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Surah 111 Fire Flames - al Masad tafsir Sayid Qutb

Surah 111
Fire Flames - al Masad

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful!

May the hands of Abu Lahab perish; doomed he is. His wealth and his gains shall not avail him. He shall be plunged in a flaming fire, and his wife the carrier of firewood, shall have a rope of palm fibre rounder her neck.

Commentary:

Abu Lahab, whose real name was Abduluzza ibn Abdulmuttalib, was an uncle of the Prophet. He was so nicknamed because of the radiant look he had on his face. With his wife Abu Lahab was one of the most unbending foes of the Messenger and the ideas he was propagating.

Ibn Ishaq related the report made by Rabiah ibn 'Abbad Ad-Daili who said,

When I was a youngster I once watched with my father Allah's Messenger preaching Islam to the Arab tribes saying 'O sons of ... (calling their respective names), I am Allah's Messenger sent to order you to submit to and worship Him and nothing else beside Him, and to believe in me and protect me until I carry out what Allah has entrusted me with.' A cross eyed, bright-faced man was behind him, who used to say, after he had finished, 'O sons of ... this man wants you to forsake Al-Lat and Al Uzza (two prominent idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs) and your allies of the jinn, the children of Malik ibn Aqmas and to substitute for them these innovations and nonsense he has brought. Do not harken to him, nor follow what he preaches.' I asked my father who that man was and he told me that it was Abu Lahab, the Prophet's uncle.' (Imam Ahmad and Tabarani also had the same version.)

This is but one incident of Abu Lahab's intimidation and ill-will towards the Messenger and his call. His wife Arwa, the daughter of Harb Ibn Ummya, a sister of Abu Sufyan, gave him unfailing support in his virulent, relentless campaign.

Such was the attitude of Abu Lahab towards the Prophet from the very start of his Divine mission. Al-Bukhari related, on the authority of 'Ibn Abbas, that the Prophet went out to Batha' (a large square in Makka) one day, mounted a hill and summoned the people of Quraish. When they came to him he addressed them and said,

Were I to tell you that an enemy is drawing near and will attack you tomorrow morning or evening, would you believe me? 'Yes,' they replied. 'So listen to me,' he went on, 'I am warning you of gruesome torment (from Allah).' Abu Lahab was there and snapped at him, 'Damn you!' For this you have called us?' (Another version goes: 'Abu Lahab stood up shaking the dust off his hands and saying, 'Damn you all day long ...') Then this surah was revealed.

Another instance was when the Hashimi clan (the Prophet's own clan) decided on grounds of tribal loyalties, under the leadership of Abu Talib to protect the Prophet despite their rejection of the religion he was preaching. Abu Lahab was the only one to take a different stand. He joined with the Quraish instead, and was with them in signing the document to boycott the Hashimi clan completely and starve them till they gave up the Prophet to them.

Abu Lahab also ordered his two sons to renounce the daughters of Muhammad, to whom they had been engaged before Muhammad's prophetic assignment, so as to burden him with the expenses of their maintenance and welfare.

Thus, Abu Lahab and his wife, Arwa, who was also called Umm Jamil, continued to launch their persistent onslaught against the Prophet and his message. The fact that they were close neighbours of the Prophet made the situation worse still. We are told that Umm Jamil used to carry thorns and sharp wood and place them in the Prophet's path (though it is thought that the phrase 'the carrier of firewood' in the surah is used only metaphorically to indicate her lies and malice about him).

This surah was revealed as a counter-attack against their hostile compaigns, Allah had taken over the command of the battle. May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, doomed he is.

The Arabic term rendered here as 'perish' also signifies failure and cutting off. The term is used twice in two different senses. It is used first as an appeal, while in the second occurence it implies the granting of the appeal and its fulfillment. So, in one short verse, an action is realised which draws the curtains upon a scene of a completed battle. What later follows is merely a description of what took place with the remark that 'his wealth and his gains shall not avail him.' He can have no escape. He is defeated, vanquished and damned. That was his fate in this world, but in the Hereafter 'he shall be plunged in a flaming fire.' And his wife, the wood-carrier, will reside there with him having around her neck a rope of palm-fibre with which, as it were, she is being dragged into Hell; or which she used for fastening wood bundles together, according to whether a literal or metaphorical interpretation of the text is adopted.

The language of this surah achieves a remarkable degree of beautiful harmony between the subject matter and the atmosphere built around it. Abu Lahab will be plunged into a fire with 'Lahab', which is the Arabic word for flames of fire; and his wife who carries the wood, a fuel, will be met with the same fire with a palm-fibre rope around her neck. 'Jahannam' or Jehanna with fiercely burning 'Lahab' will be inhabited by Abu Lahab. And his wife, who wraps up thorns and sharp woods, materials which, significantly, can increase the blaze of a fire, and puts them in the Prophet's way, will be subsequently dragged to Hell with a rope tied to her neck, bundled like firewood. How perfect is the matching between the words and the pictures; the punishment is presented as of the same nature as the deed - wood, ropes, fire and Lahab!

