# Gaza Burns Again: How to Process Endless Grief with Courage | Ramadan Reflections

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Ramadan Reflections (2025)
**Published:** 2025-03-18
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/dKRLXL1bZcs
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/ramadan-reflections-2025/gaza-burns-again-how-to-process-endless-grief-with-courage-ramadan-reflections
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia

## Description
The brief pause in the bombing is over—again. In the holiest month. How do we process the continued onslaught and oppression against our ummah and the exhausting cycle of grief and helplessness? How do we find strength when oppression returns after hope?

## Transcript
**[0:00]** I want to start off with actually reflecting on this subject of how things have changed in the last 24 hours with our brothers and sisters in Gaza from a personal level. And I would imagine that some of you maybe feel the same way.

**[0:18]** SubhanAllah, over the last couple of months since the ceasefire, even though the situation in Gaza was still terrible, even though there was starvation, even though they cut the electricity and they cut the water and all of these conditions have been making what was already unlivable even more unlivable,

**[0:40]** it felt a little bit like we could breathe. I'm talking about myself. It's a confession. I felt a little less heavy here. And I was reflecting, SubhanAllah, yesterday in the morning with someone about how this Ramadan felt so much better than the previous Ramadan.

**[0:59]** Not that the situation in Gaza was not bad. And not that the situation in Sudan had not continued. I mean, last year's Ramadan, we were dealing with the genocide active. We were dealing with so many different things.

**[1:15]** But still, I was reflecting yesterday morning and telling someone that, you know, I feel like this Ramadan is very beautiful. I feel light. I feel like it's almost a recovery from last year's Ramadan. And then last night happens. And SubhanAllah, something about seeing those images again of children ripped to pieces across our screens and those familiar sights, it brought a certain heaviness that reminded me.

**[1:41]** I said, that's what it felt like before. And SubhanAllah, I found it very difficult to smile and laugh and find joy today. All of this, by the way, is not so you can pity me in any way. It's to say that I know that many of you are feeling the same way.

**[1:56]** And let's face it, we have not tasted anything to complain about in the first place because we are not the people of Gaza themselves. We're not the people that are actually facing the destruction and that are actually living under those bombs. We're just watching it.

**[2:12]** And yes, we feel pain, but there's no pain like actually being in the midst of it. And so, this is not to solicit pity. This is just to say that I think if I were to talk to you all one-on-one, that I would find many of you that maybe felt the same way. And maybe that's part of the problem.

**[2:27]** That before 2023, there was a level of complacency that had settled in for most of us. That occupation is normal now. Apartheid is normal now. The blockade of Gaza is normal now.

**[2:42]** They were blockaded by air, land, and sea before all of this. That this is just the way that it actually is supposed to be. We can live with this because so long as we're not seeing the images of absolute destruction on our screen, it's palatable enough for us to at least continue with our lives.

**[2:59]** And that's part of the problem. That occupation is occupation. I don't care if they were the kindest occupiers in the world and they handed out goody bags every night in Masjid al-Aqsa to the worshippers. It's still an occupation. It's still humiliation.

**[3:14]** It's still torment. It's still oppression. It still has to end. But, let's face it, there's a level of complacency that we have when things are not as graphic as they became last night. With those images. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala have mercy on all of the shuhada and accept them all.

**[3:32]** And may Allah Azza wa Jal make it easy for all of those that have lost limbs and lost loved ones and who are now once again in the worst part of the cycle of torment. Allahumma Ameen. So what does this mean for us? I know that SubhanAllah there is a sentiment that here we go again.

**[3:49]** It's like a cycle. A vicious cycle. What does oppression after hope look like? We know what hope after oppression feels like. We all felt a certain way maybe watching the scenes of the people returning back to the north. Even though they were returning to destroyed homes but just the scenes of happiness and joy.

**[4:07]** There's a little bit of joy. What does it mean to have oppression after hope? And we have to remember that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions تِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ The days flip. It's a cycle. Everything is a cycle. كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ

**[4:25]** You live, you die. You live, you die. You come out completely dependent. You become somewhat independent. You go back to complete dependence. You start from the dirt. You end with the dirt. You have good days and bad days. And when you have many consecutive good days, a bad day is right around the corner and vice versa.

**[4:42]** The days circle. There's a cycle here. And we already knew the intentions of this genocidal regime because it wasn't like they were making it a secret that they had no intention whatsoever of actually holding a ceasefire.

