Yasir Qadhi – Our Role Towards A Genocide
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
What happened to the people who perpetrated all
of that evil against Bilal? Every one of
them met their fate in this dunya, and
we saw this reality in the Sirah, in
the battle of Badr, in the battle of
Khanda, in the conquest of Makkah. We clearly
saw what happened to those who did this
persecution.
Persecution.
Dear Muslims,
to Allah we complain
of all that is transpiring in the world
today.
To Allah, we complain
of our weakness.
To Allah, we complain
of our humiliation.
To Allah, we complain
of even
having to beg others for recognition,
of having the opportunity to humanize
our grief.
To Allah, we complain
that we don't even have a nominal space
on a national platform
where every single race and religion is represented
except for our religion, and except for our
race, and except for our people. We have
to beg even for attention.
To Allah we complain
of all the images that we are seeing,
of the mothers who have been widowed,
of the orphans crying and searching for their
parents amongst the rubble,
of fathers holding up their charred and disfigured
babies as they have been completely
obliterated to beyond recognition.
To Allah we complain
of our own
desensitization.
Who could have ever imagined
a time
when we are sitting in the comfort of
our rooms,
scrolling through entertainment,
scrolling through news items,
and an image comes up that is so
horrific,
that is so crude,
that is so vulgar, that wallahi, if a
Hollywood movie were to fake that image, that
movie would come with a disclaimer that children
should not watch that movie. But this is
not fake images we are seeing. We are
seeing real bodies of children. We are seeing
dismembered
toddlers that have been blown to shreds. And
we Allah to Allah, we complain
of the desensitization
even amongst us that we scroll through that
feed, and we look at that image, and
we say astaghfirullah,
and we move on to another tidbit. May
Allah forgive us. We might laugh. We might
cry. We might move on, and life goes
on. To Allah, we complain of the hardness
of our hearts. To Allah, we complain
of the true pathetic nature of the situation
we are in. Brothers and
sisters, every single time we think the situation
cannot get any worse, subhanallah,
the bar continues to go lower and lower.
And every single time, we have to remind
ourselves,
every Every single time, we have to remind
ourselves
what exactly are we doing. How do we
find comfort in this crazy world? How do
we make sense of all of this irrationality
that is taking place? And one of the
primary advice that I give myself and all
of you,
rediscover
the beauty of the Quran
and the verses dealing with suffering and pain.
Rediscover the beauty of the seerah of the
prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Rediscover the beauty of the stories of our
own companions and sabi'un that came before us.
SubhanAllah.
We grew up reading these verses. We grew
up reading the seerah. We grew up being
taught the stories of the sa'aba, and we
absorb them. But when we look at them
again and we understand them in light of
what is going on, wallahi, it is as
if we have never read the Quran. It
is as if we have never understood the
sierra. It is as if we have never
benefited from the stories of the sahabah. They
take on new meaning. They give us new
life. They give us a comfort that we
never knew we could get. And, subhanAllah, here
we are. Here I am struggling. How do
you cope with this grief? How do you
come to terms with this reality that we're
seeing? And what comes to my mind is
who am I compared to the prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam?
And yet
he also saw such difficult images. He saw
them with his own eyes. He's walking in
Makkah. How much did he see? And we
know how compassionate he was. We know how
soft his heart was. We know he would
stay awake the whole night in tahajjud,
crying to Allah to protect his ummah, making
du'a to Allah for the Shafa'a's ummah. He
loved us so much. He told us every
prophet has been given one special du'a, and
every prophet has made that du'a. But as
for me, I have kept my one dua
that Allah promised me, and I have not
used it in this world. I will use
it for my ummah that Allah shall forgive
my ummah on the day of judgment. He
loved us so much, he would cry the
entire night making du'a to Allah that Allah
bless his ummah, forgive his ummah, protect his
ummah. How do you think he felt
when he walked by Bilal ibn Abirabbah
being dragged
in these stones of Makkah, ahadun, ahad, ahadun,
ahad. How do you think he felt when
he saw Yasir and Somayyah being tortured?
Our books of Sira mentioned that in early
Islam, Abu Jahl and others, they banded together.
