Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa - Response to the Media Dr.
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-08T05:58:09.166573+00:00 | Topic: Community
6/25/25, 4:24 PM Khutba Transcription Verification - Claude
Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa - Response to the Media
Dr. Yasir Qadhi
Opening Du'a and Praise
Introduction
أَمَّا بَعْدُ my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, the topic of Palestine and of Al-Aqsa has been an ongoing topic since as long as I can remember and in fact it's not just my lifetime but the lifetime of anybody in this audience. Even though the modern state of Israel was created in 1948, the concept of colonizing Palestine began more than 100 years ago, so every single person in this audience has been hearing about Palestine and the issue of Al-Aqsa since they were born. The issue is more than 100 years old and because the issue is so old and because the conflict has been ongoing for so long, sadly, many of us, we forget about it or neglect it in light of other tragedies because every few years another major tragedy takes place - the issue of Kashmir, the issue of Burma, the issue of Syria, the issue of East Turkestan, the issue of famines, floods, earthquakes and the list goes on and on.
But there is no question that out of all of the wounds of the Ummah, out of all of the tragedies that we are facing, the tragedy of Al-Aqsa is number one on the list and it needs to be emphasized over and over again because there is no question that it is the single greatest political tragedy of this entire century. Our children need to be reminded of this and taught it - not just our children, even us, we forget about it and neglect it and we need to continuously be reminded of the status of Palestine and of Al-Aqsa so that we never ever forget our history, we never forget the importance of this land, we never forget the place that Al-Aqsa occupies in our hearts.
Purpose of Today's Khutbah
Today's khutbah will be slightly different than most khutbahs about Palestine. Many people talk about the blessings of Palestine and that is important and I have done this and others have done it and all of this is online, but today's khutbah in particular I want especially our younger generation to be able to defend and understand the Muslim perspective on the issue. I want to arm them with facts, with knowledge. I want to teach them whatever is possible to teach in the short period of time so that they can better engage in dialogue and discussion so that they understand.
I once heard one of our younger Muslim brothers actually say, "you know, why can't the Palestinians agree with the peace process?" In other words, he's absorbing the propaganda that is in this culture and environment and he is assuming that the fault lies with the Muslims, the fault lies with us. And I don't blame him because he's not hearing the other side - he's only hearing the narrative in the media, the narrative that is around him, so he absorbs what he hears and then he criticizes the Muslims overall for having failed in this issue.
Therefore it is so important that we continue to provide the counter-narrative, the narrative that emphasizes the truth, that emphasizes the reality of that situation.
Structure of Today's Khutbah
Today's khutbah will be divided into two quick parts:
- Some brief history so that we understand what is going on
- How to respond to specific criticisms that are raised by people outside of our community against the Palestinian issue
Three specific issues will be brought up and again, time is of the essence - there's only so much that can be done.
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Part 1: Historical Background
The Sacred Status of Al-Aqsa in Islam
As for history, every Muslim should know that the reason why Aqsa is so important and so sacred is because it is one of the few places mentioned by name in the Quran many times and in the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.
Allah calls Al-Aqsa (الْأَرْضَ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا لِلْعَالَمِينَ - "the land that we have made blessed for the whole world") (Quran 21:71). The whole world - it has been declared blessed.
And Allah calls that land (الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَة - "the sacred land") referring to the land of Musa عليه السلام (Quran 5:21).
And Allah mentions in the Quran that not only that place but the land around it is sacred and blessed as well: (سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلًا مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الْأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ - "Glory to Him who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings we have blessed") (Quran 17:1). The Masjidul Aqsa - even the land around it is blessed. How about the land itself? Even the area around that land is mentioned so many times in the Quran.
The Connection to Isra and Mi'raj
We know from the seerah that the incident of Isra and Mi'raj are both linked to Al-Aqsa. The incident of Isra was from Makkah to Al-Aqsa, then Mi'raj was from Aqsa to the heavens. So both Al-Isra and Al-Mi'raj are linked to that land and that place and that particular locality.
The Symbolic Letter to Heraclius
And it is so symbolic from our seerah, brothers and sisters, that when the Prophet ﷺ wrote his letter to the Emperor of Rome - Heraclius, the Emperor of Rome, the single greatest political figure in the time of the Prophet ﷺ of the non-Muslim world - Heraclius was the most powerful politician. Our Prophet ﷺ wrote him a letter and invited him to Islam.
