Qaradawi: this man has friends in Boston
Messages of peace and love from Friday khutbas from all over the Islamic world, courtesy Mideastweb.org via IMRA. Note that these sermons were broadcast by official government organs.
From Syria:
Damascus Syrian Arab Republic radio in Arabic, official station of the Syrian Government, carries on 27 February 2004 at 1010 GMT a live sermon
from Al-Uthman mosque in Damascus.Dr Abdallah Rabih delivers the sermon . . . He prays: “O God, deal with the criminal Zionists and those with them and behind them for they are within Your power. O God, scatter them, disperse their assemblies, lower their flags, destroy their economy, and make the cycles of evil turn around against them. O God, show us the miracle of Your power on them. O God, make them destroy themselves. O God, bring down your anger on them.”
From Qatar, a sermon from Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, one og the star supporters of the new Boston mosque:
Doha Qatar Television Service in Arabic, official television station of the State of Qatar, on 20 February 2004 at 0858 GMT carries a live 60-minute
sermon from Umar Bin-al-Khattab Mosque in Doha.Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric based in Doha, delivers the
sermon. He praises God and thanks Him for “having honored us by the best
of books and the best of prophets.” Islam, he says, “has guided people to
the right path,” urging Muslims not to boast about themselves. Jews, he
says, have claimed that they “are God’s chosen people,” calling on Muslims
“to pursue virtues as a way to salvation in this life and in the Hereafter.” . . .Regretting the imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians, the imam says: “Some people say that the Arab-Israeli conflict is no longer an Arab-Israeli conflict but is a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel has everything. What do Palestinians have? They have nothing but their souls, which they sacrifice by blowing themselves up for the sake of their religion, homeland, sanctities, and cause. Therefore, some people consider them terrorists and criminals, who should be fought and resisted. Palestinians defend their right. They have no warplanes, tanks, missiles, or weapons arsenals, like those of Israel. Israel is backed by American money, American weapons, and American veto.”
Regretting the fact that the 1.3-billion Muslims in the world have no political, religious, or ideological leadership, the imam says “we have no choice but to appeal to God to unite this nation.” [That’s just what Osama wants to do.] . . .
In conclusion, the imam prays to God: “O God, support our mujahidin brothers on the land of Palestine. O God, strengthen them, unite them, and help them score a victory. O God, turn against the arrogant, usurper, unjust, aggressor Jews and their wicked Crusader allies.”
From Saudi Arabia:
Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabic TV2 in Arabic, official television
station of the Saudi Government, on 6 February 2004 at 0950 GMT carries a
22-minute live sermon from the holy mosque in Medina.Shaykh Salah Bin-Muhammad al-Budayr delivers the sermon. . . . Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, save Al-Aqsa Mosque from the paws of the Jews. O God, help our Palestinian brothers defeat the usurper Jews.”
From our ally Yemen:
Sanaa Republic of Yemen Television in Arabic, official television station of the Republic of Yemen, on February 6, 2004 at 0926 GMT carries a 21-minute live sermon from the Grand Mosque in Sanaa.
Shaykh Ahmad Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi delivers the sermon. After praising God, the messenger, and his companions, he urges Muslims to obey and worship God, stressing that faith without virtue is useless. Although some countries have discovered the atom and controlled energy, he says, their civilization “is fragile because it has not been built on global pillars but on domination and competing to make tools of destruction.” The imam asks: “Has Western civilization achieved peace, stopped destruction, and protected human rights? Has it provided security and refrained from concocting conspiracies and spreading sedition?” Everything around us, he says, shows that humanity “is looking for a solution, and the solution lies in faith, or Islam, simply because spiritual vacuum produces anxiety and trouble.”
In conclusion, the imam beseeches God: “O God, have mercy on Muslims. O God, support those supporting Islam and disappoint those disappointing Muslims. O God, destroy the aggressive Zionists and the tyrant Americans and shake the ground under their feet.”
From moderate Jordan:
Amman Jordan Television Channel 1 in Arabic, official television station of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on 5 March 2004 at 1002 GMT carries a 17-minute live sermon from martyr King Abdallah mosque in Amman.
