Following is an excerpt from a program with Qatari cleric Farid Al-Hindawi, which aired on Qatar TV on February 1, 2009.

Farid Al-Hindawi: Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and prayers upon Muhammad, the most noble of all the prophets, and upon his good and pure family and companions.

That said, I don’t know where to begin, and how to conclude, while the condition of the nation of Islam is as we witness today. First, we have Bosnia Herzegovina, then we have Kosovo, followed by Afghanistan. Then we have the land of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate [Iraq] – the land of Harun Al-Rashid, Al-Mamoun, and Abu Ja’far Al-Mansour – which has been pulverized and has become a scorched land. Then we have Somalia, and after that – or before that – the land of Palestine, the land of the prophets.

As for the issue of assistance, in these days... First, “assistance,” as our scholars have noted, stems from the verb “to assist.” Assistance means support, aid, help, and salvation.