Suhaib Webb – Did The Salaf Destroy Churches
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Hope everybody do is doing amazing.
Actually just returned from
a trip.
In,
in Spain and Andalus, I was teaching a
course on the colonality,
with the program through UC Berkeley. It was
really amazing
opportunity.
Wa'arikum Salam. Rahmatullah.
Hey, Dari. Hope you're doing well.
And it was a it was incredible trip
to go to, Andalus. This is my 3rd
time to be there and to see the
remnants, alhamdulillah,
of
Muslims and Muslim culture and Muslim people. One
of the things I encourage especially
young Muslims to do I was talking with
my daughter, my oldest daughter, a few days
ago, and I said to her, like,
I will do my best to support you
at least to take
some time out, like a gap year,
and to travel and see the Muslim world,
especially see Muslim history
go to places where Muslims,
contributed,
which is everywhere Muslims went honestly,
to society, into culture because it allows you
in many ways to experience
and live
what Muslims brought to the world
and to counter in your own mind and
within your own heart
the, distorted messages that we receive constantly about
Islam. We are a community that is not
only being military
militarily oppressed
as we see the genocide happening in Gaza
and other places.
We are oppressed on social media. If you
look at me, I'm extremely shadow banned.
I actually met with an employer employee from
Meta
who looked at my social media and said
to me, like, you are absolutely being shadow
banned
and were incapable of really helping me.
But also that's a test for us, right,
to make sure we're doing what we do
for the right reasons.
But I encourage people to travel and see
the Muslim world if you can,
especially places where there's
the presence of Muslim power till this day.
Very interesting story. Last year, I went to
Andalus to Harnedata,
and
I took an Uber,
to a course I was teaching.
And the driver, my Spanish is really poor.
I need to work on my Spanish.
But we began to have a conversation,
and I kept asking him about certain,
Muslim historical sites.
And
then he asked me if I was Muslim.
And I said, yes, alhamdulillah.
And he said something to me, will that
it gives me chills to this day.
He said, I wish the Muslims never left
Spain.
SubhanAllah.
He said it to me in Spanish,
and I was shocked
to have this conversation. Sometimes Allah
will bring people in your life,
as a means to strengthen you.
No one knows
Nobody knows really who the supporters of Allah
are. How people can come into your life
and strengthen you in moments that you might
need to be strengthened.
And so he said to me, like, I
wish that Muslims never left Spain.
And I said, subhanAllah, like, that's that's such
a powerful statement, like, why? And he said,
because
Islam, when it was in Andalusia,
it brought people together,
and it brought out the best in human
beings regardless of their race,
their language,
or their religion. He said this to me,
he was an Uber driver
in in Quran Alba, Quran Alta. And it
was like the first, like I just gotten
there.
The reason I say that is our history
is an incredibly beautiful history. And if we
we know that empire
and power
tends to write the stories.
Right? I remember being very young and trying
to find
information about Al Hajimatic Shabaz,
Rahim Ohola.
And initially,
as a 13 year old, 14 year old,
I was told he was a radical. I
I was told, you know, really, really bad
things about him. Even in my institution, my
high school, I did a book report on
Malcolm X my freshman year
in high school. And I remember the teacher
telling me, like,
this person is in you know, he's
he's not normal. He's he's unnerved. You know,
he died a very violent death and this
and this. And, actually, that,
you know, sort of
stoked the rebellion of being young. So that
made me even research him more. That's one
of the the things that led me to
Islam.
And I found out that Al Hajj Malik
Shabaz was brilliant, articulate,
caring,
disciplined,
but SubhanAllah, he was he was certainly about
the liberation of black people unapologetically.
I didn't see anything wrong with that personally.
So just
to set that sort of pace right, for
what I wanna talk with you about briefly,
and I'm super jet lagged, so forgive me,
if I'm a little bit, not as energetic
maybe as I usually am, Alhamdulillah. But I
just felt like this moment demanded,
some information from our history so that we
can
equip ourselves. Because
if empire is telling a story, then it's
his story.
And when empire is falling, it tends to
lie more about history, and it tends to
demonize
and dehumanize
those who it sees are in its way.