They couldn't persecute Abu Bakr. He was too
noble. They couldn't touch Uthman ibn Affan. He
came from a rich tribe. So what did
they do? They took out their anger on
those that had no protection. They found the
slaves. They found the low caste in their
system, and they tied them up. They put
them right in front of the Kaaba. Yasir
and Sumayyah husband and wife were tied up
in chains. They were put in the sun
without food and water. Our prophet, salaw al
salawam, would pass by them. They would be
whipped. They would be tortured. Can you imagine
how he felt seeing the blood? And this
was an elderly woman, Sumayyah, was 65 years
old. Can you imagine? She is an elderly
woman tied up to a post and a
chain. She's being whipped and tortured. Yasir would
be beaten. He would lose consciousness.
And our prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam would
see this for days on end, and he
could not do anything in that context other
than give them sabr, give them glad tidings.
Sabran a la yaser fa'innamo idukumuljannah.
Be patient, oh family of Yasser. All I
can do, I guarantee you, you will have
Jannah. That's all he could do. And a
time came, as you all know, when the
torture reached such a severe level that they
decided to execute. They made a public
display of executing Yasir and Sumayyah. They called
together the people of Makkah, and they made
a debacle. They made a circus. They made
a spectacle
out of torturing people to death, laughing and
shouting as if it's some type of pleasure
occasion. And they took a spear, Abu Jahl,
may Allah give him what he deserves. Abu
Jahl took that javelin, and astaghfirullahalahaoolalaqut
salabilla.
He shoved it between her legs until he
killed her. And Yasid is watching his wife
die like this, and they began torturing him.
They began they began using the whip and
the stick on him. Even it is said
they tied him to different horses until finally
he as well dies. And the son Ammar
is sitting there. He sees his father. He
sees his mother. Now the whole crowd turns
on him. He was just a child. What
do you think he would do? He wasn't
able to bear that pain, and he gave
up because I believe in your gods, I
believe in your gods. And then he comes
rushing, crying to the prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, You Rasulullah,
he's just seen his mother and father
decapitated. He's seen his mother and father tortured
to death. Can you imagine his heart? And
he's also worried, You Rasulullah,
I uttered words of Kufr. I said I
believe in their gods. You Rasulullah, what's gonna
happen to me now? And our prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam consoled him. Wasn't iman strong in
your hearts? Yes, You Rasulullah, they forced me.
So he said, don't worry. If they return
to torturing you, you can return to saying
what you have said. And Allah revealed in
the Quran, whoever is forced is forgiven.
The point is, it's not the first time
torture has happened. It's not the first time
brutality has been demonstrated. And this is the
reality
of all those who choose the path of
Allah
They will be persecuted.
They will be tortured. There were other sahaba
as well. Khabab ibn al Arat, another slave,
that his master
would tie him up, and his master would
burn him with burning coals. And later on
in life, he would lift his shirt up,
and he would show the sahaba what happened
to him. And Umar ibn al Khattab once
saw, and he goes, wallahi, we did not
realize this was happening. Because at the time,
Umar was not a Muslim when Khabab was
being persecuted. And he was shocked to see
that his whole body, there was not a
hand span, there was not even 2 fingers
on his body, except that the scars could
be seen. Suhaib and others, the amount of
torture given to them is beyond what we
can comprehend. And our prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam,
one day these same people came to him
and they said, You Rasulullah, for how long?
You Rasulullah, for how long can we be
patient? You Rasulullah, make du'a to Allah to
get rid of all of this pain and
suffering. Make du'a to Allah that this goes
away. And it is as if they expected
the prophet salassam to snap his fingers. It
is not in the hands of the prophet
salassabi. He can only make du'a. He can
only ask, but it is Allah who decides
when victory comes. And so he gave them
comfort. He gave them encouragement. He said a
day will come. A day will come when
this matter will be completely dominant. A day
will come when you shall have peace and
security, and a woman shall travel from the
furthest regions of this land, from Hadramaut to
San'a, too faraway regions. A woman will travel
in the middle of the desert, and the
country will be so safe and secure. No
one will harm her, except maybe the wolves
will attack her sheep. He gave them good
news and encouragement
when they could not see any encouragement, when
they could not see any hope. And this
is what we need to learn. This is
what we need to extract from the seerah.
There must always be hope even in hopeless
situations. We must obtain courage even when the
situation appears there can be no courage. Look
at the reality of all of the previous
prophets. Look at the reality of the Sahaba.
Look even at our Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
and the tortures that he under undergo in
his own lifetimes.
