is Da'esh doing this?  It's certainly not the Sunnah. 

But then Da'esh has no interest in the Sunnah.  They have burned people alive.  The Prophet said this form of punishment is reserved for Allah alone.  Muslims are not even permitted to burn palm trees.  Da'esh is only interested in the money.  And where is the money going?  Remember, the leadership of Da'esh were all former flunkies of Saddam Hussein.  They got fat off his money, and now they want to get fat off of your money.  And all while you, the youth, fight for them, so they do not have to get their hands dirty.  They learned how to use people from Saddam, and now they are using you.  

Baiyyah

We hear alot about youth pledging allegiance to these Shaytans.  Do you really want to sell your soul to the devil?  In Surah al-Tawbah, Allah reminds us that the followers of Shaytan, the kafirun and munaafiq are going to hell.  It is they who are told to make Tawbah in Surah at-Tawbah.  Using the teachings of Islam for your own ends to get money and girls, and big screen TVs and i-Pods is to be a munaafiq, "one who spends himself wastefully." "One who blows his wealth and himself on foolish nonsense."  Keep in mind the hadith recorded in al-Bukhaari that we are rewarded according to our intentions.  If you migrate for a woman or for money or for an i-Pod, that's what you'll get, but what good will it do you in the end.  What will that woman, that money, that i-Pod do for you in hell?

And what about this pledge or Baiyyah?  The only Baiyyah that is Sunnah is to Allah and His Messenger. Yes, the community continued to use it after his death.  They made baiyyah to Abu Bakr, to Umar, to Uthman, to Ali, to Muawiyyah...  But, the only evidence in the Sunnah is that baiyyah is to Allah and Rasulallah.  That is it.  If we are really "ahl as-Sunnah" then this should be our baiyyah as well - to follow Allah and the Sunnah, the two sources of wahy, revelation from Allah SWT to mankind.  Anything else is interpretation and IS NOT INFALLIBLE.  Whether the interpretation is from Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali , Hassan, Hussein, Muawiyyah, Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Taymiyyah - whom ever, they are human beings.  They are not prophets, they are not infallible.  No matter who they are, to say their opinions are binding is to say that those opinions are somehow wahy.  THIS IS FALSE.  Allah SWT sent a prophet, Muhammad, SAW. We do not need another prophet after him.  He delivered the message.  We testified that he had completed his mission on his Hajj al-Wadaa'.  We need nothing else.  

What we fail to understand is the difference between Shariah and Fiqh.  Shariah is divine legislation, fiqh is human understanding.  Yes, fiqh is subject to change because it is subject to greater understanding.  Shariah, the objectives, basic principles and clear nass, are divine and do not require change.  They remain inviolate. Interpretation is important.  It is key to helping us apply the Shariah in our present circumstances. Because the Qur'an is the last revelation, it must be applicable long after its revelation.  So, each generation must look at it and apply it to its circumstances.  Understandings can change, but the Shar' - the Law and its objectives do not change.

So, again the Baiyyah is Sunnah, and the Sunnah is to make Baiyyah to Allah and to Rasulallah alone. The early Muslims not only stated the Shahadah but took the Baiyyah to Allah and to Rasulallah, when they became Muslims.  We should all do the same.  Even those who are born into Muslim families, must take the Shahadah and Baiyyah upon reaching majority.  Islam must become OUR religion, not just the religion of our ancestors.  The religion of your ancestors will not save you. Only submitting to Allah yourself will save you.

Munaafiq

N-F-Q means to spend.  We are encouraged, as Muslims, to spend fi sabillillah, in the path of Allah, to spend in Jihad.  Jihad, as we have noted before, means to strive in the path of Allah, not to be violent or to kill.  Qital fi sabillillah means to engage in military action for the sake of Allah and His Deen, but that does not necessitate killing either.  Striving, jihad, is physical, mental and spiritual.  Qital is military action in defense of the Islam.  Allah reminds us that violence is unfortunately necessary in this world.  

22:40. (They are) those who have Been expelled from their homes

In defiance of right, (For no cause) except That they say," Lord

Is God". Did not God Check one set of people
By means of another, There would surely have been
Pulled down monasteries, churches, Synagogues, and mosques, in which
The name of God is commemorated In abundant measure. God will
Certainly aid those who Aid His (cause);—for verily
God is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (Able to enforce His Will).

Islam means surrender and submission to Allah and to His Will.  Da'esh only calls to rebellion against Allah by calling people to destroy mosques, churches, synagogues and other houses of worship of other religions, and in killing anyone whom it unilaterally declares to be against it.  Allah has repeatedly said that if anyone inclines to peace, them we, as Muslims, must incline to peace as well.  (8:61).  

9:9. The Signs of God have they sold
For a miserable price,
And (many) have they hindered
From His Way: evil indeed
Are the deeds they have done.

10. In a Believer they respect not
The ties either of kinship
Or of covenant! It is they
Who have transgressed all bounds.

Not only has Da'esh killed thousands ahl al-Kitab, but they have butchered thousands of Muslims.  One recently slaughtered his own mother in the street.  Read the above ayaat.  This is clear evil and these Shayateen will take everyone to hell with them.  

Striving Against Shaytan

Allah SWT orders us to strive against all munafeeq and kafirun, all enemies from within and without.  We must strive against this evil that is destroying us.  Too many Muslims don't want to get involved.  On hajj, we kill one another to stone a brick pillar, but we do nothing against a real flesh and blood Shaytan in our midst. In the West, we just want to fit in.  Here's a piece of news.  I was born and raised in the US.  YOU WILL NEVER FIT IN.  Not because you are Muslim, but because you are not European, White and Atheist.  Even Christians today are being discriminated against.  Many are harassed for their beliefs.  Unless we act and speak out, we will end up like the Jews in Nazi Germany, the Japanese in internment camps, the intellectuals in Cambodia and Ethiopia... we will be the victims of the next pogrom.  And not only will that pogrom be carried out by Western powers, but by so-called "Muslim" governments.  These puppet states use Islam for their own benefit as well.  So do you think they want to have real Muslims in their midst?  They want compliant, greedy, worldly, atheistic, stooges, not thinking servants of Allah.  

Shaytan is winning against us.  What are we doing to fight back...  Physical violence is not working and only plays into his hands.  So what now?  Have we actually tried peace, have we actually tried understanding and seeking real knowledge?  Have we actually tried following the Sunnah?  

Strive against our age old enemy.  We must continue to strive.  We cannot give up. When faced with utter destruction of his mission, the Prophet prayed in the garden in Taif.  

"O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me?

To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favor is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased.

There is no power and no might except by You."

Quranic quotes are from www.sacred-texts.com, and the prayer of Taif is from:
http://www.nuradeen.com/archives/CurrentIssues/PrayerOfTaif.htm