O Bilaad al-Shaam! You are in our hearts
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-07T18:43:56.607881+00:00 | Topic: Iman
O Bilaad al-Shaam! You are in our hearts!
Syria Crisis Khutbah by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi - February 10, 2012
Opening
إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، 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
Inna alhamdulillah, nahmaduhu wa nasta'ainuhu wa nastaghfiruhu, wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina, man yahdihi allahu fa la mudhilla lah, wa man yudhilhu fa la hadiya lah, wa ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashhadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh
"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."
Amma ba'd
Introduction: The Sacred Land of Sham
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the very few lands that our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has mentioned in numerous traditions, and in fact before him even Allah has mentioned by reference in the Quran, is the land of Sham, which is now the land of Syria and Jordan and Lebanon and Palestine.
And this land, clearly our tradition, our religion, has emphasized it, like it has emphasized no other land after the land of Hijaz. And there is no question that Mecca and Medina, the land of Hijaz, is the most sacred land on earth. But after the land of Hijaz comes the land of Sham, the land of Syria.
Allah's Praise of Sham in the Quran
Allah himself praises it in the Quran, in the beginning of Surah Al-Isra, when he says:
"Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed."
Allah says that Masjidul Aqsa is holy, and not just the Masjid, the land around the Masjid is holy - (الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ - "whose surroundings We have blessed.") And therefore Allah is saying in the Quran, that the land of Sham is indeed a blessed land.
That is because the region of Sham is more than just what we now call Syria. The region of Sham included what is now Syria, and also what is now Lebanon, and also the occupied territories in Palestine. All of this is incorporated in the classical Islamic term for Sham.
The Prophet's Dua for Sham
Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said in a famous hadith in Sahih Bukhari:
"O Allah bless us in our Medina, and in the measurements of our city, and bless us in our Sham."
And what is amazing about this hadith is that when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) made this dua, Sham was not under Islamic control. Sham was a land of Christians. Sham was the right arm of the Byzantine Empire. Sham was the jewel and the crown of the Roman Empire. And yet the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "bless us in our Sham" - (فِي شَامِنَا)
And so one of the people who was from another land, he said: (فِي عِرَاقِنَا وَفِي نَجْدِنَا) - O Allah ask Allah to bless us in our Iraq and our other lands as well."
And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) repeated: (اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي مَدِينَتِنَا وَفِي شَامِنَا). He asked for a second time. For a second time the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said : (بَارِكْ لَنَا فِي شَامِنَا وَفِي مَدِينَتِنَا). And for the third time, and still for the third time, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) did not respond to that request as if it was never asked. And he restricted the barakah, he restricted the blessings to Ard al-Hijaz, to Mecca and Medina, and to the land of Sham.
Prophetic Predictions About Sham
And this clearly shows us that the status of Sham and the status of this land is something that we as Muslims need to believe in. And in fact, in a hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmed, our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Count six things before the Day of Judgment." And it's a long hadith, we don't have time for all of it.
The first of these, he said, is my death. The second one: conquering Bayt al-Maqdis. The second of the six signs that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, take note of them. And so our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) predicted the conquering of Bayt al-Maqdis, even before it was conquered.
Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told the Muslims that Bayt al-Maqdis would be ours, Sham would be ours, even before it was conquered. And it was not conquered in his own lifetime. And yet he said, this would be something that would happen right after my death. And this is exactly what we find in the books of history as well.
The Light of Sham
And in a hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that he saw a light emanating from Sham. In another hadith, he said: "When I was born, before my mother gave birth to me, my mother saw a light from her that enlightened the palaces of Sham." As if the message of Islam is coming from Makkah, and of course Medina, and its primary target is going to be the land of Sham.
And in another hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmed, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "I saw the angels carry a light, a beam of light, and they placed it in Ard al-Sham." And this is an authentic hadith, that the angels, Allah told them to place a beam of light, signifying guidance, signifying righteousness, to place it in the Ard al-Sham.
Allah's Guarantee for the People of Sham
In one hadith, the famous companion Abdullah ibn Hawala, he said: "O Messenger of Allah, if I knew you would live forever, I would never leave your side. But I know your time is limited, and I want to go forth and preach the message of Islam. Where should I go?"
