Ibrahim Hindy is the Imam of Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre in Mississauga, Ontario and the Religious Director for Yaqeen Canada at Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. He attained a degree in Religious Studies at the University of Toronto and later an MA in Usul al-Fiqh from Al-Madinah International University in Malaysia. Ibrahim Hindy has been featured by national and international media extensively including outlets such as CBC, CTV, BBC, Buzzfeed, The National Post and the Globe and Mail, among many others.
Here the transcript of Ibrahim Hindy’s sermon on October 13, 2023 under the caption “Sh [Sheikh] Ibrahim Hindy speaks about the recent developments in Palestine and the importance to be one Ummah [Muslim nation]”:
Allah, the most glorified, the most high, has made clear in his book [the Quran] that those who are oppressive will face his judgment, the most glorified, the most high وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ اللَّهَ غَافِلًا عَمَّا يَعْمَلُ الظَّالِمُونَ [Quran 14:42 And never think that Allāh is unaware of what the wrongdoers do]. Allah says: Never think that Allah is unaware of what the oppressive people do. إِنَّمَا يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ لِيَوْمٍۢ تَشْخَصُ فِيهِ ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرُ [Quran 14:42 He only delays them [i.e., their account] for a Day when eyes will stare [in horror]]. Rather, He only delays them for a day in which their eyes will be staring in horror. مُهْطِعِينَ مُقْنِعِى رُءُوسِهِمْ لَا يَرْتَدُّ إِلَيْهِمْ طَرْفُهُمْ ۖ وَأَفْـِٔدَتُهُمْ هَوَآءٌۭ [Quran 14:43 Racing ahead, their heads raised up, their glance does not come back to them, and their hearts are void]. Racing ahead, Allah describes them; their heads will be raised up and their glance will not come back to them and their hearts will be void. Allah tells us لَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ [Quran 12:23 Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed] that indeed, the that is unjust, that is oppressive, will never succeed no matter how many rights they have taken, or wealth they have stolen, or land they have usurped, the oppressive and the unjust can never be successful.
And our prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, warning us about injustices. He tells us اتقوا الظلم، فإن الظلم ظلمات يوم القيامة [Riyad as-Salihin 203 Beware of injustice, for oppression will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection]. He said: Fear oppression because oppression will be many forms on the Day of Judgement. Every oppression, every ظلم [oppression], leads to more ظلم [oppression], more oppression, more evil until eventually ظلمات darkness that the person is in. And our prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reminds us as well المسلمونَ تتكافأُ دماؤهُم [Sunan Abi Dawud 2751 Muslims are equal in respect of blood] the blood of the Muslims is equal, just as it is important to support the oppressed person near you or close to you, the Muslim who’s far away from also deserves your support.
We gather today, and it is a time of immense and unprecedented pain and grief, especially in our Ummah [Muslim nation]. This pain and grief and frustration and hopelessness that we feel right now, we probably haven’t felt in an entire generation if not more. We feel helpless, unable to support and to help our brothers and sisters in Palestine who have been left abandoned by the entire world.
Our prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he tells us مثل المؤمنين في توادهم وتراحمهم وتعاطفهم، مثل الجسد الواحد [Riyad as-Salihin 224 The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body] is the example of the believers and their mutual love and their affection, and their feeling of fellowship between each other, is the example of being one body. When the limbs of the body aches in pain, the rest of the body feels that pain and suffers sleepiness and fever because of it. And if you are a true believer, you’ve been feeling ill. If you are a true believer, you’ve been feeling like you are in a spiritual fever due to what is happening to our brothers and sisters with no way to help them or aid them. We love our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and their pain and their anguish is our pain and our anguish.
We’ve also felt upset and ill at the double standards of the world powers, including that of our own country [Canada]. We’ve felt sickened by the double standards, their hypocrisy and their selected outrage. This is a country which on one hand seeks to rectify to find reconciliation for all the injustices perpetrated against the indigenous people of this land, who are killed and ethnically cleansed and experienced the genocide, and driven from their homes and have their land stolen. On one hand they are seeking reconciliation with the indigenous people of this country, and on the other hand they are throwing our brothers and sisters in Palestine under the bus.