No doubt, it was just as painful for
them, even more so than it is painful
for us. And so we remind ourselves, oh,
Muslims, we remind ourselves that from these trials,
from these tragedies,
always
benefit comes, always good comes. And look at
what happened. Those Sahaba who went through those
trials and tragedies, those that went through them
and saw them firsthand,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose them to be
the best of all people. Allah gives victory
to those who are patient. Have we forgotten
what the Quran tells us? Hasibitum untadkululjannah?
Did you think you would enter jannah for
free when the people before you were tested
and the prophets were tested? Wazulziru.
They were shaken to the core. Hata yakula
rasoolawaladeenaamru
ma'amatma tanasurullah.
Until even the prophets and the people who
believe would say, where is the help of
Allah? Where is the help of Allah? It's
not the first time we're being tested. It's
not the first time people are wondering where
is the help of Allah, and what does
Allah say? Allah inna nasrallahi
kareeb. Know that Allah's help is kareeb. Know
that Allah's help is ever close. Have we
forgotten what the Quran tells us?
We are going to test you. Allah has
told us. The Quran is clear. You're going
to be tested with what?
With the loss of property and a loss
of life. Your lives will be taken away.
Your properties, your homes are gonna be demolished.
Then what does Allah say? Wabashiras
sabireen.
Give glad tidings. Congratulate
those that have sabr. Allah tells us in
the midst of all of this chaos, in
the midst of all of this pain and
suffering, I shall choose a few and I
will raise their ranks and give them glad
tidings. Exactly what our prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said, be patient, oh family of Yousa,
your place is up there in Jannah. Give
them empathy. Give them words of comfort. These
words are not meaningless. These words demonstrate
we have faith in Allah. These words demonstrate
pain is not eternal. Suffering shall come to
an end, And what will come after that
will always be everlasting bliss for those who
die shahids. And for those who live, Allah
will choose them in this dunya and the
akhirah, and Allah will raise their ranks. And
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions those that were
persecuted before. Allah says,
We wanted to give them * in the
earth.
Allah says, we wanted to give dominion and
power to those who were persecuted. This is
straight from the Quran. Allah chooses
those that are persecuted in this world. If
they die, they shall have their pleasure with
Allah. And if they live, they shall have
their pleasure in this dunya and with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's always a win win
for the believers. We must find comfort in
the Quran and in the sirah and in
the lives of the Sahaba and Tabi'un.
Realize it is at times like this that
our faith is tested constantly. We see these
images, we hear of this news, and our
iman is tested, but we are not being
tested like they are being tested. Our test
is different than theirs. At the very least,
all Muslims, at the very least, our iman,
our taqwa, our spirituality,
it must be affected by what is going
on. At the very least, we need to
transform ourselves in light of what is going
on. The test of the people in Palestine
and Ghazza, the test of the people around
the world is at a different level than
ours. We ask Allah to bless them and
make it easy for them. And we also
ask Allah to not test us like they
were being tested because I don't know if
I could pass that test. I don't know
if I'm capable of being in that test.
Our test is much less. Our test is
a different type of test. And of the
mecca of the realities of those tests is
are we understanding what is going on? And
are we reacting with empathy? Are we giving
words of comfort to the people around us?
We have to remind ourselves of the purpose
of this dunya. These images,
these realities,
these massacres,
this genocide,
it must create an impact in our lives.
Oh, Muslims, to be blunt, you cannot be
the same person today that you were last
year. If you are, then something is wrong.
You cannot be the same person today than
you have been for the last 10 months.
You have to see what is going on,
and it needs to impact you at the
spiritual level. You need to raise your own
game, your own bar. You need to demonstrate
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You recognize your
test is different, but it is a test
nonetheless. A test of our iman, a test
of our belief in Allah's qadr and wisdom,
a test of our tawakkul,
a test of our activism. What exactly are
we doing? All of this should impact us.
And I have said this multiple times of
the greatest wisdoms of these types of tragedies,
of the greatest blessings, because it is a
blessing in its own way, of the greatest
blessings, Allah
wa ta'ala uses these tragedies,
uses this type of pain to extract from
us, to make us better than we ever
were. This is the reality of tests and
trials. 1 of the goals of tragedy, one
of the goals of suffering is that we
become better people as a result of that
tragedy. And if we do become better people,
then in reality, that is not a tragedy.
Anything that brings us closer to Allah, anything
that strengthens our faith and resolve, anything that
makes us better believers, it is not a
punishment. It is a blessing in an indirect
way. We're not asking for the pain of
this dunya. But if the pain of this
dunya brings about the eternal pleasure of Allah,
then it is worth that pain and suffering.