Phonetically, the words are arranged in a way which provides a wonderful harmony between the sounds made by the pulling of the wood and the neck by ropes. Read in Arabic, the verse, 'Tabbat yada abi Lahabin watab,' makes one feel a kind of hard sharp pull, analogous to that of bundles of wood or of dragging an unwilling person by the neck into a wild fire; all is in phase with the fury and the violent, bellicose tone that goes with the theme of the surah. Thus, in five short verses of one of the shortest surahs of the Qur'an, the vocal melodies click neatly with the actual movements of the scene portrayed.

This extremely rich and brilliant style led Umm Jamil to claim that the Prophet was in fact 'satirizing' her and her husband. The arrogant and vain Arab woman could not get over being referred to with such a humiliating phrase as 'the carrier of firewood,' who 'shall have a rope of palm-fibre round her neck. ' Her rage grew wilder when the surah became popular among the Arab tribes who esteemed such a literary style!

Ibn Ishaq related:

'Umm Jamil, I was told, having heard what the Qur'an said about her and her husband, came to the Prophet who was with Abu Bakr at the Ka'aba. She was carrying a handful of stones. Allah took her sight away from the Prophet and she saw only Abu Bakr to whom she said, 'Where is your comrade? I have heard that he has been satirizing me. Were I to find him, I would throw these stones right into his face. 1, too, am gifted in poetry.' Then she said before leaving: 'The contemptible we obey not! Nor what he says shall we accept!'

'Abu Bakr turned around to the Prophet and said, 'Do you think that she saw you?' 'No,' replied the Prophet, 'Allah made her unable to see me.'

Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Al-Bazar also related, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, that when this surah was revealed Abu Lahab's wife sought the Prophet. While he was with Abu Bakr she appeared and Abu Bakr suggested, 'She will not harm you if you hide yourself away!' 'Don't worry,' said the Prophet in a soothing manner. 'She will not see me.' She came to Abu Bakr and said, 'Your friend has lampooned us!' 'By the Lord of this Ka'aba, he has not,' Abu Bakr assured her. 'He is no poet and what he says is not poetry,' he added. She said, 'I believe you,' and then left. Abu Bakr then enquired from the Prophet whether she had seen him and he said, 'No, an angel was shielding me all the time she was here.' So much was her fury and her indignation at what she thought was poetry and which Abu Bakr rightly refuted.

Thus, the humiliating picture of Abu Lahab and his wife has been recorded to last forever in this eternal book, the Qur'an, to show Allah's anger with them for their animosity to His Messenger and the ideas he was advocating. All those who choose to take a similar attitude towards Islam, therefore, shall meet with the same disgrace calamity and frustration, both in this life and in the Hereafter, as fitting punishment and reward!

Food Crisis

Human Rights...Yeah Right!

The Way to Carry the Islamic Da’wah

The Muslims did not lag behind the world due to their adherence to Islam. On the contrary, their regression commenced the day they abandoned this adherence to Islam and they allowed the foreign culture to enter their lands and the Western concepts to influence their minds. They abandoned the intellectual leadership of Islam when they neglected its da’wah and misapplied its laws (ahkam). Therefore, the Muslims must resume the Islamic way of life if they want the revival (nahdah) to occur. However, they will not be able to resume the Islamic way of life unless they carry the Islamic da’wah by carrying the intellectual leadership of Islam. The da’wah should be directed towards establishing the Islamic State which, in turn, will establish the leadership of Islam by carrying the Islamic ideology.

It should be noted that carrying the intellectual leadership by carrying the Islamic da’wah in order to revive the Muslims is performed because only Islam comprehensively and positively addresses the world. True revival cannot be achieved by the Muslims or others without Islam. It is on this basis that the da’wah should be carried out. The da’wah must be carried to the world as an intellectual leadership from which all systems emanate. It is upon this leadership that all thoughts are built and from such thoughts spring forth the concepts that influence ones viewpoint in life without exception.

The da’wah should be carried today as it was delivered in the past and should proceed in compliance with the example of the Messenger (saw), without the slightest deviation from its method in its general and specific details. No regard should be given to the differences in time, for these differences amount to nothing more than the means and forms. However, the essence and the reality of life, has not and will not change regardless of the passing of ages and changing of peoples and places. Carrying the da’wah demands frankness, courage, strength, thought and to challenge all that contradicts the fikra and tariqa (idea and method) of Islam by facing it and exposing its falsehood irrespective of the situation and its consequences.

Carrying the Islamic da’wah necessitates that Islam alone should be recognised as possessing ultimate sovereignty, regardless of whether the masses agree or disagree or whether they accept it or deny it, or whether it is in accordance with the peoples customs or not.

The da’wah carrier does not flatter the people, is not courteous to the authorities or cares for the peoples customs and traditions, and does not give any attention to whether the people will accept him or not. Rather he must adhere to the ideology alone and solely express it and no regard is given to anything except the ideology. It is not allowed to tell the followers of other ideologies to adhere to their ideologies. Instead, they are invited without compulsion to embrace the ideology (of Islam) because the da’wah requires that there be no other ideology straddling alongside Islam and that the sovereignty be for Islam alone.

