Ismail Kamdar – When Umar (RA) conquered al-Aqsa

			Al Hamdulillah
		

			hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Nabi al Karim Allah Allah He was happy at mine.
		

			So in our previous Hooda, we discussed the virtues of Al Aqsa, the various verses of the Quran, and
Hadees is of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that speak about the virtues of visiting must do
accept or praying salada and general the virtues of that land.
		

			One of the miracles and prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that came
true very soon after he passed away, was that Muslims would rule Al Aqsa
		

			in the lifetime of the Prophet salallahu, alayhi wasallam that land outside Jerusalem. It belonged
to the Romans. And it was the crown jewel of the Roman Empire in Arabia. It was the most important
land because the Romans were Christians. And they believe that Jesus is very dead. And writer today,
they have the church in Jerusalem, where they believe that Jesus is buried. And that church was
built 200 years before the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So there was a very
important land to them, and it still remains a very important land to Christians. And so at that
time, that land belonged to the Romans and the Romans were the most powerful empire in the world.
		

			And the Muslims, were just a group of people in Arabia. They had no land, they had no Empire, they
had no civilization. They were a few tribes living in Medina and soon expanding to the nearby cities
and growing, growing still growing into a civilization. And he was during the time of difficulty,
that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam prophesized that the Muslims will rule over a sham over
the greatest area area which includes Palestine. He will during the time that the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam encouraged the Sahaba to travel to Al Aqsa and to pray, Salah imbeciles will accept
even though that land was still a Christian land, and most of the Aqsa had not even been built by
		

			the Muslims yet.
		

			And so the prophets that Allahu Allah He was on to all of these narrations, he is prophesizing, that
that is going to be in Muslim land, and then that land is going to be controlled by the Muslims, and
that that lag when the Muslims control it, this is what you need to do. At the same time,
		

			across the lands in aleksa, the seas of Rome himself heraclius, was visiting the Holy Land. And
while he was there, he had a dream. While the Caesar heraclius was in Aqsa in Jerusalem, he had a
dream that a group of uncircumcised people are also a group of circumcised people would conquer that
land.
		

			So he woke up worried, and it spoke about his dream to his ministers and his priests. And he thought
it was about the Jews, because back then the only people they knew who were circumcised with the
Jews, and they themselves were oppressing the Jews, right under Roman rule, Jews were not allowed
into Al Aqsa, and we know it's a holy land to the Jews as well. So he was worried maybe they're
coming for retaliation, maybe they're going to take it over from us.
		

			But his people assured him It can't be the Jews. They weren't powerful people at that time. So we
began to worry about the dream, Who could it be about, and then a letter which came from Rasulullah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saying that he is the Messenger of Allah, and that the hierarchy is the
Caesar of Rome must accept Islam.
		

			And so when he got this letter from this outer Prophet, he asked his ministers are the Arab
circumcised, and he said, Yes. Then he began to worry. He began to worry, because he had the dream
that these people were going to conquer Al Aqsa Jerusalem. So he calls
		

			for anyone in the city who may have met the prophet to come and meet him. And he just so happened at
that exact time. Abu sufian was in Jerusalem on a business trip. And Abu sufian was not a Muslim,
yet he was actually the leader of the enemies of Islam at that time.
		

			So it happened to be the father of Allah destiny, that the leader of the enemies of Islam was
passing through Jerusalem, at the same time that the Caesar was in Jerusalem, looking to meet
someone who had met the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam. I'm not going to narrate the full story
of what happened between Abu sufian and heraclius. That story deserves its own. So very beautiful
story. Very powerful story. You find it right at the beginning of Sahih al Bukhari right at the
beginning so he didn't read it in full details, but also to himself, but To put it simply
		

			this
		

			Caesar called Abu sufian to his palace. And he began to ask him a series of questions to determine
whether the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was a true prophet or not. And by the end of the
discussion, the Caesar had no doubt that this was a real prophet. And he said, If what you are
saying is true, he will take over this land very shortly, he will take over this land.
		

