Sh Omar Suleiman

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

We begin by praising Allah, bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in their blessed path until the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma Ameen.

Joy and Sadness: A Lesson from the Battle of Badr

Dear brothers and sisters, it is no secret that obviously we have to go from joy to sadness and sadness back to joy. I was reflecting, subhanAllah, on the fact that the sahaba as they came out of the Battle of Badr, which took place in Ramadan, faced what they called a day of great victory and a day of great sadness. Because the same day that Allah gave them victory against their persecutors, against their oppressors in the Battle of Badr, sending them angels alongside them — Allah took the daughter of the Prophet ﷺ and the wife of Uthman, radiyaAllahu ta'ala 'anha, who passed away on the exact same day. And so they used to say it is a day of great joy and a day of great sadness at the same time, a day of great grief.

As Muslims, we know that obviously as we celebrated Eid this year, there is a feeling in our hearts, something in our stomach that's not sitting right as we see what's happening with our brothers and sisters in Palestine and around the world.

The Palestinian Cause

I know that sometimes some causes flare up and we get sick of some causes. Not that we should, and not that it's okay, and not that that's a sentiment that we should accept for ourselves — but sometimes, years go by and it's like, you know what, it's unfortunate, we pray for the best for them, but we have to move on. We have to just stop watching, we have to stop monitoring. The protests light up for a week and people remain in a situation of either living under a genocide or trying to flee to countries around the world with very little sympathy, because people burn out and move on from their cause while they still have to dwell in their misery.

When it comes to the Palestinian cause, let me just start off by saying that we as believers can grieve with any oppressed people. But to pretend like there isn't something about Masjid al-Aqsa would also be an indictment of our own iman, an indictment of our own faith.

If it does not bother us — and we know that oppressors seek to crush spirits — there's a reason why they chose to storm in the last ten nights of Ramadan. Masjid al-Aqsa: one of the holiest nights of Ramadan in one of the holiest sites in Islam. There's a reason why on a day of Eid, where children should wake up and get to celebrate with their parents, instead in Gaza they woke up — or they didn't wake up — under the bombs that were falling on them, with silence from the international community. There's something very cruel about that.

But there's also something I want to say before I even start talking about al-Aqsa today, and that is that I'm not going to be able to cover all of this today. We have a protest tomorrow. We have multiple other sessions on al-Aqsa, on the Palestinian cause.

I also wanted to offer a disclaimer: we're not going to wait for morally bankrupt politicians, or people that are supposedly anti-colonial and progressive and anti-racist, to come around and to realize that the murder of innocent children and women in the holiest places in the world is wrong. Those that suddenly found their mouths over the last few days to say "Israel has a right to defend itself" and had nothing to say about the Palestinians over the last few weeks — predictable moral bankruptcy. We're also not going to wait for Muslim governments that are openly complicit in the occupation and terrorism of their brothers and sisters in Palestine.

But this is for us. You read the surahs in the Quran where Allah talks about al-Aqsa and talks about the sanctity of that place. And to disconnect yourself from it right now would be a serious error in our faith.

And there are those that say we're sick of the Palestinian cause — whether they say it outright or whether they imply it with their actions. It's preventing us from mobility, because at the heart of the American colonial project and American imperialism is Israeli apartheid. And so there's no way to have meaningful political mobility in the United States, or have meaningful political alliance with the United States from abroad, if you're not willing to abandon the Palestinians. And that's a price that too many Muslims, unfortunately, are willing to pay. Abandon the Palestinians and get political mobility. That's not what I'm here for.

The Sanctity of al-Aqsa and the Holy Land

I want to talk about al-Aqsa today and recognize that the land is sacred. And no matter how sacred Masjid al-Aqsa is, more sacred than al-Aqsa itself are the necks of our brothers and sisters under the knees of Israeli troops — the same knees that taught knees to kneel on innocent people here in this land; they were trained by them. Those people are more sacred than al-Aqsa. They're more sacred than the Ka'ba. The Prophet ﷺ made it a point to let us know that the blood, the property, and the honor of your brother and sister is more sacred than the Ka'ba in the days of Hajj. So it is more sacred than al-Aqsa, more sacred than the Ka'ba.

