 اللهم سبحانه وتعالى في سورة الإسراء القرآن 17 يبدأ بسورة بعد أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيني بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده ليلم من المسجد الحرام إلى المسجد الأقصى الذي باركنا حوله لنوريه من آياتنا إنه هو السميع البصير اللهم يقول سبحان الذي أسرى بعبده الذي أسرى محمده صلى الله عليه وسلم من المسجد الحرام المسجد الكعبة ومسجدها المسجد الحرام إلى أين؟ أين أخذه على ذلك؟ أين في العالم إلا المسجد الأقصى إلى المسجد الأقصى إلى المسجد في جروسلن في بيت المقدس هذا هو where he took our prophet على ليلة الإسراء والمعراج he took him to Palestine he took him to Palestine the land of the prophets where the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم then led every single prophet whose blessed foot ever graced this earth all of their feet 124,000 prayed behind him at Aqsa in Palestine on that night that is our masjid that is the masjid of the Muslims that is the first qiblah that the Muslims faced for 16 or some say 17 months after their prayer began as an obligation upon the Muslims they didn't face the Kaaba they didn't face Mecca they faced Masjid Al-Aqsa Masjid Al-Aqsa the furthest mosque the Sahaba knew who among them prayed to both qiblahs and there's a masjid in Medina today Masjid Al-Qiblatain where we know they were praying towards towards Masjid Al-Aqsa and in the middle of their prayer the ayah came down that says turn and face in Masjid Al-Haram and in the middle of their prayer they turned and faced it and that masjid today is known as the masjid of the two qiblahs the last Sahabi the last Sahaba companion of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who prayed to both qiblahs as a Muslim was Anas ibn Malik and how many times do we hear his name when he repeats when he narrates the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said this the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said this so much of our faith and our deen and our practice we take from Anas ibn Malik who was a khadim a servant of the volunteer servant of the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and his mother had placed him in the service of the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم he said I am the last of the Muslims who has prayed to both of the qiblahs that is Masjid Al-Aqsa Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari one of the early Muslims asked the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم he said what was the first mosque on this earth this earth that we live on all of the children of Adam that we live on what was the first house that was built for the worship of Allah to announce the oneness of Allah and to remember Allah he said what was the first mosque that was placed on earth and the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said it was the Masjid Al-Haram the sacred mosque Makkah the Ka'bah and then Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari رضي الله عنهما يالله be pleased with him said then which one he said the furthest mosque the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem not only the first قبلة for the Muslims but the second Masjid that was ever on this earth that's a very very holy place and not only to the Muslims but to all people who recognize the blessedness of that land people of faith who know what that land means and that land will remain مبارك will remain blessed until the end of time and the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said that land is the land of the محشر the resurrection and that land is the land of رباق of holding fast like in a fortress and the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم spoke about the blessed people who remained in Al-Aqsa who will remain in Al-Aqsa and he said there will come a time this is our messenger telling us صلى الله عليه وسلم he said there will come a time that land where you can look upon مسجد Al-Aqsa will be the most valuable thing that you can attain people won't even be able to get it and now we're seeing that we've been seeing that for decades the ayah doesn't only mention مسجد Al-Aqsa Allah says من المسجد Al-Aqsa من المسجد الحرام إلى المسجد Al-Aqsa الذي باركنا حوله that we have give blessing to all around it to all around it on that night that he went صلى الله عليه وسلم to مسجد Al-Aqsa in the path جبريل عليه السلام stopped and they prayed in Medina they prayed in Medina he knew where the Mahjar where the Hijra will be too they stopped and they prayed in بيت لحم بث لحم and he was told this is the birthplace of Isa عليه السلام where the prophet Jesus Christ Isa عليه سلام was born in Bethlehem and there are still Christian Christian Arabs Christian Arabs who say Allah who say it like that in Arabic and they're there from the time of Isa until now and even they get disgraced by the occupying forces we've seen the videos we've seen funeral prescriptions of Christians in Bethlehem who follow Isa عليه سلام and in his birthplace be attacked by