The War of Words

Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us in the Quran in surah, Sudan I will rename an orphan hire to dunya oil, motor oil Mayor formulas herds, that indeed we will give victory to our messengers, and to those who believe in this world and on the day where they will where they will bear witness. Allah subhanaw taala says what can happen arlena pneus will not mean he says that indeed it is incumbent upon us to give victory to the believers.

We read these verses, a promise from Allah subhanaw taala that he will give victory to the believers. But this promise of victory is not unconditional.

Allah subhanaw taala says Whoa, whoa, whoa katello Kamala Deena Cafaro the well lol, Mullah Ali and what no serum that if the disbelievers fought you, they would have turned their backs to you. And they would not have had any divine help or support sooner, sooner to lie. But herdsmen club with integrity that is from the tilde he took the Drina Allah says this is the Sunnah of Allah. This is the way of Allah in all the people that have come before you and you will not find a change in the way of Allah subhana wa Tada. Even Taymiyah speaks about this verse.

And He comments and he says this verse means that Allah has a sunnah

he has a way a method in his creation.

And in this sunnah is the promise of victory to the believers. However, this promise of victory is when the believers uphold their duties, and the responsibilities in front of Allah subhanaw taala by resisting their enemy, by standing up for the truth,

the Promise of Allah is not unconditional. It requires from us roles and duties and obligations and responsibilities.

Our Ummah today isn't a long war.

Not a war that started a little over a month ago.

Palestine is a reminder

it's a reminder

of the colonialism that has shaped and controlled not only Palestine, but almost every part of the Muslim world.

It's a reminder that this ummah has enemies, not only those who have the main goal or those who have a goal of supporting Jewish people or even dispossessing the Palestinian people, but people who have a goal to destabilize the Muslim world, and to control the resources. Something that once again extends past Palestine.

It's a reminder of the disunity that plagues our own mob, that even when 2 billion of us agree that there is a massive injustice

happening to the Palestinian people,

we can't even mobilize enough to give them a glass of water to drink.

We see the results of this war today.

We see the bombs raining upon us.

We see the videos of children crying in the streets. We see the men stripped and marched towards a mass grave.

And we see the powers of this world, shrug their shoulders, or even cheer these atrocities.

But it's important for us to note that before the land was occupied

before any land could be stolen,

before any homes could be bulldozed. Before any all of trees could be uprooted. Before the bombs fell, before hunger and thirst were used as weapons of war.

Before all of this could happen,

there was a different war that had already started.

The war of falsehood,

the war of propaganda,

and this is a war that extends to this day.

every single day in between them.

Yesterday,

Israel killed in a targeted airstrike, a professor in the hustle. The facts allotted a professor in literature. He was a writer, and a poet. And he spoke often about the plight of Palestinians. And I listened to a class of his, he was teaching a class in the university. And he spoke in this clip about how

Subhan Allah, we are always surprised when Israel will kill a Palestinian writer for poets. This is something that powers that Israel has done for many, many years to many, many writers and poets, and SubhanAllah. He's talking about this, and eventually it would happen to him.

And he said, we're always surprised. We say, can you believe that killed someone? And all they did was write poems. Why would Israel arrest someone and put them under house arrest? And she only wrote a poem.

He said, we are saying this, but we shouldn't be surprised. He said the Israeli general Moshe. Then he said the poems of one of the Palestinian poets. He said her poems are worse than 20 fighters.

He continued, and he said, Don't forget that Palestine was first and foremost, occupied in Zionist literature and poetry. When Zionists thought about going to Palestine, it took them 50 years of planning, of politics of money. But literature played a very important role. Palestine was presented to the Jewish people, as a land

without people for a people without a land. The Palestine was the land of milk and honey. But there's no one there. So let's go. But there were people there, there have always been people there.

Before the brutal violence that we see today, there was the violence of propaganda,

the wars of propaganda, propaganda that lied to Jewish people, even telling them this is a land without people come and take this land and live in it.

propaganda that lie to the world that continues to lie to the world that tells them that the Palestinians didn't even live in this land. And they only came when they saw Jews are here. They're only motivated by hatred of Jews, as though they were not dispossessed from the homes that were living in for 1000s of years.

This is the war of propaganda. Violence, physical violence happens in spurts, physical wars, they begin and then the end. But the propaganda war is unrelenting. It continues day after day,

when Allah subhanaw taala first sent revelation to his final messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when Gibreel Ali Salam came to that mountain to that cave.

