American Rhetoric: Stokely Carmichael - Black Power

Stokely Carmichael

Black Power

delivered October 1966, Berkeley, CA

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[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)]

Thank you very much. It’s a privilege and an honor to be in the white intellectual ghetto of the West. We wanted to do a couple of things before we started. The first is that, based on the fact that SNCC, through the articulation of its program by its chairman, has been able to win elections in Georgia, Alabama, Maryland, and by our appearance here will win an election in California, in 1968 I'm going to run for President of the United States. I just can't make it, 'cause I wasn't born in the United States. That's the only thing holding me back.

We wanted to say that this is a student conference, as it should be, held on a campus, and that we're not ever to be caught up in the intellectual masturbation of the question of Black Power. That’s a function of people who are advertisers that call themselves reporters. Oh, for my members and friends of the press, my self-appointed white critics, I was reading Mr. Bernard Shaw two days ago, and I came across a very important quote which I think is most apropos for you. He says, "All criticism is a[n] autobiography." Dig yourself. Okay.

The philosophers Camus and Sartre raise the question whether or not a man can condemn himself. The black existentialist philosopher who is pragmatic, Frantz Fanon, answered the question. He said that man could not. Camus and Sartre was not. We in SNCC tend to agree with Camus and Sartre, that a man cannot condemn himself.¹ Were he to condemn himself, he would then have to inflict punishment upon himself. An example would be the Nazis. Any prisoner who -- any of the Nazi prisoners who admitted, after he was caught and incarcerated, that he committed crimes, that he killed all the many people that he killed, he committed suicide. The only ones who were able to stay alive were the ones who never admitted that they committed a crimes [sic] against people -- that is, the ones who rationalized that Jews were not human beings and deserved to be killed, or that they were only following orders.

On a more immediate scene, the officials and the population -- the white population -- in Neshoba County, Mississippi -- that’s where Philadelphia is -- could not -- could not condemn [Sheriff] Rainey, his deputies, and the other fourteen men that killed three human beings. They could not because they elected Mr. Rainey to do precisely what he did; and that for them to condemn him will be for them to condemn themselves.

In a much larger view, SNCC says that white America cannot condemn herself. And since we are liberal, we have done it: You stand condemned. Now, a number of things that arises from that answer of how do you condemn yourselves. Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they're built upon racism. And the question, then, is how can black people inside of this country move? And then how can white people who say they’re not a part of those institutions begin to move? And how then do we begin to clear away the obstacles that we have in this society, that make us live like human beings? How can we begin to build institutions that will allow people to relate with each other as human beings? This country has never done that, especially around the country of white or black.

Now, several people have been upset because we’ve said that integration was irrelevant when initiated by blacks, and that in fact it was a subterfuge, an insidious subterfuge, for the maintenance of white supremacy. Now we maintain that in the past six years or so, this country has been feeding us a "thalidomide drug of integration," and that some negroes have been walking down a dream street talking about sitting next to white people; and that that does not begin to solve the problem; that when we went to Mississippi we did not go to sit next to Ross Barnett²; we did not go to sit next to Jim Clark³; we went to get them out of our way; and that people ought to understand that; that we were never fighting for the right to integrate, we were fighting against white supremacy.

Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom. A man is born free. You may enslave a man after he is born free, and that is in fact what this country does. It enslaves black people after they’re born, so that the only acts that white people can do is to stop denying black people their freedom; that is, they must stop denying freedom. They never give it to anyone.

Now we want to take that to its logical extension, so that we could understand, then, what its relevancy would be in terms of new civil rights bills. I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black people. For example, I am black. I know that. I also know that while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn't know that. Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped me. So some boys had to write a bill to tell that white man, "He’s a human being; don’t stop him." That bill was for that white man, not for me. I knew it all the time. I knew it all the time.

I knew that I could vote and that that wasn’t a privilege; it was my right. Every time I tried I was shot, killed or jailed, beaten or economically deprived. So somebody had to write a bill for white people to tell them, "When a black man comes to vote, don’t bother him." That bill, again, was for white people, not for black people; so that when you talk about open occupancy, I know I can live anyplace I want to live. It is white people across this country who are incapable of allowing me to live where I want to live. You need a civil rights bill, not me. I know I can live where I want to live.

So that the failures to pass a civil rights bill isn’t because of Black Power, isn't because of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; it's not because of the rebellions that are occurring in the major cities. It is incapability of whites to deal with their own problems inside their own communities. That is the problem of the failure of the civil rights bill.

And so in a larger sense we must then ask, How is it that black people move? And what do we do? But the question in a greater sense is, How can white people who are the majority -- and who are responsible for making democracy work -- make it work? They have miserably failed to this point. They have never made democracy work, be it inside the United States, Vietnam, South Africa, Philippines, South America, Puerto Rico. Wherever American has been, she has not been able to make democracy work; so that in a larger sense, we not only condemn the country for what it's done internally, but we must condemn it for what it does externally. We see this country trying to rule the world, and someone must stand up and start articulating that this country is not God, and cannot rule the world.

Now, then, before we move on we ought to develop the white supremacy attitudes that were either conscious or subconscious thought and how they run rampant through the society today. For example, the missionaries were sent to Africa. They went with the attitude that blacks were automatically inferior. As a matter of fact, the first act the missionaries did, you know, when they got to Africa was to make us cover up our bodies, because they said it got them excited. We couldn’t go bare-breasted any more because they got excited.

Now when the missionaries came to civilize us because we were uncivilized, educate us because we were uneducated, and give us some -- some literate studies because we were illiterate, they charged a price. The missionaries came with the Bible, and we had the land. When they left, they had the land, and we still have the Bible. And that has been the rationalization for Western civilization as it moves across the world and stealing and plundering and raping everybody in its path. Their one rationalization is that the rest of the world is uncivilized and they are in fact civilized. And they are un-civil-ized.

And that runs on today, you see, because what we have today is we have what we call "modern-day Peace Corps missionaries," and they come into our ghettos and they Head Start, Upward Lift, Bootstrap, and Upward Bound us into white society, 'cause they don’t want to face the real problem which is a man is poor for one reason and one reason only: 'cause he does not have money -- period. If you want to get rid of poverty, you give people money -- period.

And you ought not to tell me about people who don’t work, and you can’t give people money without working, 'cause if that were true, you’d have to start stopping Rockefeller, Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, the whole of Standard Oil, the Gulf Corp, all of them, including probably a large number of the Board of Trustees of this university. So the question, then, clearly, is not whether or not one can work; it’s Who has power? Who has power to make his or her acts legitimate? That is all. And that this country, that power is invested in the hands of white people, and they make their acts legitimate. It is now, therefore, for black people to make our acts legitimate.

Now we are now engaged in a psychological struggle in this country, and that is whether or not black people will have the right to use the words they want to use without white people giving their sanction to it; and that we maintain, whether they like it or not, we gonna use the word "Black Power" -- and let them address themselves to that; but that we are not going to wait for white people to sanction Black Power. We’re tired waiting; every time black people move in this country, they’re forced to defend their position before they move. It’s time that the people who are supposed to be defending their position do that. That's white people. They ought to start defending themselves as to why they have oppressed and exploited us.

Now it is clear that when this country started to move in terms of slavery, the reason for a man being picked as a slave was one reason -- because of the color of his skin. If one was black one was automatically inferior, inhuman, and therefore fit for slavery; so that the question of whether or not we are individually suppressed is nonsensical, and it’s a downright lie. We are oppressed as a group because we are black, not because we are lazy, not because we're apathetic, not because we’re stupid, not because we smell, not because we eat watermelon and have good rhythm. We are oppressed because we are black.

