Mufti Menk – From Christchurch to The Netherlands. From Ethiopian Airlines to Cyclone Idai!

			Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, my brothers and sisters, I haven't been live for a
while. And I thought perhaps today would be a good day to come on again, and to connect with you.
		

			The reason is, I'm in Zimbabwe, and we've been busy with a lot that is happening here. And the
cyclone that has battered a lot of Mozambique and parts of the Southern Zimbabwe, the the south
eastern part of the country, and the eastern part of the country as well, has really, really taken a
toll. People have died, people have been misplaced, or sorry, displaced, people have been affected
in a very, very big way, lost their properties, roads have been destroyed, bridges have been
destroyed, and so much has happened. Now, may Allah grant them all ease and goodness and on our
part, we're trying our best in our own small, little way. Prayers are the most important thing. And
		

			together with that, anyone who's watching this, you may want to donate to a charity of your choice,
a charity that you feel is reliable, you may want to donate some money towards the cause. I know
there are a lot of people affected in Mozambique, as well as Zimbabwe, parts of Malawi. And it's
been really, really bad. They say it's the worst in decades, perhaps 100 years. My brothers and
sisters, four things have happened recently that I know of, that have all resulted in the loss of
life. All of them are very, very sad. Some of them are worse than others because of the human
factor. Today, I heard of the shooting by someone in I think it's the Netherlands,
		

			in public transport, that is as unacceptable as the Christchurch shooting.
		

			The reason is innocent lives have been lost. There's a gunman, whether he was Muslim or not becomes
irrelevant. So it is as bad as what happened in Christ Church, and we have to condemn it in the same
way that we condemned that. And in the same way that we condemn all killing. And we ask people who
are involved in fighting, whether it's on a governmental level, whether it's on a, you know,
		

			perhaps a private level, when I say private level, I mean individuals, no matter who they are.
That's not the way we solve problems. That's not the way forward. That's not what we should be
doing. We are human beings, we need to resolve matters, we need to live together, we share this
globe, I promise you, we're all part of one huge family known as the humankind. And we have to
resolve matters in a better way than you know killing and shooting because that actually has a very,
very bad reaction, you know, one does it another will do it as a retaliation. And then the third
will go back and do it. And it never stops. So someone some way somehow needs to be the bigger
		

			person.
		

			My brothers and sisters. Number one, there was loss of life when it came to Ethiopian Airlines.
		

			I fly with European airlines and I was still fly with European airlines. And I still believe they're
one of the best in the world. And I there is nothing wrong with that particular airline, trust me
those who don't know about it. If you're flying in and out of Africa, you know, it's really, really
an option to consider.
		

			I think people across the globe have actually said this. I said it the first day. That look, I still
believe it's one of the best airlines in fact that day, I was actually flying at the same time on
Ethiopian Airlines. SubhanAllah. Amazing. And may Allah grant us all protection. I guess if your
time is up, it's up. But there was loss of life there.
		

			No matter what nationality you are, no matter what race, there was loss of life, we felt the
sadness. I actually went over to the airline offices here to express my condolences. And I thought
that's the minimum.
		

			You know, may Allah make it easy for us.
		

			So what I want to say is there was that loss of life and just as we were healing from it, we heard
of another one what was that the Christchurch shootings Now the difference between the two is one
was a pure, perhaps mistake something wrong, no one intentionally did it and the other one
intentional, totally intentional, very unacceptable.
		

