Yaser Birjas – Remembering Srebrenica, During Genocide In Gaza
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AI: Transcript ©
It actually was, I would say. It was
July 11th.
July 11th has, a special, memory in the
history of the Muslim Ummah
and myself as well too, actually.
And I don't know how many of you
really know when it comes to that date,
what do we usually commemorate on that day,
July 11th? Anyone knows?
The the the the genocide that happened in
Srebrenica in Bosnia
back in 1995.
And subhanAllah, as we commemorate this event
that the Muslim ummah is feel horrible about,
the failure of the global community and the
international community to help the vulnerable and the
weak in a moment
of despair.
As we think that this was the end
of it,
Finally, the world has, you know, woke up
to be there, stand there for justice, and
help the needy, and help the destitute, and
so on.
Unfortunately, we're going we're living right now another
genocide in Gaza in Palestine.
Another genocide that's it's
many, many falls worse.
Unfortunately, that was happened in,
in celebrating tests. Usually actually,
when every, every year July comes by,
I can't escape the memories of, of of
Serebnitsa because, alhamdulillah, I lived there in Bosnia
for 4 years. And I was blessed and
privileged really of serving some of the refugees
from Serebinitsa.
But this year, it's it's hard. It's hard
to think about what happened in Bosnia
without observing what's happening right now
in Gaza.
Like we sometimes we reflect on what happened
in Bosnia and we say, if I was
there, if I lived during that time, if
I was,
strong or or conscious of what's going on,
I would have done more. I would have
done different things. I would have showed my
support.
We always wish if I was, I would
prevent this from happening.
Well, we're already witnessing
another genocide.
We're witnessing another cerebral need, called Gaza this
time. And since then, unfortunately, not so many
people
are actively doing much or more than what
they really can do. Alhamdulillah.
Everybody's doing to their capacity,
probably.
But we can do more.
We can we can put more pressure. There's
something else that we could do. But why
is what's happened to the Ummah? I wanna
talk to you about what happened in Shaykh
B'Nitzel specifically,
and then so we can see why the
Ummah is so weak today.
So for those who don't know the history,
Bosnia used to be part of,
a confederacy of that time called Yugoslavia.
Some of you probably long enough to remember
Yugoslavia as a country.
But when the USSR or the Soviet Union
collapsed,
there was no more,
east camp that supports these
socialist and communist states. So slowly and gradually
start falling apart.
And the Confederacy of Yugoslavia started falling apart
as well too. Starting with Slovenia,
4 months, you know, into the struggle, then
they were they were given independence.
And then the Kerouac, Croatia wanted to also
seek independence, the same thing too. But when
the Muslims, they wanted to leave,
they were prevented from doing that. Why?
Long history.
But to summarize it, the Croatian believe that
this land belongs to them. The Serbs belong
believe that it belongs to them. The Serbs,
they're
Christian Orthodox or Orthodox Christians,
which is from the Eastern church, supported by,
the Eastern church, particularly in Russia, which is
why they got actually so much support from
them. Croatia were Catholics, and they get the
support from Europe
usually.
So everybody was fighting for taking this territory
and not allowing the Muslims to have an
independent state.
Now Bosnia has a a Muslim majority in
terms of population,
but it's divided to different different,
regions.
So there's the the the Muslim territory, there's
Croatian territory, the Serbian territory. Eventually,
during the the the attempt to seek independence,
the Serbs prevented that. The Croatian got into
it as well too, and the Muslims now
are left on their own to defend themselves.
So that war erupted,
in the early 19 nineties
and continued
until
the 1995,
96, you could say. So 95 to be
specific.
So during that time, obviously, it was back
and forth
When,
the Bosnians now became on the offense and
they start gaining more territory,
was one particular region in the central region
of Bosnia near an area called Tuzla.
So that's where the eastern basically territory over
there,
was Srebrenica was.
Srebrenica was
more into closer to the Serbian territory.
And as a result,
it was like an enclave,
in a hostile region.