Look firstly at the iman of the sahabi. That: "O Messenger of Allah, I want to stay with you, but the message of Islam and spreading the message of Islam is more important." Look at the iman of the sahabi. "I knew if you would live forever, I would be with you. But eventually you need to move on. O Messenger of Allah, where do you advise I go?"
And so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: (عَلَيْكَ بالشام) - "I command you to go to Sham."
Once again, at a time when Sham was not in Muslim lands. And Abdullah ibn Hawala, his face changed. Because he didn't want to go to Sham. He wanted to go somewhere else. And so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) saw this in him. And so he said again:
(Ahmad 16957)
"O son of Hawala, Allah has guaranteed me the people of Sham."
What does it mean, He has guaranteed me the people of Sham? It means that, not only will Sham be my people, my ummah. Allah has guaranteed the people of Sham will be from my ummah.
And it has been the case for the last 14 and a half centuries, for the last 14 centuries and more, that the land of Sham has been the land of Islam. Then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is saying: (إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ ضَمِنَ لِي أَهْلَ الشام) Allah has guaranteed me not only that the people of Sham will be Muslims, but also that they will be righteous Muslims, that they will be rightly guided Muslims, that they will be at the stalwart, they will be at the vanguard of Islam and the people of Islam.
The Blessed Status of Sham in Prophetic Traditions
The Victorious Group
And this is something that is specifically and authentically and explicitly mentioned in a number of hadith. Of them is the hadith of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم),in which he said that: "There shall always be a group of my ummah rightly guided, clearly upon the truth, attaining help from Allah." And he was asked: "Where can I find them?" And so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "They are in the land of Sham and the surrounding land of Sham."
They are in that region of this earth. And from this hadith, Ibn Taymiyyah and others have derived that there shall always be a group of rightly guided Muslims. Not just Muslims, but rightly guided Muslims, Muslims at the vanguard, Muslims who are blessed to be upon the guidance from Allah, and to be helped by Allah.
Because the hadith says: (مَنْصُورُونَ) - Allah will help them. Allah's nasr is coming upon them. And the hadith says: (ظَاهِرِينَ عَلَى الْحَقِّ) - "they will clearly be upon the truth until the commandment of Allah comes."
And therefore, clearly, the people of Sham have a blessing that hardly any place or area has been referenced with. And this is of the blessings Allah gives it to whomever He pleases.
End Times Prophecies
And that is why, in fact, because of the blessings of Sham, that many of the trials and tribulations are linked to the land of Sham in the prophetic tradition.
And of them is the famous tradition of Isa ibn Maryam coming down upon the white minaret in the city of Damascus in the land of Sham. And when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said this hadith, there was no mosque and there was no minaret in the land of Sham. But the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) predicted that Isa ibn Maryam, Jesus Christ shall descend down (فِي مَدِينَةِ دمشق) - "in the city of Damascus."
He mentioned it by name. And in another hadith: (شرْقِيَّةَ مَدِينَةِ دمشق، عَلَى الْمَنَارَةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ) - "in the east of the city of Damascus, upon the white minaret." And most of our scholars have interpreted it to mean the minaret of the Umayyad Mosque that has been built, the first mosque built in Damascus.
And Allah knows best whether it is that particular reference. But clearly a minaret in the city of Damascus, a white minaret, Isa ibn Maryam will come down to that very land. And in this as well is an indication of the blessings and the sanctity of the Sham.
Future Conflicts and Sham
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) also predicted that there would be many trials and tribulations dealing with Sham, but that always Sham would come out victorious at the end of it. And this is a beautiful prediction and a beautiful hadith for us to be aware of in our times.
In a hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said - and this hadith by the way, we should not read into it that it is happening now, because most likely this hadith refers to something right before the day of judgment - in one hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "There's gonna be three major armies in the world that are fighting each other. An army from Iraq, and an army from Yemen, and an army from Sham. So this is gonna be a major civil war between the Muslims, a major catastrophe that's gonna take place."
And this is one of the signs of the day of judgment that's gonna take place before the day of judgment. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "There will be an army in Iraq, and an army in Yemen, and an army in Sham." And so the Sahaba asked him: "Ya Rasulullah, which of these armies do you advise us to be in?" And he said: "I command you to be in the army of Syria, in the army that will be in with the people of Sham."