And in order to get out of that oppression one must wield the group power that one has, not the individual power which this country then sets the criteria under which a man may come into it. That is what is called in this country as integration: "You do what I tell you to do and then we’ll let you sit at the table with us." And that we are saying that we have to be opposed to that. We must now set up criteria and that if there's going to be any integration, it's going to be a two-way thing. If you believe in integration, you can come live in Watts. You can send your children to the ghetto schools. Let’s talk about that. If you believe in integration, then we’re going to start adopting us some white people to live in our neighborhood.

So it is clear that the question is not one of integration or segregation. Integration is a man's ability to want to move in there by himself. If someone wants to live in a white neighborhood and he is black, that is his choice. It should be his rights. It is not because white people will not allow him. So vice versa: If a black man wants to live in the slums, that should be his right. Black people will let him. That is the difference. And it's a difference on which this country makes a number of logical mistakes when they begin to try to criticize the program articulated by SNCC.

Now we maintain that we cannot be afford to be concerned about 6 percent of the children in this country, black children, who you allow to come into white schools. We have 94 percent who still live in shacks. We are going to be concerned about those 94 percent. You ought to be concerned about them too. The question is, Are we willing to be concerned about those 94 percent? Are we willing to be concerned about the black people who will never get to Berkeley, who will never get to Harvard, and cannot get an education, so you’ll never get a chance to rub shoulders with them and say, "Well, he’s almost as good as we are; he’s not like the others"? The question is, How can white society begin to move to see black people as human beings? I am black, therefore I am; not that I am black and I must go to college to prove myself. I am black, therefore I am. And don’t deprive me of anything and say to me that you must go to college before you gain access to X, Y, and Z. It is only a rationalization for one's oppression.

The -- The political parties in this country do not meet the needs of people on a day-to-day basis. The question is, How can we build new political institutions that will become the political expressions of people on a day-to-day basis? The question is, How can you build political institutions that will begin to meet the needs of Oakland, California? And the needs of Oakland, California, is not 1,000 policemen with submachine guns. They don't need that. They need that least of all. The question is, How can we build institutions where those people can begin to function on a day-to-day basis, where they can get decent jobs, where they can get decent houses, and where they can begin to participate in the policy and major decisions that affect their lives? That’s what they need, not Gestapo troops, because this is not 1942, and if you play like Nazis, we playing back with you this time around. Get hip to that.

The question then is, How can white people move to start making the major institutions that they have in this country function the way it is supposed to function? That is the real question. And can white people move inside their own community and start tearing down racism where in fact it does exist? Where it exists. It is you who live in Cicero and stop us from living there. It is white people who stop us from moving into Grenada. It is white people who make sure that we live in the ghettos of this country. it is white institutions that do that. They must change. In order -- In order for America to really live on a basic principle of human relationships, a new society must be born. Racism must die, and the economic exploitation of this country of non-white peoples around the world must also die -- must also die.

Now there are several programs that we have in the South, most in poor white communities. We're trying to organize poor whites on a base where they can begin to move around the question of economic exploitation and political disfranchisement. We know -- we've heard the theory several times -- but few people are willing to go into there. The question is, Can the white activist not try to be a Pepsi generation who comes alive in the black community, but can he be a man who’s willing to move into the white community and start organizing where the organization is needed? Can he do that? The question is, Can the white society or the white activist disassociate himself with two clowns who waste time parrying with each other rather than talking about the problems that are facing people in this state? Can you dissociate yourself with those clowns and start to build new institutions that will eliminate all idiots like them.

And the question is, If we are going to do that when and where do we start, and how do we start? We maintain that we must start doing that inside the white community. Our own personal position politically is that we don't think the Democratic Party represents the needs of black people. We know it don't. And that if, in fact, white people really believe that, the question is, if they’re going to move inside that structure, how are they going to organize around a concept of whiteness based on true brotherhood and based on stopping exploitation, economic exploitation, so that there will be a coalition base for black people to hook up with? You cannot form a coalition based on national sentiment. That is not a coalition. If you need a coalition to redress itself to real changes in this country, white people must start building those institutions inside the white community. And that is the real question, I think, facing the white activists today. Can they, in fact, begin to move into and tear down the institutions which have put us all in a trick bag that we’ve been into for the last hundred years?

I don't think that we should follow what many people say that we should fight to be leaders of tomorrow. Frederick Douglass said that the youth should fight to be leaders today. And God knows we need to be leaders today, 'cause the men who run this country are sick, are sick. So that can we on a larger sense begin now, today, to start building those institutions and to fight to articulate our position, to fight to be able to control our universities -- We need to be able to do that -- and to fight to control the basic institutions which perpetuate racism by destroying them and building new ones? That’s the real question that face us today, and it is a dilemma because most of us do not know how to work, and that the excuse that most white activists find is to run into the black community.

Now we maintain that we cannot have white people working in the black community, and we mean it on a psychological ground. The fact is that all black people often question whether or not they are equal to whites, because every time they start to do something, white people are around showing them how to do it. If we are going to eliminate that for the generation that comes after us, then black people must be seen in positions of power, doing and articulating for themselves, for themselves.

That is not to say that one is a reverse racist; it is to say that one is moving in a healthy ground; it is to say what the philosopher Sartre says: One is becoming an "antiracist racist." And this country can’t understand that. Maybe it's because it's all caught up in racism. But I think what you have in SNCC is an anti-racist racism. We are against racists. Now if everybody who is white see themself [sic] as a racist and then see us against him, they're speaking from their own guilt position, not ours, not ours.

Now then, the question is, How can we move to begin to change what's going on in this country. I maintain, as we have in SNCC, that the war in Vietnam is an illegal and immoral war. And the question is, What can we do to stop that war? What can we do to stop the people who, in the name of our country, are killing babies, women, and children? What can we do to stop that? And I maintain that we do not have the power in our hands to change that institution, to begin to recreate it, so that they learn to leave the Vietnamese people alone, and that the only power we have is the power to say, "Hell no!" to the draft.

We have to say -- We have to say to ourselves that there is a higher law than the law of a racist named McNamara. There is a higher law than the law of a fool named Rusk. And there's a higher law than the law of a buffoon named Johnson. It’s the law of each of us. It's the law of each of us. It is the law of each of us saying that we will not allow them to make us hired killers. We will stand pat. We will not kill anybody that they say kill. And if we decide to kill, we're going to decide who we going to kill. And this country will only be able to stop the war in Vietnam when the young men who are made to fight it begin to say, "Hell, no, we ain’t going."

Now then, there's a failure because the Peace Movement has been unable to get off the college campuses where everybody has a 2S and not going to get drafted anyway. And the question is, How can you move out of that into the white ghettos of this country and begin to articulate a position for those white students who do not want to go. We cannot do that. It is something -- sometimes ironic that many of the peace groups have beginning to call us violent and say they can no longer support us, and we are in fact the most militant organization [for] peace or civil rights or human rights against the war in Vietnam in this country today. There isn’t one organization that has begun to meet our stance on the war in Vietnam, 'cause we not only say we are against the war in Vietnam; we are against the draft. We are against the draft. No man has the right to take a man for two years and train him to be a killer. A man should decide what he wants to do with his life.

So the question then is it becomes crystal clear for black people because we can easily say that anyone fighting in the war in Vietnam is nothing but a black mercenary, and that's all he is. Any time a black man leaves the country where he can’t vote to supposedly deliver the vote for somebody else, he’s a black mercenary. Any time a -- Any time a black man leaves this country, gets shot in Vietnam on foreign ground, and returns home and you won’t give him a burial in his own homeland, he’s a black mercenary, a black mercenary.

And that even if I were to believe the lies of Johnson, if I were to believe his lies that we're fighting to give democracy to the people in Vietnam, as a black man living in this country I wouldn’t fight to give this to anybody. I wouldn't give it to anybody. So that we have to use our bodies and our minds in the only way that we see fit. We must begin like the philosopher Camus to come alive by saying "No!" That is the only act in which we begin to come alive, and we have to say "No!" to many, many things in this country.