**[4:58]** We already know. We've seen every Ramadan how they behave with our people. And we already saw the hesitation and the sabotaging of every single element of the ceasefire to continue. It was already very obvious that the destruction was going to return in some capacity,

**[5:15]** but it hit quickly. And it hit hard last night. How do we come to terms with this and how do we deal with it? Number one, let's interrogate our own complacency throughout this entire process. Over the last two weeks, our brothers and sisters have been starving to death.

**[5:34]** And food has been banned from entering into Gaza from every direction. Were we okay with that? So let's interrogate the complacency of it in the first place. I want to share with you all something, SubhanAllah, that happened today.

**[5:49]** The protest. We were at the protest. May Allah bless the Palestinian youth movement. They had a beautiful gathering that they were able to put together, pull different people together. And SubhanAllah, I met this brother named Robert.

**[6:04]** Robert became Muslim one month ago. You know how long he drove to come to today's protest? Three hours. The guy's been Muslim for one month. One month.

**[6:19]** Three hours. He drove to come to a protest that, let's face it, this isn't one of those, like, you know, million-man marches. These are the multiple protests that have been happening. The number of people came today, Abraham? 300 maybe total.

**[6:35]** The guy's been Muslim for one month and came from three hours away to be present and bear witness. May Allah reward him. But, man, he puts us to shame. He puts us to shame. His wife, Jessica, was there, and when I was talking to him about his shahada,

**[6:52]** she said, I'm ready to take my shahada now, too. And in the middle of a protest, while the screaming was still happening in the background, she took her shahada, and it was just as beautiful, in fact, more beautiful than any of the shahadas that we've been having in the serenity and tranquility of this masjid.

**[7:09]** It was beautiful. Powerful. But a contradiction. Humbling, but at the same time, embarrassing. We've become so complacent. And so let's interrogate, first and foremost, the complacency that we have

**[7:24]** when there is no real blood, when we don't see the most graphic images on our screens. When we talk to the public and we say, is this what it takes for you to wake up? We have to ask ourselves. Is that what it takes for us to wake up?

**[7:40]** Do the images have to get that graphic before we turn on once again and say, okay, now there's something wrong and now we have to activate ourselves? Coming to it from a spiritual perspective, I want us to appreciate, first and foremost, in this regard, that Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala has promised us that there is ease after hardship,

**[8:01]** that there is victory after oppression, that there is hope after despair. But he didn't give us a timeline. And we don't get to choose that timeline. Right now we're reading in Surat al-Qasas, Allah mentions to us the story of Musa alayhis salam, baby Moses in the palace of Fir'aun.

**[8:18]** The pharaoh killed all these baby boys. He left out one. He missed one of them. And Allah put him right in the middle of his palace, in the home of the tyrant. But guess what? It's not like Musa alayhis salam hung out in the palace and then got old and then got a message suddenly that now's your time. And then when Fir'aun was sleeping, went and killed him and took over.

**[8:35]** No. This long ordeal of exile and fear and everything that comes with that has to take place. Before he takes that palace again. Wasn't Allah who put Musa alayhis salam in the palace in the first place as a baby,

**[8:52]** capable of just flipping it right then and there while Musa alayhis salam was there, just becomes a young man and then now, and then Fir'aun just gets tossed out of his palace and everything continues? The end? Certainly Allah is capable.

**[9:07]** But the reality is that the question is not whether Allah is capable. The question is whether we are responsive. Whether we're capable of responding to the moment that we have right now. Our enemies count on our fear and they count on our apathy.

**[9:24]** Right now we have our young men and women being picked up. Mahmood Khalil being the most famous of them if you will. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala free him and free them all. Allahumma Ameen. And being penalized for doing the right thing, for being voices of conscience.

**[9:41]** It's important for us to not look at that and buckle in fear. Because you know what? I would fear Allah. Truly. I would fear Allah for standing in front of him on the Day of Judgment

**[9:57]** and saying I did nothing because I was afraid of some human being in the White House. I would fear him more for taking me to account for not doing anything for my brothers and sisters in Gaza. Then I would fear that man or whoever else it is that sits in that chair

**[10:14]** and coming after me or putting me in a prison cell. We should be more afraid of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and being asked and questioned on the Day of Judgment why didn't we do more? Then we should be of those who try to threaten us and make examples of the best of us.

