Dilly Hussain – Salahudeen al Ayubi & the liberation of Jerusalem
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of learning about Islamic history to defend their Islamic heritage and the holy zone in the Bible. They also discuss the threat of controversial ideas and political events, and the importance of educating oneself and being strong in their Islam. The holy spirit is emphasized, along with the need to know the spiritual, and books and lectures are recommended to help educate oneself and be strong in their Islam. The speaker also touches on the upcoming "fitna" of Islam and the difficulty of understanding history, as well as the increasing popularity of Islam in the Muslim world due to the belief it is a source of profit.
AI: Summary ©
We see so many Muslims nowadays who
know about British history in detail. They can
tell you about Henry the 8th and his
6 wives. But then when you ask them
about our own history,
like who built Mecca or the story of
Sayyid Naysid alayhis salaam or the difference between
the sunnah and shia,
we as Muslims, a lot of us don't
know that.
And that's such a problem because
when we don't understand our own history,
we can't love that history, and we can't
love our holy sites, Makkah, Madinah, and Al
Aqsa. And when we don't love those holy
sites, there's no way we can protect them
and defend them.
So I think that's an important message from
this talk that we should learn about Islamic
history to defend
our Islamic heritage.
Another
important point, I guess, from this talk is
that Saladin,
he
is such an amazing leader. And the reason
he's so amazing in Islam is because he
came at a time
when there was no hope for Muslims. He
came at a time when Muslim leaders worldwide
were completely indifferent to Muslim suffering. He came
at a time when the West were attacking
Islam both physically and mentally.
They were saying that Muslims are infidels. They
were saying that Muslims should be eradicated so
Christianity can flourish. And at the same time,
they were entering Muslim countries and,
you know, taking over and killing
Muslim
citizens.
And I think
we see Saladin as being so distant from
us. We see him as being in a
different world. But if we think about it,
there are
so many parallels to our life today.
Today, we have Muslim leaders who
all they care about is money and power
and passing that power down from sun to
sun. And at the same time, we're facing,
you know,
serious attacks from the west, both bombing on
Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan,
and also mentally where Western governments are you
know, Western governments, Western media are saying Muslims
are terrorists. Muslims
should be deported.
And the difference between
salahideen's
time and our time today is that we
don't have a salahideen.
And it's up to us to try and
become the salahideen that we want to see
in our world. We need to become the
salahideen in whichever field we go into, whether
that field is medicine, whether it's law, whether
engineering, whether history or English. We need to
excel and lead in those fields. And when
we lead,
then if an attack happens or when an
attack happens on Al Aqsa or on Makkah
or Madinah, not only can we condemn that
attack,
but we can try and stop it, inshallah.
So,
I'll pass over to
Dedi Hassan. We were honored to have. He
is a British journalist.
He's cofounder and co editor of the Islamic,
website, 5 Pillars.
He also writes for the Huffington Post,
Al Jazeera, and Middle East Eye
and has also appeared on several news channels,
including,
Sky News, BBC News, and Islam Channel.
The talk should last 30 minutes, inshallah.
And then after that, we'll have a question
and answer session where you guys can ask
about, or
about
Dili Hussein's career
on journalism.
I won't bore you.
So,
without further ado, Sadik Hussein?
Do you mind if I, please?
So many people in the room get the
the return of the salaam, so it's so
quiet.
I want to begin by thanking,
UCLA for inviting me to deliver this talk.
You know,
what monumental task I have at hand,
discuss the and
the
in
When entire books,
lectures
in some universities and institutions, you do modules
on these topics.
So I have the near impossible task to
deliver this talk in the space of half
an hour. So,
make do
some justice,
for the the remarks.
One of the questions
sister Mariam asked me in the email,
just to be brother,
why did you wanna do this talk or
is it a case of personal interest?
And she would not mind me asking.
I didn't mind at all
because a very important question.
Is it of personal interest?
And the answer is,
the issue of Masjid Al Aqsa,
Jerusalem,
and the land that's known as Alshan, which
is Syria,
Palestine,
Lebanon, and parts of Jordan,
is something
that should be
very deep rooted in our hearts.
Because it was
it was for the prophet,
it was for his companions,
it was for the who came after, and
it's certainly was
And whenever we discuss
not only salaam alayuba's life but generally heroes
within Islamic history,
we tend to sometimes have a very romanticized
concept.
We hear these stories
and then we leave the room
and the iman or the hope or the
zeal decreases.
It become day like a bedtime story kind
of thing. So please brothers and sisters,
whatever comes out of today's lecture,
do not let it decrease when you leave.
Insha'Allah. And this topic in on itself
stirs a lot of emotion
because there's a lot of political relevance,
a lot of religious relevance,
spiritual relevance
and it's a topic
regarding an area which is dear not only
to Islam Muslims
but to Christians
and the Jewish people.
So keep this in mind. Keep this in
mind that this topic here that we're gonna
discuss today is no light topic.
And as sister Maria rightly stated,
there are so many comparison and and similarities
to the time of
and the situation of the Muslim world then
and our situation
today.
And I'll go on to explain that later
on in the talk.
So before I start,
there's gonna be a number of terminologies I'm
gonna use,
besides Al Aqsa, Mas'il Aqsa, so Jerusalem,
Al Sham,
Bayt al Maqdis Bayt al Maqdis, so the
Koranic term that's referred to as Jerusalem.
So
keep that in mind that if I'm not
using the word Al Aksa, I'm generally referring
to the land that's known as Jerusalem or
Al Sham, which is Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and
Philistine.
So to begin with,
let's try understanding why
Mas'id Al Aqsa
or this area known as Baytin Maqdis or
Why is it so dear to the Muslims?
It was the first qibla of the Muslims.
It was the station of Al Ismail Miraj,
the miraculous night journey of our beloved prophet.
It was the second house of Allah
built on this earth.
It was the place where 100 of prophets
made Allah's, peace and blessed be upon the
more are buried.
It's the place where many of the companions
are buried.
It's a place where miracles took place by
Allah's permission.
It was a place which Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala refers to himself in the Quran as
a blessed place.
And within the Quran, there are 70 direct
and indirect references.
It's the place where angels are descended with
Allah's message.
It's the only place on earth
where all
the prayed in JAMA
behind prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And lastly, it's the only masjid mentioned by
name
in the Quran besides the Kaaba.
And I wanna just narrate some Hadith to
you just so you can get an indication
of how important it was. And I'm just
gonna narrate some Hadith. There's many.
There's some
said there's this around 40 to 50 hadith
sahib,
authentic hadith.
Directly talking about,
Masjid Al Aqsa,
Baytul Maqdis in that area. And obviously, I
said 70 indirect or direct references in the
Quran.
Regarding
Masjid Al Aqsa
being a place
where it's very important to visit.
Abu Hurayda
relates.
But the prophet
said,
you should not undertake
a special journey
to visit any place other than the following
3 Masjids with the expectations of getting greater
reward.
The sacred Masjid of Makkah, Kaaba Sharif.
This message of mine, Masjid Al Nabawi,
and Masjid Al Aqsa in Jerusalem.
This hadith in numerous wording, but the same
message it mentions Sahih Muslim, Sahih Buhari, and
sununiminabu.
Regarding
Masjid Al Aqsa being the 2nd house of
Allah on earth,
Abu Dhar al Gifari
reported that he asked the prophet one day,
oh messenger of Allah,
which Masjid was built first on
earth? The prophet
replied, the sacred Masjid of Makkah.
Abu Dharr radhiyallahu an again asked, which was
next? The prophet said, Masjid al Aqsa.
Abu Dharr radhiyallahu then asked, how long was
the period between the building of these 2
Masjids? And the prophet
replied, 40 years. And he concluded by saying,
apart from these, offer your prayer anywhere when
it is time to pray, although excellence
is in praying in these masjids mentioned in
Sahih Bukhari.
Regarding the importance of donating, giving sadaqa to
Masjid Al Aqsa, Abdullah ibn Umar
relates that he wants asked the prophet.
Oh, messenger of Allah, tell us the legal
injunction
about visiting Baytul Maqdis.
And the prophet replied,
go and pray there. And if you cannot
visit it and pray there, then send some
oil to be used in the lamps mentioned
in Bukhari. So as you can see, even
sending oil
were to be used in the lamps of
was considered.