And this is a maxim and a rule
that applies to everybody. All Muslims,
what is happening in the world today, it
needs to affect us at every single level.
At the spiritual level, at the emotional level,
it needs to affect us. We need to
reassess our own humanities. Wallahi, I am worried
about my own heart and your own hearts.
How is it that we can see these
images and then move on with our lives?
I wonder. I believe that if these images
that we are seeing of these these children
and these toddlers blown up, I believe if
the average person of the last generation
ever saw such an image, it would scar
them for days weeks. They would be in
a trance for weeks not able to speak.
They have never seen anything like this, and
yet here we are watching such images
daily.
Every single hour, another image comes, and we
scroll by as if it is nothing. I
worry about the state of my heart. Wallahi,
I worry about what it's doing to our
own humanity,
and we have to con constantly remind ourselves
that this is not normal. It should not
be normal to see a father pick up
his 2 year old son that you can't
even recognize as a human being. The flesh
and blood is completely mangled up. It is
absolutely abnormal that this is taking place, and
the world is turning a blind eye. The
world has lost its senses. It's lost its
humanity.
We cannot afford to lose our humanity. We
cannot afford to lose our iman and taqwa.
We have to constantly bring ourselves back to
our religion, find comfort and meaning in our
faith. Understand
that even if tyrants are winning right now,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will always call the
tyrants to task. What happened to those that
killed Yasir and Ammar and Sumayyah? What happened
to the people who perpetrated all of that
evil against Bilal? Every one of them met
their fate in this dunya. And we saw
this reality in the Sirah, in the battle
of Badr, in the battle of Khanda, in
the conquest of Makkah. We clearly saw what
happened to those who did this persecution, and
what they will meet on the day of
judgment is much worse than this dunya. We
also find comfort in this as well. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will not allow to to
have this tyranny go in waste. Allah will
not allow the tyrants to go unanswered, and
Allah will reward
every single child that is an orphan,
every single mother that lost her children, every
single father that was was separated from their
own family, Allah will give them ajalbih ghayi
hisaab. But what are we doing? What are
we doing to stop this? What are we
doing to make sure this does not happen
again? This is where once again, we remind
ourselves of the Sirah, of the tactics of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
We cannot be silent and we must do
whatever we can. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions
in the Quran,
latublaoonafi
amwalikumu anfusikum
You're gonna be tested. Latublaoonna
You're gonna be tested in your souls, in
your money, and in your lives. Walatasmaoonna
minal ladinaootu kitaba minqabblikum waminal ladinaashraqu
And you're gonna hear a lot of nasty
things from those who reject Allah. This is
in the Quran. They're gonna say vulgar things.
They're gonna justify the killing of babies. They're
gonna dehumanize you. They're gonna they're gonna eliminate
you from the bastion of humanity.
They're constantly gonna call you terrorists and whatnot
when you try to defend yourselves. Allah is
saying you're gonna be tested. Your lives will
be taken away. Your houses will be destroyed.
You're gonna hear a lot of bad things
from people who don't believe in me. Then
what does Allah say? Waintasbiruwatattaqoo
fa inna dhalikamin aazmin umur. And if you
show sabr and you have the upper hand
with your piety, if you respond to their
ignobility
with nobility,
if you respond to their hatred with spirituality,
waintasbiruwatattaqoofa
inna dhalikaminazmirumur.
If you show sabr and you demonstrate taqwa,
that is the essence of what you need
to be doing. So in this madness that
we see around us, constantly remind yourselves, I
need to demonstrate sabr and taqwa. I need
to be the better person. I need to
constantly be involved and engaged. And at the
very least level, I need to be a
better person I am today than I was
when all of this began. I need to
demonstrate to Allah that what is happening around,
it is affecting me, it is making me
comprehend and understand. I have a role to
play. My life is not just about nafsi
nafsi and my rizq and my sustenance and
my car and my house. I have a
higher purpose. I have to be connected to
the ummah and to this religion. And if
the people of Gaza, and if what is
happening around the world, it inspires us to
raise that bar, then perhaps
in that raising of the bar will be
our excuse and our salvation. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala bless me and you with and
through the Quran, and may he make us
of those who is versus they understand and
applies halal and haram throughout our lifespan. Ask
Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask him for
his Dhighfar and the Rahman.
