About the author
Suhaib Webb
Suhaib Webb is a contemporary American-Muslim educator, activist, and lecturer. His work bridges classical and contemporary Islamic thought, addressing issues of cultural, social and political relevance to Muslims in the West. After converting to Islam in 1992, Webb left his career in the music industry to pursue his passion in education. He earned a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and received intensive private training in the Islamic Sciences under a renowned Muslim Scholar of Senegalese descent. Webb was hired as the Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, where he gave khutbas (sermons), taught religious classes, and provided counselling to families and young people; he also served as an Imam and resident scholar in communities across the U.S.
From 2004-2010, Suhaib Webb studied at the world’s preeminent Islamic institution of learning, Al-Azhar University, in the College of Shari`ah. During this time, after several years of studying the Arabic Language and the Islamic legal tradition, he also served as the head of the English Translation Department at Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah.
Outside of his studies at Al-Azhar, Suhaib Webb completed the memorization of the Quran in the city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. He has been granted numerous traditional teaching licenses (ijazat), adhering to centuries-old Islamic scholarly practice of ensuring the highest standards of scholarship. Webb was named one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in 2010.
ya rabbi; i hate feeling so useless and that i can’t help in easing thier pain. I can only make duaa. Ya allah help them to cope with everything and grant them ur highest firdous, and give them infinite patience and sakeena. Ameen.
Let’s pray and pray, du’a is our weapon, but never forget that Allah does not change the condition of a people unless they first change it. So Muslims, please, let’s do SOMETHING! Go to the protests, donate money, write to your elected representatives, raise awareness… and let’s not let our action for Palestine be when we hear about it in the news only. These are our brothers and our sisters and they have been hurting for more than 60 years. wAllah I am so afraid when I think the Day of Judgment is coming and Allah asks me what did I do?
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiuun.
These are the issues we should be discussing about in our circles and programs, instead of focusing on trivial differences that have existed for 100’s of years. We should come together with one voice, calling out against matters that are evident and have no difference of opinion within our Ummah. We should be in the forefront in the call to peace, justice, equality, and mercy.
We can study Islamic knowledge as much as we want but if we don’t use it to bring peace and stability to humanity then what purpose did that knowledge fulfill? The brothers and sisters who were blessed by Allah with tawfeeq to seek knowledge, they should be in the forefront of peace and justice as witnesses of Allah. We know the source of peace is from Allah and with Allah. We cannot bend on such fundamental principles of our faith.
The world wants peace. Our neighbors want peace. This is evident with the immense amount of support for president Obama whose call for peace penetrated the hearts and minds of the American people. It is our responsibility as Muslim and Americans to rally the people to end our support for a nation that has brought nothing but instability to the world! Let’s not forget to mention their clandestine intelligence operations within our very own nation!
We are faced with the decision to speak now or forever hold our pea…distress!
May Allah help us. Ameen.
These premediated and repeated human tragedies have largely two purposes, one is for the larger consumption and falls largely on the side of entertainment. The other is for local consumption, simultaneously foolhardy and suicidal. today’s massacre will be overshadowed by tomorrow’s carnage and so on, it will always be remembered in terms of magnitude. The other tragedy is highly personalized and cannot be understood outside the scene of the crime. Palestine is one of the few mementos of life that you can’t be undecided about, you are either a keeper or a passer. It doesn’t matter how it affects you, its how you relate with it and those that matters. A lot of the reaction that is emanating from the streets or online is kind of predictable, its either self-defeatist or rivetting. The existential threat the victim and the tormentor both becomes the product of news worthiness, academic rivalry and national interests. The transaction of culturally determined meaning creates revenue for the consumers and performers both locally and globally in a connected reality of the post modern reading of history. We as an ummah need to ask ourselves what does this impotency, transgression, self-flagellation, the collective sensitization of our conscience tell of us ? The difficult question is what do we do individually ? Do we come closer, make a few alterations in our grocery lists or write a letter of protest to whomever we think cares ? Or do we implode the discourse that narrates the consumers and performers of tragedies and stop reliving it in all our socially fragmented lives.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raj’ioon. :'(
Ya Rabb, allow me to meet my brothers and sisters who were murdered for believing in You, in Jannat-al-Firdaws.