the police the occupying forces we've seen people Christian Arabs who come out of churches spit on by the occupying forces this is not a question of Muslims or Islam this is not a question of Arabs or non Arabs this is a question of oppression of the people of faith the people who recognize that land as being holy the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم on that blessed night journey he saw the birthplace of Isa عليه سلام and he saw the red hill he saw the red hill the red hill where Musa عليه سلام is buried and he saw him praying in his grave he saw him praying in his grave that land is blessed is Mubarak and we know the hurmah the sanctity when you enter a blessed place how much respect you show that when you enter this masjid today you recognize this is a blessed place I have to have a little bit of extra respect and honoring of the people of that masjid what do we think about Mecca and what do we think about Medina and what do then do we think about Al-Apsa and what's around it اللذي باركنا حوله and from the areas that Allah has blessed around Al-Apsa is Ghaza is the land of Ghaza many people don't know much about Ghaza the people of Ghaza pushed and pushed and pushed and now them trying to push them even further into a so-called humanitarian zone so that another Mecca can happen what is special about Ghaza how did Allah bless it when we narrate the lineage of the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and we say his father is عبد الله and his grandfather is Sheba عبد المطرب and his father is Hashim the great grandfather of the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم Hashim is buried in Ghaza and for many people they refer to Ghaza not only as Ghaza Ghaza to Hashim that is Ghaza Ghaza of Hashim the blessed land of Ghaza إمام الشافعي was born in Ghaza إمام الشافعي was born in Ghaza he is Ghazawi and the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم foretold the coming of إمام الشافعي he told us about إمام الشافعي how did he do it he said Oh Allah guide the Quraish for the knowledge of a scholar that comes from them and from Quraish will encompass the earth Oh Allah you have let the first of them taste bitterness meaning the people the believers of Quraish they felt the harshness of the hand of kufr and oppression of disbelief and of oppression he said let them he said you let the first of them taste bitterness so let the latter of them taste reward إمام أحمد and others said this is شافعي why because شافعي comes from the lineage is of المطلب the brother of Hashem إمام الشافعي he's Quraishi he's Mutqalabi and they said this is the hadith Oh Allah guide Quraish for the knowledge of the scholar عالم Quraish the scholar of Quraish that comes from them will encompass their earth there is not a single Muslim household on this earth today that does not benefit from the knowledge of إمام الشافعي and he's from غزة after him knowledge continued and many of the علماء have come from غزة until this day it is a seat of knowledge some of the best research about this Dean comes from the universities the Sharia universities in غزة ابن حجر العسقلاني that we know him's name ابن حجر not الهي تمي العسقلاني he's from عسقلان أشقلان as they call it right outside the prison walls it's a blessed place but it's not just blessed to the Muslims it's blessed to Jewish people it's blessed to Christians let us remember that when عمر رضي الله عنه and the Muslims had come to Palestine and were going to conquer it that it was conquered without bloodshed because they called for عمر to come and we know the famous story of عمر and how he came in his humility and trading off with his servant writing and so when the King comes out and all his trappings of gold and he sees a man in ragged and patched clothing leading the camel and a servant on top of the camel and this is the leader of the Muslims he was amazed by the humility of the Muslims and they gave the keys of Palestine to the Muslims عمر رضي الله عنه did many things in that to respect the people there when they invited him to pray in a church he refused not to disrespect them but because he said if I pray in this church people will come after me Muslims and want to imitate what I did and eventually the Muslims will make it a Masjid and I want you to keep it as a church and he prayed on the stairs and that Masjid of عمر is still there today right next to a church عمر was amazed that the Jewish people of Medina had been kicked out by the Byzantines and what did he do? he brought in Jewish people into البيت المقدس that's our Dean those are our leaders for 850 years the church of the Holy Sepulchre where the Christians believe that عيسة عليه السلام was resurrected from we have a different belief but we recognize what they believe that church for 850 years the keys to that church still to this day are in the hands of the Judah family they put the keys of that church in a Muslim family's hands because the