And one of the challenges that we have
in our
place in the world
is that we are the last vestiges.
We are the last vestiges of prophetic light
on the face of this earth.
We are a prophetic community, and that's one
of the reasons that that Zionists hate us.
Because we don't only speak to Zionists and
remind them about their abuse of power,
their genocidal behavior,
their mass murdering people, as well as the
American government doing the same
and supporting that.
We also are prophetic reminders of those communities
that they have strayed away from the true
message of their prophets.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that they are
envious of Nas. We are called Nas in
the Quran over and over again as Muslims.
Nas. He didn't say,
That they are jealous of the of the
Muslims.
They are jealous of and here, Alif Lam
means people who embody true humanity.
And Imam al Razi,
he says something very powerful that oftentimes
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala refers to the Muslims
as the humans
instead of Muslims
because it was through the teachings of Prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and through the instructions found in the Quran
and through the legacy of our noble ancestors,
that we are the embodiment
of true humanity. SubhanAllah, it's something beautiful in
the Quran.
What so Allah says,
like they are envious of the people, meaning
the Muslimen,
because Allah has given them from his blessing.
What has he given us? He's given us
the teachings
of the final messenger sent to humanity. And
by default, now we are the extension
of a prophetic reminder
that unapologetically
not only reminds people of their injustice,
their political corruption,
their their financial duplicity
in destroying the earth,
but we also remind them that they are
headed potentially to *
in the hereafter, if they continue continue
to rebel and turn away from the teachings
of the prophets. We are that.
And that is a lot of
that's a lot of accountability.
You know, that's why the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, he said in Sahih Muslim and to
mushoo hada allahi
fil
ard. You Muslims are the witnesses of Allah
on the earth.
We are a reminder of Allah.
We are a reminder of people's true fitrah,
their true duty
to be better.
And so that puts us in a place
that's prophetic
in the sense that we are now vicariously
extensions of
prophetic guidance and people will not like that.
They People killed the prophets. They opposed the
prophets. They slayed the prophets. They put their
fingers in their ears
Like when you're reading the prophets being rejected
in the Quran, look at how we're being
rejected today
and locate
this moment as not only a a rejection
of basic human value
and political
responsibility,
but it is a rejection
of the last vestiges
of prophetic light on the face of the
earth, which is the Muslim community.
So there was an attack on a church,
in a synagogue just,
you know, recently
and a few around 76 days ago here
in America, there was a young man arrested
who was accused of teaming up with ISIS,
wanting to blow up churches in America. And
we know that this will be used and
it will be promoted
by Empire who controls the media
to tell a story
about who we are. It becomes
his story. And how do we undermine
attempts at empire and attempts at disbelief?
To undermine
our truth is to learn our truth. Like,
one of the reasons that we should learn
is not only to be devote
devout worshipers to Allah,
but also that we own our narrative.
Nobody can tell us who we are.
Nobody can tell us who we are because
we know who we are.
And so I thought it was important to
share with you
some historical information which is factual, which is
collected by Muslim historians,
of of earlier times
about
how the Salaf
interacted with other religious communities in particular,
the context here at churches,
but also
to give you this information that you can
become a conduit of the true story,
the true narrative.
I think also it's important to understand that
if this was ISIS,
if this was the pseudo heretical Jihadist groups,
It's interesting to see
how they are constantly trying to destabilize relationships
with people who are sort of
aligned with our struggles.
It's interesting that they're not involved in defending
Palestine. They're not involved in defending the the
Wheeler community in China. They're not involved in
alleviating the challenges in Sudan or Congo,
but they go and attack people
if it is them
who actually are somewhat our allies.
And
I had an with Isis. Some of you
may not be aware of this around 12
years ago,
there was,
the day after
our brother, Alhamdulillah,
Muhammad Ali Alhamu
after he after he died.
I was traveling
and I received a unrestricted
or unknown call on my phone and it
kept coming like it was so early in
the morning. I was in Seattle
and I picked up the phone. It was
the FBI, which is very strange. It wasn't
the early 2000s. Those of us who were
being, you know, myself and others pulled off
planes
and going through,
incredible state intervention here in America when it
came to Islam and Muslims.