Ya Ghafour, Ya Raheem, forgive them for their sins and make them among those close to You and Your messenger (sallahu alayhi wa sallam) on
on the day of Judgement.Ameen
Assalamu Alaykum
These photos really scare me. Especially the one with the baby. Subhanallah, imagine those photographs were your mother, or father, sister, or brother, grandparents, cousins, and friends. Imagine that you were staring at yourself.
Allah (SWT) says in the Qu’ran:
“It is he who made you (his) agents, inheritors of the Earth: He has raised you in ranks, some above others, that he may try you in gifts he has given you, for your Lord is quick in punishment, yet he is indeed Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful” (Surah An’aam 6:165)
Allah (SWT) has given each and every one of us a certain time, place, and position in society, to live in, in order to test us. Imagine if Allah (SWT) put us in such a fitnah as the one occurring in Palestine. We should ask ourselves, would we be able to handle it? I think, and I say this for myself first and foremost, that the answer would be no. With that being said, we should be thankful to Allah (SWT) for not placing us in such a position like the people of Palestine, where people are dying and becoming permanently injured, with limbs and other body parts missing left and right. We should also recognize that with this position comes a great responsibility, as Ibn Muhammad beautifully mentioned. We need to use our position and power in the American society that we live in to voice out these atrocities to the American public, and to try and do something to help them. For as Allah (SWT) has mentioned at the end of the ayah, “for your Lord is quick in punishment, yet he is indeed Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
We ask Allah (SWT) to grant them Sakeenah, and to grant them Jannatul Firdous. We ask Allah (SWT) to forgive them for their sins and grant them Jannatul Firdous. We ask Allah (SWT) to strengthen their Imaan and grant them Jannatul Firdous.
Assalamu Alaykum
A Lowly Servant
I feel bad for those whom do not know what it’s like to have or show mercy!
Undoubtedly the cowardly crimes against our brothers and sisters in Palestine are deserving of the greatest outrage but I think that this outrage should be directed inwards. At one’s self.
Stories of the past are ones from which we can draw benefit to learn about our states of affair. The story that comes to mind is that of the fall of Al-Alndalus. Remember the spy? narrations of the details differ but the moral of the story is the same brothers and sisters, the reason for the fall of Al-Andalus is the same reason why our palestinian brothers and sisters and all of our war torn muslims suffer. The focus is not the religion anymore but rather the trivialities of the material world.
I am not preaching a full and knowledgable return to our deen just so we can be well-learned muslims! being well-learned, educated muslims is not a different parallel plane that does not cross over into our daily lives. Being well educated, learned muslims raises that awarness mentioned by sister Jinan “wAllah I am so afraid when I think the Day of Judgment is coming and Allah asks me what did I do?” and would give us the means to work within the system in which we live in and as Ibn Mahmoud said above “speak now or forever hold our pea…distress!”
You can’t build a building without the building blocks. We need to strengthen ourselves as individuals as we come together as a community.
Palestine is our wake up call!
May Allah grant Jannah to those who have professed to Hi Oness and believed inthe Message delivered by his servant Mohammad intact and complete till the end of day.
From amrkhaled.net:
There is a Prophetic Hadith that was narrated with a smile (meaning that the Prophet (SAWS) narrated it and then smiled. Consequently, everyone narrating it would smile right after). This tradition had been going on since the days of the companions until the days of Nour Ed-Deen Mahmoud who narrated the Hadith to Salah ed-Deen and then smiled. During Salah ed-Deen’s time, an idea possessed people’s minds and people totally embraced al-Ghazaly’s methodology. Thus, when Salah ed-Deen narrated the hadith to his friends, he did not smile. When asked why he did not smile he said his famous words, “How could I smile while the ‘Aqsa Mosque is under siege. I would be ashamed if Allah saw me smiling while my brothers there are facing what they are facing.”