And many, many people from the area, they
will start escaping there as refugees. Why? Because
it was protected
by UN forces led by
the Dutch, or Holland, actually, the Netherlands. So
there were,
the UN forces protecting this area, and it
was declared by the United Nations
as a safe haven for the refugees.
So thousands of people
went into that area.
And, of course, now since the the Serbian,
forces, they realized they're losing the war in
that time at least, or losing losing a
lot of territories,
They wanted to keep, a bargaining chip. So
kind of like grabbing one area
to negotiate another area, so we can kind
of have a settlement
where they can have so much power in
their hands. SubhanAllah.
And as a result of that, the Serbian
forces
went into Srebrenica
even though there was there was a Netherlands
United Nations,
troops,
for protection
under so much pressure,
they gave up and they gave in and
allowed the serfs to get into that area.
So now you talk about thousands of refugees
in there, men, women, and children. Supposed to
be a safe place.
They separate the men from the women,
and they took any boys and men
or any boys of specific age and men,
they took them aside,
and they separated, of course, the the the
women from them. Unfortunately, they,
they took the boys and the men
supposedly
to take them different camps, but, of course,
they never arrived anywhere else because they were
massacred in the mountains for many days. Systematic,
basically, killing, and there were a lot of,
mass graves,
in the in that area, in that territory.
Now all of this, of course, there was
a a huge failure, let's say, from, the
the global community to to help and support
and strengthen the United Nations forces to keep
that a safe haven and not being,
Yani, broken into.
And some, they said there was a conspiracy,
so that at least they give them the
advantage in order for them to negotiate
what what what eventually became, as we know
today, Bosnia today. So Bosnia
has a specific political system,
that is sanctioned and protected by European,
supervisors or these observers, you could say.
And now, unfortunately,
recently, this agreement
almost came to an expiration date.
And as a result,
the the service trying to withdraw out of
that agreement.
So basically, bringing the area back again to
a volatile situation.
And Allah knows what could happen in the
future.
But the fact is that
people were watching or the whole world was
watching these brothers and sisters being massacred
in cold blood for days and no one
came to the rescue,
it reminds us of what's happened there in
Gaza.
Thousands of people have been pushed from the
north
into the the central area of Gaza and
then the south, and even the south is
not safe anymore.
So they're always always in a state of
movement
as refugees,
going north, then going south and south, going
north,
escaping death in every way possible.
And I guess you guys all have seen
the news, and you've seen also the reports
that's coming out that the the directive that
the soldiers
and IDF they're getting from their military is
to do what?
An open game.
Shooting just for pleasure. There is no objective
just to kill a civilian, kill innocent people.
So literally,
they gave them free rein
to to kill as they wish, and there
is no objective but to exterminate,
and it's clearly a definition of genocide.
They would like to call it, ethnic cleansing,
but it's not cleansing in in this situation.
This is genocide.
That's what really happened in Gaza and unfortunately
happened before, but because of the weakness of
the where is this weakness coming from? See,
it's not secret because in harissa oban, the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he told us and
he predicted
what would happen in the future of the
ummah when the ummah becomes too much attached
to the dunya.
So the time is coming
near,
very close
when the whole nations, all the world
will be gathering
will be gathering around you, like taking pieces
from you,
just like the people when they gather on
their food plate.
So when they come around their dish and
they start eating from the side
until they kinda empty everything. So, like, ever
taking a piece from you.
And the sahabit of the prophet
is that gonna be because we're not gonna
be that many? Like, they are more than
us? He goes, no. No.
No.
You're gonna be many.
But you shall be your value will be
just like the foam on the surface of
the water.
Like, there is no value for you. It's
still the scum on the surface of the
water.
Why? He says
And Allah will remove the fear of you,
the respect for you from the hearts of
your enemies. And
and throw Alwahin into your
heart. What what is that?
The love for this world
and the the,
hating to die or leaving this world.
And the, they looked into this in many
different ways, and many of them says that,
look, this is all because
when we start favoring this dunya and living
for this dunya and building for this dunya,
you have so much to lose.
So no one likes to leave this place.