The Last Gathering Place
And in yet another hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that Ardul Mahshar is Ardul Sham, that the land of Mahshar is the land of Sham. And the Mahshar here, many people interpret it, misinterpret it, to mean the Day of Judgment, this is not correct, because that Mahshar, the Day of Judgment's Hashar, will not be on this earth.
On that Day of actual Mahshar, of Judgment will not take place on this earth.
So this is a misinterpretation. The meaning of Mahshar here is the worldly gathering together before the Day of Judgment. The very last group of believers that will be on this earth before the Day of Judgment will be in Ardul Sham.
It will be in the land of Sham. And therefore, the land of Sham will be the very last land that has Muslims on it, right before the end of times. And then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that: "There shall be a wind coming from Sham, scented, perfumed, beautiful wind, coming from Sham, that will take the soul of every believer."
And this will be right before the trumpet is blown. And so when the trumpet is blown, the believers will not hear it, because the wind from Sham would have taken them away, and they would die when they smell this beautiful scent coming from Sham and from this region of Sham. This will be the end of the Muslims on earth, and there will then be a group that are the worst of mankind.
Historical Significance of Sham
The Second Holiest Land
After Allah blessed Mecca, the second blessing was to Sham. Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was asked: "What was the first house built on earth?" And Allah says in the Qur'an, so he answered directly from the Qur'an: "The first house built on earth was in Mecca." And then he was asked the second, and he said: "Baytul Maqdis."
And he said: "What was the time between them?" The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "40 years." And therefore, Baytul Maqdis is the second holiest land up until the coming of Medina. Up until the coming of Medina, Baytul Maqdis was the second holiest land.
And that is why in Mecca, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would pray facing Sham and Baytul Maqdis. And then when Allah caused him to emigrate to Medina, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) made Medina sacred and holy. So Medina became the second holiest place during the time of the Prophet.
Unlike Mecca, Mecca was holy from the time of Ibrahim. Baytul Maqdis was holy from the time of Ya'qub. But Medina became holy in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
The Conquest of Sham
It is because of all of this that the Khulafa, the Rashidun, the earliest leaders of the Ummah, they understood the need to implement the hadith of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) in conquering Sham. And therefore, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, even though in his lifetime he never engaged in conquest outside of Arabian Peninsula, he was busy with the wars of Ridda.
There was only one battle that he was interested in outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and that is to send an army to Sham. And so the battle of Yarmouk, even though the victory came in the first days of Khilafat-i Umar, it was Abu Bakr who laid the seeds for the battle of Yarmouk.
That was the desire of the Muslims that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us about Sham. Our Lord has told us of the blessings of Sham. And therefore, in the Khilafat of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, he sent together the army to come to Yarmouk and to begin the conquest of Sham.
Umar's Journey to Jerusalem
And the people of Damascus, sorry, the people of Jerusalem, they refused to surrender until Umar ibn al- Khattab himself comes to receive the keys of the city. And Umar did not do this for any other city but for Jerusalem.
Who can refuse to come to Jerusalem? And so Umar instantaneously took his servant, and you all know the famous story, that just him and his servant on their donkey, taking turns to get to Bayt al-Maqdis, to get to Jerusalem, not because of the people of Jerusalem, but because Allah has blessed Jerusalem.
Umar will take off from his Khilafat duties and he will walk with his servant from Medina to Jerusalem to pay respect to that land where our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) himself prayed. And that was why as
soon as Jerusalem was opened up, the first thing that Umar ibn al-Khattab did was he revived the Bayt al- Maqdis.
Sham as a Center of Islamic Learning
And historically my dear brothers and sisters, Sham has always been a bastion of knowledge. It has always been a repository of scholars and of authentic illuminaries of jihad and of academic Islam. We've had great people such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and before him Imam al-Awza'i and Ibn Qudama and Ibn Kathir and Ibn al-Qayyim.
So many are the scholars who are linked with Damascus and with Bilad al-Sham. We can go on and on and on and our ummah and our history is replete with the luminaries who came from Bilad al-Sham.
The Current Crisis in Syria
Therefore in light of all of this, when we see what is happening today in this very land that Allah has praised and his messenger has praised, when we see the situation, the tyranny, when we see the bloodshed, when we see innocent civilians, innocent Muslims, men, women and children being massacred helplessly, when we see an evil tyrant who loves his power more than he loves his own people, who loves his power to the extent he's willing to shed the blood of his own people.