Let’s pray for them, May Allah grant them His mercy
Qunoot at times of calamity (Qunoot al-Naazilah)
When praying Qunoot at the time of calamity, one should make supplication as is appropriate to the situation, as it was narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed some Arab tribes who had betrayed his companions and killed them, and he prayed for the weak and oppressed believers in Makkah, that Allaah would save them. It was narrated that ‘Umar prayed Qunoot with the following words:
“Allaahumma inna nasta’eenuka wa nu’minu bika, wa natawakkalu ‘alayka wa nuthni ‘alayka al-khayr, wa laa nakfuruka. Allaahumma iyyaaka na’budu wa laka nusalli wa nasjudu, wa ilayka nas’aa wa nahfid. Narju rahmataka wa nakhsha ‘adhaabaka, inna ‘adhaabaka al-jadd bil kuffaari mulhaq. Allaahumma ‘adhdhib il-kafarata ahl al-kitaab alladheena yasuddoona ‘an sabeelika
(O Allaah, verily we seek Your help, we believe in You, we put our trust in You and we praise You and we are not ungrateful to You. O Allaah, You alone we worship and to You we pray and prostrate, for Your sake we strive. We hope for Your mercy and fear Your punishment, for Your punishment will certainly reach the disbelievers. O Allaah, punish the infidels of the People of the Book who are preventing others from following Your way).”
(Narrated by al-Bayhaqi-sahih albaaneee)
Going to protests, writing letters to representatives, and putting up posters are useless. Furthermore, they are arguably counter-productive because they give us the illusion of doing something useful about the situation.
Every American-Muslim can do something about this situation. Instead of living indulgent, materialistic lives where we spend money on things like iPods, travelling for pleasure, eating out, new cars, big houses, and lavish weddings, we should be donating our money to those organizations that are dedicated to fighting injustices such as the pro-Israeli lobby in the United States.
Yes, buying a Mercedes is not haram, but seriously, how could a Muslim even think of spending his money on such ego-maniacal ridiculousness when they see the horrors being perpetrated in Palestine, Darfur, and the rest of the world.
I think American-Muslims need to take a hard and close look at their lives and realize that the financial excess they live in is directly responsible for the misery of millions.
I’m not sure how it works in the US, but here in UK we are trying to get people to write to the forign secretary (david milliband) and also their local MP (member of parliment) to show concern/complain about the attacks in Palestine.
Please please can you also voice your concern to a government authority
jzk
I am so shocked that Israel is getting away with this and how America and England r just sitting back and letting it all happen. This is a Genocide masses of palestinians are being killed everyday. America, England and other powerful countries need to wake up and smell the coffee!! us muslims need to do everything in our power to stop this especially protests, writing letters to leader’s, donating money to our brother’s and sister’s and last but not least Dua to Allah swt. Please muslims lets try and raise loads of awareness, dont give up! they need us, lets put ourselves in there shoes, at least we have warmth, security food and water
what have they got?
I have spent much of the day reading Israeli newspapers and BBC and Sky News to get the oppinions on what is happening in Palestine. I am so shocked at the articles posted in the Israeli newspapers and the biased views of the news here in the UK.
Also, my family in Palestine were telling me about 2 weeks ago that Israel were going to attack Palestine because elections are comming up in February and the present government want to show they are hardline. Then I read an article in the Jerusalem Post which says that Israel have 2 motives for starting these attacks. Firstly, the current Government were loosing oppionion polls and BN Yahu was winning as he had promised a aggressive strategy with Palestine. Now, since saturday the Government have had greater support and the opionion polls are very close. Secondly, Israel feel that Obama is not as supportive of their cause as Bush is, so they wanted to launch an offensive before Obama takes office. Although (as i said in a previous posting) Obama was so pro-Israel when he gave his speech to Israli lobby- he said that he supported a israeli state with an unshared capital of Jerusalem- he was litterally kissing their backside (sorry).
Also, I do belive that Hamas being in power is not the best thing. They lack communication skills and they are not willing to engage in the political process, which then leaves the non-muslim world thinking that Palestinians don’t want peace. Hamas make people feel that muslims hate all jews- and this is wrong- we want the palestinians to have equal rights. at the moment they get 6 hours of electricity a day, about an hour of running water (then they fill up tankers and keep them for the rest of the day) and schools are often closed because they can’t guarantee the children’s safety due to attacks from Israel. the University has now been hit too.
