Friday Sermons in Saudi Mosques: Review and Analysis

• Part I - 'The Christians and the Jews are "Infidels," "Enemies of Allah"'
• Part II - 'Jews - The Descendants of Pigs and Apes'
• Part III - 'It is Impossible to Make Peace With the Jews'
• Part IV - 'Muslims Must Educate Their Children to Jihad… and to Hatred of Jews and Christians'
• Part V - 'The Palestinian Struggle Must be An Islamic Jihad'
• Part VI - 'Muslim Women's Rights are a Western Ploy to Destroy Islam'
• APPENDIX - About Al-Minbar

Friday sermons delivered in the main mosques of Saudi Arabia are available on the Saudi-based website www.alminbar.net.[1] The following is a review and analysis of the major themes featured in these sermons:

Part I - 'The Christians and the Jews are "Infidels," "Enemies of Allah"'
The majority of sermons discuss Christians, Jews, or the "Camp of Kufur"[2] concurrently. However, some sermons specifically target Christians and Christianity. In a sermon delivered at the Al-Salaam mosque in 'Al-Unayzah, Sheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Qadhi said: "Today we will talk about one of the distorted religions, about a faith that deviates from the path of righteousness… about Christianity, this false faith, and about the people whom Allah described in his book as deviating from the path of righteousness. We will examine their faith, and we will review their history, full of hate, abomination, and wars against Islam and the Muslims."

"In this distorted and deformed religion, to which many of the inhabitants of the earth belong, we can see how the Christians deviate greatly from the path of righteousness by talking about the concept of the Trinity. As far as they are concerned, God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three who are one…"

"They see Jesus, peace be upon him, as the son of Allah… It is the Christians who believe that Jesus was crucified.[3] According to them, he was hanged on the cross with nails pounded through his hands, and he cried, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' According to them, this was so that he would atone for the sins of mankind…"

"Regardless of all these deviations from the path of righteousness, it is possible to see many Muslims… who know about Christianity only what the Christians claim about love, tolerance, devoting life to serving the needy, and other distorted slogans… After all this, we still find people who promote the idea of bringing our religion and their's closer, as if the differences were miniscule and could be eliminated by arranging all those [interreligous] conferences, whose goal is political…" [4]

While Islam considers both Jews and Christians "People of the Book" - i.e. non-Muslims with special status under Islamic rule - Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz Qari discussed the differences between the religions in a sermon delivered at the Qabaa mosque in Al-Madina: "Two groups - the Jews and the Christians - are the main elements constituting the 'Camp of Kufur' and will continue to be its two foundations until Allah allows their downfall and annihilation at the end of days..."

"When the Prophet Muhammad was sent out, the 'Camp of Kufur' declared war on his message. At the center of this war were these groups, particularly the Jews. These two groups will continue to serve as the grindstones of the conflict and the war between belief and Kufur until eternity comes… The conflict will end when Jesus the son of Mary, peace be upon him, arrives to break the cross and wipes it off the face of the earth, and kills the blind [false] Messiah, the leader of the Jews and the tyrant whom they await. Until that day, the conflict between us, the Muslims, and the Jews and Christians will continue, and it will ebb and flow, one day ours, another day theirs…"

"The Jews are the objects of Allah's [promised] wrath, while the Christians deviate from the path of righteousness… The Koran described the Jews as a nation cursed by Allah, a nation at which he was angry - some of whom he turned into apes and pigs…"[5]

International initiatives aimed at promoting interreligious harmony have been condemned by many Saudi preachers. In a sermon at a Mecca mosque, Sheikh Adnan Ahmad Siyami said, "[Islam] believes that only Islam and the 'Camp of Kufur' exist, and that there is no way to reach Paradise and to be delivered from Hell except by walking in the path of our Prophet Muhammad and joining Islam. Any other way leads to Hell… In light of this, my believing brethren, how can it be claimed that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all paths leading to Allah?!…"

"Several years ago, a sinful call arose, which unfortunately garnered support from some clerics and preachers of this religion, Islam… [a call] for the unification of the monotheistic religions. They flaunted an empty and false slogan of 'religious harmony,' Christian-Islamic friendship, and uniting the three religions into a global religion'…"

"The call for the unification of the religions is a call for the abolition of religious differences among people: No more Muslim and infidel. All will come under the unity of human harmony… This accursed call has ramifications that most certainly will shake Islam in the hearts of its people, leading them to the lowest of the levels of Hell. This call will lead… to presenting the infidels' schools of thought as correct, and to silence regarding them; to permitting conversion to Judaism and Christianity with no shame whatsoever; to the abolition of the vast difference between the Muslims and others - a difference underpinning the conflict between truth and falsehood; to the transformation of the religion of Islam into a religion like the other, false religions, into a religion that has no advantage over the other religions…; to refraining from calling [people] to join Islam, because if the Muslim wants to do so, he must tell the truth about the infidels… This will also facilitate the conversion to Christianity in Muslim lands."