This country is a nation of thieves. It has stole everything it has, beginning with black people, beginning with black people. And that the question is, How can we move to start changing this country from what it is -- a nation of thieves. This country cannot justify any longer its existence. We have become the policeman of the world. The marines are at our disposal to always bring democracy, and if the Vietnamese don’t want democracy, well dammit, "We’ll just wipe them the hell out, 'cause they don’t deserve to live if they won’t have our way of life."

There is then in a larger sense, What do you do on your university campus? Do you raise questions about the hundred black students who were kicked off campus a couple of weeks ago? Eight hundred? Eight hundred? And how does that question begin to move? Do you begin to relate to people outside of the ivory tower and university wall? Do you think you’re capable of building those human relationships, as the country now stands? You're fooling yourself. It is impossible for white and black people to talk about building a relationship based on humanity when the country is the way it is, when the institutions are clearly against us.

We have taken all the myths of this country and we've found them to be nothing but downright lies. This country told us that if we worked hard we would succeed, and if that were true we would own this country lock, stock, and barrel -- lock, stock, and barrel -- lock, stock, and barrel. It is we who have picked the cotton for nothing. It is we who are the maids in the kitchens of liberal white people. It is we who are the janitors, the porters, the elevator men; we who sweep up your college floors. Yes, it is we who are the hardest workers and the lowest paid, and the lowest paid.

And that it is nonsensical for people to start talking about human relationships until they're willing to build new institutions. Black people are economically insecure. White liberals are economically secure. Can you begin to build an economic coalition? Are the liberals willing to share their salaries with the economically insecure black people they so much love? Then if you’re not, are you willing to start building new institutions that will provide economic security for black people? That’s the question we want to deal with. That's the question we want to deal with.

We have to seriously examine the histories that we have been told. But we have something more to do than that. American students are perhaps the most politically unsophisticated students in the world, in the world, in the world. Across every country in this world, while we were growing up, students were leading the major revolutions of their countries. We have not been able to do that. They have been politically aware of their existence. In South America our neighbors down below the border have one every 24 hours just to remind us that they're politically aware.

And we have been unable to grasp it because we’ve always moved in the field of morality and love while people have been politically jiving with our lives. And the question is, How do we now move politically and stop trying to move morally? You can't move morally against a man like Brown and Reagan. You've got to move politically to put them out of business. You've got to move politically.

You can’t move morally against Lyndon Baines Johnson because he is an immoral man. He doesn’t know what it’s all about. So you’ve got to move politically. You've got to move politically. And that we have to begin to develop a political sophistication -- which is not to be a parrot: "The two-party system is the best party in the world." There is a difference between being a parrot and being politically sophisticated.

We have to raise questions about whether or not we do need new types of political institutions in this country, and we in SNCC maintain that we need them now. We need new political institutions in this country. Any time -- Any time Lyndon Baines Johnson can head a Party which has in it Bobby Kennedy, Wayne Morse, Eastland, Wallace, and all those other supposed-to-be-liberal cats, there’s something wrong with that Party. They’re moving politically, not morally. And that if that party refuses to seat black people from Mississippi and goes ahead and seats racists like Eastland and his clique, it is clear to me that they’re moving politically, and that one cannot begin to talk morality to people like that.

We must begin to think politically and see if we can have the power to impose and keep the moral values that we hold high. We must question the values of this society, and I maintain that black people are the best people to do that because we have been excluded from that society. And the question is, we ought to think whether or not we want to become a part of that society. That's what we want to do.

And that that is precisely what it seems to me that the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is doing. We are raising questions about this country. I do not want to be a part of the American pie. The American pie means raping South Africa, beating Vietnam, beating South America, raping the Philippines, raping every country you’ve been in. I don’t want any of your blood money. I don’t want it -- don't want to be part of that system. And the question is, How do we raise those questions? How do we ....How do we begin to raise them?

We have grown up and we are the generation that has found this country to be a world power, that has found this country to be the wealthiest country in the world. We must question how she got her wealth? That's what we're questioning, and whether or not we want this country to continue being the wealthiest country in the world at the price of raping every -- everybody else across the world. That's what we must begin to question. And that because black people are saying we do not now want to become a part of you, we are called reverse racists. Ain’t that a gas?

Now, then, we want to touch on nonviolence because we see that again as the failure of white society to make nonviolence work. I was always surprised at Quakers who came to Alabama and counseled me to be nonviolent, but didn’t have the guts to start talking to James Clark to be nonviolent. That is where nonviolence needs to be preached -- to Jim Clark, not to black people. They have already been nonviolent too many years. The question is, Can white people conduct their nonviolent schools in Cicero where they belong to be conducted, not among black people in Mississippi. Can they conduct it among the white people in Grenada?

Six-foot-two men who kick little black children -- can you conduct nonviolent schools there? That is the question that we must raise, not that you conduct nonviolence among black people. Can you name me one black man today who's killed anybody white and is still alive? Even after rebellion, when some black brothers throw some bricks and bottles, ten thousand of them has to pay the crime, 'cause when the white policeman comes in, anybody who’s black is arrested, "'cause we all look alike."

So that we have to raise those questions. We, the youth of this country, must begin to raise those questions. And we must begin to move to build new institutions that's going to speak to the needs of people who need it. We are going to have to speak to change the foreign policy of this country. One of the problems with the peace movement is that it's just too caught up in Vietnam, and that if we pulled out the troops from Vietnam this week, next week you’d have to get another peace movement for Santo Domingo. And the question is, How do you begin to articulate the need to change the foreign policy of this country -- a policy that is decided upon race, a policy on which decisions are made upon getting economic wealth at any price, at any price.

Now we articulate that we therefore have to hook up with black people around the world; and that that hookup is not only psychological, but becomes very real. If South America today were to rebel, and black people were to shoot the hell out of all the white people there -- as they should, as they should -- then Standard Oil would crumble tomorrow. If South Africa were to go today, Chase Manhattan Bank would crumble tomorrow. If Zimbabwe, which is called Rhodesia by white people, were to go tomorrow, General Electric would cave in on the East Coast. The question is, How do we stop those institutions that are so willing to fight against "Communist aggression" but closes their eyes to racist oppression? That is the question that you raise. Can this country do that?

Now, many people talk about pulling out of Vietnam. What will happen? If we pull out of Vietnam, there will be one less aggressor in there -- we won't be there, we won't be there. And so the question is, How do we articulate those positions? And we cannot begin to articulate them from the same assumptions that the people in the country speak, 'cause they speak from different assumptions than I assume what the youth in this country are talking about.

That we're not talking about a policy or aid or sending Peace Corps people in to teach people how to read and write and build houses while we steal their raw materials from them. Is that what we're talking about? 'Cause that’s all we do. What underdeveloped countries needs -- information on how to become industrialized, so they can keep their raw materials where they have it, produce them and sell it to this country for the price it’s supposed to pay; not that we produce it and sell it back to them for a profit and keep sending our modern day missionaries in, calling them the sons of Kennedy. And that if the youth are going to participate in that program, how do you raise those questions where you begin to control that Peace Corps program? How do you begin to raise them?

How do we raise the questions of poverty? The assumptions of this country is that if someone is poor, they are poor because of their own individual blight, or they weren’t born on the right side of town; they had too many children; they went in the army too early; or their father was a drunk, or they didn’t care about school, or they made a mistake. That’s a lot of nonsense. Poverty is well calculated in this country. It is well calculated, and the reason why the poverty program won’t work is because the calculators of poverty are administering it. That's why it won't work.

So how can we, as the youth in the country, move to start tearing those things down? We must move into the white community. We are in the black community. We have developed a movement in the black community. The challenge is that the white activist has failed miserably to develop the movement inside of his community. And the question is, Can we find white people who are going to have the courage to go into white communities and start organizing them? Can we find them? Are they here and are they willing to do that? Those are the questions that we must raise for the white activist.

