I’m becoming sadly familiar with police and security presence which follows the Azhar Ahmed case around. There can be no doubt by now that CPS prosecution of this case, by bringing this matter into the public eye, has created a serious public order problem.
As usual, we were expecting the arrival of CXF and/or EDL at the Azhar Ahmed hearing on this Friday 14th September. A case which should long since have been abandoned. My hopes for today were that we would see the case finally dropped by the CPS.
There was an atmosphere of anticipation in the court lobby. Security strategy to be discussed, police to be briefed. This case is attracting a lot of negative attention, and sadly the Twitter Joke Trial supporters have thus far failed to be roused to take a serious interest in this case.
As expected, the nationalist contingent were in force in the public gallery at today’s hearing. There was an early incident after Azhar Ahmed’s Facebook post was read out in court for the first time, with some disruption and noise in the public gallery. This was followed by a stern warning from the Judge that any further disturbances would result in arrest for contempt of court.
The prosecution presented 6 witness statements today. All which are striking for what they imply about how the reaction to Ahmed’s Facebook posts was created and manifested. I’ll let the reader read between the lines.
Two statements were from other Facebook users who had seen Ahmed’s post. Azhar Ahmed made his post at around 19:00 on 8th March. Seemingly both witnesses came across Azhar Ahmed’s post as a result of somebody else sharing it on their timeline. They then went to look at Ahmed’s own homepage, and both testified that they saw an image elsewhere in his timeline which showed a dead family in Afghanistan surrounded by military uniformed legs, and also a past status which read “Islam will dominate the world”. They stated that they were “stunned”, “shocked”, “offended” by Ahmed’s post. Ashley Craig, one of those witnesses, had reported the matter to the police at approximately 21:20
A further statement came from one Samir Ahmed (no relation). Less than three hours after Azhar Ahmed’s Facebook post, an address and telephone number had been published on Facebook by persons unspecified, which purported to be Azhar Ahmed’s details. They were actually Samir Ahmed’s details, and in the following few hours, starting from around 22:00 hours, they received a deluge of abusive phone calls, mostly racial in content. These continued relentlessly for hours. At around midnight, cars started pulling up outside the house, and torches were shone in through windows. This went on until past 1:00am the following day. The witness testified that they have since had to change their telephone number.
We also heard the witness statement of Craig Oakland, a manager at Fox’s Biscuits in Batley. Azhar Ahmed had listed Fox’s Biscuits as his employer in his Facebook status, and from 9am onwards on the 9th of March, Fox’s started receiving complaint calls about Azhar Ahmed, and asking if Fox’s Biscuits was a “racist company”. Mr Oakland testified that this was “time consuming for management” and constituted a “serious brand issue” which may have caused retailers to “delist our products”.
Finally we heard the witness statements of the arresting officer and the police archivist. The arresting officer stated that Azhar Ahmed had arranged to meet with police outside Batley Frontier on 10th March. Ahmed and the arresting officer sat in the back of the police car and the following exchange took place:
Officer: Are you ok?
Ahmed: No, I’m nervous
O: Why?
A: Because of the thing I put on Facebook. You must have read it?
At this point, Azhar Ahmed was arrested.
Ahmed: What I did was stupid, but there was a reason for it.
In police interviews, Ahmed repeatedly expressed regret for any hurt or upset caused to families of soldiers. At one point he said that as he read back the post later, he thought that the first few sentences made sense, but the rest of it was “out of order” and “unacceptable”.
Azhar seemed to be of the belief that nobody apart from his Facebook friends could view his profile, but seemed unclear about Facebook privacy settings. During testimony in the witness box today, he told the prosecuting barrister that he had to look up Facebook privacy settings after his police interview.
It also transpired that the Azhar family computer had no Internet access, and that Ahmed’s Facebook post had been made from his mobile phone.
Ahmed stated in interview and in testimony in court today, that he had been moved to post after seeing references to the deaths of soldiers in his Facebook timeline. He stated that he saw no references to the innocent victims of war, and wished to draw this matter to the attention of his Facebook friends.
During his police interview, Ahmed was also asked if he thought the fact that he was an “Asian gentlemen” might cause others to take greater offence to his post, or that the fact he was a Muslim might cause others to hate Muslims for what he wrote.
I’ll leave you, dear reader, to roll those questions around in your mind for a bit.
Azhar Ahmed repeatedly reiterated in police interview and on the stand today that his post was “just my opinion”.
The matter in discussion today was not whether Azhar Ahmed had posted what he did (actus reus), but whether it was “Grossly Offensive” for the purposes of section 12 of the Communications Act 2003.
Regular readers will be familiar with these arguments. Some highlights from today: it transpired that once Ahmed realised that he had upset some people close to those killed in Afghanistan on the 6th, he deleted his post, and wrote personal messages of apology to Facebook users who had contacted him.
Azhar also stated repeatedly (despite badgering from the prosecution) during his testimony today, that his message could be “upsetting” or “distressing”, but that it was not “grossly offensive”
At the end of a 6 hour hearing, the District Judge Jane Goodwin gave her judgement. It was that, whilst acknowledging Azhar Ahmed’s right to express his political opinion, he must have been aware of the 6 soldiers killed in Afghanistan on the 6th which had prompted his message, and that his message was calculated to cause gross offence to the family, friends and colleagues of those soldiers. As such, she was satisfied that the mens rea of sending a grossly offensive message had been satisfied. Sentencing was set aside until 9th October.
Those are most of the salient facts. There’s lots more, but I need to get this post published and my head is still spinning. More soon. Be assured of that.
Sign our open letter objecting to Azhar Ahmed’s conviction here.