The same country that is sending billions of dollars to Ukraine so it can fight against another country which is annexing their land, which does not even see Ukrainians as being a nation or a people, and on the other hand they support the annexation of Palestinian land by force, by force that is not even see the Palestinian people as being a real people. They deny the existence of their even being something called a Palestinian people. We see the sheer hypocrisy of countries like France and the United Kingdom who present themselves as defenders of free speech; we must defend free speech no matter what. Even when our prophet is insulted, we must defend free speech. Even when Muslims are dehumanized, we have to defend free speech.
The same countries are seeking to criminalize any protest in support of the Palestinian people, even carrying the Palestinian flag. We see their collective outrage, we see their collective outrage when they show with all detail the suffering and the hurt of Israelis, yet they never mention the overwhelming suffering of Palestinians. Not just their suffering in the span of one day, but their suffering for decades upon decades. And they tell you it is all because of Hamas in order to justify war crimes that are happening presently, like the carpet bombing of entire neighbourhoods in Gaza, like dropping white phosphorus which burns people’s skin and have very lasting effects, and there is a war crime to drop it in a highly populated areas and they are doing just that. But they don’t tell you about the settler program happening in the West Bank routinely when there is no Hamas in the West Bank. And these settler groups will kill Palestinians, just today they shot an unarmed Palestinian man point blank for no reason. They don’t talk about how the West Bank is broken up into ghettos where they control even the sidewalk that the Palestinians can walk on or not being allowed to walk on. They don’t tell you about the thousands of Palestinians including children that are detained under military order without charge held for decades upon decades. There is no Hamas in the West Bank, yet they will brazenly tell you the only reason Palestinians suffer because of Hamas.
They don’t tell you about the blockade in Gaza where relief and aid efforts have been shot at, where water and food that belong to the people of Gaza is diverted away to settler communities. They don’t tell you that the majority of Gaza, over 50% more than a million people in Gaza, are children. And they don’t tell you the reason that most of Gaza are children is because the life expectancy is so low because they are denied food and water and medical aid.
If I say: Listen, we agree with you. Killing children is horrible. We should condemn anyone who kills children, including when Palestinian children are detained and indefinitely killed or even burned alive inside of their homes, suddenly, they want to change the subject. We wonder why are Palestinians treated so inhumanly? Why is every aspect of their lives controlled and then subjected to abuse and humiliation? Why is the world closing its eyes to these atrocities that happen every day, and not just close its eyes to it, but support it with aid and funding.
There is an important verse in the Quran for us to reflect on. Allah, the most glorified, the most high, says وَمِنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ مَنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ بِقِنطَارٍۢ يُؤَدِّهِۦٓ إِلَيْكَ وَمِنْهُم مَّنْ إِن تَأْمَنْهُ بِدِينَارٍۢ لَّا يُؤَدِّهِۦٓ إِلَيْكَ إِلَّا مَا دُمْتَ عَلَيْهِ قَآئِمًۭا ۗ [Quran 3:75 There are some among the People of the Book who, if entrusted with a stack of gold, will readily return it. Yet there are others who, if entrusted with a single coin, will not repay it unless you constantly demand it]. Allah, the most glorified, the most high, says amongst the people of the Book are those that if you were to entrust them with قنطار a great amount of wealth of gold, they would give it back to you. They are trustworthy. منهم but amongst them are those that if you were to entrust them, with a dinar, with a silver coin, that’s not worth that much, they would not give it back to you unless you call upon them over and over and over again. Why? قَآئِمًۭا ۗ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا۟ لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِى ٱلْأُمِّيِّـۧنَ سَبِيلٌۭ [Quran 3:75 This is because they say, “We are not accountable for ˹exploiting˺ the Gentiles”]. This is because they say, there is no blame upon us in how we deal with the unleaded people, meaning the Arabs. وَيَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ [Quran 3:75 And ˹so˺ they attribute lies to Allah knowingly] and they speak lies about Allah while they know. لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِى ٱلْأُمِّيِّـۧنَ سَبِيلٌۭ [Quran 3:75 “We are not accountable for ˹exploiting˺ the Gentiles]. This verse is powerful, because this verse reminds us, do not generalize. There are, in fact, good people who are from the people of the Book. There are good Christians and good Jews. If you were to entrust them with something important, they would fulfill that entrustment.