"The Pope's recent visit to Syria, to the Al-Umawi mosque is, without a doubt, another manifestation of that call. The call by [the Pope] - may Allah punish him as he deserves - to the people of the [different] religions in Syria to live in peaceful coexistence is nothing more than an audacious call for the unification of religions, in accordance with the principle of human religious harmony… This Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, and those behind him calling for the unification of the religions, are the descendants of the Spanish inquisitors who tortured the Muslims most abominably… They are the descendants of those who led the Crusades to the Islamic East, in which thousands of Muslims were killed and their wives taken captive in uncountable numbers. They are the perpetrators of the massacres in Bosnia-Herzegovina… in Kosovo, in Indonesia, and in Chechnya… Can we expect compassion from these murderous wolves? What made the Pope go on his visit was his dissatisfaction with the robbing of the Muslims' lands; he wanted also to rob their religion, so that they lose both this world and the Hereafter…"

"[This is]… a call to dismantle the pact among Muslims in all the corners of the Islamic world and to replace it with an accursed alternative harmony - the 'Harmony of the Jews and Christians.' This is, in truth, a call to Muslims to stop accusing Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims of being infidels…"

"There can be neither an agreement nor a meeting point between the people of Islam and the Jewish and Christian People of the Book… How can we allow the Catholic Pope's talk of a need to find meeting points and agreement between Islam and Christianity, so that there will be peaceful coexistence between the two religions and harmony between the two communities? Is it conceivable that there should be agreement and a meeting point with those who fabricate terrible falsehoods about Allah… claiming that Jesus, peace be upon him, is his son?!…"[6]

Sheikh Mustafa Bin Sa'id Aytim was also agitated by the Pope's Syrian visit. In a sermon at a Mecca mosque, he cited it as proof that "Christian missionaries are invading the Islamic world."[7]

Sheikh Aytim also objected to the concept of interreligious harmony, saying: "It is no surprise that the Jews and Christians deny the Koran. What is amazing is that some ignoramuses and traitors from among the Muslims say: 'The Jews and Christians are our brothers...' It is quite amazing that anyone claiming he believes in the Koran says that the Jews and Christians love us and feel no loathing and hatred for us!!... The People of the Book's hatred of Muslims is certain and absolute. This is a solid belief, which Allah has proven in the Koran, and there is also historical evidence of it… And lo, today we see that they lie about security and peace - a security council here, a peace emissary there; a security plan here, a prayer for peace there. By Allah, who told you that wild animals can become human? Can wild animals give birth to anything other than wild animals?"[8]

In a sermon delivered at the Manar Al-Islam mosque in Mecca, Sheikh 'Ali Muhammad Al-Baroum said: "The idea of intertwining religions and the claim that the Jews and the Christians believe in religions of truth… are sinful claims and deceitful ideas unacceptable to the religion [of Islam]… It is forbidden to bring together Islam and the infidels, monotheism and polytheism… Allah's path of righteousness and Satan's path of Kufur."[9]

At Al-Rahmah mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Marzouq Salem Al-Ghamdi spoke against interreligious harmony: "For some time, we have been hearing calls for bringing the religions together, and for unification of the religions. This call is aimed at uniting falsehood with truth, good with abomination… The Jews and Christians are infidels, enemies of Allah, his Messenger, and the believers. They deny and curse Allah and his Messenger… How can we draw near to these infidels?… They deny even the messengers sent to them. They do not believe in Moses, they do not believe in Jesus - because if they really believed in them, they would join Islam, because every prophet heralded to his nation the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and the need to believe in him …"

"Some may say: 'How can the inventor of electricity be placed in Hell - he illuminated the world for us.' Others may say, 'How can we be hostile to the Jews and Christians when they invented and manufactured even the items we use in our mosques?' Yet others may say, 'The messenger of Allah left his shield with a Jew and went to visit his sick Jewish neighbor. Why do you preach to us to do differently?' The truth is that this is an inversion of the facts, and deception. The Jew whom the Prophet considered a citizen had accepted the agreement [that the Prophet Muhammad had concluded with the Jews of Al-Madina]… and when his people violated that pact, and supported the polytheists instead of the Muslims, their punishment was death, captivity, and the expropriation of their assets."