Alhamdulillah.
All praise is due to Allah, the one
and the unique.
He it is whom we worship, and it
is His aid that we seek. He is
the Lord of the oppressed, and He hears
the prayer of the weak.
Of the lessons we learn from the seerah
is that
a Muslim
must always be concerned about and attempt to
help other Muslims.
This is a reality that the Quran is
very clear about. Wal muminoona wal muminato ba'udum
auriya Uba'a. The believing men and women are
protectors of one another. They're helpers of one
another. And so at some level, we must
always attempt to help and protect everybody around
the globe.
But what that protection is
and what that comfort is will vary from
person to person. Because in the end of
the day, we can only do so much.
La yukalifullahu
nafsanillahu
saha. Allah is not putting on us a
burden with more than what we can bear.
Aid is mandatory,
but what that aid is will change from
time to place, from situation to situation.
Help is obligatory.
Du'a is obligatory.
But the way that is manifested, how that
help is done, what that help is, it
will be different depending on who you are,
depending on your strength, depending on your power,
depending on your capabilities.
And notice from the Sira, in the time
of Makkah, what could the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam do when these sahaba are literally
being tortured to death? What could he do?
You will say, but he moved to Madinah,
he had strength there. We say even in
Madinah, even in Madinah, there were times and
places where he could not militarily
and politically help. And he was Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He had established the Islamic
state. There is an Islamic Republic of Madinah,
but still in the treaty of Hudaybiyyah,
when the Quraysh put that really unjust condition,
that Dhulm condition, that if a Muslim converts
from Makkah after this treaty, you cannot help
them. That was in the treaty of Hudaybiyyah.
Any Muslim who converts after signing this agreement,
you have no political loyalty towards them. This
was in the treaty. The prophet tried his
best to negotiate, but the Quraysh refused.
And so he had to accept because he
wasn't able to have a different type of
treaty or a better treaty. And indeed what
happened,
Abu Basir
escaped from Makkah, and he ran all the
way to Madinah. He was being tortured. There
were scars on his body. He entered into
Madinah. And the prophet
said to him, oh, Abu Basir, you know
our treaty. I you're not supposed to be
here. And Abu Basir said, but you Rasulullah,
you don't have to turn me back. That's
not a part of the treaty. So the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, well, as
long as they don't come, I'm not gonna
turn you. So he he was living up
to the letter of the law. The letter
of the law was that you you don't
have to return him, but you're not inviting
him. He was there on his own. Abu
Abbasid said, I'm just living amongst you. I'm
not taking your aid. Indeed, the Qurays sent
2 people. And the Quran said, You Rasulullah,
the treaty well, they didn't say Rasulullah Sayy
Muhammad. The treaty says you cannot have a
person in Makkah come to Medina. We have
we have him. We want him to come
back. And the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
turned to Abu Basir, and he gave him
a cryptic a cryptic response. He said
that,
the the the the it's a it's a
very eloquent expression. I'm gonna translate it in
simple English. He said that, what a great
person you you are if only you had
help that could help you. Meaning, I cannot
help you right now. You have potential. What
a great person you are. If only you
had help that would help you. Abu Bhusiur
understood, and he managed to escape from the
captors, and he ran away. He fled away.
And he did not turn back to Makkah,
but neither could he live in Madinah. And
And Abu Jandal as well, another companion who
was being tortured, he too attempted to come
and he was not allowed. So he
he grouped up with Abu Basir. Abu Basir,
Abu Jandal, they formed a group neither in
Makkah nor in Madinah, and the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam could not send military aid to
this enclave, to this group. He could not
militarily protect them because it went against the
treaty. He made du'a for them. He indirectly
helped them. He gave them words of comfort,
but he could not militarily
help them. We learned this from the seerah.
Different people have different rights and responsibilities,
and people are tested with different rights and
responsibilities.
So for us here in this land, we
must make dua for our brothers and sisters
in ghazah. We must lobby for them. We
must use our words like the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam used. We must defend their
rights to do what they are doing. And
wallahi, we will defend their rights bluntly and
boldly, according to every single law of the
world, according to international law, according to common
sense, according to what every society does. When
your family is killed, when your house is
bombed, when an enemy invades, of course you're
gonna stand up and attack back. It is
their right to do so, and nobody has
the right to take that away from them.