			And I will Silvia himself narrates that that was the first moment where he began to think maybe
Islam is true. And a few years later, he himself will convert to Islam and become as a hobby.
		

			And so, a few years later, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam passes away. And before passing
away, he assigned an army to his adopted son, son, he's adopted Greg or his adopted grandson Osama
bin Zayed to go towards Jerusalem to begin the expeditions and the conquest in the direction of
Jerusalem. And so aboubaker when he becomes the believer, he continues with this tradition. And the
Muslims begin to March that in that direction, and conquer lands that direction. And then two years
within two years Abubakar passes away, and Omar radula, who comes into power. And the conquests in
the time of Omar are the greatest conquests in the history of Islam.
		

			Really the reign of Omar red, yellow and who is a miracle in of itself,
		

			to think about what was accomplished in those 10 years, it is itself verrico
		

			Omar Raji Allah who started his life as a camel herder, in the deserts of Arabia.
		

			And by the end of his life, he is the greatest leader in the world, having destroyed the Persian
Empire, and having weakened the Roman Empire significantly, during the time of Omar regular undo the
Muslims conquer all of Persia, whatever was left of the sassanid Empire.
		

			And during the time of Omar regular who the Muslims conquer Damascus, they conquer Egypt. They
conquer Jerusalem.
		

			Some of the most important conquests in the history of Islam. Why do we say these are some of the
most important conquest because right until today, most of those lands remain Muslim lands, and they
remain centers of Islam. You can't imagine those lands without Islam, but they became Muslim lands
during the time of Omar Graciela Watteau. And so during the time of Omar in the very beginning,
literally within the first few months of his reign, a battle takes place between the Romans and the
Muslims, called the Battle of Yarmouk, where basically, the Romans did the full force after the
Muslims. They said we need to just wipe out the Muslims. They said this, maybe exaggerations of
		

			Allah knows best, you know, you didn't really count people in those days. So, you some need to say
100,000 soldiers, some say 200,000 soldiers, it was a huge force. Basically, the MTD results, the
Romans sent everybody off to the Muslims, and the Muslims, led by Khalid bin Waleed Abu Zubaydah,
even Jarrah, they defeated the Romans, they defeated the Romans. And that meant that all the cities
now in Syria, in a sham don't have significant cuts. Because the all of the armies went out to fight
the Muslims on the battlefield, didn't think they could lose. Because remember, just a few years
before that, who were the Arabs, they weren't the superpower. They weren't even in civilization.
		

			They were literally just tribes living in Arabia.
		

			So these tribal Arabs marching into Roman territory, the Romans didn't take him seriously.
		

			And so in one battle, the entire Roman force in Syria is defeated. And now it becomes easy for the
Muslims to take over the various cities of Serbia. it's even easier for them, because the people
living in that land, don't want the Romans to rule them. The Christians, the Jews, even the pagans
of that land, don't want the Romans ruling them because the Romans were very unjust leaders. They
overtax the people, they did not believe in any type of religious freedom. They did not tolerate
people from other sects and religions. They were very harsh and brutal dictatorship. And so the
people of that land, when the Muslims came to the cities and said, fighters or pay the jizya, most
		

			of the people said, repeated user, we prefer you over the Romans, you'll be a better leader pass,
we'd be safer, we have more freedom of religion. And so the Muslims began to conquer the lands
peacefully. And one of those lands that the Muslims took peacefully was Jerusalem.
		

			So Omar Abdullah, one who he sent among even us with an army to Jensen, now, if you know who I am,
or even al Aziz rajala
		

			As he was before Islam, the diplomat of the Quran,
		

			he had a very sweet, you could talk his way out of any situation. And most of the conquests that
took place through Amma radiallahu, took place through diplomacy, to speaking to people not to
actual fighting. And so he conquered Jerusalem. Xu speaking to the people, any conquered Egypt in
the same way. So I'm not even asked he meets with the bishop, the Archbishop of Jerusalem, he
discusses with him, they laid out the conditions, and they themselves agree. We want the wisdoms to
rule we don't want the Romans to rule. And the many reasons for that they themselves were being
oppressed by the Romans. There was a a religious problem between them. And the Romans had a big
		

			following one sect of Christianity and the Romans were following the different sects of
Christianity, there were many problems. And so they realized that under Muslim rule, because under
Muslim rule, non Muslims pay the jizya. And they have full freedom of religion, regardless of what
their religion is, they had such freedom of religion, that if a Christian committed a crime, they
will go to the police, and the police will judge them according to their book. And if a Jew
committed a crime, they will go to the rabbi and He will judge him in the book, he wouldn't be
judged by the Muslim law, they will be judged by their own gods, unless the crime was against the
		