"It is He who has sent His Messenger with the Guidance and deen of Haqq, to prevail over all other religions even though the idolaters may abhor it." [TMQ 9:33]

The Messenger (saw) came to this world with the Message and openly challenged the whole world. He (saw) believed in the Truth he (saw) was inviting the people to and declared an ideological war against the ‘red and black’, i.e., everyone, irrespective of their traditions, customs, religions, doctrines, rulers and masses.
He (saw) paid no credence to anything other than the message of Islam. He commenced the da’wah by discrediting the false deities of Quraysh. He (saw) challenged them in their doctrines, discredited them while alone and isolated and with no helper and no weapon except his unshakeable and deeply rooted conviction in Islam to which he was inviting. He (saw) did not care for the Arab customs, traditions, religions, or doctrines. In this respect, he (saw) was not courteous nor gave them any regard.

Similarly, the da’wah carrier has to challenge everything. This includes challenging the customs, traditions, erroneous thoughts and concepts, the public opinion when it is wrong even if he has to struggle against it, and the doctrines and religions. This is despite the fact the that the da’wah carrier might be exposed to the fanaticism of their followers and the hostility of those who stick to their distortions.
Delivering the da’wah requires a concern for the complete implementation of Islam without the slightest deviation. The carrier does not accept any truce nor concession, negligence nor postponement. Instead, he maintains the matter as a whole and definitively settles it without accepting any intercession which would obstruct the truth.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) did not accept the request of Thaqifa’s delegation to be allowed to retain their idol, Allat, for three years before it was demolished, neither did he (saw) exempt them from prayer as pre-conditions for embracing Islam. He (saw) refused to leave Allat for two years or for one month as they had demanded. He (saw) refused this request firmly, and decisively, without any hesitation or leniency. This is simply because man has to either believe or not, after all, the result is either Paradise or Hell. However, the Messenger of Allah (saw) did accept their request not to have them demolish their idol through their hands. Instead, he asked Abu Sufyan and al-Mughira ibn Shuâbah to demolish it. He definitely did not accept anything less than the complete aqeedah and the required implementation. As for the means and forms of carrying this implementation, the Messenger of Allah (saw) accepted them because they are not connected with the tenets of the Islamic aqeedah. Therefore, care must be taken in delivering the da’wah to preserve the completeness of its thought and implementation without any compromise in the fikra and tariqa. There is no harm in using any usloob (means) it demands.

Carrying the Islamic da’wah necessitates that every one of its actions should be undertaken for a specific objective. The carrier should always be aware of this aim and work towards achieving it, exerting himself relentlessly to fulfil it. Therefore, the carrier would not be satisfied by thought without action and would deem it to be a hypnotic and fanciful philosophy. Likewise, he would not be satisfied by thought and action devoid of any objective, considering this to be a spiral motion which ultimately ends in apathy, no real accomplishment, and despair. Instead, the da’wah carrier has to insist upon connecting the thought with action and uniting the two in working for a specific objective which will be fulfilled in a practical manner and be brought into existence.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) carried the intellectual leadership of Islam in Makkah. When he realised that the society there would not make Islam its system, he (saw) began preparing the society of Madinah. In Madinah, he established the State, thereby implementing Islam, carried its message, and prepared the Ummah to convey it after him and to proceed in the same way he had traced. Therefore, carrying the Islamic da’wah in the situation where there is no Khaleefah, should include the call for Islam and the resumption of the Islamic way of life by establishing the Islamic State which implements Islam and carries its message to the world. Thus, the da’wah is transferred from a call within the nation to resume an Islamic life to a call to the world carried out by the Islamic State and from a local da’wah within the Islamic world to a universal da’wah.

The call to Islam should clearly include correcting the prevalent doctrines, strengthening the relationship with Allah (swt) and providing solutions for the problems of the people, so that the da’wah remains vivid in all fields of life. The Prophet (saw) would recite to the people of Makkah the following verses:


“Perish the hands of Abu Lahab.” [TMQ 111:1]

“This is verily the word of an honourable messenger. It is not the words of a poet. Little it is that you believe.” [TMQ 69:40-41]

“Woe to those who deal in fraud, those who when they have to receive by measure from men, exact full measure, but when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than due.” [TMQ 83:1-3]

“For those who believe and do righteous deeds will be gardens beneath which rivers flow; that is the great salvation (the fulfilment of all desires).” [TMQ 85:11]

In Madinah, he recited:

“Establish prayer and practice regular charity.” [TMQ 2:110]

The sublime ascent.

The more a Muslim increases in his Islamic culture to develop his mentality, and the more he increases the performance of the recommended actions to strengthen his disposition the more he will proceed towards the sublime ascent. Not only will he become firm on this ascent but also he will continue to be elevated even higher and higher. This is when he controls his life in the proper manner and attains the Akhirah by striving for it as a believer. He will be allied to the Mihraab (recess indicating the direction for salah) of the mosque whilst at the same time he is a hero of Jihad characterised by the best of attributes; a servant of Allah the Almighty, the Creator and Originator.

IMF head gives food price warning

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict.

There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt.

Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis.

Market turmoil

Although the problems in global credit markets were the main focus of the meeting of the IMF's steering committee of finance ministers from 24 countries, Mr Strauss-Kahn warned of dire consequences from continued food price rises.

"Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will be starving. Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives," he told reporters.

He said the problem could lead to trade imbalances that may eventually affect developed nations, "so it is not only a humanitarian question".

Food prices have risen sharply in recent months, driven by increased demand, poor weather in some countries and an increase in the use of land to grow crops for transport fuels.