"If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet -there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay Jizya[10] to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions are… that they do not renovate a church or a monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three days any Muslim who passes by their homes… that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress and speech, nor ride horses, nor own swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon; that they do not sell wine, do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices during prayer, that they shave their hair in front so as to make them easily identifiable, do not incite anyone against the Muslims, and do not strike a Muslim… If they violate these conditions, they have no protection."[11]

While Arab intelligentsia generally object to the concept of the "clash of civilizations" between the East and the West, preachers in Saudi mosques are stressing that it is precisely this - the struggle between Islamic and Western civilizations - that is the true and eternal struggle for the leadership of the human race.

Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, Imam of the Al-Haraam mosque in Mecca, told worshipers: "The most noble civilization ever known to mankind is our Islamic civilization. Today, Western civilization is nothing more than the product of its encounter with our Islamic civilization in Andalusia [medieval Spain] and other places. The reason for [Western civilization's] bankruptcy is its reliance on the materialistic approach, and its detachment from religion and values. [This approach] has been one reason for the misery of the human race, for the proliferation of suicide, mental problems… and for moral perversion…"

"Western civilization's credibility as the one capable of leading the world to happiness and man to stability - is shaken… Only one nation is capable of resuscitating global civilization, and that is the nation [of Islam]… No decent man in the world will deny that there has never been a culture more merciful towards [all] creatures, with more supreme values, and which rules with greater justice than [Islam]… While the false cultures sink in the swamp of materialism and suffer moral crises… our Islamic nation is the one worthy of grasping the reins of leadership and riding on the back of the horse of pioneering and world sovereignty."

"When this happens, our nation will not use cultural progress as a tool for exploiting the peoples, exhausting their resources, and dishonoring them. It will not use [scientific] inventions and discoveries to spread secularism and support terror... It will not use military equipment and war technologies as an excuse to threaten the security of countries and peoples, or for barbaric and wild operations, and it will not recruit the media to mislead public opinion… The Islamic message, whose aim is to save the human race and to bring about happiness for man who is today lost in the dark tunnels of injustice and misery… takes this burden upon itself…"[12]

In a sermon at the Al-Nabawi mosque in Al-Madina, Sheikh Sallah Bin Muhammad Al-Budeir concured with this line of thought: "What is the use of [Western] culture, in which the value of man has shrunk to the level of slavery to anything but Allah? Man becomes a slave to his money and his desires… It is distressing that some of our people who speak our own language [serve] as procurers of the West, glorifying and extolling it, and calling for its imitation…"

"[Only] Islam is worthy of delivering the human race from its misery and despair. Only Islam is capable of bringing happiness to the human race."[13]

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh addressed the matter at the Nimra mosque in 'Arafa: "Those who attack Islam and its people - what have they given to the human race?! What have they to be proud of?! They gave a false, contemptible culture; they gave various kinds of damage to [human] freedoms and rights on the pretext of preserving these values; they gave discrimination among people by color, gender, language, and race; they gave technology to create weapons of mass destruction for the destruction of the human race; they gave forms of deceit and falshood…"[14]

One issue that is frequently discussed when comparing Islamic and Western civilizations is 'Western permissiveness.' Sheikh Sa'd Bin Abdallah Al-'Ajameh Al-Ghamdi discussed this subject in a sermon which focused on homosexuality; the sermon was delievered at the Sa'id Al-Jandoul mosque in Al-Taif: "This act is not alien and uncommon to the brothers of monkeys and pigs [i.e. Jews] and the debased among the infidels…"

"It shocked me to read and hear about the audacity of the 'Betrayer-General' of all nations [a reference to the U.N. Secretary-General], who by affiliation and loyalty is a combination of a Jew and a Christian and leads the people to Hell. He called to stop the incursion of this disease called AIDS - although two months earlier he had contradicted this call when, in stupidity and brazenness, he led the nations calling for permissiveness that causes this disease. He called for permitting adultery and spreading acts of abomination and homosexuality, which is a sexual perversion, and even invited this kind of people to a conference in order to call for premitting them marriage of the third kind…"[15]

