4 Farhan Abdul Azeez Gaza the Land of Honour

Gaza: The Land of Honour

By Farhan Abdul Azeez

Opening: The Khutbah Introduction

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنُؤْمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْهِ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims [in submission to Him].

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

Hajar's Faith: Complete Trust in Allah

When Hajar عليها السلام was taken to what is now the haram in Mecca and Ibrahim عليه السلام leaves her with their son Ismail and turns around and begins walking away leaves her in the middle of a desert with no shelter minimal food that would last just a few days an empty desert which would equal certain death to be left in that state would equal certain death and he begins walking away and she's asking him why are you leaving us here? what's going on? until she finally says did Allah command you to leave us here?

And then Ibrahim عليه السلام finally answers and says yes it's a command from Allah her immediate response is if that's the case if it's a command from Allah then I have full faith in Allah then Allah will not abandon me Allah will not abandon Allah will not leave us alone despite what she sees of physically looking in front of her she's alone, a woman with her baby infant with a few dates, a little water and that's all that she has what would be certain there's no way one can survive like this when she's told it's a command from Allah her immediate without hesitation response is Allah will not abandon me.

Musa and the People: Faith in the Face of Defeat

When Musa عليه السلام was driven by Firaun and his army Allah says about him Firaun:

The possessor of the stakes - you know when you have a tent and you go out camping and you peg the tent into the ground you peg it into the ground Allah uses this description of Firaun because if you were to look at his army as far as you can see it would be if his army had all come out it would just be tents filling up the whole

area massive army he comes out and he's chasing Firaun and Bani Israel and they reach the border of the sea in front of them is the sea behind them is an army that's come out to massacre every last one of them.

They've already massacred how many thousands of babies every year every other year the babies that were born were being killed and if they have the capacity to murder babies to genocide a population of Bani Israel then why would they have any hesitation in massacring the adults and so when the people of Musa عليه السلام see the army behind them and see the sea in front of them they see no way out what they see is manifest defeat and they say:

We are going to be overcome. What is Musa عليه السلام's response? He sees what they see he sees the army behind them he sees the sea in front of them but there's no hesitation rather:

No! My Lord is with me he will show me a way he will guide me a path.

The Faith of Gaza: Examples of Unshakeable Iman

And you find in the people before us that Allah has recorded in the Quran the strength of faith of Iman that they have despite what physically appears to them of manifest defeat. Allah has showed us glimpses of that in the people of Gaza. Allah has given them strength that you and I have witnessed over the past two years and subhanallah when I had a chance to go and sit with people in person and see this one of the goals of going to Gaza of course is to treat to offer medical services but that's I consider a small part of the overall mission a big part of it is the same thing I'm wondering that you are wondering where does this Iman come from?

The Young Man Shot Nine Times

You know I sat with a standing with a young boy 19 years old who had been shot 9 times one leg was already amputated and the other leg needs to be amputated 7 shots were in the legs 2 were in his pelvis 19 years old and his life full ahead of him and this is outside Shodal Aqsa hospital his brother had pushed him out of the hospital to get him some fresh air because the hospital is overwhelmed with patients and it's overcrowded the heat and the like so he just pushed him out to get some air so we're talking and he's telling me what happened he and his brother had gone out to look for food and there were snipers in the area who opened fire on them he was shot 9 times his brother wasn't shot at all one leg amputated the next leg to be amputated he's soon to be a double amputee and after telling me his whole story you know what he ends his last words after summarizing everything that happened to him he says:

He says all of this is a decree from Allah and how sweet is a decree of Allah. 19 years old to have this perspective to have this faith in Allah that despite what I see what I'm living through what our people are living through we have full faith in Allah the decree of Allah is always the best.

The Young Widow Who Serves at the Morgue

I sat before a 32 year old widow who just 6 months before the war she was married and then her husband was martyred in the genocide she's homeless she is left without her husband widow now she doesn't know where her next meal is coming from and she would volunteer at the morgue at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunus she would come to take care of the washing and the preparation of our sisters who were martyred or who were killed or who died to take care of their bodies before their burial and she's of course a Hafidah of Quran and in between washing bodies you know how she would spend her time students would come to her other sisters would come to her to recite the Quran and she would correct them and teach them and then they would proceed to wash the next body when the next body came.

And when I asked her to give a reminder to share something for I can share with the Muslims back home in America and wherever we can spread the message she gave a impromptu 15 minute like a lecture that was just subhanallah every word was like should be written in gold and among the things she said was she said that we are a people of the Quran.

I asked them where does this strength come from and she said we are a people of the Quran and when Allah tells us things in the Quran we believe it so for me when my husband has been martyred and I'm left as a widow and homeless and the like I still have no doubt that the promise of Allah is true when Allah says:

Don't be deceived by those who go about in the land and massacring and killing and taking the land and the like don't be deceived Allah says so we believe and again she's living in a place where everything is destroyed it's just rubble all around them her family is killed her home is destroyed but she's seen this manifest defeat quote on quote but she says I believe.

Allah says this is a short time for them. Allah says in the Quran:

Allah will defend those who believe so it's my belief Allah will defend us so subhanallah you see shades of this kind of Iman that Allah spoke of in the Quran and the people of Gaza.

