 security and who are threatened at any moment. And the threat might come from many different directions. Unfortunately, for many Muslims, it might even come from another Muslim. So we see the situation in Syria where the security is broken down. A country for all of its problems or issues or challenges was always very secure. I could witness to that having lived there for over six years, that we never feared walking the streets any time of day and night, anywhere in Damascus. You never had any fear for your safety or your security, and now the entire country is threatened with bombings or kidnappings, car bombs in this place, or whatever, and the other. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala can change conditions. He can change the conditions in our society just like he can change the condition of our heart. So we pray to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in terms of our heart. You are the one who can turn the hearts, make my heart firm in your religion. Probably many of you know people that are struggling with their faith. Or call you up, I'm just not feeling it. Or I don't even know if I'm a Muslim anymore. I went to this psychology class and my Catholic professor messed my head up. Your ignorance messed your head up, not your professor, your ignorance of the religion, your ignorance of the basic fundamental proofs of Allah Ta'ala's existence, your ignorance of the reality of this universe, the reality of this universe, is that there are forces beyond physical forces. But this modern day kufr with this empiricism convinces us the only reality is that which can be physically sensed. And since we can't physically sense God, there's no God. But we all know that's a lie. There are many things beyond our empirical senses, but that's not the subject. But Allah can turn the hearts. And He can change the condition. And we're not immune from it here. And this is why we pray that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala makes the voices that speak for our community-wise voices, voices of experience, voices that are familiar with the reality of the world. Because those are the voices that understand the value of security. George Washington and John Adams who fought through the Revolutionary War. What did they want for this country? They wanted a society whose prosperity was based on commerce and not on war, because they lived through the ravages of war. And so they knew the destructiveness of war. They knew the horror of war. They knew the screams of widows and babies. They knew that reality. So they were very hesitant to open the doors that lead to it. And as a result of that, they actually paid tribute to the Muslims in the Mediterranean. They paid tribute to the Barbary pirates. The Barbary pirates were the Berber pirates. And they were Muslims in Algeria primarily who controlled access to the commerce of the Mediterranean region. So the United States and the administrations of Washington and John Adams paid jizya tribute to the Muslims so that American commerce could move freely in the East Atlantic and through the Mediterranean. And then Thomas Jefferson, who didn't know the reality of war, did away with the policy of diplomacy first and commerce first and instituted a war regime. And he fought the Barbary pirates. And from that we get the Marine Corps hymns from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. Tripoli in Libya. They fought the people that Adams and Washington made peace with. And we see today all of these neocon chicken hawks. None of them experienced war. During the Vietnam War, when they were at the age to fight, they either ran to Canada or they took exemptions or they extended their careers in college so they could avoid the draft. So they didn't know the reality of war. So it's very easy for them to pursue the policies of war. And we have ignorant Muslims who don't know the reality of war, who haven't seen how Muslim lands are devastated, who haven't seen the cries of people who suffer from bombings and the kidnappings and the disappearance of their young men for nothing, for absolutely nothing. So we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses us with wise people to speak on behalf of our community and who understand the ways of the world and don't live in an idealistic bubble. And inside of that bubble, see things, if you're in a bubble, you see the world in a distorted way. Because the bubble becomes a lens that refracts the reality beyond the bubble. It's like eyeglasses so that it's curved like a lens and it distorts reality. And sometimes that distortion can be deadly. It can be deadly. And many people here know that reality, know it well. Our brothers and sisters from Afghanistan, why are they hearing these large numbers? They know the reality of war year after year, decade after decade. And if you talk to them, you'll find cynicism. And some of them even cynical when they look at religious leaders because they've heard the glorious promises about a Khilafah or about an Islamic state or about the brave new world. And then they've seen the disappointments, the frustration, the self-serving, self-interested policies and lies and distortions and delusions that have destroyed their country and given them nothing in return. Absolutely nothing but hardship on top of