We have heard much from Muslim leaders about how Islam is a religion of peace, that it specifically rules against the taking of innocent life, that the word ‘jihad’ is a media invention, that imams preach only sweetness and light and that the terrorists who bombed London last week were acting so much against the tenets of the faith that they weren’t really Muslims at all. Well, here’s the text of a sermon
delivered in March last year at the Grand Mosque in Leeds, the area from where three of those bombers came:

‘We learnt, from last Friday’s speech, how the rulings of Islam are based on great considerations and objectives, and we mentioned that they are represented in the preservation of the deen (religion), preservation of life, preservation of intellect, preservation of lineage, and preservation of wealth. The speech last week was about preserving the deen and preserving life, and we learnt how Islam commands its followers to fulfil their obligations towards preserving their deen, adhering to it, and establishing its rites, by performing the acts of worship, fulfilling the obligations, leaving what is prohibited, calling people altogether to the great shade of this deen with its wide space, its abundant justice and its great tolerance. If the forces of evil stop and intervene between the people and them entering this deen as Allah, exalted is He, loves for them, it is legislated for those who call, when they face these oppressive forces, to fight Jihad in the path of Allah, and it is legislated for them to sacrifice themselves for the sake of this deen and for the sake of making the da'wah of Islam reach every heart.

(my emphasis)

‘The preservation of the deen comes before the preservation of life because if the deen goes and imaan is absent, obedience is abandoned and tawhid of the All-Merciful is not found, and the worshippers of the Shaytan appear, great corruption spreads in the earth, which Allah made a resting place for His servants who He created to worship Him alone and it is upon them to care for it, cultivate it, and bring forth its bounties. You learnt, O beloved brothers and sisters, how Islam forbids the killing of the self, and destroying it and damaging it without right, for whoever kills for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth

(my emphasis)

it is as if he has killed all of mankind, and whoever gives a self life it is as if he has given life to all of mankind. And you learnt how Islam forbids transgression and prohibits the killing of the weak, from the women and children, and non-combatants, in the battlefields.’

Now, my reading of this is that the preacher was saying that it was expressly permitted for Muslims to kill in order to prevent ‘corruption in the earth’, which itself includes any (unspecified) obstacle to Islam.

He then went on to link this to the Israeli killing of the Hamas ‘spiritual’ leader Sheikh Yassin, and used this to justify the killing of Israelis -- employing the most vile and hysterical libels against Israel and the Jews:

‘Does not the land which has been illegally seized from its people since 1948, and its people forced to flee, kicked out of their houses in order for it to be inhabited and occupied aggressively by people coming from various parts of the world, does it not deserve that which is similar? Is this not a just and clear cause with no ambiguity in it? Does not international law legislate for everybody who has had their land occupied and right seized the right to defend their land? ‘Therefore know that this defence is an honour and an aspiration, a jihad and a sacrifice, striving for it, the like of Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, and as you say: Israel has the right to defend itself, likewise, sound logic and wise intellect and the people of truth say that we too have the right to defend our possessions, our land, our rights and our honour, so who has the right to give the Zionist state the right and withhold it from those who own the land?

‘...Indeed, Palestine is a Muslim land, occupied, its right seized, and the rights of its people seized. Palestine is the first Qiblah, and it is where the Prophet sallalahu alahi wa sallam ascended from to the Heavens. Palestine, O rulers of the Muslims, is your responsibility in front of Allah. So wake up from your intoxication and wake up from your heedlessness and fulfil your obligation towards the cause of the Islamic Ummah, the cause of Palestine. Crying and lamenting and other passing emotions are not sufficient. It is upon you to stand as one row, hand in hand, beside your brothers in Palestine.

‘The assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Yasin reminds you of the treachery of the Jews; their plotting and their scheming. Who tried to kill your Prophet by throwing a rock from the top of the house which the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was sitting in, and who is the one who put poison into the lambs meat which was given to the Prophet sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam? Who whispered to Abu Lu’luah al-Majoosi, who betrayed and killed Amir-ul-Mu’mineen, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, and he was leading the Muslims in Fajr prayer? Who was the one who spread tribulation and dissention and planned the assassination of the Khalifah of the Muslims ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan, who was killed while reading the book of Allah? And who was the one who killed Imam ‘Ali RA while he was on the way to Fajr prayer? And who are the ones today who have killed a leader, a Mujahid, after he performed the Fajr prayer? The planning and the actions are the same; it is only the hands and the names that differ… Take up positions in the Jihad, don’t give in to sleep, and don’t give in to failure and disgrace. Be firm on the truth which you believe in and defend that which is sacred to you and your honour and your country.’

This sermon is on the Mosque’s website. Do our police or security services actually read open websites? Why isn’t anyone raising this now, after three local men committed their unspeakable acts in pursuit of the very objectives laid out in this sermon? How many other imams are saying similar things or worse? When will the mainstream media wake up from their ‘Islamophobic’ trance and start investigating what is happening here?

Posted by melanie at July 15, 2005