In Response to the Protests Against EPIC | Shaykh Yasir Qadhi Responds

O Muslims, Stand with Dignity and Faith

O Muslims, you all know that tomorrow there will be a group of people who claim to be Christians and claim to be the founders of this country who will march outside our mosque. And I know there are beautiful verses that we all love now, but it is in times like these that prove who we truly are, and it is in times like these that prove our inner character.

So I say loud and clear: the people who will march outside our mosque tomorrow are not true Christians, nor are they true founders. The people who will march outside our mosque tomorrow do not represent their teachings nor do they represent the teachings of this country. Rather, they are creatures of fear who have traded truth for lies, who care more about fear and hatred than preserving American values.

Their voices show a great misunderstanding of who we are as Muslims. We cannot change the truth to appease the fearful and hateful. By threatening a house of worship, by threatening a center where families come together, they show themselves to be not guardians of Christianity, but people capable of attacking the very freedom they claim to protect.

What Values Do They Represent?

My brothers and sisters, what values are they promoting when they gather Christians from within the country and from outside and threaten women and children? When they cannot even engage us in honest conversation? None of us have done anything to deserve this treatment. Their threats say more about their fears and hatred than they say anything about American Muslims who are seeking peace.

So I say again: the people who will be outside the mosque tomorrow are not Christians and are not patriots. And I say as a Muslim: how can you claim to come in the name of Jesus Christ? How can you be followers of a Prophet of Allah? What power are you following when you stand outside a house where Allah Himself is worshipped when you oppose a Prophet of Allah, when you condemn the Book of Allah? Is this what your Prophet taught you?

I say as a Muslim: you are not following the teachings of Prophet Jesus. Did not Jesus teach us all to love our neighbors? Did not Jesus teach us all to love even our enemies and not to harm even our enemies? Is this not what Jesus and all the Prophets taught - to treat others as you want to be treated? Do you want to be treated the way you are treating us?

We Will Show True Faith

So I say clearly: if you have forgotten how to follow the teachings of Prophet Jesus, we will show you those teachings in action. If you cannot live by the example of the one you claim to follow, then look to us, and insha'Allah (God willing), my brothers and sisters, tomorrow each one of us who will be here will prove what it means to be true followers of the Prophets. We will show you true Christianity not just in words but in our actions.

And I also say: not only are they not true Christians, I say as an American - and I have been in this country for more than fifty or sixty years - that the founding principle of this country was to be an accepting country when it comes to religious matters. All religions are welcomed equally. So when they come outside our mosque and say that Islam has no place in this country, they are creating a new country, not the United States of America. This is their vision of a country that does not exist.

So we will be followers of the Prophets and Americans when we tell them that you do not represent your faith nor do you represent humanity. You are weapons of hatred that have killed the values of God and the values of people. And we will prove this through our actions and our character.

Lessons from the Prophet's Example

O Muslims, how many instructions and lessons have we heard about the seerah of the Prophet (peace be upon him), about what happened to the early Muslims? For so long we thought we knew all this academically. Now is the time! Now is the time to put what we learned into practice and training. Now is the time to live by our actions the stories we learned since we were children.

Have you forgotten how they treated the Prophet (peace be upon him)? The stories of Abu Jahl, the stories of al-Waleed, the stories of Uqbah, the stories of Ta'if - have you forgotten all this? They treated him worse than what the people outside will do tomorrow. They did it to his face, they mocked him, they lied about him, they tortured him in evil ways.

And what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? Allah says - and this is in Surah al-Muzzammil, one of the earliest surahs, one from the beginning:

"So be patient with what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance." One of the earliest commands: bear patiently what you hear from them and turn away from them in a beautiful manner. Do not engage with them, do not go down to their level. وَاهْجُرْهُمْ هَجْرًا جَمِيلًا - this is directly from the Quran. Do not engage them at their level. If they use lies, if they use hatred, if they harm you, do not go down to their level or you will become like them. No, conduct yourselves in a better way.

