Yasir Qadhi – Why Would Allah Allow Massacres And Genocides To Happen

			Exactly 28 years ago today, literally 11th July 1995, the largest massacres since World War Two took
place in Europe, the largest massacre on European soil took place. And all of you should be aware of
this, it is something that is pertinent to us. It is relevant to our own history. And it is
something that every single Muslim should be very painfully aware of. I am of course talking about
the should we Nietzsche, or the Bosnian massacre that took place today, literally today. And today
across the world. And especially in Serbia, Nisha, where the graveyard is actually buried, I
believe, a dozen people that were whose bone fragments were found every year, they find more bone
		

			fragments in the fields of that region. And so throughout every year, today, on the 11th of July,
they hold a special ceremony. The dignitaries, the Presidents they come and they give their respect.
So today is that day, literally today 11th of July 1995. And I've spoken last year about the history
of that I'm not going to go into that today. But very briefly, all of you should be aware that the
Ottoman Empire conquered areas of Europe back in the 14th century. We're talking about Kosova, we're
talking about Albania, we're talking about Bosnia, we're talking about her Zuko, Vina, these are
like four provinces that from the 14th 1500s, the Ottoman Empire conquered them as a part of what
		

			was happening in those timeframes. And as you're aware of whatever Islam goes Alhamdulillah it
trickles down. There's never been a force conversion in our history, never has a soul bond come and
put a sword to the throats of the people and say convert. But when there is a doula Islamia when
there is a result and power, when the people see the reality of Islam, organically, they begin to
embrace it. And this is what happened in these regions. That's why to this day, the majority of
Albania, the majority of Kosovo, the majority of Bosnia, and these are in the heartlands of Europe,
right to this day, the majority of these regions are actually Muslim. So from the 1500s, the Ottoman
		

			Empire had conquered these lands, and slowly for the next 200 years, Islam began to spread until
it's now a vast majority. And you all of these regions, 7080 90% of the people are Muslim. And long
story short after World War One, when the republics of that region collapse to they created this
fragile state. The state of Yugoslavia for those of you in the 90s remember Yugoslavia, whereas
Yugoslavia, now it's gone. So Yugoslavia was a patched up state that was composed of enemies, you
know, Serbians, Muslims and whatnot. The Serbs held in their hearts a grudge against the Muslims for
500 years, the Serbs held in their hearts anger that the Ottomans had come, and they had taken our
		

			people and our lands. And so long story short, when there was a referendum for freedom, the Bosnian
Muslims, they wanted freedom. They wanted to break away they wanted their own independence. And the
Serbs, even though they're the minority, they said, No, the Serbs were in power. The Serbs had the
military. The Serbs said no, and so when the Bosnian is voted for freedom, the Serbs then attacked
Long story short, again, I went over this last year, you can find it online. Today's Hatha is not
about the history, it's about we're gonna move on something else. To make a long story short, when a
civil war broke out, the UN got involved, and the UN sent in troops to monitor the situation to
		

			prevent a massacre. And the UN created an enclave in the city of Srebrenica, and they said in this
area, we will protect the people don't worry. And so mass migration took place 1995 From February
March up until July 10s of 1000s of Muslims fled across the country. And they made their way to
Sherpa Nietzsche, this is now under UN territory, UN troops wearing the UN vests and the UN hats and
there's color video footage, you can find it there protecting this city because the UN said we're
not going to allow for a massacre. So 10s of 1000s of Muslims came, and the Serbian military,
General, General Milosevic and others, they invaded Srebrenica, and they said to the UN get out of
		

			our way, and the UN agreed, the UN did not intervene. The UN literally went and allowed Milosevic
and the war criminals to then invade Sherborn each year. And while the UN watch from the hills, this
is the actually the Dutch government there were Dutch forces, the Dutch government reprimanded their
own military generals slap on the wrist, nobody went to jail, but they basically said, you know, you
didn't do your job, but Well, they didn't do their job and 10s of 1000s of people were killed. So
the UN basically said, Okay, fine, you guys do whatever you want. And as they watched the United
Nations as the troops watched, Milosevic and his troops invaded today, this is today 11th of July
		