And he revealed the first words of the Quran,

Accra war of Bukola Quran, Allah, Allah will

read and your Lord is the most honorable, the most noble, the One who created the pen, the idea of the pen of reading, of knowledge of voice, the speech of the human being comes up over and over throughout the Quran. Allah mentions His mercy, the mercy of his nature, the mercy of sending us

a Rahman ilevel Quran called upon inside Allah will ban he created mankind and he taught them eloquence. He taught them speech.

He taught them communication, the ability to intelligently express ourselves through speech.

And a ninja Allah who is

what he signed up for 18

Did we not give him two eyes and a tongue into lips. He reminds us of the amazing power that He's given us, including the power of speech.

Today, more than any other day, we should understand the power of speech. The power of good arguments, the power of spreading the truth.

We live in a world where they are fighting over access to media. People spend billions of dollars in this regard. The world powers understand the battle over the minds of the people

All the information they are exposed to. The arguments that are positioned in front of them is the most important battlefield.

The ability to control narrative to shape perspective, this is a massive industry, filled of media experts in journalists filled with lobbyists, and politicians. They fight over freezing, over positioning, meaning they're fighting over words, how we frame words, because the way we frame an argument shapes, the way we understand it, and we think about it. We see it in the way that they try to police our words.

They tell you, if you say, free Palestine,

or from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. They don't just say you're anti semitic for saying this. They say you're advocating for a genocide.

We know the ruling party in Israel, the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu is party in their charter. It says, from the river to the sea, there will only be Israeli sovereignty.

They don't call that anti semitic, or anti Arab. They don't say that is a call for genocide.

We can see the hypocrisy you and I can see it. But the motive is to control our words. Because words are very powerful, and how we see reality. We see it in every interview they have

they bring a Palestinian or a pro Palestinian person. And the first question they asked them, Do you condemn him s? There's a reason for that. It's called framing your framing the conversation, you're creating the parameters of the discussion.

You make the viewer think that everything started with Hamas,

and that everything will be fine. Everything was fine beforehand, and everything will be fine after that, which we all know is a lie.

But the viewer who's unsuspecting who lacks knowledge

to them, they wouldn't know this. To them. This framing is powerful.

This is the battle.

And let's be honest.

We can't be with the people of Gaza right now.

We can't help their children.

We can't protect the weak. We can't even get food and aid to them.

We watch the videos and we feel helpless. But one of the most important things that we can do for them is to learn to argue on their behalf

to learn to say the truth on their behalf.

And this idea this concept is the struggle using your tongue. The struggle of saying the truth in our religion, we would call it Jihad Elisa, the struggle of our tongues. And in today's vernacular, they call it the narrative war, the information war. This is incredibly important.

Why have the lives of Palestinians become so easy for people to dismiss? It's because of a constant stream of dehumanizing propaganda. and Western elites have swallowed it whole.

Responding to falsehood with truth is one of the most important forms of jihad that a Muslim can do. Allah subhanaw taala tells our Prophet, fella tutor caffeine would be here if he hadn't Kabira Allah says do not obey the disbelievers and struggle to jihad against them with it. Now what is the cure? Which I hate whom be What is Allah referring to? What is the it's here? It's the Quran.

So Allah subhanaw taala is telling our Prophet,

use the Quran, to struggle. Use the Quran to fight falsehood with the truth. Use the truth that is revealed in this Quran.

To struggle against the falsehood that is being said,

meaning Allah is telling our Prophet to do what to argue, to use his tongue to say the truth.

And Allah calls this Jihad and Kabira the great Jihad Imam appear to be he says love photography, but this kind of jihad has no letdown. You know, a physical battle has a beginning and an end. And usually they're short in time.

But this kind of jihad continue

News forever. There's no letdown in seeing the truth against the arguments of falsehood. Now, I know some of you are squirming in your seats right now.

Some of you are saying why is he using that word? Why is he saying the J word?

Some of you might be thinking next week he's gonna choose a different method.

But isn't that the point?

Isn't that the point?

A word that is part of our own religion, that is in our own Quran. Because of propaganda for the past few decades, we're afraid of even using it.

We're free to even saying it. Yes, because there are extremists who used the word jihad to justify evil things that they did, but also the Western world, for 1000s of years have considered you and I to be barbarians. And that's affected how they see our religion.

We have to reclaim our voice, reclaim our language, reclaim our words, and speak the truth.

So I will use the word jihad, as it was used by Allah and His messenger. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Jah he didn't wash the Hina be a deacon, while mighty come while Cinetic he said fight against the polytheists struggle against the polytheists he meant courage with yourselves your souls, with your wealth and with your tongues. Use your tongues.