hardship, misery on top of misery. And so now they see with the eyes of wisdom, with the eyes of experience, and they don't rush into any empty promise of some glory or some restored golden age. They proceed with great caution because they've learned from experience. So we have to learn from our experiences. And we have to realize that anything meaningful in this world, it only comes through wisdom coupled with sacrifice, coupled with vision, coupled with the understanding that things in society change over a long period of time. And in many instances, we're only planning the seeds of that change. Nothing meaningful happens overnight. And when we look for it overnight, we're oftentimes looking for an illusion. Now saying that does not mean that we should not be courageous, that we should not speak the truth, that we should not work to undermine the false reality that leads also to suffering. So just as short-sighted, idealistic, unrealistic strategies or policies put forth by men who in many instances haven't seen the reality that the devastation of war causes, on the other hand, there are realities that are perpetuated because men and women are not courageous to stand up and challenge the lies that lead to the suffering of people. And in this context, we can look at the situation of our Palestinian brothers and sisters who have suffered for almost 70 years now because the silence of the people in our country who don't stand up and challenge the inhumanity of many of the policies of the Israeli state. They think, what about my job? Is it worth the hassle? I'll be harassed in public. I'll be harassed on my job if my boss finds out that I spoke up for the Palestinians, or my department at the university, or here or there at the hospital, my supervisors, all of them are Zionists. So I'd better keep quiet and not say anything. And as a result of that, we have the most shameful, disgusting, dehumanizing situation imaginable where our elected officials will justify genocide because they see that as enhancing their ability to stay in office. We just had a congressional resolution yesterday in the aftermath of the UN recognizing the Palestinian statehood. Rather, that's good or bad is another question. But it did happen. And most of the Palestinians see it as a positive step. So if they're happy, we should be happy. But we have a Congress that says if they now use that status to take Israel to the international criminal court, we're cut off aid to them. That's the most inhumane, wretched, pathetic position imaginable. In other words, they're saying Israel can bomb, can kill, can murder, can massacre innocent Palestinian civilians with impunity and not be held accountable by the same body that will hold every other country on the face of this earth accountable if they did it to their people or to another people. But for Palestinians, that doesn't apply. So whenever there's an election in Israel and the Israeli politicians want to jockey for position, so to enhance their credentials, we'll invade Gaza and we'll bomb Gaza and we'll kill a few hundred or a few thousand. It doesn't matter innocent people. It's just politics. Or else we'll threaten them. If they vote this way, we'll punish them. If they freely elect a government of their choosing through a democratic process that we approve of, but we don't like the people they elect, we'll punish them. We'll cut off aid, we'll cut off their money, we'll close the doors, we'll close their ports, we'll deny them their fishing grounds, we'll close any gates leading to the outside world. And if push comes to shove, we'll bomb them and strafe them and murder them with impunity. And no one says anything. Brothers and sisters, it's time to speak up. It is time to speak up in the face of these atrocities. Our call as Muslims is based on principle. And one of our principles is maintaining the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of innocent life. And if one innocent person is killed, we should raise our voices. Even if it's an innocent Jewish person, we should be consistent. We should be consistent. When Allah Ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an, min ajli thalika katabna ala bani Israel, ennuhu man qatala nafsan binafs, bighayli nafsan bighayli nafs, or fa sadin fil ardh, fa ka'annama qatala naasa jamia. Anyone who kills an innocent person, it's as if they've killed all of humanity. It's as if they've killed all of humanity. Fakhredin al-Razi says one of the reasons for that is that when they indiscriminately kill an innocent person, that could have been anyone. You put a bomb in a bus, or you drop a bomb from a plane on innocent people, anyone could have been there. I could have been there visiting as a tourist. And the bomb falls on me. I'm riding in the bus, and the bomb explodes under me. Or anyone from Europe, or Africa, or Asia, it could be anyone on earth. And so Allah Ta'ala is telling us we have to be principled. And in being principled, we can't fear the criticism of the criticizer. Ya ayyuha ladheena aamanu main yaratadda minkum fa safayatil lahubi qawmin yuhibbuhum yuhibbuna az-dillatin alal mu'mineen, a'izzatin alal kafireen yujahiduna fi sabili la wa la yukhafuna lumbat ala'im thalika faddullahi yu'tihi main yasha' wa allahu waas yun'aleen So Allah says those people He will