And we're never going to get caught up in questions about power. This country knows what power is. It knows it very well. And it knows what Black Power is 'cause it deprived black people of it for 400 years. So it knows what Black Power is. That the question of, Why do black people -- Why do white people in this country associate Black Power with violence? And the question is because of their own inability to deal with "blackness." If we had said "Negro power" nobody would get scared. Everybody would support it. Or if we said power for colored people, everybody’d be for that, but it is the word "black" -- it is the word "black" that bothers people in this country, and that’s their problem, not mine -- they're problem, they're problem.

Now there's one modern day lie that we want to attack and then move on very quickly and that is the lie that says anything all black is bad. Now, you’re all a college university crowd. You’ve taken your basic logic course. You know about a major premise and minor premise. So people have been telling me anything all black is bad. Let’s make that our major premise.

Major premise: Anything all black is bad.

Minor premise or particular premise: I am all black.

Therefore...

I’m never going to be put in that trick bag; I am all black and I’m all good, dig it. Anything all black is not necessarily bad. Anything all black is only bad when you use force to keep whites out. Now that’s what white people have done in this country, and they’re projecting their same fears and guilt on us, and we won’t have it, we won't have it. Let them handle their own fears and their own guilt. Let them find their own psychologists. We refuse to be the therapy for white society any longer. We have gone mad trying to do it. We have gone stark raving mad trying to do it.

I look at Dr. King on television every single day, and I say to myself: "Now there is a man who’s desperately needed in this country. There is a man full of love. There is a man full of mercy. There is a man full of compassion." But every time I see Lyndon on television, I said, "Martin, baby, you got a long way to go."

So that the question stands as to what we are willing to do, how we are willing to say "No" to withdraw from that system and begin within our community to start to function and to build new institutions that will speak to our needs. In Lowndes County, we developed something called the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. It is a political party. The Alabama law says that if you have a Party you must have an emblem. We chose for the emblem a black panther, a beautiful black animal which symbolizes the strength and dignity of black people, an animal that never strikes back until he's back so far into the wall, he's got nothing to do but spring out. Yeah. And when he springs he does not stop.

Now there is a Party in Alabama called the Alabama Democratic Party. It is all white. It has as its emblem a white rooster and the words "white supremacy" for the write. Now the gentlemen of the Press, because they're advertisers, and because most of them are white, and because they're produced by that white institution, never called the Lowndes County Freedom Organization by its name, but rather they call it the Black Panther Party. Our question is, Why don't they call the Alabama Democratic Party the "White Cock Party"? (It's fair to us.....) It is clear to me that that just points out America's problem with sex and color, not our problem, not our problem. And it is now white America that is going to deal with those problems of sex and color.

If we were to be real and to be honest, we would have to admit -- we would have to admit that most people in this country see things black and white. We have to do that. All of us do. We live in a country that’s geared that way. White people would have to admit that they are afraid to go into a black ghetto at night. They are afraid. That's a fact. They're afraid because they’d be "beat up," "lynched," "looted," "cut up," etcetera, etcetera. It happens to black people inside the ghetto every day, incidentally, and white people are afraid of that. So you get a man to do it for you -- a policeman. And now you figure his mentality, when he's afraid of black people. The first time a black man jumps, that white man going to shoot him. He's going to shoot him. So police brutality is going to exist on that level because of the incapability of that white man to see black people come together and to live in the conditions. This country is too hypocritical and that we cannot adjust ourselves to its hypocrisy.

The only time I hear people talk about nonviolence is when black people move to defend themselves against white people. Black people cut themselves every night in the ghetto -- Don't anybody talk about nonviolence. Lyndon Baines Johnson is busy bombing the hell of out Vietnam -- Don't nobody talk about nonviolence. White people beat up black people every day -- Don't nobody talk about nonviolence. But as soon as black people start to move, the double standard comes into being.

You can’t defend yourself. That's what you're saying, 'cause you show me a man who -- who would advocate aggressive violence that would be able to live in this country. Show him to me. The double standards again come into itself. Isn’t it ludicrous and hypocritical for the political chameleon who calls himself a Vice President in this country to -- to stand up before this country and say, "Looting never got anybody anywhere"? Isn't it hypocritical for Lyndon to talk about looting, that you can’t accomplish anything by looting and you must accomplish it by the legal ways? What does he know about legality? Ask Ho Chi Minh, he'll tell you.

So that in conclusion we want to say that number one, it is clear to me that we have to wage a psychological battle on the right for black people to define their own terms, define themselves as they see fit, and organize themselves as they see it. Now the question is, How is the white community going to begin to allow for that organizing, because once they start to do that, they will also allow for the organizing that they want to do inside their community. It doesn’t make a difference, 'cause we’re going to organize our way anyway. We're going to do it. The question is, How are we going to facilitate those matters, whether it’s going to be done with a thousand policemen with submachine guns, or whether or not it’s going to be done in a context where it is allowed to be done by white people warding off those policemen. That is the question.

And the question is, How are white people who call themselves activists ready to start move into the white communities on two counts: on building new political institutions to destroy the old ones that we have? And to move around the concept of white youth refusing to go into the army? So that we can start, then, to build a new world. It is ironic to talk about civilization in this country. This country is uncivilized. It needs to be civilized. It needs to be civilized.

And that we must begin to raise those questions of civilization: What it is? And who do it? And so we must urge you to fight now to be the leaders of today, not tomorrow. We've got to be the leaders of today. This country -- This country is a nation of thieves. It stands on the brink of becoming a nation of murderers. We must stop it. We must stop it. We must stop it. We must stop it.

And then, therefore, in a larger sense there's the question of black people. We are on the move for our liberation. We have been tired of trying to prove things to white people. We are tired of trying to explain to white people that we’re not going to hurt them. We are concerned with getting the things we want, the things that we have to have to be able to function. The question is, Can white people allow for that in this country? The question is, Will white people overcome their racism and allow for that to happen in this country? If that does not happen, brothers and sisters, we have no choice but to say very clearly, "Move over, or we’re going to move on over you."

Thank you.

Knowledge of Allah is my Capital - Ummah.com - Muslim Forum

Knowledge of Allah is my Capital

Reason is the root of my Faith

Love is my Foundation

Enthusiasm is my Horse

Remembrance of Allah is my Friend

Firmness is my Treasure

Sorrow is my Companion

Science is my Weapon

Patience is my Mantle

Contentment is my Booty

Poverty is my Pride

Devotion is my Art

Conviction is my Power

Truth is my Redeemer

Obedience is my Sufficiency

Struggle is my Manner, and

My pleasure is my Prayer

After Gaza: How the Prophet Coped With Loss « A Resource of Translated Islamic Texts

After Gaza: How the Prophet Coped With Loss

In the Name of Allah, we invoke peace and blessings upon His Messenger.

Going back and thinking of the emotions felt over the last 25 days, one word which found a constant presence in our hearts was ‘helpless’ – the reality that we were helpless, and that we were silently witnessing a helpless people – our helpless people – trapped as Israeli killers patiently bombed them to bits while seated comfortably in the cockpits of American F-16s, as if to fulfill former IDF Chief of Staff Raphael Eitan’s April 1983 wish to see them “scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle.”

The images of the charred bodies of infants, blood-soaked hijabs of sobbing mothers, mosques turned into rubble, stockpiles of food being fed to white phosphorous flames instead of the starving people they were meant for, fathers frantically and tearfully pulling corpses of family from the remains of bombed out homes – these images will forever remain in our conscience. From a material perspective, this was defeat and loss at its worst. What befell our brethren in Palestine has caused, and will continue to cause, much pain, anxiety, and sorrow in our hearts.