Allah says in the Quran again - this is also from Makkah:

What do they do? This is directly from the Quran: "The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth with dignity, and when the ignorant address them harshly, they say 'Peace.'" Peace will be our mentality tomorrow. We will implement what we have read from the Quran and Sunnah all these years but never had the opportunity to implement. And we will follow exactly what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"Take the way of forgiveness, enjoin what is right, and turn away from the ignorant." Turn away from the ignorant people. Do not engage in foolish ways.

America Is Under Threat - But Not From Us

You Muslims, tomorrow will be the day we show both what it means to be believers in Allah and what it means to be concerned citizens of this country. There is nothing they will do tomorrow that deserves hatred and animosity. But there is one claim they make that I actually agree with. There is one claim they make that, in fact, I totally agree with.

They claim that America is under threat, and that is why they are outside. They claim that this country is in danger. And when it comes to this point, in fact, 100% I completely agree with them. But the only difference is that they look at us and at any group, at any person who looks different from them, speaks different from them, worships different from them, and they say that these people are the threat.

No! Here is the problem. I say to them: look in the mirror and you are the real threat to this country. What you are doing - your actions of spreading fear, turning away from a diverse society, destroying what it means to be followers of God and true patriots, xenophobia, lies, hatred - you are the real threat to a diverse and pluralistic society, which is the thing that really makes this country so unique in the world.

So yes, I agree with you! America is under threat. But we are not the people threatening it. We're not the people marching against other people. We're not the people terrorizing - because that is what terrorism is. We're not the people instilling fear in children and women. We're not the people burning that which is considered sacred and holy in order to insult a people. You're the ones doing that. You're the ones that are the true threat to what it means to be a diverse and pluralistic society.

Muslims, now is our time to prove true faith and true Islam. The people who will stand outside the mosque tomorrow - these people are on the wrong side of faith, the wrong side of Islam, the wrong side of history, and frankly, they are on the wrong side of humanity. Tomorrow, by demonstrating our faith, by showing our values as Muslims and as Americans, we will be, insha'Allah, on the right side of faith, on the right side of humanity, and on the right side of history.

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless us as we are united in the Quran, and to make us among those who fight falsehood and establish truth, halal and haram, in our time. I ask Allah for His protection, and I ask Him as well, for He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

The Truth About Sharia

All praise is due to Allah. He is the One we worship and from whom we seek help. He is Oft-Forgiving and He hears the prayer of the believer.

One of the biggest misconceptions that this group has is their view of Sharia, and their view that Muslims are here to impose the Quran and Islamic law. Unfortunately, this misconception is being promoted not only by the ignorant, but also by local politicians, by media institutions, and worst of all, by institutions themselves.

So we must be very clear about this reality. Our view of Sharia - the Sharia that we follow, the real Sharia, the lived Sharia that every person here knows and believes in - our Sharia is very different from the Sharia they create in their minds. It is far from that reality.

Our Sharia is personal guidelines in which we learn to love Allah, to protect our families, and to treat humanity with justice and kindness. This is what Sharia is for us: God, family, and country. Sharia tells us to treat every person with justice and kindness. Our Sharia tells us to be good to our families. Our Sharia establishes in our personal lives that we will live with justice and kindness. This is what our Sharia is.

And every part of our Sharia as practiced by real Muslims in this country is protected by the Constitution of this country. And that is why there has never been any Sharia that could be considered something that can be banned. It cannot be banned because it is personal guidelines about how we live our lives.

The threat that they have created, the boogeyman that they imagine, is a boogeyman that we do not follow and do not believe in. This is not our Sharia. This is just their imagination. And unfortunately, they don't even have the courtesy to ask us about our understanding. Of course, they have created a mere fantasy from nothing. They have created a mere fantasy from nothing, but they are afraid of something that does not exist in reality.

The claim that Muslims are here to Islamicize the country is just their fantasy. And unfortunately, the attempts to ban Muslim civil rights organizations or to ban Muslim civil rights organizations are actually a real threat to America and its future indeed.

