Palestine Is Our Badr

It's not appropriate to get up on the mimbar. And to talk about politics too much. Because politics are complicated.

Especially in our day and age, we live in a time where there are situations that the Prophet alayhi salatu salam never experienced. And the companions were the one Allahu Allah him, never experienced. What is it like to be a minority in a country? That yes allows you to practice your faith, but also does things or supports things that undermines your values at the same time? A lot of these issues, there's not a clear right and wrong answer. We can talk about strategy. We can talk about policy, but there's room for disagreement.

Sometimes, however, there are issues and situations in our lifetime,

in which the prophetic way of dealing with them is very clear, where the issues are fairly black and white, and where the issue is truly one of truth against falsehood.

And one of those such issues is the struggle for Palestine.

This past week, as most of you have probably seen, videos, and images being spread around social media. The Israeli military forces have escalated once again, there terrorism against our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Masjid Al Aqsa, disrupting prayers, in the middle of it going on evacuating worshippers from the holy Masjid

beating up people in front of their children and arresting people without cause. We're used to it at this point. This has become a yearly ritual, the escalation always during Ramadan, the unfair media coverage, the double standards.

And the fact that it's an Ramadan has specifically specifically significant to us and to our brothers and sisters over there. Because we're in a weakened state, we're in a state of fasting, we're in a holy month.

Something else happened in this holy month of Ramadan, over 1400 years ago. And that was the Battle of better that the Prophet alayhi salatu salam took part in

most of you are very, very well aware of the history.

The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was from Mecca, and sent as a prophet commission as a prophet in Mecca.

So he attempted to bring his people in Mecca to the truth, however, they refused.

They wouldn't even stop short at simply refusing, they decided to persecute, they decided to try to wipe out the Muslims however they could to intimidate them. And eventually, after 13 years of various tactics, they drove them from their homes and forced them to leave.

The Muslims they had to flee. And they went to what was at that time, a completely different land, the city of Medina, and they made it their home. They had political power there, they were able to organize, they were able to build society in the way that they saw fit according to Islamic values. But Meco was still their homeland.

They had left their houses behind, they had left behind everything that they had owned.

And so they understood that they had a right to return. Some day, they had a right to reclaim what was theirs. And they have the right to demand the freedom to be able to practice their faith and preach their faith in their homeland.

And that's why the story, the story of Islam did not end with the immigration or the migration to Medina. It wasn't run away and live happily ever after no justice had to be served.

And Justice had not been done. So ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada gave the Muslims permission to resist. He gave them permission to resist against the Mexicans and indeed the Mexicans were not leaving the Muslims alone.

They were pursuing them and provoking them and appropriating their wealth and selling off their wealth.

And so Allah subhanaw taala commanded the Muslims to resist, if you pay attention to the verses that ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala revealed about this issue. They're very clear. They explain when it is justified to resist and when it's not. Allah subhanaw taala says all in a little Athena, you PATA Luna Vienna home lowly mu are in Allah Allah nursery him la casa de if permission to resist has been given to those who are being fought.

Those who are being killed. Why? Because they were wronged because they were oppressed. And indeed Allah subhanaw taala is able to give them victory. How are they wronged? There's a lot of types of wrong in the world. Many people in North America claim that they're oppressed, they claim that they're wronged. What does it look like? Specifically Allah subhanaw taala tells us in the next verse Alladhina awkward you mean the Hemby Rehak Illa Kulu are a boon Allah, while Lola for Allah hiddenness about the homie Bab la hood the mat, so I'm here will be was Saul was Salah tuna or massage to use Cairo fie has Mala he cathedra

ALLAH says who are the people who are oppressed, they are those who have been expelled from their homelands for no reason other than saying our Lord is Allah.

And then Allah makes a very interesting remark. He says, Had Allah not repelled the aggression of some people by means of other people, then destruction would have claimed he doesn't say masjid, at first. He says the monasteries, the Christian monasteries, and the churches and the synagogues and then he mentions the messages the mosques in which a law's name is often mentioned and Allah subhanaw taala then says that he will certainly help those who stand up for him. And Allah subhana wa Tada is all powerful and almighty. Here Allah subhana wa Tada not only commands the Muslims to begin to resist, he gives them the justifications, the Right Reasons to resist oppression, expulsion

from your homelands, and being persecuted on account of your faith. And then he gives us a general principle that we can apply to every situation. If Allah subhanaw taala did not permit some people to resist against other people, the tyranny would be so great, and so severe that it would engulf all religion. It would engulf mosques, synagogues, churches and monasteries, all of them would be gone.