So imagine how rewarding it is to get
money and clothes and so forth.
Regarding it being the blessed land,
zayid ibn Thabit reports that the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam said, how blessed is Alshan?
The companions asked, why is that You Rasulullah?
He replied,
I see the Angel of Allah spreading their
wings over Alshan.
Ibn Abbas
and added
and the prophets lived therein. There is not
a single inch of al Quds where a
prophet has not prayed or an angel has
not stood.
Regarding
Mas'id Al Aqsa in Jerusalem being a place
for major events,
the messenger of Allah,
upon him be peace, said regarding the
antichrist,
that he will stay in the land for
40 days
and he will enter every place on earth
except the Kaaba,
Masid Al Nabawi, Masid Al Aqsa, and Mount
Sinai.
Mentioned in Musa Al Ahmad.
Regarding the place where brave fighters and warriors
will emerge from.
Abu Ghraider
relates to the prophet said,
a group of my will not cease to
fight at the gates of Damascus and at
the gates of Jerusalem and its surroundings.
The betrayal or desertion
of whoever deserves them will not harm them
in the least. They will remain victorious,
standing for the truth
until the final hour rises.
It is quickly just add to this hadith
fear.
Said that whoever betrays them and deserves them
will make no difference.
This is one of any of the lessons
of the people of that blessed land.
That in fact, we need
them.
We need to help them to expiate
our sins
and to relieve us
of some of the things that we've done
on this earth. We need them. They don't
necessarily need us. They are Allah is messing
on their angels
to protect them. That blessed land
there. Running this it being the site of
a future,
a caliphate,
not ISIS, of course.
Said,
the prophet peace be upon him put his
hand on my head
and said,
if we see
that the has taken a ball in the
holy land, then the earthquakes,
tribulations, and great events are at hand. The
last hour on that day will be closer
to people than my
hand is to your head. Mentioning Usman Ahmed
and Abu Dawood.
And lastly,
the beloved wife of the Prophet, peace be
upon him.
Reports of the prophet peace be upon him
used to recite
every night in his prayer.
Glorified and exalted be he
who took his slave for a journey by
night, for
to the farthest mosque in Jerusalem,
the neighborhood
whereof we have blessed in order that we
might show him of our aya, verily he's
the old hearer, the old seer.
Now that was just some insight
of how important and how dear
and Jerusalem
is to the Muslims.
There are many, many, many more hadith.
So
that was just a very brief insight. And
I forgot to also add this all in
the intro.
The talk today is about you've
been a battle of Al Aqsa,
but I also
included my own sub headed there.
From weakness to strength.
Why is that?
Because the history of Jerusalem
and generally speaking that area
in the Islamic context has always been one
about taking it from a state of weakness
to a state of strength.
And today, inshallah, this is something that we're
going to explore.
So
who
is.
Hands
to see that you all or don't know
who is. Who knows who is?
Okay.
Is one of the greatest heroes
in Islam.
Arguably,
also one of the greatest military leaders in
human history.
He was the liberator of Jerusalem
who defeated the Crusaders after 88 years of
occupation.
His real name was Salahuddin
Youssef Alayubi.
He was born in Tikrit
in
11/38.
He was raised in Mosul in the house
of the Zengids. The Zengids were a Muslim
dynasty at the time, and we touch upon
them later as well. And he spent most
his adult life and then eventually died in
Damascus.
He was of Kurdish descent.
He was sunni.
He followed the Hanafi Madha
and he was an adherent of the Ashari
school of theology.
And he was a and
a scholar in his own right.
He was a deeply religious man,
very spiritual.
Someone who when he used to hear the
Quran be recited
or hadith be recited he should sit down
because he felt that standing was a form
of disrespect.
He should cry whenever he should hear the
ayat of Allah being recited.
He was someone who took
the study of hadith very seriously.
He was someone who
studied
Jihad very deeply.
He was a religious man.
He was a very spiritual man. He used
to fast often,
pray the Hajjul. He used to make his
soldiers pray the Hajjul.
But he was a man of action
and a man of substance.
He was truly a balanced leader.
Something
that we look into later on in the
talk inshallah.
He was a man of honor
who kept to his promises and treaties
whilst having the affairs of the Muslim Ummah
constantly on his mind. It should give him
sleepless nights, Yani.
When he used to eat and even then,
people used to be like, you know, he
didn't used to eat much.
But when he did eat, he never used
to smile.
And there was a man called Bahadin Ibn
Shaddad. Ibn Shaddad was basically his chronicler. He
was the he was the man who followed
Sahihuddin Yubi around and wrote his biography.
So Ibi Shaddaa once asked him, You salahuddin,
why don't you smile often?
Even when you've not eaten for days,
even when you when you've got some sustenance,
you don't smile.
How can I smile
when Jerusalem,
a Masjid Al Aqsa
is occupied by the crusaders?
This is the kind of man he was.
And
even his opponents,
the crusaders,
people who opposed him,
hated Islam,
considered us to be devil worshipers
and the followers of the antichrist
even they couldn't speak ill of.
And to quote one man, his name was
William of Tyre, the most famous
and well known crusader chronicler.
He said regarding
to paraphrase,
he was valiant in war and generous beyond
measure.
This was a crusader panikler.
Someone who is ideologically,
religiously opposed, diametrically
opposed to everything that salahu alayhi ia stood
for. Yet,
even his opponents
could not deny the kind of man that
he was. The kind of spiritual, religious, compassionate,
merciful,
honorable man that he was.
At the height of his power,
his Sultanate,
it include Egypt,
Hejaz,
Yemen,
Syria,
eventually Jerusalem.
He had liberated all these lands, parts of
North Africa as well.
He epitomized
everything
that unfortunately we do not see from the
leaders today.
What do we see from the leaders today
unfortunately? We see
weakness,
treachery,
submissiveness,
no is a,
no care,
total and utter apathy,
disconnected,
too concerned with the dunya.
Yet Saladin Ayubi
was the diametric opposite.
That's the kind man he was.
And
just to add
a bit of context,
when Samahuddin Ayubi took Egypt
from the Fatimids,
he was offered the palace of the former
Sultan of the Fatimids.
And that palace had 4,000 rooms.
4,000 inhabitants,
majority of whom were women.
He refused to live there.
But I'm not gonna live in this.
Even though I am now taken over and
I'm the new Sultan, I'm not going to
live in this place. I'm not living in
that house. So he gave that away to
a sadaqa. He gave that towards the.
This is the kind of man that he
was.
He didn't live lavishly
like his contemporaries
and nor did he live lavishly like the
leaders of today.
What was the situation of Al Aqsa and
that region at the time of salahuddinayubi?
As mentioned earlier, it was very similar to
that the situation of today.
The Muslim one was divided,
disunited,
weak,
oppressed,
occupied.
Egypt was under the Fatimids.
The Fatimids were an Ismaili
which are a a sect within
Shaism.
They had occupied Egypt for 280 years.
Who's heard about other university?
Al Azer? Al Azer for 280 years
was under Ismaili leadership and scholarship.
The Sunni heritage
of Egypt had gone.
But the Fatimids themselves
were very problematic.
They used
to regularly and consistently
side the crusaders. This is well slotted in
in in Muslim and by non Muslim historians.
Jerusalem
had been occupied since 10/99.
88 years had been occupied.
And just to
touch upon how they conquered it,
when they entered Jerusalem in 10/99,
they murdered 70,000
muslims
in 3 days of massacre. They desecrated Masjid
Al Aqsa, desecrated the middle of the rock,
bashed the heads of babies
and I forgot the the latin term that
they should use, but they should throw babies
across the wall and say, God wills it.
God wills it. * women left, right and
center, it was a bloodbath.
It was truly a bloodbath.
The Christian historians, they they they wrote about
this. William of Tyre, white white sighted in
the in the previous slide, he described
how they took Jerusalem. It was a *
affair.
It was gory.
The life of salaam alayubi
cannot be discussed
without mentioning
very briefly
a man called Nur ad Din al Zengi.
Nur ad Din al Zengi was
a giant of Islam as well. So when
I said that
was raised in the house of the Zengids
in Mosul,
he was raised by Nur ad Dinah Zengi.