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam built a met a member in his Masjid.

Just like as a member in the masjid, he built it. But it wasn't built to give the hutzpah that was a different environment. It wasn't built to teach classes. It wasn't built to teach the Quran. It was built for a purpose for asylum in fabric for the hola Juan, the companion of the prophet who was a poet.

He built it so that he would say poetry and in his poetry, he would respond to the propaganda of Quraysh and respond using the truth

the prophets of Allah who sent him what say to her sent her gem whom would you believe Mack strike against them and Gibreel is with you.

He would say edge of Romney he will tell her sad respond on my behalf say poetry responding on my behalf

and indeed debris rally he will be supporting you

once the Prophet sallallahu and he will send them during what I'm gonna tell COBOL

you can comes into mystery that Raul and I beloved robot will the Allahu Allah and saying words of poetry. And he's responding to the propaganda

of Quraysh and Hapa. He says, if not all, aha, he's What are you doing? Being a rasool Allah.

Allah watercooled a shout out he says, Read between the hands of the property and the company, the Prophet, in the Messenger of Allah in the huddle, and you're seeing poetry. He's saying this time of seriousness, this is a time of very bad.

Why are you doing Where are you seeing poetry right now? The prophets of Allah, wherever you send them said, He's Elisa Malone,

those I'm gonna leave him alone. For indeed, what he is saying is more swift against them than a barrage of errors.

If you threw arrows at the enemy, it would be less than the words of poetry that Abdullah was saying.

He seemed responding to the narratives of the machinery who was the most important form of the struggle.

And in the time of the prophets of Allah, I do send them poetry was one of the main ways in which narratives were formed and popularized.

Today, poetry literature, still very important, perhaps much more important than we tend to think the so too, is news media. So to our journalists, and social media influencers and opinion writers and columnists. If it hasn't working, we'll have to either he says, and, again, very powerful phrase, he says, Whatever you the only other I would prefer you to clean him and henskee upward he'd been urged to saw the map. He said, There is nothing that enrages the disbelievers in the in validators of the truth than casting a clear argument against their statements. Waka tourism Allah has academic Kivar will hook

for he heads out in one solid deal. Minnesota Sharkey with our data, Jana, he said Indeed the great soldiers who fight on the battlefield the great warriors

They may be defeated. But the true statements will never be defeated. And it is far more supportive of the religion than the sharp weapons or the big army.

And this is something that should give us hope.

Because I know a lot of people are going to feel like what's the point? I know a lot of people are thinking to themselves even as I'm talking, but they have more money than us and more resources than us, then they can throw it into this.

They can have almost all of CNN and BBC even in Canada. Many journalists wrote anonymously, to say that CTV News has banned them from saying the word Palestine, that they refuse to bring any Palestinian or pro Palestinian person to provide analysis. The only time they bring a Palestinian on television is for them to cry, or sad, but to give analysis over what's happening to understand the cause of the conflict, no, no, no, no, no, that's only for Israeli military analysts. So you will look at that, and you feel like the cards are stacked against us. And in a way it's true. But in a way, it's not true.

Because we have yet to mobilize as a community. They've been doing this for over 100 years, we haven't even started.

And falsehood only works when the truth is silent.

But once we start to assume our responsibility to speak the truth, once we start actually rising up and saying the words of truth, once it's not just one person or two people doing it, but many people who are doing it, you will see what happens to falsehood. What

was happened in Balclutha kanessa, Allah says, say, indeed, the truth has come and falsehood has vanished, because falsehood is a vanishing thing. The nature of falsehood is that it cannot confront the truth, it will fall apart, but not before will have the eyelid Belton Feldman, who further who was Allah says, We cast the truth upon falsehood, and it will destroy it, and it will depart. That's the nature of falsehood. And we're seeing it today, they spend so much money to propagate disinformation, about the Palestinian people, and a bunch of kids on social media are taking them down. A bunch of kids on social media, with their tiktoks

are taking down wrestling down a billion dollar effort against them. Because the nature of falsehood is that when it's confronted with the truth, it falls apart.

Somebody might say, but they influence politics way more than we can.

Even if 71% of Canadians want a ceasefire, which is the case, the politicians, especially the ones with power, they will not call for it. So they say look, it doesn't matter if you can even convince the average Joe, that there should be a ceasefire, the powerful people don't care.

And here I want you to think about apartheid South Africa. The reason apartheid South Africa fell, is because it was too expensive to maintain.

Upholding falsehood requires a lot of money. And you might say they have a lot of money. But money is a finite resource.

