What if what's happening in Syria isn't as great as it seems? As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Bismillah wa alhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala.
SubhanAllah, last week I gave a khutbah about how Allah will surprise you and how Allah will surprise us as an ummah. How the things we wake up to completely change our calculations and subhanAllah, things can happen
that not only alter the trajectory of our lives, but seemingly alter the trajectory of our ummah as a whole, our history. Where are we now? And if you were to take the most brilliant political analyst a month ago
and tell them that the reality that we are living in now would be that reality, they would tell you that your forecast is complete nonsense, that you have no idea what you're talking about.
Here we are now and we have these emotions that are so raw. And I want to start with this first and foremost. The Syrian people deserve this moment.
The Syrian people deserve this relief. They have been through not just 14 years of oppression under Bashar al-Assad, but decades of oppression under the Assad family. It was a continuation of tyranny under Hafez al-Assad.
And one of the things subhanAllah that broke my heart as we're seeing the stories of the people coming from these dungeons in Syria. Are the prisoners who thought Hafez al-Assad is still alive and in charge,
and who had no idea what was happening in the world over the last few decades. How could you see the level of torture that has happened and not have your heart move
and realize that the type of tyranny that the Syrian people have been under for years is unlike probably any tyranny that exists in the world.
That the dungeons of al-Assad are perhaps the most evil dungeons that we have ever seen in terms of torture. In fact, the joy that these tormentors seem to feel as they were carrying out these practices
on our Syrian brothers and sisters that were under universities, under hospitals, under the streets of Asham, under the streets of Syria, is so sick and demented.
And so when we look at our brothers and sisters that are rising from the dungeons that are coming out, when we see the joy of our brothers and sisters who have been refugees for the last decade, or two, or three, or even four.
When we see families reuniting, we have to feel a sense of joy. And we have to feel for our brothers and sisters that even if their pain was not felt as it should have been for all of these years,
because there was a calculation that many made that said Syria is already over, that this was a revolution that was aborted, that this was a miscarriage,
that this was not going to go anywhere, that maybe because we walked away from their pain, let us at least give them space for their joy. And so we say congratulations to our brothers and sisters in Syria.
And we say may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow you to have a greater trajectory ahead. That everyone who plots against you, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala swallow them in their plots.
That you deserve happiness, that you deserve freedom, that we hope you get to go back home, and we hope that you have a prosperous Syria ahead bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. When I was at the Oxford Union a few years ago, I actually told the story of this young girl named Rahaf,
in the Syrian refugee camps on the border of Jordan. And how subhanAllah, she's a teenager who didn't want food or drink, she wanted an education. And when I asked her why she wanted to go to school so bad, she said because I want to be a human rights lawyer,
and I want to sue Bashar al-Assad for the war crimes that he committed against us. There is a resilience there that has been born, and I pray that bi-idhnillahi ta'ala we will see the way that that resilience will rebuild Syria bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, and take it forward.
Now, with all that being said, someone might say, well what about the shady actors that are involved? What about the politics of the Zionist state of Israel, and how Israel is already occupying more land,
and Israel is being opportunistic? What about this political actor, and what about that political actor? I want to start from the very basic premise that political calculations and political analysis is not haram,
and the average Muslim is not bound by being a political analyst. You don't have to understand the situation. In fact, very few people actually do understand the situation usually.
You don't have to be able to make precise calculations or determine which geopolitical power is playing what role exactly. That's not on you as a believer, that's not on you as a human being, that's not on you as a Muslim.
What's on you as a Muslim is to feel the pain of your brothers and sisters, and to express solidarity with them. And so, any type of analysis that would whitewash Bashar al-Assad's crimes, or what these people have been through,
is garbage at the start. And we throw it away, and we say to those people that have tried to penetrate the pro-Palestine ranks, and that have tried to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, while cheapening the blood of the Syrian people,
we don't want your support. We don't want you in our ranks. And the average Palestinian that you would meet in a masjid, or in the streets, or anywhere, would tell you that they are happy for the freedom of our brothers and sisters in Syria, that we are all one,
and we feel their joy. And when the people now are saying to each other, May Allah make it so that Palestine is next, there's a genuine sentiment that is there.