Dear Mr. Ahmed,
I am not writing to support you as much as I write to support your ability to practice “free will”. Freedom does not mean “free will”. Where man has no freedom he has free will, where man has no “free will” he has freedom. I believe your “free will” may or may not be dictated by “Allah” [M], if your “free will” is dictated by “Allah” [M], freedom is not as important as the will of Allah. You can be a Muslim in jail and appreciate the “free will” needed to serve “Allah” [M]. If jail is the only place where you can practice “free will” in a society that provides more freedoms than less or less freedoms than more, jail should be an admirable place for you.
Mr. Ahmed, your online polemics sounds like a problem we have in America. But these polemics are coming from the American Westboro Baptist Church & don’t mind the citation numbers:
The Westboro Baptist Church originated as a branch of the East Side Baptist Church in Topeka, established in 1931.[11] In 1954, East Side hired Phelps as an associate pastor, and then promoted him to be the pastor of their new church, Westboro Baptist, which opened in 1956.[12] Soon after Westboro was established, Phelps broke all ties with East Side Baptist.
Protest activities
Phelps and his family picket approximately six locations every day, including many in Topeka and some events farther afield. On Sundays, up to 15 churches may receive pickets.[13][14] By their own count, WBC has picketed in all 50 U.S. states.[15]
The group carries out daily picketing in Topeka and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay victims of murder, gay-bashing or people who have died from complications relating to AIDS; other events related or peripherally related to gay people; Kansas City Chiefs football games; and live pop concerts. As of March 2009 the church claims to have participated in over 41,000 protests in over 650 cities since 1991.[16] One of Westboro’s followers estimated that the church spends $250,000 a year on picketing.[17]
The pickets have resulted in several lawsuits. In 1995, Phelps Sr.’s eldest grandson, Benjamin Phelps, was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct after spitting upon the face of a passerby during a picket.[18] In the 1990s the church won a series of lawsuits against the City of Topeka and Shawnee County for efforts taken to prevent or hinder WBC picketing, and was awarded approximately $200,000 in attorney’s fees and costs associated with the litigation. In 2004, Margie Phelps and her son Jacob were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to obey after disregarding a police officer’s order during an attempted protest.[19] In response to pickets at funerals, Kansas passed a law prohibiting picketing at such events. In the autumn of 2007, the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the WBC was awarded $5 million in damages.[20][21] The award was later overturned on appeal by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in Snyder v. Phelps. In June 2007 Shirley Phelps-Roper was arrested in Nebraska and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The arrest resulted from her allowing her eight-year-old son to step on the American flag during the demonstration, which is illegal under Nebraska law. The defense contends that the child’s actions were protected speech, and that the state law is unconstitutional. The prosecution claimed that the demonstration was not intended as political speech, but as an incitement to violence, and that Phelps-Roper’s conduct may also constitute child abuse. Prosecutors later dropped charges against Phelps-Roper.[22]
On two occasions, the church accepted offers for radio air time in exchange for canceling an announced protest.[23][24]
Anti-gay picketing
While being filmed by documentary film-maker Louis Theroux, they picketed a local appliance store because it sold Swedish vacuum cleaners, which the church viewed as supportive of gays because of Swedish prosecution of Åke Green, a pastor critical of homosexuality.[25]
Picketing in Topeka, with the group’s signature rainbow-colored picket signs.
The church has picketed, or threatened to picket, productions of The Laramie Project, a play based on the murder of Matthew Shepard, whose funeral they also picketed.[26][27]
On January 25, 2004, Phelps picketed five churches (three Catholic and two Episcopalian) and the Federal Courthouse for what he said was their part in legitimizing same-sex marriages in Iowa. A community response was to hold counter-protests and a multifaith service in the municipal auditorium.[28]
On January 15, 2006, Westboro members protested a memorial for 2006 Sago Mine disaster victims, claiming that the mining accident was God’s revenge against America for its tolerance of homosexuality.[29]
Funeral pickets
The group came into the national spotlight in 1998, when it was featured on CNN for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a young man from Wyoming who was beaten to death by two men because of his homosexuality.[30] Since then, the church has attracted attention for many more actual and planned funeral pickets.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
In July 2005, the Westboro Baptist Church declared its intention to picket the memorial service of Carrie French in Boise, Idaho. French, 19, was killed on June 5 in Kirkuk, Iraq, where she served as an ammunition specialist with the 116th Brigade Combat Team’s 145th Support Battalion. Phelps Sr. said, “Our attitude toward what’s happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime.”[37]
In 2006, Westboro picketed with banners saying “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers” at the Westminster, Maryland, funeral of Matthew Snyder, a U.S. Marine who was also killed in Iraq.[38] Ruling on a subsequent lawsuit filed by Snyder’s father, Albert Snyder, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 8–1 that Westboro’s actions constituted protected free speech.[39]
On February 2, 2008, the group picketed during the funeral of former LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley in Salt Lake City, Utah, displaying picket signs intended to criticize him for being a “lying false prophet” and “leading millions of people astray”.[40] The organization also criticized Hinckley for being too accepting of gay people, accusing him of having an ambiguous voice about homosexuality rather than taking a firm stand against it.[41] Police had difficulty determining whether the demonstration met the guidelines of protected free speech.[40]
Westboro picketed the funeral of recording artist Michael Jackson after his death on June 25, 2009.[42][43] Members of Westboro have also recorded a song titled “God Hates the World”, an adaptation of Jackson’s charity single “We Are the World”.[44]
In May 2010, Westboro picketed the funeral of heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio in Los Angeles.[45]
In January 2011, Westboro announced that they would picket the funeral of Christina Green, a 9-year-old victim of the 2011 Tucson shooting. In response, the Arizona legislature passed an emergency bill to ban protests within 300 feet of a funeral service, and Tucson residents made plans to shield the funeral from protesters.[46][47] The church canceled plans to hold a protest during the memorial at the University of Arizona in exchange for air time on radio talk shows.[48] According to university officials, between 700 and 1,200 students amassed to counter four WBC picketers who appeared at the campus after the event.[49] Megan Phelps-Roper explained to Louis Theroux in her America’s Most Hated Family in Crisis interview that she and the other members of the WBC picketed at the funeral of a Muslim man’s wife simply because the man had witnessed and scolded them for intentionally burning a copy of the Quran in public a week earlier.[50]
On October 5, 2011, Fred Phelps’ daughter, Margie, announced via her Twitter account that the church would be picketing Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs’ funeral.[51][52] CBS News and The Washington Post noted the irony in the fact that Margie used an iPhone to create the tweet.[52][53] There is no evidence the church actually picketed his funeral.