			Grant ease to all those who are struggling genital for those who those who have passed away. And we
really bleed still about what happened that day. You know, when I sit and think about it, I wish and
I hope that I could be there for the families to help them heal. And you know, to support them in
whatever way possible but I'm sure those around are doing a very good job. They have our support.
Again, in our own little way. If you'd like to support find out make sure that
		

			You know, I'm not promoting any specific charity, because I'd like to leave that to you you your
discretion, you make sure that you find out more about the charities that you're donating to. And
try your best to be of benefit to the people, the minimum is prayer. Now, there was a bit of a
discrepancy where I spoke about how important it is for us to realize that the people of New Zealand
are brilliant people, this is not what they stand for. And I promise you, this is not what the
standard, just like what happened today in the Netherlands is not what we stand for. We condemn it
very strongly, we don't stand for that. And we expect people not to look at us and think that we're
		

			all guilty, just like we don't look at the people of New Zealand and think that they're all guilty.
They're not they're good people, there are peace loving, you know, they're trying their best to
assist so many people have come out in so many different ways. Now, I tried to make it a habit of
visiting representatives who represent maybe the country, or the place where things have happened
and try to perhaps, you know, give them a message of sympathy and condolence.
		

			Or sometimes, perhaps, maybe say something, if I can, and if I do know the facts on social media,
but not always, because if social media that is being used, for example, for a specific purpose of
guidance, and so on, is used for condolence of everything that happens. Number one, you miss out a
lot of things. And number two is every minute of the day, some disasters occurring somewhere on the
globe. So you'd probably not be able to keep up and your account would be converted into an account,
that's a condolence account. But that having been said, I'm not belittling the value of any life on
Earth, may Allah grant us all the ability to protect others and to save them and to to be the best
		

			human beings possible in during our short few decades that we're on Earth, given that life by the
Almighty, so that happened in in Christchurch, and like I said, we're still bleeding.
		

			We should all try and reach out in whatever way possible, you know, the charities, the people
working there, the prayers, the good comments. And when I said that, we should pray for the criminal
for the attacker for the perpetrator. I didn't mean that he shouldn't face justice. No, that's a
different thing. That's not in my hands. I mean, those who are affected are the ones who will decide
whether they want to forgive him or not. I mean, I heard an uncle in a wheelchair, say, I forgiven
him. He was one of those there. You know, that's a very high level, but he was affected, he has the
right to say I forgive but what I am saying is pray for, to pray for someone is something really,
		

			really, you know, dignified, it's so high. It's very noble, should I say, we pray for the person.
That, that he, he realizes his mistake, that's something important. I mean, I was reading that when
he arrived in the courtroom, he was quite proud, he looked quite proud of what he did. And he was
smiling. And he had his little, you know, signals that he was perhaps beaming to whoever he wanted,
whatever it was, that didn't show much remorse. But I believe if we pray that the almighty guide him
to, to, you know, to softening his heart to realizing what he's done, and who knows, he might
actually come and see the light if people come in, I recall an incident of a sister, may Allah bless
		

			her, who actually met the murder of her son in the US. And she embraced the men. And she actually
forgave him and so on. And then the impact that that had, and this wasn't once I also remember a
brother, who did something similar, who embraced, you know, someone who murdered another of his own
family, and tried to talk to him and explain to him what Islam stands for, and so on. And the, this
had a huge impact. It's there, right? They can actually ask for that punishment to be served or they
can, they can perhaps decide we want to forgive them. But
		

			to pray for someone is our duty. Don't make a mistake. Don't think I'm calling for us to become
passive. And you know, if someone slaps you, you give you other cheek and you get another slap and
no, we are saying what has happened? Yes, Justice will take its course by all means, but pray for
the guy. What's wrong, can you pray, I mean, there were people who were misguided the process and
and prayed for them facts, he prayed for them. Some of them were guided and some of them Allah chose
not to guide them. But the duty was for us to pray for him to pray he prayed.
		

			So my brothers and sisters don't make a mistake on this one here.
		

			You know, when we react in a in a nasty way, it becomes really ugly.
		