It was Allah'sQadar that Heraclius was not in his capital Constantinople (today's Istanbul) - he was not in his capital. He actually happened to be in Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, so he got the letter in Jerusalem and he opened the letter in Jerusalem. And there is symbolism here - the Emperor of Rome read the letter of the Prophet ﷺ in Jerusalem and he had that famous conversation with Abu Sufyan that I have mentioned in my seerah lectures.
And at the end of that conversation when he recognized the Prophet ﷺ as a true Prophet, what did he say? And this is so powerful because he's standing in Al-Aqsa - he said: "If what you say is true, if this man is as you have described, then it is only a short period of time before this earth that I'm standing on will belong to him."
This is symbolic and it is Allah'sQadar - on the tongue of the greatest politician, on the tongue of the Emperor of Rome, there is recognition: who deserves Al-Aqsa? This is in the books of history. The Emperor of Rome announces: "If that is the real Prophet ﷺ as you are describing, if that is truly him, then this land that I am standing on shall be his in the matter of a few years."
The Muslim Conquest of Jerusalem
And Subhanallah, less than 10 years after he said this - and Rome by the way was not a weak country. Rome was the only major superpower at the time followed by the Persian Emperor was number two, the Persian Empire. Rome was the greatest superpower and Jerusalem was its prize, its jewel, and they loved to protect Jerusalem fortified. And yet when the Muslims conquered it, unbelievably Allah's miracles came into play and they managed to carve out that entire slice of now what is Palestine and that entire region of Syria. Of course the battles of Yarmouk and others I have described them in my Seerah lectures.
And that is why when the Prophet ﷺ passed away, the Sahaba knew that the number one land that he had wanted was Al-Aqsa. So in the reign of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, the only lands that the Muslims attacked, the only lands that they wanted to conquer in the reign of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was Masjid Al-Haram was Al- Aqsa.
And we all know that the victory took place in the very first days of the Khilafah of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab. As you know that we have done this in our Seerah and the lives of the Sahaba lectures, and after four
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months of surrounding Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem agreed to surrender but they said as a token of respect: "We want your leader, the Khalifa, to come all the way so we can hand the keys over. We're not going to surrender to an army general - we want your leader to come."
The Humility of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab
And so Umar Ibn Al-Khattab - and this shows you his humility, it shows you how much he loved Al-Aqsa - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab traveled with himself and his servant and you all know the story: alternating with one camel or one donkey, they say alternating and taking turns. They were both dressed the same, they looked outwardly the same, there is no entourage.
And the people of Al-Aqsa were shocked: "This is your leader? The leader of the new Muslim empire? This is your leader? He looks like a common person, he acts like a common person." And they understood why Allah had blessed the Muslim Ummah - it was not because of their military strength, it was not because of their arms, it was not because of their weapons, it was because of true sincerity and humility. The leader is riding a donkey as he comes to accept the keys, and at the time they enter the city it was the turn of his servant to ride on the donkey, so Umar insisted: "No, it's your turn, you're going to be riding." That Ikhlas, that humility was the real reason why Al-Aqsa was conquered.
Umar's Just Treatment of All Faiths
And this is demonstrated in the treatment of Umar ibn Al-Khattab when he conquered Al-Aqsa. In those days Al-Aqsa was ruled by the Christians and they did not allow the Jews to live there and they desecrated the Jewish holy site which is called the temple now - they desecrated this. This is the Christians of the time - they converted it into a dumpster, into a junkyard. They would throw their najis there because they wanted to show the people: "We don't agree with you, we are a different faith, we are the superior religion."
When Umar ibn Al-Khattab conquered it and he was given a tour of the city, he went to visit the church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the famous church of Al-Aqsa of Jerusalem, and the pastor, the minister said: "You may pray your salah over here" - the famous example that took place when it was time for Asr and Umar said: "If I pray here, my later followers are going to destroy this church out of respect to me and build a masjid here. I don't want to do that. I will pray outside of the church." He wanted to protect the future of the holiest site of Christianity.
Think about that - this is the leader of the Muslim Ummah is saying: "I want to protect your church. I don't want some fanatics to come later on and use an excuse: 'Umar prayed here so this is our land.' No, I'm not going to pray here." So he walked outside 20 meters away, 100 feet away, he went outside and to this day the masjid of Umar is 100 feet away from the church of the Holy Sepulchre. If you walk from the Holy Sepulchre to Masjid Umar you will have to walk up and down and go and pray where Umar prayed. Then he asked after that, he finished and he said: "Where is the temple location? Where is the mount that was considered to be the original place of Haikal of Sulaiman?" And they told him where it was and he saw it had trash, it had junk, it had garbage, and the khalifa of the Muslims, the ruler of the Muslims, he with his own hands began picking up that trash and that dirt and cleaning the holy land that belonged to the Yahud.
