The purpose of the Khutbah is usually to discuss Emaan raising topics and Islam and coming closer to Allah

and not necessarily politics, but there are times in the Ummah and drastic circumstances that require the scholars, Da'uaat and students of knowledge to comment on these issues to make some sense out of what is going on, to provide religious and spiritual guidance. Such times we ponder and wonder and question our faith, and at times like this it is imperative that we talk about the current situation, we get involved and talk about the political crisis in the Ummah. We are not exaggerating when we say the last few weeks have been the most traumatic series of events that the Ummah has witnessed since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire almost a century ago. The Ummah is bleeding with multiple wounds, attacked from various areas, across the globe, the 100,000s in Burma - Rohingyan Muslims - are still living in sub-human circumstances, Burmese and Buddhists who want to kill them and burn them alive and after Allah and than the UN peace keepers this is the only thing protecting them and no Muslim country wants to intervene. The Burma that they belong to has dissociated itself from these people, saying you have nothing to do with us even though they have known no other land that they have ever lived in! And we do not know their fate. And this is not the first or last time that one group of zealots and religious fanatics has attacked Muslims for their faith. Burma may be painful but what is mind boggling is when Muslims of the same faith and language and culture and the same country, even the same family begin to kill each other. This is when the mind loses it's sense and reality questions. What is incomprehensible is when Muslims are targeted by their own army - the same army that must defend them against foreigners, failing miserably against every single foreign nation! - but against their own innocent civilians barricaded in a mosque they have no shame but to attack that mosque, targeting Muslims simply because they appear religious. It is beyond a doubt now - and we now this personally - families targeted merily because a brother wears a beard or a sister wears a hijab. It is incomprehensible when our brothers and sisters are targeted, a 17 year old Muslim girl killed by a planted sniper just because her father happens to be a member of the opposition. It is unfathomable when Muslims are killed by snipers, just because they spot a beard in the crowd, simply because this person is following the Sunnah of the Prophet (s). Our religion has declared clearly the sanctity of Muslim life, that the greatest sin any man can do to another man is the taking of his life, the spilling of Muslim blood. In the farewell address - the most important lecture our Prophet (s) gave - he asked the Muslims what day it is? They answered confusingly the day of Arafah - and he asked what land is this? And they were confused and they said this is Minah in Makkah, the holiest land - and he asked what month it is? And they answered the sacred month of Dhul-Hijah - and than he said verily your blood and life and properties are just as sacred in the eyes of Allah than this land, this month and this day. That know that the life of every Muslim is sacred thus as this land, this day and this month. Our Prophet (s) spoke about a lady who tortured an animal - a cat - to death and said that she will be punished in the Hellfire. Than we ask if this is the punishment of a lady torturing a cat, what about those burning Muslims alive in masjids? Torturing and killing their fellow Muslims? The Qur'an describes the sin of death. Allah tells us the story of Habeel and Qabeel, Cane and Able, the first murder that occurred and than He says that similarly to Bani Israel and to all mankind that will come after that because of this murder whoever kills one person it is as if he has killed entire human kind

5:32)
5:32 On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person -

unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. And Allah says in the Qur'an, if a believer kills another than his recompense is Hell-fire.

4:93)
4:93 If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him. The term Khalid, does not occur for any crime other than shirk but the crime of murder has this word used because of it is indeed a massive crime. Because of this verse and the many ahadith speaking of the sin of Murder, all madhahib and scholars in Islam have agreed that the greatest sin after shirk that any human can commit against another human is the shedding of his blood. It is so great in fact that some scholars, first and foremost, Ibn Abbas (ra) had the opinion that this is one of those unforgivable sins along with shirk. This is not the majority opinion but this has also been the opinion, that again, after shirk the only other sin that may be unforgivable is murder, this is a minority opinion but an opinion nonetheless. The only contestant to the sin of shirk being unforgivable thus is murder. It is such a great sin that the Prophet (s) said that the first issue that Allah will deal with on the Day of Judgement will be the unjust spilling of blood. In Sahih Bokhari, the Prophet (s) said: the first judgement on the Day of Judgement will be that of unjust spilling of blood. And the Prophet (s) warned us against innocent blood being spilled. The Prophet (s) cautioned us, he said, the believer always has hope (for forgiveness) as long as he does not shed innocent blood. The minute innocent blood is spilled, hope is extinguished thus. It is greater than zina, alcohol, stealing, perhaps Allah will inshaAllah forgive, but not if innocent blood is spilled. This sin of killing an innocent is so great that some scholars have said the murderer must be punished on the day of Judgement even if Allah eventually forgives. This crisis of Egypt - the burned bodies, targeted assasinations - were still fresh when the Ummah was struck with another calamity: the chemical assault on the civilians in Damascus. And what will make us understand the situation of Syria? Even the UN, a very very conservative body, has estimated recently that 1 million children have been declared refugees. These are children, under the age of 12 and they are living in camps. These are children, what about adults? And again this is the UN estimate and this is the lowest end of the numbers. Every other organization has a higher estimate of those affected, but again the UN is considered credible and trustworthy. And the UN has said over 100,000 have been killed in this conflict. And the UN has said this is the worst catastrophe of this century i.e. Syria is worse than Rwanda and other catastrophes. And this tyrant will stop at nothing to keep his position, doing things that no one would even think of. He even launched chemical weapons against his people, even though chemical weapons have been banned by the UN for decades! The UN has allowed bombs and other things that kill, it is technically legal, but chemical weapons because of their extremely painful and cruel way of causing death have been banned. And a special body within the UN makes sure that all countries have no chemical weapons and can never use them ever again. 189 countries have signed this treaty, even some superpower countries that are experts in killing people have drawn a line and said they will not use chemical weapons. And only 5 countries in the world have refused to sign on and Syria is ofcourse one of them, and now we understand why for so many decades Syria refused to sign on. It is clear that the weapons were stock piled and they were not destroyed for a

