The Elephant in the Room – as Caretakers of Earth, Muslims Must Oppose its Destroyers

Pollution has appeared on land and at sea because of what man’s hands have accomplished, so he may let them taste something of what they have earned, in order that they will turn back [in repentance]. (30:41)

Although many translators translate fasad as “corruption,” it can definitely also refer to “pollution” which is indeed a kind of corruption that conveys to modern understanding that this isn’t about leaders getting kickbacks or bribes, it’s about directly destroying the earth and its resources.

It is both dereliction of our duty and a threat to our survival as a species to harm the earth. The Quran warns us not to commit fasad (corruption of any kind) upon the earth many times (around 60x including non-environmental corruption). And our mandate from the Almighty as humans is to be caretakers of the earth. Thus we must also struggle against those who cause the pollution and destruction of the resources of our planet, its water, living things, minerals, air, everything. But now the earth is horribly polluted and made toxic at the hands of humans, and who is the biggest criminal? The U.S. military.

Allah/God is our only Ballast

Many people who think themselves modern or of a superior worldview disparage religion (although with the ongoing genocide by Israel is changing people’s outlook), and in particular disparage the “idea” of God, as if God was nothing more than an idea. Although this contradicts the narrative of Jewish faith one thinks of in the public sphere, where God is One, ineffable, and interacts with humanity in a very real and tangible way, more or less like Islam, if one examines how the rabbinical and general interpretive stream goes, it tends toward muddying the waters between human and Divine.  As per below:

God is not a static being, but a dynamic becoming. Without human participation, God remains incomplete, unrealized. It is up to us to actualize the divine potential in the world. God needs us.

As for the “dynamic,” this is very true and I’ve often argued that very point, that “God is not a static Being,” as shown in the Quran. But “becoming” can be understood as “not yet realized” whereas Allah the Exalted is completely and fully realized. The problem with this is “realized” in the next sentence in bold which uses the word “becoming” to imply an insufficiency on God’s part which humans supposedly fulfill. This is false and totally contradicts truth. God/Allah is free of need, and does not “need” us at all. The Quran repeatedly tells us this!

O mankind, you are the ones in need of Allah. Indeed, Allah is the Free of Need, the Praiseworthy. (35:15)

Indeed, Allah is our only true Ballast. Without Him, we have neither true north nor south, nor any direction whatsoever, and truth becomes an invention, something anyone can make up, a fantasy, and thus we lose both balance and direction, rendering life itself pointless and meaningless. Which is where the “modern” mindset, denying God/Allah outright, has taken us. Yet many still have their conscience, their innate Fitrah.

Good and Evil Have Rarely Been So Obvious

Palestinian family sharing a Ramadan meal in the rubble.

The photo above is the perfect image of human dignity and goodness under unimaginable circumstances. Despite bombardment, soldiers killing children by the thousands, no shelter and no safe place to go, yet they find this moment. They deserve our undying support and admiration to do whatever we can to help their people in this genocide in Gaza and all of Palestine. Contrast with the image below:

And many more would have shot him on sight.

Or this/

Worshipers in Al-Aqsa mosque zip-tied for praying there.

Is there any greater depravity?

This was the least offensive of many images showing off women’s lingerie making lascivious faces and gestures, one man wearing woman’s underwear over his uniform.

These are all attempts to humiliate and dehumanize Palestinians as their society routinely does. But NOTHING can destroy the resilience, courage, and high moral character and faith of the Palestinians. Not even these depraved satanic forces. And of course, it’s obvious who is going to hell and who is going straight to the highest paradise for their powerful faith and patience under the most dire persecution imaginable.

Trying to celebrate Ramadan in the most dire circumstances. Is that not bravery and faith for such small children?

What is the Purpose of Fasting Ramadan?

This post on the single Quranic aya which describes the why of fasting in the month of Ramadan, covers its purpose in the context of the aya. The purely physical benefits of “intermittent fasting,” of which Siyam (fasting) in Ramadan is an example, are surprisingly numerous. But of course, the purpose for Muslims goes deeper, and we must never forget the agony of our brothers and sisters in Palestine, but rather continue doing whatever we can to bring about justice and an end to Israel’s horrific genocide. One of the reasons to fast is to increase our sympathy with those deprived of food and water. And who is more desperately in need of these things than Palestinians? Because of the Israeli Blockade, it’s hard to know how to help. Here are some suggested ways. (Pictured above, the Palestinian sunbird.)

Why Don’t Muslim Countries Help Palestinians or Stop the Genocide?