And they said we need to talk to
you because ISIS has now put a bounty
on your head.
A $100,000
bounty on my head and on doctor Yasser
Badi, my friend, my brother. May Allah protect
him, Hamdulillah.
And I found that very strange, like of
all the people that ISIS would want to
kill
or to harm, I could just use the
$100,000.
Like, if they could just give me the
$100,000
to build my school, like, that would have
been great, but they actually put a threat
on my life.
And that was my interaction with ISIS.
And when I asked,
the FBI came to my home where I
lived at that time, they examined my windows.
They they were concerned that someone was going
to try to snipe me through my window.
None of you know these things. This also
happened with the far right in America at
even a more
aggressive level after Fox News attacked me, with
Megyn Kelly. And that's why I worry when
I see now Muslims suddenly wanting to jump
on board with neo conservatives. Don't forget that
neo conservatives
tried to kill some of the people in
your community and threaten them. And also don't
forget that neoconservatives
are are, especially with young Muslim men, are
causing them to focus on what
gives those neoconservatives
a way out.
And that way out is that we don't
hold them accountable
for their military exercises in the Muslim world.
Their
continued
marriage with
evangelical Zionism
and Christian Zionism.
What they've done to the Muslim world through
Dick Cheney, through Paul Wolfowitz, through Bush 1,
Bush 2, and now suddenly we're gonna forget
all that because they make us feel like
men.
That in itself
is another conversation that we hope to have
in the future.
How the red pill movement
has
pushed
in a way some Muslims to be blinded
by ideas of Kafir masculinity
instead of being prophetic in the masculinity,
and who are too young to remember
what those people did to our community. Those
people need to repent before we can work
with them. Not to give the neoliberals,
a pass. They are also warmongers and crazy
and absolutely insane,
but we are a prophetic community that rest
between the extremes of both.
So I wanted to share with you, Alhamdulillah,
last time history, and and let me add
to the red pill Muslim issue,
that one of the things that it has
successfully done,
it it has militarized
the Muslim woman
in the eyes of some Muslim men,
and it has made them enemies
of Muslim masculinity.
But if those young men were to go
and study the statements of Sayid Muhammad Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, the statements in the books of
filk because filk means to understand.
Right? To understand what? How understand how to
stay prophetic
in a world
which is contradictory and falling apart. So filk
is the fem of how to be an
avid in the state of tremendous
existential pressure
and to turn your angst
to people
here, Muslim women who have been the consummate
object of colonialism,
of imperialism,
of military engagement.
The destruction of Palestine is a destruction of
of men for sure, and mothers and children.
But to now create within the Muslim community,
a group of young men who are constantly
frustrated, angry at Muslim women now has made
them inadvertently
team anti Islam. They are misdirecting
their anger
at Muslim sisters, where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says,
Muslim men and women should be supporters of
one another. We advise one another, we hold
each other accountable, but we don't militarize one.
We don't weaponize the place of women in
our lives
just because of our own insecurities. So before
I get and I apologize for going on
this rant, but this is something that needs
to be unpacked
That
Muslim women are allies and Muslim women had
to be careful with feminism,
which makes the Muslim man an enemy and
locates the Muslim man as a consummate enemy.
And now you can see how neoliberalism
and neoconservativism
are playing Muslims against each other. As Malcolm
warned us,
the wolf
and the fox.
What we have to do is recenter ourselves
as a prophetic community. They'll hold each other
accountable when we're wrong,
but remembers that at the end of the
day
at the end of the day, we are
each other's allies. If we are truly believers,
We will not weaponize one another. Extreme feminism
and and extreme neoconservatism
have taken some Muslims and made them enemies
of each other based on the gender assumptions
of the broader disbelievers society,
not on the teachings of Al Islam.
Packed into that now is history. And
what I wanted to share with you is
how the set of the early Muslims who
are our example,
who are our exemplaries,
who we should follow, and the salaf
is not this restrictive
understanding that's being packaged and pushed on Muslims.
The salaf
are people
who understood the Deen and lived the Deen.
And it's from them that we find our
vitality
and our resurgence and our strength.