Protests against Jewish institutions
A protest against Jews, held by the Westboro Baptist Church.
In 1996 Phelps led a protest at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., proclaiming:
Whatever righteous cause the Jewish victims of the 1930s–40s Nazi Holocaust had, (probably minuscule, compared to the Jewish Holocausts against Middle Passage Blacks, African Americans and Christians—including the bloody persecution of Westboro Baptist Church by Topeka Jews in the 1990s), has been drowned in sodomite semen. American taxpayers are financing this unholy monument to Jewish mendacity and greed and to filthy fag lust. Homosexuals and Jews dominated Nazi Germany … The Jews now wander the earth despised, smitten with moral and spiritual blindness by a divine judicial stroke … And God has smitten Jews with a certain unique madness … Jews, thus perverted, out of all proportion to their numbers energize the militant sodomite agenda… Jews are the real Nazis.[54]
WBC was present at a 2002 Holocaust memorial dedication in Topeka, proclaiming “God Hates Reform Judaism”.[55]
On May 8, 2009, members of the church protested at three Jewish sites in Washington, D.C., including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) offices, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the city’s largest synagogue. Margie Phelps, daughter of Pastor Fred Phelps, led the protest, holding signs stating that “God Hates Israel”, “Jews Killed Jesus”, “America Is Doomed”, “Israel Is Doomed”, and “ADL Jew Bullies”. The protest was apparently part of a series of upcoming protests which the church has planned at Jewish institutions in Omaha, St. Louis, South Florida and Providence. The group reportedly posted a list of the upcoming protests’ locations and dates, along with the statement “Jews Killed the Lord Jesus.”[56]
In an interview, Margie Phelps said that her church was targeting the American Jewish community because church members had “testified” to gentiles for 19 years that “America is doomed” and that “Now it’s too late. We’re done with them.” Phelps also claimed Jews were “one of the loudest voices” in favor of homosexuality and abortion and that “[Jews] claim to be God’s chosen people. Do you think that God is going to wink at that forever?” Phelps concluded by stating, in an apparent reference to the Book of Revelation, that all the nations of the world would soon march on Israel, and that they would be led by President Barack Obama, whom she called the “Antichrist”.[56]
Other protest activities
On January 26, 2008, WBC traveled to Jacksonville, North Carolina, home of Camp Lejeune, to protest the United States Marine Corps in the wake of the murder of Maria Lauterbach. Five women protested, stomping on the American flag and shouting slogans such as “1,2,3,4, God Hates the Marine Corps”. A group of over 40 counter-protesters arrived and one spat in Shirley Phelps-Roper’s face.[57] Another counter-protest was held across town, which attracted over 150 counterprotesters.
On May 14, 2008, two days after the deadly 2008 Sichuan earthquake, WBC issued a press release thanking God for the heavy loss of life in China, and praying “for many more earthquakes to kill many more thousands of impudent and ungrateful Chinese”.[58]
On May 29, 2011, the WBC intended to protest in Joplin, Missouri, at the memorial service for the victims of the May 22, 2011, tornado that leveled large portions of that town.[59] Those intending to protest the memorial service or President Obama’s speech given there, or both, were refused entry into the venue by hundreds of local and regional residents,[60] including a large group of bikers from the Patriot Guard Riders.[61]
On May 30, 2011, the WBC was present at Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Day services as part of their “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” campaign. A counter protest included members of the Ku Klux Klan.[62]
11-year-old brain tumor victim Harry Moseley raised £500,000 for charity but Marge Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church criticized his family for not teaching him to “obey God”. This comment within a few hours of the boy’s death caused great distress to the bereaved.[63]
Mr. Ahmed, you are a fucking coward, your rant is no different from the Christian community, it is as if you plagiarized them. What year did St. Augustine coerce all of North Africa with force to stop worshipping in orthodox fashion and join the Catholic Church? Hundreds of years before Islam and a thousand plus years after someone with a very meaningful Islamic name like yours puts on an act that is similar … too similar to the Westboro Baptist Church.
The problem with Abrahamic religions is when one converts from Judaism or Christianity to Islam versus one who joins from Buddhism or Hinduism to Islam … one has a Greek influence versus a Vedic influence. Converting criminals to religion such as the Westboro Baptist Church was created by a debarred lawyer has implications. These are not religions when founded by criminals to carry on works for assisting the poor but institutions created for attacking the poor.
Rather than attacking six people, you could have sold your computer and fed sixty people. Zakat? Is this your idea of a perverted Zakat? Zakat, if understood by you as a mainstream activity while in the practice of a religious activity, would force you to have only “free will” time which would help the poor. No. You want to be a internet crusader and fight from a chair when you should be out there on the street helping the poorest of the poor. Philosophical poverty … do good works or shut up.