Christians were fighting over which denomination gets the rights to those keys and so they said let's solve it by putting it in the hands of Muslims for 850 years and still to this day and they have a key that is 500 years old and another one that is 850 years old so this is not about Muslims hating other people of faith the Jewish people have worshiped on that land alongside Muslims and Christians for thousands of years and this is a long tradition we see it even in Andalusia when the inquisition happened and the Catholic the ruling Catholic family was it wiping out anybody who was not Catholic where did the Jews go? where did the Jewish people go? they got asylum in Morocco in المغرب they went asylum into the Ottoman Empire they were protected why? because our messenger taught us that the non-Muslims who live amongst the Muslims are اهلو ذمة they are the people of ذمة what does ذمة mean? في ذمة الله ورسوله in the protection of الله and his messenger out of our service and our duty to Allah and his messenger we protect the people regardless of their faith that is who we are as Muslims regardless of what the media and the propaganda machine puts out against us I want us also to remember that that blessed journey the night journey where Allah سبحانه وتعالى took the messenger of Allah from المسجد الحرام to المسجد الأقصة why did it happen and when did it happen it happened in year 10 of the رسالة the wahi comes down in غار حراق that's year one of the revelation 10 years later the Israel happens on the year عام الحزن the year of sadness what happened in that year his uncle Abu Talib passed away his blessed wife خديجة الكبرى رضي الله عنها passed away and then what happened if happened he was sad stricken with grief and so to show him to Allah showing the messenger of Allah that you are not forgotten او محمد you are not we're going to remove your حزن and your pain where did Allah take him he removed his حزن by taking him to الأقصة to Palestine let's think about that let's reflect on that of anywhere in the world and Allah showed him the universes to the farthest reach of the universe but before the farthest reach of the universe he showed him Palestine that's what Allah سبحانه وتعالى did for him and for us and the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم according to some of the Sahaba would read سورة الإسراء this surah that commemorates that journey every night before sleeping let us not forget Palestine let us remember Palestine in every one of our days and in every single one of our nights not because it's about being Arab or not Arab it's about because it's from our Dean could you imagine what would happen if there was an occupation of Medina or Mecca then what's the difference between an occupation of الأقصة before the night journey 3 years before that قرش couldn't figure out what to do with the message of Islam so they decided to place an embargo on the Muslims 3 years they cut off from them food they raised the price of food for people outside the Meccans they said nobody sell them food nobody interact from them don't marry from amongst them and don't let them marry from amongst you cut them off and the Benny Hashim actually not all of the Muslims just Benny Hashim Hashim who's buried in Gaza his children Benny Hashim were stuck in the valley of Abu Talib شعب Abu Talib and for 3 years lack of food lack of water to the point that people said the people of Mecca they could hear the children crying from hunger we've all heard the children of Gaza now crying and what قرش did to the Muslims over there is nothing compared to what the occupying forces and the allies and رؤوس الكفر the heads of kufr in this world are doing to people not just Muslims because there's Christians in Gaza as well one of the oldest churches on the face of this earth is in Gaza the Catholic Monastery is out there praying for their own safety قرش continued its propaganda قرش continued its economic struggle and we see similarities today differences but similarities after 3 years some of the notables of قرش who were not Muslim said this is enough enough is enough هشام ابن عمر and others like him said oh people of Mecca do we eat and close ourselves while بن حاشم are perishing unable to buy or sell buy Allah I will not sit down until this unjust document is torn up the document that they had written the embargo on by the miracle of Allah the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم sent word to them before that even with with Abu Talib there was no need to tear up the document because the document that they had placed in كعبة was eaten by termites and he knew about it even though he stuck in the شعب and not able to go inside of the كعبة so the question is for us what are we going to do what are we going to do when we see the حصار when we see an embargo when we see destruction upon the people of غزة the blessed people of غزة all people Muslims and Christians and anybody else who lives