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India VS Pakistan: The Deadly Cost of Nationalism | Khutbah by Dr. Omar Suleiman
Can you love your homeland without making it your religion? From Kashmir to Gaza, we see how choosing sides based on borders and flags can tear our ummah apart. This is a reminder that our ultimate allegiance is to Allah and not any one nation. Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on how nationalism—when taken too far—can blind us to truth.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. We bear witness that Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment.
And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, this past couple of years has been a roller coaster for the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And I would be stating the obvious if I started
to rattle off all of the events that have happened in the last two years alone and how consequential they have been to our entire existence as the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wasallam. For the past two years, our hearts and our minds have been connected to this small space that from the perspective of geography and quantity represents such
a small part of the Ummah but at the same time represents such a mighty part of the Ummah. With our brothers and sisters in Gaza, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give them victory
and ease. Allahumma ameen. And then we had our hearts cooled by the victory with our brothers and sisters in Syria. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala stabilize and grow and
develop and allow it to become the best version of itself. Allahumma ameen. And as we were saying Iqbal Palestine, one day Palestine will happen soon biidhnillahi ta'ala. Something
happens in the last week that involves one fourth of the Ummah. I want you to think about this from a size perspective. What happened in the last week puts at risk one fourth of
the entire Ummah between our brothers and sisters. In Pakistan, our brothers and sisters in India, our brothers and sisters in occupied Kashmir. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give victory and ease to the believers and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make it easy for
them. Allahumma ameen. One fourth of the Ummah. I'm not here to give you political commentary. I want you to just sit with that for a moment inshaAllah ta'ala and think about how in a
matter of a few days that entire situation escalates and puts us in a certain situation. All along our brothers and sisters in Sudan who just underwent one of the worst of genocides
in history are wondering where was everyone. Our brothers and sisters in Yemen still starving and slaughtered. We have so much and the Ummah feels so large. Where do we even go to start
to collect all of this and divide our empathy and divide our efforts and divide our advocacy. How do I get this all? And with all of this happening, what enters is the small minded
poison thinking of nationalism. Which is the new tribalism that existed in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. That divides us, that paralyzes us, that makes
us impotent, that makes us the laughing stock of our enemies, that allows for a people that do not differentiate between us when they kill us but they do divide us when they can
exploit us to find their way into our Ummah and to make us even more unable and incapable
to better ourselves even though we somehow make up one fourth of the entire world. But here we are. Why do I start off with this introduction? I want you to read the Quran
in context. Last week I spoke about inna allaha yudafi'u 'anil ladheena aamanu and the context of the revelation of this verse in Surah al-Hajj and how Hajj was revealed during the most
unlikely time for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to be able to do Hajj. On his way out, some of it before he's exiled out of Mecca, some of it when he arrives in Medina with the believers and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals Surah al-Hajj when Hajj becomes
so distant from an analytical sense. But that is the promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Today I want you to reflect on Surah al-Anbiya. If you read Surah al-Anbiya, it is true to
its name. It's a poetic and beautiful discourse going through the lives of the Prophets of Allah, Ibrahim alayhi salam and Lut alayhi salam and Ishaq alayhi salam and it goes
through to Ayub alayhi salam and Suleiman alayhi salam and Dawood alayhi salam and then Zakariya alayhi salam and Maryam alayha salam and all of the hopes that these Prophets
of Allah were pinning on the generation that would come after them and the generation that would come after them and the ability to pass the torch from one generation to the next
so that the mission of la ilaha illallah that they were all sent with is not lost. Some of them put their hopes in their wombs, literally, as is the case of the mother of Maryam alayha
salam and some of them put their hopes in their followers. Some of them put their hopes in their children. All of them are putting their hope in something but with this idea
that we have a great mission to fulfill that is not limited to the immediate circumstances around us. I want you to think about a Prophet of Allah from the Anbiya who did not have
a single follower amongst his people and how small and lonely your world can feel but even in that situation is not just thinking about the hidayah of their own people, the guidance
of their own people and overcoming the tyrants of their own generation but is forced by the very DNA of this mission that has been given to that Prophet to think about generations
that will come after and Prophets that will come after and how this will impact and have a ripple effect on peoples thousands of years away and thousands of miles away because that's
the DNA of the message of la ilaha illallah. It comes with the package of la ilaha illallah. It comes with the mission of Prophethood. And as you're reading Surah al-Anbiya, suddenly
this ayah pops up and it strikes you because we often share these ayahs. I don't want to say out of context because that would suggest that they're dishonest but we don't share
them in the broader context because we can't due to time. An ayah that is recited to speak to the unity of the believers even though if you're reading the ayahs up to this ayah,
it doesn't necessarily match at the immediate first read.