Part II - 'Jews - The Descendants of Pigs and Apes'
"The Jews" are the central issue of many sermons delivered in Saudi mosques. When discussing Jews, preachers base their sermons on Koranic history, as well as on pseudo-historic events which affirm the Koranic view. In addition, many preachers refer to the Jews as "apes and pigs," a Koranic reference. "When will the sleepers awake?" asked Sheikh Bandar bin Khalaf Al-'Utaibi, in a sermon at the Abu Bakr Al-Saddiq mosque in Al-Damam. "Is there any kind of humiliation we have not tasted from the brothers of apes and pigs?!"[16]

"Oh Muslims, see the state of the nation today, after it deviated from the path set out by the clerics," said Sheikh Mustafa Bin Said Aytim in a sermon given at a mosque in Mecca. "[The nation] has made the offspring of apes and pigs its stars; the hangers-on of the apes and pigs have become the centers of influence and power… The Jews, Christians, and the hypocrites gnaw away at the body of the nation and then carry out raids on it with the knights of the destructive media and with the deadly weapon of globalization…"[17]

Although the preachers base their claims about the Jews on the Koran and the traditions (Hadith), many also borrow classic European antisemitic motifs. Numerous sermons refer to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In a sermon at the Al-Jafali mosque in Al-Taif, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hakmi stated: "We live in an era in which we are facing a cruel attack planned by the Jews and their hangers-on. Dr. Oscar Levy said, We the Jews are masters of the world, and its corrupters; we set off civil strife in it, and we are its hangmen…"[18]

Islamic traditions regarding three Jewish tribes of Al-Madina's violation of their agreement with the Prophet Muhammad and the Jews' attempts to kill him, and their treaty with the Prophet's enemies, the polytheists, recur in various forms in many sermons. Sheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Qassem discussed the matter in a sermon at Al-Nabawi mosque in Al-Madina: "When our Prophet Muhammad was sent, the Jews incited the people and fought against him. Again and again they conspired to betray him and kill him. [The Jewish tribe] Banu Nadhir tried to drop a large rock on him from the roof of a house under which he sat, but he was warned by the heavens. They gave him poisoned roast mutton; he was saved [from death] but suffered from injury until he died…"

"They killed some of the prophets… sometimes by slaughtering them and sometimes by sawing them in two. They spilled the blood of [the prophet] Yahya, sawed Zacharia in two, planned to kill Jesus, and tried several times to kill Muhammad… The Jews are ingrates, whoever treats them well they harm, and whoever treats them with honor they rebel against. Allah saved them from drowning with Moses [at the Red Sea]; they did not thank Allah, but arrogantly and haughtily asked Moses to make another god for them instead of Allah, so they could worship it as they wished…"

"They annihilated people and nations with usury… They consume the Muslims' resources by destroying their economy, and introduce prohibited things into trade. They harm Muslims so as to bankrupt them. They seek to cause them poverty. … In their own eyes, they are Allah's chosen people, and they see others as slaves created to meet their needs."

"Their tongues never cease lying, [disseminating] abomination and obscenity. About Allah they said: 'His hands are tied… He is poor and we are wealthy.' They brought great disasters upon Jesus and his mother, and of the Prophet Muhammad they said: 'He is a trickster and a liar.' Curses were laid upon them, one after another, and punishments too… The Jews preached permissiveness and corruption, as they hid behind false slogans like freedom and equality, humanism and brotherhood. They kill Muslim youth, entice the [Muslim] woman with shameful deeds, and act to lure others through her… They defile the minds of adolescents by arousing their urges… they are envious of the Muslim woman who conceals herself and protects her honor; for this reason, they preach to her to expose herself and throw off her values… Their goal is to destroy the Muslim family, to shatter religious and social ties and foundations… They are cowards in battle… they flee from death and fear fighting… They love life…"[19]

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Saleh Al-'Athimein related the story of the three Jewish tribes in a sermon at the Great Mosque in Al-'Unayza: "The perverse nature and base temperament of the Jews caused them to violate [the treaty with the Prophet Muhammad] and betray [him]. [The Jewish tribe] Banu Qaynuqa' showed treachery after Allah caused the victory of His Prophet in the battle of Badr [624 AD], so the Prophet exiled them from Al-Madina…"