			The third incident that happened immediately meaning we were healing from Ethiopian Airlines, we
were affected by Christchurch. You know the terror in Christchurch. And as we are healing from that,
in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, we will
		

			We're affected and being affected and battered and bashed by a cyclone, the worst of its kind in
recent times. So hundreds of people today the figure is pushed up to almost 1000 maybe, but hundreds
of people confirmed dead homes have have well to do people totally destroyed today I got news of
families in Bera who, and that is that is like a city where, you know, submerged in water parts of
the city and people lost property, they lost their loved ones in some cases, and they lost a lot. So
not only that, in the rural areas, people lost their lives. in smaller towns, the roads are damaged
brand new roads that were built recently, you know, damaged, completely destroyed. So, you know,
		

			dealing with that I'm living in Harare, I haven't moved from here from the time the cyclone hit.
Today was the first day we saw a little bit of sunlight. My brothers and sisters, today was the
first day we saw a little bit of sunlight. I really appreciate my brothers and sisters who reached
out to me asking me, How are you guys? You guys fine, we've been hearing about this. That was so
kind of you guys. And I'm sure a lot of you may not have known. And I don't expect everyone to know,
because there's so much happening across the globe. But I just want to let you know, there was great
loss of life here as well. Also, large number if you look at Ethiopian Airlines, a lot of people
		

			died, you know, 100 and something. If you look at the cyclone, we've lost, perhaps perhaps 1000
meanings, so many people are missing, maybe more. And so much of destruction. So the worst of the
lot was the cyclone, the worst of the lot was the cyclone. And the difference is, yes, in
Christchurch, it was terrible. It was the worst terror attack there a dark day, as the prime
minister said the darkest day that they've seen in recent history. So if we look at this, we will
realize you know what, life is so short. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him predicted that
towards the end of time, people will lose their lives in large numbers, large numbers. This is
		

			what's happening. Now Allah grant us an understanding, you never know. Imagine people shifting from
countries where there was war, to a country that is considered one of the most beautiful countries,
if not the most beautiful according to a lot of the, the websites and so on a lot of people, most
beautiful country in the world very safe, very secure. We nobody even slaps another person, not even
by mistake. And here is a guy coming in. He's just, you know, shooting everyone down. And people, I
read the profiles of quite a few of those who've lost their lives. One of them was fleeing the war
in Syria. He came in 2018 2019. He died at the hands of another terrorist within the masjid there,
		

			which is supposed to be a safe haven, so hon Allah.
		

			So that was the third one. Let me count them again. The Ethiopian Airlines the Christchurch, the
cyclone, cyclone, I think they're pronouncing it idi, or Ed. It's spelled idi, that's the name of
the cyclone. and thereafter, today's today's shooting in the Netherlands, absolutely unacceptable.
Like I said, if you're a true human being, you would condemn today's shooting in the same way that
you condemned the shooting that happened in Christchurch. They were both equal, in the sense that
they both killed they both were acts of terror. They were both unacceptable. They were both, you
know, absolutely ridiculous. Stanford Law. You know, lives are important. My brothers and sisters,
		

			whether they're yours or your mind, or anyone else's life is a life. You know, we we're human kind.
Imagine when we see animals die, you see a cat die, you see a dog die. You see your pet die? How do
you feel? Trust me, you're supposed to be feeling far beyond that when it comes to a human being
die. Look at the people across the globe. I don't even have the time to mention and I don't want to
lengthen this. But I just want to say my brothers and sisters be fair be just what's wrong for you
is wrong for others, and what's wrong for others is wrong for you. Remember that? It doesn't mean
that Oh, yeah, by the way, you know, this happened. And I actually heard someone say, Well, you
		

			know, what? serves them, right? It's not for law. It's my duty to let you know that that's a bad
statement. That's actually very wrong. It's similar to some of the guys who were praising the
Christchurch
		

			criminal the you know, that terrorist in Christchurch, was being praised by some guys. Some of them
were even politicians apparently, and so on. I mean, I I don't have every detail. But what I do know
is there were some people saying that it's our duty, where people are actually trying to justify
what happened in the Netherlands to say, listen, guys, you're equally wrong. You're equally
		