This reality mirrors one experienced by none other than the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) and his Companions 1,427 years ago following their military defeat at Uhud. When reviewing the events surrounding this defeat, one cannot help but be affected by the helplessness felt by the Muslims the moment they realized just how deep their material loss was in this battle, just as we are feeling at this moment when reflecting on what was taken from us as a result of the Israeli attack on Gaza. However, in reviewing these events, one can also not help but to take his feeling of helplessness and despair and transform it into firmness and strength.

First, let us examine the magnitude of the loss at Uhud.

Uhud affected the Muslims on many fronts. First of all, in what was possibly the most dangerous hour in the life of the Messenger of Allah, he found himself unprotected and exposed to the enemy on the battlefield, except for the presence of Talhah and Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas. This led to the disbelievers rushing to take advantage of the opportunity to inflict as much physical pain on him as they could, and they followed through by pelting him with stones (breaking his tooth and cutting his lip), cleaving his forehead, striking his shoulder with a sword, and striking him in the face so forcefully that his helmet pierced his cheek and caused a gaping wound. This audacity of the disbelievers so affected the Prophet that while wiping the blood from his face, he asked: “How can people who cut the face of their Prophet and break his incisor tooth - he who calls them to worship Allah - how can such people thrive or be successful?”

Imagine also the emotion felt by the Prophet and the Companions at the sight of Mus’ab bin ‘Umayr - who was personally appointed by the Prophet to bring Islam to Madinah in the first place - as both of his hands were amputated by the disbelievers in his attempt to secure the banner of the Muslims before they killed him. Picture in your mind the disbelievers mistaking the corpse of Mus’ab for the Prophet, yelling “Muhammad has been killed!” and sending a wave of disbelief through the Muslim ranks that demoralized many of them and caused them to give up the fight and turn back for Madinah.

Imagine the sadness that swept over the Companions as they assessed the aftermath of the battle to find the corpses of seventy of their brethren scattered around the battlefield, mutilated and disfigured by the spiteful disbelievers. Imagine then the shock and pain of the Prophet as he recognized the body of his beloved uncle, the Lion of Allah, Hamzah, as he lay among the casualties. Ibn Mas’ud said: “We have never seen the Messenger of Allah weeping so much as he was for Hamzah bin ‘Abd al-Muttalib.” To make matters worse, Hamzah’s burial was not quick and easy such that the Prophet could quickly put behind him the immense personal loss he had just experienced, as Khabbab bin al-Arrat said: “No shroud long enough was available for Hamzah except a white-darkish garment. When they covered his head with it, it was too short to cover his feet. Similarly, if they covered his feet, his head would be revealed.”

Imagine how the army returning to Madinah must have felt as they had to inform the family members of each of those seventy Companions killed that they would not be seeing their loved ones again in this life, one of whom was a woman who had lost her husband, father, and brother that day.

Imagine the dismay the Muslims must have felt that after their groundbreaking victory at Badr only a year earlier, they had now lost seventy of their brethren compared to the disbelievers’ casualties that amounted to only 22 men – less than a third of the Muslims’ losses. Such a loss would not only demoralize the Muslim army, but would also leave their military reputation, credibility, and dignity damaged in the eyes of the people.

All of this was the result of one single avoidable act of disobedience to the Prophet on the part of the archers stationed on the hill…all of this death, loss, sadness, and sorrow was easily avoidable had they simply obeyed a single command…

Undoubtedly, such circumstances would bring down any group and cause them immense pain, helplessness, and dismay. Undoubtedly, such circumstances would leave any group feeling that they had just experienced a loss from which they would not recover. However, the Prophet and his Companions were not just any group. They were a group who lived by the slogan {“And do not despair or be sad, as you are the most superior so long as you are believers.”} [Al ‘Imran; 139] They were a group who knew how to take advantage of their situation and hold their heads up high no matter what the odds were stacked against them, and no matter what their enemies did to intimidate them. They were a group who were able to emanate honor and power despite material loss.

Now, let us examine the attitude of the Muslims who had just experienced this loss firsthand.

When the disbelievers had completed their attacks and mutilation of the corpses of the Companions, Abu Sufyan scaled Mount Uhud looking for the Prophet, Abu Bakr, and ‘Umar. He called out to them and taunted them, but ‘Umar did not give the response of a defeated, dismayed, weak, and submissive victim. Rather he replied: “O enemy of Allah, those whom you have just mentioned, I tell you that they are still alive. Allah has maintained what you hate!”

Abu Sufyan replied: “The mutilation of your dead is something I did not order. However, it did not displease me. May Hubal be sublime!”

At the behest of the Prophet, ‘Umar replied: “Allah is more Sublime, Exalted, and Mightier!”

Abu Sufyan then shouted: “al-’Uzza is ours, and you have no ‘Uzza!”

‘Umar then made his famous statement: “Allah is our Helper, and you have no helper (الله مولانا و لا مولى لكم)!”

Frustrated, Abu Sufyan muttered: “Today is revenge for Badr, as war is conducted with alternating successes.”

Unrelenting, ‘Umar yelled back: “No, we are not the same. Our dead are in Paradise, while your dead are in Hell!”

The honor, strength, and confidence with which ‘Umar stood up to the leader of the army that had just inflicted defeat upon his own speaks for itself. This shows that material victory or loss meant very little to these people compared to the true victory of the honor associated with being a believer. He was not intimidated or dismayed in the least despite directly conversing with the man whose happiness and joy was in seeing the Muslims tortured and eradicated, and despite the fact that this conversation was taking place directly on the heels of the first military defeat ever experienced by the Muslims.

This shows that no matter how demoralizing a loss may be for you, the Muslim - no matter how many mosques are bombed to rubble, how many children are made into orphans or are themselves burned to a crisp by white phosphorous bombs, how distressing it is that even basic food and medicine are held back from our brothers and sisters by those who have no regard for human life – no matter how cruel a hand you as a Muslim are dealt, you always keeps your head up, your boldness intact, and put aside your anxiety and dismay.

Then came Hamra’ al-Asad.

While the disbelievers were still on their way back to Makkah, the Muslims had arrived back in Madinah in a state of exhaustion, pain, and sorrow. They were also in a state of alert, as they were expecting the disbelievers to turn back and attempt to invade Madinah in light of the perceived weakness of the Muslim army.

However, none of these hindrances prevented the Prophet from what he was about to do next: he went around and gathered all of the injured Muslims who had fought at Uhud the day before in order to lead them in pursuit of the army that had just defeated them. Many fresh, uninjured fighters were available and desperate to join, such as ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy and Jabir bin ‘Abdillah. However, the Prophet only wanted those injured and exhausted soldiers who were still recovering from their wounds to join him. This was unheard of: an army composed exclusively of crippled fighters who had just experienced a major military defeat?!

With the Prophet still recovering from his own wounds, they marched to an area outside of Madinah called Hamra’ al-Asad, only to receive word that their assumptions were true – the disbelievers had turned back and considered attacking Madinah. They still haven’t recovered from Uhud, and they now have to defend Madinah against the same enemy? However, the Prophet’s ability to take advantage of the situation was now going to reverse the psychological loss the Muslims had suffered at Uhud.

He sent a messenger to relay to Abu Sufyan and his troops that the Muslims had regrouped, recovered, and were hot on their heels. Abu Sufyan could not believe his ears, and the anxiety and panic that had gripped the Muslims only the day before was now spread among his own troops. He then decided that it was in his best interests to retreat to Makkah and cancel his plan to attack Madinah. However, in an attempt to frighten and intimidate the Muslims from pursuing him, Abu Sufyan sent a message back to the Muslims that he had gathered the ranks of all the Makkans to lay waste to the Prophet and his army: {“Those to whom the people said: “Verily, the people have gathered against you a great army. So, fear them.””} [Al ‘Imran; 173] What was the response of the injured Prophet and his small group of crippled fighters to this threat from the man who had just dealt them defeat the day before? {“…But it only increased them in faith, and they said: “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.””} [Al ‘Imran; 173] And the injured Prophet stayed at Hamra’ al-Asad with his crippled group, waiting for three whole days to confront this great army that Abu Sufyan had supposedly gathered against them. In the end, when it became clear that Abu Sufyan and the disbelievers were simply bluffing and were too afraid to pull through with their threats, he decided to turn back and return to Madinah. Would anyone have expected the disbelievers to act so cowardly only a day after Uhud?