bring to replace those who don't stand up and do the job. One of their characteristics He said, they will not fear the criticism of the criticizer. wa la yukhafuna lumbat ala'im We shouldn't fear the criticism of the criticizer if we're right. If we're wrong, we deserve to be criticized. But when we say innocent life should be respected. When we say if anyone, be they a Palestinian or an Israeli, be they a Syrian or a Saudi, be they a Bahraini or a Libyan, be they an American or a Russian, whoever they are. If they kill innocent people, and especially if they do it with impunity, we should stand up and we should condemn it. And if we're criticized for that, we should probably take the criticize, criticism. And if we're penalized for that or punished or sanctioned in some way, we should gladly accept the punishment or the sanction and trust in Allah. And trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If we have dignified, honorable men, women and children who say I'm not leaving Gaza, even though I could be bombed at any moment, I could be bombed tomorrow as part of a punitive action because my leaders endorsed statehood for the Palestinian people. I don't care, I'm not leaving. If we have people who just two weeks ago were under bombs and under the threat of the invasion of tanks and armor and said I'm not leaving, then what do we look like being afraid to stand up and speak the truth in their defense? What do we look like? Being afraid to speak the truth, to defend innocent lives, that's the only way the racist policy of this country will change. It's when our hearts change and when our hearts change, our tongues change. As the poet says, The real speech is in the heart. And rather the tongue has been made as a interpreter, as a proof of what's in the heart. So our hearts have to change and when our hearts change, our speech will change. And when our speech change, we'll see new realities in our world. And as we said, we should be responsible. We should be wise. We should be judicious. We should be prudent. But we should not be afraid to speak the truth, especially in the face of tyrants. After Lou Jihad in Kalima to Haqq and the Sultan in Jair, the best Jihad is speaking a word of truth in the face of a tyrannical ruler. So may Allah bless us to be the best of Mujahideen, to be the best of Mujahideen, those who are willing to speak truth in the face of tyranny. Isn't that how this country got started? When those colonists in the face of the tyranny of the British crown stood up and spoke truth and then put that truth in a declaration of independence because they saw themselves as having the unalienable right. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable right. Rights and amongst these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If that's good for the American colonists, in the face of the tyranny of the British crown, it's good for the innocent people of Palestine and the face of the tyranny that they face. And it's good for us today in the 21st century. They want to sideline all those documents. Okay, they serve their purpose, put them away now. No, bring them out now because we need them now more than ever. We need them now more than ever. May Allah Ta'ala give us Taufiq. May Allah Ta'ala bless all of those struggling people wherever they may be in Kashmir, Afghanistan or Iraq or Palestine or Syria or Egypt. May Allah protect the people of Egypt, the many schemes afoot to undermine the fruits of their revolution. Many schemes afoot, may Allah Ta'ala protect them. May Allah Ta'ala bless their leaders with wisdom, with deep wisdom. May Allah Ta'ala bless innocent people everywhere to be able to live their lives and to pursue peace, to pursue peace. Ultimately, that's what we want. We want peace, we want security and we recognize these are two great blessings as we mentioned at the beginning. And that the Ata'amahum min juu'in wa aamanaum min khawf who's giving them safety from fear. And Ibn Abbas said these are two of the great blessings to be well fed and to be secure. And we know we have to appreciate those blessings and not do anything to undermine them whatsoever. Because if we do, Allah Ta'ala will take them away. If ta'azlana rabbukum la'in shakartum la'azidannakum wa la'in kafartum in'adhabi la'shadeed. When your Lord proclaimed, if you give thanks for my blessings, I will increase the blessings. But if you reject them by not showing thanks, you should know that my punishment is severe. And in the case of security, the punishment is in taking the security away. So we should show our appreciation. We shouldn't be fools. And we shouldn't fall for the guiles of fools. And we shouldn't be tricked into doing things that are betrayal of our principles. But we should be courageous. We should be upright. We should be wise. May Allah Ta'ala bless us and bless everyone. So there are a couple of announcements. Before that announcement, we want to remind everyone, the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland is having a fundraiser Sunday. This Sunday, December 2nd, 4 to 9 p.m. at the Chani Restaurant to purchase. It's in a rental property that's very dilapidated. There's a very nice property for sale across the street. We encourage people to support, also support your masjid here because there's a lot of projects.