Inna hadhihi ummatukum ummatan wahidatan wa ana rabbukum fa'budun. Verily this ummah of yours is one ummah and I am your Lord so all of you worship me.
What an incredible ayah. But as you're reading the discourse, I mean it comes on the heels of Maryam alayha salam with her son Isa alayhi salam and a very lonely place to suddenly this grand
image. Inna hadhihi ummatukum. This is your ummah. This is your ummah. Now I want you to imagine if you're reading this in Mecca because this is a Meccan surah. How small
the world feels when you're a Muslim in Mecca who has embraced Islam with a few tens of followers around Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam in a part of the world that for the
most part in terms of geopolitical analysis does not really exist when we're talking about what's happening with the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire and some of the great client
kingdoms and you have not even been able to effectively yet spread your message outside of the confines of the valley of Mecca and even in Mecca you can't even pray in salah
and jama'ah the way we're praying right now without someone hunting you down. And Allah
says inna hadhihi ummatukum. Ummatan wahidah. This is your ummah. What an amazing way to
crack small minded thinking. This is your ummah. This entire legacy of prophets, this is part of your ummah which I'll talk about inshallah the meaning of the word ummah here
as the Mufassirun speak about it. But the point is that you are part of a grand story. Don't think of yourselves as a small group of people scattered amongst the small tribes
of Mecca. You are part of an incredible story. This is your ummah. And by the way, Allah azza wa jal says ummatukum, your ummah. He does not say this is your ummah of Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wasallam even though we are ummah Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But there is something here to attributing it that this is your ummah, all of you. Ummatan wahidah. One ummah. And
I am your lord so worship me. The word ummah here is very interesting. The Mufassirun speak about it and I want you to recognize that as you are going through the Quran that the
broadest meaning is covered to the most specific detail and all of it has benefit for us to reflect upon. Some of the Mufassirun mention that the word ummah here comes in the meaning
of the word ad-din, the way, the religion itself. Like when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions through to Zuhruf the people saying that we have found, inna wajadna abana ala ummah, we have found our fathers upon an ummah, meaning a din, that this was their religion,
that this was their actual way. So the word ummah can mean a tariqah, that this is the way, the path, the methodology, what gathers you in the theological sense, in the creedal
sense. This is your ummah. This is your din. That you now by virtue of being a follower of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam have a greater connection to a prophet who did
not even speak the same language as you that lived thousands of years before you in a region that you will never visit in this dunya. You have more of a connection to that prophet than the person that is next door to you that speaks your language, that eats your food,
that does everything just like you because you are part of that connected story. That you are awla bi Ibrahim, you are awla bi Musa, you are close to Ibrahim alayhi salam,
close to Musa alayhi salam, that you are a part of the ummah in that greater sense. This is all yours. This is all part of your story. Break out of the small minded thinking
that existed in Mecca where it was just this person, that person, and then no one else because that person is my second cousin or third cousin or whatever it is that happened.
This is your ummah, you are a part of a great story. Ummatan wahidah, and I am your lord so worship me. And then the next ayah, faqatta'u amrahum baynahum, that they divided their affair
amongst themselves. And of course if you take it with the primary meaning of ad-din, what happened after Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave civilizations the infusion of prophethood.
They took it and then they took this incredible grand message of la ilaha illallah and small minds but big egos started to divide it into little tribes and sects. To where they divided
the conception of God himself and turned it into multiple gods and multiple sects and multiple theologies. All of it driven by something lowly because it gets away from a higher purpose.
And so that means that they divided amongst themselves in the most spiritual and theological sense, but even at the lower sense, your agendas become divided. The way you start to think
amongst yourselves becomes divided. It stops being about what that prophet gave you, it starts being about what your tribesman wants and how you push your small group ahead and
how that becomes the dominant narrative. And even if you use higher language, it's still lowly motives. And so you start to become busy amongst yourselves. You cut up what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you so whole and you mess it up. And that is a crime for
us to do with divine revelation and with this message and with this ummah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given to us. An ummah that connects us all in a way that is deeper than blood.
