This past weekend, people gathered in houses of worship to reflect on the horrific events of last September 11. For Jews, this weekend was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which is a day marked by introspection, penitence and resolve for the coming year. However, Arab mosques echoed this weekend with messages of a very different sort.
IMRA, Independent Media Review & Analysis, has published last Friday's sermons from mosques around the Middle East and broadcast on state sponsored television.
Location: Sanaa, Republic of Yemen
Broadcast: Television in Arabic, carries a 34-minute live sermon from the Grand Mosque in Sanaa.
Authority: Official television station of the Republic of Yemen
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0909 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi
... Let Muslims and their rulers know that if Iraq is struck and Muslims keep silent, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others will also be struck...Let them close their ranks, confront the United States, and tell it not to strike Iraq or any other Islamic country or shed the blood of any Muslim. ...
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, support those who support
Islam, disappoint those who disappoint Muslims. O God, help the mujahidin in Palestine achieve victory. O God, help the mujahidin everywhere to achieve victory." He goes on: "O God, destroy the Jews
and their followers. O God, destroy the Christians and their supporters.
O God, shake the ground under their feet, instill fear in their hearts, and
freeze the blood in their veins."
Location: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Broadcast: TV1 in Arabic, carries a 25-minute live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca.
Authority: Official television station of the Saudi Government
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0929 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Salih Bin-Abdallah Bin-Humayd
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions and calling on people to obey and worship God. The imam devotes the entire sermon to women's rights before and under Islam.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels, protect Islam, and disappoint tyrants, unbelievers, and Islam's enemies." He goes on: "O God, help the mujahidin score victory and elevate the word of Islam. O God, give victory to the mujahidin in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, and elsewhere. O God, support them. O God, destroy the usurper, tyrant Jews, who have spread corruption, killed people, destroyed property, and displaced people. O God, destroy them for they are within your power."
Location: Doha, Qatar
Broadcast: Television Service in Arabic, carries a 30-minute live sermon from an unidentified mosque.
Authority: Official television station of the State of Qatar
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0848 GMT
Imam: unidentified
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on Muslims to abide by Islam and saying that if Muslims do not understand the nature of the enemies of God, then they will fail to understand their enemies, "particularly the Jews, whom the Koran describes as wicked." The imam goes on: "If Muslims had known the nature of the Jews, then their media organs would not have declared that these people seek peace and want to live in peace."
The imam then gives examples from Islamic history on "the wickedness of the Jews, who want Muslims to abandon their Koran and their prophet's
traditions," stressing that this nation will restore its glory and dignity only if it returns to God.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, use your might to take revenge against the usurper Jews. O God, show them a black day for they
are within your power. O God, have mercy on our martyrs through your
capability."
IMRA, Independent Media Review & Analysis, has published last Friday's sermons from mosques around the Middle East and broadcast on state sponsored television.
Location: Sanaa, Republic of Yemen
Broadcast: Television in Arabic, carries a 34-minute live sermon from the Grand Mosque in Sanaa.
Authority: Official television station of the Republic of Yemen
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0909 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi
... Let Muslims and their rulers know that if Iraq is struck and Muslims keep silent, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others will also be struck...Let them close their ranks, confront the United States, and tell it not to strike Iraq or any other Islamic country or shed the blood of any Muslim. ...
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, support those who support
Islam, disappoint those who disappoint Muslims. O God, help the mujahidin in Palestine achieve victory. O God, help the mujahidin everywhere to achieve victory." He goes on: "O God, destroy the Jews
and their followers. O God, destroy the Christians and their supporters.
O God, shake the ground under their feet, instill fear in their hearts, and
freeze the blood in their veins."
Location: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Broadcast: TV1 in Arabic, carries a 25-minute live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca.
Authority: Official television station of the Saudi Government
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0929 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Salih Bin-Abdallah Bin-Humayd
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions and calling on people to obey and worship God. The imam devotes the entire sermon to women's rights before and under Islam.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels, protect Islam, and disappoint tyrants, unbelievers, and Islam's enemies." He goes on: "O God, help the mujahidin score victory and elevate the word of Islam. O God, give victory to the mujahidin in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, and elsewhere. O God, support them. O God, destroy the usurper, tyrant Jews, who have spread corruption, killed people, destroyed property, and displaced people. O God, destroy them for they are within your power."
Location: Doha, Qatar
Broadcast: Television Service in Arabic, carries a 30-minute live sermon from an unidentified mosque.
Authority: Official television station of the State of Qatar
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0848 GMT
Imam: unidentified
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on Muslims to abide by Islam and saying that if Muslims do not understand the nature of the enemies of God, then they will fail to understand their enemies, "particularly the Jews, whom the Koran describes as wicked." The imam goes on: "If Muslims had known the nature of the Jews, then their media organs would not have declared that these people seek peace and want to live in peace."
The imam then gives examples from Islamic history on "the wickedness of the Jews, who want Muslims to abandon their Koran and their prophet's
traditions," stressing that this nation will restore its glory and dignity only if it returns to God.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: "O God, use your might to take revenge against the usurper Jews. O God, show them a black day for they
are within your power. O God, have mercy on our martyrs through your
capability."