I went to jail and I have more to say than those who never had bars and keys as a nightmarish art world, someone shitting constantly a few feet from where I read and slept, and a brain which focused on a brilliant plan to escape. Maybe if you are adventurous enough, you can find a book on Onesicritus in jail. I didn’t, at least not in jail.
You see when I went to jail and asked for a meal based upon my personal diet of vegetarian food, I was told by authorities there would be no philosophical request for food — only religious requests. I received a religious letter from the chaplain which stated — I should eat meat based of the fact John the Baptist was able to survive off of honey and locusts. I will never follow religion after that account.
I am not writing to you because you chose philosophy over religion, I am writing because you chose hate over religion but more so over philosophy. Knuckle up, do your time. Whatever your plan in the future is, stop sounding like a Baptist from America. Saladin, a Sufi, would rule more by being tight lipped than the shit talker who had no honor and fought behind words.
You won’t enjoy jail too much, but I hope my letter can be read in jail and helps you.
Islam and World Peace – Explanations of a Sufi
by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
The Weapons of Islam
HOME PART TWO—HOLY WAR THE WEAPONS OF ISLAM
I seek refuge in Allah from the evils of the accursed satan.
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.
May the peace of God be upon all my brothers and sisters 1 in Iman-Islam.2 May all responsibility be offered to God, the Most Exalted One,3 the Unfathomable Ruler of Grace who is incomparable love. Amen. You alone are responsible for the Day of Questioning 4 and the Day of Judgment, for the beginning of life and the time of death, for life in this world and the next. You confer the grace, 5 ask the questions, and give the judgment. You are the mercy and compassion for all the universes. 6 Amen.
O Allah, You are the light and the plenitude of the grace of perfect purity.7 May You be the protector of the people of purity. May You make that purity the complete, never-ending wealth of grace in the innermost hearts8 of those who are on the path of the light of faith, certitude, and determination.9 May You show them the way and give them Your grace. Amen.
O Allah, may You help all those who have received the grace of Islam and have made that grace their never-ending wealth. May they never lose their way on the path of purity. May You reveal the true path to them, and may they proceed on that path to Your heavenly paradise. 10 Amen. May You grant those of purity the undiminishing wealth of Your grace. Amen.
May the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you. I give greetings of peace to all of my very precious brothers, my exalted brothers who are one through the light of the Qur’an and who have been given the wealth of perfect faith, my brothers who are great and wise in Islam, who have received the wealth of unending life, the eternal life11 of absolute faith. To all my eight hundred million brothers in Islam I give my humble greetings of peace.
Allah sent 124,000 prophets to explain His laws and codes of behavior and to give us the weapons needed to fight the huge battle in our hearts. Of those 124,000 prophets, He chose twenty-five and sent them bearing His sound and His revelations.12 To reveal His truth and strengthen our faith, Allah gave these messengers the holy words of grace for all three worlds. He sent them so that each heart would open and develop faith, certitude, and determination. Every prophet told us to love Allah, to accept Him with determined faith, and to worship and pray to Him without any racial or religious prejudice.
It was to bring this message that God, the Most Exalted, sent so many prophets through His holy grace. Then He made His resonance into the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and sent that to the Final Prophet, Muhammad, the Chosen Messenger.13 Through the Angel Gabriel, Allah revealed to Muhammad His words, His actions, His conduct, His goodness, and His powers.14 We must reflect deeply upon every explanation contained within this Holy Qur’an, which exists in all three realms: the primal beginning, this world, and the hereafter.15
We who are the community of Islam must remember that ultimately, everything was given to Islam. What was given? God, the Most Exalted, gave formal prayer16 to Islam as a weapon for this world and the next. He ordained that the fifty times of prayer, or waqts, be made into five. With inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and giving all praise to God,17 we must use this weapon of prayer to fight the inner war and eliminate the enmity and hatred within ourselves. We must dispel our base desires,18 our prejudices, our religious and racial differences, the countless demons and ghosts of arrogance, and the karma and illusion within our bodies. Pride, jealousy, the sense of separation between men, and all other evils must be fought with this weapon which the Messenger of God brought and offered as the final teaching to those who are on the path of perfect purity.
In addition to the five-times prayer, God Almighty ordained the five obligatory duties19 for the Muslim community. These too are weapons of Islam which help us to overcome hell, satan, and evil qualities. The first obligatory duty is to surrender to Allah with absolute faith. For those who do this with perfect certitude, the second duty is to worship Allah alone, without thinking for a moment that He might have any equal or any partner. Those with such faith glorify the name of Allah in every one of their 43,242 breaths inhaled and exhaled daily. Their focus is on Allah alone. Allah is their grace, their soul, their food, and their wealth. Such people are known as the seventy-third group.
Of the seventy-three groups of mankind who are the descendants of Adam, only that one group with perfect faith is in a state of pure Islam. Of the other seventy-two groups, seventy have no faith in Allah. The two remaining groups do accept and worship Allah, but they also have a selfish desire for the world and a love of earth, gold, and sensual pleasures.
Allah addresses these two groups in the Qur’an: “You who have accepted perfect faith! Whatever wealth you have does not belong to you, it belongs to Allah. Therefore, give charity to those who are in need, feed the hungry, take care of those with difficulties, share the food and nourishment of Allah with others.” This is the third duty, that of true charity,20 which was made obligatory for those two groups of people, so they would recognize the lives of others to be as valuable as their own and comfort and care for them as they would for themselves.
But for those who did not observe the third duty correctly or understand its full significance, Allah ordained the fourth duty of fasting21 so that they might come to a realization of the suffering of others. Allah told them to undertake a compulsory fast of thirty days in succession and an optional fast of ten more days. The purpose of fasting is to become aware of your own hunger pangs and your own suffering. That is true fasting. If you understand that, you will share your food and wealth with your brothers.
