Help the refugees, not their enemies
Help the Refugees, not their enemies
Arshad Gamiet
Royal Holloway University of London 4th December 2015
“A-úthu billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem. Bismilláhir rahmánir raheem
Al hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi, wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa. May- Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida. Wa ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh”
All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings on him, is His servant, and His messenger.
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem! Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, haqqa tuqaatihee wala tamu tun-na, il-la wa antum Muslimoon.”
O You who believe, – Be aware of Allah, with correct awareness, an awe-inspired awareness, and die not except as Muslims.
Ya Ay-yuhal-latheena ‘aamanut taqul-laaha, wa qooloo qawlan sadeedaa. Yuslih-lakum a’maalakum wa yaghfir lakum thunoobakum, wamay yu-til-laaha warasoolah, faqad faaza fawzan atheemaa.”
O You who believe, – Be aware of Allah, and speak a straightforward word. He will forgive your sins and repair your deeds. And whoever takes Allah and His Prophet as a guide, has already achieved a mighty victory.
In the opening verse of Sura An-Nisaa’, Allah says:
“O mankind! Show reverence towards your Guardian-Lord Who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, his mate and from the two of them scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;― Be conscious of Allah, through Whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (show reverence towards) the wombs (that bore you): for surely, Allah ever watches over you.”
My Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Salaatul Asr today is at 1:37 so our khutbah has to be very short. Today, I want to touch on one or two important matters that concern us all. It’s about the deadly conflicts raging around the Muslim world, the refugee crisis it created, and what you and I can do about it.
We don’t have time to discuss the causes of these conflicts. The causes are many and complex. Big and small nations are involved, each with their own narrow agenda. Trying to figure out who is to blame, and to what extent, will not help much. It’s almost academic. We have to move beyond the blame game. We have to ask ourselves: what can we Muslims here in Britain do to help make things better? What can we do to help the millions displaced from their homes, seeking the safety we have come to take so much for granted?
Let me say quite emphatically that we cannot help anyone by going to Syria to join the fighting there. Syria is a dangerous and almighty mess. Muslims there are killing fellow-Muslims. People are shouting “Allahu Akbar!” on both sides as they shoot, bomb and kill, quite often indiscriminately. Prophet Muhammad sws warned us about the time when the killer won’t know who he is killing or why he is killing, and the victim won’t know either.
Some people are using our beautiful deen for their own narrow political ambitions. They are doing things that are absolutely forbidden in Islam.
Please don’t just take my word for it. Here I have an open letter signed by 126 leading scholars and jurists from around the Muslim world. It’s addressed to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of the so called Islamic State.
(http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com/)
The full letter is 23 pages long, and you can read it online. You can get details at the front table after the prayers. You can also get details of Prophet Muhammad’s sws Covenant to the Christians:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtiname_of_Muhammad)
This is a very important document. In some conflicts today Muslims have been killing Christians simply because they are Christians. This is totally forbidden in Islam. You will see that Prophet Muhammad took the trouble of protecting Christians in Muslim lands, and guaranteeing that protection in writing. One of the points he made is that if a Muslim were to marry a Christian wife, he could not do so without her consent. She is also free to worship her religion and attend her church. It’s all there in this Covenant to the Christians. If you want a copy, the website links are on the table. Here are just a few of the 24 points listed by 126 Islamic scholars, in their Open Letter to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi:
“It is forbidden in Islam to kill the innocent; it is forbidden to kill diplomats, journalists and aid workers; it is forbidden to mutilate the dead; it is forbidden to force people to convert.” In Sura Al Baqara, Ch2: v256
“La ikraha fid deen,” says the Holy Quran; Let there be no compulsion in religion
This open letter makes it crystal clear that the so-called Islamic State has no legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of Muslim scholars around the world. My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled by the slick messages and videos on twitter and facebook. Our religion calls us to higher and nobler deeds than senseless murder and mahhem. If we really worship Allah, then how can we support or even condone unspeakable acts of terror?
Allah’s foremost names are Ar Rahman and Ar Raheem, the Compasionate, the Merciful. Countles times a day, we invoke these Holy Names. Shouldn’t our actions then, show compassion and mercy? We must be merciful in everything we do. If we neglect mercy, Allah warns us in Sura Zukhroof, Ch 43:36 and 37:
43:36: “And whoever withdraws himself from the dhikr of Al Rahman, (the loving Remembrance of the All Merciful), Allah will appoint for him a Shaitaan to be his intimate friend and companion.
43:37 The Shaitaan will mislead him from the straight path, but he will think that he is rightly guided!”