"The Banu Nadhir [tribe] showed treachery after the battle of Uhud [625 AD] and the Prophet besieged them, and Allah cast fear into their hearts, until they asked the Prophet to exile them and allow them to take what property they could carry on their beasts, except for weapons…"

"The [Jewish tribe of Banu] Qurayza violated the agreement in the Battle of Al-Ahzab [626 AD], and the Prophet besieged them. They were brought to trial before Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh [head of the Aus tribe, an ally of the Jews] who ruled that the men among them would be executed, their property divided, and their women and children taken into captivity. Accordingly, 600 to 700 of the men among them were executed…"

"Oh Muslims, the Jews are treacherous and deceitful people over whom lies the curse and anger of Allah. They permitted what Allah forbade, with the lamest of excuses; therefore, He cursed them and turned them into apes and pigs. Allah sentenced them to humiliation anywhere they might be…"[20]

Saudi preachers often speak of "the Jews' traits," passed down from generation to generation. They claim that the Jews of today are the same Jews "who murdered the prophets" and "violated agreements with the Prophet Muhammad." The Koran's statements on "the Jews," they claim, are valid for all times and all places: "The current behavior of the brothers of apes and pigs, their treachery, their violation of agreements, and their defilement of places of worship… are connected to their forefathers' deeds in the early time of Islam. This proves the great similarity between every Jew living today and the Jew living during the dawn of Islam," stated Sheikh Sa'd bin Abdallah Al-'Ajameh Al-Ghamdi in a sermon at the Sa'id Al-Jandoul mosque in Al-Taif.[21]

Sheikh Abd Al-Hamid Al-Daghastani explained at the Bin Hassan mosque in Mecca that "to disseminate moral or ideological corruption ... the Jews hand these traits down from father to son."[22] As the Imam of the Al-Harram mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudais explained in one of his sermons: "Brothers in faith, what do our Koran and our Sunna say? What does our belief say? What does our history prove…? They show clearly that the conflict between us and the Jews is one of belief, identity, and existence…"

"Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil forefathers of the even more evil Jews of today: infidels, falsifiers of words, calf worshippers, prophet murderers, deniers of prophecies… the scum of the human race, accursed by Allah, who turned them into apes and pigs… These are the Jews - an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption…"

"Oh nation of Islam, today our nation is at the height of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow - the offspring of [the three Jewish tribes of Al-Madina] Banu Qurayza, Banu Nadhir, and Banu Qaynuqa, upon whom Allah's curse rests until Judgment Day. Do the sons of our people realize the truth about the nation of wrath and deceit…? The insult to and contempt of Arabs, Muslims, and their holy places reaches its height at the hands of the rats of the world, the violators of agreements, in whose minds abide treachery, destruction, and deceit and in whose veins flow occupation and tyranny… They are indeed worthy of the curse of Allah, of the angels, and of all people…" [23]

In a sermon delivered at the Al-Nour mosque in Al-Khobar, Sheikh Nasser Muhammad Al-Ahmad said: "In the Jews, an astonishing quantity of moral abomination and corrupt behavior has accumulated. These cannot exist in any other nation. What is amazing is that this corruption in all things concerning morality, and this impudent behavior, are not limited to a specific generation of Jews, or to a specific group of Jews, but are manifest in the distorted Jew everywhere. Every Jew, except for the prophets and the believers among the [ancient] Children of Israel, is a human model of the same moral traits, from which the contemptible Jew who lived in the time of Pharoah or the liberated Jew who lives today on the land of Palestine, is not spared."

"Moral corruption is a general trait of the Jews, all the Jews. [These are] stable hereditary genes [found] in the Jew in every time and in every place. If you want to know the Jew through and through, imagine a group of perverse moral traits…"

"The Jews are liars …in their religious life, in their ritual, in the way they see Allah. The Jews lie to their enemies and friends alike… What is strange is that they have turned the lie into a religion, a faith, and a ritual through which they draw closer to their god… If we say that they speak the truth this time [regarding the peace process], it would mean that we are denying the Koranic text - a very serious matter…"