But because this duty was not observed or understood correctly either, Allah ordained the fifth duty of pilgrimage.22 True pilgrimage is to enter the state of dying before death. For the poor, who cannot afford to go to Mecca, pilgrimage means gathering together for the traditional Friday noontime prayers23 in their own town or city. For the rich, pilgrimage means going to Mecca and Medina. Before making this journey the pilgrim must give away all possessions, return his wife’s dowry, distribute his wealth, and be dead to the world. He is even clothed in a white shroud like a corpse.
Charity, fasting, and pilgrimage-these three duties were made obligatory for those who had not fully comprehended the first two duties, to have faith in God and His Messenger and to worship only God. However, those in the seventy-third group have nothing to give. The only things they receive from Allah are His grace and the wisdom and comfort of the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet.24 Since these are all that they receive, these are all that they can give as charity.
The seventy-third group goes directly to heaven without any judgment, but the other two groups will have to face the Day of Questioning. For them there is a Judgment Day. For the other seventy groups there is the hell of the world. The Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet give evidence of this.
My brothers in Islam, beyond these five outer weapons, Allah has also given us six inner weapons, which the Sufis have explained. If you go deep into Allah with the certitude of unwavering faith, you will see that within this eye of yours is an inner eye which can gaze upon Allah. Within this nostril is a piece of flesh which can smell the fragrance of Allah. Within this ear is a piece of flesh which can hear the sounds of Allah. Within this tongue is a piece of flesh which can taste the beauty and the divine knowledge of Allah and know the taste of His wealth.25 Within this tongue is also a voice which converses with Him and recites His remembrance26 in a state of total absorption.
Within this innermost heart is a piece of flesh where the eighteen thousand universes, the heavens, and His kingdom are found. And there the angels, the heavenly beings, prophets, and lights of Allah prostrate before Him. Allah’s throne,27 His gnostic eye,28 His justice, and the divine pen 29 are there in His palace, where He rules and passes judgment. And in that palace is an inscription saying, “There is no god but God. He is the One who rules the universe,30 the world of the souls31 and all of everything.”
This piece of flesh within the heart contains the wisdom32 which can discover that palace of Allah. It is the wisdom of His divine knowledge, and the clarity of it permits us to realize everything and to understand Him and bow down before Him, glorifying His name with each of the 43,242 daily outgoing and incoming breaths.
So much is contained in this innermost heart of man, which is the throne of the true believer.33 Only when we understand all this, will we fully comprehend the essence of the six inner duties.
We who are in Islam must understand and act in accordance with both the inner and outer duties. These are truly great weapons, and with them we must fight the battle within. We must overcome everything in our hearts that covers the truth, all that reflects our disbelief.34 We must overcome our infidel minds, our infidel thoughts, our infidel hearts. We must dispel all disbelief and stop the eating of forbidden35 foods and other such acts. We must overcome the darkness that gives way to pride, jealousy, vengeance, treachery, and trickery. We must discard the magic of illusion and unreality. God Almighty sent these weapons to us through His Messenger so that we would be able to overcome all the evils that are overcoming us.
My precious brothers in the community of Islam, who have been granted absolute faith and have received Allah’s wealth and grace36 and blessing of perfect purity in all three worlds-all my brothers who are within that purity-these are the weapons that were given to the Messenger of God, and they are also our weapons. To put them to use is Islam. These are the weapons for those who are of the pure faith known as Islam.
Each person in Islam must understand where this real war must be fought, where the real battlefield exists. Each must understand what it is that is dividing and destroying Islam, what it is that is denying Allah and breaking up His kingdom. Each must understand the nature of jealousy, the nature of pride, and the nature of that selfishness which says, “Mine!” To cut away all these things, Allah sent us the weapons of the five times of prayer, the five obligatory duties, and the strength of inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and giving all praise to God. This is the final message given to Prophet Muhammad.
My brothers who are in the community of Islam, to further our understanding of these teachings we must reflect upon the life of the Prophet. When Abu Jahl, Ikrimah, Habib Ibn Malik,37 and others who opposed Muhammad chased him out of Mecca, they caused him great suffering. They even tried to kill him. We must realize that they did this because they kept their gods of the past within themselves-their mantras, their magics, their family gods, their idols, and their satans, some of which could talk. In the darkness of their worship, they made offerings and sacrifices to these idols of darkness. They worshiped forty-eight thousand idols, three hundred and sixty of which could be seen housed in the
Ka`bah .38
At that time, the fire of satan, the pride of satan, and the qualities of satan were alive, manifesting as the anger of man. So God sent the light of Muhammad to fight that darkness. And when Muhammad came as the light, the darkness became his enemy, chasing him and his companions39 from Mecca to Medina. But the companions had prayer, and they had inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God. Allah said to them, “These are the weapons which will cut through the darkness and overcome enmity. They will overcome the separations, egoism, and prejudices present in the minds that are filled with disbelief. These weapons are a radiant light which will sever the darkness and prove that Allah alone exists.”
Allah gave these weapons to His Messenger, telling him, “O Muhammad, say, ‘There is no god other than God. There is no one worthy of worship other than God, the Most Exalted.’ Teach the people this kalimah. That is why I sent it to you. Explain it to them, and tell them to accept Me.
“Explain to them that the primal beginning, this world, and the hereafter are My kingdom. I am the Ruler, I am the judge, I alone provide the food for the living and the dead, and I am the One who will ask the questions on Judgment Day. I am the One who judges. Teach this to the people.”
So that Allah’s commandments would be accepted, Muhammad sent these words to every nation. He told them, “Almighty God is the Ruler of Grace. He has no children, no relations, no comparison, no equal. He is the Eternal One, the Omnipresent, Eternal Ruler, who guides us along the true path.”