This is what Martin Luther King Jr. said, or this is what he meant, rather, when he said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The first generation of Muslims they understood this well, which is why in the second year, after the migration to Medina, they encountered the enemy. They marched out in physical resistance, and they fought on the 17th of Ramadan while they were fasting.

And this army was the sorriest army that you would have ever seen 300 some odd people, a mere two horses among them, they would take turns writing animals, very poorly equipped, they were hungry and malnourished. The army that they faced up against was three times their size, state of the art equipment. On paper, it was a foregone conclusion. The Metcons should have won. But we know what happened and Allah made this the turning point in Islamic history.

Did the Muslim surrender? Did they compromise? Did they asked for a peace accord? Or for a peace process? No, they resisted.

Resistance is a divine rights that Allah subhanaw taala gives. Every honest person knows this. It's in movies, it's in music. It's in pop culture, in books in America, especially we love freedom. We're against the oppressor. We're the underdog.

And that's why Islam as a religion and as a faith resonates with a lot of American people, because it doesn't just ask you to turn the other cheek. It doesn't just ask you to surrender and give up. It doesn't promote accepting tyranny, or accepting oppression.

So why would it be different for Palestine?

The facts are undisputable, the Palestinians they live in literal apartheid. Their land was taken from them by force.

They live in dehumanizing conditions that are worse than an open air prison.

They constantly are in fear that bombs are going to be dropped on top of them and they have no cause for redress. They're persecuted because of their religion. They're devastated economically.

They're subjected to endless terrorization period.

otic massacres it's a policy

some of the Israeli politicians you know how they talk about killing Palestinians they call it mowing the grass

access to Mesquita lotsa is already denied to most Muslims and Palestinians in the area. And every time they escalate the aggression, it starts with OXA. It starts with this holy sites that they know is holy to us.

Sometimes they organize demonstrations on the streets, talking about the Israelis, and they don't just chant death to Arabs. Sometimes they can be heard chanting Mohamed is that

Israel won't not even stop terrorizing simply people that live inside of Palestine, they have begun to inspire others, and aid others, other governments that want to harm Muslims, such as the government in India and beyond. Oh, this is public information. This is no conspiracy theory. You can go look it up. We have no excuse to be ignorance.

And we brothers and sisters are blessed. Because we live in a country that is the biggest supporter and cover of this particular type of terrorism.

That's actually a blessing. It's an opportunity.

The states that we live in New York States, is represented by two senators who get a pluses every year from the Zionist lobby who consistently write blank checks for the Israeli government, your taxes, my taxes, to send weapons and bullets abroad to kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine. They would like you to think that this is an Arab issue. It's not an Arab issue.

They would like you to think that this is just the Palestinian issue. It's not just the Palestinian issue.

They want you to think that this is an issue of Muslims against Jews. And that's not true either. No, no, no.

There are Jews who support us.

And there are Muslims who have betrayed us.

This is an issue of truth against falsehood. Palestine is Holy Land. Allah subhanaw taala declares the land surrounding upset to be blessed in at least six verses of the Koran.

The Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam singled out those who struggled to defend his Masjid Al Aqsa as the last people on Earth, who will continue to stand for the truth, even when others falter and quit. Yes, he actually said that. It's a prophecy he said sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. latters Allah if atonement Almighty Allah Danelaw harina Lee I do we him are here in La Jolla. Dora Holman Hala home, Ilana Asaba. Holman la we're in hard times to home Amarula while home cadaveric oh yeah rasool Allah. Wa Aina home, call us on the law while he was sat on the bay to knock this or act Nathie Bates will knock this. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there will not

cease to be a group of people from my nation, supporting the religion victorious over their enemies. Those who betrayed them will not hurt them. Until the day of judgment comes and they're still persisting.