			1995. They surrounded the entire city, they rounded up 10s of 1000s of Muslims and
		

			There's color video footage, it is very traumatic to witness this footage. And you have, you know,
fathers calling their sons, you come back and they promised us protection. You have all of these
video footage circulating today in memory of this, and they began massacring and they massacred
roughly 8500 Muslim men 8500 today, and 10s of 1000s of women were raped, they were raped counsel
along with Stein, it is what it is. I'm, I'm sorry, to be blunt here, people don't want to hear it.
You mean not saying it is not gonna change reality. And you need to know this, that this is
happening. And it happened in our lifetimes. 10s of 1000s of our sisters, you know, concentration
		

			camps and whatnot. And Alana was standing there are children from that there are children, there's a
documentary about the children from that day, because, you know, obviously, it's an awkward reality
that their mothers are this, their fathers are that and you know, so along with Stan. So this was
the day that it happened. And every single year it is commemorated and people come and you know,
give their respects and make dua and these are all Muslims, and they were killed because they are
they were Muslims. Now, I've spoken last year more about the history. Today, I wanted to move on to
a little bit about theology a little bit about a very difficult question to ask ourselves, and that
		

			is, how do we as Muslims understand how such
		

			evil can take place like in the end of the day, these were evil people, the people who did the
massacre, they hated Islam for 400 years. And the general literally said this as well on record, he
literally said This is revenge for the Turks for invading us 450 years, and his heart is full of
anger. Can you believe and he said to Milosevic said today is the revenge of the Turks coming in.
This is how much hatred they have. And it was a religious war through and through the Serbian
version of Christianity. They have their own Orthodox Church against our Muslim brother in the
Bosnian so the Serbs are predominantly Serbian Orthodox and the Bosnian are predominantly Muslim
		

			question arises. And this is a question that many of our youth struggle with, and also many of those
who are outside of religion. They ask, why would a merciful God allow such a massacre to take place?
It's so brutal if you see the video footage, and I don't encourage any of you to do that. But I
mean, on the other hand, if some of you do, it will really make you understand how evil people can
be at the same time. They had our brothers again, so many vivid stories. By the way, when I was in
university of Medina, I got accepted the same year 1995. And
		

			this is an anecdote, here's Subhanallah, the institution of Medina, because there was a massacre
taking place. They had changed their policies, and they had begun to accept any Bosnian who applied,
because that was their ticket to be saved from massacre. So when I was in Medina, I got accepted
1995 When I was in Medina, every nationality had 510 15 from the Western world, you know, us
Americans, we were 910 people. When I got accepted, there were nine Americans that sit Okay, none of
them graduated from my budget. Understand that was those were different days. Bostonians hundreds.
		

			And I didn't understand why at the time, like how come there's hundreds of Bostonians, and there's
only nine of us and seven Canadians and 10. British white, how come these guys have you know that
much. And then I was told, if these people were not accepted, they would be dead.
		

			It was a change in policy, humanitarian change and Islamic policy to simply accept anybody who's
applying so that that's their literally their ticket out. So we had during my whole five years, we
have hundreds of students from that region, Kosovo, Albania, because I mean, there was the master
was in Boston, but we had a large percentages from them, in any case, short hearted or today, was it
actually the base hotter in memory of what happened to our brothers and sisters in Bosnia? And that
question is, how can we understand as Muslims How can we rationalize even our youth ask us? Why
would ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala allow 1500 Innocent people to be killed in one day? By the hands of
		

			those who literally hate religion, hate the Quran? Hate our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
what is the wisdom in all this? To respond to this? I wanted to summarize for you this is actually
the the hotter I wanted to give. summarize for you, a treatise that was written by one of the
greatest scholars of Islam, called soltana Lama, who is the Sultan, Allah Who can tell me the Sultan
of Rama, who is he?
		