"Similarly, the Jews are treacherous… If they smile, their smile is perverted… The Jews are miserly, and enslaved by money… The Jews disseminate corruption in the land; this is one of their salient moral traits, even in the time of their prophet Moses… Most of the world's wars, particularly the great modern wars, were planned and started by the Jews so as to disseminate corruption in the land, and to achieve their goals on the ruins of the human race… I will conclude the matter of these moral traits with something else connected to the Jews: The Jews are an accursed nation. This is part of our belief. We believe that the Jews are accursed…"[24]

"The desire to corrupt the people is present also in the Jews of our time," explained Sheikh Mushabbab Fahd Al-Qahtani in a sermon at 'Ubad Al-Rahman mosque in Al-Zahran: "See the great interest-charging banks, the cinemas, the alcohol factories, the drugs, the tobacco companies, the fashion houses, the sex networks, the secret organizations - the Jews are behind them."[25]

In a sermon at the Qaaba mosque in Al-Madina, Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz Qari addressed the matter: "In ancient times, the Jews, the enemies of Allah, killed the prophets unjustly… Afterwards they became the enemies of all humanity and they [termed] non-Jews 'gentiles,' and used all means to destroy them by starting wars among these gentiles, destroying their beliefs, and corrupting their moral values…"

"See for example, how they show the woman on television and on the front pages of the newspapers. They show her without modesty or shame, made up and exposing her curves, with the aim of destroying and corrupting the nation's general moral values… They exploited the woman in the most abominable way. And this is a known Jewish conspiracy… "[26]

Part III - 'It is Impossible to Make Peace With the Jews'
Saudi preachers urging Jihad are opposed, obviously, to the peace process. Sheikh Nasser Muhammad Al-Ahmad said in a sermon at Al-Nour mosque in Al-Khobar: "There is no doubt that the [Muslim] nation is today reaping the fruit of agony because of its renunciation of its honor on the day it begged [peace] at the negotiating tables, chasing after a false peace that could never be. Because, in all honesty, these are people with whom no agreement or pact can be made…"

"[Muslims] should have never been led under any pressure of any kind towards the so-called peace process, which is in effect a process of surrender. The Muslims should have acted… as their forefathers did when they faced the Crusader's occupation of Palestine for over 90 years, and nevertheless did not surrender…""The events proved that no one has the authority to make Palestinian decisions except for the Palestinian masses, and that these crimes [against the Palestinians and the Muslims] will be stopped only by Jihad. The sites holy to Muslims will be regained only by Jihad for the sake of Allah… When true Islamic Jihad is declared, the balance of power will shift. What frightens the West more than anything else is the word Jihad, because they understand what it means…"

"Humiliation and misery will be the lot of the ones who anger Allah, who cursed them and turned them into apes and pigs… There is no solution to this problem, and to any problem to which the infidel enemy is party, except by waving the banner of Jihad."[27]

Sheikh 'Adel Bin Ahmad Bana'ma said in a sermon at the Muhammad Al-Fatih mosque in Jiddah: "For the thousandth time, the [Islamic] nation is losing its memory and sits with its enemy to discuss peace, agreements, and treaties… The Jews themselves do not forget their hatreds. Today, they disseminate everywhere the lie of the Holocaust and claim that Hitler killed six million Jews in gas chambers. Although this is pure falsehood, they have made it part of their history of trials and tribulations, disseminated it with their mighty propaganda machine, and extorted the countries of the world with it. They obtained huge reparations from Germany with it, and still accuse everyone who denies it of antisemitism, and incite the world against him. [The French Holocaust denier] Garaudy's story happened not long ago!"

"…How many times have the Jews bitten the hand stretched out to them for peace? How many times have the Jews violated the agreements they have signed? Didn't they betray the Prophet…? Didn't they betray the Ottoman state and cause its downfall…? Haven't they violated all the modern agreements, from Oslo through Sharm Al-Sheikh? Isn't this enough for those misled by illusions of peace to awaken?"[28]

According to the Saudi preachers, the only way of solving the problems of the Islamic nation is by espousing the "missing precept" - Jihad. "Who would have believed it?!" cried Sheikh Sultan Al-'Uweid in a sermon at the Prince Tareq mosque in Al-Damam, "a handful of brothers of apes and pigs torments a billion [Muslims]… There is no other way, oh Muslims, but restoring the missing precept - Jihad for the sake of Allah… There is no other way but educating to Jihad…"[29]

Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid also discussed the matter in his sermon at a mosque in Al-Damam, saying: "The issue is historic, religious, and ideological. It is impossible ever to make peace with the Jews; we must not [enter into] a pact with them, we must not [sign] a treaty with them - despite those [among us] who maintain otherwise, who are Jews just like the Jews. There is no hiding from the evil of the Jews; there is no concealment from their deception. The Jews are defiled creatures and satanic scum. The Jews are the helpers of Satan. The Jews are the cause of the misery of the human race, together with the infidels and the other polytheists. Satan leads them to Hell and to a miserable fate. The Jews are our enemies and hatred of them is in our hearts. Jihad against them is our worship… "[30]

Part IV - 'Muslims Must Educate Their Children to Jihad… and to Hatred of Jews and Christians'
Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid also discussed education to Jihad, stating: "Muslims must… educate their children to Jihad. This is the greatest benefit of the situation: educating the children to Jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the Christians, and the infidels; educating the children to Jihad and to revival of the embers of Jihad in their souls. This is what is needed now…"[31]

While educating Muslim children to Jihad, elements of "manliness" must be developed in their souls, maintained Sheikh Majed 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Firian, in a sermon at the Suleiman Bin Muqiran mosque in Al-Riyadh: "One of the ways of developing manliness in the personality of the children is to tell them of the heroic deeds of our forefathers; of the Islamic battles; and of the Muslim victories, so that courage will develop in their souls - as courage is one of the most important traits of manliness."

"Zubeir Bin Al-'Awwam had two children… One of them would play with the scars of his father's wounds after the battles… His [other] son, Abdallah participated with his father in the battle of Al-Yarmouk, and when the polytheists were defeated he… completed the killing of anyone he found wounded - which attests to the courage of his heart, even in his youth."[32]

Many preachers seek to dismiss Western claims that their education to Jihad is education to terrorism. In his sermon at the Al-Manshawi mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Wajdi Hamza Al-Ghazawi[33] said: "The [kind of] terror [in Arabic, "striking of fear"] that Islamic religious law permits is terrifying the cowards, the hypocrites, the secularists, and the rebels by imposing punishments according to the religious law of Allah…"

"The meaning of the term 'terror' used by the media… is Jihad for the sake of Allah. Jihad is the peak of Islam. Moreover, some of the clerics… see it as the sixth pillar of Islam. Jihad - whether Jihad of defense of Muslims and of Islamic lands such as in Chechnya, the Philippines, and Afghanistan, or Jihad aimed at spreading the religion - is the pinnacle of terror, as far as the enemies of Allah are concerned. The Mujaheed who goes out to attain a martyr's death or victory and returns with booty is a terrorist as far as the enemies of Allah are concerned… Accordingly, the believer must not use this word… Jihad, oh believers, is an integral part of our religion. The word 'terror' is used to damage this mighty and blessed foundation…"[34]

Part V - 'The Palestinian Struggle Must be An Islamic Jihad'
In Saudi sermons, preachers place special emphasis on the Islamic nature of the Palestinian cause. The national Arab movement is often ridiculed and condemned by Saudi preachers, who insist that the only way to liberate Palestine is through Jihad.

Sheikh 'Abd Al-'Aziz Qari expanded on this issue in a sermon at the Qabaa mosque in Al-Madina: "What has the national Pan-Arab movement been doing for the past 40 years? What has it done in the conflict with the Jewish nation? The national movement [based on] land, and the racist pan-Arab movement, have been defeated by the apes and pigs [referring to the Jews]. Furthermore, the repeated defeats of the past 40 years have become the trademark of the national land movement and the movement of Pan-Arab racism. They go on fighting in the name of the olive and orange groves and the watermelon [fields]. The nationalist men of the soil and of the Pan-Arab racism have been wandering for the past 40 years, refusing to return to their religion, to their Islam. They are reluctant [to consider] the battle between them and the nation of the Torah, the nation of Israel - an Islamic battle. The Jews are fleeing to their religion, seeking [roots] for unity and power, while the Arabs flee from their religion, from their Islam…"

"They feed their nation and their people's false, useless slogans that will never give them the power to confront the Jews who wave the banners of Torah and Israel. The war between us and the Jews is, in truth, a religious war, and only Islam can wage it in the path of truth… It is a divine decree, a military-political decree, a religious decree, but it is not directed at those who still fight in the name of the olives, the oranges, and the watermelon. It is a divine decree directed at the nation of Jihad, the Islamic nation, the Muslims… "[35]