But everything that comes after that, what could happen? What's behind this? What's behind that? How do we stop Israel from being opportunistic? We know that Israel always is playing a nefarious role in this region.
We know that Israel is always playing games. We know that Israel will confiscate and steal, and try to do as much as it possibly can to take advantage of a situation. So someone walks back and says, well what about Palestine? What does this mean for Palestine?
I want you to appreciate that even if the plan for stealing more land, the plan for even further drowning the Palestinian cause, seems to be greater,
I think that Allah's plan is always greater. And so even if on paper, it may seem that there is now a greater opportunity
to finalize the extermination of the Palestinian people, and to expand this illegal state of Israel, Allah's plan will always be greater.
The second thing I want you to appreciate is that when you look in the Seerah of the Prophet, very few times do you find that something is all good or all bad.
I look at Badr, and I think about the Prophet on the day of Badr. Badr was a day of great joy, but they also called it a day of great sadness. Why? Because Ruqayya, the daughter of the Prophet, died on that day.
Imagine, they felt so happy that Allah blessed them with the victory of Badr, but then if you are the Prophet, and you just got the news that your beloved daughter Ruqayya has died,
or you're Uthman, and that's your wife Ruqayya that's died, then that is your world at that moment. That has shattered you at this moment. This is someone that is so beloved.
And so in the midst of great joy, there's still sadness. On the day of Uhud, which is a day of great sadness, on that day when Hanzalah (رضي الله عنه) died shaheed,
little did he know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala left a little joy for his wife that she became pregnant the night before Uhud, and that a son would be born. And so in the midst of that great sadness, there was great joy.
On the day of Hudaybiyyah, which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to as a Fath, Allah azza wa jalla refers to as an opening, Abu Jandal (رضي الله عنه) rises from the dungeon, and Abu Jandal (رضي الله عنه) is beaten up and tortured,
and the image of Abu Jandal (رضي الله عنه) shook the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). The way that we probably were shook, or I shouldn't say the way we were shook, because our hearts don't shake like the companions' hearts shake,
but the way that many of us perhaps felt when we saw the testimonies, and we saw the images of the people rising from the dungeons of Assad. Imagine the companions looking at Abu Jandal (رضي الله عنه). This doesn't feel like victory.
This doesn't feel so good when you're looking at Abu Jandal (رضي الله عنه). So the dunya is in such a way that things are rarely all good or all bad, that even in the midst of that joy, there are people in Syria that came to find out that their relatives were dead,
that they suffered great torture before they died. And so even if they are back in their land, that sadness is still going to be with them. This is the way that this dunya works. This is the way that this world works, because it's not Jannah.
And so yes, what will be good for some will be bad for others, and sometimes the freedom of one might actually mean the harm to the other. And I'm not suggesting that this is bad for Palestine, by the way,
because I still believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has a plan for Palestine out of this that's actually good for Palestine, and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will unveil the plans of those who have sought to eliminate Gaza, eliminate Palestine, and who have sought to expand their illegal project.
But what I'm saying is that yes, in the midst of joy, there is going to be tragedy. In the midst of tragedy, there is going to be joy. But can we all at least take a moment to say alhamdulillah for our brothers and sisters in Syria that are getting to flock back home.
Alhamdulillah for those that did rise from the dungeons still alive. Alhamdulillah for the prospect of freedom for these people. Now, we know that we have to see it through, and we have to show solidarity with the people that are in the midst of it,
and let them know that we want them to succeed here, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, that we don't want any evil forces, within or without,
to hijack this revolution, to hijack this moment of joy, to hijack this victory. Which brings me to my last point, inshaAllah ta'ala. Some people are confused, and it's okay to be confused.