When we see all of this going on, then our heart bleeds not just because these are Muslims, but also because these are Muslims whom Allah and whom his prophet have mentioned in a very special light. And this is a land that has been blessed like no other land after the Hijaz.
Prophetic Predictions About Trials
The Reality of Haraj
Realize my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, that our prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) predicted that there would be many fitan and there would be many trials and tribulations. And of those trials and tribulations, many of them would involve resurrections and blood and warfare.
In one hadith, the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
(Muslim 157)
La taqumu as-sa'atu hatta yakthura al-haraj "The day of judgment will not come forth until there will be a lot of haraj."
And haraj was not a common word for the Arabs at that time. Some say it is an Ethiopian word. Now in Arabic, it means commotion and chaos. So the sahaba said: "What is haraj ya rasulallah?" And so the prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: القَتْلُ الْقَتْلُ - "massacre and blood, massacre and blood."
This is what haraj is. The day of judgment will not come forth until you will see many massacres and much bloodshed. And this is exactly what we see in the world today.
Civil Strife Among Muslims
And Abu Musa al-Ashari narrated in the Sahih of Imam Muslim that when he narrated this hadith, his students said to him: "Ya Abu Musa, this hadith is saying the day of judgment will not happen until there's a lot of bloodshed. Are you saying there's gonna be more bloodshed than even now? For very last year, more than 70,000 people lost their lives."
So his students are saying: "Last year 70,000 soldiers and 70,000 people on the battlefield lost their lives." Abu Musa said: "I'm not talking about wars and battles with other lands. I'm talking about Muslims killing other Muslims. I'm talking about civil war from within. We killing one another."
This is what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is saying: "al-haraj, al-haraj." We're not talking about wars with other nations, defensive and offensive. We're talking about within our own.
"They are from your own. They'll be speaking your language."
His students were shocked and they said: "Will we still have our uqool? Will we still have our sanity? How can we be killing one another?" And Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said: "That indeed Allah will take the sanity from many people. He will lift up the sanity. And the people left behind will be the evil people."
Will be the people with that have no aql and no iman. And these will be the people that will be doing this slaughter. And in one version he said:
"They think they are calling to something good. And they have nothing good in them."
Evil Rulers
And our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) told us that one of the signs of the day of judgment would be evil rulers over us:
"They won't have any fear of Allah."
They won't have an ounce of fear when they're ruling over you. Because wallahi brothers and sisters, even forget the fear of God, an ounce of humanity would not allow for what we are seeing today. No human can kill his own civilians, his own population.
No human can abduct and kidnap 10 year old kids and torture them to death. No human can take a war plane and bomb it upon a civilian building. This is not a part of humanity.
It's not possible for a person who believes in Allah, who has a living heart for him to do this. And yet this is what we see around us. And the world is silent.
Our Response as Muslims
The Need for Emotional Connection
So the brothers and sisters in Islam, the question that arises: what is to be done? First and foremost, the bare minimal is that there needs to be an attachment. There needs to be a relationship. There needs to be a pain and suffering in the heart from what is happening.
Because wallahi brothers and sisters, allow me to be totally blunt here. The one who can spend the last few weeks enjoying and heedless and ghafil and disconnected from the reality of Syria is the one whose iman is non-existent in his heart. It is a sign of iman to love for your brothers and feel pain for your brothers.
It is a sign of iman to live with your brothers and sleep with your brothers. It is a sign of iman that when something is hurting in them, something is hurting in you. And that's exactly what the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said that the ummah is like a jasadil wahid, like one body.
(Muslim 2586)
Mathalu al-mu'mineena fi tawaddihim wa tarahhumihim wa ta'atufihim mathalu al-jasadi idha ishtaka minhu 'udwun tada'a lahu sa'iru al-jasadi bis-sahari wal-humma "The example of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When a limb suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever."
If one limb, one area, one finger of the whole body is in pain, the whole body will be in pain because they will not be able to sleep, suffering a fever.
Innama al-mu'minoona ikhwatun fa-aslihoo bayna akhawaykum "Indeed all the believers are brothers."
