Terrorist Attack in Christchurch - Qari Zakaullah Saleem

Opening — Khutbah al-Hajah

Amma ba'd — indeed the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ, and the worst of matters are those newly invented, and every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Christchurch Attack — An Expression of Sorrow and Condemnation

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, for today's khutbah I had planned a particular topic to be discussed — one of the most crucial issues and matters of our community — but I had to change the topic because of the incidents that took place this morning in New Zealand. This act of violence and extremism and terrorism has shocked the Muslims around the globe. So, considering and bearing that incident in mind, I would like to share my thoughts and some words of humble advice based on the Quran and also the Sunnah and the teachings of our beloved Nabi Muhammad Rasulullah ﷺ.

First of all, I would like to express my sorrow on behalf of the whole community, and our grief to the families of those who were the victims of this horrific incident. Our thoughts and our du'as, our prayers, are with the families — that Allah grant them patience in this difficult time. We also make du'a to Allah that Allah counts those who were murdered innocently as martyrs and the shuhada, as they were the people who gathered together in one of the houses of Allah to perform the Friday prayer. They attended the masjid to worship Allah, but Allah had decreed for them to be murdered inside the house of Allah. So we ask Allah to shower His mercy on them, and may Allah grant them all a place in paradise.

Secondly, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, we as Muslims — the people who follow the peaceful religion of Islam — we must, and we do, condemn these kinds of incidents and attacks on innocents, whoever they are and wherever they are. As we all know, our religion Islam does not allow — in fact Islam condemns in the strongest words — these types of killing and murders.

We have to, at the same time, thank the Prime Minister of New Zealand who has openly described this act of great crime as an act of terrorism. His statement places a lot of comfort in our hearts, especially when it comes from the high authorities and from the media. Because usually what we have faced and we have experienced is that whenever there is an attack on a Muslim carried out by someone who does not call himself a Muslim, that kind of attack is never classified as a terrorist attack — whereas if a stupid and extremist, so-called Muslim does the same act, then the whole Muslim community, not only in the West or in the UK, but rather around the globe, gets the blame for that act. Which is not fair. So when we condemn this act, we also thank the media and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who has described this act correctly — that this is an act of terrorism. And we hope the authorities in New Zealand will deal with this act of great crime under the law of counter-terrorism.

Staying Vigilant — The Commandment of Allah

Thirdly, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, we as Muslims have to act upon the commandment of Allah — the advice that our Creator, our Lord, has given us to act upon in times of difficulties and hardships, and especially in these types of situations. Allah has instructed us in the Quran:

"O you who believe, take your precautions."

So I would like to advise the whole community — not only Muslims, non-Muslims alike — that you have to stay vigilant. Why? Because we have known and we have seen similar attacks on Muslims. Obviously not on that level, but Islamophobic attacks on Muslims, on our sisters, on our mothers, on our brothers who have grown the beard and they dress in Islamic dress — we have seen similar attacks on them. Which shows and indicates that within this society, within this community, there are some people who have created a great deal of Islamophobia within society, and they are the ones who want to divide us, who want to create division within the community, and they never want us to live in peace and harmony.

So I would like to advise everyone to act upon the commandment of Allah — stay vigilant. And if you ever face any Islamophobic attack, then try to report it to the authority and never try to hide it. We at the same time expect the authorities to deal with this great issue that has been going on for many, many years and has affected Muslims greatly in the West and around the globe. The authorities, and particularly the police, have to take the responsibility to deal with these types of Islamophobic attacks — where unfortunately these people have misunderstandings and misconceptions against Muslims and Islam. And we as Muslims, the whole Muslim community, and also non-Muslims, we have to help the authorities to combat this problem.

Staying Balanced — A Characteristic of This Ummah

Fourthly, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, we need to bear in mind that one of the outstanding characteristics of this nation — the followers of Muhammad Rasulullah ﷺ — is what Allah said in the Quran:

"We have made you a balanced nation."

So we have to stay balanced. Even whenever we hear these types of news, we have to stay balanced. Allah said in the Quran in Surah al-Ma'idah — the surah that is known as one of the chapters of the Quran that deals with many rulings of halal and haram, the permissible and impermissible in the religion of Islam — right at the beginning of the surah, Allah has said:

Beware — a hatred of a particular group of people should not lead you towards transgression and oppression. So if someone oppresses you, naturally you have hatred against him, but as a Muslim it should not lead you to transgress and cross the boundaries. In this particular ayah, Allah has addressed the Muslims referring to those disbelievers and the oppressors of Mecca who expelled the Muslims from their homeland, Mecca, and forbade them and prevented them from entering into the Holy Mosque. And because of their act of evil — the evil act of stopping you from entering into Masjid al-Haram — it should not lead you to transgress and cross the boundaries.

Within the same surah, after a few verses, Allah again said:

Beware — a hatred of a particular group of people should not lead you to carry out injustice. So be fair and just. Allah has described us the followers of a balanced nation, so we have to stay balanced.