But what about al-Aqsa? How do we talk about al-Aqsa? Allah talks about this land very specifically and talks about this masjid very specifically. Allah calls it الْأَرْضَ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا — al-Ard allati barakna feeha — the land that We have blessed from within.

Wa barakna hawlahu — and We have blessed what is around it. Not just blessed the land itself — We have blessed what is around it as well.

Allah refers to it in the words of the Prophets that came before as الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ — al-Ard al-Muqaddasa — the holy land. And there is something very specific about that. Imam Ibn al-Jawzi says it is called al-Muqaddasa, the holy land, because it is al-Mutahira — it purifies you of all of your sins. When you go to that land and you pray in that land — a place where Ibn Abbas said: the land of the Prophets.

Not a single foot span — realize when you're watching those images of stun grenades, and you're watching those images of bullets, and you're watching those images of settler extremists chanting out that this is theirs and desecrating people in that land — there is not a hand span there that a Prophet did not stand in. Think about that. A Prophet has stood in every single hand span of that land, and so every part of it is holy. And what they brought is even more sacred and more holy.

Musa (alayhi as-salam) and the Holy Land

And Musa alayhi as-salam — there is a reason why, when he was dying, the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1339; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2372)

He was prohibited from it due to the actions of his people. But he asked Allah — O Allah, his dying wish. Imagine Musa alayhi as-salam's dying wish: let me die as close to it as possible, رَمْيَةً بِحَجَرٍ — where I could throw a stone and it would reach that land.

So if it hurts us that we are prohibited from al-Aqsa, if it hurts those of us who are Palestinian in particular — who can't visit the land of our parents while colonialists and their enablers can — then know that Prophet Musa alayhi as-salam, the most spoken about man in the Quran, also was prohibited. And the Prophet ﷺ said, "If I were there, I would show you his grave" —

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1339; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2372)

— under the red dune, where Musa alayhi as-salam was granted that request to be as close to it as possible.

Al-Aqsa and the Two Qiblas

And as Muslims, while we pray toward Mecca today — and we know that this was the first Qibla of the Muslims — there's a reason why Allah did not just appoint the Ka'ba to be the Qibla in the first place. He could have done so in His glory and His majesty, but Allah wanted to honor that place and Allah wanted to honor our Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ leading the prayer toward the Qibla of al-Aqsa and leading the prayer toward the Qibla of the Ka'ba shows that he is Imam al-Mursaleen — the Imam of the Prophets and the Messengers. It was a way of honoring our Prophet and it was a way of honoring those places — that al-Aqsa should always remain in the hearts of the Muslims even though they pray toward Mecca. When they pray, their hearts are attached toward al-Aqsa as well.

To the point that the Sahaba who prayed toward both Qiblas, like Anas radiyaAllahu 'anhu, used to say:

"No one remains on the earth today who prayed toward the two Qiblas except for me." He could have honored himself by saying no one lives amongst those that prayed in Mecca and Medina, or no one lives amongst those that accompanied the Prophet ﷺ here and there. But he mentioned it as a specific honor — that I am the last person that exists on the face of the earth that prayed toward both the Qibla of al-Aqsa and toward the Qibla of Masjid al-Haram. May Allah enable us a trip to both of them. Allahumma ameen.

So much so that Ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala 'anhuma used to travel from al-Madina to al-Quds just to pray two rak'as. And we know the place of the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in the heart of Abdullah Ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala 'anhuma. And when Ibn Umar used to go to al-Quds, he would be so afraid of losing out on any of the great reward he heard from our Prophet ﷺ that he would not even drink water there, because he said he wanted the ajr of it — the reward of it — to be stored for him in the hereafter.

The Du'a of Sulayman (alayhi as-salam)

So blessed is this place that the Prophet ﷺ said in an authentic hadith — when Sulayman alayhi as-salam finished his construction of Bayt al-Maqdis, he asked Allah for three things:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1408; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 693)

He asked Allah that his judgment would agree with the judgment of Allah — so he asked Allah for rushd, for guidance in his judgment. And he asked Allah for a kingdom that would be customized, that no one else would have before him or after him, so that he could spread the word of Allah. And then he asked Allah: that no one comes to visit this place — the place of the prophets, no one comes to visit al-Masjid al-Aqsa and pray in this holy land — except that they leave purified from their sins like the day that their mother gave birth to them.