It's okay to wonder, what does this mean for this, and what does this mean for that? I want you to realize that in your du'a, you don't have to have clarity about the exact situation. You just have to have clarity about the one that you're calling upon.
What do I mean by that? If you think about the du'as that we have at our disposal, you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, اللهم من أراد بالإسلام والمسلمين خيرا فوفقه لكل خير
Oh Allah, whoever wants good for Islam and the Muslims, then grant them success, grant them tawfiq, to every single form of good. ومن أراد بالإسلام والمسلمين شرا And whoever wants evil for Islam and the Muslims,
فاجعل كيده في نحره Then let their plan come back upon them, واجعل تدبيره تدميرا Let the planning against them actually be the source of their destruction,
or the planning that they make against the Muslims actually be the source of their own destruction. There are du'as, اللهم لا تجعل للكافرين على المؤمنين سبيلا Oh Allah, don't grant the disbelievers a path over the believers.
Just as when you're making du'a to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, for Allah azza wa jal to protect you from the right and from the left, from in front of you and from behind you, from above you and from beneath you, when you make these du'as for yourself, make them for your ummah as well,
make them for the people of Syria, make them for the people of Gaza. واحفظهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم ومن فوقهم ومن تحتهم Ask Allah to protect them from in front of them and from behind them,
from their right and from their left, from above them and from beneath them. Because yes, there is a recognition that some things are not what they seem,
but the things that are obviously what they are, that's where we attach our genuine Islamic sentiments to. As for the things that may not be what they seem, then we relegate that to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And I leave you with this thought, in your du'a of istikhara, when you say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, فإنك تقدر ولا أقدر You have power and I don't have power. وتعلم ولا أعلم You know and I don't know.
You are علام الغيوب, you are the knower of all unseen realities. What you are doing is you are going to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala having made the best estimation of your seen reality
and trusting him with the unseen and the seen of that reality. The same thing is true for our ummah, dear brothers and sisters. Yes, people are going to have different opinions sometimes about what this particularly means or what that particularly means.
And yes, there are going to be bad actors and propaganda that are going to penetrate the ranks. As if Israel just started occupying parts of Syria, by the way. Now people all of a sudden care about Syria and care about different territories and care about the people.
As if all of this is just some puzzle and some sort of game that needs to be played. We reject all of that. There are going to be different forms of analysis. Let it be. Let the experts speak.
Let those who know how to read a situation to the best of their ability read and elaborate. But don't ever, don't ever look away from the seen that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put in front of you
and stop trusting him with the seen and the unseen of that reality. Turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's confusing to you. I don't know what this means for this. I don't know what this means for that.
Turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to guide you to that which is right. اللهم أرنا الحق حقا وارزقنا اتباعه وأرنا الباطل باطلا وارزقنا اجتنابه
Oh Allah, show us the truth as truth and allow us to follow it. Show us falsehood as falsehood and allow us to stay away from it. And do not be amongst those dear brothers and sisters who curse your brothers and sisters
or who make the honor and the blood and the property of your brothers and sisters halal when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made that all sanctified and sacred. This is a time where the ummah has to come together. This is a time where our hearts have to come together.
So do not be someone who is divisive. Do not be someone who is cold. Do not be someone who is callous. Be someone who is deeply present, empathetic, who is thinking like a person of this ummah
and thinking for those brothers and sisters with the faculties, the human faculties that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to you. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect our brothers and sisters in Syria from all of those that plot against them.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect our brothers and sisters in Palestine from all of those that plot and plan against them. May Allah protect our brothers and sisters in Sudan from all of those that plot and plan against them.
May Allah protect our brothers and sisters in Yemen, in Lebanon, all over the world. May Allah azza wa jal protect them from those who plot and plan against them. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala never put us in the ranks of those who oppress.
And may Allah azza wa jal forgive us for the things that we may unknowingly do. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