The steering committee also called for "strong action" among its 185 members to deal with "the still unfolding financial market turmoil and... the potential worsening" of housing markets and the credit crunch.

The finance ministers did not dissent from the IMF's previous forecast that only a moderate slowdown in world economic growth is the most likely outcome over the next year or two.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright:: America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright:

America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

Every public service of worship I have heard about, so far, in the wake of the American tragedy has had in its prayers and in its preachments, sympathy and compassion for those who were killed and for their families, and God’s guidance, upon the selected presidents, and our war machine, as they do what they do, and what they got to do. Paybacks.

There’s a move in Psalm 137, from thoughts of paying tides, to thoughts of paying back. A move if you will from worship, to war - a move in other words from the God of creation, to the war against those whom God created.
And I want you to notice very carefully the next move, one of the reasons this Psalm is rarely read in its entirety, because it is a move that spotlights the insanity of the cycle of violence, and the cycle of hatred.
Look at the verse, look at verse 9, look at verse 9.

Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rocks. The people of faith, by the rivers of Babylon. How shall we sing the Lord’s song, if I forget thee? The people of faith have moved from the hatred of armed enemies, these soldiers who captured the King, those soldiers who slaughtered his sons and put his eyes out, the soldiers who sacked the city, burned their towns, burned the temple, burned the towers — they have moved from the hatred for armed enemies to the hatred of unarmed innocents. The babies. The babies. Blessed are they who dash your baby’s brains against a rock. And that, my beloved, is a dangerous place to be.
Now, I asked the Lord, what should our response be, in light of such an unthinkable act? But before I share with you what the Lord showed me I want to give you one of my little faith footnotes. Visitors, I often give faith footnotes, so that our members don’t lose sight of the big picture. Let me give you a little faith footnote. Turn to your neighbor and say “Faith footnote.”
Congregation: Faith footnote.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright:

I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him? He was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out – you see him John? – White man, he pointed out, an Ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Mohammed was in fact true. America’s chickens are coming home to roost. We took this country, by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arawak, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navaho – terrorism. We took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.
We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, nonmilitary personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenagers and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hardworking fathers. We bombed Kaddafi’s home and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s heads against the rocks.

We bombed Iraq; we killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy; killed hundreds of hardworking people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day, not knowing that they would never get back home.
We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki. And we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school, civilians – not soldiers – just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.

Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred, and terrorism begets terrorism. A white Ambassador said that, ya’ll, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An Ambassador whose eyes are wide open, and who’s trying to get us to wake up, and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The Ambassador said the people that we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die to take thousands with them, and we need to come to grips with that. Let me stop my faith footnote right there, and ask you to think about that over the next few weeks if God grants us that many days. Turn back to your neighbor and say “Footnote is over”.
Congregation: Footnote is over.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright:

Now, come on back to my question to the Lord: what should our response be right now, in light of such an unthinkable act? I asked the Lord that question Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I was stuck in Newark, New Jersey. No flights were leaving La Guardia, JFK, or Newark airport. On the day that the FAA opened up the airports to bring into the cities of destinations those flights that had been diverted because of the hijacking, a scare in New York closed all three regional airports and I couldn’t even get here for Mr. Radford’s father’s funeral. And I asked God, what should our response be? I saw pictures of the incredible – people jumping from 110th floor, people jumping from the roof, because the stairwells and elevators above the 89th floor were gone, no more. Black people jumping to a certain death; people holding hands jumping; people on fire jumping. And I asked the Lord, what should our response be?

I read what the people of faith felt in 551 BC. But this is a different time, this is a different enemy, this is a different world, this is a different terror, this is a different reality. What should our response be? And the Lord showed me three things. Let me share them with you quickly, and then I will leave you alone to think about the faith footnote.

Number one: the Lord showed me that this is a time for self-examination. As I sat 900 miles away from my family and my community of faith, two months after my own father’s death, God showed me that this was a time for me to examine my relationship with God. My own relationship with God. My personal relationship with God. I submit to you that it’s the same for you. Folks flocked to the church in New Jersey last week, you know that fox hole religion syndrome kicked in, that emergency car cord religion – you know that little red box that says “pull in case of emergency”? It showed up full force. Folks who haven’t thought about coming to church for years were in church last week. I heard that midweek prayer services all over this country, which are poorly attended 51 weeks a year, were jam-packed all over the nation, the week of the hijackings, the 52nd week, filled and full.

But the Lord said this isn’t the time for you to be examining other folks’ relationships; this is a time of self-examination. The Lord said, how is our relationship doing Jeremiah? How often do you talk to me personally? How often do you let me talk to you privately? How much time trying to get right with me? Or do you spend all your time trying to get other folks right? This is a time for me to examine my own relationship with God. Is it real, or is it fake? Is it forever, or is it for show? Is it something that you do for the sake of the public, or is it something that you do for the sake of eternity? This is a time for me to examine my own, and a time for you to examine your own relationship with God. Self-examination.