The Test of Our Faith
The second point dear brothers and sisters, is to realize that in all of these tribulations, there is a test from Allah. And there is a wisdom even if we don't understand it. And in this as well is a test of our iman.
And so when we look at this, these situations, bloodshed, massacres, are what people's imans are shaken by. This is always the case:
"Where is the help of Allah?"
"When will the help of Allah come?"
O Allah, why is this happening? This is a common question and a common theme. From the very beginning of time up until our times, every righteous nation wonders: why is this happening? Where is our Lord and where is the help of our Lord?
And therefore in every one of these situations, we need to renew our iman. Have full faith in Allah and realize:
Inna nasra Allahi qareeb "Verily the help of Allah is near."
Even if we don't see it and know it, we need to have that iman in Allah. And it is a test of our own iman.
Making Dua for Syria
The third point which leads from the second point, is that having pain, suffering from their suffering, indicates and shows us that we have to also make dua for them. And raise our hands to pray for them. And ask Allah for their fortitude, for their patience.
And ask Allah to accept their shuhada, and to comfort their du'afa, and to give sakinah and rahmah to those who are living and deprived amongst them. The least that we can do is that when we make dua, we make dua for those Muslims as well, who have been suffering in this manner. And especially dua in our sajdas, and dua in the middle of the night.
And insha'Allah today in the salah we will also do dua al-qunoot for the people of Syria. Because our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would do a special dua when the Muslim ummah was affected. And this is called dua al-qunoot, and we will do it insha'Allah today in the salah.
Taking Practical Action
The fourth thing that we should do is to help them out in whatever way possible. And this requires the subject of many other khutbas and talks. And to be brutally honest, many of you are more experts than I am.
What can be done politically? What can be done economically? What can be done socially? What can be done to boycott certain countries that are supporting this regime? These are things you are more experts than me, so we help each other together.
In some cities no question to hold demonstrations in front of embassies in order to draw the public attention. And brothers and sisters, do not trivialize these types of things.
Learning from History
Do you realize why this tyrant cannot do as blatant dhulm as his father did? It is because of the internet. It is because of the video. It is because of the presence of reporters. It is because of all of this public pressure that was not possible to have in 1982 in Hama.
And so do realize that, I understand petitioning and standing in front of embassy doesn't seem like the best, but there is some benefit in there. There is some pressure that is exerted.
Our Test of Wealth and Comfort
The fifth point is that when we see what is happening in Syria, we should realize that Allah is testing us in different ways. If He is testing them with deprivation, and testing them with death and bloodshed, then He is testing us with the opposite. And in some ways it is more difficult, and in many ways it is easier.
And the opposite of that is the possibility of oblivion, the possibility of a coarseness of heart, the possibility of immersing ourselves in our luxuries and our materialism, and cutting off our relationship
with the ummah. Our test is the exact opposite. And that is the test of maal, and the test of money, and the test of pleasures, and the test of this dunya.
"We will be asked about the blessings we had, the money, the wealth, what did we do?"
And the least that we can do brothers and sisters, is to wake up from the ghafla, to wake up from the heedlessness, to wake up from the materialism that almost everyone of us is immersed in head over heels.
Trust in Allah and Hope
Having Good Expectations of Allah
Last but definitely not least, we need to have tawakkul in Allah, and husn al-dhan in Allah. We need to trust Allah, and think the best thoughts of Allah. Because it is at these times that people think bad things about their Lord.
"And you think evil thoughts about Allah."
When trials come forth, tribulations are present, people think evil thoughts of their religion, of their God.
And this is the time when we as Muslims need to show the world: no matter what happens, we never lose faith in our religion, and in the God that we believe in.
Recent Examples of Hope
And subhanallah brothers and sisters, it is this year, this last year, that we have seen the fall of multiple tyrants. Tyrants that I speak as personally as having grown up not knowing any other tyrants in those regions.
They have been on earth for so long, I don't remember the tyrants before them. My entire life has been with these tyrants in the Arab world. And yet we saw all of them fall like a stack of dominoes one after the other, until finally the last one is left.
This is the last in the stack. How can we lose hope in Allah when we have not seen what happened this last year? How can we lose hope in Allah when we saw how Allah humiliated the tyrants of other lands?
