Was It Holocaust You Said?
| Khatib : | Sadullah Khan |
| Khutbah No: | 266 |
| Khutbah Date: | 03/07/08 |
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللّهُ مَثَلاً كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاء
تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا وَيَضْرِبُ اللّهُ الأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
Do you not observe how Allah strikes a similitude between a good word and a good tree, whose roots are firmly grounded and whose branches reach skywards. It provides its benefit throughout all the periods Allah assigned for it. Allah provides such parables so that perchance you may reflect. [Q 14:24-25]
This Qur’anic simile demands serious reflection.
- compares a good word to a fruitful tree ~ advantageous in essence
- firmly rooted ~ based in the goodness of our inner-self
- reaches upwards ~ enhances, uplifts and empowers continuously
- reliably beneficial ~ does not fail to provide positive profit
- reflect ~ be of those who realize the value of good words
Words
Due to increase in the variety of modes of communication, from speaking personally to telegraphing to telephoning to e-mailing to texting to telecasting ... there are so many more ways we communicate. And words are what we communicate with.
Words/names have meanings and there are reasons why they come to have the meanings they do and why people understand them the way they do. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) therefore advised, "speak to people at the level of their understanding."
Element of Truth
Of all the principles that guide communication; truthfulness and the proper use of words are most important. Though we have made tremendous scientific and technological advances in the past few decades, etiquette and moral values still seem to be in their primitive stages. If good manners and feelings had advanced along with reason and science, then humankind would indeed have advanced in their humanity too. Truthfulness is one of the pillars on which the moral survival of the world depends. Allah has created the heavens and the earth with truth. [Qur'an 16.3]
Media
Our perception of the world is greatly influenced by the mass media. Words and images transmitted 24/7. The way many people see the world and view others is greatly influenced by the perception created by the media. What is told maybe half-truths and what is not told may hold the key to the truth. In a world where armies kill for their own nefarious political motives, innocent people are most often the victims and unfortunately in war zones today (Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, , Sudan , Kosovo, Kashmir…) Muslims are the majority of the victims and the attack on them is not independent of their religion.
Highlight one and NOT the Other
It seems an attack on Muslims demanding their rights in Muslim-dominated lands is termed as fundamentalist/extremist uprising that needs to be crushed. Headline news is made of the condemned killing of 6 Jewish people at a seminary in Jerusalem this week.
This should be news and we all MUST condemn this act, however what does not make the headlines is the fact that also in this very week Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed over 120 people This wanton use of force, collective punishment and terrorizing of civilian populations and other illegal actions of the occupying power including its targeting of ambulances and medical rescue teams have no justification whatsoever, yet the public condemnation is not there, because the news has minimized the diabolical extent of this state terror. The only mention was that the Israeli raid was in response to some missile attacks from some Palestinian village on the border. That the excessive and disproportionate use of force by the occupying power, including strikes by warplanes and ground artillery, and targeted extra-judicial killings, constitute grave breaches of international law including humanitarian and human rights law, is not highlighted. What is also not mentioned is that the whole matter does not start with any missiles from any Palestinian village but from the Zionist occupation of Palestinian land.
Holocaust?
Israel is pursuing a genocidal policy against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, while continuing the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank; areas of two discrete regions with no land connection for the Palestinians; with the West Bank made of small ghettos and the one in Gaza is a huge mega ghetto of its own. Most diabolical this week was the use of the word “holocaust” as a threat by a Jewish leader. Last Friday, 29 February 2008, Israel's deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai threatened Palestinians in Gaza with a "holocaust, "telling Israeli Army Radio: "The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves. "This date will go down in history as the beginning of a new phase in the colonial conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, whereby a senior Israeli leader, a "leftist" for that matter, has publicly revealed the genocidal plans Israel is considering to implement against Palestinians under its military occupation, if they do not cease to resist its dictates. For a Jewish leader, in particular, to threaten anyone with holocaust is a sad irony of history. Are victims of unspeakable crimes invariably doomed to turn into appalling criminals?
Do Not Lie, Nor Hide the Truth
It is the foundation of praiseworthy characteristics, the foundation of Prophethood. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has been known amongst his people for his honesty and truthfulness; to such an extent that he was known amongst them as as-Saadiq (the truthful) and al-Ameen (the trustworthy).So, when Heraclius, the ruler of Rome, asked the Muslim envoy about the characteristics of the Prophet, one of the things he asked was, ‘Did you ever accuse him of lying before he said what he said?’ The envoy said, ‘No.’ Heraclius said: ‘If he refrained from telling lies about people he would not go and tell lies about God.’ [Tafseer Ibn Kathir] Allah mentioned truthfulness in over a 100 places in the Qur'an: “O You who believe, heed God and be of those who are truthful” [Q9:119]. “O You who believe, guard your duty to God, and speak words straight to the point.” [Q33:70], “So God may reward the truthful for their truthfulness” [Q33:24].