			And there is even Abdus Salam. He is called the leader of the roadmap for many reasons, maybe when
they will give a longer talk about him. And he wrote an entire treaties the new treaties, is called
Alphington. Well, Balaiah will be Handwara desire, in other words, the wisdom of trials and
tribulations and sufferings and pain. He wrote an entire book
		

			booklet, an entire booklet it's not a massive book, it's a little booklet, but it's a booklet about
why is there pain in this world? How do we understand suffering? And he goes over many points I want
to summarize maybe 10 of them Inshallah, in the time that we have. So these are wisdoms from his
book, but I'm doing it in memory of our brothers and sisters, and to allow us to understand and
appreciate some of why there is pain in this world. And what is the wisdom of this suffering? Number
one is if Abdus Salam says, It is through pain, through trial through tribulation, that we are
constantly reminded that there is a Rob who is all powerful. It is when we get out of our comfort
		

			zone, when life is difficult, that we are reminded that we are not in control. There is a Rob who is
alcohol, who is Al Jabbar, and that Rob has wisdoms we might never understand. Even the angels
wondered, Oh Allah, why would you create a creation? Attach your Adolphe Ha, man, you've Sufi? How
will your speaker demand, this creation will be causing bloodshed, this creation will be causing
evil, why would you do this? And Allah replied, in a manner to Allah Moon, I know things you will
never know. I understand what you will not understand. So even the angels questioned the wisdom of
bloodshed, the wisdom of massacres, the wisdom of torture, literally the question of the angels Why
		

			would you create a species that's going to be killing one another? And this is the killing that took
place and the angels are asking what's the wisdom no other species goes to Civil War the way man
does for the sake of power for the sake of lines of nationalism for the sake of of you know their
own ideas and whatnot, no animal kingdom goes to war like human beings do. So the angels asked and
Allah said, Hi, I'm Rob, you will never understand in the Alamo. Murata, the moon, the second
wisdom. So the first primary wisdom is to demonstrate we are not rubs we are not all powerful. When
COVID happened, the first football game when the masjid was empty, when COVID happened, the football
		

			never forget to give it to an empty Masjid. I said, Where is now the power that we thought we had as
a Western civilization? Where is that, that that sense of of arrogance that we control, we go to the
morning come back, one virus comes and the entire world shuts down. If this is not teachers,
humility, if this does not teach us of the existence of Arab than what is going to teach us so this
is rule number one wisdom. Number two wisdom is to understand our own status as being the arbiter of
that Rob, so once we recognize Allah is Rob, automatically, this should create in us humility, we
are the abbot. And with that, status comes servitude and servitude is the essence of Islam. What is
		

			Islam other than submission to Allah other than submitting so via trials via tribulations, we find
ourselves humbling, we find ourselves trembling in front of Allah subhanho wa taala. Our who sure
comes at times of calamities, our ticket bore is broken at times of calamities, and that is wisdom
in that number three, that when we suffer calamities, it increases our loss to Allah subhanaw taala
Allah says in the Quran for the rocky boo fill full key that will Allah Maha Lucien Allahu Deen when
the ship is about to drown, all of a sudden they are making a loss dua to Allah subhanho wa taala.
When the child is sick, when the bankruptcy happens when the disaster occurs, instantaneously, it
		

			loss goes from zero to 100. And that is a wisdom and the benefit is loss is the essence of why Allah
created us. I only created managing to worship me so via trials and tribulations in class comes out.
Number four, that one of the benefits of pain. One of the benefits of trials is that during trials
during pain, our Ibadah increases and when it increases then we are increasing our purpose of
worship, and especially the Rebbe of dua, Allah says in the Quran for either mustard in Santa guru
Donna, the Jambi he acquired and Okajima when calamity befalls mankind, he starts making dua,
standing sitting and lying down. When calamity befalls mankind, all of a sudden, dua is made 24/7
		

			And this is a wisdom because when you make dua, this is why Allah created us. Allah created us to
worship Him. And so via that pain, some benefit comes of that drop. The next point that ibn Abdullah
has mentioned mentions is that through calamities and through suffering, ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada
brings about circumstances in which
		