The Man Under the Rubble for Eight Days

You know I sat in front of a brother I was at European hospital in one of my trips and I was brought to see a man he's sitting on the hospital bed his legs crossed and his face is covered his face is wrapped in bandages from here up to the top of his head so all I can see is part of his lip is ripped open and it's become black and when tissue when your muscles and the like become black it's a sign that it's lost blood supply and that part of the tissue has died so you can see this tissue that's hanging down is dead and that's what I can see of him and he's sitting there but I can't see his face because all of it is covered.

And he begins telling me him and his families around him his nephews and nieces were around him his core family was killed he was in a home that was bombed some family members were killed and some survived and

were still in the home now nobody when the army is in the area no one can go there because they'll be killed so the extended family has to wait until the army withdraws and then they can go and check on their loved ones.

So subhanallah 8 days after the house was bombed the army withdrew from that area and so the family went to find what happened and they found him alive after 8 days under the rubble and the man is holding a masbaha in his hand and he's telling me his story and in between telling me the story he's making dhikr of Allah every now and then he stops and says:

He's making these words of praise of Allah and the like and he said that after we were bombed 4 days after the army soldiers came into the home and they found others that were alive and they killed them and he was alive as well but he said I made a dua to Allah when the soldiers came and he said the dua I made was:

Oh Allah like you saved Yunus علیه السلام from the belly of the whale and like you saved Yusuf عليه السلام from the bottom of the well and like you saved Ibrahim عليه السلام from the massive fire oh Allah please save me. This was the dua he made and whether the soldiers saw him and thought he was dead or they didn't see him at all allahu a'lam but they left they left him alive and then his family found him and then brought him to the hospital and he's telling me this story.

What Was Going Through His Mind Under the Rubble?

And one of the questions I would always ask myself is these people who were under the rubble for days what goes through their mind what are the thoughts in your last because what's expected you're going to die the expectation would be you're going to die so what would be the final thoughts when you have clarity at this moment you know this dunya we get busy in the business and the hustle and the bustle and we earning money and building our career we get tied up in this dunya but at that moment if you're under the rubble waiting for death what would be the thoughts that go through your mind so I asked him this question what was going through your mind?

And you know what he said just boggled my mind it doesn't make sense and this is someone by the way his face was wrapped you know when they took him to surgery and they unwrapped the bandages from his face the surgeon I didn't see it myself personally but I saw the picture of his face he showed me on his phone the picture of his face and brothers he had no face left his whole face was ripped open you can't see his eye from his nose from his mouth it's just flesh for 8 days he's sitting like that imagine if you just put a pillow on your face after 2 minutes you'll feel uncomfortable it's blocking my breathing I'm feeling hot his face is ripped open one shrapnel he lost his eyesight subhanallah one eye the shrapnel went through the eye and he lost and the other one was crushed he's blind now.

But he made dua: Ya Allah like you saved Yusuf and Yunus from the whale in the well save me. Allah saved his life which doesn't make sense medically 8 days under the rubble without water and food how will you survive but Allah saved him he made a dua and Allah answered the dua.

So when I asked him what was going through your mind you know what he said he said I was thinking of a hadith a statement of the Prophet, a hadith qudsi. This is the hadith that I kept playing in my mind again and again. What's the hadith? It's a hadith where Allah says:

I swear by my might and my majesty I will not cause my slave to have two senses of fear nor two senses of security so if my slave feels safe from me in this dunya you live this life not thinking of Allah not thinking of the consequences of what we do we feel safe from Allah in this dunya I will cause this person to feel a sense of fear on the day of judgment but if he lives his life fearful of me in this world on the day of judgment I will give him a sense of security.

At that time he will feel secure so this is the hadith that was going through my mind that ya Allah make my fear of you greater than anything else so that when I meet you on the day of judgment I will be given security and peace. Subhanallah where does this tawfiq, this ilham this inspiration from Allah come from?

And the second thing he said was the dhikr of Allah I would busy myself in the dhikr of Allah and literally he's saying that as he's holding a masbah and making dhikr of Allah and his whole family they're all amazing his nephew was next to him I asked him after he told me this story every word was like gold I said I wish I could record what you said can you say it all again and I'll record it and his family felt shy for him to be recorded in the physical state that he's in with his face bandaged and the like and so they said no but his nephew said he recorded a message for me and he recited a Qur'an with the most beautiful recitation he's quoting poetry about the shuhada of Allah and how they have provision from Allah and he said subhanallah he says something one of the words he said that I found so powerful he says he said in Mecca if you go to the haram you go to perform umrah or hajj you find like a very when you see the Kaaba you feel this divine awe of seeing the Kaaba and he says and there's a sense of beauty in Medina and he said and he said you find a sense of رَهْبَة in the people of Gaza.

This statement was true it was true.

Three Sources of Strength: Where Does This Iman Come From?

And so I would ask the brothers and sisters there this question where does this come from where do you find this iman what is in the water in Gaza that you drink that makes you have such faith even in such difficult circumstances and the answers I would get from them are a few three main things they would say and this is something that subhanallah whoever you ask they would say the same thing.

The first thing they would point to and of course first and foremost is from Allah as if Allah gave them this to show the ummah to awaken the ummah giving us examples literally that we read of in books in the past.

First: Depth of Belief in Allah

But he said the first thing they would say is there is a depth of belief in Allah you know what we study growing up in the Quran and ahadith and the like these aren't just words these aren't just statements but they're guidance