About this entry
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Published:
3.20.08 / 1pm
Category:
media, politics

Confusing God and Government - April 13, 2003

If you were to ask the average Christian, "did Jesus cry?", almost every Christian would quote for you that John 11:35 verse, which most Bible students call the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept". It is the verse, you will remember, that is found in the middle of the story about the death of Lazarus, the Lord Jesus' friend. Jesus loved Lazarus, his friend; Lazarus had died. Jesus was outside the village of Bethany - he had not yet reached the city limits - Martha had met him, and he and Martha had talked. Martha was mad, and she let the Lord know that she was mad. Jesus had reassured her with words she did not understand, "I am the resurrection and the life: whosoever believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live again: and whosoever liveth and believeth shall never die." He had reassured her - she didn't understand those words, but at least he had calmed her down for just a little bit. She left Jesus there, went back to the house and called her sister Mary and told her privately, "Jesus is here and he is calling for you." And when Mary heard those words she got up quickly and went to where Jesus was just outside of Bethany. When those who were grieving with her saw her get up quickly and go out, they ran along with her - you find that story in John 11. They thought she was going to her brother's grave site to grieve. When Jesus saw her crying, and Jesus saw those who were trying to console her crying, he started weeping. The text says "he was greatly disturbed in spirit and he was deeply moved." He asked Mary and Martha, "where have you laid him?" and they said "Lord, come and see" and he cried: "Jesus wept." You know, death will make you weep. When you lose someone that you love, you will weep. When you lose somebody that was close to you, the tears will come; I ain't telling you about nothing that I read in a book somewhere, I’m telling you what I know from personal experience. I'm not telling you what I studied in pastoral counselling, I’m telling you what I have lived – for when the pain of death hits and the pain is deep, when the pain of death hits and the pain is personal, when the finality of death comes crashing in on you, and those words “never again” move from the region of possibility to the heart-wrenching realm of reality, that smile that made your day, never again will you see it. That laughter that lit up your world, never again will you hear it. That wisdom that anchored your soul, never again will you experience it in this life. When that happens to you, my beloved, you will weep. You will cry. Jesus wept; Jesus cried. And most Christians learn very early in their walk of faith that John 11:35 verse – what does it say?

Congregation: Jesus wept.

You know that’s the first Bible verse you memorise. You usually go around the table and have to say a Bible verse at dinner; “What’s your verse?” “Jesus wept.” But guess what? Guess what? Tonight’s text teaches us that that is not the only time that Jesus wept. On this day that we call Palm Sunday, when the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God and joyfully – as we just read - for all the deeds of powers that they had seen – on the Sunday that we call Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode on the colt – on the Sunday before Maundy Thursday, the Sunday before Good Friday, while some of the Pharisees in the crowd tried to stop the praise of the profession that was taking place – on the Sunday before he was put to death on a cross, stretched between two thieves, the Sunday that he said if these who are praising me hold their peace, then the rocks will cry out – on the Sunday before he sealed our salvation as he came near the city, the text we just read said, in the midst of the praise, Luke tells us that he wept over the city; he cried for his people who did not know the things that make for peace. He cried for his people because they were blinded by their culture, they were blinded by their condition, they were blinded by their circumstance, they were blinded by their oppression, they were blinding by being in a spot where they desired – deeply desired – revenge, and they could not see the things that make for peace. We keep forgetting, we keep forgetting, and we need to remember; Jerome Ross wrote about it like he reminded you of it, write it down so you don’t forget it. These people had, in Luke 19, an occupying army living in their country. Jesus in verse 43 calls them their enemies – say enemies; their enemies had all the political power. Remember, they had to send Jesus to a court presided over by the enemy; a provisional governor appointed by their enemies ran the civic and the political affairs of the capital. He had backing him up an occupying army with superior soldiers – they were commandos trained in urban combat and trained to kill on command. Remember, it was soldiers of the Third Marine regiment of Rome who had fun with Jesus, who was mistreated as a prisoner of war, an enemy of the occupying army stationed in Jerusalem to ensure the mopping up action of Operation It’s Really Freedom; these people were blinded by the culture of war. Do you know what it’s like to live under military rule 24/7, 365? These people were blinded by their circumstance of oppression; their enemies not only had all of the political power, with Governor Pontius Pilate – y’all call him “Pontus Pilot” – he’s Italian, Pontius Pilate – Pontus Pilot was running the provisional government; their enemies also had the military power. They not only had political power, they had the military power. It was Roman soldiers who kept Jesus up all night. It was the Italian army who led Jesus out to Calvary on Friday morning. It was the occupying military brigade who forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Jesus. These people were tired of their oppression, they wanted the enemy up out of their land (some of them did, some of them didn’t; not the businessmen, not those in bed with the enemy, let’s be clear, let’s be clear) but the average citizen wanted them out, but they also wanted revenge. They wanted their King to get this military monkey off their back – they wanted a “regime change”, if you will. And look what they called Jesus, look at it in verse 38, they called Jesus the “King”. Look at it, look at it, look at verse 38. They call him the King. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” They wanted their King – see, their King – they saw God the Lord getting ready to do something about this situation. Blinded by the pain of their situation, they could not see the things that made for peace, y’all. So Jesus cried.