The video above answers this question in about ten minutes. I would add that among the “leaders” he mentions as having been the target of the U.S. and Israel is Bashar Al-Assad, himself is a tyrant who was waging a war on his own people when they came out in peaceful demonstrations against his Nazi-style rule in the wake of the Arab Spring. Israel had no problem with Assad or his father Hafez whom they once said “did even more than us” in terms of brutality against “rebels” among his own people. Many of the leaders taken out in coups were themselves dictators, but all the Israel-US alignment did was replace them when they got problematic. But it may be the genocide itself shows these puppet regimes that Israel does not hesitate to kill anyone – and these are not the sort of guys to sacrifice themselves for a cause other than themselves.

Video Explains Israeli Cruelty, Similar to How the Quran Describes Satan

In this video, an Israeli who is against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the siege of Gaza tells us “How Israelis Live so Easily with Occupation.” He explains why they commit atrocities and are comfortable with the occupation, as well as the current war crimes in Gaza and now Rafah, where they can hear children’s screams of agony from starvation and fear. His answers show us a mindset like Satan’s as described in the Quran, although that was not his observation. How can people commit these evil, unconscionable atrocities against mothers and children and celebrate them? Why do they dehumanize Palestinians, who welcomed the first refugees in the aftermath of WWII, and in return were massacred?

Satan’s “original” sin which condemned him to hell was arrogance. We may have wondered if that’s enough to warrant hell. But this arrogance is the root cause of all evil.

Why Does Allah Allow the Genocide in Gaza?

This is an important question, and Nouman Ali Khan gives us a fantastic and true answer to it.

The genocide in Gaza is an extreme example of fitnah, a test – not to be confused with fitrah which refers to the basic sense of right/wrong and true/false installed in all humans by God – of both the aggressor-oppressor and the victim. The oppressor has already failed his test by the oppression and the more it continues the greater the failure and Allah’s wrath; the victim, however, is also being tested.

The disbelievers support one another. If you do not do the same, there will be persecution in the land and great corruption. (8:73)

The Palestinians have supported one another, and persevered in their faith beyond most people’s imagination! They are an example to the world. And no matter how horrible the test, it is temporary – this life itself is temporary – but the reward in Paradise is everlasting and absolute bliss.

So their Lord answered them, “I shall not let the work of any worker among you, male or female, be in vain; each of you is like the other. So those who emigrated, and were expelled from their homes, and were hurt in My way, and fought and were slain—I shall absolve them of their sins and shall make them enter Gardens with rivers running below, a reward from God. And God, with Him is the most beautiful reward. (3:195)

Islam and What’s Happening in the Middle East: Sami Hamdi

This video goes beyond its title to bring us a comprehensive view of how Muslims should view the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza in particular and all of the occupied territories in general, and all that results as a consequence of this. The Houthis have emerged as the heroes and most nominally Muslim countries have emerged as having been hijacked by West-promoted corrupt leaders to the point of being OK with genocide. As always with YouTube, you can adjust its speed and skip around the banter to focus on what matters. This video raised Sami Hamdi’s stature in my eyes to a whole new level. The very emotion that became visible, for which one tends to apologize, is the very thing that let me know he is truly a trustworthy witness to what we are seeing. The word mu’min at its heart means trustworthy in the most thorough sense of the word.

How to Deal with the Genocide in Palestine

The horrors of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and also wherever Palestinians live are unimaginably traumatic. My heart is really there daily, and it can be difficult because we are limited in what we can do, but we can and should do something. First, we can make du’as for the Palestinians who are suffering, and some suggested du’as are here. If there’s any problem accessing it, try this link, from which you should be able to download.

Second, we may need to understand how to handle the aggressive Israeli Propaganda Machine, where lobbyists and pro-genocide activists may threaten and try to either divert attention or even resort to character assassination or threats. We can go on social media to express our views, call and write to our congressmen or representatives wherever we live, as well as participate in protests. But we should be aware of how active the Israeli lobby is in the US and UK, as well as elsewhere, yet be brave enough to speak out. It helps to know how to handle arguments one may face in this situation. Professor Hatem Bazian, who has faced this propaganda head-on successfully, helps us prepare ourselves.

In the War on Humanity, Allah Gives us a Fighting Chance

This article in Yaqeen website shows us the tools Allah gives us to fight against genocide, the propaganda that upholds it in Palestine and elsewhere including America, and more.

There’s never been a more important moment. In a very real sense we are all Palestinians, and a few in control are censoring our voices and trying to control even our biological makeup as individuals. But the Quran is highly relevant and guides us as to how to save ourselves. Some excerpts below:

On Gratitude, Thanksgiving, and Islam

This Yaqeen Institute article entitled “Does Thanksgiving Make a Mockery of Gratitude?” gives us a brilliant and insightful discussion, with examples, of what gratitude is and is not, notably showing the distinct difference between how the Islamic empire grew and how European-style settler-colonial empires or projects grew. His examples include the horrors in Palestine now as well with America’s dubious relationship with the many indigenous peoples (actually nations but not organized as “modern nation-states”) whose lands the European settlers violently usurped. But he also helps us find the way forward.