I mean, when you build it and you
keep building it so high and building it
so fancy and building it so sophisticated,
no one likes to depart from what they
really own of this matter of this dunya.
But if you just stay
reasonable
in this dunya and nothing really to lose
if you leave this world, and the only
thing that you lose is the the the
Ibadah and the word for Allah subhanahu wa'anahu
and the pleasure of Allah
So that's different.
It's easy to sacrifice
and, subhanAllah,
look at the difference between the Muslim world,
especially in rich countries, masha'Allah,
and our brothers and sisters in Gaza.
What do they have any? What is left
for them?
And you're still
seeing them bravely stand in front of cameras
and saying we have Allah, azza wa Jal,
with us.
Nagiallaha,
are you pleased?
Take from us as you wish.
I mean,
they lost everything literally, But that's the thing.
They had a very humble life to begin
with. Many of them at least, I would
say.
But many of us, oh, alhamdulillah, Allah bless
them with so much. But we start kind
of, like, losing our Yani sense of, direction.
Instead of focusing on the akhirah and using
all the blessings of the zunyah to please
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's when alwahann falls into our heart. We
start loving what we have,
and we hate to lose it. And as
a result, we hate to to put the
right sacrifice and and stand for justice, and
because we're gonna lose our business, we're gonna
lose our name, we're gonna be exposed, you
know, on on on social media.
There's so much at stake for many, many
people,
and therefore, they're afraid to lose their contract.
They lose their sponsorship, losing this, losing that.
So they just keep quiet, and they never
stand for justice.
It's because of this situation like this that
we see things like like Srebrenica happens and
Gaza and Allah knows what else could happen
in the future.
And it's a it's a a reminder for
you and I
that it's a wake up call really that,
you know, we need to make sure that
this dunya is not in our heart.
It's in our hand. And if we do
that, you will always be in control of
it. And, will Allah, you feel nobody but
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You stand for justice.
You say, was that which is true? And
you go out and you be vocal about
it. And if it needs, you reach out
to those who are responsible, and you hold
them accountable for it. You will do everything
in your power to bring justice to the
weak and the vulnerable and those who deserve
to be to stand for.
But our attachment to the dunya makes us
hesitant.
I I don't wanna lose this. I'll lose
my family, my kids, this and that. So
make sure to remove this dunya from your
heart and put it in your hand and
put your trust in Allah
because there is so much that needs to
be done to stop this genocide.
And the clock is ticking,
And and and as of how there's no,
our brothers and sisters, the situation is so
dire. I can't even describe it. I can't
even start to begin to to. I'm getting
distressed of how I'm just thinking about it
even and even trying to say where to
start, where to begin because there is so
much happening there
that it's overwhelming, and they want they want
to flood you with all these events until
you become paralyzed.
And you start feeling I can't do anything
for them. This is it. I'll leave it
to Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Yes. There's more
we can do, inshallah,
please
go back again and think about it and
ask. If Allah blessed you with wealth, what
can you do about this? If Allah will
bless you with influence, what can you how
can you use this in the right direction?
If you have if you have business, if
you have partners, if you have a voice,
whatever that you can, there is so much
we could do, inshallah, to bring justice
to our brothers and sisters in Gaza. And
in the process as well, of course, bring
awareness to what's happened in Bosnia so this
would never repeat again anywhere
in the world. May Allah
protect our brothers
in Bosnia.
May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to protect our
brothers and sisters in in Bosnia.
We ask Allah to have mercy rahman those
who pass in Arabic.
We ask Allah
to protect our brothers in Gaza, You Rabbi
Al Amin. And all those are those who
are oppressed around the world, You Rabbi, we
ask you for protection, You Rabbi Alamin.
Aliveat their suffering, You're Ahmad, You're Rahim. You
Allah. We ask you to bring peace and
tranquility in their life, You Allah. And be
there for them, You Rabbi Alamin. Only you
who can help them, you UHman. We ask
you to realize this to help them and
support them, you Allah, you Rabbi Alameen, alhamdulillah.