But this verse also informs us that amongst them is a mentality. Amongst them are those who believe that they are correct to take the money of others, to take the money of the Arabs, because they see them as primitive, as barbaric, as less than human. And the tafsir [commentary of the Quran] said that they would say, they say, ليس علينا حرج في أموال العرب، قد أحلها الله لنا [Tafsir A-Tabari] They would say, in Madina they would say, there is no problem with us taking the wealth of the Arabs. Allah has made it حلال [permissible] to us. وَيَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ [Quran 3:75 And ˹so˺ they attribute lies to Allah knowingly] They are lying about Allah, the most glorified, the most high. Imam al-Sa’di [Abdul-Rahman al-Sa’di] explains this verse, he says, Allah is saying that there are good people from the people of the Book who are very trustworthy. But there are those who are deceitful, and they justify their actions by saying, these Arabs are primitive. They are beneath us, and so we can take what we want from them. This mentality is not only historic. It is present. And increasingly, this mentality is in power. They may not utter the words, but in their actions, they are very clear. They do not see the blood of the Palestinians as being worth anything.
Even in our local media here, we see these reporters going around, and they put the microphone to the faces of Palestinians or Muslims, and they say, do you condemn Hamas? Do you condemn them? And those of us who are old enough, we remember a post-9-11 world where they would do the exact same thing. The reporters shove the microphone in your face, and they say, do you condemn? Do you condemn?
Notice, for example, they will never ask an American and shove the microphone in his face and say, do you condemn the invasion of Iraq and the torture of Iraqis, even if that American served in the army. Even if that American was in government at the time they invaded Iraq, they would not ask them that question. Why? Because that question presumes guilt. The implication of the question from the very beginning is that you are guilty, and let us interrogate you to see whether or not you are guilty. The implication of the question is that you support killing children, and let me interrogate you from the outset. But the question also builds a bigger construct. The idea that we must unreservedly condemn the death of Israelis. We have to, so we shove the microphone in your face, you have to condemn the death of Israelis. When did they do this when a Palestinian is dying? When did they ask that question when Palestinians are killed? Never. Because the implication of this question is that the blood and the lives of Palestinians are worth less than the lives and the blood of Israelis.
And these narratives are not benign. They build through them policy. You build these narratives so that so-called leaders from the United States, from Canada, from the UK, from France can now stand up and say, we will support any action that is taken. And today we see Gaza, which was a prison, now turned into an extermination camp. They tell the Gazans you have to leave, and they bomb their only escape route. They tell them you have to leave, and they know they can’t leave. They tell them that you have to leave, knowing that if they somehow are able to leave, they’re never going to be able to return back to their homes. And just today, the president of that country [Isaac Herzog] was asked about the citizens of Gaza; he said those citizens should have gotten rid of Hamas, and since they didn’t, they’re all the same. That shows us that they see every single person in Gaza as guilty and worthy of being killed. Why? Because they do not see them as human beings. لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِى ٱلْأُمِّيِّـۧنَ سَبِيلٌۭ [Quran 3:75 “We are not accountable for ˹exploiting˺ the Gentiles]. There’s no blame on us for whatever we do to these people.
But I remind you, and remind myself, in everything there is a lesson. Yes, they will send billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, and at the same breath, justify what is happening in Gaza. Yes, they will insult the prophet in Islam and the Muslims, and tacitly encourage the dehumanization of Muslims while also banning any protest that seeks to stop the destruction of Palestinians. But listen to me carefully.
They are an ummah [nation], and they see themselves as an ummah [nation], and they will never see us as part of their ummah [nation]. And Allah made us an ummah [Muslim nation]. We should not rely upon them. Allah tells us, وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ ٱلْيَهُودُ وَلَا ٱلنَّصَـٰرَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ ۗ [Quran 2:120 And never will the Jews and the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion] The Jews and the Christians are never going to be pleased with you, until you follow their ways, until you follow their beliefs in their religion. And if you know this, then you need to start thinking as an ummah [Muslim nation]. You need to start breathing as an ummah [Muslim nation].
We are not Egyptians and Pakistanis and Saudis and Bengalis. Yes, we have different languages and cultures. Yes, we are an ummah [Muslim nation] based on our connection to the Book of Allah [the Quran] and to the messenger of Allah [Mohammad]. The Prophet said, المُؤْمِنَ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ كَالْبُنْيَانِ يَشُدُّ بَعْضُهُ بَعْضًا The believer to the believer, they are like bricks in the wall reinforcing one another. We have to become that hadith. We have to live that hadith. We have to truly become brothers to each other, support each other, see each other as one, even or especially when the oppression is severe. And in these times it’s important for us to remind ourselves, as hurt as we feel, we have to feel hope. We have to feel hope.