Those around him the Prophet, he said son, we're talking about the people the Companions around I met when he said that, they asked him how rasool Allah O Messenger of Allah, where are these people? And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Jerusalem and around Jerusalem.

This is no different than if Medina or Mapco were to be colonized. Imagine. Can you imagine if a foreign power came and took over the Hitomi and a shoddy faith and prevented us from visiting the grave of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam or prevented us from visiting Masjid Al haram and completing our Hajj or completing our pilgrimage. Palestine is no different.

Brothers and sisters Palestine is like our better.

It's like our better in the fact that we're outnumbered.

Everyone's against us. Even the Muslim leaders are against us. Some of them normalize relations with Israel so that they can attract investment and tourism. And they call this a peace strategy. They call it a peace strategy. And that is a lie. Because there can be no peace without justice. There can be no peace without justice. If you want real peace. Anybody wants real peace that Muslims are the first one

Peace hamdulillah Allah says in the Quran, even when he's telling us that we have the right to defend ourselves and the right to resist oppression. He says if they lean doesn't even say if they ask if they lean towards peace, then accept it. Stop resisting stop the fighting accept it.

But what about when peace is just a ploy? What about when peace is just a trick?

No no no there is no peace for the person who has a bleeding wound.

And Palestine is our collective bleeding wound. Apollo holy ha That was stuck through LA HollyWell accomodates early Muslim equally Lamba iStockphoto in overfall rocking

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resistance is a divine rights given to us by Allah subhanaw taala. But, but we take the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as our teacher. We take our example from him and we do not oppress anybody. We don't let ourselves get carried away. Allah subhanaw taala says in Surah Telemon tahina, a translation of which is Allah subhanaw taala does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with anyone who has not fought you on account of your faith, or driven you out of your homelands. Allah subhanaw taala loves those who are just Allah subhanaw taala only forbids you to take as allies, those who fight against you for your faith or drive you out of your homes and helped others

to drive you out. Any of you who take any of them as allies that are truly wrongdoers, the prophet Isaiah He stood out to us is our teacher. And he showed us that there are many types of resistance. And there are many ways to resist, including economic ways to resist that are more appropriate to our situation here in the Mohawk Valley. Many people don't know about the events that led up to the Battle of better they didn't just fight the battle of weather out of nowhere. There were raids that were conducted before the Battle of Beto, four of them actually before the battle even took place.

The goal of these raids was to target the Mexican trade caravans the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was trying to put pressure on the Mexicans economically. Mexico was a commercial center it relied on tourism, it relied on trade for its prosperity. By threatening these trade routes. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was trying to force them to take his demands seriously. He was trying to force them to right the wrongs that they had committed, and to stop harassing the Muslims. Only after that, did they fight the battle of better which they miraculously won by the help of Allah subhanaw taala. Then after that, one year later, they fought the battle of Oh hood, which was

not a clear victory. And then after that, a couple of years later, they had to outlasted a siege, a siege from an enormous army that marched on to Medina, but they held on and they frustrated their enemies, they broke the will to fight from the Meccans.

The very next year after that happened, the Prophet alayhi salatu salam had a dream.

He had a dream that he was going to make pilgrimage to Mecca.

Now this is impossible. Mecca is under occupation. He's number one most wanted Public Enemy, how is he going to go to Mecca and perform his Umrah. He trusted ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. And he gathered his followers with him. And they left without full armor or full supplies or anything they left in their white garments. And they went to Mecca.

If we're to look at the type of resistance that this was, this is very similar to civil disobedience, because he didn't come to fight sallallahu alayhi wasallam

he came to put the Mexicans in an awkward situation, the Mexicans now had to choose. They had to make the first move. If the mechanist decided to slaughter the Muslims then in there, it would have destroyed their credibility.

It would have eroded their power and they knew this, which is why they didn't do it.

and they were left scrambling to figure out how to respond.

They decided to prevent the Muslims from making their pilgrimage that year. And at first they refused to negotiate with the Muslims. But eventually they did.