The Signs of Allah's Displeasure
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said that when Allah wants to punish a ruler, the first thing that he does is he removes the love and the respect that his people have for him. When a people hate their own ruler, when a people curse their own ruler, when a people despise their own ruler, this is the sign that Allah will humiliate that ruler.
And what person is there of sound iman, dare I say of sound aql that loves this person Bashar Al-Assad. His own people curse him with the most vile, the most vulgar, the most filthy curses. And when your own
people have already lost all respect and izzah for you, where will you find respect anywhere else?
And so this is just the beginning. And we will insha'Allah, we will see the fall of this tyrant. And we will see the end of this regime.
Not because I'm predicting ilm al-ghayb, but because Allah has told us that dhulm cannot last on earth. That Allah has told us that the da'wat al-maghlumeen will be responded to. That Allah has told us that He will help the mustansareen, He will help the du'afa, He will help the masakeen.
Lessons from Trials
Allah's Mercy on This Ummah
And realize that in every trial, in every fitna, there is also rahma and mercy. In every fitna, there is also Allah's rahma and mercy. Our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
"My ummah is a nation that has been blessed."
Why? Because it has no azab fil akhira. There is no punishment for my ummah in the akhira. Rather:
"My ummah will be punished in this world."
And the punishment of this world is a million times easier than the akhira. My ummah will be punished in this world.
How?
"My ummah will be punished in this world by murder and chaos, by massacres, and by chaotic times, and by earthquake and by fitan."
And so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Other nations, Allah will punish them in the akhira. This nation:
My ummah is a blessed ummah."
Allah has blessed it. Why? Because there is no punishment for the akhira. And that is the worst punishment.
The Nature of Continuous Trials
And realize as well, that our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "There shall be fitnas that will come upon you, one after the other. There shall be trials and tribulations that will come, one after the other."
Every time a fitna comes, the people will say: "It's too much for us, I cannot bear it."
"This is gonna be my destruction."
"Then Allah will lift up the fitna. And another fitna will come."
And the mu'min will say:
"This is the one, this is the one that will cause me to be destroyed."
But this is what life will be like. Every successive generation and every successive time looks to be worse than the one before it.
Maintaining Faith During Trials
And so the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: "Whoever wishes that death comes to him in a good state," he told him to do two things. Number one: "Let that death come when his iman in Allah is firm. Don't let your iman waver."
Don't be ashamed to be a Muslim. Don't hide your iman when fitnas come. Let his iman come to him when it is firm in Allah. Be a proud Muslim.
And number two: "Let him do unto other people what he would want to be seen done unto him. Don't let fitnas cause you to treat others in an evil manner."
If everybody else is being evil, it doesn't give you the right to be evil. And this is a beautiful hadith that reminds us: even if the people around you are barbarians, even if they have left all morality, you don't have a reason to leave morality. Let him do unto others what he would like others do unto himself during times of fitna.
Conclusion: The Purpose of Trials
The Meaning of Fitna
And most importantly, we are a people who worship Allah. And so no matter what happens on earth, we never lose track of our own principles. And last but not least, realize the purpose of a fitna is what? The purpose of a fitna, the meaning of the word fitna, is to examine in order to purify, to examine in order to cleanse and clean.
This is what fitna means in the Arabic language. And that is why the Arabs would call the goldsmith fattan, the one who causes fitna. Because the goldsmith takes raw gold from the soil, and he throws it into a furnace.
Why? He causes fitna to this raw ore to separate the pure gold from the crust, from the soil, from the sand. Fitna will separate the gold from the dust. Fitna will separate the diamonds from the charcoal.
Fitna will separate the gold from everything around it. And therefore brothers and sisters, the purpose of this fitna is to test who amongst us truly has faith versus those who don't.
"Do the people think that they will be left to say, 'We believe' and they will not be tried? But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars."
Allah says: "Will people be left without fitnas? No." Allah says: "We tested the people before with fitnas. Why?"
"So that Allah will see those who are telling the truth when they say they are believers, versus those who are kathibin, telling lies."
And this is indeed a great fitna. It is a fitna that we are being tested with incidentally, and the people of Syria are being tested with directly. It is much more of a fitna for them, but it is also a major fitna for us in our own way and our own manner.
And this is a fitna that everyone's iman will be shown and demonstrated. And Allah will see who amongst us is telling the truth when we say we are believers, versus those amongst us who are kathibin and not telling the truth.