Why? Because in our tradition we respect Isa and we respect Musa. In our tradition we love Sulaiman and Dawud and what was made holy in their time we consider holy to this day. The khalifa of the Muslims began cleaning up the area that was sacred to the Yahud.
Historical Coexistence
Think about that - anybody who says that there was tension between Islam and Judaism is ignorant of history. Anybody who says there was animosity between Muslims and Jews does not know the basics of history. The animosity was only between one faction - we're going to get to that - the Zionist faction in the last hundred years. Otherwise historically speaking, Jews always found shelter in Muslim lands. Every time they were persecuted in Christendom, that is why the largest groups of Jews in the middle ages were in Muslim lands - in Turkey, in Iran, in Yemen, in Morocco, North Africa. The largest concentrations of Jews outside in the middle ages were always in Muslim lands. Why? Because they fled persecution in Europe and they found shelter in the lands of Islam.
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Umar ibn al-Khattab and the Khulafa ir-Rashidun then opened the door for the Yahud to come and live peacefully in Masjid al-Aqsa and they continued living peacefully there up until the beginning of this century when things changed for the worse as we will come to.
Early Islamic Architecture in Jerusalem
And we know that Umar ibn al-Khattab built the first Masjid there and it is called Masjid al-Qibali which is still standing to this day - of course not the structure but the location where he built it is still standing to this day. And the next generation, barely 30 years after Umar ibn al-Khattab had conquered Masjid al- Aqsa, the Umayyad KhalifaAbdul Malik ibn Marwan, he built the Dome of the Rock which everybody is familiar with.
When you see the pictures of al-Aqsa you see that beautiful golden dome - please do not get confused, that dome is the Dome of the Rock, it is not al-Masjid al-Qibali, it is not the Masjid built by Umar. That is in front of it. If you are facing the Qibla towards the back will be the Dome of the Rock and then the Qibla you are going to be praying in the original Masjid of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Of course the whole land is sacred, the whole area is sacred, but do not get confused - the Dome of the Rock is not the Masjid, that is the primary Masjid that Umar ibn al-Khattab built. And of course both of them are considered to be holy.
Historical Periods of Non-Muslim Control
Since that time up until our time, there have only been two periods of history where al-Aqsa has been taken away from us. For the last 13 and a half centuries, there have only been two periods of history where al-Aqsa has been taken away from us.
The Crusades (First Period)
The first of them was for a period of around 93 years and that took place in the middle ages in the incidents known as the Crusades when a group of fanatical Europeans left what is now France and England and other places and they travelled all across the world and they considered that if they did this journey they would be forgiven. They conquered Jerusalem and contrast their conquest with Umar ibn al- Khattab - they massacred every single man, woman and child - Muslim and other Christians because they were one type of Christians, other Christians were killed, the Arab Christians were killed and the Jews were massacred. The Crusaders massacred everybody.
It is considered to be one of the largest massacres in human history before the advent of the modern world and the modern bombs and what not, because they slaughtered people by hand, by literally sword, by killing them one after the other and up to perhaps half a million or some say 750,000 people - the entire city was put to death. And this was the first time since the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab where the majority of inhabitants then became non-Muslims because they expelled the Muslims from that region.
And of course we know Salah ad-Din al-Yubi's story and he conquered it in 1187 and we all know when Salah ad-Din conquered it, he protected the Christians and he allowed them protection, he made sure nobody harmed them as they returned back to Europe and he then allowed the Arab Christians to come back and he allowed the Jews to come back again.
Subhanallah, anybody who says that there was tensions between Islam, Christianity and Judaism, read your history! Religious people who believe in the same God were living together even if they had different traditions, different prophets, and this is the reality of Jerusalem.
The Modern Period (Second Period)
Then the second time this land has been taken away from us is in our time frame and we do not know when we will see the end of this interim. Allah has caused us to be living in this generation - this is our Qadr of Allah that we have been born when Al-Aqsa does not belong to the Muslims for the second time and this took place again.
The story of this I have mentioned in a previous lecture you will find it online when I talked about the making of the modern Middle East and what happened and I'm not going to go down that history here but we should all be aware that the notion of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine is a very modern one - it only goes back around a hundred years. 1897.