So in the face of this attack that
happened, and I mentioned earlier, it's interesting how
if it was these jihadist groups,
they are always being used to attack Muslims
or to attack the allies of Muslims, but
they're nowhere to be found.
Nowhere to be found on the issues of
Sudan, the Congo, the we have our community,
and and now of course, we all are
very aware of what's going on in Palestine,
needed
strategically.
So Alhamdulillah,
I collected some some things together as I
was flying back from Andalus as I saw
what was going on and I wanted to
share them with you just so that you
can equip yourself and I hope that this
information is beneficial. I ask also that you
share this information. As I mentioned earlier, I
met with a meta employee,
and we noticed this in 2016,
2017
where lives went from 20,000, 10000 people to
20 people to 30 people in, like, 4
or 5 days.
And I was told by this meta employee
that I am shadow banned. Alhamdulillah, that's an
honor. It's nothing compared to what people, our
brothers and sisters
are suffering with overseas. They're not worried about
being a shadow banned. They're trying to find
a shadow to protect themselves from the heat.
So Alhamdulillah, that for me is an honor.
So I wanted to share some information with
you about how the early Muslims particularly in
Egypt, who I lived,
for 7 years,
engaged,
other religious communities. We know the Quran
specifically
grants people the right to believe in whatever
they want to believe in. Allah says,
Whoever wants to believe, let them believe. Whoever
wants to disbelieve, let them disbelieve.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, la ikura hafideen,
there's no compulsion in religion. You're not allowed
to force somebody into religion. And even Suratul
Kahfirun,
even though the message is harsh,
and it is a prophetic reminder to those
people to to turn to Allah and Tawhid,
la aburuma ta aburun.
I'm not gonna worship what you worship.
And you, you're not gonna worship what I
worship. That's what it is. That's just how
it is.
And we find in our books of theology,
the predominant opinion is that no one can
be forced to become Muslim, but people become
Muslim. The first obligation
is the to think
freely. That's why we have a great axiom,
alhuriyyaqabarash
Sharia
that freedom comes before Sharia.
That freedom is before Tawhid. The mind has
to accept,
and the heart has to digest, and the
limbs have to submit
and then someone Alhamdulillah is Muslim Alhamdulillah.
I mean, that's why even Asher,
in his famous text in Firkhe says, you
know,
from Andalus to great scholar. He says in
his famous famous poem that the first obligation
is to think, to think about Allah, to
think about the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi
wasalam
and Sheikhar Marzooki Al Mariki Al Azharhi says
waalam
You have to know first and foremost that
the first obligation is to think to know.
Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That's why Allah says, inshallah
to Muhammad, Faram An Nahu La ilaha illallah.
You must know.
You must learn that there's nothing
worthy of worship except Allah.
So this information, I encourage you to even
write it down if you can. I'm recording
it. I'll post it on my YouTube page
as well, which I'm recording it as well,
and
also here on Instagram.
About
this question that I phrased it as a
question so I'll answer it in that way.
I'm looking at my notes here and that
is, you know, that I did live in
Egypt and people have I've actually had family
members ask me this question. Is it true
that Islam oppressed Christians there and destroyed their
churches?
And we can compare the Sadaaf
to people who claim to be religiously adherent.
We can can compare the early actions of
the first Muslims
to those people who claim to adhere to
the ideology that they've crafted for themselves. I'm
not talking about Sadafis.
I'm talking about Jihadis
and others
who
have turned their understanding of what the Sadaq
mean into a myopic
sort of a narrative of death, blood, and
destruction.
So is it true that Islam oppressed Christians
there in Egypt and destroyed their churches? So
my answer is that that is incorrect.
And historians note that the most that most
this is very important
that most of the ancient churches in Cairo,
and I saw them when I was there
in Cairo,
and the synagogues
were built during the time of the Sahaba.
SubhanAllah.
So just just like let that sit in
and compare it to now the ethnic cleansing
of what's going on in Gaza,
And how there will be people that will
use
the actions of these lunatic
Hadeji type people
to justify, which they shouldn't do,
the pain and suffering that they are enacting
on Muslims in Palestine, but even Christians in
Palestine. We see Christian ministers in Palestine continue
to preach and tell people, listen, we're being
decimated. Our churches are being destroyed. 1 of
the oldest churches,
in the world was was destroyed,
by the genocidal maniacs.
