 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. So today I was actually thinking about, I was preparing, Khutba's this past week was actually kind of delved into the story of the Prophet Yusuf alayhi salam because we just recited it a day ago. But the development in what happened in Al Aqsa Mosque over the past two days and the continued assault on Al Aqsa wanted to maybe a little bit focus on the development in there but contextualize it with an understanding of what is happening so for us to get some clarity on the situation. First is that we attend to and measure the Al Aqsa for no other reason that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala designated it as the site of sacredness by his own choosing. And in Islam there is only three sacred sites for our tradition. Allah SAW said, that intention for going toward a sacred site or the Masjid is only three locations. He said the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, and Masjidi Hada meaning his own mosque in Medina and Al Masjid al-Aqsa. Now all of the other sites in the world are our own construction, our own designations. So we attend again this is a mosque it's the house of Allah but it has no standing relative to those three mosques in general that's by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The second is also when we think about the Masjid al-Aqsa there are at least two chapters that are directly in the Quran connected to it. We have the chapter of al-Isra, the night journey and the chapter of al-Najm which focuses on the ma'raj. So two chapters of the Quran are located or founded upon a connection to Masjid al-Aqsa. And for the chapter on the Isra, the verse that has the expression of the Isra in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, subhanal ladhi asra bi'abdihi laylan min al-Majjid al-Haram il al-Majjid al-Aqsa al ladhi barakna hawlahu li al-Alamin. So glory be to his name meaning in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying the one that have transported his servant bi'abdihi from the sacred mosque in Makkah to the farthest mosque the one in Jerusalem and that verse in the Quran has so much to give us in terms of understanding is that the Prophet SAW said that on the journey of the Isra he was given a choice. He was given a choice to be a prophet king or a prophet abd. So a prophet king, for example, some of the prophets had all the title of a prophet and a king. So the Prophet SAW was given the choice and he said he opted to choose to be a prophet abd, a prophet servant and he said because a prophet king primary relationship is to people while the prophet abd is the primary relationship is to Allah. So he chose to be a prophet servant to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that's why Allah gave him the attribute in this verse bi'abdihi and also in the structure of the Arabic that Allah attached what we call the possessive pronoun. The possessive pronoun in Arabic is for example you say kitabi, my book, kitabu who his book, kitabu her hair book. So Allah in this he says bi'abdihi his servant and because you could say bi'abdin lahu subhanahu wa ta'ala ladi asra bi'abdin lahu a servant to him he has a hundred servants and one of them went with him but he said no bi'abdihi attaching that pronoun relative point into Allah to indicate the close recognition of the status of the Prophet SAW with Allah that Allah was aware of the servant status of the Prophet SAW and the Prophet perfected his servitude to Allah so Allah says bi'abdihi. So it's a very very subtle but it's very important indication relative to the Prophet SAW. More importantly at the end of the verses that we that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says that we have placed barakah barakah in the mosque or in the al-Aqsa l-alameen meaning that every portion of the world is getting a portion of the blessing that has been placed in Majjid al-Aqsa. So the Prophet SAW said whoever can't go to Majjid al-Aqsa let them send an oil to let its lamp as a way to express their affinity and their sacred attachment to the mosque. So you could think about it Allah could have taken the Prophet SAW to the heavens from Makkah. He could have taken out from the Asker of Makkah because Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala could have done anything that he chooses but he took the night journey and it's understood that al-Aqsa mosque has this miraculous ladder to the heavens. So the gate from this world to the heavens passes through the location of al-Aqsa mosque. It's the land that has been traversed by all prophets. So again we recognize I don't know if many know that the Prophet Ibrahim SAW is buried in the city of Al-Khalil. Allah in the Quran describes Ibrahim as Khalilullah, the intimate companion of Allah. He's buried in Al-Khalil. Now most people say Al-Khalil you in English or in the Kingdom they call it Hebron but that is incorrect. The name of the city is Al-Khalil and there is a mosque in there over the grave of the Prophet Ibrahim SAW and his lineage is buried in there. The longest standing continuous soup kitchen offering meals is in Al-Khalil and because if you remember in the Quran there were guests that came to Ibrahim and he wanted to offer them a meal. There were angels. So from that we get the story of Qaum Lut. So anyone that goes al-Khalil, the people of the city, understood their role is to represent the Prophet Ibrahim as being host for anyone that comes in there. So that anyone that comes there is still served today because they took the role of the Prophet Ibrahim SAW to offer a meal to anyone that is coming. So it says continuously running soup kitchen over 1400 and 41 years right or again if you maybe take seven years out about 435 years continuously making attending to those who come to visit the Prophet Ibrahim SAW and the Prophet again said to visit if you can visit my grave to visit a reference to Ibrahim as his father which is in Arabic you could use it Majaz metaphorical reference anyone of your long lineage you