			We are forced to demonstrate sober and patience and suburb is the essence of Iman and Allah subhanho
wa Taala mentions in the Quran that was saw BDNF Hilbert Sati will borrow up those that are patient
at times of difficulty at times of drought and at times of war ASABE Idina Filbert Sati Oberoi
heinous bus, those that are patient when life gets tough when there's droughts and calamities, and
when there's war and bloodshed, so during times of difficulty Sobor is manifested. And Allah says in
Noma yoga for sabudana Arjuna humbly lady is up, I will give the people of suburb their reward
without any counting. And all of this by the way, it goes back to one of the wisdoms of trials and
		

			tribulations is to prepare us for the hereafter and to have a better here after the next point that
he mentioned another three four points Inshallah, then we'll call it a again, there's much more to
be mentioned. The next point that even after this Allah mentions is that during times of difficulty
during times of stress during times of calamities, ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala uses evil to bring about
the good from those who have good in their hearts. During times of evil, good people stand up to
change that. And Allah loves the good, he doesn't love the evil. So how will you show good when
there is no evil to fight against? How will you be generous when there's no poor people? How will
		

			you sponsor orphans when there are no orphans to sponsor? How will you defend the innocent when
there are no innocent to be defended? So Allah does not love the evil but Allah loves the good that
is generated because of the evil, the good that is generated to fight against the evil and in that
we raise our ranks and the righteous get the rewards from Allah subhanho wa taala. Another benefit
that he mentioned, I think we're number six now. And another benefit that he mentioned is that
		

			through calamities, Allah forgives our own sins so that on the Day of Judgment, we will enter agenda
behavior hisab. Through trials in this world, Allah chooses some people to raise to the highest of
the high and that's why Allah subhana wa Tada says, No calamity happens to you, except as because of
your own sins were ya for and Kathy and because of it, Allah forgives a lot of your evil deeds. So
it is possible through combating evil through the pain, anxiety, stress, grief, through the trials
and tribulations. A person will go through one trial after another until he is cleansed of all sin,
and He will meet Allah absolutely pure. And as soon as the miracle mode comes Jana to for those
		

			whose given to him, because he underwent calamities. And in fact, what is the status of a Shaheed
except exactly this, he's given the ultimate sacrifice. And may Allah accept the shahada of all 8500
of our brothers. On that day, they've given the ultimate sacrifice, so they get the ultimate reward.
The last two three points that he mentions, he says that via calamity via tragedy, that is how we
can appreciate Allah's blessings on us. We only appreciate a blessing when we don't have it. So when
we study Civil War, when we see massacre, when we see the evil that happens in these times of war,
we can thank Allah Hamdulillah we have freedom. When we see pain, we thank Allah we don't have that
		

			when we are experiencing hunger with then when we don't have hunger, we appreciate Al Hamdulillah I
don't have hunger. So by witnessing evil, it makes us more humble and appreciative of the good that
we have. And that is a blessing that again, will only come because we are so callous. We don't even
recognize the good until it's taken away from us. We don't appreciate a blessing until we no longer
have it. So when we see people, even maybe ourselves suffering, it helps us when we are not
suffering to appreciate those blessings. And the final point that we'll mention is that through
trials and calamities, even others mentioned through trials and calamities, sometimes, repercussions
		

			happen even in this world. That would not have happened except through those trials and calamities.
And he gives the story of Musa and hidden the three incidences and he meant, for example, the Treaty
of Abia when it happened, the Sahaba thought this is a tragedy. When it happened the Sahaba thought
this is a calamity. We're being turned away from Makkah. And you know it's a tragedy and Allah says
this is a victory enough at the Halacha fed him Medina. So why sir and Takara who che and Wahoo a
hydro Lacan, it's possible you don't like something and it is good for you as possible. You don't
like something that is good for you. So Allah knows what might happen and every one of us who has
		

			gone through a personal tragedy, if you look back, you will
		

			recognize yourselves, I came out of it a better person, I learned something or something changed in
my life, or I had to take a left to right from my course of my life. And now I'm in a better place
because of that calamity. When that calamity happened, you're wondering, why is it happening? What's
the wisdom, but the repercussions of that calamity are better for you, even in this world. And
perhaps, perhaps when you look at that land, and again, this is not a justification in the end of
the day, Allah azza wa jal is in charge. But when you look at that land, our brothers in that region
are sisters in that region, because of the politics because of the Yugoslavian dictatorship because
		