If you’ve been watching what’s happening with a feeling of despair, not sadness, not grief, sadness and grief, these are things that human beings feel. This is normal, but if you’ve been feeling despair, it’s because you haven’t been thinking enough about Allah, the most glorified, the most high. If you are depending on other people to help you’re oppressed if you’re thinking what other countries are going to help these people, then of course you’re going to feel despair, because there is no country that is going to help them.
But if you think about Allah, the most glorified, the most high, and you depend on Allah, the Mighty, you’re going to find hope, you’re going to be like our prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he is in a-Taif [Taif is a city in Saudi Arabia] and all the doors of the دنيا [this world] are closed on him. All of the world has turned its back on him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he is struck and he is hurt and he is bleeding. And the angel comes to him and says, give me permission, I will destroy the people of A-Taif, and the prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, says, بل أرجو أن يُخْرِجَ اللَّهُ مِن أصلابِهِم مَن يعبدُ اللَّهَ ، لا يشرِكُ بِهِ شيئًا [Sahih al-Bukhari 3231 No, but I hope that Allah will let them beget children who will worship Allah Alone, and will worship None besides Him] He says, no, I have hope that from their offspring will come those who worship Allah alone and associate nothing in the worship of Allah, the Almighty. He found hope because he is thinking about Allah, the Almighty, even in the most dire of moments. Allah is worthy of our trust in our hope. He is going to give martydom to them, to those who are killed. He is going to strengthen those who are oppressed.
In fact, our prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, already said, in a hadith that is a powerful premonition. He said, لا تزال طائفة من أمتي على الدين ظاهرين، لعدوهم قاهرين، لا يضرهم من خالفهم إلا ما أصابهم من لأواء، حتى يأتيهم أمر الله. وهم كذلك The prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said there will remain a group from my ummah [Muslim nation], strong upon their religion, overpowering their enemies, nothing will harm them, even those who deceived them and turn away from them and abandon them, except calamities that will happen to them. And he said, they will remain in this state until Allah’s command comes meaning until they die, or until the Day of Judgment occurs. They asked the prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, قالوا: من هم Who are these people O Messenger of Allah? Sorry, they said, أين هم يا رسول الله Where are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said, قال: ببيت المقدس وأكناف بيت المقدس He said, they are in Al-Quds [Jerusalem] around Al-Aqsa [Mosque], and in the places surrounding Al-Aqsa.
I actually do not worry for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. I am hurt for them. I grieve for them. But I don’t worry for them. Because the most important thing in this world is ايمان [faith], and they have ايمان [faith]. I have seen even their enemies are amazed by the ايمان [faith] of the people in Palestine.
Instead, I worry about us. I worry about us losing faith and losing our sense of ummah [Muslim nation]. I worry about us Muslims willing to abandon our brothers and sisters to gain a sliver of دنيا [this world]. Just as you want to support the oppressed who are like you, just as you want to support when you are oppressed, you have to support them. The prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ما من مسلم يخذل مسلما في موطن يُنتقص فيه من عرضه إلا خذله الله تعالى في موطن يحب فيه نصرته He said, there is no Muslim, who betrays another Muslim, in a time or in a place where their dignity is being erased. Meaning, you see the dignity of another is being destroyed, their homes are being burned, their children are being orphaned, their women are being widowed. You see their dignity is being eradicated, and you are capable of helping them even with a word. And you betray them, and you trigger back to them. You want to protect your status, you want to keep your money, you want to fear the enemy إلا خذله الله except that Allah will betray that person in a time when that person needs the help of Allah, the most glorified, the most high. And the prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, tells us مَن كان في حاجة أخيه whoever is in the need of his brother, in the service of his brother, كان الله في حاجته then Allah will certainly be in the support of that person…
I know you are short on time, but I want to not conclude before mentioning a few important points. number one, as we mentioned, the prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said Allah is in the aid of the person who is in the aid of his brother. So what should we be doing right now to aid and to help our brothers and sisters in Gaza? Number one, to turn to Allah, the most glorified, the most high, to make توبة [repentance] to Allah, the Almighty. Allah, the most glorified, the most high, said ظَهَرَ ٱلْفَسَادُ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِى ٱلنَّاسِ لِيُذِيقَهُم بَعْضَ ٱلَّذِى عَمِلُوا۟ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ [Quran 30:41 Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He [i.e., Allāh] may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]] Allah says, corruption has spread in the land and upon the seas as a result of what people have done, so that Allah may cause them to taste the consequences of some of their deeds لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ so they may return back to Allah the Almighty. We need to make توبة [repentance] to Allah, the Almighty.