Not All Are Alike — The Justice of the Quran

I would like to draw your attention to my previous khutbah that I delivered here a couple of weeks ago, in which I mentioned the rights of the non-Muslims within the religion of Islam and how to deal with them. If you remember, I highlighted many verses from the Quran, and one of them was the passage from the third chapter, Surah Ali Imran, in which Allah disgraced those who did wrongdoings against the Book of Allah — the revelation that Allah sent to them for their own guidance — and they played with the Book of Allah, to the extent that they even killed the prophets, and they did so many wrongdoings. And Allah disgraced them. But look at the justice of Allah — immediately after that, He said:

"They are not all the same."

So my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, never paint the whole picture with the same brush. Not all of them are alike. And we know that amongst non-Muslims there are people who are also shocked by these types of incidents. So it should not lead you to hatred against any particular group — any group of people — regardless of their religion, regardless of their race, regardless of the color of their skin, or regardless of their background. We have to stay balanced and we have to stay on the right path as Allah has instructed us in the Quran.

A Wake-Up Call — Our Responsibility to Convey Islam

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, we need to take this incident as a wake-up call in the sense that we have a great responsibility on our shoulders while living in this country amongst non-Muslims — that we must convey the peaceful message of Islam to those who have learned so much evil, and I would say misconceptions and misunderstandings, about the religion of Islam. And this needs to be done, first and foremost, through your own actions, through your akhlaq, and through your dealings with non-Muslims. Sort out your problems, fix your problems, better your akhlaq and your dealings with Muslims and non-Muslims based on the teaching of your Nabi ﷺ. And this is the best way of conveying the message of Islam and removing all types of misconceptions and misunderstandings against the religion of Islam and against the Muslims.

So we should take this opportunity to convey the message of Islam to those who have a lot of misconceptions against Islam, and we should open the doors of our masajid for those non-Muslims — and particularly those who show and express their hatred against Islam — and we should invite them to come inside the house of Allah, to look at our services and to see what the Muslim community has done for this country and other countries. Who can deny the input of the Muslims in other societies? All immigrants — because this is one of the excuses that that criminal used in New Zealand. He said he had hatred towards the immigrants. And we all know that people of the same mindset have the same problem and the same excuse. Whenever they attack a Muslim, they have this excuse that there are so many immigrants in this country. And they tend to forget what the immigrants have paid and what they have done for this country. After the Second World War, it was the immigrants who reconstructed the whole country, and they brought this country to life once again. So how can you forget and neglect those efforts?

But as a Muslim, while living in this country and in the West and in other non-Muslim countries — my dear brothers and sisters — we have a great responsibility to remove the misconceptions and misunderstandings against Islam and the Muslims, through our actions and also through our efforts to convey the message of Islam to them. We ask Allah to give us tawfiq and ability to stay on the right path, and may Allah save us from all types of hatred, all types of oppression, and may Allah keep us all united on goodness, and may Allah keep us firm and steadfast on the right path.

Second Part of the Khutbah — Do Not Despair of Allah's Mercy

أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، أما بعد

My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah has said in the Quran:

"You may dislike something but Allah has placed good in that thing."

Allah says in another ayah — never count these types of incidents as an evil; rather, they bring so much good back. So never despair of the mercy of Allah, never lose hope in the mercy of Allah. Because when this incident took place, Allah was Ar-Rahman — He is Ar-Rahman and He will continue to be Ar-Rahman. He is the Most Merciful. So His mercy is for everyone, and His mercy is for the Muslims as well.

So my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, never despair of the mercy of Allah and never think that this is the end of the world. Rather, as I said, there is so much that we need to do — for safeguarding ourselves, our communities, our society and our country. And the country of the Muslims is wherever they reside, wherever they live. If you live in this country, then this is your country. You might belong to your home country, and naturally you have love and affection towards that country, but it does not mean that you can never classify this country as your own country. Because this is your community, your society, your country. You live within it. So you have to safeguard your community, your society, your country.

Two Final Pieces of Advice

1. Do Not Share the Attacker's Video

Lastly, my dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, I would like to advise you with two things. One of them is: please, please stop sharing that video that that criminal himself has made. Usually we Muslims blame the media — that the media shows an unjust stance towards Muslims — and I have been searching through so many TV channels and I haven't come across any TV channel that showed that footage. Unfortunately, however, there were so many posts on Facebook where people have shared this video. Your Muslim brother is being killed in the house of Allah, and you share that video? Is it not enough to share the news? The news is already in the electronic media, in the print media, in the social media — it is everywhere, everyone knows it. So what is the purpose of sharing that video? Have some respect for those who were murdered. Have some respect for those who were martyred inside the house of Allah. And have some respect for the families of those victims.

2. Be Careful When Speaking to the Media

Lastly, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, I would like to say — at this particular occasion, and as a general piece of advice as well — that in these types of situations, naturally you become emotional, and to some extent you become angry as well. And in this situation, I would like to advise every one of you: please never try to appear in the media. Because talking to the media, addressing the media, is a skill. And if you do not have this skill, never try to appear. You might say a word out of anger, out of emotion, that the media can take advantage of — and it can destroy the whole community. So stay within your boundaries and know your limits.

May Allah grant us tawfiq and the ability to understand our religion in the right way — the way that our Prophet ﷺ has taught, and the way that our Salaf have acted upon.