All Lives vs Black Lives and the Sin of Holy Rhetoric, Usuli Institute Khutbah, 28 August 2020

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivers the Friday khutbah and jumu'a prayer at The Usuli Institute. Dr. Abou El Fadl blasts the use of the phrase, "All Lives Matter," as a means of using a divine ideal to deny the reality on the ground that Black Lives are not equal to that of others; using rhetoric to undermine principle. He further elaborates on the recent controversies over the UAE - Israel normalization accords and its backing by prominent American Muslim figures of leadership. For more, visit www.usuli.org.

[@stephenconnolly1830]

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem [video suitable for viewing at 1.25x or 1.5x speed without loss of fidelity and comprehension: English language Khutbah commences @2:28] 3:12 shooting in Kinosha, Wisconsin of a black man - in his back by police officers for not obeying their demands. 4:55 subsequent demonstrations and White House response. 5:25 armed guard deployed resulting in clashes. 5:44 teenager Kyle Rittenhouse - belonging to white supremacist militia - shoots and kills demonstraters. 6:55 tradition of white supremacists arrogating to themselves the job of protection against imagined enemies 7:23 white reading of the US Constitution. 7:43 US Constitution drafted at a time when neither a standing army or organised police force existed - militias were required then to protect the country. 9:00 demonstrators (exercising their constitutional rights) viewed as mobs by Mr Rittenhouse. 9:42 no immediate arrest after shooting of demonstrators (compare with black man shot 7 times in his back for disobeying police instructions). 11:15 symbolism of events - deterioration of social situation in the US. 11:40 institutional racism part of structure there. 12:35 the use of brute force (power of dominant white class) to address matters. 13:48 reason for raising in a Khutbah - Muslim response. 14:20 large segment of Muslim attitude is reflected in the sentiment "all lives matter" rather than "black lives matter". 15:05 Imam Ali (RA) "Kalimat al-Haqq Uradubi al-Batil" - in relation to the statement: "all lives matter" = true, but the purpose being evil and, ultimately, immoral. 15:55 in actuality, black lives matter "too". 16:20 lives of non-whites (including other minorities & Muslims) are not valued by the institutions of the US. 17:44 their treatment equates to them being "worth less than others". 18:00 response "all lives matter" denies equality for those affected. 18:58 while Islam teaches that all lives matter it does not advocate turning a blind eye to injustice and inequality. 20:09 "failing to differentiate between an ... ideal and an empirical reality". 21:56 turning a blind eye to reality in favour of an ideal has "turned religion into an opiate of the people" thus becoming an instrument of the Devil. 23:20 the concept that Allah is not stupid or ignorant. 24:28 the theoretical versus practical (in)equality of black people in the US. 25:30 systematic discrimination, degradation, domination etc of black people in US according to every mode of investigation applied. 26:10 gross economic disparity. 27:15 (institutional) power wielded on basis of suspicion and dread of black people (and also Muslims) - systemic training of law officials. 29:53 God used to undermine God. 30:00 the Shirk (polytheism) of using God's ideals to undermine God's ideals. 30:30 Hamza Yusuf (2014) prohibition of al-Zaytouna Institute's students participating in the Black Lives Matter movement. 31:12 lasting after effects of this attitude in Muslim circles. 32:12 dogmatism and demagoguery on show from the Muslim leadership. 36:22 performance of whiteness. 36:39 challenge of understanding anything about critical race theory. 37:50 the phenomenon of whiteness in the US being about entitlements and privileges predicated on the following outlook: protestant/Jewish + specific education/attitude/historical & economic understanding etc of US milieu. 39:34 race being a signifier - black or white until proven otherwise - "not the ultimate conclusion" @ 41:18. 41:48 being a "signifier" results in superficial - based on skin colour - treatment in general. 42:06 the immorality (un-Islamicness) of "a culture of privileges instead of a culture of equality". 45:12 the problem of the Professor's association with the LAPD due to the personal negative assumptions/biases and prejudice against Muslims present at that organisation. 48:40 the spectre of working for the Devil and not God by failing to fight racism. 49:13 [second sermon (Khutbah) commences] 49:55 shameful betrayal of the Palestinians via normalisation of relations between the UAE and Israel in face of Netanyahu's bid to annex Palestinian land/continued bombing of Ghaza/shift of US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem all without any significant Muslim reaction. 52:33 the demonic force of the UAE (Shaitan al-Arab as it is referred to locally). 53:23 UAE creation of two councils: The Fatwa Council and Council for Peace in the Muslim World to legitimate immoral policies of the UAE both headed by Mr (Shaykh) Bin Baya. 55:10 the 10th meeting of the Muslim Peace Council (15th Aug 2020): display of boot licking by the court scholars on the Council to the Emir of Abu Dhabi (MBC - Bin Zayed) and in blessing the agreement with Israel - signed by Bin Baya, the Mufti of Egypt (Shawki Allam) + Hamza Yusuf etc (all pictured as signatories). 56:59 resignation of Aisha al-Adawiya (KARAMAH, US) + Palestinian delegate in protest at the claim that the accords were discussed or blessed etc. 58:16 articles critical of Hamza Yusuf published for failing to resign. 59:05 Hamza Yusuf's response - juristic obfuscation and sophistry[!]. 1:05:08 the phenomenon of Mr Yusuf working in a position on a Fiqh Council with and for tryants. 1:07:55 legitimating tyrants being the antithesis of Islam. 1:08:40 association with tyrants being part of their tyrannical projects = from the Devil. 1:09:20 the utter absence of any legal, Fiqhi means to make the forbidden allowed as in permitting tyranny - torture/murder etc - to reign. 1:10:19 the Professor's lamentation for the appearance of the scholar Dr Rudwana Sayyid being associated with the Fiqh Council. 1:10:58 a reminder that knowledge does not inoculate yourself against immorality. 1:11:25 "being a scholar these days is exhausting". 1:12:03 rationalising a comfortable accord with instead of an existence in opposition to power. 1:12:55 Imam Shafei's flogging for refusing a judgeship under the Abbasid dynasty - ironically less tyrannical than present day MBZ of the UAE. 1:13:58 zombification via Qur'anic rhetoric. 1:14:20 [supplications (Dua')] Ameen

[@nasseralkhateeb2266]

May Allah keep us on the straight path, the path of truth and not the path of those who anger Allah or lose the path altogether. Jazak Allahu khairan for your principled stand and clarity in calling out tyranny and those who serve it

[@mdsaif05]

Courageous shouout against Hamza Yusuf and Bin Bayah 52:45