Recent Incidents and Our Response

O Muslims, a mosque was burned in Michigan under very suspicious circumstances. We don't know exactly what happened yet, but the timing is very convenient and strange at least. And America is becoming more divided than united.

We say loudly and clearly: any person who has any misunderstanding, any person who doesn't know what Islam is, any person who has an incorrect view of Sharia - instead of gathering outside, come inside and talk to us. Engage with us, listen to us, and you will be pleasantly surprised. And our message about Sharia is not only something protected by the Constitution, but I swear every person of good conscience when they listen to our Sharia will find in it justice and fairness, because that is what Sharia is.

The Source of This Hatred

O Muslims, one of the strange realities - and this must be said - is that unfortunately this type of hatred does not just come out of nowhere. It is not just manufactured in thin air. I give you a message from social media, an article by a legitimate investigative journalist named Ryan Grim who writes for The Intercept, and he is one of the most credible social media groups, not funded by any government, not funded by partisan institutions. He is a legitimate journalist as he should be.

And this journalist has an article - please read it - in which he details where this hatred comes from. This is not a conspiracy theory, this is reality. He details that the State of Israel hired one of the top social media companies to repair its image regarding what is happening in Gaza. More than 150 million dollars was spent. The company mentioned in the article - you can read it - one of the top global companies known for working with states, known for working to repair social media institutions globally.

And this company assessed the situation in the Western world. Listen to this: they said you cannot repair your image regarding Gaza right now. Gaza is exposed. People know what you did. You cannot repair your image - the image, the video, the reality is too much. But what you can do is redirect the target. What you can do is create another discussion. What is that discussion? Target the threat of Islam. Make people think that this is the real threat.

And they started making people consider this as a real source of news, and this will be your best discussion to recover your image and to make people talk about another topic. The people who are talking outside, to be honest, are made pawns in this game because without knowing it they are trying to threaten the future Muslims, worship, and Muslim families and teachers without knowing it they are creating hatred everywhere in the state for exactly what we did to them - we have never even interacted with them once. But it doesn't come from thin air.

So we must understand that many of these people, even if they don't understand the reality, we should know that they are being used, they are being used by people more devious than those outside. And this should make us more compassionate.

They are of course pushing a version of our religion that is not correct, and they are pushing a version of our religion that is not correct, and they don't even know what is happening. But we should know better. We should understand what is happening, and that makes it more important that we stand against this hatred and animosity.

Political Manipulation

And despite that, some of our own institutions, even if they know fully what they are doing, even if they know fully that this is not true, they push the same animosity. Why? Because it is a tried and tested strategy to win elections. Create a false threat, demonize an entire group, then show that you will protect them from this group. Create that fear, create that hatred, and tell people that they need you.

And we see this tactic at the government level, at the city level, even at the federal level. We see this tactic again and again. But unfortunately, these institutions - while they may win elections - history shows us these tactics not only demonize the group, they demonize the cities. It may show that these tactics bring short-term gains in elections, but in the long term they do nothing but divide and tear apart cities and society.

And if this continues unchecked, look at history. Look at World War I and World War II. Look at what happened in Germany. Look at what happened in many other places - in Serbia, in Bosnia. And we seek Allah's protection from seeing what happened there. And that makes it more important for us to stand and speak and learn and be firm and understand that there are many things more than our mosque at stake.

Our Role and Responsibility

O Muslims, it is not just about weapons, it is about a bigger conversation, a bigger conversation. And therefore, each one of us has a role to play. We must stand and engage freely and speak confidently and know the facts, and then know what it means not only to be good Muslims but what it means to be good messengers in this country as well.

O Muslims, my advice to you tomorrow and through all of this: stand tall and proud. Follow our teachings and remember what Allah says in the Quran:

"Do not become weak, do not become afraid. You will be, insha'Allah ta'ala, those who are victorious if you are believers." Our Lord will place us ahead of them.

"Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we forget or make a mistake. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people."