Let me help you with something. Let me help you, let me help you. The military does not make for peace. The military only keeps the lid on for a little while. The military doesn’t make for peace, and the absence of armed resistance doesn’t mean the presence of genuine peace. Somebody needs to hear me tonight, you’re not hearing me. War does not make for peace. We said at the eleven o’clock service “Fighting for peace is like raping for Virginity”. War does not make for peace, war only makes for escalating violence, and a mindset to pay the enemy back by any means necessary. When your wife or your children have been crushed by the enemy, when your mother or your father have been mowed down by the military, peace is not on your mind. Payback is the only game in town. You just bide your time and you wait for your opportunity, but somebody is going to pay dearly for the permanent damage that has come into your life and wrecked your world as it rocked your world. Military might does not make for peace, war does not make for peace. Occupying somebody else’s country doesn’t make for peace. Killing those that fought to protect their own homes does not make for peace. Press conferences claiming victory do not make for peace. Regime change, substituting one tyrant for another tyrant with the biggest tyrant pulling the puppet strings of all the tyrants, that does not make for peace! Colonising a country does not make for peace! If you don’t believe me, look at Haiti, look at Puerto Rico, look at Angola, look at Zimbabwe, look at Kenya, look at Astra Boys in South Africa. Colonisation does not make for peace. Occupation does not make for peace, and subjugation only makes for temporary silence. It does not make for peace.

These people who wanted a new King were blinded by their circumstances, and it made Jesus cry because they missed the meaning of his ministry. Turn to your neighbour and say “missed the meaning of his ministry.” When Jesus says, when Jesus says “you did not recognise the time of your visitation from God” down in verse 44, Jesus is saying you did not recognise the time of my ministry. You did not see the meaning of my ministry. You are missing the real things that make for peace. You are – you are, you are confusing external appearances with external power. You are looking at the man and you are not looking at the one the man represents. You are looking at the miracle – that’s verse 37, when the deeds of power they are praising, that’s the miracle: sight to the blind - deeds of power; hearing to the deaf – deeds of power; speech to the mute – deeds of power; cleansing of the lepers – deeds of power; wholeness to the broken – deeds of – you are looking at the miracles and missing the meaning behind the miracles. A miracle is just a sign. A sign only points to something, or points the way to something. Don’t get fixated on the sign and miss completely what the sign is pointing to. The deeds of power point to a God who is greater than any physical limitation and a God who can overcome any limiting situation. The things that make for peace, only God can give. Y’all looking to the government for that which only God can give. No wonder he wept. He had good cause to cry. The people under oppression were confusing God and Government.

Say “confusing God and Government”. Now if you don’t mind, if you don’t mind, I’m going to hang out here, homilificate for just a little while, and then I’m going to let you go home. I’ve got to pause here, however, as a pastor because a lot of people still confuse, 2000 years later, they still confuse God with their Government. Now we can see clearly the confusion in the mind of a few Muslims – and please notice I did not say all Muslims, I said a few Muslims – who see a law a condoning killing, and killing any and all who do not believe what they believe. They call if “jihad”. We can see clearly the confusion in their minds, but we cannot see clearly what it is that we do: we call it “Crusade”, when we turn right around and say our God condones the killing of innocent civilians as a necessary means to an end. That we say God understands collateral damage, we say that God knows how to forgive friendly fire, we say that God will bless the Shock and Awe as we take over unilaterally another country – calling it a coalition because we’ve got three guys from Australia. Going against the United Nations, going against the majority of Christians, Muslims and Jews throughout the world, making a pre-emptive strike in the name of God. We cannot see how what we are doing is the same Al-Qaida is doing under a different colour flag, calling on the name of a different God to sanction and approve our murder and our mayhem!

Let me tell you something, let me tell you something, Jesus said something about that too. Oh yes he did. Jesus said “how can you see the speck in your brother’s eye and can’t see the log in your own eye?” Well, I submit to you we can’t see it first of all ‘cause we don’t see nobody who don’t look like us, dress like us, talk like us, worship like us as brother – and Jesus calls them brother. We demonise them and that makes it all right to kill them because our God is against demons. Then we can’t see the speck most of all because we equate our Government with our God. We confuse Government and God. Let me tell you something; we believe in this country, and we teach our children that God sent us to this “Promised Land”. He sent us to take this country from the Arrowak, the Susquehanna, the Apache, the Comanche, the Cherokee, the Seminole, the Choctaw, the Hopi and the Arapaho. We confuse Government and God. We believe God sanctioned the rape and robbery of an entire continent. We believe God ordained African slavery. We believe God makes Europeans superior to Africans and superior to everybody else too. We confuse God and Government. We said in our founding document as a Government, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” – created, that means God – “and endowed with a certain inalienable right” – that means given by God, and then we define Africans in those same documents as three-fifths of a person. We believe God approved of African slavery. We believe God approved segregation. We believe God approved Apartheid, and a document says “all men are created more equal than other men” – and we’re talking about White men. We confuse God and Government. We believe that God approves of 6% of the people on the face of this Earth controlling all of the resources on the face of this Earth while the other 94% live in poverty and squalor, while we give trillions of dollars of tax breaks to the White rich. We believe God was a founding member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Look at the lily-whiteness of the G-7 nations the next time you see a picture and you tell me if you see anything wrong with that picture. When you hold it up against a picture of the colour of the world’s population. We confuse God and Government. We believe God is on the side of the wealthy. We believe it is all right to send our military to fight – and if necessary, to die – in Iraq and anywhere else we decide is part of the “Axis of Evil” while George W. cuts the military benefits so when those boys and girls come back home, they can be as bad off as some of the Iraqis that we just “liberated.” We confuse God and Government.

