الحَمْدُ لِله، الحَمْدُ لله الذِي بارك في بلاد الشام، وَجَعَلَهُ عُقرَ دار الإسلام، نَحْمَدُهُ تَعَالَى وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ، وَنَشْكُرُهُ تَعَالَى وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَسْتَغِيثُهُ، نَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا، مَنْ يَهْدِ اللهُ فَهُوَ المُهْتَدِ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُ وَلِّيّاً مُرْشِداً، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ، لَهُ المُلْكُ وَلَهُ الحَمْدُ، يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ، بِيَدِهِ الخَيْرُ، وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ، وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا وَمَوْلاَنَا مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، وَحَبِيبُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ، بَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الأُمَّةَ، النَّبِيُّ الأُمِّيُّ الذِي أَرْسَلَهُ اللهُ بِالْهُدَى وَالدِّينِ الحَقِّ، بَشِيراً وَنَذِيراً بَينَ يَدَيِ السَّاعَةِ، صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ! فَيَا عِبَادَ اللهِ اتَّقُوا اللهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ. يَأَيُّهَا الذِينَ  ءَامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللهَ وَقُولُواْ قَولاً سَدِيداً يُصْلِحْ لَكُمُ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفُرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ. وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزاً عَظِيماً. اِتَّقُواْ اللهَ فِيمَا أَمَرَ وَانْتَهُواْ عَمَّا نَهَا عَنْهُ وَزَجَرَ.

قَالَ اللهُ تَعَالَى فِي كِتَابِهِ الْعَزِيزِ: إنَّمَا الْمؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ

 

Allah says in His Noble Book, the translation of which is, “The believers are brothers.” And His Noble Prophet said, 

 

مثل المؤمنين في توادهم وتراحمهم وتعاطفهم كمثل الجسد الواحد إذا اشتكى منه عضو تداعى له سائر الأعضاء بالسهر والحمى

 

“The likeness of the believers in terms of the mutual love, compassion and tenderness they have for each other is that a single body - when one part of it feels unwell, the rest of it  follows suit by being overcome with fever and sleeplessness.” Muslims, we must not stand idly by and ignore what is happening to our fellow Muslims across the world and especially in Syria, that blessed land that represents one of the very heartlands of the deen. They are our brothers - we must at the very least keep abreast of what is going on so that we can keep them in our duas and ask Allah to free them and rid them of their enemies.

Muslims, truly the situation is Syria is dire. Even as we speak, many Muslims under the age of forty are being rounded up and arrested in a systematic and concerted attempt to instill fear and terror into the hearts of the populace. Even as we speak, the city of Deraa continues to be shelled and besieged by over 3000 soldiers, with its electricity, water, communications and food cut off, as Bashar al-Assad seeks to emulate his father, who massacred over 20000 people in Hama in February 1982, albeit on a slightly smaller scale. Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds more are being taken in to custody and tortured. And that is happening across the entire country. According to the British journalist, Robert Fisk, the young men who were taken by the mukhabarat in Tel Kalach, a small town near the Lebanese border, were only returned to their homes after their fingernails had been torn off and their beards burnt off. While others just disappear never to be seen again. 

These are the actions of a desperate regime, a regime that has only been able to hold its grip on power through the combination of a carefully maintained lie and a huge network of secret police, with some estimating that as many as one in every hundred and fifty are part of that organisation. Their carefully maintained lie, backed by the rhetoric of their leader, is that they are bravely opposing Israel and championing the Palestinian clause, whereas in fact they do nothing, leaving Israel to occupy part of its own lands, the Golan heights, and standing by while the Palestinians are rounded up and slaughtered like cattle in Gaza and the West Bank. The truth is that they have fought and killed a lot more of their own people than the Israelis, so it is apparent who they view their real enemy to be - the Muslims.

And that is to be expected of a regime inspired on the one hand by a Ba’thist ideology dreamed up by the Christian atheist Michel Afleck and based totally on Stalinist principles, and on the other by the doctrines of the Alawite Shia sect, a sect that split off from the twelver shia religion that currently rules over Iran. Their Ba’thist roots teach them to view religion as an enemy while their Shia Alawi roots teach them to view what has come to be known as Sunni Muslims as their enemy. And that is proven by what has been happening on the ground in Syria. Robert Fisk said in his article printed in the independent on Monday, “Even before the shooting started on Wednesday, the military and the plain-clothes gunmen spent some time separating Sunni Muslims from the Alawi inhabitants, telling the latter to stay in their houses ... Then they shot into the crowds, firing also with tank-mounted machine guns into homes on both sides of the main streets.”