What an amazing hadith. And the Prophet ﷺ said Allah gave him two. And I pray that Allah has also given him the third.

The Three Mosques

And so the sahaba had in their hearts that we go there and we pray, that we connect ourselves to that land, that we connect ourselves to the place of the prayer of the prophets, the law of the prophets, the way of the prophets, that we pray our two rak'ahs there. And subhanAllah, as I was reading this hadith, dear brothers and sisters, and I was thinking about all of the hadith about attachment to it — the Prophet ﷺ saying:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1189; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1397)

There are so many hadith I could go over today. There are three places — three places for the Muslims — that they should travel to, that they should make an effort in their entire lives to travel to. Make the intention right now to go to Mecca, to go to Medina, and to go to al-Masjid al-Aqsa. The Prophet ﷺ said that's where we make the intention to travel to as believers.

And you go through the reward of it, and the reward of it, and the reward of it. The ulama mention the wisdom that the reward of a place is in two things: number one, the virtue of the place itself; number two, the virtue of the struggle to get to that place. So when we think about Hajj, which has the reward of purifying us from our sins — al-Hajj al-Mabrur, the day like the day that our mothers gave birth to us — it's not just the Hajj, it's the struggle of the Hajj. And it's as if Allah and the Messenger ﷺ are saying that this is a place that we will always struggle to get to and to pray in.

This is the place where the Prophet ﷺ teaches us to connect ourselves to emotionally and spiritually as much as we can, and physically:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 457; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1407)

If you can't get there, then at least you send some oil to light up its lamps. This is our ummah, this is our attachment to al-Aqsa.

The Reward of the Murabitun

And I was thinking about the reward of all this. You know what I thought to myself? Imagine the reward of the people that were standing there on the 27th night with grenades falling on them, fulfilling the role of praying in Masjid al-Aqsa — also murabitun, also guarding a sacred place, and not flinching as bombs were falling on them and as oppressors and occupiers tried to scare them with their weapons. I can't imagine.

You want to see a blessed people, a people beloved to Allah? Imagine those people that were standing there in those nights when we were seeing the footage. If the reward of just praying there under normal circumstances is so rewardable, what then of those brothers and sisters? What then of that brother that we saw — the iconic image of Ramadan — praying his salah while they are surrounding him from all directions, and he looks as if they are not there because he's too focused on Allah. He's too focused. And it could be indeed that Allah sends the angels to comfort them, as He sent the angels to comfort the believers under hardship and persecution. Because that is Ard al-Sham, a part of Ard al-Sham, where Allah sends angels to constantly shower blessings upon the people and to increase them and to put in them the strength to continue and the strength to go forward.

Who is More Evil?

And I end with this, dear brothers and sisters:

Who is more evil, Allah says. Who is more evil than the one who prohibits the name of God being mentioned in His houses and seeks out its destruction? سَعَىٰ فِي خَرَابِهَا — tries to constantly plot so that he can destroy it and undermine it. There is no greater evil than prohibiting the worshippers of Allah from the masajid of Allah. Than prohibiting worshippers from their places of worship so that they could mention the name of their Lord.

And that is an evil that we see happening in many parts of the world — many parts of the world. That is an evil that we see happening in the West and in the East. We see it with the Uyghurs and we see it with the French — that they try to disconnect people from the masajid of Allah. But this verse, dear brothers and sisters, actually is referring to Masjid al-Aqsa first, and then all masajid, all places where Allah is mentioned, by extension. But it was revealed in relation to al-Masjid al-Aqsa.

And it combines two things: the evil of seeking out the destruction of a place where Allah is remembered — especially al-Masjid al-Aqsa, which is the primary masjid mentioned in this verse — and the evil of killing innocent people. Where Allah wrote down on Bani Israel, and on mankind by extension, that to kill one person unjustly is like killing all of mankind. And to save one life is like saving all of mankind.