We do. We believe, we believe, we believe we have a right to Iraqi oil. We believe we have a right Venezuelan oil. We believe we got a right to all the oil on the face of the Earth, and we’ve got the military to take it if necessary; or as George W. piously says, “as God so leads” him. We confuse God and Government. We believe it is all right to decimate the Afro-Colombian community by arming the paramilitary with United States tax dollars – our dollars – by hiring military whose real job is to protect the oil line owned by United States companies tied to the Presidency which was stolen by the oil interests. We’re confusing God and Government, and it gets worse – it gets worse. We got a paranoid group of patriots in power that now, in the interests of Homeland Stupidity – I mean Homeland Security, ‘scuse me – they are taking away the Constitutional right of Free Speech because it’s “harmful to the interests of national security” – and those interests equate God with Government. Our money says In God we Trust, and our military says we will kill under the orders of our Commander-in-Chief if you dare to believe otherwise. We are still confusing God and Government in the year 2003, just like confused Luke 19. Well, in case you are in that great number, and I understand from the polls that the number has gone up, still confused; if you are in that number of confused folk 2000 years after Christ, let me share three quick things with you just to help clear up your confusion. Turn to your neighbour and say, and listen you got to say it right, say it with attitude and with Ebonics, say “He fitting to help somebody tonight.” Turn to the other side and say “fitting to”.

Governments – number one – Governments lie.

This Government lied about their belief that all men were created equal. The truth was they believe all White men were created equal. The truth is they did not believe that even White women were created equal, in creation nor in civilisation. The Government had to pass an amendment to the Constitution to get White women the vote. Then the Government had to pass an “Equal Rights” amendment to get equal protection under the law for women. The Government still thinks a woman has no rights over her own body, and between Uncle Clarence – who sexually harassed Anita Hill – and the closeted clam court that is a throwback to the 19th century, hand-picked by Daddy Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, hung between Clarence and that stacked court they’re about to undo Roe v. Wade, just like they’re about to undo affirmative action. The Government lied in its founding documents and the Government is still lying today. Governments lie. Turn to your neighbour and say “Governments lie”. The Government lied about Pearl Harbour. They knew the Japanese were going to attack. Governments lie! The Government lied about the Gulf of Tonkin – they wanted that resolution to get us into the Vietnam War. Governments lie! The Government lied about Nelson Mandela, and our CIA helped put him in prison and keep him there for 27 years. The South African Government lied on Nelson Mandela. Governments lie! Turn back to your neighbour and say again “Governments lie.” The Government lied about the Tuskegee experiment; they purposely infected African-American men with syphilis. Governments lie! The Government lied about bombing Cambodia, and Richard Nixon stood in front of the camera, “Let me make myself perfectly clear, we are not –“ Governments lie! The Government lied about the drugs for arms Contras scheme, orchestrated by Oliver North and then they pardoned – the Government pardoned – all of the perpetrators so they could get better jobs in the Government. Governments lie! The Government lied about inventing the HIV-virus as a means of genocide against people of colour. Governments lie! The Government lied about a connection between Al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein, and a connection between 9/1-1/01 and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Governments lie! The Government lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq being a threat to the United States’ peace. And guess what else? If they don’t find them some Weapons of Mass Destruction, they’re going to do just like that LAPD and plant them some Weapons of Mass Destruction. Governments lie!

But I’m fitting to help you. I’m fitting to – turn to your neighbour, say “He fitting to help us.”

Where Governments lie, God does not lie. Read Numbers 23:19; it says “God is not Man that he should lie.” That’s the Kings James translation. The New Revised Translation says – repeat it after me so that you won’t forget it – “God is not a human being that he should lie.” Say it again. “God is not a human being that he should lie.” Let’s say it together. “God is not a human being that he should lie.” Where Governments lie, God does not lie. That’s number one.

Number two: Governments change.

Long before there was a Red White and Blue colonisation, the Egyptian government was doing colonisation. They colonised half the continent of Africa, they colonised parts of the Mediterranean. All colonisers ain’t White. Turn to your neighbour and say “oppressors come in all colours.” Hello, hello, hello. But while the Government of Egypt and Pharaoh ran it, they don’t run a thing today, and why? Because Governments change. When the Babylonians carried away the people of promise into exile, the Babylonian Government was the baddest government around. But when King Nebuchadnezzar when crazy, his government was replaced by the government of King Belshazzar. King Belshazzar held a great big feast, big banquet, defiled the sacred vessels stolen from the temple in Jerusalem and a hand appeared out of nowhere and started writing on the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin”. And Daniel translated the writing for the king, and told him “here’s what it means, king” – you can find this in Daniel 5 – “Mene: God has numbered the days of your government and brought it to an end.” Governments change. “Tekel: you have been weighed on the scales of justice and you’re too light to balance the scales.” “Parsin: that’s from the verb Peres; your kingdom, your government is divided and given now to the Medes and to the Persians.” And the Bible says that night, that same night, King Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took over the government. Governments change, y’all. Darius was replaced later on by another government, and then another 70 years later King Cyrus said to the people of promise, y’all can go back home. All I’m trying to get you to see is that Governments change.

