California Islamic scholar and adjunct professor in the school of education at the University of California Irvine Osman Umarji discussed October 7 in his December 22, 2023 Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley, California. He said that many Muslims ask whether the attack was "worth it" in light of the images coming out of Gaza. However, he said that prior to October 7, Israel's fall seemed impossible, and now it is "imminent." He added that American Muslims should study the raids of the Prophet Muhammad and his conduct in battle, which were largely forsaken in a "post 9/11 world."
For more about Osman Umarji, see MEMRI TV clip no. 10639. Umarji's sermon was streamed live on the YouTube channel of Islamic Center of San Gabriel.
To view the clip of Osman Umarji, click here or below:
October 7 Changed The Status Quo Forever; After 9/11, Muslims Were Scared To Speak About "The Fighting Aspects Of Islam"
Osman Umarji: "The occupation will never be the same [post October 7], the status quo has been shaken forever, and the future will be far different than the last 75 years have been.
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"We see the images [from Gaza] and we see the headlines and it makes many Muslims now question and ask from the depths of their heart: Was October 7 worth it, should the Muslims have resisted on October 7? Because it looks like the Palestinians are losing.
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"So we can begin to change our perspective and not analyze things from a worldly perspective alone, but also drawing in a way of analyzing politics from the lessons of the Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad.
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"The only way we can do this is if we analyze and go back to the raids of the Prophet Muhammad, a genre of the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, which has been largely forgotten by American Muslims in a post 9/11 world. This makes us incapable of addressing war, assessing conflict, when we no longer have knowledge of how the Prophet Muhammad was a warrior.
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"This is really a consequence of post 9/11 da'wa, when Muslims have decided they were too scared, saying 'We don't want to speak about the fighting aspects of Islam.'
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"The Plot Of Israel, Their Entire Cause, Has Been Weakened Substantially [Since October 7]... All This Is Part Of The Dissolving Of The Zionist State, And The Ascension Of The Palestinian State, Or The Islamic State"
"Now the resistance in Palestine says: 'You know what, we want to get back at this enemy of ours.' But the resistance likely intended something different. What typically happens is that they want to attack the IDF, they want to take sometimes hostages from the IDF, and exchange them for the 5000 plus prisoners in Palestine.
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"They have in their history, just a few years ago, when they were able to exchange for just one IDF soldier – how many Palestinian prisoners of war. So that is perhaps what the Palestinians wanted. But Allah, He wanted something different. Allah decreed that this matter would be far greater than those – maybe smaller – aspirations.
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"The plot of Israel, their entire cause, has been weakened substantially, more so in the last 77 days [since Oct. 7], than it has been in the last 75 years of occupation.
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"So all of this, my dear brothers and sisters, is part of victory. All of this is part of the dissolving of the Zionist state, and the ascension of the Palestinian state, or the Islamic State.
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"[If you] asked the Muslim world, two and a half months ago, three months ago: 'Do you think that Israel could fall? Do you think that state could crumble?' They would say it is impossible, it has got an Iron Dome, you cannot shoot a missile at it, it has all global support, nothing could shake it.
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"We just thought a few months ago that it was impossible, and now it seems very imminent, now it seems like a possibility. Why? Because people were willing to resist."