We will defend their right to be human
beings and to defend their lives and their
children. And that is something we will stand
up here and say boldly and loudly, our
religion, international law, common sense, your own culture,
and every single fiber of humanity says, when
your children are bombed, when your wives are
killed, when you are expelled from your lands,
you have every right to stand up and
defend
in any way possible. We will say this
loudly and clearly, but that is not we
are not there. They are there. We make
du'a for them. We defend their rights. We
are here. We will lobby as much as
we can. We will raise public awareness. We
will send aid as long as we're allowed
to send aid. We're gonna call the people
that support these deeds war criminals. We will
not vote for them and endorse them in
office. We're gonna make sure only the right
people come and stand up to be our
politicians. We do what we can in this
land. But in this land, as people of
this land, we too have treaties like the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam had a treaty
with the Quraysh. And a part of those
treaties entails we will not get involved militarily.
That's not what we can do at this
time and place. Yet I say loudly and
clearly, those people whom Allah has blessed and
tested with power, those people who were in
charge of political institutions
and armies, what are they doing? It is
their responsibility.
And the moment they make it legal, and
the moment they open the door, then we
hope and we pray
every single able person amongst us will take
up that call. And I say this unequivocally
and loudly without any shame and embarrassment. It
is a duty on every
single person of conscience to understand what is
taking place as a genocide.
How can we sit here and allow it
to take place if the opportunities
are created that will help us defend them?
But until that is done by people who
are responsible,
because the average Muslim, the average human cannot
pretend to be a government, cannot pretend to
be a khalifa, cannot pretend to be an
army. It's not my responsibility
or yours to create that type of system.
But when the people who are in charge
allow that to happen, when the with the
people whom Allah has blessed and tested with
power, when they allow that mechanism, that changes
the whole situation. And, yes, we can and
we should generically raise these realities to them
and say to them, what is the purpose
of having 50 Muslim countries and 50 armies?
What is the purpose of having all of
these resources if you see this tragedy happening
and you do not even lift a finger
to get involved to defend innocent women and
children. That's our job to speak to them,
but it is not our job to snap
our fingers and pretend we are a country,
we are a power, we are a military.
No. I cannot do this. You cannot do
this. Allah did not give me that responsibility.
And to do this opens the door for
chaos and opens the door for that's we
learned from the Sira. The prophet didn't open
this door in Makkah. And even in Madinah,
he had to have keep the treaties maintained
as we must do as well. The bottom
line, all Muslims,
we're living in very, very difficult times, and
our iman is being tested, and our bravery
is being tested, and we have to be
brave within the confines of the law. I'm
not asking anybody to go to jail. I'm
not asking anybody to get into trouble. I'm
not asking anybody to sacrifice their entire lives
for something that is not gonna be a
benefit, but awkwardness
and pushing the boundaries and raising these conversations.
This needs to be done. And, subhanAllah, some
amongst
us who really do,
do extra and and their livelihoods are gone
or they have to go to jail, well,
good for them because history always teaches us
that when you stand up for truth and
you preach justice in a legal manner, I'm
not saying anything illegal, but sometimes
sometimes what is legal and illegal becomes a
very gray area. And we see this from
our own history. Malcolm x, Muhammad Ali, the
boxer, He went to jail because he didn't
go and fight in Vietnam.
Now we consider him to be a hero.
But you know, when he refused to go
fight, the world, America called him a traitor.
And Muhammad Ali said, why would I go
kill innocent people? I'm not gonna do your
I'm not gonna fight your dirty war for
you. Now everybody looks at him as a
hero. Malcolm x the same. Every single other
leader the same. If we're asked to do
something unethical and immoral, we cannot do that.
But until they ask us to do something
unethical and immoral, we will obey the law
as much as we can. We're not gonna
do anything that is harmful, that is illegal,
but we will speak the truth, and we
will push the boundaries, and we will raise
these uncomfortable realities. Oh Muslims, now is the
time to strategize. Now is the time to
mobilize.
Now is the time to have a deep
dive about what are we doing as an
American Muslim community. I don't have all the
answers, but I do know silence is not
an option. Cowardice is not an option. I
do know we need to stand up and
do something because wallahi, what we have seen
especially in this last week, words cannot even
describe the barbarity for how long will this
continue. But we remind ourselves, Allah inna
nasrallahu kareem,
Allah inna
nasrallahu
kareem. Allah inna nasrallahu
kareem. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
bless our brothers and
sisters in Ghazza, and to allow us to
be of those who help them in whatever
way possible.