Nur ad Dinah Zengi was like salahuddin's
mentor,
teacher, like a near father like figure.
And many have argued that it was actually
Nur ad Dinah Zengi
who paved the way
for the liberation of Al Aqsa,
and Jerusalem, and and everything and all the
accomplishments,
masalaam did achieve with the permission of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why? Because the only thing
is Zengi
had those traits.
A deeply spiritual man, a deeply religious man,
a just ruler, a man who understood the
problems of the Ummah. The man who understand
understood
that the situation
and the solution had to come from Islam.
He was also that balanced leader. And of
course, when he raised salaw bin, it was
only It was inevitable that he was going
to pick up the traits and the characteristics
of his mentor.
And Rudi Nas Zengi had a 3 point
plan.
The first point was that the Fatimids
had to either be defeated or removed.
Secondly,
the Muslim armies and the lands had to
become united,
realign themselves with the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad.
And after those two things were accomplished,
then
we need to head towards Jerusalem.
None of that happened in Rudina Zengi's lifetime.
But it did happen in the lifetime
of his student,
his son nephew type figure
within his lifetime.
And
so in
1163,
Nur ad Din al Zengi,
he sent
to Egypt
because the Fatimids
at that time used to have minor skirmishes
with the Crusaders.
So they asked Usala Hussain assistance.
Said that, look, we need some help. You
know? We're having skirmishes with the crusaders.
But at the same time, when it when
it's still with them, they also conspire and
fight the Muslims.
But at that time, they required some help.
Abdul Adi al Zengi
was besides being a spiritual and and a
religious man, he was also an astute politician.
And he said,
go make your way to Egypt
and assist
the Fatimids.
And
had a number of successive
military victories
as well as being
a good friend of the Ismaili Fatimid
Sultan, Sultan Al Adid.
So eventually,
as a result of having a few victorious
battles
and being a good friend of the Sultan,
he was then
promoted to the rank of vizier or wazir.
And this
position was unheard of at the time. For
a Sunni Muslim to have the position of
or
in a in a establishment
or state was unheard of.
And that happened in 11/71.
It was also in 11/71 where Sultan Al
Adid
died.
Within a very short space of time, being
the most second powerful man in Egypt,
Quick transition.
Some may describe it as a military coup.
Some may describe it as an organic transition.
However you wanna read history.
So Lauddin Uvi took over Egypt.
So that was Nur ad Din al Zengi's
first point of beating.
After Sultan al Adid died,
he was already the 2nd most highest ranking
politician or ruler.
And as soon as the Sultan died,
took over and he became the leader of
Egypt.
And
from then onwards,
so Khadine Ubi spent nearly 10 years,
10 years trying to unify
the Muslim armies.
Because at that time, there were a number
of small kingdoms
and fiefdoms,
a number of Seljuk princes that are always
at each other's throat or fighting each other.
As they were fighting each other, they'd be
conspiring against each other with the crusaders.
Very disunited. Lot of fitna.
So he spent, as some scholars have said
this,
he spent nearly 10 years
fighting Muslims
than the Crusaders
and he had to do this. And in
fact, one of the subject princes wants
move on.
Stop fighting us.
There's no need for this unity.
He replied,
I wouldn't care
if there were dozens and hundreds
of Muslim rulers.
Abu Bakr fighting you or try to unite
you. But the fact that Jerusalem
is occupied,
this is a must.
This is a must.
So he spent
10 years from after becoming
the ruler of Egypt and then after Nur
ad Dinizengi's death, the ruler of Syria, he
became the Sultan. He spent 10 years
fighting
a lot of Muslim princes
who
didn't care about Jerusalem,
didn't care about
repelting or removing the crusaders. They were too
busy
trying
to maintain or expand their own little kingdoms
whilst at the same time conspiring with the
crusaders.
He spent 10 years Keep that in mind.
He spent 10 years
fighting Muslims
for the sake of unity.
Now,
after that 10 year period,
the situation was sort of ripe.
Things have started to change.
Hope has started to increase.
And there was a treaty that Salahuddin Ayubi
had with a man called Raymond of Tripoli.
And it was due to expire in 11/86.
Raymond of Tripoli was a count,
he was like a nobleman.
Not exactly the ranking of a king but
very high ranking.
And this treaty was coming close to expiry
in 11/86.
And salahuddin Ayubi,
he
refused
for two legitimate reasons to renew this
treaty.
The first reason
was due to a man called Reginald O'Shatilon.
Reginald O'Shatilon was a crusader.
This man had no regard
for laws, for treaties.
He should regularly
kill the hujjah, the pilgrims.
You should loot their caravan.
He in fact said that I'm gonna march
to Madinah
and I'm going to bet I'm gonna dig
up the the body of that colored herder,
Naul Dubillah, his friend of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. He said I'm gonna dig
his body up, I'm gonna take him to
my palace and I'm gonna charge the Muslims
to come and see
the body of their prophet. This is the
kind of shaitan that he was.
Even to the extent that even the crusaders
were like, my my god, this guy, you
know, we can't control him. He's constantly breaching
treaties.
So as a lot of them regarded him
as being part of the crusaders, therefore he
was one of the clauses behind why
he didn't want to renew that treaty because
he was transgressing any laws,
any,
understandings.
So that was one of the reasons. The
second reason was,
as a result of that 10 year campaign
to unify the Muslims,
with the blessings of Allah, the army
had now grew grown to huge numbers.
Strong.
You know, the iman was there,
unified.
And it just didn't make sense to renew
a treaty
which prevented
them marching to Jerusalem.
And
in essence,
the situation was now right
to go towards Jerusalem.
So before I go into some of the
details as to what actually happened in hadeen
and what led to it happening,
the ulama and the historians'
understanding of hadeen
was that it was one of the greatest
battles
in Islam
after the
previous great battles of Badr, Uhud,
Gadasihir,
Yamuk,
Yamama
and all these great battles. But ulama ranked
it up there after
those great battles at the time of the
prophet and the companions.
Why?
Because
the implications
that this victory had on the situation of
the Muslims.
The battle of Hittin took place
on July 4th,
11, 87.
In a place, which
was in the north of Palestine
and it was mid summer.
Very hot.
And Hittin
illustrated
the kind of master tactician
that was
in the battlefield.
In the sense that
he led the army
to a town called Tiberias.
Tiberias
was the city
where the Christian king of Jerusalem,
his wife was residing.
So the king of Jerusalem who was a
crusader, who was a christian, his wife was
residing in a city called Tiberias
including his children. So salam alaykum you'll be
marched there.
He didn't have He he didn't intend to
attack Tiberias, the force of Tiberias.
Why did he do it? Because he knew
that if the Muslim army marched towards Tiberias,
if they marched towards Tiberias,
the king of Jerusalem who then was guided
on, he would go on paramount.
He'd be like, I need my wife, my
children, they're going to attack my wife and
children.
The reason why he did it was because
the army
would leave Jerusalem
in their high numbers
and they would march in the hot day
and then arrive in Tiberias
tired and that's exactly what happened.
The crusaders
bought a huge army
all the way from Jerusalem.
They marched to Tiberias
which left Jerusalem unprotected
without an
army, and he left it without a king.
So now he was vulnerable, he was weak.
And by the time they arrived in Tiberias,
salahu din Ayubir Rahimahullah,
he had poisoned all the wells,
he burnt brushwood because alhamdulillah with the permission
of Allah that day the wind was blowing
towards the Crusader army, so he burnt brushwood,
so the smoke was going towards that direction.
So they were tired, they were thirsty, they
were disoriented
due to the smoke.
And the final blow
and the final blow
was the taking of the true cross.
The true cross
was a religious relic or ornament that the
Christians
wrongly believed that prophet e salalahu alaihi wasalam
was
crucified on.
And they should take this true cross
to all their battles
and they should think that because we've got
this true cross, we're victorious.
Saladin Ayubin knew this and he knew that
if he could possess, if he could take
that true cross,
they are finished.
The morale is finished. So they're already tired,
thirsty,
disorientated,
many of them have been killed because
the archers were strategically placed to shower them
with arrows
but Saladin Ayubim went to finish off. So
he sent a battalion
to directly
attack the knights that were defending
the true cross. Alhamdulillah,
the Muslims
possessed the true cross.