could actually refer to him as your father. So the reason that we attach or speak about Al-Aqsa not that because there is any specificity to the people even though that the Prophet SAW said that the people of Palestine or by tilmak this are instead of state of guard right meaning stead guard on the sacred from now until judgment day. So their role is basically to stay guard in relations to the sacred mosque and attending to the sacredness that that is there. So the Prophet SAW says that the sacred house is in the protection of Allah that until Allah inherits the earth and all what's in it. So there is a again metaphorical protection in their sacred protection that is there. Now don't be confused the fact that oppression exists oppression is just a reality in the worldly plane does not corresponds to the unseen and the spiritual plane. Alright so in here the sacredness is still there. I tend to argue because Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala says that we have blessed it blessed its surrounding lal alameen that whatever attention we do to the sacred reflects our temporal reality the more that we honor the sacred the more that our condition improves. The more that we violate the sacred the more that our condition actually diminishes. And we could actually trace the history of by tilmak this a laxmas throughout history every time that it was honored respected venerated that the human condition not only in Palestine but you could say globally was in a better and more reflective of the honor that we showed the secret. Whenever we defiled it whenever we violated we see that it's the human condition is actually also diminishing in that sense. Now throughout history Muslims made sure either before Hajj or after Hajj to come to Jerusalem and to spend time in a laxmas. And that's why you actually see many Zawayas, many centers, many housing places that were put together by the visitors. For those who are from Morocco there was a huge Moroccan quarter that was set up by the prince Muhammad al-Marini. He wrote the Quran in his own hand. At these days some of our people don't even know how to write but that's a side issue. He wrote the Quran in his own right hand send it as an endowment to be placed in Jerusalem and set up a walk for somebody to take his Quran every morning or every day and goes to the sacred mosque al-Aqsa, recite it and give the reward for the recitation to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to the companion to his family and to himself and to all of the believers. That copy of the Quran is still there in al-Aqsa Mosque you go and actually visit it and is there still preserved till today. From that developed the Moroccan quarter in Jerusalem which was completely wiped out by the Zionists in 1967. Just as they occupied they raised all of the Moroccan quarter almost a thousand years old constructions buildings schools libraries completely wiped out so when you ever you look at the current picture of Jerusalem and you see what they call the wailing wall which is Ha'it al-Buraq that location is not the wailing wall it's actually the Ha'it al-Buraq where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the Isra tethered his steed the miraculous steed in there and that's what he said that all prophets when they travel to Jerusalem that's when they tethered their peace or their steeds in there so it's Ha'it al-Buraq it's not the sacred house and we have also the document from 1930 a whole commission that said that this property in there belongs to the Moroccans. Again for anyone who wants I have the whole full report the wailing wall commission of 1930-31 that looked into who the property belonged to and it actually demonstrated that this is a Moroccan property all were auqaf religious endowments where a hedge a pilgrims who's coming from Morocco from Algeria from Tunisia they will pass they stop spend time in in there they go to the Hodge and they come back there is the Indian corner in Jerusalem where similarly the pilgrims and those who came from the Indian subcontinent they will come likewise finish the Hodge and they spent time in Jerusalem and they opened a the Indian corner right the Zawiyah India in Jerusalem and they attend again to teaching and some of the scholars come in there and some of the really prominent Indian subcontinent scholars made their way into Majid al-Aqsa. There is the Bukhara from the Indian if not from the Indian from the Asian republics Uzbekistan Tajikistan as well as the community in the city of Al-Bukhara right they actually also set up a place in there and there is the Zawiyah Bukhara in in Jerusalem as well there is our African brothers from the Sudan as well they also have built a location there similar for the Hodge back and forth right the Chessians there is actually a Chessian community right there again all this was part of how to venerate what Allah made sacred and how to express it through building a Qaf and there isn't a corner in Palestine up or down except there is a Waqf that is set up you can go in any place except there is a Waqf a mosque a sacred site a water well that was built either to support the pilgrims who are coming or to support those who are visiting whether visiting Al-Aqsa or visiting the Prophet Ibrahim there is also a narrative that the Prophet Yusuf alayhi salam is buried in the city of Nablus there is again debate on that as well and then there is on the valley on the Jordan valley is the grave site or what people believe is the grave site of the Prophet Musa alayhi salam so this land is so sacred so filled with sacred meaning that our relationship with it has to reflect that relationship now opposite to this there's a violation of the sacredness that is taking place no matter what it is there is no reason that any can anyone can actually understand why an Israeli police force goes in in the middle of the night when people are doing tarawih and etiquette and beat people to the pole and drag them out shooting smoke bombs stun grenades tear gas in the middle of