there what are we going to do we ask الله سبحانه وتعالى to give us the توفيق and to give us the strength to do what he wants of us الحمد لله we praise Allah وصلاته والسلام وعلى رسول الله and peace and blessings upon the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم أما بعد فيا عباد الله وصيكم وصي نفسي بتقوى تقوى الله اتقوى الله في استيريب والعلانية اتقوى الله ويعلمكم الله Oh servants of Allah I encourage you and encourage myself to have تقوى الله سبحانه وتعالى تقوى أوردلي وتقوى انوردلي and if you have تقوى الله سبحانه وتعالى الله will will teach you The people of the land of Hashim غزة to Hashim غزة of Hashim We should say to them just like هشام ابن عمر said to Quraish Enough is enough We should say Oh people of the world Do we eat and clothe ourselves and have safety While the people of غزة to Hashim are perishing Not able to buy or sell Not able to get through a night of sleep Are we going to sit by in our safety What will we do What are we going to do We don't No one of us has the answer But people are speaking up And people are saying things and people are recognizing And we know that from our Dean The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said That if you cannot change something with your hand Change it with your tongue And if you cannot change it with your tongue then have rejection of that thing in your heart And that is the weakest of faith So the least we can do is look at that and say اللهم انها منكف Oh Allah This is wrong And وَلَا قَدَّرْنَا لَغَيَّرْنَا And if we were able to We would have changed it But that's أضعف الإيمان That's not where we should be We should at least be speaking out We should be speaking out especially in this day and age When the برابغانده مشين And the سبين مشين Just like قرش had their برابغانده مشين When the بسنجر of Allah And his beauty came And the beautiful things that he taught They said He's a sorcerer And he's wicked And he splits between mother and child And father and son All of the propaganda they sent We're seeing similar And worse against Islam and Muslims Now If you speak out If you say Palestine If you They want to Hold a flag of Palestine That it's An assault on another people Where is the freedom of expression? Where is the freedom of speech That this country That we live in was founded on? Where is that? In the tech companies they're shutting down accounts left and right Message are going out from universities That are that are one-sided We have to push back And push back in wherever area that Allah has put you in If you're in academia push back there If you're in your workplace push back there And there are organizations like PAIR and others that are doing wonderful work to educate the Muslims on how best to push back In your workplace In your in your in your in your schools to educate about the issue to have some of these books of Hadith There's 40 Hadith collections about Al-Aqsa and that land Get those books and learn it so that we know this is not a political issue This is part of our Dean It's Mecca and Medina and Aqsa Those three The first Of the two Qiblaz And the third of the of the of the of the of the the the sanctuaries This is part of our Dean We have to understand the tricks that are being placed against us We have to understand that where do we push back with a boy cutting and a divesting and sanctions Where do we do that And we are here Brothers and Sisters Let's remind ourselves here in the Silicon valley We're the the military machine of this country that that فرعون لديه جنود ، لديه سياراته ، ونحن سنطلعهم لتجربة وفسادة في هذا المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة المنطقة لأن much of the weaponry that's used that we're watching now the F-35s that are going over Gaza and dropping those bombs where are they developed? Lockheed Martin right here in Silicon Valley So we as Muslims, we have to stand up those Muslims who are in there they have to ask themselves what are they doing there and how are they pushing back on there right across the street bowing 45% of bowings contract our military we have to ask ourselves it's not enough to not buy Coca-Cola and Starbucks we have to really say what are we doing as Muslims in the Silicon Valley where the heart of the technology that fuels the military machine is being done and reach out to our representatives and we ask Allah SWT to give نصر to give victory to the Muslims and to give victory to the people of Palestine and we ask Allah SWT to remove the oppression from the people of Palestine and from the people everywhere we ask Allah SWT to send down his mercy and to send down his رحمة we ask Allah SWT to increase us in إيمان and in دعاء to increase us because we are in the we are the ones in need of the دعاء of أهل غزة we are the ones in the need of the دعاء of أهل غزة we ask Allah SWT to remove their pain and to help them rebuild and to allow us to be honored to help them rebuild and to stop this oppression للمسلمين وقطم الصلاح