It was finished.
That was done.
Hattin was a magnificent
victory
and a colossal defeat for the Crusaders.
Their king,
their entire religious leadership,
all their knights
had either been killed
or captured.
And
one historian
said
that so many had died, there were so
many dead bodies there
that we thought that none were alive.
Then we looked at all those that were
captured and we were like, there's so many
that have been captured before none of them
died.
That was the situation of Hittin that day
and it was a it is truly a
magnificent victory.
It was truly
a
situation change. It was a game changer. It
was a decisive battle
which led to the liberation
of Jerusalem.
And after the victory of Hattin, Saladin Ayuby
took the coastal cities of Acre, Nablus,
Haifa,
Turan, Beirut,
and then
he set his eyes
to Jerusalem.
So Alauddin Ubbi,
after taking
both cities and towns after the battle of
Khateen,
he marched towards Jerusalem.
And he wanted to take Jerusalem without shedding
any blood.
Compare this to the very brief description I
gave you of how the crusaders took Jerusalem
in 10/99.
Killing babies, * women, killing
70,000
Muslim men, expelling the Jews,
even expelling and robbing the Greek Orthodox Christians.
The Christians that reached up to Western Europe
to help them, even they were expelled or
looted.
He didn't want to shed any blood.
So he conveyed this
but the crusade in leadership of Jerusalem at
the time arrogantly
didn't want to give up.
And they were like, we will fight to
death
but we will not hand it over to
you peacefully.
So
salahudayuh be laid siege
to Jerusalem and it lasted between 7 to
10 days.
On
Friday 2nd October
11 87,
Jerusalem
was liberated.
And the liberation of Jerusalem on that day
exemplified
the Islamic etiquus,
the Islamic principles
of mercy,
compassion,
forgiveness,
Rahma.
That he showed
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Franks.
During the siege,
Saladin Ayubi didn't offer any terms of protection.
Because he said, look
I offered you guys
without any bloodshed, without any violence to give
up the city
yet you're arrogant, you refused so why should
I offer you terms of protection?
And
there was a man
under the name
of,
bear with me a moment,
Balian of Ibelin.
Balian of Ibelin
was
a nobleman, a crusader nobleman
who was
de facto ruler of Jerusalem in the absence
of the king and and and all the
leadership had been either killed or captured
in Hattin.
And
this man,
Balian, he said that if you don't offer
me terms of protection,
I'm going to kill all the Muslims in
Jerusalem, which numbered around 5,000.
I'm gonna desecrate
the dawn of the rock and Masjid Al
Aqsa.
So think about this for a moment.
Initially, Saladin Ayubi
didn't want any bloodshed.
The crusaders
arrogantly refused.
Then when he laid siege, they wanted terms
of protection.
And they threatened to kill
the muslims within Jerusalem
and to desecrate
the masjids.
So as is the sunnah of the prophet
Muhammad salallahu alaihi sallam and his wife, he
guided Khulafa and the Khulafa that came after,
he made
He sought the
advice of his counselor and said,
they're gonna kill the Muslims, they're gonna desecrate
Masid Al Aqsa.
He could've,
if he wanted to,
say to Bayon,
go through.
You can enter Jerusalem anyway.
Hold on. Go kill the Muslim, go desecrate
the masjid. We're gonna enter it anyway.
He didn't.
He offered terms
near enough immediately
and that wasn't a sign of weakness.
This
demonstrates
how important Salahuddin
you'll be regarded the blood of the Muslims
and the sanctity of Masjid Al Aqsa
That he couldn't bear
being responsible
for the shedding of more Muslim blood even
though victory was just there, it was just
there. They knew that 7 to 10 days
we're gonna take Jerusalem.
So this just shows how important he regarded
Muslim life, Muslim blood,
generally
peace
and the sanctity of Masjid Al Aqsa.
So after the terms of protection were given,
the Franks, the Crusaders accepted.
And against the advice of his treasurers, his
financial advisors,
he set a very low ransom
for
Franks.
And
there were 100 if not 1000 of Christian
families
who couldn't even afford this low ransom.
They were pardoned.
They were allowed to leave
unharmed with all their possessions.
In fact, it was narrated by Ibi Shaddad
that
some of the Christian families that couldn't afford
the ransom
had elderly men.
But salahudunah you'll be sold this huge to
give them courses
and say, brother you're old, travel in peace,
travel in comfort.
And also
after the liberation of Jerusalem,
Saladin Ayubi
summoned
the Jewish people
who
were expelled by the Crusaders in 10/99.
And he told them, come back and resettle.
It's open to you.
And he told the Greek Orthodox Christians that
were also expelled,
come back and resettle.
And he told the Europeans
that whilst I'm driving you out to Jerusalem,
you're more than welcome to return for pilgrimage
safely, unharmed.
This is my word to you.
Again another demonstration of the kind of leader
salaahu al Dinah Ubi was.
And under true Islamic rule,
how religious tolerance is implemented.
How Islam and Muslims has always peacefully coexisted
with Ahlul Khita,
with other religious faiths.
How we do not transgress
the rights of the Bidmi.
He exemplified that. And this is from the
sunnah of the prophet and
the Khalifa. And even if you read up
to the history of Palestine but up until
the time of the ottomans,
jews, christians and muslims lived in peace,
in security.
And this was always the case.
So Hudhan e Ubbi,
he could've
sought revenge
that day.
He could've.
Many of his
soldiers and generals
were thinking why?
Why can't we enslave their women and children?
Why can't we do a brag bath just
like they they commit the massacre against us
us in 10/99?
This
is not from Islam.
This isn't.
We've offered terms of protection.
They've given up the city.
We lead by example
And perhaps,
they may go back to Europe
and share the news with the people
of how
Islam sets a moral high ground.
And this relates back to
how prophet
entered Makkah.
That when he entered Makkah,
some of the sahaba, some of
the soldiers in the in the army that
number 10,000,
they were saying
this is the day of revenge
upon entering Makkah. When Prophet Fatah Makkah when
he entered, some of his soldiers were saying
this is the day of revenge.
Prophet called Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and said,
God told them this is the day of
mercy.
And we all know
that when the prophet entered
Makkah
after
such a long time of persecution
and how
the Muslims were tortured,
how they were oppressed,
that he could have taken revenge against Quraysh
but he didn't.
So I see that trait in salamu alayhi
that
he could've taken revenge.
And many would've seen it as justified.
In fact, it was an international norm at
that time
that
a conquering army,
if they take a city
which they had to fight for,
the women and children are enslaved,
men are either sold or killed, done.
This was an international norm at the time
but he didn't do that.
He set that example.
He set that moral high ground.
Richard the Lionheart
was an English Crusader King
that was sent after the liberation of Jerusalem.
And he described
salahuddin Ayubi as,
as long as a man has salahuddin
controlled Jerusalem,
we the Crusaders would never take it.
This was
a crusader king. That's how we discuss Allah
within Ayub.
Saudi Ayub died in 1193,
aged 55 in Damascus.
He has 16 children.
And you know what he left behind?
In terms of material wealth?
One dinar on 47 dirhams.
That wasn't even enough
to pay for the shroud
to cover his body for his burial.
They had to borrow money from Baytul Mal
for his janazah.
This is the man who unified the Muslim
lands,
who if he wanted to, could've had everything
that he wanted from the material and dunya
sense and maybe the sharia and Allah and
and and Islam have abandoned. That he deserved
all these worldly gains.
It was the spoils of war. It was
his paycheck. It was his salary.
But no.
This is what he left behind.
1 dinar of 47 dirhams.
Put that into perspective.
It's the rulers of today.
From Morocco
all the way to Indonesia.
From central Asia all the way south and
to Somalia. Just think of the rulers. How
many of them would leave
this amount of money as their inheritance?
That they can't even afford
their their shroud.
And this is why
history will remember
individuals like Saladin Ayyubirullah Muhammaduwala.
This is why.
There were Khalish and Saldans and Salzuk princes
at his time.
We don't know their names.
They live lavish lifestyles but they don't remember
we don't remember those names. They were never
mentioned.