But it's important for you to remember what
I'm saying now.
That and you can use this as a
sound bite.
That most of the ancient churches in Cairo
were built
during the era
of the companions
of the Messenger of Allah,
sallallahu
alaihi wasalam,
such as the church of Saint Mark in
Alexandria,
which was built between the years 39 after
Hijri to 65 after Hijri.
This is who we
are. This is who we are. We call
people to the hack,
and we are passionate about the truth,
but we do not violate
the the human core of other people if
we are truly prophetic
in our dawah,
in our call. And this is the way
most Alhamdulillah, Muslims are. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.
We are the embodiment of prophetic
character.
So most of the resurgence
because it's important to remember that when Muslims
came into, to Egypt and to muscle to
Fostat and other places,
the Egyptians wanted them to come, especially the
Akhbate, the Coptic people because they were being
so oppressed
by the people that had occupied them until
that time. So they actually
joined Muslims
as is the same thing that happened in
Andalus, they joined with Muslims.
The inquisition that happened in Spain doesn't end
until the end of 18th century. People think
that it happened in one day in 14/92,
and that was it. No. Because
the society of Andalus
did not want Muslims to leave.
It's very important to note this. So
the the majority of what are now known
as ancient churches
in in Al Qahira
were built in Cairo
during the era of the Sahaba ruling
Egypt.
That's enough. Like like, that's all we should
have to say.
The Sahaba are our light. The Sahaba are
example.
The Sahaba are the people who were nearest
to Sayna Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Ibn Hazm says that one second
of a Sahabi's life
with the messenger of Allah is better than
our entire life.
SubhanAllah,
one second
to be with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. That's why Sayid Nabila
Radiallahu Anhu when he was dying, he said,
Tomorrow tomorrow I will see the prophet. I
will see the companions.
Sallallahu alaihi wa sama radiAllahu anhu.
So
this is a historic fact. I'm gonna repeat
it again
that most of the ancient churches in Cairo
were built during the era of the companions,
especially when they were ruling
in Cairo.
Such, and I'm giving you one example, you
can look it up, the Church of Saint
Mark in Alexandria
between the years 39 after Hijri
and 65 after Hijri.
During the governorship
of Muslim,
even Muhalid
over Egypt which happened again like around 47
to 68 after Hijri,
hijri, the first church was built in full
spot, which is the old area of Cairo
where there are still a huge number of
Christians living
by Jamil Al Amr
Jamil Al Amrul, the Jamil Al Amrul Nu'as.
Still there.
The first church was built under Muslim, even
Muhalit,
in the Herat Arum.
Additionally,
Abdul Aziz bin Marwan, when he established the
city of Hilwan,
allowed the construction of a church there and
permitted some bishops to build 2 monasteries.
This is the era of the Salaf. I'm
not a fan of these leaders that I'm
mentioning. They have their shortcomings, but the era
was the era of the Salaf.
The renowned historian
Al Al Maqrizi,
he mentions in his book and I can
give you the citation
Anawah is wa ittivar azikr
bihitatwal
athar volume 4 page 374
from the dark quote, but Al Aniya print.
He gives numerous examples of the churches of
of Christians.
Then he says something. He says, all of
these churches
that he lists
were newly built during the Islamic
era without
any dispute.
And he's talking about the time of the
sunnah.
There were some churches that were destroyed by
some overzealous people that's known,
and they were rebuilt
by the Muslim
political power, you know, at that time,
they were commanded to be rebuilt.
SubhanAllah, you compare that to Al Andalus where
they destroyed after they made a treaty with
the people of Granata, they came, they destroyed
everything, they destroyed
the Masjid, then they built the church on
the Masjid next to Meghan Rambala. And they
actually made the Muslims who stayed pay for
the church to be rebuilt.
Compare
us to others.
What does the song
say? They're not like us.
They're not like us. SubhanAllah
they're not like us.
We are prophetic.
He told me, like, the Muslim is different
than other than other people. We don't have
to be like them.
We don't want to be like them. We
want to be prophetic.