Muhammad spread these words throughout the land, by way of his couriers. Some people accepted Allah, but others did not. The kingdoms where Allah was not accepted were destroyed by fire, by water, by hurricane, by battle, and by the arrogance and pride of the people. Destruction came and lands were covered by oceans, cities became jungles, and villages became cemeteries. But every place which accepted Allah was under His safekeeping and became the kingdom of God, the kingdom of perfect faith.
Abu Jahl and his followers were among those who did not accept Allah’s message, and it was because of them that the battles of Badr and Uhud40 were fought and many people were killed. But those battles were not fought to conquer other nations. They were fought to conquer the qualities of satan which refused to accept Allah. They were battles between the truth of Allah and falsehood. They were fought so that people could pray, worship, and accept His judgment, and so that justice would prevail.
It would be very good if every heart among the eight hundred million people of Islam understood this. Muhammad did not fight to usurp land or gold or to capture women. The commandments of Allah tell us not to try to rule the world, but instead to rule the innermost heart of a true human being,41 the place known as the throne of the true believer, His kingdom. Allah is the only One who can rule that kingdom. He rules each heart with the wealth of the mercy of all the universes, with His justice, His patience, and His attributes. Anyone who can rule in this manner is a true ruler. Whether he is a political leader, one who leads the prayers,42 or a learned teacher,43 the one who can rule the hearts of the people is the exalted true believer,44 the God-realized being.45
My brothers, we must use patience to acquire those qualities which can rule the heart, for that is the greatest kingdom of all, and to govern there is the most exalted rulership. Those who do not govern the people’s hearts, but instead rule over the earth, really govern in hell. Such things belong to hell and to the curse of hell.46 Pride is hell, and the attractions of earth, gold, sensual pleasures, and possessions are advertisements that lure us to the seven hells. To overcome those hells we must begin to govern the heart with good qualities, with prayer, and with worship.47 Those who are in Islam must realize this.
The wars during the time of the Prophet were fought so that truth would be accepted, but the wars we are engaged in today are being fought for the sake of conquering nations, capturing countries, and killing and vanquishing others. This is not the kind of war that true Islam wages. Each of us must remember this. We must realize that it is not right for us to display such hostility. Patience and compassion are appropriate for us. We must realize that it is not right for us to harbor hatred. Contentment is appropriate for us at all times, in all circumstances. We must realize that it is not right for us to be angry, because anger belongs to satan. Only absolute trust in God is appropriate for Islam. We must give all praise to Allah for the food that we eat between each time of prayer.48 We must say, “All praise be to God,” for everything we receive in our lives, whether it be a great feast or a glass of water, immense wealth or dire poverty. To praise Allah at each moment, no matter what happens, is Islam.
Enmity cannot be overcome with enmity. Each of you must realize that in true Islam enmity does not exist. If you see someone else as your enemy, it is your own reflection that you are seeing. Hostility cannot be overcome by hostility; to overcome it, you must first rid yourself of your own hostility and then have inner patience. Vengeance cannot be defeated by vengeance; if you want to defeat it, you must first overcome your own vengeance and then practice love and compassion. You must do this with inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and giving all praise to God. Jealousy cannot be overcome by jealousy. It was because of satan’s jealousy that he ruined Adam. If you let that quality grow within yourself, you can never subdue it in others. However, if you can overcome your own jealousy with compassion, patience, and contentment, then you can help others to overcome theirs.
Hatred cannot be overcome by hatred, nor anger by anger. Anger is fire, and God created the jinns and their leader, satan, out of that fire. Because of his hatred and anger, satan was hurled from heaven into this world of hell. Anyone who has that anger in him is a satan. If we are angry, we will see anger in others, but if we overcome satan’s anger in ourselves, we will not see it in anyone else.
It is our own satanic qualities that must be overcome with inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and giving all praise to God. However, if instead we nourish these evil qualities, then Allah will throw us away from Himself. Just as He cast off satan, He will throw us out of heaven into hell.
In this world there are four hundred trillion, ten thousand spiritual energies given shape by satan’s magic, his trickery, and his treachery. They are found in the earth, air, fire, water, and ether of the body. If we can overcome these evil energies within ourselves, then we can see heaven there. And if heaven exists within us, we can embrace everyone equally. We can have compassion for everyone and be loving, tolerant, peaceful, and patient to everyone. We can be filled with contentment, trust in God, and praise of God and receive Allah’s grace. This must be realized within the innermost heart of everyone in Islam.
My brothers, once we understand what the true weapons of Islam are, we will never take a life, we will not murder, we will not even see any brother as separate from ourselves. We will not be able to conceive of any enmity. Almighty God revealed and explained this state to His Messenger, and we who are in Islam must understand. When we do, we will know Allah and His state as revealed in the ninety-nine attributes of Allah’s ninety-nine beautiful names.49 We will realize that each and every one of us must act in accordance with Allah’s actions and with the same patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God shown by His Messenger. Patience and the three thousand beautiful qualities of Allah are the mercy and compassion for all the universes and the wealth of Islam. If we have this, we will not feel hatred or hostility for anyone or for any nation.
God, the Most Exalted, gave this world to everyone. In a direct revelation50 to Muhammad, Allah said, “The eighth heaven is My nation, and everyone who comes here belongs to one family. I dispense judgment, and there are no separations here, no differences of color, religion, race, language, or scripture. There is only one place for everyone who accepts Me. In the eighth heaven you are all the children of Adam. Each of you will have a place in accordance with the way you search for Me. I will give you your appropriate rewards.”