Similarly,
the tyrants and the dictators
of today, they'll never be remembered
because they're not men of caliber, they're not
men of substance.
And this is was Allahu Adhana, you will
be forever be remembered because this is the
kind of man that he was.
Now,
it's all good and well
to
discuss the liberation of Jerusalem,
to talk about the life of Salahuddin AUB,
get a bit of a Imaal booster,
think Yes Subhan Allah, you know.
Fantastic
and just continue relating back to that great
history
and as I mentioned and leave the door
hour 2 hours later
you forget. It means it happens for humans
it happens.
Even the the companions you should say to
the prophet you Rasoolallah, when we're with you,
our iman is up here.
When we go home, we spend time with
our our wives and our children, it's as
if all the talk about jannah and jahannam
and all that kind of stuff is gone.
So prophet said don't worry.
This is normal.
This is normal. So it's it's understandable
that we do relate
and hear
nostalgic,
romanticized
stories of our history
and then it's all, you know, leaves our
system and we go back to reality. We
go back to our routine
and they sort of like I said become
bedtime stories.
So that's give us a bit of shibadanas
fire, feel a bit warm and nice and
then come back to reality and think oh
man was
situation pretty bad.
So let's look
at salahuddin's
solution.
Let's take some lessons from his life.
So as I mentioned earlier,
the condition of the Muslim world at the
time of Salatuddin Ubi
very similar to that today,
if not identical.
We were oppressed,
occupied,
humiliated,
weak,
and if we weren't occupied by foreign invaders,
foreign forces,
we were being ruled by their agent rulers,
by their by those tyrants
that are on the paycheck
indirectly or directly
of foreign invader forces.
As Salahuddin Ayuba's
solution
was one that was from Islam
and I was speaking to a brother
earlier
that you cannot discuss
Saladin AUB's life
or
the the battle of Al Aqsa
or any of that without mentioning
that j word.
And what that j word is,
the one that we can't mention unless like
you
know, might get watched and spider. Yeah that
was called Jihad.
You can't just you can't talk about the
life of Salahu the newbie
and the liberation of Al Aqsa without talking
about that j word. Yeah? I shall probably
touch upon that
bit later on but that was the solution.
That was the solution. That was his solution.
He didn't he didn't seek no resolution
or any life time treaties or camp David
have called it, he he didn't call for
any of that. He knew the situation.
He knew that for 88 years Jerusalem had
been occupied.
The Muslim world was apathetic.
It wasn't doing nothing.
Muslims were being killed. Muslims were fighting each
other.
His solution was from Islam and the brother
there, he recited from Surah Al Father.
Yeah? Victory.
And what kind of victory
are we looking at in this modern day
and age? It's starting to come from UN
or NATO or EU
or OIC.
But anyway,
the liberation of Jerusalem at the time of
was
a military one.
So we can discuss perhaps in the q
and a that I too
will say that the liberation of
of Al Aqsa and Jerusalem and all the
Muslim lands,
if it's occupied,
is a military one.
But even that has a context
and some and some conditions
and perhaps we can discuss this later.
The Muslim rulers of today,
they were also like the rulers at the
time of Muhammadan Ayubim.
Even fighting each other or too concerned about
their worldly gains and their national interest or
their own internal tribalism
and this is what we see today as
well.
Apathetic,
selfish,
treacherous,
spineless
And why was this?
Because just like those warring princes at the
time of the Muhammad Yuni Yubi, they had
no taqwa.
They did not fear Allah.
They did not think that we are gonna
die and we have to answer to Allah
on Yawmid Kiama about what we did about
situation in Jerusalem.
The situation of the Muslims.
And this is sin people.
That's why the situation it is.
They have chosen
the lavish life.
A beautiful house,
big paychecks.
Instead of being a just and upright ruler.
Unity.
Unity is something
that had
it up here in terms of paramount importance.
And why was this?
Because he knew
this united divided real weak,
easy to pick off.
We know the numerous verses and the hadith
of the prophet
where he emphasized the importance of unity.
The most famous one say that we are
one body.
My Ummah are like one body.
But with one part of his heart
that the rest of the body responds in
fever and restlessness.
Think about this.
Why did the prophet
say,
why did he give the example of
just a family?
I can move away from my brother.
I can move away from my father. You
can cut ties and move off. But if
you're a body,
can you cut part of your body off?
Can you?
I
do.
You can't can you?
You can't you can't just be like, you
know what hand, I don't like you. I'm
just gonna chop my hand off.
So assuming if you look at that comparison,
person who compared us to a body
and one one part of it's hurt the
rest of the body responds in sleeplessness and
fever.
So
the the importance of unity
was key to success.
As Saladin
Ubi knew this, hence why he spent 10
years
trying to unify the Muslim lands and the
armies
and as the scholar said, that he may
have even fought more Muslims than crusaders in
that 10 year period.
Today,
the Muslim world is divided into 57 plus
countries,
weak, in the pockets of foreign rulers,
on the paycheck
of the modern day crusaders.
That's the situation we find ourselves today.
But on a more positive note,
what's the state of the Ummah?
The general layman,
the average Abdullah
and Fatima on the road.
I personally would argue that there's
hope.
There's hope within the Ummah. The general layperson.
I think
that they want
exactly what
salahuddinayu
be wanted.
The liberation of Jerusalem
for it to go from a state of
weakness to strength.
But more importantly
also
ask yourself this,
how am I going to answer to Allah
on the day of judgement when I have
accounted about what I did on this earth
during my time to change that situation? What
did I do? What was my contributions?
Is there hope?
Is there any hope
to see the liberation of Jerusalem and Mas'id
Al Aqsa?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his beloved prophet
promised us victory
and pessimism
is not from the sunnah of the prophet
alaihis salam, it's not befitting
for muslims to be negative and pessimistic
and downtrodden and defeated. No.
Our hope must remain high, our optimism must
be high, we must believe in what Allah
and his messenger promised us. However,
however we don't just believe in this promise
as an abstract theory.
We believe in this promise
and tie the camel from our end and
do what we can within our capability.
Regarding solutions,
there's some let's try any of some positive
notes.
Regarding solutions.
Saladin Ayubi
his character
was that he was deeply religious, deeply spiritual.
He was a man of substance and action.
He was a balanced man.
Similarly,
I stand here today
and I will tell you all or advise
you all rather
that
in our endeavors
to assist the Muslim, the Philistine
and Muslim across the world generally
who are occupied and oppressed,
killed,
do not go to extremes.
And when I mean extremes,
I mean,
don't just seclude yourself
or isolate yourself
to bettering yourself,
to improving yourself as a Muslim and making
dua and do nothing in the physical practical
sense.
On the flip side,
don't just
busy yourself with demonstrations
and and,
petitions and lobbying your MP and accounting your
rulers and doing charity
whilst not remembering
Allah
to grant us victory
to assist us.
Find that balance, brothers and sisters.
Do not go to extremes.
Do not do these things in isolation.
You need each other. Let me give you
an example.
Someone
who just is concerned
with just bettering themselves
and making dua and doing nothing else,
thinking that's enough,
it's like a starving man.
A starving man who locks himself up in
a room
and thinks
that sustenance and food will fall from the
skies.
In opposition to this,
the one who's always engaged in activity and
activity and busying himself from x, y, and
zed, but never thinks about asking Allah for
assistance.
Never asking the one who will grant the
victory for victory.
It's like a ram, it's like a bull
continuously ramming a wall
thinking that its horns are gonna remain intact.
Find that balance.
Find that balance between spirituality,
sub betterment as a Muslim,
dua
and action.
Tie the camel and then be the result
for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
In terms of tangible things that you can
do, boycotting Israeli goods is a laudable thing.
Assisting the BDS movement is rewardable, it's a
good thing. Attending demonstrations and protests is a
good thing.
Petition to,
you know, arrest Netanyahu when he enters here
is a good thing. You know, it it
it shows good sentiments.
Lobbying your m p's and accounting your rulers
on Muslim are zionists is a good thing.
You have to account your rulers. You have
to account your MPs.
Even though many of them are in the
paycheck. Yeah?
Of of of the Zionist lobby groups.
Account them.
Ask them. Hey, we divide you into power.
What are you doing to convey our thoughts
and our concerns in the house of parliament?