Abu'am al Kindi in his book, alwulat al
Qudat,
again printed by Darukutba Al Miya,
page number 100. He says, when Musa ibn
Isa was appointed
as the governor of Egypt by Amirul Munin
Harun Rashid. So this is in the Abbasi
period. The Amuis fall around 132.
So it's still this is very early on
when the Abbasis take over.
Harun Rashid, he permitted the Christians to build
the churches that Adi ibn Soleiman
had destroyed.
All these churches were rebuilt with the consultation
of 2 very important people.
Alayth.
Well, Alayth is one of the Mushtaheed Imams.
Alayth is one of we have 4 MedHabs
now that survived.
But Sayna Imam Alayth radiAllahu anhu. He was
at that time considered,
ibn Saadi was considered
like Malik is to us Abu Hanifa, Imam
Ahmed Saeedi, Imam Shafi'i,
Al Tabari,
you name it. Imam Zaid, Imam Ja'far, Asadiq.
He was seen in that way. So this
construction of churches in Egypt not only happened
because of political power,
but it was through the cons consultation
of the ulama.
And Abdullah ibn,
Laha'iyah,
who also
also forgive me. I'm so tired from jet
lag, was consulted about this and these ulama,
they they did not have a problem with
this.
In fact, the quote of one of them
is that this is part of our the
natural development of the country. Why? Because the
country has different citizens.
There are different citizens in the country. And
that's why when you go
to Palestine,
the the how they have tried to portray
the Palestinians
in in dehumanize them as as they've done
wherever they've gone to justify.
They project their inhumanity on others, so then
they can treat them in ways which are
not human.
But if you go to Palestine,
up until recently,
it wasn't the Muslims that destroyed the churches.
It was the Zionists and the Secularists
who destroyed the churches.
SubhanAllah. It wasn't Muslims who closed the synagogues
and churches in Tunis.
It was the secular government of Tunis that
did this. It's very important to note this
historically.
So Abu Amr
al al Kindi and his book, page number
100, he says when Musa, ibn Isa was
appointed as the governor of Egypt
by Harun Rashid,
he permitted the Christians to rebuild and build
their churches.
That rebuild the churches that Adi ibn Soleiman
had destroyed and to build new churches.
With the consultation
of Alayth ibn Saad, who was a Mujtahir
imam, Rahim Ohola,
and others, who said this is part of
the natural development
of our country, of our people. And they
argued that most of the churches in Egypt
were built during,
Kendi. He says, most of the churches in
Egypt were built during the time
of the early Islamic era,
in the time specifically
of the Sahaba
and their students.
So Alhamdulillah, I hope that this information will
serve you. As I said earlier, it's very
important to learn
And it's interesting
why is Instagram,
TikTok, and Facebook promoting certain people and shadow
banning shadow banning
other people,
keeping out information, keeping out mediating information, responsible
information
because they understand
the game that if you promote
lunatics,
then unfortunately,
other lunatics will justify treating people like lunatics.
So just to recap, Alhamdulillah,
it's nice to see everyone. Shalom. I'm gonna
try to do lives more often Alhamdulillah.
That this idea that, you know, destroying churches,
synagogues, destroying people's houses of worship,
you know, in synagogue or my teachers from
the president is Christian.
They have no problem with that. And and
they continue to to choose
over time. In Lebanon, you see the negotiate
even after a a a devastating
civil war.
Right? You you have even some some great,
poets
who are not Muslim,
who composed poetry about the prophet praising
the messenger of Allah.
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. That harmony is an enemy
to the world.
That humanity is an enemy to power.
Our collective
unity
and to be able to function
as
agents of prophecy that hold people accountable
is a threat to the agents of of
catastrophe.
But first,
the question was it specifically I'm talking about
Egypt where I lived for a number of
years and studied Alhamdulillah in high school, my
my my university days
were were the churches destroyed. And I mentioned
that that's incorrect. Doesn't agree with the historical
record that most of the churches actually were
built according to Maqrizi and others
during the time of the Sahaba
and under the time of the Abbasi Empire.
So I hope Alhamdulillah that this will serve
you all well this information.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to allow
us to stay firm on the truth,
to call to Tawhid
and to be
in alignment with prophetic
morality.