I pray that Allah brings justice to all
Fi amanillah
One thing I wanted to add is that we should be asking what the leaders of the arab countries are doing- nothing!
I have seen at protests that UK and USA governments are verbally attacked for not doing anything, whilst arab leaders are glad that noone has noticed that they are doing jack-all while their fellow muslims are being slaughtered. we need to look at our selves, our own people, before we can attack others. why do the muslim leaders not come to the defense of their brothers and sisters- why do that not call for sanctions on Israel and do whatever they can to stop this situation and free the palestinians from 60 years of oppression. Forget UK and USA- we cannot expect them to come to our defense- they are the ones that supply the weapons. In Lebanon 2006, whilst UK “condemned” Israeli attacks, they also flew out the cluster bombs to Israeli from Heathrow Airport and tried to hide it.
We should be holding so called muslim governments to question- what are they doing?
“Going to protests, writing letters to representatives, and putting up posters are useless. Furthermore, they are arguably counter-productive because they give us the illusion of doing something useful about the situation” (Struggle)
engaging in the political process is very important and this is where muslims get it wrong. we do not engage in very much at a strategic level so we just complain about everything when it doesn’t go our way. I don’t go to protests very much because I have had experiences where certain groups turn up and start shouting very offensive and innapropriate anti-UK anti-USA slogans and they do not reflect my views, nor are they islamic .
we should not compromise our deen, and we shoudl contribute to society in a positive way- then we will have a voice.
yes we should not be materialistic- more important than that- we should remember Allah in all that we do, and increase in our dua, worship and charity (i remind myself first).
Fi amanillah
Dear Fakhra,
As-Salamu alaikum,
Don’t worry they are not getting away with anything. That is why we have recompense on the day of judgment. Allah is just simply allowing them a time until they meet him. And then… wal-eyaathu billah
What’s strange is that in most cirlces in the muslim world, communities. etc. No one actually adresses the “Why” aspect of the Palestinian issue or any other issue of hardship, suffering,famine, etc. If we addressed why Allah tests us with these things and realize that the hardships we face individually, or as an ummah are a result of our sins. Allah says,. “dhahar al fasad fi albarri wa albahr bi ma kasabat aydi naas li yudhiqahum ba’da aladhi ‘amiluu l’alahum yarji’uun”. “Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by what the hands of people have earned so He (Allah) may let them taste part of (the consequence of) what they have done, perhaps they will return.” (Rum)Also, Allah says, “ma asaabatkum min museebatin fa bima kasabat aydikum” “And nothing befalls you (from calamities) except by reason of what your hands have reaped.” Also, Allah says “aw wa lamma asaabatkum museebatun qad asabtum mithlayha, qultum annaa hadha, qul huwa min endi anfusikum. Inna Allah ala kulli shayin qadeer.” “Why (is it that) when a (single) disaster struck you (on the day of Uhud), although you had struck (the enemy in the battle of Badr) with one twice as great, you said, “from where is this?” Say, “It is from yourselves (i.e. due to your sin)” Indeed Allah is over all things competent. Aaal ‘Imran 167 So we see a pttern in these ayahs that Allah has explained that hardships and calamities are a RESULT OF SINS, not evil kuffar governments or muslim complacency, or lack of political involvement.. Based on that, it would a lot more benficial for us to reflect and rectify the deficiencies we have individually, communally, nationally, and as an umma. If every muslim looked at what is going on in Palestine as a result of HIS sins and shortcomings and then made tawba, it would be alot more beneficial then blaming the Jews or complaining to some complacent politician who doesn’t care.
Salams all
sorry if my point above was misunderstood- i didn’t mean that demonstrations are useless. i should have clarified the point better. properly organised demonstrations are very effective in raising issues- i have travelled accross the UK to attend such demonstrations- there are many benefits including raising awareness, showing the palestinians/iraqs oppressed around the world who have tv that we trying to help, being united in good.
i was just saying that its important that we do not chant anti-US or anti- UK slogans- as these are counter productive.
Jazak Allah kahyr bros Yahya and Suhaib
Fi amanillah
Don’t stop praying. Our masjid’s imams have been praying during the salah all week for Gaza. May allah accept our prayers!!
what a nice website. may Allah reward you for your work of spreading the da’wah
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