Eventually you don't have enough money.

Every time you say the truth, they have to spend money to counteract the truth.

And their money will not go very far. If and this is a big if if you and I don't give up.

If you and I don't give up. If we keep saying the truth over and over louder and louder. Eventually their money will be worthless. Don't believe me? Allah subhanho data tells you

in the medina CAFO you will

only listen to answer read Allah first. From meta Coonawarra him hasta la familia upon Allah says the disbelievers will spend their wealth to avert people away from the way of Allah and they will spend it and it will be a source of regret for them, and they will lose.

Another person might say But brother,

they will never believe us. They will never see you and I as being a human being.

And this is a defeatist mentality.

Even if all of them don't care about Muslims, which isn't true. Some of them do care homes, but let's assume not a single one of them care about Muslims.

Not all of them agree on what is happening.

Even some of the people who come out and they say Israel has a right to defend itself while it's bombing

Little kids, even some of those people were seeing those words in their hearts. They don't believe that this is right.

Jimmy

Allah says you think they are united and their hearts are apart?

But still, let's assume that you are right and I'm wrong. Let's assume no matter what we say and do they will never change. We still have to use our voice for the truth.

The prophet Isaiah Sato Samson Morrow and then communica for you are you will be in the midst of a busy Saturday, in the midst of fun in the middle of debt. I'll be with Eric Alba funnyman. The Prophet SAW Allahu Allah says, if any of you see an evil, you must change it with your hand if you are not capable, if you do not have the authority to do so than with your tongue. And if you're not capable of doing even that, then hating it in your heart, and that is the weakest of faith. Or I remind you of ALLAH SubhanA. Allah giving us the example in the Quran

of us high the surface of the people who are breaking the Sabbath.

And they were casting out the nets to catch the fish on the day of the Sabbath when they were not supposed to be fishing. And the righteous people amongst them warned, the US use their tongue to tell them what you're doing is wrong.

And another group came to them and they said Nima, Coleman and Nico and

another group said, you're wasting your time. These people were casting their necks, they don't care. You're wasting your time, Allah for sure he's gonna punish them. Why are you even talking to them? Why are you even telling them to stop? What did those people say in response to Matthew wrote an article where

he said this is our excuse in front of your Lord. And maybe they will have Taqwa. Maybe they will have Taqwa. But this is our excuse in front of Allah. What is your excuse in front of Allah subhanaw taala. When the bombs are falling in Gaza, what is your excuse in front of Allah azza wa jal.

So are using our tongue to say the truth, this is at least the excuse you can use in front of Allah subhanaw taala. And as Muslims, we are focused on the effort, not the results, the result is out of our hands. But our focus is on the efforts. We try it.

Now I want to say Allah subhanaw taala when he speaks about jihad, he says why I do Langosta frog to prepare for them what you can, Jihad requires preparation. And this is true for the jihad of the tongue.

They prepare for this. They have manuals, they have trainings.

They visit politicians, hundreds of times, I've heard politician say not a single person has come to me to talk to me about Palestine, in their career.

And yet, they've been visited hundreds of times by pro Israeli groups.

We don't speak up enough. And sometimes the reason we don't do is because we don't educate ourselves enough about this issue, to be able to speak to it. And so we have to gain knowledge. And a couple of Hollywood knowledge precedes speech and action.

But if you can't, if you feel like you do not have the eloquence to be the one speaking about it, you still have a role to play. You can share, you can retweet, and repost

every time you like and you spread the truth. They have to spend money to spread falsehood.

There's a reason why they send people to tick tock begging tick tock to take down Palestinian content. There's a reason why they boycotted Elon Musk until he went to Israel. And now he's trying to change his algorithm to support Israel.

Because what you're doing is working. Because when you like these things, and you retweet these things, it has an effect. They're not doing it because your effort is useless. They're doing it because your effort is working. So do not belittle your efforts. Keep trying to do more. And I know some of you are afraid, afraid of losing your job. You're afraid of this and that.

And I remind you the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the opthalmology had the best form of jihad can even under some tiny jab to see the truth in front of an oppressive tyrant. They're trying to make people lose their jobs to create a culture of fear to make us be quiet, because if we speak, their falsehood is going to vanish. So keep speaking.

Don't go on a rant. Educate yourself, say things that are facts that are confirmed that nobody can refute it, that if they try to attack you, you have the facts on your side. Don't just go on a rant. Yes, educate yourself but speak you have to speak.

This is a war that all of us are implicated in and the only thing that is going to free us is to see the truth. For Concordia the worst of all, you're not going to stop

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