The Origins of Zionism
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In 1897, a group of intellectual, secular, non-religious Jews - it's a very important point to make, they were not religious people, they were people who didn't really believe in Judaism as a religion - they came together and they announced they are going to create a homeland in the heart of Palestine and they called themselves the Zionist movement.
And for the next 40 or 50 years, Zionism struggled with mainstream Judaism. Most Jews in the world, especially American Jews, they rejected Zionism and they considered Zionism a theological heresy - i.e., they considered it a type of rejection of the teachings of their own religion. And the mainstream Jewish movements around the world considered Zionism to be a heretical movement and they would mock it and they would not consider Zionism to be real religious Jews and that's for many reasons beyond the scope of this class.
All of this changed, all of this changed with the advent of Nazism and Hitler and the Holocaust when Jews understood that it is for their own protection that they should carve out a land. And after this point in time a number of things happened and I'm not going to go down that history route but we should all know in 1948 the modern state of Israel was declared and within a few decades the majority of people living in those lands were therefore non-Muslims.
So from 1897, 3% of that population was Jewish, now in 2017-2018, 75% is. So in the last 100 years two things have happened: the Muslims and the Christians have been expelled and they're living now in these concentration camps in Gaza and whatnot. I call them concentration camps because it is - as we're going to come to - the largest open air prison in the world is Gaza. This is what Jimmy Carter, the president of our country said: "The largest open air prison in the world, that is Gaza." It is a type of concentration camp.
So they expelled the Muslims and then they brought in people from across the world of the Jewish faith who believed in Zionism and this change in statistics took place. And inshallah ta'ala for that you can listen to my lecture and other lectures about the history of Judaism.
Part 2: Responding to Common Criticisms
I want to now move on to the second part of my khutbah today. We have limited time as you know. I want to mention three points, three criticisms especially for the young men and women who hear the propaganda and they don't know what to say. Three things are raised against the Palestinian issue from the Muslim perspective and I want to teach you what is the proper way to respond to those criticisms.
Important Note About Media Representation
The first point that is raised by many people on the news, on media, on the talking shows and whatnot - and by the way, an important point: every time you see a talking show taking place about Israel you will never find a Palestinian represented there. Their viewpoint is missing from the equation almost all the time. Rarely you will come across this and that's why our own children don't know this perspective.
Criticism 1: "Muslims Don't Recognize Israel's Legitimacy"
The first point they say: "You guys don't even recognize the legitimacy of Israel. Palestinians, Muslims don't recognize the state of Israel, so it's not our fault that they're being treated that way. You challenge the legitimacy of Israel," and for them this then justifies the harsh treatment.
Our Response
In response to this we say: to discuss the legality of the state of Israel, we need to discuss who got to decide the state in the first place. And we ask our critic: put yourselves in the shoes of the Palestinians. Put yourselves in the shoes of the people whose land has been carved up by people who are not a part of it, whose land has been handed over to another ethnicity, another group.
What right, the Palestinians will say, do the British have to have a mandate over our land? What right does the League of Nations have to vote about the existence of a new nation state? What gives the external occupier the right to carve up your land and distribute it as gifts to people who live outside of the land?
Analogies to Help Understanding
Imagine if an intruder occupied your garage, then slowly your living room, then slowly your bedroom, then slowly forced you to live in the backyard in a makeshift tent, and eventually because of some
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Criticism 2: "Criticizing Israel is Anti-Semitic"
This leads me to my second point and that is: "Ah, but that is anti-semitic." This is a very common charge: to criticize the legitimacy of Israel is anti-semitic. In fact, this is the definition of anti-semitism according to our country - the state department of our country has a definition of anti-semitism, it's a paragraph long and one phrase in it: anybody who criticizes the legitimacy of Israel is an anti-semite.
Today, the prime minister of England, today right now - before I gave the khutbah, coming for the khutbah I just read the news - today the prime minister of England said the exact same thing: anybody who criticizes the legitimacy of Israel is an anti-semite.
Our Response
And we say we strongly disagree and you are doing yourselves a disservice when you bring anti-semitism into criticism of Israel. Now we have to be very careful here - Muslims many times unfortunately, some of our preachers and clerics and many Muslim masses, they say things that are un-Islamic about the Jewish people. We have to be careful.
"Do not let your hatred of a group of people cause you to do injustice to them. Be just, that is the essence of taqwa" (Quran 5:8).
We are very angry at the state of Israel and the regime of Israel. That anger should not translate into all people who believe in Musa as a prophet. The religion is one thing and Zionism is another. We have to be careful we don't mix the two up.