Prior to Abraham Lincoln, the Government in this country said it was legal to hold Africans in slavery in perpetuity. Perpetuity’s one of those University of Chicago words, it means forever. From now on. When Lincoln got in office, the government changed. Prior to the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, the government defined Africans as slaves, as property – property! – people with no rights to be respected by any Whites anywhere. The Supreme Court of the government – same court, granddaddy court of the one which stole the 2000 election – Supreme Court said in its Dredd Scott decision in the 1850s: no African anywhere in this country has any rights that any White person has to respect at anyplace, anytime. That was the government’s official position, backed up by the Supreme Court – that’s the judiciary – backed up by the Executive branch – that’s the President – backed up by the Legislative branch and enforced by the military of the government, but I stopped by to tell you tonight that Governments change! Prior to Harry Truman’s government, the military in this country was segregated. But Governments change. Prior to the Civil Rights and Equal Accommodations laws of the government in this country, there was Black segregation by the country, legal discrimination by the government, prohibited Blacks from voting by the government, you had to eat in separate places by the government, you had to sit in different places from White folk because the government says so, and you had to be buried in a separate cemetery. It was Apartheid American-style from the cradle to the grave, all because the government backed it up. But guess what? Governments change!

Under Bill Clinton, we got messed up Welfare-to-Work bill, but under Clinton Blacks had an intelligent friend in the Oval Office. Oh, but Governments change.

The election was stolen. We went from an intelligent friend to a dumb Dixiecrat, a rich Republican who has never held a job in his life – is against affirmative action, against education, against health care, against benefits for his own military, and gives tax breaks to he wealthiest contributors to his campaign. Governments change – sometimes for the good, and sometimes for the bad. But I’m fitting to help you again; turn back and say “He’s fitting to help us again.”

Where governments change – write this down, Malachiah 3:6 – “thus sayeth the Lord:” – repeat after me – “for I am the Lord, and I change not.” That’s the Kings James version. The New Revised says, “For I the Lord do not change.” In other words, where Governments change, God does not change. God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. That’s what is name, “I am”, means you know. He does not change. There is no shadow of turning in God; one songwriter puts it this way: “As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Thou changes not. Thy compassions, they fail not. Great is thy faithfulness Lord unto me.” God does not change! God was against slavery on yesterday, and God who does not change is still against slavery today. God was a God of love yesterday, and God who does not change is still a God of love today. God was a God of justice on yesterday, and God who does not change is still a God of justice today. Turn to your neighbour and say, “God does not change.”

Where Governments lie, God does not lie. Where Governments change, God does not change. And I’m through now. But let me leave you with one more thing.

Governments fail. The government in this text comprised of Caesar, Cornelius, Pontus Pilot – Pontius Pilate – the Roman government failed. The British government used to rule from east to west. The British government had a Union Jack. She colonised Kenya, Guana, Nigeria, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Hong Kong. Her navies ruled the seven seas all the way down to the tip of Argentina in the Falklands, but the British failed. The Russian government failed. The Japanese government failed. The German government failed. And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian decent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese decent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating her citizens of African decent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains. The government put them in slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton fields, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into position of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing “God Bless America.” No, no, no. Not “God Bless America”; God Damn America! That’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God Damn America for treating her citizen as less than human. God Damn America as long as she keeps trying to act like she is God and she is supreme!

The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African decent. Think about this, think about this. For every 1 Oprah, a billionaire, you got five million Blacks who are out of work. For every 1 Colin Powell, a millionaire, you got ten million Blacks who cannot read. For every 1 “Condeskeeza” Rice, you got one million in prison. For every 1 Tiger Woods, who needs to get beat at the Masters with his cat-blazing hips, playing on a course that discriminates against women; God has this way of bringing you short when you get too big for your cat-blazing britches. For every 1 Tiger Woods, we got ten thousand Black kids who will never see a golf course. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African decent. But I’m fitting to help you one last time – turn to your neighbour and say “he’s fitting to help us one last time.” Turn back and say “Forgive him for the ‘God Damn’, that’s in the Bible Lord.” Blessings and cursing is in the Bible, it’s in the Bible. But I’m fitting to help you one last time. Let me tell you something.

Where governments fail, God never fails.

When God says it, it’s done. God never fails. When God wills it, you better get out the way. ‘Cause God never fails. When God fixes it, oh believe me, it’s fixed. God never fails. Somebody right now, you think you can’t make it, but I want you to know you are more than a conqueror, through Christ you can do all things, through Christ who strengthens you. To the world, it looked like God has failed in God’s plan of salvation when the saviour that was sent by God was put to death on a Friday afternoon. It looked like God failed. But hallelujah, on Sunday morning the angels in Heaven were singing, “God never fails.” You can’t put down what God raises up. God never fails. You can’t keep down what God wants up. God never fails. If God can get a three-day Jesus up out of a grave, what’s going on in your life that in anyway can’t match what God has already done? He’ll abides with you, he’ll reside in you, and he’ll preside over your problems if you take them to Him and leave them with Him. Don’t take them back – turn to your neighbour and say “stop taking your problems back.” Should we always bring our problems to the altar and then do we just them right on back to our seats? Turn and say “Stop taking them back!” God never fails. Turn and tell them “God never fails!” God never fails!

God never fails.

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