We can easily see how true this is! Everything Israel accuses Hamas of doing is what Israel actually does and is continuously doing.

An article well-worth reading with historical background and some startling facts! This Smithsonian article also gives more on the more disturbing and accurate history of Thanksgiving.

Inspired by Palestinians, Many Now Read the Quran, Turn to Islam

This is such a big thing, especially on TikTok, that Zionists are trying to ban the social media site used by millions, a large number of whom are young people. Meanwhile, Israelis have humiliated themselves on TikTok with videos displaying the utmost arrogance and lack of humanity, so out of touch are they with moral values or actual compassion for people. Their dances are often explicitly sexual, showing the depraved nature of this genocide. On the other hand, the faith and resilience of Palestinians under the most dire of circumstances has inspired untold numbers of people around the world to read the Quran and find out more about Islam, often reverting/converting. But they, and all people of conscience, face an international movement to ban free speech, targeting anyone who opposes the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. This is in opposition to democratic principles to circumvent those very principles for the despicable and greedy goals of destroying Palestinians entirely in a total genocide and usurping the oil off their coast.

“Invest your energy in one thing; Erasing Gaza from the face of the earth,” the Likud MK and former public diplomacy minister Galit Distel Atbaryan said. (The Times of Israel)

Lies Mined from the Bible Used to Promote Genocide

I’ve been in a state of dread since Israel began its declaration of “war” – a euphemism for genocide, mass murder, slaughter, sadistic systematic killing of children, women, and men – on an entire region of 2.2 million civilians, not soldiers, kept in an open-air prison surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers with shoot-to-kill orders. Easy targets for an IDF whose conscience has been excised. They are openly and with intent ethnically cleansing all Palestinians including those who have nothing to do with Hamas. Death toll: over 10,000 civilians plus journalists, doctors, and international aid workers, and of course, over 4,000 children. Israeli Zionists are atheists who use selectively interpret Biblical references to promote their war crimes to their ardently blind supporters among Christian Zionist “evangelicals,” a group with an international reach. Meanwhile the real reason for the genocide is oil off the coast of Gaza, technically belonging to the Gazan people. Israel is willing to kill or displace over 2 million human beings in an epic Holocaust for that oil. It’s all about greed and religion is merely a pretext.

This article explains exactly what this biblical reference is all about, making an arbitrary mythological connection between Palestinians and an ancient group of people long gone, and how they invoke this to lure Christians to join the Zionist genocide brigade.

In Dark Times, There Can Be Light

Now we face the dark powers of the Zionist-Oppressor Alliance between genocidal Israel and their European & American toadies, both vassals of one another in shared criminality, especially mass murder and atrocities, as the inheritors of the Nazis’ evil, against whom many brave people of conscience fought and often died in WWII. War profiteers are rejoicing, IDF Nazi invertebrates are indiscriminately bombing children from their sterilized cubicles in the air where they don’t have to face their victims. They now turned off power and internet to hide the atrocity. But they can’t hide. Everybody already knows this is genocide and those who did it and their supporters are already on a massive downward slide to hell in this world and the next. But there’s something important we can do in whatever capacity we have. Listen to this visionary Friday khutba.

Tragedies of Epic Scope

How will we answer her? When will the Zionists be held accountable for any of their many atrocities? Right now the tide is turning against them and they are unable to perceive it or prevent it insha’Allah. Meanwhile the genocide of Palestinians continues unabated. Zionists (not to be confused with Jews; Zionism is an ideology not a religion) do not believe Divine retribution could ever apply to them, as “chosen people,” and so they refuse to think the Biblical laws regarding justice, such as the Ten Commandments, could apply to them, because they’ve found a “workaround.” Zionism is actually antisemite, because it wants people to think they follow God’s law and they use religion for public relations. But in reality they do not actually follow the Torah or represent Jews or Judaism at all. It’s called playing with words, mixing truth with falsehood to justify crimes against humanity. The aya below is speaking of Bani Isra’il or “the children of Israel (prophet Jacob),” the ancestors of modern Jews.