Allah gave this ummah [Muslim nation] victory in Palestine twice. Once with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb [the second Rashidun caliph], may Allah be pleased with him, and once with Salah al Din al Ayubi [the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty], may Allah have mercy on him. Both of them are deeply religious and connected to Allah and both were people of justice, that even their enemies had to marvel at how noble they are. We will not have victory until we can follow these examples. And in order to do so, we need to make توبة [repentance] to Allah, the most glorified, the most high, turn away from our sins, except the way of the prophet, may Allah have mercy on him, as our way.
And I want to mention something, because there are people even in our city going around saying, we’re afraid of what’s going to happen to us, we’re afraid, these Muslims, [that some people] are going to attack us. It is natural to feel angry at what is happening. It is normal to feel anger at what is happening. But the anger has to be channelled in ways that are productive and that are according to the Quran and Sunnah. And the example of our prophet, may Allah have mercy on him. Otherwise, the anger is selfish. Somebody wants to go hit someone. Random person in Canada, you want to go fight them. Or to deface buildings or things like that. Selfish anger. It’s about you and your ego. That’s not taking your anger and using it for the sake of Allah, the most glorified, the most high, in accordance with His religion.
Number two, we have to advocate. We have the ability to speak in this country and in other countries. Muslims don’t have the ability to move their tongues. There are countries in the world I was watching on YouTube that hear the sermons of other imams in the world. Some countries, not a single sermon, even mentioned our brothers and sisters in Palestine. They don’t have the freedom to even talk. You have the ability to talk. You can pick up a phone and call your political leaders or send them a letter. You have resources from NCCM [National Council of Canadian Muslims] or Justice for All Canada that you can use to talk to MPs and politicians and say, what’s going on? What are you doing? How are you allowing this to happen right now? You can call the media and say, why are you not showing the pain and the suffering of Palestinians?
Number three, you need to educate yourself and others. You need to tell people about what’s happening. Use social media to talk about what’s taking place. Share posts from human rights organizations that are talking about the plight of Palestinian people. You don’t have to get into arguments. Just post this stuff. Get it out there. You can do this and more.
And finally, and most importantly, to make a prayer [du’a]. To make a prayer [du’a] for our brothers and sisters. Prayer [du’a] is the weapon of the believers or prophets of Allah, the most glorified, the most high, said, you do not know which prayer [du’a] will unlock the assistance and the mercy of Allah, the Almighty. And our prophet, may Allah have mercy on him, in times like these would pray qunut al-nawazil [prayer at times of calamity] like he did after Bir Maona [several companions of Mohammad were killed in Bir Maona in their mission to spread the word of Islam], where he would pray during every prayer [du’a] in the last Rak’a [unit of prayer] after several units of prayers when he would stand up, he would make prayer for the people who are oppressed. And he did it for 30 days straight after Bir Maona. We should do the same in our prayers during at home even praying Zuhr [noon prayer], praying Asr [afternoon prayer] we stand up and you make prayer [du’a] for the people of Palestine. Du’a [prayer] is important. And so, worshipping Allah, the most glorified, the most high. And make Du’a [prayer] for the people of Palestine, and don’t forget as well the people of Morocco and Libya and Afghanistan and all these countries who have been oppressed as well. Again, we have to think like we are an ummah [Muslim nation] and live like we are an ummah [Muslim nation]. And even in our prayers, this needs to be reflected. May Allah, the most glorified, the most high, be with our brothers and sisters and Allah, the most glorified, the most high, protect them from evil. May Allah, the most glorified, the most high, support their orphans. May Allah, the most glorified, the most high, turn the weapons of their enemies away from them. Ameen. […]