I say to you, you know,
we should fight for a 2 state solution.
No.
No. No. No. I'm not gonna
stand here and say to you, after giving
the story, it's a little bit of UV
that we should settle for a 2 state
solution. No. Let me tell you why.
This land was stolen.
This land
is currently being occupied.
Palestinians have been killed.
They've been removed,
they've been forced out of their homes
and until this matter is resolved there will
never be
free Gaza
or free Palestine.
None of that will happen, there will be
peace in the Middle East until this matter
is resolved
and I'm about to say something and I
apologize in advance if I offend anyone.
Pro Palestine activism
has become a form of popular culture especially
among students.
Especially among students. It's become trendy, cool.
It's become cool because the Muslims talk about
it. It's cool because the lefties, you know,
they support us. So So therefore, this gives
us some kind of Ijaz, some authority
to jump on the bandwagon,
bang on the the Palestinian face paint, the
kaffir scarves, the slogans and the law of
it and yeah. Let's do it.
This matter
of Jerusalem
and generally speaking the oppression of the Muslims
is far greater for Muslim than this. It's
a part of our aqeedah.
About our about our loyalty and our allegiance
to Allah the messenger
and the Muslims.
Look beyond
the meager things are face paint not just
buzzed up. Oh yeah yeah free free Palestine.
You know how many times I've asked a
student. Yeah? I know the student generally some
Muslims. Yeah. You know what you're saying free
razza. Yeah? What does free razza mean?
Explain to me what free razza means.
Or free free Palestine downtown Israel. What do
you mean by that?
Please explain to me. What do you mean?
It's not there for The sentiment is right.
The feeling is good.
Channel it.
Understand the objective.
Why am I doing this? Why am I
speaking out
against
the oppression that's taken against that's happening against
my brothers and sisters? Why am I exposing
the crimes of the Zionist entity of Israel?
Why? Why?
Because
this is what we have to do as
muslims.
This is what Allah and his messenger has
instructed us to do.
Remember this. This is our objective.
Why do we do it? Do you wanna
be that bull that I was talking about?
It's continues running the wall but hasn't got
a clue.
Hasn't got a clue. Why are they doing
it?
The reason why
as Muslims,
we should
speak out
against the crimes of Israel,
raise awareness about the oppression of our Muslim
brothers assisting Palestine. The reason why we do
all those things I've listed there, demonstration of
protest, petitions, lobbying an account, giving charity, all
that stuff,
which is good, must carry on.
It's because
this is pleasing to
Allah
that we are doing our duty
with the best of our capability.
Whatever they're not really that we can do,
we're doing this with that objective in mind.
Not because it's cool to join a 100,000
march demonstration.
Not good because I get to put on
a cool scarf and paint my face with
with a Palestinian flag. No. No. No. No.
That's not why we do it.
But whilst we do all those things
whilst we do all those things,
going back to the solution,
I would argue
and the q and a,
I'll happily
discuss anyone who wants to challenge me
that the solution,
the liberation
of Jerusalem
can only be one in the form
of a military
liberation.
And before anyone starts thinking about cutting any
tickets
to Jordan
and joining Hamas or something like that, just
relax. Yeah?
The term military
military
has a sense of officialdom.
Meaning,
military
is something that's
part of a state. It's a state institution.
Not a militia,
not a resistance movement.
So when I say that the liberation of
Jerusalem
and Hashem insha'Allah
will happen in the form of a unified
military effort, that means
that everything that salahu alayhi yubi did has
to be done as a precursor to a
certain degree in our time. That means
the muslims being united.
That means,
the rulers to a certain degree have to
be united.
To a certain degree there has to be
one ruler.
But would this happen in our lifetime or
not, Allahu'alam? We pray to Allah that this
does happen in our lifetime.
We ask Allah that we do witness this.
We ask Allah that we are given the
opportunity to contribute
towards this liberation.
So remember that. The liberation of Jerusalem will
happen through military means. Not in the current
state that it's in.
Not through any kind of small resistance movements,
it's not certainly not gonna happen at the
hand of ISIS
or any other groups, it will happen from
a unified,
unified,
sincere
effort
from the Muslim world.
And to conclude,
the last words, that j word. You might
wanna cut this from the video if you
want.
1 of the Sahabis, 1 of the Sahaba,
1 of the
tells us about the most lowest form of
jihad.
Now prophet responded,
the truest form of jihad is a word
of truth
at the face or in front of a
tyrannical ruler
mentioned in Mus'ad Ahmed hadith number 18,449.
So
keep this hadith in mind
when you are doing everything that you do,
when you're accounting
your MP,
when you're accounting someone who's pro Israel,
when you're accounting someone who tries legitimizing
the violence committed against the Muslim in Palestine.
Remember this hadith
when you
remind
the Muslim rulers about their duty.
Keep this in mind.
When you go about
your endeavors
to assist the Muslim of Palestine
and the wider Muslim.
Thank you for your patience.
Okay. Guys, I think we're gonna have a
10 to 15 minute question and answer session
now if you guys have. Yeah. Sorry. What's
up? On the way here,
I,
in fact, with a who mentioned that, this
would be quite a superficial subject. Quite a
quite controlled speaker.
My question is why is it that in,
that such mainstream ideas which are found in
all of the books of history and all
of the books of faith, it seemed to
be, it seems controversial.
Okay.
A very good question. The brothers asked why
are
concepts
such as jihad. Right? Such as jihad, such
as,
such as sharia.
Why are these things so controversial?
I'll tell you why.
Because
these
concepts, if practiced,
if implemented properly,
it poll it poses a threat.
It's a war of the people in on
itself.
If the Muslim world and the rulers
implemented and applied
and executed jihad the way it's supposed to
be done, there would be no study. There
would be no Bashar al Assad. There would
be no oppression of the Muslim world. And
the fact
that Islam as a holistic,
as a complete
religion
poses
that ideological threat
to western liberal democracy
or some may call it the new world
order or whatever you wanna name it,
it is perceived as a threat.
Historically,
it's only been perceived as a threat
as mentioned in the in the
stories.
So topics
and concepts such as Jihad, such as Khalifa,
These things
remind and it resonates with the past and
it poses,
a physical threat to the existing order, to
the existing norms of the international setup.
I would argue that that's why it's so
controversial.
Also,
post 911, post 77, post,
now with ISIS,
these terms,
mind my French or English is not a
swear word, it's become bastardized.
These terms
have become poisonous
that you can't even mention these words without
being labeled an extremist
or an Islamist.
But I would say, you we take ownership
of these words.
What is Jihad? Jihad fee Sabeelullah
in the Quran in
the physical context about removing obstacles of injustice.
It's about establishing the peace and harmony of
Islam.
It's not about mindless violence
The acts, the engagement of war in Islam
has particular rules
and regulations.
You do not transgress against a non combatants.
The men, women and children who are not
fighting you. You don't even harm a tree.
Yeah? Now tell me tell me since world
war 1 up to these modern wars,
tell me where has there been a sanctity
of life?
Where has there been a respect for trees
or children?
There isn't
but because these terms have become demonized they
become
disgusting words that we can't even use.
I would argue the reason why this has
happened
is to block an intellectual revival
within the muslims
and they wake up and understand the history
and only understand the history they take the
lessons from the history and apply
it. But they realize that you know what
Sahibullah Nabi did make Jihad to liberate the
Palestine.
He did, he unified
the Muslim
lands. So I would say
2 things back to your question. A,
it poses an ideological threat if it was
to ever manifest
and therefore,
it threatened the existing world order or international.
Secondly,
it's political convenience
and the yardstick to beat the Muslims with
from even waking up and come in contact
with their history because you're right.
Stuff like jihad, and
so forth and so forth. These are deep
rooted
in our scripture.
Classical scholars and contemporary scholars have discussed this
in great detail.
To even deny these things, to deny these
concepts
would be very dangerous.
So
I would say
for far too long,
we've allowed
others to take ownership of these terms.
For too long,
we've allowed ourselves not to become educated about
these concepts.
But if and when it is attacked that
we're unable to defend it.
So I would say educate yourselves. You can
try history.
Find what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the
messenger of the prophet said about these concepts,
these unspoken words that we can't even say
these days about being labeled. Look into it.