Jewish Opposition to Zionism
Amongst the Jews, and the Jews are many who are righteous who speak out against Zionism, and I want to mention in particular one group amongst them - they are called the Natura Qarta, the Natura Qarta. And you see them all the time in Palestinian demonstrations on the Palestinian side and they're wearing the Jewish garb and they're orthodox Jews and they have statements against Zionism and they consider Zionism to be the greatest evil that has come from that region. These are Jewish people and they're opposed to Zionism and they are the allies of the Palestinian people and there are others as well who are anti-Zionist in their stance.
So we have to be careful - Muslims, be very careful, do not use derogatory terms to all Jewish people. That's not from the Quran nor is it from the Sunnah. They are amongst the Jews righteous and they're amongst them who are Zionist and we're opposed to them. Even if we disagree theologically with Judaism and Christianity as a religious minority, Islam always gave Jews the freedom to worship, the freedom to build their synagogues, the freedom to be who they are. And that is why the largest concentration of Jews in medieval times were in Muslim lands.
So the accusation that we are anti-Semitic, we defend this and say: criticism of a political entity is not anti- Semitism. And if anybody amongst us does start criticizing the religion, it's our job to put that in check and be careful we do not mix politics and religion.
Criticism 3: "Do You Support Palestinian Tactics?"
The final point for the first khutbah is - and this is very controversial - they come and they say: "Do you support this political faction of the Palestinians? Do you support this tactic of the Palestinians? Do you support their suicide bombing? Why don't you condemn, you know, this group or that group?" And you know the groups in Palestine and I'll mention them to you. "Why don't you condemn this group and that group?" So they put the responsibility on you.
Our Response
And the response to this, brothers and sisters, is to realize this is a trick question. It is a partial, selective question and they want to trap you into criticizing one tactic while you ignore their own tactics that are many more than just that one point of criticism.
So we say - and I've said this many times publicly and this is my position, it is my position that's public - I condemn any attack in which innocents are targeted and I personally have no problems condemning suicide bombings because I believe them to be un-Islamic. I have no problems condemning that.
However, if I'm willing to condemn a terrorist tactic, are you willing to condemn the terrorist tactics of your side as well?
Statistical Comparisons
Look at the numbers on each side: for every one Palestinian, for every one Israeli that has been killed, more than 10 Palestinians have been killed only in the last six years.
Look at the weapons: there is no comparison. On the one side, Israel has one of the most advanced armies and weaponries in the world. On the other side, Palestinians typically use rocks and stones.
Look at who is imprisoning whom: there are zero Israelis languishing in Palestinian jails. There are over 10,000 Palestinians languishing in Israeli jails.
Look at who is putting the economic pressure on whom: the unemployment rate in Israel is less than 4%, the unemployment rate in Gaza is around 50%.
Our Challenge
So don't just come to me and quote one tactic. I'm willing to condemn this one tactic - are you willing to condemn a hundred tactics? I'm willing to talk against suicide bombings - are you willing to speak against the apartheid regime of the nation of Israel? Are you willing to quote your own president Jimmy Carter who says that Gaza is the largest open air prison in all of the world? Are you willing to admit that Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu - who are neither Muslim, right, nor are they pro or anti anything - who lived under the apartheid regime of South Africa, are you willing to admit when they both say - and this is both by the way, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, both Christians from South Africa - that what is happening in Palestine is worse than the apartheid of South Africa? Are you willing to admit that?
So it's a one-sided thing - they want you to criticize one tactic but they're not willing to look at their own tactics as well.
Conclusion of First Khutbah
And this is why, brothers and sisters, and with this I conclude the first khutbah, it is so important that every Muslim be aware, be knowledgeable. You will not win an argument if you're ignorant. You will not win a debate if you don't know what you're talking about. Learn the facts, study the reality, and I reference to you one site that is the beginning site that all of us should be aware of and it
is www.ifamericansknew.org - www.ifamericansknew - one word, no hyphens - ifamericansknew.org. That is one of the best websites you can learn about some basic facts, statistics, numbers. It's by a Christian, a lady who visited Israel and then her whole perspective changed and she then propagated or did this website. It's a very good resource for all of us.
Second Khutbah: Christian Zionism
We can squeeze up in the front inshallah. Very quickly, brothers and sisters, very quickly, one final point before the khutbah finishes and that is one thing that every Muslim needs to be aware of is the strange marriage that has taken place in the last 40-50 years - the totally bizarre alliance between two groups of people. If you don't understand this, you will not understand Trump's announcement, simple as that.