Reflect on how the Prophet was able to so effectively reverse the devastation of Uhud in just a matter of days:

• He revived the morale of the crippled Muslims who had just experienced loss and defeat by insisting that they be the ones to accompany him in pursuit of the very enemy that had just defeated them.

• He decreased the morale of the disbelievers who had just experienced victory by showing them that no matter how devastating a blow the Muslim is dealt, he still has his honor, bravery, and the will to face those who challenge him.

• He restored the military reputation and power of the Muslims that had temporarily suffered as a result of the events at Uhud.

The effectiveness of the Prophet as a leader in times of crisis cannot be overstated. It is often said that a person can be judged by how he handles crisis and disaster, as anyone can be calm and composed in times of ease. This concept can be applied to groups and nations as well as individuals. Therefore, this episode in the Sirah teaches us that even at the worst times and in the midst of the most depressing crises, it is possible to reverse the loss, psychologically if not materially. All it takes is a sharp mind to observe the situation and see what holes in the wall there are from which one may take advantage and turn the tables to be in his favor, thus turning defeat into victory.

Let us now examine the bounty Allah granted the Muslims as a result of the attitude they showed in the face of loss and defeat.

It should be noted that even after the events of Hamra’ al-Asad, the Muslims were once again dealt tragic losses at ar-Raji’ (where a group of Muslims were betrayed and captured, leading to the famous crucifixion of Khubayb in Makkah) and the Well of Ma’unah (where, in a painful repeat of Uhud, seventy more of the best Companions were killed, this time as the result of betrayal). Victory is not a stagnant condition that remains once it is achieved. Rather, Allah gives and takes it even from the best of people (صلى الله عليه و سلم), and He intertwines it with loss and defeat in order to see how we will deal with each of the respective situations.

The Muslims whose act of disobedience to the Prophet was the single precursor to the devastating loss at Uhud undoubtedly learned their lesson and repented for their error. As a result, when the Prophet laid siege to the fortresses of Banu an-Nathir only a few months later, the Muslims were able to achieve victory without any fighting even occurring. Allah had directly used the weapon of fear and intimidation by placing these into the hearts of Banu an-Nathir, as He Said: {“…and He cast terror into their hearts, so that they destroyed their own dwellings with their own hands and the hands of the believers…”} [al-Hashr; 2] The same blessing was granted to them by Allah only a few months later when the second battle at Badr took place, with the Muslims waiting eight whole days for Abu Sufyan and his army to show up while he meanwhile had decided to return to Makkah instead of taking his chances in facing the Prophet and his Companions. Such blessings were partly the result of the Muslims learning from their mistakes at Uhud and reviewing what it was they had done to contribute to the loss and defeat that had affected the Ummah as a whole. Their unconditional obedience to the Prophet in going out to Hamra’ al-Asad despite their crippled state, as well as the faith, certainty, and bravery they displayed even when threatened by Abu Sufyan’s army, were among the many reasons for the swift victories at Banu an-Nathir and the second Badr.

Similarly, it is upon us to examine ourselves as individuals and groups and see if we are reacting to the devastation and loss experienced in Gaza in the proper way and with the proper attitude. The bravery of the Prophet at Hamra’ al-Asad, the post-defeat boldness of ‘Umar while speaking down to Abu Sufyan, the cleverness of Khalid bin al-Walid in reversing the flanks in the face of an imminent loss at Mu’tah – these should all serve to strengthen us and teach us that despair, pain, anxiety, and victimization should not be in the dictionary of the Muslim. Rather, we should always maintain our honor and confidence following defeat, keep our heads raised high in the face of loss, and face those who continue to challenge us in a bold, smart, and effective way.

{“And do not despair or be sad, as you are the most superior so long as you are believers. If a disaster befalls you, be sure that a disaster has likewise befallen them. And such are the days, we rotate them between the people…”}

SCHOLARS ON GAZA » The Qualities of Those Who Struggle For Allah’s Sake

The Qualities of Those Who Struggle For Allah’s Sake

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Sifāt al-Mujāhidīn
The Qualities of Those
Who Struggle For Allah’s Sake
Shaykh Dr. Mahmūd Abūl Huda al-Husaynī

Dear beloved brothers! There are two verses in the Book of Allah, the Exalted, that are interconnected: one of them is a condition for the other. In the first verse, the Master, Exalted is He, mentioned a contract that the people of faith hope to attain. In the second verse, He mentioned the conditions that must be met for that contract to be accepted. The first verse was presented in an astounding way that draws the people of faith to it, and the second verse detailed the conditions by which contract is accepted.

It is astonishing that our Umma reads these two verses and separates between them. To separate these two verses from each other is to present an proposal and contract without mentioning its conditions. The Umma reads these verses and frequently uses each of them separately, and most are ignorant to the reality that both verses are interconnected and inseparable.

Dear brothers! These two verses are located in Sūrat al-Tawba and most of you have memorized these two verses. Let us read them together and contemplate them so as to know this contract and its conditions. (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed. It is a true promise upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’ān. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And that is the tremendous success. The repentant, the devout worshippers, those who [of Allah], the travellers, those who bow and prostrate, those who command the good and forbid the evil, and those who guard the limits of Allah. And give glad tidings to the believers.) [al-Tawba: 111-112]

Yes, dear brothers: (Indeed, Allah has purchased…)! A purchase is a mutual exchange. He, the Glorified and Exalted, is the Owner of everything; however He affirmed a figurative ownership for the servant and then sought from him that he sells. (Indeed, Allah has purchased…), so where are those who wish to sell? It is nothing more than an ephemeral thing that is given to the King of kings – the One in complete control of the universe; He who grants authority to whom He wills and removes authority from whom He wills; and the One who honours whom He wills and abases whom He wills.

It is a contingent and passing thing granted by the One in whose Hand is all goodness. He requites every soul for what it earns. In whose Hand are the forelocks? Who is the One who is worshipped in the heavens and worshipped on the earth? Who is the One who deserves worship and no one else, and who is praised in reality besides Him? In whose Hand is our entire affair and unto whom is our return? (Indeed, Allah has purchased…) Once, a Bedouin Arab passed by the Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam as he was reciting this verse. He asked: “Whose speech is this?” They [the Companions] replied: “This is the speech of Allah.” The Bedouin then said: “In that case, by Allah, the transaction of Allah is profitable; I won’t diminish it one bit.” He then went out in Jihād and returned only as a martyr being carried.

(Indeed, Allah has purchased…), so the servant gave up his life and wealth, and in return, Allah granted reward, recompense, and Paradise, the breadth of which is as wide as the heavens and the earth – and the good-pleasure of Allah is even greater.

(Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers…) because those who are not believers do not understand anything but transactions of wealth.

(Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers…) because the non-believer sells his self and wealth for an ephemeral delight or physical or non-physical gain. There are great number of people in this day and age who sell their souls and wealth. They do not sell them for Allah. No, they sell them to other slaves who do not possess any ability to cause harm or bring benefit. It is nothing more than blinding desires that have blinded them.

(Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers…): this quality is only accepted from those who have realized true faith and conviction in their hearts; to the point that they are more confident with that which is with Allah than that which they possess; those who are attached to the unseen and who hold firm conviction in it and have more certainty in it than that which they feel and perceive with their senses. (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise., so they kill and are killed…) The Chosen One sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam used to say to his Companions: “No one among you is wounded in the path of Allah - and Allah knows best who is wounded in His path - except that it will come on the Day of Judgement with the colour of blood and with the fragrance of musk”, so not every person who is injured is injured in the path of Allah, and not every person who is killed is killed in the path of Allah: “…so whoever fights in order that Allah’s word reigns supreme, he is in the path of Allah.” This meaning does not accept the possibility of false interpretation; it is detailed, explicit, specific, and precise. “Whoever fights in order that Allah’s word reigns supreme, he is in the path of Allah.” (…They fight in the cause of Allah…) Here, the Qur’ān gives us the conception of the future – from the time this verse was revealed until Allah inherits the earth and all that is upon it. Fighting is a must. The verbal form used in this verse is yuqātilūn, which falls under the form mufā‘ala, which indicates two sides.[1] It is said that the first thing Allah, the Exalted, revealed when He legislated fighting was the verse: (Permission is granted to those who are fought because they are wronged…) [al-Hajj: 39]

It is our destiny and decree that we fight. It is decreed for the people of the truth. It is decreed for the people of the straight path. It is decreed for those who do not sell their souls for this world. It is decreed for those who elevate the words: “They do not fear the blame of the blamers”: they fight! Why doesn’t the so-called “authority” fight for the sake of the blessed land of Palestine? It is because its allegiance is to the resolutions of the so-called “security” council. This council is nothing more than a council of fear and terror, striking fear into the weak. It is nothing more than a council that shields the so-called “chosen people” who were chosen by Satan to fulfil his bidding in the earth.

How many resolutions have they passed under the rubric of what they call international law – that is lawless in reality? It is deaf and mute and unwilling to carry out any of their resolutions. Why it is that war not waged against those who are called the “authority” and who gather in that tight and restricted place? What is the secret behind that? One group sold their souls and wealth for Allah, and the other group sold their souls and wealth for other than Allah. There is a world-wide fear. A truthful group has come together, seeking Allah’s pleasure alone. The spectre of an Islamic emirate terrifies [their opponents]. They say: “It might become and Islamic emirate! I might become a field in which there is no compromise!” Alas, do not succumb to the invitations to compromise.

Dear brothers! The believer is scary! He is scary because he seeks one of the two goods. He read the verse and saw only two things in the contract: (… so they kill and are killed…). He didn’t read in this contract: “…so they kill and gain wealth”, or: “…so they kill and gain war booty.” He did not see anything in the contract that mentioned him getting an increase in wealth; he did not see anything in the contract that mentioned him getting more items; and he did not see anything in the contract that mentioned him getting more pleasurable things.

In this contract, he only saw: (…They fight in the cause of Allah.). So, we understand that if we are upon the truth, then we must fight, and that the enemies of Allah will never accept us wherever they are. O believer! You must understand this – far removed from all sorts of fawning flattery, generalities, lies, and hypocrisy. We are tired of lies and fawning flattery. The enemies of Allah – who are upon falsehood – are not ashamed, whereas the people of truth lower their heads in humiliation. I swear by Allah! This is not pleasing to Him, the Exalted. Speak the truth and do not be afraid of what comes after it. Why are you afraid? Listen to the words of the leader of the believers, our liege lord ‘Alī rādiallahu ‘anhu . He taught us a lesson on martyrdom: On which of the two days shall I flee death?On the day it wasn’t decreed or the day it was?I fear it not on the day it wasn’t decreedAnd on the day it was, caution will save me not (They fight in the cause of Allah so they kill and are killed.) They have tried to feed us the so-called peace process and we almost swallowed it, and the simple people who believe what is said to them almost fell for it, but Allah’s command interdicted their plan. He opened the world’s eyes and the people opened their eyes to witness the wholesale slaughter of children, women, and the elderly.

Yes, we fight. And when we fight, we observe rules of warfare that are higher than those found in the Geneva agreement. Our standard is higher: we do not cut down trees and we do not kill the elderly, women, or children. What do those loud-mouths have to say when thousands of children and women have been either killed or injured?

Having said this, a school was demolished, which resulted in large meetings, and out of anger, some – even of our people – have held gatherings in schools. While we are not pleased with the demolition of a school or any other facility, and while we admit that knowledge is sacred, we have to ask: why have meetings and gatherings taken place inside of schools because of the demolition of one school, and we haven’t seen gatherings take place in the Mosques even though over eight Mosques were destroyed? Why is this?

Why are they playing games with us? More than eight Mosques have been destroyed but we have yet to hold any gatherings in the Mosques, yet when a school is demolished we see gatherings in schools. This is because in the secular system, schools are given precedence to Mosques. According to us however, it is the Mosques that graduate scholars, brave heroes, leaders, and decision makers. When Mosques are demolished in Gaza, the land of martyrs, the world is silent. (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed.) We have already surrendered to the fact that we will both fight and be killed; do you think that this is restricted to Gaza alone? No, it is not, by Allah! There is no one who is truthful and who raises the standard of the truth except that he is included in this verse. It is the Sunna of Allah with respect to the believers. The Prophets fought, and how beautiful indeed is the meeting with Allah, the Exalted, if you are upon the truth. You can either hold fast to the sullen world with humiliation and abasement, or you can have love for the meeting with Allah in order to be in a station of truth with the All-Powerful King. (Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed. It is a true promise upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’ān.) This is similar to what He said regarding fasting: (Fasting is decreed for you just as it was decree for those before you…) [al-Baqara: 183] The legislation of physical fighting and Jihād is from the laws of old. (And who is truer to his covenant than Allah?) Do you think that Allah will violate the covenant He takes with His servants? Do you think He breaks His promise? (So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted.) Receive glad tidings if you are among those who sold their souls and wealth for the sake of Allah. In other words, manifest you happiness, because glad tidings comes from the manifestation of happiness that shows on the face. Show your happiness if you are among those who have prepared for martyrdom in the path of Allah. Beware of showing any signs of sadness! Show the happiness on your face because you are soon going to your reception! (So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And that is the tremendous success.)

After this, Allah began to explain the qualities of those who are included in this transaction. In the contract He only mentioned one quality: that of faith, however in the second verse, He mentioned qualities in detail so we may know that those who appoint themselves for Jihād are ineligible until they fulfill the conditions found in these qualities mentioned in the Qur’ān.

(The repentant): the repentant one is he who returns to obedience after having been in disobedience. The repentant one is he who takes a covenant with Allah that he will not take the path of disobedience. The repentant one is he who takes a covenant with Allah that his behaviour will be upright upon the Sacred Law of Muhammad sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam. The repentant one is he who places Muhammad sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam directly in front of him. (The repentant): so you have no share in this covenant until you announce a clear and sincere repentance. If you do not, you will remain in a state of lying, false pretentious claims and vain hopes and desires.

Do not let your emotions take a hold of you and do not think that each of you are selected for Jihād. It brings great pleasure and happiness to see the Prime minister of Gaza standing in the tarāwīh prayers, leading the people and crying before Allah. For the longest, we have not seen a politician leading the Umma, leading them in prayer and raising his hands in the qunūt and humbling himself before Allah.

(The repentant): those who realized true purification in their selves and in their behaviour. They repented to Allah from every act of disobedience and odious deed: in transactions, in acts of worship, and in the unlawful matters – in everything!

(… the devout worshippers…): here, this refers to worship according to its broadest understanding and not just prayer – as prayer was mentioned in this verse separately. This refers to the broad understanding of worship in which you do every act, intending thereby to obey Allah. It is the broad understanding of worship that is grasped when you sense the meaning of vice-regency mentioned in the verse: (Indeed, I am placing a vice-regent on the earth.) [al-Baqara:30] You are entrusted with the atmosphere, you are entrusted with the water, and you are entrusted with the trees and the stones. This verse is speaking about the worship that is mastery and perfection of every action; every movement that is done with the intention of obedience to Allah, the Glorified and Exalted. This is worship.