			Muslim. So there was far greater freedom of religion compared to what they were experiencing under
the Romans. It's not the same as today. So for example, in under Muslim law, you weren't allowed to
do Dawa to their religions. Because believing Islam to be the true religion, we wouldn't allow
people to call people towards falsehood in our in our lands. But compared to what the Romans were
giving them, it was unheard of the level of religious freedom that the Muslims were going to allow.
So the Archbishop of Jerusalem, agrees to hand over the keys or to Jerusalem, on one main condition,
that Omar himself comes to Jerusalem to collect it.
		

			This is the only time in the 10 year reign of Omar radiallahu, that he leaves Medina to go and
conquer a city himself, Omar radula, who did not leave Medina for those 10 years except for hygiene.
		

			And once out to visit Syria, and that time to return because of the plague in Serbia, the only time
he actually went out and visited other lands, was when he went to Jerusalem to collect the keys. Why
do we mention this? Because this shows us how important Al Aqsa is
		

			that, that Omar regular himself saw that he was important that he goes from Medina to Al Aqsa to
collect the keys to the city. Now, some people may be wondering, what do you mean by keys to the
city. This is to put it in context. If anyone's seen ancient cities, ancient cities have like a wall
around them to keep out barbarians and readers. Right. And you have like a gate to enter the city.
So every city had walls with arches on the walls and gates, and you had somebody in charge, you had
the key to that gate. And so the Archbishop kept the keys to that gate. And he said he'll give it to
nobody except for himself. So Omar, who begins his journey, and it's a long journey, many stories
		

			happen along the way. But what concerns us is what happens when he gets to Jerusalem. When Omar who
gets to Jerusalem is just him, and one slave, just the two of them walking through the desert,
taking turns to ride the horse. And when it comes time to be near Jerusalem, it's the slaves 100
loss. So the slave tells you the leader of the world, it's going to be a very, very bad image. If
you are walking in I'm riding a horse into into Jerusalem, and almost is no it's your turn, right.
And so literally, Omar enters Jerusalem, with his sleeve in a higher position than him.
		

			And he walks in wearing patched clothing, old patch clothing that himself stitched back together.
And before he entered some of the commanders of the army, they walk up to him they say, you know,
these are Romans, they used to the leaders being fancy and the leaders having these fancy clothes
and you're looking good. Why don't you change before you enter Jerusalem. And Omar says that we are
a people who are honored with Islam, we will not seek honor or anything else. So he entered
Jerusalem, with his slave on the better means of transportation than him dressed in a patch garment,
as the new leader of this land, as the new superpower of the world. And when the Archbishop and the
		

			priests of Jerusalem see him, they understand this is why Allah gave the Muslim power over them
because of the humility and the piety and the justice of Omar rajala. One Whoa. So Omar Raja who
enters Jerusalem, he signs a treaty with the Christians, allowing them to live there in peace, to
worship in peace, to continue practicing in peace to make sure that churches are not demolished. He
allows
		

			Jews to start visiting Jerusalem again and during the acts of worship there
		

			and this becomes the land of religious freedom.
		