What then of the people that rained down missiles and bombs — funded by U.S. taxpayers — on our brothers and sisters with impunity? When the prime minister of a nation can stand up and say, "Don't worry about the commissions, don't worry about the international statements, they don't matter. Don't worry about the U.S. president, don't worry about any of them. They don't matter." Because it's a nation — an apartheid nation — that knows it can act with impunity. With silence and enablement from people around the world. That can murder. SubhanAllah. I mean, it's unbelievable — the ignorance and the moral bankruptcy of people. Where one fourth of the casualties can be children, and they still have the nerve to put out these headlines and to not say a word.

Who is more evil than that? And dear brothers and sisters, what that means for us is: what greater evil — that should enable us to speak up and to act and to work and to pray — than when we see holy places, at the top of them Masjid al-Aqsa, which was embedded in this verse, being desecrated, and innocent people being treated that way? Thrown from their homes. You see the mindset of people that can walk, under the intoxication of power that comes from the state, into people's homes and throw people out and not worry.

Allah sees them, dear brothers and sisters. And Allah sees us and how we will respond when we see Masjid al-Aqsa and we see those disgusting images. We're not going to wait for American politicians. We're not going to wait for governments in the Gulf that have sold us out. We're going to look inside of our hearts and see where our moral consciousness is. When we say Sheikh Jarrah, we see Gaza, we see al-Aqsa — what happened to us?

The Steadfast Group in the Holy Land

And I end with this hadith, where the Prophet ﷺ said — knowing the situation of these people:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1924; Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3640)

There will always remain a group in my ummah — always upon the truth, always a thorn in the side of their enemies because they can't be broken. They can't be broken no matter what is done to them. They still have the nerve to celebrate Eid, despite the bombs falling on them. They are not harmed by those who betrayed them. They're not looking to the outside world for support. They're not looking to their brothers and sisters — they know they've been abandoned a long time ago by their brothers and sisters. But insha'Allah we are not amongst those that abandoned them.

And when they asked the Prophet ﷺ — وَأَيْنَهُمْ؟ — "Who are these people, Ya Rasulallah?" The sahaba, the companions, are asking: "Who are these incredible human beings that you're talking about?" He ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 16992; authenticated by al-Albani)

The Prophet ﷺ could have said Palestine. He could have mentioned something to mark that land. But he said it's the people in the Holy Land and the people around the Holy Land — which includes Gaza, by the way. It's those people.

You want to see a group of people that manifest steadfastness upon truth and sincerity and that stand in the face of their oppressors — when their oppressors try to crush them, men, women and children — and are nourished by something divine in terms of steadfastness? You look at those images and don't just see the bombs falling. Look at the fearlessness in the eyes of those people as the bombs are falling on them. It's incredibly inspiring. But it's also incredibly infuriating. Because it shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen with our silence. And Allah will hold us to account for what we could do and did not do.

Du'a and Closing

May Allah not make us amongst those that betray them. May Allah not make us amongst those that have no moral conscience. May Allah not make us amongst those that denigrate our fitrah or that disconnect ourselves from the Quran to where these images don't bother us anymore. May Allah make us amongst those that condemn evil and oppression wherever we see it. And may Allah make us amongst those that connect to His masajid, His houses and that which He made sacred. And may Allah join us with our brothers and sisters and with the Prophets and with our Prophet ﷺ in Jannatul Firdaus.

May Allah forgive our parents and may Allah have mercy on them as they had mercy on us when we were young. May Allah make from our wives and our children a source of comfort for us. And may Allah make us an imam for the righteous.

May Allah help our brothers and sisters who are oppressed in Palestine. May Allah help our brothers and sisters who are oppressed in the East and the West. May Allah destroy the wrongdoers with the wrongdoers, and may Allah bring us and our brothers out from them in peace.

O servants of Allah, indeed Allah enjoins justice and kindness and granting to relatives, and forbids immorality and evil and transgression. Remember Allah, and He will remember you. And give thanks to Him for His blessings, and He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest. And establish the prayer.