(…those who praise [Allah]…): praise means lauding. For how long will we continue to praise other than Allah? For how long will we act with hypocrisy? For how long will we praise those who demand bribes? How long will we praise thieves, liars, and con-artists? Those who praise know who truly deserves praise. Where are the free men? Where are the men who truly understand the meaning of praise? We are the Umma that was described in the previous scriptures as the nation of those who praise. We are those who praise and who say repeatedly: “all praise belongs to Allah”, so where is this description in us now? Is it even possible for you to praise Allah and praise others along with Him?

It is not possible. You can praise Allah and praise Allah’s servants by Allah’s praise; so whenever Allah praises something you too praise it because you are particular with your praise and you don’t praise other than Allah. And what Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, allowed for you to praise is demonstrated in the clear scales by which He praises His servants. He praised a king named Sulaymān a. He said: (What a good servant he is, indeed he is oft-returning.) [Sād:30] He praised him only on account of his slavehood and return to Allah. He praised another servant of His named Ayūb a: (What a good servant he is, indeed he is oft-returning.) [Sād:44] He praised him because he was patient with the affliction and his heart turned only to Allah.

(…the travellers…): I prefer the interpretation which states that “travel” here refers to Jihād in the path of Allah. To interpret it – as some have – as fasting, changes the outward meaning to a less obvious meaning, not to mention that ‘Atā’ (the famous Qur’ānic exegete) said: “Here, (…the travellers…) are those who wage Jihād.” His proof was the narration of Abū Umāma, which states that a man sought permission from the Messenger of Allah sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam to travel [and the word used here comes from sayyaha which means to travel the earth], and the Messenger of Allah sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam replied: “The tourism [siyyāha] of my Umma is Jihād in the path of Allah.”

The enemies have divided us and cut us off from each other and laughed at us, all the while the rulers of the Islamic world are their guards. The Malaysian is other than the Indonesian, the Indonesian is other than the Pakistani, the Pakistani is other than the Emirati, the Emirati is other than the Algerian, the Algerian is other than the Jordanian, the Jordanian is other than the Palestinian, and so on. We are one Umma. We are the travellers who go about in the earth in pursuit of knowledge or in its dissemination, or in elevating the word of Allah. The best interpretation for “travel” in the verse is travel in pursuit of knowledge or travel for the sake of Jihād in the path of Allah. We are one Umma without borders! (…those who bow and prostrate…): those who do not bow or prostrate before anyone besides Allah.

(…those who command the good and forbid the evil…): their tongues are not severed; they command the good, which is obedience to Allah. They forbid the evil, which is all that Allah detests and hates. The word “good” is not a figurative expression; it is a legal term that is explicitly defined and described.

(…those who command the good…): those who command the people to stick to the commands of the Sacred Law of Islam in economic matters, political matters, social matters, and in acts of worship. Our religion has not left a single facet of human life except that it has legislated something for it. Let the secularists realize that when we speak of the religion, we speak of its sphere in all facets of life; we are not speaking of singing hymns in a Church or Synagogue or chanting in a Buddhist temple. Our religious discourse stems from our conception of the world; our religion has not left anything small or large out except that it has detailed it. (…and forbid the evil…): and how many indeed are the evils that have entered into our behaviour, causing us to fawn flattery so that they go unnoticed! (…and those who guard the limits of Allah…): those who steer clear of falling into that which Allah made unlawful. (And give glad tidings to the believers.): give glad tidings to them if they understand this lesson.

As our Shaykh, al-Qaradāwī – may Allah assist him – called for a day of anger for the sake of Gaza, I say to him: O Shaykh! Let us make it a day of anger for Allah’s sake because of Gaza! Let us make it a day of anger for Allah’s sake. The time has come for this Umma to become angry for Allah’s sake for one day – let the cause of this anger be Gaza. We are in need of anger after it has become forgotten in our character. We have become used to shallow laughs, all the while we are being torn apart inside! How long can this continue? How much longer will it be announced on the official channels, after news of four missiles being fired from Southern Lebanon, that “We are not involved”? Like someone saying: “I wasn’t involved in my prayer”, or: “I wasn’t involved in my fast.”

All of us have become like that, saying in front of the people: “I am not involved or entangled by being a Mujāhid.” O what humiliation and shame! If only he had sufficed himself and said: “I have not been honoured with that.” If only the news report would say: “I have not yet had the honour, and I hope that someday I will.” That is the least that a weak person can do. Saying: “I am not involved” shows a humiliating state, said by someone who can strike but refuses to do so.

The borders surrounding Palestine are guarded and rifles are pointed at Gaza. Palestine shall remain. We will never recognize the Zionist entity, no matter how much the West or the East, North, South, or inside or outside want us to. We will never recognize the Zionist entity. We do not accept for this criminal entity to reside in our Islamic land. It is obligatory for it to be wiped off the map!

If these words will result in imprisonment or murder, then how sweet it is in the path of Allah! We will never recognize this entity, this entity of criminals … Even in Medina they are eradicating the personal effects of Allah’s Messenger sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam yet they are safeguarding the relics of the Jews! In Mecca, the Prophet’s house is wiped out of existence and taken down; it is said that the Prophet’s house might become a cause for idolatry! However, the relics of the Jews must be preserved and protected!

In this stage, I do not wish to offend or go into sensitive issues; at this dangerous stage we should not get into sensitive issues about Salafiyya or other than that. No. All of us are Salafīs in that we follow the Messenger of Allah sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam and adhere to the methodology of his Companions. All of us are the people of ihsān when we worship Allah as if we can see Him. We do not wish for internal conflicts. The real conflict is between Islam and anti-Islam.

Dear brothers! The Book of Allah calls us to offer aid. If you are unable to offer aid except through wealth, then give victory to your brothers with wealth. If you are unable to offer aid except through supplication, then aid them with your supplication: (Allah does not burden a soul more than it can bear.) All of us are in our own particular battle-trench. What I don’t want, dear brothers, is for us to remain after this in a state of play and jest and laziness and heedlessness. We must assert our identity and understand what it means to be committed. O Allah, cause us to return to Your religion in the most beautiful of manners. And make us of those who listen to the word and follow the best thereof. I say this statement of mine and I seek Allah’s forgiveness.

Notes:
[1] Verbs that fit under the generic verbal form of fā‘ala/yufā‘ilu/mufā‘alatan usually indicate that the action is shared between two people or more [mushāraka]. The Shaykh is saying that the verb yuqātilūn indicates that the fighting is two-sided and takes place between two opposing sides. [t]

Muslims Call for US Goods Sanction

Malaysian Union Calls for US Goods Sanction

Malaysians protest Israeli attacks on Gaza, as a consumer union calls for a boycott of US goods. A Malaysian consumer union has called for a worldwide boycott of US products, as protests in support of Gaza spread throughout the globe. "We urge Muslim consumers internationally to unite so that we can teach a lesson to Israel and its allies," an official with the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia, Ma"amor Osman, told reporters Friday. The ongoing deadly Israeli raids in Gaza have sparked protests around the world. At least 812 Palestinians have been killed and thousands others are reported wounded. "This is to object to the arrogance and cruelty of Israel and its allies towards the Palestinians," Osman added. The boycott targets over 100 American brands, such as Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola and Starbucks. So far, more than 2000 Malaysian restaurant owners have backed up the association"s call by refusing to sell the American soft drink with their meals. In Kuala Lumpur, thousands have held two days of continuous protests, shouting anti-Israel slogans and burning effigies of US President George W. Bush and Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has urged international sanctions against Israel, saying the world has a "moral duty" to save the Palestinians. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad also called on Muslims worldwide to stop using the US dollar. "If enough of us do this, then the value (of the US dollar) will fall, just like what they did to us in 1997," he said, referring to the 1997 Asian economic crisis. Mahathir urged the United Nations to set up a war crimes tribunal to try Israeli leaders involved in the attacks against the Palestinians.