			And the Christians when they had taken when the Romans had taken over Jerusalem, the site that is
mosquito XL today, they had turned it into a dump yard. As an insult to the Jews, it turned into the
Tomcat. Omar Agnew himself starts to clean up the dump yard with his own hands. Because this is
sacred land, the Muslims, he starts to clean it with his own hands. And the Sahaba see him do that
they join in and they clean up the place with their own hands. And then the time for Salah comes and
Bilal is with them. And Omar asked below to give them
		

			and Bill all regular on who had not given an Amazon since the date of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam
he just couldn't give us an update. The prophet SAW some I passed away. But that day he made an
exception, and he gave the Amazon in must you do AXA, which was an outdoor place that and the
building wasn't rebuilt yet. And Omar Raja who led the Sahaba in Salah at Moscow, and the prophecy
of the prophets like some came true for the Muslims that are worshipping muscle, Aqsa look at the
honor given to these men. Bilal started his life as a slave in Makkah in a racist society that
mistreated their slaves, yet he is the only man amongst the Sahaba you have given the Azhar in
		

			Medina in front of the prophets while you Salaam in Makkah on top of the Kaaba and as mercy to Aqsa
		

			Omar rajadamnern started his life as a camel herder, working outside of Makkah, barely making barely
making it through the day in terms of his living. Later he became a trader later became a Muslim.
And eventually he is now the ruler of Empire, a growing empire that stretches from Makkah all the
way to the masters. And so they pray the salada and this becomes the first Salah to be pretty much
laksa, and later on wish them to rebuild that Masjid and that will become a land of peace, a land
of, of holiness for Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, and it will remain so right until the time
of the crusades, which we will discuss next week. superhydrophobicity mitc foon was Salam ala
		

			mousseline hamdulillahi Rabbil alameen
		

			hamdu lillahi wa Salatu was Salam ala manleigh
		

			for inner circle howdy Suki tabula rasa Phaedra * * Muhammad Sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam
shadow Malian wakasa to Hakuna Matata, Hakuna bit akintola kulu Dada TV now, when Omar Roger who
entered muscle relaxer, the Archbishop began to give him a tour of the city. And as he was showing
him the church in which the Christians believe that Jesus is buried, the time for Salah came. And so
the priests told Omar to pray his holiday in the church. And Omar was a man of great foresight. He
understood how people would think in the future. He said, I'm not going to pray Salah because I'm
afraid someday in the future people may destroy your church and build the master do because I pray
		

			God so he went just outside the church and he prayed his Salah outside then
		

			go home Open Google Maps, search for mustard, the Omer in Jerusalem. You will see the church with a
Christian believe that Jesus is buried must be the oma they're right next to each other. Right. So
today, Omar knew wherever he prayed so that people are going to build a Masjid and he didn't want it
to destroy the church computable the masjid so he played outside the church and right or today, we
have the church and the masjid over right next to each other. This was the religious tolerance, that
Omar radiallahu head for the Christians of Jerusalem.
		

			Some lessons we can take from the story. Number one, directly linked to our topic of Jerusalem is
important to us. It is our third holiest land. It is the third greatest Masjid. It is a land that
was beloved to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam to all of the prophets to all of the Sahaba.
		

			The fact that Omar Raja who made the journey himself, as an old man, from Medina, to Jerusalem to
collect the keys to the city tells you how important it was. The fact that beloved never gave us and
again after the death of Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam except once in Jerusalem, tells you how
important exercise. This is our third holiest site. And no matter what's going on in the world today
in terms of politics, we should never forget how important that land is to us. There'll be a lot of
pressure on Muslims to just let it go. It's just a land. It's just a Masjid. It's just a country.
It's not just a lack of just the mercy to just the country. It is the Holy Land. It is the greatest
		

			Masjid. It is a place where we are supposed to protect it.
		

			We are supposed to guard it, we are supposed to ensure religious freedom there, we are supposed to
be the ones making sure that that land is treated with the dignity that he deserves. Today we live
in one of the only of two times in our history where the sanctity of that land is being violated.
		

			We're in the month of Ramadan, people can enter that land into the masjid. And should people end
with rubber bullets and throw stun grenades. And so tear gas donate and nobody does anything about
it, violating the sanctity of the Holy Land.
		