**[10:31]** Those students, may Allah protect them, who took a stand and had everything to lose in terms of their education. But you know what? I bet you if you asked Mahmood right now, do you regret taking a stand? I bet you even in the midst of his ICE prison cell,

**[10:47]** I bet you a man like that would say absolutely not, I would do it again. Because a person that has tasted the sweetness of sacrifice and that has leaned into that better self of theirs and understands what Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala gives in return

**[11:02]** would never turn away from that. No matter what the consequences are. I won't speak on his behalf and we should certainly do our best to get all of them out and we should challenge legally everything that we can. But at the same time, do you think he regrets it?

**[11:17]** I don't think he does. I don't think he does. I want to end with a very important connection to Ramadan as we come into these last 10 nights in particular. Allah says about this month, شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن

**[11:32]** This is the month in which the Quran was revealed. And that is what makes this month so special. Allah honored the month because of the Quran being revealed. And the du'a that the Prophet (ﷺ) taught us to make

**[11:47]** when we are under oppression, it's very interesting. The Prophet (ﷺ) would say, اللهم منزل الكتاب سريع الحساب مجري السحاب هازم الأحزاب

**[12:02]** These are the traits, the attributes that the Prophet (ﷺ) would call upon Allah with. Oh Allah! منزل الكتاب The one who revealed the book. سريع الحساب The one who is swift in reckoning. مجري السحاب The one who moves the clouds. You see when the wind gets a little bit more impactful right now,

**[12:19]** how we feel, the one who moves the clouds and who moves the elements around us. هازم الأحزاب And the one who vanquishes oppressive armies. The first attribute the Prophet (ﷺ) pointed out to was منزل الكتاب

**[12:34]** شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن إنا أنزلناه في ليلة القدر The first trait, the first attribute is the one who revealed the book. Because when you talk about change coming, there is no greater change in the existence of the state of the world

**[12:51]** than when Allah ﷻ spoke to it with divine revelation. That flip, that change from حال to حال, from state to state, the change of the people that were around the Prophet (ﷺ) and how they were transformed through the Qur'an.

**[13:06]** جاهلية To the sahaba of the Prophet (ﷺ). There is no change greater than that change and no change that would have seemed improbable if you were looking at it purely through a logical lens. منزل الكتاب

**[13:22]** سريع الحساب Swift in his reckoning. May Allah ﷻ hold the criminals and the transgressors and the oppressors to account swiftly. Allahumma Ameen. May Allah ﷻ take justice, enact justice upon them.

**[13:37]** Allahumma Ameen. Swiftly. سريع الحساب مجري السحاب The one who moves the elements around us. Where people, nations not destroyed by the sudden switch of elements even though it didn't make sense. An earthquake where an earthquake would have never happened.

**[13:52]** A tornado where tornadoes never hit. A wildfire where wildfires never happen. A snowstorm where it never even gets cold. Isn't this exactly how it's worked throughout history? Where a certain change, sudden change happens in the weather and you got used to it.

**[14:07]** And so the godless people, those who don't believe in a god, when the winds got a little bit, you know, cooler and when the clouds started to come, they said هذا عارض ممطرنا بل هو ما استعجلتم به They said, oh, it's just rain. It's just rain. Because they couldn't see what was actually behind it.

**[14:24]** And one of the signs of the destruction, the imminent destruction of a people, of an oppressor is when they have so much faith in their technology, in their means of oppression, that they now feel invincible because of it. Because the minute that their gods start to exhibit flaws

**[14:41]** is the minute that their faith will come falling apart altogether. So right now, all the technology, all the weapons, some of it being manufactured here out of Dallas and please, brothers and sisters, for God's sake, if you work at one of these companies, quit your job. You have no excuse to be working at an arms manufacturer.

**[15:00]** That's worse than working, you know, selling alcohol or anything else. Please, we need to have some dignity and some strength in this regard. These weapons manufacturers that are truly the manufacturers of weapons of mass destruction

**[15:15]** and the victims of that destruction are our brothers and sisters. Dear brothers and sisters, they put their faith in these things. We put our faith in Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. We put our faith in a God who is all-powerful.

**[15:52]** Dear brothers and sisters, please keep your brothers and sisters in your du'as. Bring them into your last ten nights. Make this a part of your Ramadan. Yeah, Ramadan has changed for us, but it changed more for them.

**[16:08]** Let's let it be transformed for the better. And let's renew our efforts with the night for our brothers and sisters. JazakumAllahu khayr. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

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