reason, they are using them against innocent civilians and their own population. Chemical weapons are most effective against the young because small quantities affect them most, more than adults. A small amount of these chemical weapons will burn the eyes, can you imagine your eyes being burnt and you do not know where it is coming from? A small amount will destroy the lungs, cause delirium, cause foaming of the mouth. The videos from Syria coming out have been analyzed by experts and it is guaranteed that chemical weapons have been used. And as for the claim of the government that the opposition has used them? This is ridiculous because firstly chemical weapons can only be made by governments in sophisticated settings, it is not something that can be made in a basement. The images from Syria are too horrific and though they are so difficult to digest you are encouraged to see them because when you see the reality it will affect you, you will understand the pain, suffering and anguish. You see the mother hugging her dead children, controlling herself, and we cry just watching it yet she manages to control herself, and she puts the coffin on each kid, and she stands and is about to faint but she takes refuge with Allah. You understand the evil of this man and the eman of these people and we see why the Prophet (s) praised Shaam, the Prophet (s) said, Allah has guaranteed me the people of Shaam. And he said, this Ummah will always be good as long as the people of Shaam are good . And they are good, and we know this because Allah has tested them. And the Prophet (s) said, when Allah loves somebody He tests them. In another hadith the Prophet (s) said, the tests come according to the emaan of a person. And why are they tested? So their sins forgiven and their levels risen, and they are walking in Jannah even though they are on this Earth. We know that atleast 1000 have been killed in this chemical attack, and there are no authentic numbers because what agency will gather these numbers? Going house to house and counting, and we know the majority have been kids because these chemical weapons affect children first. Allah says in the Qur'an,

81:8 When the female (infant), buried alive, is questioned (for what reason have you been killed?) And this tyrant, evil person, who is not even human, there is no doubt that Allah will question him and his army and police, for what crime did these children killed? And what did they do to deserve this miserable death? Our Prophet (s) warned us not to be fooled by the quantity of those killing. He said, if all of the people of the heavens and the Earth all agreed to kill one Muslim Allah would throw all of them on their faces in the fire of Hell (Tabarani). Thus we are not deceived by the masses of the army, for indeed Allah is Al-Qawiyy and Al-Azeez and ultimate 'Izzah belongs to Him and He gives it to whoever He wishes,, and some are blessed and some not. In our shari'ah, even being in the physical vicinity of someone unjustly killed is forbidden. The Prophet (s) said in Musnad Imam Ahmed, no one should witness a killing because if this man were killed unjustly within justice than Allah's punishment would come down and he may be part of this punishment. Thus if you happen to even be there you may be held liable. The Prophet (s) said do not even be a silent witness! So what do we say to those that are supporting this genocide? Supporting the snipers, armies and police? And they send billions to those governments that are killing their own civilians? These people need to pay attention to their stance before that day comes when Allah will ask them why they supported the oppressor over the oppressed, the tyrant over the one persecuted? The Prophet (s) said as for the tyrant, let him know that Allah may give him some time but he never neglects him or forgets. Imam Shafi' said there is a verse in the Qur'an, it should bring shudders to every tyrant on this Earth, and what is it?