And the treaty that they agreed on was a 10 year peace treaty called the Treaty of Hubei via this negotiation took an incredible amount of discipline from the Muslims. They didn't know what was going to happen. They thought maybe they were going to be massacred right then and there. And so they actually made a pact, they swore to one another, and they swore to Allah, that if it came to that, if the Meccans chose violence than they would fight to the last man, even if they were outnumbered, even if they were surrounded, even if they were outgunned.

All noble struggles require a calculated risk.

And the message of the prophets, diplomacy, I think, is very clear.

tyrants and oppressors, they do not make peace because they want to,

they have to be dragged to the negotiation table,

and forced to keep up their end of the bargain. If they don't, they're going to keep going on killing and oppressing and taking land and taking resources. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was brilliant, and he was guided by Allah subhanaw taala, he twisted their arm

of a more powerful enemy than him

through the fights through the economic pressure,

they finally put forced the enemy in a position to make peace.

We have a way to do something similar for Palestine.

In 2005, many Palestinians started something that's called BDS. They call it the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. This is a movement that seeks to put economic pressure on Israel in order to get them to comply to international law.

They took their inspiration from the anti apartheid struggle in South Africa. This was a racist government very similar to Israel today. Everything separated based off of where you came from based off of your skin color based off of what group you belong to. This movement started in 1959. And it was not successful until 1993 35 years, it took 35 years, if you want to struggle for something that's true, you have to be in it for the long haul. You have to be prepared to struggle and sacrifice.

Now at first, every single Western nation, they oppose this anti apartheid movement in South Africa. But eventually it succeeded. And it changed the global narrative and inspired and inspired people around the world.

This is why Israel is afraid of this movement, the BDS, the boycott movement. In fact, they're so afraid that they actually draft legislation, trying to ban the boycott movement to get it passed here in the United States of America, and elsewhere. Texas, of all places has an anti BDS law, it's actually a criminal offense, to boycott the State of Israel in the state of Texas. They try to harass people, and intimidate people that are involved in the boycott. They accused them of being anti semitic when we have Jews that are with us and on our side. And we have Christians and other people who realize that this is not a movement based on anything but the truth.

But we should expect these bully tactics, we should expect intimidation, we have to be ready.

Because we've reached a time I think everybody can appreciate in our society today. Islam is being attacked on all sides, from all corners, from all ideologies, and the time now is to be brave. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us he said that people will one day call one another to attack you. Just like multiple dinner guests are called to eat from the same plate.

The Companions couldn't believe it. They asked the Prophet alayhi salatu salam Is it because we're few in number. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said no the opposite. The opposite. You're going to be so numerous. You're going to be more numerous than the little bubbles on top of the water in the ocean.

But why is it going to happen to you?

How do we explain your oppression? He says to the Allahu Allahu wa salam Allah will take the fear of you out from the hearts of your enemies, and will throw weakness into your hearts.

They asked him, the Companions asked him so I said, What is this weakness?

weakness will Allah put in our hearts and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, love of this world, and the hatred of dying.

Compromise. That's accompanied by weakness, cowardice, appeasement. This only makes the tyrants grow emboldened, this only aggravates the enemy, it doesn't work.

Only unified, disciplined and persistent action, with fearlessness with courage and trust in Allah subhanaw taala. That's the only thing that's going to work. It's the only thing that's going to bring down the bully to the negotiation table, so that we can achieve a just peace for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. And no matter how outnumbered we are, no matter how powerful the enemy is, we know that Allah subhanaw taala is with us.

Every single one of us, let's not be diluted by this world. Life is more than a paycheck. Life is more than a house in the suburbs. Life is more than a sports car, and having enough pocket money to do what you want. There are people living and dying. The Prophet Sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam said that the believer to one another

is like a wall, bricks and a wall, we all support one another. We all feel for one another just like one body, you can be so much more.

You can be so much more than someone who's successful in the dunya. Especially the young people here. Maybe we have in this room, someone who eventually is going to write a law that's going to help the Muslims or someone who's going to organize a boycott that's going to impact the Muslims in a positive way, or even spread the news on social media or change people's opinions. Maybe the next Allah de is right here in this machine right now. It's possible.

Don't limit your aspiration to the dunya shoot high and ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada will be with us, and those who help Islam will always be victorious.