All who are great and wise in the community of Islam, the rulers and those who serve the rulers, the teachers51 the saints,52 and the great holy men of divine wisdom53 must know that Almighty God has given to each of His creations the appropriate place at the appropriate time. He gave the snake its hole and the ant its anthill. He made places for the reptiles and for the birds. He gave the jinns and fairies places to live, He gave the angels and heavenly beings places, and He even gave a place to satan and to evil. He made room for both light and darkness, for that which is permissible54 according to God’s law and for that which is forbidden.55 He made room for everyone. He made separate places for men and beasts so that each would have his own particular dwelling. Almighty God provided a place for all the children of Adam, for all the children of every religion, race, and language. And in the same way, Allah provided a place for each prophet.
Islam does not usurp that which was given to another by God; it neither destroys nor takes anyone else’s place. There is no room in Islam for hurting others, taking their possessions or their homes. Islam sees its neighbors as brothers, not as different or separate. It does not kill others. It shows them love, compassion, and patience, and gives them the wealth of absolute faith, patience, contentment, and trust in God. True Islam brings only peace; it contains no enmity whatsoever. We who are in Islam must realize this and know that Almighty God has given to every creation a place, a country, a spouse, a treasure, or a kingdom. We must be content and say, “Allah is responsible for everything.56 All praise is due to Him alone.”
It is our responsibility to accept Allah and the teachings of His Messenger. But over the last hundred years some people of Islam and of other religions have changed. Faith has decreased to the point where many say that God does not exist. The darkness and torpor of desire for earth, gold, and sensual pleasures have entered our hearts and changed us. We must dispel this darkness from our innermost hearts. The satanic qualities of jealousy, vengeance, anger, sin, and pride have come into us. The Messenger of God chased all these away from us before, but now they have returned.
We must strengthen our faith and using the weapons of the five-times prayer and of patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God, we must once again chase away those evil qualities from our hearts. Our job is not to chase others from their homes, or wage war against others, or kill them, or cause them pain, because they too are the children of Adam. We who are in Islam must never hurt anyone. We have to understand this. The words and traditions of the Prophet and the explanations of the Qur’an tell us very clearly the way we must live. I humbly plead with you to do this. True Islam must be reestablished and receive again the wealth of prayer. You and I, all of us, must live entirely in a state of inner patience, contentment, absolute trust in God, and giving all praise to God.
Over fourteen hundred years ago Allah sent the purity of Islam to the Prophet Muhammad, the Chosen Messenger of the Almighty God. There is a traditional story about this. Some of the companions of the Prophet asked how long that purity of Islam would last in the world, and he said, “The purity will be protected for fourteen hundred years. During that time it will be safe, but we must surrender what comes afterwards to Allah. He alone knows what will happen to Islam.”
That time is now! Those fourteen hundred years have passed. Today is the time the Prophet was referring to. Put your trust in God. He alone knows the fate of Islam. If we look at what is happening in Islam today, we will be able to understand why this was said. Faith in Allah and focus on Him have decreased tremendously. Islam no longer seems to understand the difference between what is permissible according to God’s law and what is forbidden, nor the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, or truth and falsehood. Islamic people have turned to war and fighting. They no longer appear to fear the Day of Questioning or even the Day of Judgment. Wherever we look, we see Islamic nations allying themselves with those who have no faith in God, with those who deny God. They have turned to tigers and to the enemies of Allah for help.
We who are in Islam must remember that Allah is our only helper every second, every minute, every hour, every time of prayer. Allah is our Ruler, the Ruler of Grace, the One who is Love, the Compassionate One, the One who calls us back to Him, the One who questions us, and the One who judges us. His grace exists in all lives, concealed in a tiny piece of flesh within the innermost heart. Just as the flesh of the tongue knows taste, just as the flesh of the nose perceives smell and the flesh of the ear hears sound and the flesh of the eye perceives light-like that, there is a tiny piece of flesh in the heart which worships Allah, looks at Him, hears Him, and prays to Him.
This is the throne of the true believer. This is where Allah dwells. This is His throne within the innermost heart, from which He rules and dispenses justice. It is the seat of judgment in this world and the next. That piece of flesh, that light, that grace, discerns the difference between good and evil without our ever being aware of it. In the same way that our senses perceive physical things, it discerns good and evil in whatever the eyes see, the nose smells, the ears hear, and the tongue tastes. It discerns the good and evil in our thoughts and intentions. This tiny piece of flesh is hidden within the body of the elements, but it cannot be destroyed by earth, fire, air, or water. It is this which will rise on the Day of Questioning.
To make it possible to discover this secret, Almighty God placed the radiance of Nur Muhammad57 in the throne on the crown of the head, resplending there as the wisdom of man. Each heart has a scale which uses wisdom to weigh good and evil, to judge right and wrong. We must attach the trays of: ‘There is nothing other than You, O God,’ and: ‘Only You are Allah.’ to the scale of perfect faith and put everything we collect in our lives on either the left or the right tray. Instead of nourishing hostility or evil, we should avoid them. We should place them on the left side of the scale. Then we must read the gauge, the indicator of wisdom, so we can eliminate the evil and gather up the good.
This is judgment, and Islam must understand this judgment. If we understand right and wrong and good and evil in this world, if we understand them with absolute faith, with the kalimah, and with the qualities of Allah, we will push away every bad thing and do only what is right. We will rid ourselves of all that is evil. Then we can put Allah’s wealth of truth in our treasury, where complete trust in God and praise of Him exist. Each heart must think about this.
Iman-Islam must give the treasures of satan to satan and the treasures of Allah to Allah. With trust and surrender to God, Islam must gather up the treasures of truth. But today in Islam, we have forgotten Allah. We have tried to rule the world, forfeiting the wealth of Allah and instead accepting the wealth of the world. We have begun to consider earth, gold, and sensual pleasures as our wealth, even though they can all be destroyed in a second by an earthquake, a hurricane, or a storm.