			wrong, it's not acceptable. So I pray that we can all be vehicles of spreading goodness, justice,
love, kindness, understanding, respect, humility, tolerance, and whatever other goodness that there
is. My brothers and sisters, I just wanted to make you aware of these four things that have
happened. I pray that nothing more happens. You know, every time I get up in the morning, and I make
a prayer to allow mighty saying, oh, Allah, let there be good news today, let there not be bad news.
And and I fear sometimes even listening to the news, you know, checking the news on my phone, I
don't actually listen to it via any other way besides my phone. And I feel listening or looking at
		

			it. Because I just don't want there to be something that Oh, no, not again, you know, and, and this
is what's happening, not again. And I do know that, you know, death, killing crime is happening
across the globe, there are many criminals out there, some of them state level, doing things that
are totally unacceptable. We have people of peace and love, kindness and goodness, we want to see a
stop to all of that. We want to see a stop to all of it. Please, my dear politicians, wherever you
are, please be vehicles of stopping wars be vehicles of the stopping all this? The people don't need
it. They don't want it. You know, don't this collect business of collateral damage is not acceptable
		

			by our standards. We cannot afford to kill people No way. Not at all. Let's stop it. And we will
find the whole globe becoming a better place. Let's learn to respect each other, you know, don't
shove things down each other's throats and we will be able to make this place a better place. I
believe I'm right, I believe my religion is correct. I believe the way I do things is correct. I
believe you know, my way of prayer is correct, I believe, but in the same way others believe
differently. And they also believe as passionately that they are correct. We have to learn to
respect each other's right to have their opinion and to believe that they are right, without
		

			actually wanting to harm them, hurt them. spew hate, you know, myself, let me explain.
		

			Over the years, as I've traveled and as I've learned, one thing that's very clear, is the way we
address people has become filled with a lot of respect, a lot of respect, even in disagreement. I
think when I was much younger, oh, we used to just say things as, as we as you know, we thought of
it without even thinking deeper about how to say it. And without even thinking of its relevance. And
sometimes we said things that may have been wrong, hurtful, hateful, that needs to that has changed
in my case, and I'm sure it will change in all our cases, if it hasn't already learned to be
respectful. think logically, you're not the only person on earth who has a right to live on this
		

			earth. Remember that you're not the only person who has a right to live on this earth. So my
brothers and sisters, everyone has the Equal Rights. Same, right? The right you have I have and even
the poorest guy and the wealthiest guy have the same right to life. The Almighty made them they are
on this earth we share this globe together. That's why we say if you if you're all on one ship, and
you start damaging the ship, you're all going to drown. If you start fighting in the ship, it's
going to destroy the whole ship, you know. So the same applies. We're all on this globe. We cannot
afford this to happen. My brothers and sisters, all of you, if not almost all of you
		

			are in search of peace, goodness, harmony, you know, justice and so much of positivity. contentment,
		

			I'm actually thinking this Ramadan, I want to entitled my theme, the theme of the series that I will
be doing in the month of Ramadan, I'll shorten each clip, I'll shorten each episode and call it the
contentment series. What do you think of that? May Allah Subhana Allah to Allah grant us is this is
going to be posted up on YouTube. You can post your comments down there inshallah, I will take a
moment to look at those comments, especially those that are perhaps made in the first few days of
this video being up. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us ease. Once again, like I say, as much as
we condemn what happened in Christchurch, we condemn what happened also in the Netherlands today.
		

			And what happens in in every other place where life is being taken away. May Allah subhanho wa Taala
safeguard all of us similarly, our prayers go out to those who've been affected by the cyclone here
in my own country, Zimbabwe in Mozambique in Malawi. Those who have been affected in any other way
people we know people we don't know. Our hearts go out to those who've been affected by the crash
the Ethiopian Airlines. And we asked the almighty to really make it easy for every one of us just
akmola Hey, thank you so much for being with me this evening. I hope to be back a little bit more
regularly. As you can see, I have my own money hat. You know, my beloved brother, Hatem I'll have
		

			the Salaam I won't forget them all.
		

			There is a brother called the terroir Island so many others that are there Mashallah. Thank you so
much for your goodness May Allah bless you guys as salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.