Understanding the Alliance
This strange marriage is between Christian Zionists and Jewish Zionists. Why is it strange and who are Christian Zionists?
Christian Zionists - they are not Jews, they are Christians. Generally they are a strand of Protestant Christianity. Arab Christians are not Zionists. Catholics are not Zionists - they don't agree with this philosophy. Arab Christians are some of the greatest allies that we have because they can critique the Zionism of other strands of Christianity - Nestorians, Maronites, many of these Christians, they are totally opposed to Zionism and they side with Palestinian rights.
But here in America there is a strand of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity that calls itself Zionist Christians and many people, famous people such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Hal Lindsay - these are all famous people, they are ardent Christian Zionists. Roy Moore, the guy who just lost - Alhamdulillah he lost - the guy who just lost in the neighboring state, do you know what he said when Trump made his announcement? Listen to this - this is Roy Moore the politician - he said: "I don't know about you, but when I heard about Jerusalem's announcement where the king of kings" - i.e., Jesus - "is going to come back, it is because President Trump declared Jerusalem to be the capital, that's why Jesus is going to come back."
What is Christian Zionism?
So what is Christian Zionism? Christian Zionism - every Muslim memorized this - is the belief that some segments of Christians have that before Jesus comes, all Jews must be in the Holy Land. Until they are there, Jesus is not going to come. So they believe that in order for Jesus to come, the state of Israel has to be supported blindly, completely.
Now why did I say the strange alliance? Because Christian Zionists believe when Jesus comes, what's going to happen to those Jews? What is going to happen? Do you know what they believe? They believe some of them will convert and the rest will be massacred in the great Armageddon, the great war between good and evil that will take place towards the end of times.
Christian Zionists are not helping Israel because they love the people there - quite the contrary, they believe that the majority of them are going to be disappeared or killed or conquered and a small group are going to convert. Nobody will be left alive as a Jew when Jesus comes - that's what Christian Zionists believe.
Now Jewish Zionists obviously don't believe that Jesus even exists, much less going to come back, and yet there are forming this unholy alliance, this love, this marriage - not of love, of convenience. This is a marriage - they hate each other's guts theologically. Theologically they are completely separate from one another. The one group literally believes the other group is going to be killed and yet they're supporting them. Why? Because they are a token, a sacrificial pawn - "Go ahead, be killed, we want the Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior to come back."
And can you believe this marriage has formed a strong alliance and this is the main reason why our president is announcing what he's announcing - to shore up publicity amongst these far right radical Christian groups. This is an agenda. It's not that he himself is a Christian and he cares about this - he knows what buttons to press to get the benefit and the support of these far right people.
A Rabbi's Perspective
And subhanallah, once I asked a rabbi who I got close to and I was friends with, I asked him a very blunt question. I said: "Don't be, don't be, you know, offended, but can you explain to me - you are a person who believes in religion, you're a religious person - can you explain to me how you can take the support of a group of people who think that you're going to be killed and they're expediting your killing? How can you take support from those types of people?"
I actually asked him this and his response is: "Well, we don't believe that Jesus is going to come, so if they're going to give us money and power, we'll take it. That's literally what the rabbi said - "We don't believe he's going to come back, so he's going to hand us money and power, that's their stupidity and foolishness and we will continue to take it." And that is the philosophy that they have.
Now so we as Muslims need to understand: Christian Zionism is even more dangerous for us than Jewish Zionism. Christian Zionism believes that Jesus wants them to do this and that is why this unholy alliance has been created.
Final Thoughts
Brothers and sisters, the khutbah can only give us so much time - is limited and there is no easy way to conclude and I'm sorry to say there is no easy solution in sight. This two-state solution - throw it out the window. The one-state solution is not going to happen. What is the future? I don't know, nobody knows. There doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
But one thing is for sure: Palestine and the issue of Al-Aqsa needs to remain alive in our hearts, in our duas, in our conversations, in our khutbahs, in our duroos. We need to, every one of us, keep the conversation alive and we need to cause whatever impact we can, even if it is small, even if it is minuscule, even if it is only impacting our colleagues and friends. We need to do whatever we can to keep the issue of Palestine and Al-Aqsa alive in our topics, in our hearts, in our conversations and most importantly in our duas.
Because brothers and sisters, we firmly believe that that land is a sacred land and the only people who truly belong to it and deserve it are the ones who are the righteous muttaqun, the real followers of Ibrahim عليه السلام and that is our ummah.
May Allah help us to do whatever we can for the Palestinian brothers and sisters and bring about a peace to all of them.