And I hope that answers your question. Yeah.
So
he's my actual brother. He's my actual brother.
The question I'd like to ask you the
question itself is probably, controversial
from an Islamic point of view.
You spoke of, you know, such
concepts in Islam like Sharia and
Jihad and, Islamic state. These kind of things
being,
if you,
encourage them or if you speak of them
in a positive form, they are seen as,
rallying existential threat towards the west and liberal
democracy. Right? Yeah.
So how would you then advise students or
any Muslim, really, young Muslims, old Muslims living
here in the UK
to reconcile
these kind of
efforts Islamically like speaking the truth, accounting, tyrant
rulers,
unity, political unity,
spiritually. How would you reconcile that spiritually? Because
on one hand doing that, we're considers,
we're considered contrary towards being rebels, nonviolent extremists.
Mhmm. And on the other hand, we need
to do it Islamically. So how what advice
would you give to students to reconcile that
spiritually?
As in we could do it and feel
Islamic about it opposed to do it and
feel radical. Yeah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions
that the Muslims
and this this this is like a condition,
stipulation
as what defines us as a people.
We are a people that enjoying good
and forbid evil.
That is like our ethos. That's like our
world view. We're enjoying what's good and forbid
what's evil. If you can change something with
our hands, quit. If we're gonna do something
with our mouth, do it and the lord's
gonna be imam is to hate it from
within.
So as long as we understand those concepts,
that spiritual comes out, Allah
will account me. On the day of judgement,
I will be accounted for all that I
did and all that I did not do.
As a Muslim,
our job is to enjoy a good and
forbid what's evil
and try stopping evil
with our hands, our mouth, or hate it
within,
and with that in mind,
I don't think there should be an issue
or or like a fear of doing it.
However, the fear does exist.
Unfortunately, that fear does exist
amongst many Muslims,
especially students. May Allah bless you all. May
Allah make it easy for you all. I
understand the pressures that most of students face
at universities.
We've not prevent becoming statutory. We've not Muslim
students being spied on. Understand all of this
but remember that Allah is the best of
planners. That Allah is messenger promised us a
victory.
That we are a people who enjoying in
good and forbid what's evil and as soon
as we stop doing that,
there will be fitna for southern corruption in
the land.
That we have testified
that there is none other
that should be worship besides Allah.
Our prophet SAW Mohammad is his messenger.
Our shahada
keep all this in mind, this is what
define us as a character.
We can be active,
We can be good citizens. A majority of
Muslim living in the UK, we are. We're
fantastic citizens. We've been here since the 40,
50s, 60s.
Law abiding citizens, tax paying, loads of Bani
restaurants,
taxi services, corner shops, you name
it. If you're dealing with the peace,
it's in relative we're dealing with absolute peace.
But we have a duty
to enjoy him what's good and forbid what's
evil. This is a duty that's upon all
of us. Give that work. Propagate the faith.
Deal with misconceptions.
Learn the argumentations
so you can defend these concepts.
If you don't educate yourself and you won't
have to defend these concepts and you don't
have to defend this concept and this context
will be continue to get demonized.
So from a spiritual perspective
my younger brother,
ultimately you have to understand
that we will return to Allah
and we will have to answer to him.
And
that as Muslims,
we enjoy any good and forbid was evil.
And if we hold that dear to us
and understand
that that principle is our worldview,
then there should be no issue, Insha'Allah.
Fear
is prevalent.
And like the Paris attacks, not and then
before that, very,
very
testing times for us. Very testing times. But
you have to educate yourself.
You have to be brave. As sister Mariam
said, you have to aspire to be the
salahuddin in your respective fields.
If you're studying medicine then defend the honor
of Islam and give Dawah in every with
an opportunity.
If you're doing that fancy computer degree or
that the brother said in the back. You
know, or if you're doing arts and humanities
whatever it may be in whatever respective fields
that you're involved in.
You are an ambassador of Islam.
You are a defender of Islam.
Live up to that.
You won't be able to do that if
you don't educate yourself.
If you don't seek knowledge.
I hope that answers your question.
Yep.
Awesome. I have 2 questions. Firstly, what's the,
religious significance
of mister Alta to the Jewish people, And,
does that have any
sort of historical truth? Do their names have
historical truth? And, secondly, are there any books
or biographies of that? And I think that
you'll be that you would recommend
written by.
To answer your first question,
why is,
Jerusalem
important to Jewish people?
Believe it or not, those reasons that I
mentioned in the first slide,
beside the 1st qibla of the Muslims and
the station of all is,
very similarly, they understand that it was a
place where many of the prophets of visited.
In fact, all of them visited.
Many of them are buried there.
So there are a lot of similarities as
to why,
Jerusalem is very important to the Jewish people
because our prophets are the same. By Isa
Alaihi Salam,
the prophets are the same. And equally in
their scripture
equally in their scripture,
Jerusalem is spoken very highly or it's referenced.
It's a holy place.
In terms of the exact intricacies,
I can't really say. But I can say
that for many of those reasons,
which are not specific to Islam,
there are very similar. That is also a
place for the purpose of one Islam.
Secondly,
are there any books of salahuddinayubi
that you can read? I would recommend
2 books and 2 lectures.
The first book, and it comes in a
number of volume,
volumes is Ibn Shaddad.
Ibn Shaddad
is the chronicler, the biographer,
He was a man who followed him very
closely, went with him everywhere.
Literally, he's to ask him questions why he's
doing think that why he's doing this. Or
did you ever consider this? So, it
comes in many volumes. That was the first
biography
written of Asallahu Alaihi wa bi.
I would also
recommend
reading the books or the accounts of William
of Tyre.
William of Tyre, as I mentioned in my
talk, was the biggest and most famous crusader
chronicler.
And
he mentioned,
and spoke about Salatuddin on numerous occasions.
So that gives you a very authentic,
kindly to that respect,
original understanding of what kind of mass of
was. And I would argue to a certain
degree that you may even find much differences
in the way they described Sahaja Nabi's personality.
But also recommend to look in the life
of Nur ad Din al Zengi.
Really, brothers and sisters, you cannot discuss
the life of Sahaja Nabi if you don't
understand the life of Nur ad Din al
Zengi.
Regarding lectures,
I will recommend,
life of Salahuddin Ayubi
or Sheikh Zadeh Mahmood,
salaamu life of Salahuddin Ayubi. 2 fantastic talks
which I even used to prepare for this
one.
And they go into historical as well as
theological
perspectives of Jerusalem.
Yeah.
The Middle East is full of, Muslims, and
they all,
they all want they all want Islam in
its core form, so why is it that
it's not
so,
you know, that the feedback says there'll there'll
come a time when according to Islam is
not moving on to hot coals. Is that
something that we we accept that we have
come to a time where it's hold holding
on to Islam is like holding on to
hot colds, and do we just stop there?
I mean, it's catch up to us even
living in the West
where you see, Muslim lives. There are people
killed left by and center. Hundreds and thousands
of people dying every single day. But it's
only when you see,
obviously, every life matters, but when you see
some people die in Paris, you see, international
outrage.
So what what is it that's stopping us
from,
from having stability in the Middle East? Because
as you said, that
you said that,
military intervention is something that you think is
the solution.
Well, it's common knowledge that in Pakistan, Turkey,
all of these countries are are the owners
of the largest armies in the world. So
what is preventing
us from having a stable Middle East
where through our entire lives, you can see,
it's just it's just it's getting bad and
worse and worse. So what is preventing us
from high stability?
Moshalla, my sister
delivered a very short lecture there.
And so that and I will seriously my
child. I'll address that point by point. Do
intervene if I miss anything out.
The first statement you made was,
I believe,
about the reason why the Middle East is
not stable, the endless number of wars,
occupation,
and whether
this is a time
where
holding on to Islam would not holding on
to hot cold.
What prophet
followed concluded a hadith with?
Why is the instability
and continuous wars and occupation
in the Muslim world?
One would have to study history,
one would have to go back to world
war 1, one would have to go back
to the history of European colonialism,
one would have to go back right up
until the hadith of prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi
wa sallam when he said
that there will come a time so you
will have khilafa rashidhu when you have it,
and that Allah will take it away from
you.