Shaykh Jamal Shakir delivers the sermon. . . . In conclusion, the imam prays to God: “O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels. O God, destroy your enemies, the Jewish and crusader enemies of Islam.” He goes on: “O God, stand by our weak Muslim brothers everywhere. O God, stand by our weak Muslim brothers in Palestine, Iraq, and the other Islamic countries.”
And another from Saudi Arabia, the pièce de résistance:
Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic, official television
station of the Saudi Government, carries on February 27, 2004 at 0945 GMT a
live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca.Shaykh Salih Bin-Muhammad Al Talib delivers the sermon, which he devotes to the story of genesis and the heavenly messages brought by the prophets, beginning with Adam and ending with Prophet Muhammad and the message of Islam. All heavenly religions, he asserts, came with one message — worship of God.
“Therefore,” the imam says, “is it not time the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] pondered and acknowledged that Islam is a continuation of the messages that came before it and that it is the religion that God has chosen for the whole of mankind?”
“From the time of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, until the Day of Judgment, God will not accept any other religion or creed,” the imam says and cites the Koranic verse: “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost.”
Continuing, the imam says: “Have you not noticed that in the past 15 centuries history has not recorded that one single Muslim religious scholar has entered Judaism or Christianity? On the other hand, history records with letters of light the columns of rabbis and priests who have converted to Islam and linked their messages with its final message, which God has chosen for all mankind.”
The imam makes this appeal: “Therefore, from the fountain of the message, the site of its revelation, and the pulpit of the house [ka’bah], which was built by Abraham and to which Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them, made pilgrimage, I make a sincere appeal along with our Prophet Muhammad’s message to non-Muslims and say: Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so that God would reward you twice. Otherwise, you, and those that follow you out of ignorance would have to account for your sin. It is an appeal to accept the truth and study Islam; the correct Islam that the prophet of guidance, Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, has brought; Islam as it really is, free of innovations and distortions; the Islam that is innocent of human violations and the errors made by some of its followers.”
The imam then reads this Koranic verse: “Say: “O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah. If then they turn back, Say ye: Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims bowing to Allah’s will).”
Then, in a nifty appropriation of the calls to Muslims to renounce terrorism, the Sheikh calls on Christians and Jews to renounce Zionism and secularism:
The imam continues with the same theme in the second sermon. He says: “What has caused misery to mankind in these times of confused ideas is when some politicians hijacked religions and used them as a means to suppress others and a tool to dominate the followers of other faiths. This is what world Zionism did to Judaism. This is also what the so-called secular governments did to Christianity. They coerced peoples and occupied states by religious motives and claims of religiousness. And, although they deny these motives in their statements, they come out in their slips of the tongue and are unequivocally explained by their statements. The clerics in those religions are called upon to clearly say that they do not approve the behavior of their governments and that what is happening is not advocated by their religions so that their followers who are used in these attacks, those who think they are doing a good thing and getting closer God, would know that they are mere tools in the hands of the politicians serving their reckless whims, which are not curbed by religion or morals. These people’s [clerics] silence and shy statements would only lead to the conflict or clash of civilizations. The racial segregation wall, which usurps Muslim lands in Palestine, is one example.”
The imam says: “O Muslims, and now a final word on the roots. It is the
duty of Muslims to strongly uphold their religion. The nation of Islam must
believe that it is the only one on the right path, that Islam is the last of
religions, that the Koran is the last of the Books and most importantly,
that Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, is
the last of the apostles, that the Islamic law [shari’a] is a copy of their
laws, and that God will not accept any other religion. Thus, it is
impermissible to concede any of that even if at the cost of our lives. We
say this at a time when some defeatists have weakened and called for mixing
distorted scriptures with Islamic religion under the claim of bringing
religions closer to one another.
“Distorted scriptures,” of course, refers to the Bible of Jews and Christians — a bitterly ironic characterization in light of the dhimmitude that comes from some Christian quarters.
We say it also at a time when some people’s faith is so weak as to believe that everyone is correct. This began from the statements uttered by some and the behavior and theses written by others. It is as if they did not hear God’s words: “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never it will be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost.”