An ummah, a sense of identity that transcends every other identity. And no, it doesn't mean that you can wrong everybody else. Absolutely not. Because part of what you do as an ummah
for one another is unsur akhaaka zaliman wa mazlum. You support your brother, zaliman wa mazlum, whether he's an oppressor or he's oppressed. How? If he's oppressing, you stop
him from oppressing. So we hold each other accountable. This doesn't mean that it's to the detriment of humanity. No, we have concern for humanity. It doesn't mean that it's to the detriment of your neighbor. It doesn't mean that you justify things for your own,
that you don't allow for others. Absolutely not. But it is an identity that transcends every other identity. And we're unapologetic about it because our deen calls us to that.
I am connected to my brother and sister who doesn't speak my language, who doesn't live in a place that I live, who has a different way of thinking outside of what we are bound
by theologically. I am connected to that person. And it's a part of my faith to be connected to that person, and to have a sense of prioritizing that person. And I will not allow for any
banner to divide me from that person. If I do, then I am falling under the condemnation of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving in Surah Al-Anbiya and in many other places
of the Quran. I'm falling to that small minded thinking. I am losing sight of my purpose
in the collective sense. And so when it starts to flare up, we can recognize oppression. We recognize that Modi and Netanyahu are buddy-buddy and that they're using Israeli
drones to bomb our brothers and sisters in Pakistan. We can recognize what's transpiring in all of this and that there are deeper geopolitical implications. And we can recognize that Kashmir
has been occupied since 1947 and has been waiting for its opportunity to breathe. But at the same time, the implication is not that I forget my Muslim brothers and sisters
in India that have been oppressed under this ideology the entire time, or feel a disconnect from them because now we're beating the drums of nationalism once again.
Or worse, using the other flag to actually give religious language to the justification of bombing a Muslim country because you've become drunk with that nationalism.
All of it is disgusting, all of it is filth as the Prophet ﷺ said. Likewise amongst ourselves. These tiny pieces of land in the greater sense that get divided.
People's being pit against one another. And it's Allahumma nafsi nafsi. It's me, me. And I will ignore the plight of the person who's right around the corner for me.
I'll ignore the plight of the country right next to me because I have allowed another identity to overcome my identity as a Muslim, as a member of this ummah.
That is a matter of faith. That's not just bad politics. It's bad faith. It's a lack of iman, dear brothers and sisters. It's not a small affair.
It's small-minded. And it's exactly what leads to the cutting up of something so great that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave to us.
You know, subhanAllah, I share this with you. I remember visiting Al-Mafraq. And those of you that visited the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan on the border there in Zaatari and then Al-Mafraq, these scattered communities.
And I've been there multiple times. And there are certain incidents that stay with you when you go to a refugee camp. And subhanAllah, I remember visiting this one area that had electricity all throughout.
And as I asked the volunteers, where is this electricity coming from? They took me to one single home, a home that was next to that camp, that was powering, running wires to that entire section of the camp.
Who is that person? It was an 86-year-old Palestinian refugee living in Jordan, using the electricity of her house to power an entire camp.
And paying the bill with whatever she has. And she's certainly not a wealthy woman. And when I thanked her for that, she said something so profound, so simple.
وَالدَّمُّنَا وَاحِدُ وَدِينُنَا وَاحِدُ وَكَهْرَبَتُنَا وَاحِدًا Our blood is one, our religion is one, our electricity is one. It's so simple. And it made me think of the statement,
اللهم إني أسألك إيمان العجائز Like I ask you for the faith of the old people, of the elderly people. That that person understands Islam far better, understands faith far better than someone who has a PhD in religion,
and who lives in a civilized society, and has found themselves, you know, offering nuanced analysis of how to deal with this and how to deal with that. And is using the seerah to read into an approach that they already decided is the best approach for themselves.
But I can, you know, abduct this part of the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ and place it here and say, This is the agenda, this is what we're going for. And by the way, the Prophet ﷺ did this and the Prophet ﷺ did that.
That woman understands Iman and Islam far better than most people. I don't even know if she could read, but she certainly could reflect. It penetrated something here.
