Attack on Holy Makkah Tantamount to Declaring War on Muslim Ummah

Mufti Abdur Rahim Qasemi, Khatib of the historic Baitul Mamur Jame Mosque in Mirpur, said in his pre-Friday prayer sermon yesterday that Makkah and Madinah are the holiest places in the world for Muslims. The most revered mosque is the Baitullah, or the Holy Kaaba. Therefore, every Muslim is deeply concerned about protecting the honour and sanctity of the holy city of Makkah and the Baitullah.

Muslims love Makkah and the Holy Kaaba more than their own lives. Muslims consider any attack targeting Makkah or Madinah tantamount to declaring war on the entire Muslim Ummah. Therefore, Muslims will never tolerate any attack targeting or disrespecting Makkah and Madinah. The entire Muslim world is determined, with strong religious conviction, to protect the honour of Makkah and Madinah.

He said it should be remembered that Muslims would not forgive anyone who attacks Makkah, no matter how powerful they are, even if they claim to be Muslim. They would unitedly resist such an attacker. He also recalled the history of King Abraha, who came to attack Makkah with a huge army of elephants but was ultimately destroyed. To warn all nations until the Day of Judgment, Allah Almighty revealed the history of King Abraha through Surah Al-Fil and said:

“Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Army of the Elephant? Did He not make their plan go astray? And He sent against them flocks of birds, striking them with stones of baked clay, leaving them like chewed-up straw.” (Surah Al-Fil). He said reliable sources in the electronic media had reported that Yemen’s Houthi group recently carried out attacks south of Makkah and in Taif, targeting the Holy Makkah.

“We Muslims strongly condemn and protest against this attack,” he said. According to him, every Muslim considers an attack targeting Makkah not merely an attack on an individual, group, community or Saudi Arabia, but an attack against Muslims around the world. He said the attack had deeply hurt the hearts of Muslims everywhere. “We have no words to express our condemnation of this attack,” he said.

He demanded that the Houthi group apologise to Muslims around the world for the attack and refrain from planning any future attack targeting Makkah and Madinah or from showing any disrespect towards the two holy cities.

The Khatib also made a strong appeal to Muslims around the world to take united and effective steps in protest against the Houthi attack targeting Makkah and the demolition of numerous mosques in neighbouring India.

At the same time, he strongly urged the government to take necessary measures against alcohol, gambling, murder, extortion and obscenity, which are prohibited by Allah (SWT), in order to maintain peace and law and order in Bangladesh. He prayed that Allah (SWT) Almighty would grant everyone the ability to follow His commands and fulfil their responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Sheikhul Hadith Mufti Faizullah Jibonpuri, Khatib of Baitun Nur Jame Mosque in North Manda, Mugda, Dhaka, said in his pre-sermon address yesterday that even in an era of the highest achievements of modern civilisation, humanity is facing a deep crisis worldwide due to moral decline, lack of justice and growing distance from the laws of Allah (SWT).

He said the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had warned his followers about a far-reaching and serious consequence 1,400 years ago. He referred to a significant hadith narrated by the famous companion Abdullah ibn Umar (RA), which describes five specific social and state-level offences and the specific decline and punishment that follow them.

The Khatib said many of the social and moral crises of the modern world resemble the five crises mentioned in the hadith. Describing the five offences and their serious consequences, he said the hadith states:

1. Spread of obscenity and immoral behaviour: When obscenity and shamelessness spread openly in a society rather than remaining hidden, and people become accustomed to them, various plagues and serious unknown diseases emerge that had never been seen in human history before. The emergence of new pandemics and incurable diseases over the course of medical and human history reminds us of this warning, he said.

2. Business corruption and fraud: When business corruption and crimes such as giving short weight and measure become widespread throughout society, the result is severe economic crisis, inflation, extreme hardship in people’s lives, famine and oppression by unjust and tyrannical rulers.

3. Failure to pay Zakat: When Zakat is stopped, mercy from the heavens is also stopped. Zakat is one of the key means of maintaining economic balance. When a community refuses to pay the prescribed Zakat on its wealth, the rain of mercy from the heavens stops. According to the hadith, if it were not for the helpless animals and livestock that continue to live on earth by Allah’s (SWT) mercy, not even a drop of rain might fall from the sky because of people’s sins.

4. Breach of agreements and aggression by external enemies: When the eternal covenant with Allah (SWT) and His Messenger, as well as mutual promises and agreements among people, are casually broken, society loses its protective shield. As a result, Allah (SWT) allows external enemies to gain power over them, who forcibly plunder their wealth and take away their freedom.

5. Abandoning Allah’s (SWT) laws and internal conflict: When policymakers and rulers of a state and society abandon the Book of Allah (SWT) and justice-based laws and instead govern and administer justice according to their own ideas or man-made rules, the unity of the nation breaks down. Mutual violence, civil war, internal division and discord emerge, causing Allah (SWT) to make them destroy their own strength among themselves.

At the end of his sermon, the Khatib told the worshippers: “Let us, if we want to build a beautiful society, avoid adultery, theft, robbery and looting both openly and secretly and become believers and God-fearing people. Then Allah (SWT) Almighty will send down the rain of mercy from the heavens, make decisions of mercy, cause plants to grow from the earth and increase mineral resources.” He prayed that Allah (SWT) Almighty would grant everyone the ability to stay away from these five types of offences. “Ameen.”