And to that end, the Syrian government have approached the Iranian government for equipment and advice on how to suppress rebellion, using the same methods tried and developed by the Iranian secret police in putting down their own rebellion two years ago.  For Iran is, and has been for some time, the Syrian regime's closest ally, ever since they persuaded the well-known Lebanese Shia cleric, Musa as-Sadr, to give a fatwa declaring the Alawites to be valid twelver Shia in 1973. And since that time the alliance has grown in strength and the Shia influence over Syria has grown and grown, to the extent that today we find in a state that still purports to be secular, the cultivation and restoration of Shia shrines, and the building of Shia schools and even a planned Shia university, with permits to build them being granted almost immediately. While at the same time schools that teach conventional Islam remain banned and find it next to impossible to obtain similar permits.

Some people say that this increasing Shia influence over the country is not a big deal, since we are all Muslims, and Shi'ism is simply a slightly different form of Islam. We have heard such views propagated by the Muftis of Syria themselves, such as the previous grand Mufti, Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro or the current one, Shaykh Ahmad Hassoun. But the reality of the matter is that the Shia are no more than a schism, not some alternative, a grouping that split off from the main body of the Muslims, as is shown by their name. And much of what they believe and espouse is at total variance with the correct deen of Allah. For example, they curse those from whom we received our deen, the Companions and wives of the Messenger of Allah, and established a cult of the dead, turning mourning into a yearly act of worship. Indeed, the well-known scholar, Ibn Hazm, said about them,

 

إن الروافض ليسوا من المسلمين...و هي طائفة تجري مجرى اليهود والنصارى في الكذب والكفر

 

“The rawafid are not from among the Muslims... They are a grouping that follows the same course as the Jews and Christians in terms of their lying and kufr.” These rawafid have always viewed the Muslims as their natural enemy - and I do not use the term 'Sunni Muslim' because that indicates that there is some other form of Muslim. There is not - the only way to be Muslim is to follow the Sunna of the Messenger and his Companions. When Ismael as-Safawi established his Shia state in Iran in the 1500s, he did so with the express purpose of fighting against the Ottoman Muslim leadership of the time and weakening their power, and to that end he massacred every non-Shia he could get his hands on and attacked the Ottoman empire time and time again. It was their treachery and enmity against Islam that caused Sulayman the Magnificent to lift his siege of Vienna, when on the very point of conquering most of mainland Europe, in order to go and repel the Shia from his eastern flank. 

And today once again, it is the Muslims who their ally Syria is massacring and oppressing, not their proclaimed enemy, Israel.

But as the well-known Arabic truism states,

 

ما كان لله دام واتصل، وما كان لغير الله انقطع وانفصل

 

“Whatever is for Allah will last and be connected, while whatever is for other than  Allah will come to an end and become separated.” They will never know true unity. Their time is at an end. The Baathist-Shia regime's grip on power is slipping. Their brutality masks their desperation. Soldiers are starting to refuse to fire on their fellow Muslims. The Muslims are losing their fear of the regime and recovering their fear of Allah. Imams are speaking up and the duas of the Muslims are with them. And when Muslims go back to Allah and are with Him, Allah is with them. Allah says,

وَإِنْ عُدتُم عُدْنَا

 

the translation of which is, “If you return, We will return.” And Allah says,

 

إِنَّ اللهَ مَعَ الْمُومِينَ

 

the translation of which is, “Allah is with the believers.” And when Allah is with us, that guarantees us victory. 

 

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ.

الحَمْدُ لِله، الحَمْدُ للهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ كَمَا يَنْبَغِي لِجَلاَلِ وَجْهِهِ وَعَظِيمِ سُلْطَانِهِ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، صَلَّى اللهُ وَسَلَّمَ وَبَارَكَ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ، وَالتَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ! فَيَأَيُّهَا الذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُواْ وَأَطِيعُواْ وَأَنْفِقُواْ خَيْراً لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ. يَا عِبَادَ اللهِ أُوصِيكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ بِتَقْوَى اللهِ وَطَاعَتِهِ، وَأُحَذِّرُكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ عَنْ مَعْصِيَتِهِ وَمُخَالَفَتِهِ. قَالَ اللهُ تَعَالَى فِي كِتَابِهِ الْعَزِيزِ: لاَ تَقْنَطُواْ مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللهِ

 

Allah says, the translation of which is, “Do not despair of the Mercy of Allah.”

Muslims, never despair of the mercy or help of Allah. Do not think that all avenues are closed to you. Do not think that the solution to your problems lie in some other direction or from some other source. Do not put your trust in nations or in systems. 

 

توكل على الله وكفى بالله وكيلا (٣)

 

“Trust in Allah. Allah is enough of a guardian for you.” (3) Allah will bring your enemies and your oppressors to justice, whether in this world or the Next. Allah says,

 

وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا

 

the translation of which is, “As for anyone who kills a believer deliberately, his repayment is Hell, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. Allah is angry with him and has cursed him, and has prepared for him a terrible punishment.” Dhulm never lasts - that is Allah's sunna in creation. Whenever a regime became corrupt, it was always replaced by another more just. This is the pattern, this is the cycle that we have witnessed throughout history. The mercy of Allah and His victory are always near.

إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللهِ قَرِيبٌ

 

the translation of which is, “Allah’s Help is near at hand.” That is the reality of existence. So return to Allah and look to the Sunna of His Messenger for your solutions, not to the systems and techniques employed by those who deny Him and believe themselves to have all the answers. Their ‘answers’ have led this world to the very brink and brought about an entire generation that is impoverished, disempowered and indebted. Their solutions require solutions to resolve them and so on in an ever-worsening spiral. This past century of enlightened government and democratic principals has witnessed more killing and destruction than during all of the centuries that preceded it put together and less real wealth and freedom. Even in the so-called wealthy nations such as Britain and America, the majority today no longer even own the homes they live in, and are forced to work two or even three jobs in order to make their mortgage payments. Very few of the moments of their lives are their own, even less than the slaves of the past. That is where their ‘democracy has taken them.’ So do not think that in it lies the solutions to the woes of the Arab world.

It is not the ‘only’ alternative to dictatorship or the lesser of two evils, for that presupposes that these two evils are the only options. We have a viable alternative within the deen that worked for 1300 years and that was neither of these two things. We are not calling for some theoretical utopia, but rather for a vibrant, practised, living deen, a rulership that governs according to what Allah has revealed, not according to what man, in his ignorance and folly, has devised and dreamt up. Allah says,

 

وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ، وفي آية أخرى: فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ، وفي آية أخرى: فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ

 

the translation of which is, “Those who do not govern by what Allah has revealed, they are the kafirs, ...they are wrongdoers, ...they are the deviants.” The model established by the Prophet in Madina and continued by the khalifas who followed him, that is our model for bringing justice and success backs to the lands of Islam and that is what we must be calling for. Let us finish with the last few lines of the Nasiri dua:

 

يَا رَبِّ‏ وَانْصُرْ‏ دِينَنَا الْمُحَمَّدِي وَاجْعَلْ‏ خِتَامَ‏ عِزِّهِ‏ كَمَا بُدِي

وَاحْفَظْهُ‏ يَا رَبِّ‏ بِحِفْظِ‏ الْعُلَمَا وَارْفَعْ‏ مَنَارَ‏ نُورِهِ‏ إِلَى السَّمَا

وَاعْفُ‏ وَعَافِ‏ وَاكْفِ‏ وَاغْفِرْ‏ ذَنْبَنَا وَذَنْبَ‏ كُلِّ‏ مُسْلِمٍ‏ يَا رَبَّنَا

وَ‏صَلِّ‏ يَا رَبِّ‏ عَلَى الْمُخْتَارِ صَلاَتَكَ‏ الْكَامِلَةِ‏ المِقْدَارِ

صَلاَتَكَ‏ الَّتِي‏ تَفِي‏ بِأَمْرِهِ كَمَا‏ يَلِيقُ‏ بِارْتِفَاعِ‏ قَدْرِهِ

ثُمَّ‏ عَلَى الآلِ‏ الْكِرَامِ‏ وَعَلَى أَصْحَابِهِ‏ الْغُرِّ‏ وَمَنْ‏ لَّهُمْ‏ تَلاَ

وَالْحَمْدُ‏ لِلَّهِ‏ الَّذِي‏ بِحَمْدِهِ يَبْلُغُ‏ ذُو الْقَصْدِ‏ تَمَامَ‏ قَصْدِهِ

 

O Lord, help our Muhammadan deen, and make it end mighty as it began.

Preserve it, O Lord, through the preservation of the scholars, and raise the minaret of its light to heaven.

Pardon, grant well-being, make up for our deficiency and forgive our sins and the sins of every Muslim, O our Lord.

O Lord, bless the Chosen one with your perfect prayer of blessing.

Your prayer is that which grant success in his business as befits his lofty worth.

Then bless his noble family and glorious Companions and those who have followed them.

‏ Praise belongs to Allah by whose praise those with an aim completely fulfil that aim.

 

إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً. اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ  أَجْمَعِينَ. 

وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.

اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.  

اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ. 

اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ (3) وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.

رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ. 

اللَّهُمَّ لاَ تَدَعْ فِي مَقَامِنَا هَذَا ذَنْباً إِلاَّ غَفَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ عَيْباً إِلاَّ سَتَرْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَرِيضاً إِلاَّ شَفَيْتَهُ وَعَافَيْتَهُ، وَلاَ مَسْجُوناً إِلاَّ طَلَقْتَ سَرَاحَهُ، وَلاَ مُسَافِراً فِي بَرِّكَ وَبَحْرِكَ إِلاَّ سَلِِمْتَهُ وَغَنِمْتَهُ.

إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.