Then you will have kingship,
then Allah will take it away from you.
Then you will have tyrannical rule,
and Allah will take it away from you,
then the khilafa will be revived upon His
methodology. So prophet salallam,
he prophesies this anyway.
And he in other hadith where he said
there will come a time when the nations
will gather like a pack around
the like to feed on its prey.
We know this. We know what the prophet
spoke about is that there will come a
time of turmoil. More turmoil is to come.
If you talk about the wars of the
the end near the end of times, it's
gonna be far worse. The fitna, the facade,
the occupation, the oppression.
This is gonna happen. It's going to continue
to happen, but
but
Allah has promised the Muslims
victory.
We don't know when that is.
We don't know when that is. We have
some indications as to the precursors
that will take place
nearing this time.
Some would argue
that all this fitna
bloodshed
is a process of purification.
It's a process of purification whereby the Ummah
is being tested.
That so many are being martyred
that is a time
where the Ummah is being tested and therefore
something great will come out of this turmoil.
And I strongly believe that to a certain
degree because
at the time of the day you'll be
we discussed today,
it was like a situation muslim blood was
very cheap. The lands were
occupied. And out of the 88 years of
occupation and oppression and turmoil,
Allah granted his
his his victory and he came.
So there will come a time we're holding
on to Islam, its values, its principles, its
faults, its concepts.
Holistically,
totally
will be very difficult. Yes. It's difficult now,
but it will be far more difficult in
the times to come.
We have to understand history
as to how
we went from
the khulafa wa shideen
to the fitnah that happened between Ali and
wawiya.
The fitnah that happened with the Khwarij,
the fitna that happened in Karbala,
what happened when then the Abbasids,
then the Crusades,
then the Mongols, then the Ottomans,
then European colonialism,
the cultural invasion,
the ideological war,
the centuries and centuries of the colonization of,
Muslim India.
To understand this, that it happened during the
process of time and it perfectly fits into
the prophecy, the process of salallahu alayhi wa
sallam. We describe that there will come a
time when the Ummah will number many.
They will number many, but yet we're gonna
get carved up and oppressed
like we are nothing.
So
that's a reality that we were well aware
of. As to
why
we have the likes of Turkey,
Pakistan, Egypt
with some of the strongest and
biggest armies.
Yeah. I believe Pakistan and Turkey
are in the top ten in terms of
physical soldiers, foot soldiers.
Obviously, the weapons, the war planes, the f
sixteens,
number made, they're constantly buying it from America
and Britain.
But,
again a big but,
and I will continue drawing some lines to
the law of assalamu alayubi,
is that the leadership.
Just like there were princes and kings at
the time who had armies,
had capable armies,
but they were too
too immersed, too interested in their own worldly
gains.
If they were paying taxes to the crusaders,
they were fighting each other
but left the crusaders. Similarly,
we find that the Muslim countries today are
shackled by the loans of IMF.
All the IMF and the World Bank,
1,000,000,000 upon 1,000,000,000 if not 1,000,000,000 of dollars.
We have the leadership
in Pakistan. The leadership
in Turkey.
I know many have high aspirations for Erdogan
and the AKP party.
But the reality is that Turkey is a
NATO member.
A number of military bases
caught in Turkey
are being used to bomb Syria.
May Allah
grant the Muslims of Turkey and Pakistan and
Egypt
the sincere within the army, the sincere generals
within the army, those who have
concern
and compassion for the Ummah
to be revived, to wake up
and to fulfill their duties.
Because the sister rightly states,
we've got all the the modern warfare,
the fighter jets, the guns.
We're too busy shining them and not using
them for nothing.
But I will simply answer to your question,
sis, it comes down to the leadership.
They are all agents.
They are all agents.
They are either
financially
indebted to the west,
to the colonial masters in Washington, London, and
then,
hence what you get, Sisi who comes here,
who removed Bursi, the first democratically elected
leader of Egypt, kills 2,000 people in Rabat
Al Dhawiya and he gets welcomed like a
king here.
This is why president Modi
comes here
like a mohraja prince
and yet he has the blood of the
muslim of India in his hands.
This is why we have the president of
China
who is systematically trying to cleanse the muslim
of Sinyang.
So I guess welcomed.
This is why we see numerous leaders from
the muslim world who come here and are
treated like king.
Mister Cameron and Obama have no problems. No
problem whatsoever with the beheadings that Saudi does.
They have a big problem with the beheadings
that ISIS does.
Because Saudi, they need that oil, they need
those military weapon contracts.
You know what I mean? That's why. Yeah?
So there seems to be a level of
double standards. And that brings me to conclude
to your last statement, which is how did
that Muslim life have become so cheap? Muslims
are being killed in their 100 and 1,000,
yet we don't see no hashtags. Yet we
don't see,
what's the famous hashtag about Paris when the
Paris attacks happened? What?
Jisoo Charlie. No. Jisoo Charlie was the one
with the child the one after Paris. Pray
for Pray for Pray for
Pray for Pray for Pray for Paris. They're
not praying for Hamma. They're not praying for
Gaza.
They're not praying for Shishan. They're not praying
for any of the Muslim cities.
They're not praying for the Rohingya
or the Muslims of Central African Republic.
There's no hashtags there.
The sanctity of life, Muslim and non Muslim
is very important, very dear.
But there is a double standard. There is
a selective outrage.
That's because
over
the period of time, the life of the
Muslim has become cheap.
That
massacre
and pillaging, death and destruction
has become such a norm, has become such
a norm
in the region. I think we we just
mere statistics.
We just mere statistics
where the life of a westerner
is held of utmost importance,
hashtags,
condemnation,
locking arm marches after Charlie Hebdo and all
sorts.
None of this none of this for the
Muslims.
And again, this is a very politicized,
propagandist
implementation
of the dominant narrative.
Any
the general,
the general public, the masses.
Right?
BBC,
Fox News, France 24
is their bread and butter in terms of
where they seek their knowledge from. You have
to understand that.
Sometimes
again, we shouldn't be frustrated from the general
public. The general public are just the masses
who follow
news and what they see on the news
and very rarely question it.
So if on a daily basis, they hear
that the muslims are barbaric.
The muslims are killing each other.
They're doing all sorts but something happened at
the doorstep of Europe. Naturally, they will respond
in hysteria with the media reaction of all
kinds of hashtags and so forth.
So, yes, to answer your question, apologies for
going roundabout,
is that Muslim blood has become very cheap.
War, violence, massacre, oppression, occupation has become
so norm, such a norm in the Muslim
world that it's not even a thing.
The region is known as a violent place
when in fact
the region was
the land of peace and prosperity
for centuries.
The Muslim land was when the where the
Jews
went during the Spanish inquisition.
It was the land
where Jews and Christians
excelled,
reached positions that were unheard of.
Only talking about the 20th century here. I'm
talking about 100 and 100 of years. I'm
not giving you a romanticized version of events.
Yes, the Muslim world had numerous issues. Sectarian,
theological and so forth but
but in comparison to Europe which is constantly
at war with each other,
which is constantly at war with each other,
hence look into the concept of Europe. The
concept of Europe was when all the European
kingdoms came and sat down with Yalang man.
We just stop beefing each other.
For too long we've just been spilling each
other's blood. That was actually one of the
incentives for the crusades. When pope Urban sent
out the court, he went look,
stop worrying each other, go and fight the
infidels, the Mohammedans.
So whilst
the moral
arrogance, the intellectual arrogance of some westerners and
some orientalists, I think some within our own
Muslim community
say that, yeah, the Muslims are barbaric, the
land is corrupt. Yes, there is. But there's
a precursor to it. There's a context to
it. Many things happened which resulted in that.
And that ultimately has a knock on effect
and how muslims are perceived.
How Charlie Hebdo
can get away with
its institutional
racism,
its institutional Islamophobia
yet there seems to be a double standard
when even
a a word is uttered the wrong way
against other religious minorities without mentioning any names.
So ultimately it's up to us, it's up
to you the Shabaab,
the youth, the students to carry on raising
their awareness, highlighting whenever this double standard occurs
whenever this selective outrage happens
to write about it, to talk about it,
to challenge it
and to take control of the narrative.
I hope that answers your question.