Exposing the “Genocide Club” to Light

After 9/11, which Netanyahu said “was very, very helpful to us,” the US started the “International War on Terror,” going full-tilt on its path toward becoming a security state, also known as a police state, through the implementation of the Patriot Act. The War on Terror was followed by the development of a very lucrative product, the Genocide Enablement Kit, complete with a ready-made “internationally” agreed-upon group to demonize (Muslims), instructions on the use of false flag atrocity theater to achieve compliance among the people, the reputation of the US and other “respectable” nations as a shield against accountability, and a host of security technology from Israel’s top-rated surveillance and security-related products. This enables the despots’ and fascists’ takeover of public opinion, enabling the kits’ consumer nation to join an international party of nations without accountability, committing crimes against humanity and genocide with the support and publicity cover of their “fellow nations:” the United States, France, and Israel, among others. But Israel didn’t need such a kit. They already got one from the Nazis, coupled with inspiration from Zionism, the idea of a “land without a people,” not telling the Jews who followed them that to make such a land, first they had to murder or expel all the people.

Israel has a Jewish population of 7,145,000.

90,000 of them subscribe to this channel.

1.2% of Israeli Jews are enjoying watching videos of Palestinians being brutally murdered by their bombs.

Sick society doesn't being to describe it. https://t.co/HKjhUi5JoR

— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) October 21, 2023

Israel has successfully brainwashed a sector of the country into believing their lies. But not all the people of Israel. The human conscience is seriously hard to erase. We must all stand as one: Jews, Muslims, Christians, the unaffiliated whose religion is their own conscience.

The Almighty Will Help the Palestinians to “A Manifest Victory”

This wonderful video by CJ Werleman gives an invigorating synopsis of how the world is responding to the Palestinian situation in a powerful way. And Muslims understand Allah alone brings about nasr-ullah wa-lfat’h, “Allah’s intervention and a manifest victory.” (48:1) All our fervent prayers and those of all people of conscience will insha’Allah be answered, the du’a and efforts of Jews, Christians, Muslims, and all others who stand for justice and want peace and an end to the occupation and oppression of Palestinians, who in reality represent all human beings, all of us. So in reality this is victory for humanity itself. Let us all continue our efforts in support of Palestine, it’s not over yet, the Genocide continues. Because the purveyors of oppression and war are still out there fighting against the will of the people, dead-set on power and greedy for more wealth and worldly entitlement. Because what happens to Palestinians can happen to all of us unless we continue to resist. God help us all.

And they routed them, by God’s leave, and David slew Goliath, and God gave him sovereignty and wisdom, and taught him of what He wills. And were it not for God’s repelling people, some by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted. But God is Possessed of Bounty for the worlds. (Al-Baqarah 2:251)

Trustworthiness Needs Accountability – What Is a Mu’Min?

Another meaning of mu’min is “someone you can trust” – someone trustworthy. Often translated “believer,” that English word misses a significant part of the meaning of mu’min which is the element of trust. In the Quran, faith is not the same as belief in English, which infers a “leap” of presumption without the use of the mind. Whereas one of the frequently asked questions in the Quran is “will you not use your minds??” Afa la t’aqiloon? Faith in the ultimate accountability of Judgment Day is a powerful basis for both ethical and reasonable action. That, plus holding no mere mortals in heaven and earth higher than the One Who created all existence, gives those who truly do this the highest honor, the most powerfully steady hearts. Like the Palestinians who stand tall despite being bombed in a tiny plot of land where they are trapped with no way of escape, and cut off from water, food, electricity and supplies, deliberately and vengefully, by Israel, which has always enjoyed ZERO accountability. Thanks to the U.S., U.K., and other nations complicit in letting the Nakba – itself a genocidal act of ethnic cleansing – pass with no accountability as well as Israel’s systematic persecution of the original inhabitants of the land Zionists took by force, Palestinians.

Message to Palestine: You Are Stronger and Allah Is with You

Dr. Omar Suleiman of Dallas, Texas gave this khutba above, among other things, quoting from and explaining the beautiful aya below:

When people said to them, “A great army has assembled against you, so fear them.” But the threat only increased them in their conviction. They said, “Allah suffices for us and He is the best Guardian.” (3:173)

Zionism: How Ideology Hijacks Religion

This Quora post brilliantly exposes how Zionism grew as an ideology from secular and socialist ideas, considering various locations such as Uganda and Azerbaijan for a possible Jewish homeland long before the Holocaust, into the nationalist political ideology it has become. The supposed Biblical justification for forcibly colonizing Palestine was used as a means to an end; prior to the invention of Zionism, Jewish rabbis and scholars were primarily concerned with Jews’ relationship to God, not with any particular “land.” Another “means” justifying the “end” was the political support of avid antisemites who saw this as a way to get rid of Jews in their countries. Muslims being accused of terrorism is directly related to Zionist ideology which sought and succeeded to convince the West to demonize Muslims, which they felt would strengthen their hand against Palestinians. But Allah’s plan supersedes their wildest conspiracies.