It's a very basic meaning of broadening the scope that the ummah mind broadens. It doesn't allow for a compartmentalizing of the plights of this ummah.
It doesn't allow for that separation. It doesn't allow for the cognitive dissonance. It can't exist in a heart or in a mind that is functioning with faith. It cannot.
And we will be exploited. And subhanAllah, it takes a moment when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up in the masjid after hadithatul ifk, after our mother Aisha (رضي الله عنها) was slandered,
and asked for someone to handle the man who started this all. And within a matter of minutes, even though factually nothing was said wrong, that if he's from al-Aus, we'll take care of it, if he's from al-Khazraj, we'll take care of it.
I'm paraphrasing for the sake of time. Within a matter of minutes, people are calling each other hypocrites. And it becomes, ya ibn al-Aus, ya ibn al-Khazraj. Children of Aus, children of Khazraj. Just like that.
And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is walking out. What happened? That quickly. It's so easy to ignite amongst us. Because it's always so potent, so flammable,
to ignite amongst us to where we forget who we actually are. As the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ. And when the Prophet ﷺ calls them, ibn al-Ansar, and makes dua for them, the children of the Ansar, and the children of the children of the Ansar.
We become small-minded. And I'm not accusing in any way, by the way, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ of that in any regard. Because they're the best generation that ever lived.
We become small-minded when we start to divide. And then start to lean into those identities. And start to privilege those identities over our identity as an Ummah.
It's killing us physically, literally, and spiritually. I end with this thought. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. And I mean it from a place of love.
That as you're thinking about preservation of faith in your children, and how we're gonna preserve our faith in fitna. Because there's a lot of fitna going on right now. A lot of tribulation. And we talk about how we have to preserve our iman,
preserve our la ilaha illallah, Muhammad Rasulullah. We have to preserve our children from social corruption, and cultural degradation. We have to preserve our communities and our institutions from political Islamophobia. And we have to preserve this, and we have to preserve that.
And as we're thinking about what preservation of faith means, this too is a part of preserving your faith. That you don't lose your concept of Ummah in this process.
That your children have that sense of wala and bara inside of them. That we have in ourselves that sense of loyalty. And that sense of connection that is not ruptured. That is also a part of the preservation of faith.
And the package of preserving faith. And that has to look like something in the material sense. And we have to interrogate ourselves, because we live in a world of echo chambers.
And it's very easy to create an echo chamber for yourself today. The online world, which is becoming our entire world, literally incentivizes belonging to an echo chamber. And how to get you into an echo chamber,
where everybody sounds and thinks just like you, and talks just like you. And you'll find people that will validate this and validate that. But dear brothers and sisters, it's not gonna resonate here, if your heart is connecting to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You're part of a bigger story. You're part of the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And you're part of the Ummah in the broader sense of this broad legacy of prophets and messengers and great people that have walked the face of the earth.
That's where your connection is to. Don't lose it. Don't sacrifice your principles and don't sacrifice your conscience. And don't ignore. Don't ignore. It's one thing when people exploit the oppressed.
But don't ignore the oppressed. And don't say, well, this is not important, this is more important. Who gave you and I the right to privilege plights? And to say this part of the Ummah matters, and this part of the Ummah does not matter.
Who gave us the privilege to do that? It certainly was not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for our shortcomings. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for when we ignore one another. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for when we hurt one another.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for when we disconnect from what He did not allow us to disconnect from. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala connect us collectively to Him. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala connect us through that process to each other. Allahumma ameen.
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.


































































































































































































































































