My dear Brothers and sisters, if we forget Al Rahman, we’d be left with Shaitaan! Remember that! If you forget Al Rahman, you’d be left alone with Shaitaan. So, let’s not be fooled by Shaitaan, by forgetting Ar Rahmaan. Only Al Rahmaan can protect us from Shaitaan!
“Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen. Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-‘alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma’een. Ammaa ba’ad:
“Innalláha wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi wasalli mú tas leema. Allahumma salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, kama barakta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”
(Second Khutbah):
“Soob’ hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual theem”
Glory to Allah! Praise to Allah! There is no power and no strength except from Allah!
My dear sisters and brothers,
The great refugee crisis has become one of the defining events of our times. Years from now, we, and perhaps our children, will look back and ask: Where were we in 2015? What were we doing? What have we done to relieve all this suffering? What more could we have done? My dear sisters and brothers, I hope when we do take stock of our actions one day, we will have no regrets. I do hope that we will be ready to face Allah, with a pure heart and a clear conscience. Each night before we go to bed, we should ask ourselves: “Today, what have I done to lighten the burdens from the sum total of human misery? What have I done today, to add to the sum total of human happiness?”
Allah reminds us in a well known Sacred Tradition, Hadith Qudsi:
“Allah the Exalted will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I was sick but you did not visit me. He will say: O my Lord, how can I visit you when you are the Lord of the worlds? Allah will say: Did you not know that my servant was sick and you did not visit him, and had you visited him you would have found me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food but you did not feed me. He will say: My Lord, how can I feed you when you are the Lord of the worlds? Allah will say: Did you not know that my servant asked you for food but you did not feed him, and had you fed him you would have found me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for drink but you did not provide for me. He will say: My Lord, how can I give you drink when you are the Lord of the worlds? Allah will say: My servant asked you for a drink but you did not provide for him, and had you given it to him you would have found me with him.”
My dear sisters and brothers, this Hadith Qudsi reminds us that if we desire Allah’s good pleasure, we will find Allah amongst the sick, the hungry and destitute. Make no mistake. If Prophet Muhammad were alive with us today, you wouldn’t find him rubbing shoulders with the presidents and prime ministers, the billionaires and tycoons. If he were here with us today, you’d find him amongst the poor, the homeless and the oppressed.
As we look around at the terrible conditions in some Muslim countries, it’s quite natural to ask: what should we do? What can we do?
Some naïve and misguided Muslims have chosen to join a messy war that so far has no end in sight; it is a war where each side thinks Allah is with them. My sincere advice to you is: Please, don’t go there. You really don’t know what you’re letting yourself in for. If you really want to “do something,” the wiser choice is to join that army of volunteers, helpers, the Ansars, who are doing wonderful work, seeking Allah’s smiling face, among the cold, hungry, desperate people in the refugee camps. Some members of our community have been to Calais, Dunkirk and Brussels to deliver desperately needed clothing and medicines there. They met teams of doctors, nurses and dentists as well as social workers and psychologists. Volunteers of all kinds, from all communities and all religions, are stepping up to help. I would urge every one of you to do what you can to support this noble effort. If you cannot volunteer, at least donate! Give whatever you can! We have a collection here today. If you haven’t got money to donate, at least say a prayer, make du’a for the refugees! These refugees are people like you and me. They also had ordinary, peaceful lives until their world was turned upside down. This couild happen to anyone, anywhere! Be careful, beware! But for the grace and mercy of Allah, you or I could be amongst those refugees!
Let us plead with Allah, the Lord of the Heavens and the earth, to bring an end to the war and suffering. Let us beg Allah to have mercy on those who have fled their homes, who have lost loved ones, ordinary people like you and me, who have the same right to a decent life as any other human being.
Brothers and sisters, to conclude our khutbah:
InnaAllaha, Yamuru bil adel, wal ihsaan, wa eetaa-i zil qurba; wa yanha anil fuhshaa-i, wal munkari walbaghi; ya-idzukhum lallakum tathak-karoon. (Sura 16:90), Fadth kuroonee adth kurkum, wash kuroolee walaa tak furoon [2:152]. wala thikrul-Laahi akbar, Wal-Laahu ya’lamu maa tasna’oon.” [29:45].
“Surely Allah commands justice, good deeds and generosity to others and to relatives; and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, so that you may be reminded.” “… and remember Me: I will remember you. Be grateful to Me, and do not reject faith.” “and without doubt, Remembrance of Allah is the Greatest Thing in life, and Allah knows the deeds that you do.”
Ameen. Aqeemus salaah