			of the communist regime. They had almost forgotten their Islamic identity. There was really there
was no Salah no Juma are taking place. They were Muslim, by and large by name, frankly, I remember
those of you that were old enough, you know this in 1994 95, when the news began to spread. We were
all shocked there. There are Muslims in Europe. These are like, you know, they look European,
Caucasian blond hair, blue eyes. I mean, where are these Muslims coming from? We'd never heard of
them. We'd never heard of Bosnia. Never heard of Albania and Kosovo. Never heard that these are all
Muslim lands. And one of the reasons why we never heard is that because of their communist regimes
		

			since World War One, they were not allowed to practice Islam freely. They weren't they didn't have
the, you know, mainstream Islam. They were cut off from much of the world because of the Ottoman
Empires collapse and everything. So by and large, there was no I didn't know how to hots no dues, no
activity, no activism. Now if you go Subhanallah massager, they're packed to fall. How many of us
here Hamdulillah we know our Bosnian brothers and sisters. How many Boston's in the audience how
many Bosnian? Is there any Bosnian zero? Usually messages in North America always have Boston's in
them. So we have one in the back over there. So we have Bostonians everywhere Al Hamdulillah right?
		

			And mashallah, they're active. There's a Bostian Masjid here in Dallas as well. Subhanallah How did
this happen? It was a result of the awakening. Again, it's not a justification awakening of what
happens when this tragedy takes place. After this do arts began to come, Islam began to be vitalized
these people who thought that, you know, their religion is going to be okay under the nation state.
It didn't matter that they are the same skin color the same ethnicity didn't matter. Their religion
was persecuted. And because of this, they had took pride in their religion. They rediscovered their
religion, and they learned their religion. And now how many of them are from Bosnia? How many Porat
		

			from Bosnia the massager that Hamdulillah. Our Pack for Juma Islam is on the rise in that region.
And without a doubt that is a blessing. And the final point that is mentioned. I mean, I'm going to
mention he mentions a longer list. The final point he says through trials and tribulations, a person
achieves the riddle of Allah subhanho wa Taala the pleasure of Allah when you are patient, and when
you conduct yourself in accordance with how Allah wants you to do, Allah is pleased with you. And
when Allah is pleased with you, it is more precious than Jen itself. As Allah says in the Quran,
Allah talks about Jana that Allah says what is one oh min Allahu Akbar, and Allah is Rila is bigger
		

			than Jana. And there is a Abdus Salam says, The only way to achieve Allah Zilla is by pleasing Allah
subhanho wa Taala and acting in accordance with his Sharia. And that is only going to be manifested
in times of difficulty in times of stress and times of tribulation. So when you pass the stress of
this dunya you will achieve the result of Allah and when you achieve the result of Allah, it is
worth everything. Because when Allah is pleased with you, well then you have won everything that
needs to be won. These are some wisdoms that Allah is mentioned. And we conclude by making a special
dua for our brothers and sisters who died today and throughout the civil war in Bosnia. May Allah
		

			subhanho wa Taala accept the shahada amongst them may Allah azza wa jal grant Sabra to those who
have vivid memories of that may Allah grant patience to our sisters who had to go through what they
had to go through May Allah subhana wa Tada forgive all of them and guide them and may Allah bless
them to be more righteous and may Allah protect us and although the Muslims from having to undergo
such a calamity or SallAllahu Sallam about it, of the Mohamed Anwar Ali he was a big Marine.
		

			In Mussolini now almost Lima D one meaning well meaning the one quantity now I looked on it, the
more slaw the Pina was for the bond the one saw the Rena was Slavia right the one before she you
know before she
		

			was before she I mean I want to call her she is the one downside BP now one downside the party was
all Amy now was all in.
		

			Wouldn't have you Lena photo, gentlemen, one half the award the
		

			Was that good enough long I guess
		

			was the guilt or I don't
		

			feel
		

			genuine Eileen