Al-Aqsa mosque and almost complete silence can you imagine just imagine right right imagine this that a group will go into the middle of Saint what is it the Vatican in Saint Paul's Basilica in the eve of Christmas and take the batons to people who are praying and drag a 70 year old man and a 70 year old woman knocking with a baton on her legs what would be the reaction of anyone if that is seen complete silence right now in relations to what's taking place relative to Muslims and again we have become accustomed not only that the sacred sites of us of our community is not respected but we know that our human life is no longer respected Muslims death no longer solicits any response Muslims loss of lies not solicit any response and our sacred sites again in terms of what is occurring in al-Aqsa is not respected this is right this is the third year in a row where those who are worshiping in the middle of the night in al-Aqsa are being beaten up right it's just like in can incomprehensible what is the logic behind it now there is an element in here which also we have to be aware of increasingly the Israelis are saying we need to have Jerusalem open to all insha Allah it seems to be like a statement that means they want to have an access to be in al-Aqsa must that's what they're saying so the past few days they want to have to engage in a ritual sacred sacrifice on al-Aqsa compound area in order to actually begin to share from their perspective the property in the same way as they did in the Ibrahim Imas Ibrahim Imas which was built by Muslims that did by Muslim now is actually divided where Muslims sometimes can't have access to it at all so that method or the approach is basically every time they attack they constitute a new security structure in order to make encroachment on the rights of the Muslims in their own mosques so we need to be aware of some of these statements that are being ushered in relations to al-Majid al-Aqsa and what it says now the last point I want to say in relations to this that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said la tazal al-taifatun min ummati zahireena al-al-haq la yaduruhum man khadalahum wa la man khalafahum hatta y'amur Allah y'amur Allah wahum ka thalik the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said there is a group of my umma that they will be still firmed on truth justice veracity until judgment day what his intrigue says la yaduruhum man khalafahum that if some people disagree with them and so on it does not harm because again they're leaning on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and also those who in essence do not lend any statement of support rather they align with those who are have no don't have their best interest so your support of those who are attending to the sacred is to your benefit not to them because Allah guaranteed their status is saying that there no harm will come to them the harm will come to you if you actually see where they're standing at truth the best you could do is either you could say something positive or if you can then at least hold your statements in such a way that you don't jeopardize your status with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I do believe that whoever does not attend to the affairs of the Muslim is not from among them. That's the statement of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And lama itan bi'umur al muslimeen falaisa minhum. So I take it personally as an obligation for me, not only to speak on Palestine and those who know me, wherever there is Muslims that are impacted, I either do the work or do the research, do the publication, write out about it and speak about it. So today I'm speaking about Palestine last week, the week before, but the Hindutva was taken place in India, what is occurring in Pakistan and Afghanistan in so many different places. So for me it's an obligation, those who know have the responsibility to actually convey what is occurring and only to say, just to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that I did my role. So this is part of our obligation to actually be able to say the statement of truth, qawulu, to stay a statement of truth at the time where silence is being pursued as the norm. So what is occurring is unacceptable and no one, even if you want, you're occupying the place, we know that you've been occupying for 75 years, but there are still principles of decency, principles of international law, principles of sacredness and protection of the sacred site. When Muslims entered Jerusalem, they actually did not, they allowed almost the Qusaytars who literally massacred everybody in there, they allowed them to actually still have their sacred, and Saladin will come back for them to have Christmas in Jerusalem. That's why the churches in Jerusalem have been there for the longest period of time, and anyone that says that Muslims don't have tolerance, I ask them, where are the Muslims of Spain? Once you answer that question, then you could have to talk. Every Christian community that existed in the Muslim land is still there. The largest Christian community in the world is in Egypt. The Christian community in Palestine is still there. The Christian community in Iraq is still there. The Christian community in Syria is there. The Christian community in Afghanistan is still there. The Christian community in Yemen is still there. So show me where are the Christian communities that you have in Spain. And increasingly, people are using all kinds of defamation of Muslims without actually knowing the facts. The fact, again, is the Muslims have been not only tolerance as an excuse, but tolerance as a way of life if not embracing the other and living with the other as a co-participant in really conducting and carrying on civil society. So lastly, we have some of the flyers from the Islamophobia Study Center. If you're able to look at supporting the Islamophobia Study Center, but all means that's some of the research that we continue to do on all the issues pertaining to the Muslim...