			And sometimes we forget that it's the Holy Land. We just look at it as politics, we just look at it
as a war. No, this is a violation of a land that is sacred in all three of the Abrahamic faiths. And
the people committing this crime, Allah will not allow you to go and punished, he will give them
time to repent, he will give them time to change. But eventually, eventually, Allah justice will
come
		

			as already on who was the first one to take over that land for the sake of Islam. And this will
happen again in the time of Salah coding, and we will discuss that story next week. A second lesson
from the story that this is from the miracles of Islam. No other civilization in the history of this
world grew as fast as the civilization of Islam.
		

			Just a few years before that, Medina was the only city in the world that was Islamic.
		

			I just like maybe six or seven years before that, if you want to learn about Islam, Medina was the
only place for Muslims.
		

			And a few years later, we have all the way from one end of Egypt, in North Africa, across the ocean,
they all have what used to be the Persian Empire, all of Arabia, all of a sham, Damascus, Jerusalem,
all of this is now Muslim lands. It is now an empire, an empire that has destroyed the Persian
Empire, an empire that is an equal rival to the Roman Empire. And you will continue to grow within
100 years, the Muslim rebooting Spain and parts of India within 100 years, do you realize what a
rapid growth that is to go from one city to a massive Empire across three continents in less than
100 years? For people who before that had no civilization, no government, no real army, no real
		

			political system, no real economic system, they are now the largest empire in the world at that
time. That was a miracle. And that is from the proofs of Islam, from the proof that this is the true
religion. And then we get people wondering, but why today? Why are we today in this position of
disgrace? Why are we today in this position where we don't have victory, we don't have power. We're
Muslims out towards scattered and oppressed and in a difficult situation. And we go back to the
conversation between Abu Sofia and heraclius. When with harati, is asking the questions about the
proofs of profiteth. One of those questions was
		

			does he always win the battles? And Abu sufian said, No, sometimes he win, sometimes we win. And he
laughed. He said, that's, that's the sign of a true prophet. That's a sign of the true religion. You
don't always win the battles.
		

			Because the Muslims always won. The whole world would be Muslim today, it'd be 1400 years. Right?
Rather, Allah says that he rotates power between people.
		

			And to end off with a speech the Omar reginal himself gave when he conquered Oxford,
		

			he turned to the Muslims and he told him
		

			that Allah has honored you and blessed you with this land. So be grateful to Allah and you will keep
growing his blessings. But the day you start to disobey Allah, and the day you begin to show in
gratitude to Allah, He will give your enemy's power over you, and you will punish you to them. These
were the words of Omar regular who when he conquered Alexa,
		

			and so we as a human need to reflect what are we doing on a personal level and on a global level and
on a local level. To help rebuild this oma. This is not the first time the oma has fallen.
		

			It's happened before with the Crusaders. It happened before with the Mongols. It happened many times
before. But this may be the longest and the most difficult situation to my husband.
		

			But we must believe that if we return to piety, if we return to justice, if we return to living our
lives in a way that is pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala and working together for the greater good
that Allah will once again bless us with righteous leaders are low we once again blessed us with
power and dominion on Earth.
		

			One last lesson before we close off the words of Omar radiallahu to the other Sahaba
		

			We are a people who Allah on a true Islam. If we seek on the true anything else, we will be
disgraced. Today Muslims look for honor in imitating the West. Today Muslims look for honor. In
materialism. We look for honor in capitalism. We look for honor in everything besides pleasing Allah
subhanho wa Taala. Understand that all honor comes from Allah. In surah, Allah imraan Allah subhana
wa tells us to Izu Manta Sha, which is illumination that he gives honor to whom He wills and he
takes it away from whom he works.
		

			And so we must realize that all Islam all honor comes from Allah subhanho wa Taala for this oma to
become a oma of honor. Again, it doesn't need to build skyscrapers. It doesn't need to be on a map
that has the fanciest buildings or oma that has, you know, the most money it helps having the most
money will help for sure. Or the oma that's has the most sense. Of course not that will take us in
the opposite direction. But he needs to have the oma with the most righteous people, and the most
learned people and the most just people. And that's a part of our religion. We forgotten justice,
justice to our families, justice to our workers, justice to our neighbors. If you're not just on
		

			this level, why would Allah entrust us with justice over a community
		

			so we need to return to being an oma of righteousness.