When Abraham was put into a fiery pit, he sought the help of Allah alone. He would not ask for anyone else’s help. If those of us who have absolute faith also seek only His help, that treasure of grace will be endless. But if we seek the world and its material treasures, those things will change and leave us one day. The land will be covered by oceans, cities will be turned into forests, and villages will become cemeteries. Worldly wealth changes that way and is finally destroyed.
Everyone in Islam who has absolute faith, certitude, and determination must know this and accept it. We must earn that wealth, instead of trying to capture the wealth of the world. The treasures in our lives must be inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God, along with prayer, worship, remembrance of God, and contemplation.58 We must have Allah’s three thousand gracious, beautiful qualities and His ninety-nine attributes. We must use each action which Allah revealed to us in His beautiful names. If we do, Islam will never be destroyed, it will never be degraded, and it will never be in danger. We must realize this and fill ourselves with patience so that we can overcome any enmity within us.
Everyone filled with the light of faith must reflect on this. True Islam means cutting away all hostility within ourselves, embracing everyone in brotherhood, uniting congregation with congregation. We must remember that on the Day of Questioning, all the children of Adam will become one congregation in heaven, in paradise, in the kingdom of Allah. Everyone in Islam must remember this.
If we all accepted and understood this, we would not fight. We would know that our only enemies are those who do not accept Allah, those who deny Allah and see Him as their enemy. Islam is not war, it is not murder, it is not battles. This is not what we must engage in. Peace is Islam, patience is Islam, contentment is Islam, trust in God is Islam, the praise of God is Islam. Love is Islam. This is the umbrella, the canopy of goodness which God Almighty sent to Muhammad, His Chosen Messenger. Having received it from Allah, he gave it to us. If we fill our innermost hearts with this love, then no hatred, no battle, no bloodshed will ever befall us. If we understand this, we will see peace in the whole world. Radiance, light, and truth will illuminate our lives and our hearts.
The Qur’an has protected those with absolute faith since the Prophet first came. Not one drop of blood of the prophets, or of the true believers who are the perfect followers of Muhammad, or of those who are in Iman-Islam may be spilled on this earth. Indeed, the earth will not drink the blood of those who have accepted perfect faith and the light of perfect purity. But if the blood of those lights of Allah should ever be shed, then the land in which that crime occurred would be completely destroyed.
My brothers, we have not come here to shed blood. Those with faith have not come for that. We have come to make peace between the world and heaven, the world and eternity. We have come here to live in peace, with patience. We have come to implant the grace and light of faith in each heart and to open the path to the eighth heaven. With the qualities of Prophet Muhammad and the qualities and actions of the ninety-nine attributes of Allah as examples, we must offer peace and comfort to everyone and try to take each one of our brothers along the straight, true path.
Our true state is peace; our true state is inner patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God. This is the grace of Islam, the wealth of our life. Once we understand this grace and behave as those in Islam should, all the creatures of land and sea, the jinns and fairies, each and every one of Allah’s creations will prostrate before that light and worship that beauty of Islam. If we trust in God completely and surrender all responsibility to Him, everything will subordinate itself to Islam and prostrate to that purity. Except for satan, there is no opposition to true Islam. All others will prostrate themselves. This is shown with perfect clarity and perfect resplendence in the Qur’an, which came to us as Allah’s resonance and was explained to us by His Messenger. Each one of us who has faith and certitude must realize this true state and then help others to change.
People need water to survive; even if there is no food to eat they must at least have water. The grace of Allah is the water of Iman-Islam. When you see someone starving for that water of grace, you must give him some, revive him, take him away from the sufferings of the world, nurture his life, change his state, and help him to follow God’s laws.
My brothers, you must quench the thirst of all lives with that grace and let them rest. You must try to heal the sufferings of the world. This is the mercy and compassion of all the universes, the wealth that has been given to mankind, and we who have faith must strive to offer it to all. We should not carry a sword in our hands; we should hold patience in our hearts. We should not arm ourselves with guns; we should be armed with contentment. We should not put our trust in battles; we should have trust in God. We should not cling to the world; we should cling to the praise of God. These are the true weapons of Islam.
My brothers in Islam, all the leaders of the world, all the learned, exalted people of wisdom who have faith in the Qur’an, all who believe in Allah and in His Messenger, all who have the right to the dignity of Islam-all of you must bring peace to the world. Chase away the arrogance, darkness, and demons that lurk in the heart. With the weapons of love, patience, and contentment, conquer those hearts and unite them under the umbrella of Islam, under the flag of Iman-Islam, under the light of Muhammad. Those hearts will melt and prostrate to that love. The Prophet had no warlike qualities. He had only the qualities of patience, contentment, trust in God, and praise of God. If those qualities are reestablished in each heart, if they flourish and grow there, then Islam will become a vast, protective canopy for the world.
If everyone in the community of Islam understood this and tried to establish peace, tolerance, and patience, that alone would bring peace to the world. The weapons of peace and tranquility will grant us victory no matter what enmity, what hostility, threatens us. We must realize this, my brothers in Islam. If we do, we will triumph in all three worlds, in the primal beginning, this world, and the hereafter.
In the name of Allah and His Messenger, I beg you to forgive me if anything I have said is wrong. Please forgive me if I have made any mistakes. I am only telling you what came to my heart. I am only telling you what I understand in my innermost heart.
I humbly ask the great, the wise, and the learned ones to do this. If there is any fault in what I have said, please forgive me for the sake of Allah and His Messenger. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you. Amen.
Pingback: The Age of the Mob is Coming | PitKanary