19:64) (The angels say:) "We descend not but by command of thy Lord: to Him belongeth what is before

us and what is behind us, and what is between: and verily your Lord is never forgetful,It does not matter if the UN does not do anything, if other Muslim countries that should be getting involved refuse to get involved. It all does not matter, Allah is there and Allah is Hafeedh and Aleem and Raqeeb and Lateef and nothing happens except with His knowledge and everything is written, and all those who do injustice must account for this. Ibn Abbas was once doing Tawwaf around the Ka'bah and he looked at the Ka'bah in it's splendour and beauty and he said, how beautiful are you, how glorius are you, how fragrant are you, how noble are you, I swear by the one in whose hands is the life of the Prophet (s), the sanctity of a believer is higher in the eyes of Allah than your own sanctity. One life, one Muslim, is more precious to Allah than the Ka'bah itself, so what will be the fate of one who has killed hundreds and hundreds of Muslims? Allah will be their judge, so do not be deceived by their power and what is happening. Ummahs were tested before, Allah has told us in the Qu'ran that the ultimate victory is His and the Prophet's (s)

58:21 Allah has decreed: "It is I and My apostles who must prevail": For Allah is One full of strength, able to enforce His Will. And Allah says

12:110 (Respite will be granted) until, when the apostles give up hope (of their people) and (come to) think that they were treated as liars, there reaches them Our help, and those whom We will are delivered into safety. But never will be warded off our punishment from those who are in sin. Previous nations were tested so severely that even the Prophets started to lose hope (that in this life Allah will not help them but rather the help will come in the next). But Allah says in the Qur'an, when they thought all was lost and they were betrayed, Our help came to them. This test, battle between good and falsehood, truth and evil, is an eternal battle.

) 2:214)
Or do ye think that ye shall enter the Garden (of bliss) without such (trials) as came to those who passed away before you? they encountered suffering and adversity, and were so shaken in spirit that even the Messenger and those of faith who were with him cried: "When (will come) the help of Allah." Ah! Verily, the help of Allah is (always) near! In the Qur'an He says, do you think you will enter Jannah easily? And you have not been tested the previous nations had been tested. They were tested by all types of tests, war and hunger, shaken to the core until they said, 'where is the help of Allah?' And Allah consoled them and us, verily the help of Allah is ever close. Thus we Muslims do not ever despair in the mercy of Allah, ever. Allah has wisdom which we do not understand, but we trust in Allah's wisdom. He has a plan, we do not know it but we know He has a plan, and know the help of Allah is ever close. The question arises: what should be our response to this international crisis? Our reaction to what is going on?

5 action points to contemplate 1. There must be a sense of sympathy and empathy, a sense of pain and suffering that we feel for the entire Muslim ummah. The Prophet (s) said this Ummah is like one body, if one part is suffering the entire body suffers. And we are being attacked from multiple places and we have multiple wounds. Not only one limb or one wound, but some are so traumatic, the bleeding so bad that we do not even know if it will live or not, so how can we be so callous and so cold that we do not even care about what is going on? Those who do not even believe in Allah and His Messenger (s) are standing and doing something - petitioning, campaigning - atleast something, how much more is it our obligation to do something? May Allah protect us here in the West, but bluntly we must think if what is happening in Syria or Egypt to us would we not be saying where is the help? Where is the Ummah? Why aren't people looking? And the irony is that these lands are not so far away, every one of us know people, some our relatives and families, have been killed, harrassed and targeted. This is our Ummah, our family. So how is it possible that we go about enjoying our life as if nothing is going on? There must be a connection, our hearts must attach to our Ummah. We must follow the news, find out the truth, look at those dramatic videos no matter how difficult it is and imagine if that mother, father was you and that was your son? What would be your reaction? And know that if your heart is soft this is a sign of emaan, that there is some pulse in it. And if your heart has become so sealed that you could not care less your heart is a dead heart if it has no love or concern for what is happening with the Ummah. 2. Du'a This is the least that we can do. The Prophet (s) said, the most stingy is the one who can not even make du'a. It costs us nothing! We must raise our hands to Allah and make du'a for our Muslims in Egypt, Burma, Syria etc. Make du'a for them, coming from the heart. Perhaps even if your du'a does not benefit them it may benefit you when Allah asks you what you did on the day of Judgement? Atleast you can say you raised your hands with sincerity and asked Him day and night for them. It may change your situation at the very least. 3. Do not let your emaan become weak One of the calamities of such situations is that they test a person's faith. Shaytaan comes to a person when they are weak and begins to make them question, how can Allah allow this to happen? How can the Muslims suffer in this manner? We need to make sure our Emaan does not become weak. One of the plots of Shaytaan is that he uses calamities to make our emaan weak. Allah says in Surah Ahzab:

33:11 In that situation were the Believers tried: they were shaken as by a tremendous shaking. Allah says in the battle of Ahzab, even the believers began thinking, that was when the believers were truly tested, do you trust Him or not? Do you know His plan or not? We may not see the results or know when the help of Allah will come but we must believe with full certainty that indeed the help of Allah is close. 4. Analyze ourselves and ensure that our spirit remains alive We need to analyze our own situation and ask ourselves why this happening? What can we do in our daily lives? Look at so many places being targeted, one after the other like dominoes the Muslim people are being targeted, and we have to ask if we will be next or not? And before this happens we should make our own relationship with Allah strong. If we are not suffering because of calamities our struggle is opposite, that of luxury and living a care-free life and being deluded by the duniya. In some ways this suffering is easier and in some ways it is more difficult. Easier because no one wants to be shot by a sniper or lose a wife or child. But when this happens your emaan rises and your belief in Allah rises by levels. But as for the one living a comfortable life,

driving a great car and living in a big house and going to his office with AC and all the luxuries, for this person it is easy for him to neglect his worship, to neglect his spirituality, his zakah, his prayers and so on. If Allah has not giving us physical hardships we have to make sure that our spirit does not remain dead, we have a connection with Allah. Our salah must be punctual and with concentration, we must do extra in these days - extra charity, fasting, salah etc - make sure our emaan goes up and ask Allah for protection. If we can not be painful and suffer in that manner at least lets suffer as much as we can in His worship, perhaps Allah will have mercy on us and increase our ranks. For those brothers and sisters in Egypt and Syria their ranks have been raised high and we ask Allah to increase them even more in their ranks (Ameen), and we ask Allah for us that we do not want to be tested in this manner so we should try and strive to come close to that level through extra worship; Qur'an, charity, worship, fasting and whatever we can do. How is it possible for any Muslim to enjoy this life when he sees the Ummah bleeding from head to toe? Being so callous about what is going on not realizing the withering of the Ummah? 5. Realize that all that is happening has been predicted in our traditions Realize that all of this has been predicted in our tradition, none of this is surprising. For those that are aware of the knowledge of the signs of the day of Judgement, you will realize that everything is fitting into place. We are definitely living in a time getting closer to the end of times. The Prophet (s) predicted that we will have leaders worse for us than non-Muslim leaders. And here we are living in comfort and relative freedom under non-Muslim leadership and those of our brothers and sisters that have Muslims leaders are worse off, who could have thought this in the times of the Sahaba that the Muslim will have more dignity in non-Muslim lands than these? The Prophet (s) predicted armies and police (he literally used the word Shurta, for police) that will move and go about under the anger of Allah, they will wake up and walk in the anger of Allah and return in the anger of Allah, and their whole activities will be in the anger of Allah. So he said, make sure you are not of them! And we are seeing the police in Muslim lands doing of the most haraam imaginable and this is exactly what our Prophet (s) said. In the hadith of Abu-Musa'l Ash'ari of the times close to the Day of Judgement, he said there will be much Haraj, Haraj! And it was asked what this was, and he said it means there will be lots and lots of killing. And he narrated it to his students, and they asked, Ya Aba Musa, how many can they kill? We have killed 70,000 in one year (in 1 year of Jihad they killed this many). He replied, I am not talking about Muslims killing Non-Muslims, I am talking about Muslims killing Muslims. So the Taba'ioon, his students, said, will we have our aql, our intellect in those days? How can it be possible that Muslims will kill Muslims more than Non-Muslims killing Muslims?. And he replied, the intellect of most will be taken away and a group of evil people will take over, most of them thinking they are upon something, believing they have a legitimate cause but they have no legitimate cause. Think about this, and he said when the Muslims will kill Muslim it will be done by them thinking they are on the truth, but there is no justification for Muslims killing other Muslims, armies killing their own civilians. The Prophet (s) in Sahih Bokhari predicted, I swear by the one whose hands is my life, the Day of Judgement will not come until the killer will kill someone and he will not even know why he killed that person. This is happening around the world. Last week here in this land an innocent man was killed just for the fun of it, literally, some teenagers were bored and had nothing to do and they went and killed someone. And the sad thing is this news was so common it did not even make front page headlines because we are so use to this type of bloodshed. This is happening here and in Muslim lands and this is all a sign of the Day of Judgement. So be prepared for a day that will come soon because the signs have clearly shown that this Day is close when Allah will hold everyone to account.