In a sermon delivered at an Al-Damam mosque, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid said: "The [Palestinian] cause is exploited by hypocrites, the secular, polytheists, and pan-Arabs… They must be silenced, disregarded. We must unite around those who talk of the Islamization of the cause… If we say that the cause is an Arab cause, there are among us Christian Arabs, and infidels… and Socialists. What do all these have to do with Al-Aqsa Mosque?!"[36]

Sheikh 'Abd Muhsin Al-Qadhi addressed the matter in a sermon at the Al-Salaam mosque in Al-'Unayza, saying: "We must recognize that one of the reasons for our defeat by the Jews is that the [Islamic] nation was not allowed to confront them… Our nation must know that our defeats by the Jews were the defeats of regimes that did not wave the banner of Islam. They waved any banner except for the banner of Islam…

"If those who have gone astray return to the truth, the Jews will return to the humiliation and misery to which they were sentenced [by Allah]… Then, nothing will help the Jew… They will not see victory as long as they persist with misleading concepts, heretical curricula, and a shameful 'peace of the brave.' All this is the seed of Satan and the seedling of the infidels, and it is this which prevents the victory of Allah and throws a lifeline to the Jews."[37]

In a sermon at the Suleiman Bin Muqiran mosque in Al-Riyadh, Sheikh Majed 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Firian said: "The modern countries of Kufur [that is, Western countries] have realized that the [Palestinian] Authority that speaks today on behalf of the Palestinian cause has not waved the banner of Islam, and its goal is to establish a secular state. Therefore, they protect it and prohibit attacking it, as [this authority] is the one that will give them concessions when they pressure it. In contrast, the alternative to this authority arouses fear in their hearts. This is a deep-rooted solution to the conflict: Intifada and Jihad for the sake of Allah, not for the sake of pan-Arabism, and not for the sake of protecting the homeland and the soil. Today, the Islamic nation already knows that the Holy Land will not be liberated by dallying at vacation sites or sitting around the negotiating table with infidels. The solution is to do what the Prophet did to the Jews when they violated the agreements… The solution regarding the Jews is as the Prophet Muhammad said: 'I have brought slaughter upon you'…Yes, the solution for these is not peace and harmony… Jihad, not peace, is the solution."

"The one who retreated and surrendered to Judaism and Christianity is not Islam, but secularism. The one who threw down its weapon and sought to surrender was not Islam but secularism. Islam was not defeated by Judaism and Christianity in the ideological battle because it was prevented from entering it."[38]

Part VI - 'Muslim Women's Rights are a Western Ploy to Destroy Islam'
One major point of conflict between Islam and the West discussed by Saudi Imams is the status of women, which is perceived as a matter of life and death for Muslim society. The Saudi preachers see the West's preoccupation with the status of women in Islamic countries as an attempt to undermine and topple Islamic society.

In a sermon at the Al-Huweish mosque in Al-Taif, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Nimr explained, "The enemies of Islam… know that the woman is a double-edged sword, and that she can be transformed into the most dangerous weapon of destruction [of Islamic nations]. Thus, the woman has suffered from most of the conspiracies to shatter the Islamic nation - because the woman has a group of traits allowing her to either build or destroy the nation…"

"The enemies of Islam have decided to distance the Muslims from their religion. Therefore, they have made the woman the most important weapon in this destruction. Ostensibly, they are showing her mercy and defending her rights. Many among the Muslim women have been misled by this, because of their ignorance about their religion, which sees the woman as the man's partner and as possessing rights and obligations appropriate to her nature and character..."

"Permitting women to leave the home, so that they rub up against men in the marketplaces and talk with people other than their chaperones - with some even exposing parts of their bodies prohibited from exposure - are forbidden acts, a disgrace, and lead to destruction. The first crime perpetrated by the Israelites was letting their women loose when they were adorned, so that they would stir up Fitna [inner strife]. For this, Allah punished them with the plague."[39]

In a sermon at the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq mosque in Al-Taif, Sheikh Mansour Al-Ghamdi said: "The Muslim who is aware of what is happening can connect the prodigious attack on men's and women's modesty and morals… with the Jewish plan to destroy their humanity and make them look like animals - that is, exposed and naked."[40]

To illustrate the danger of female permissiveness, the preachers often cite "historical" examples of societies that collapsed in its wake. Sheikh Mansour Al-Ghamdi said, "The enemies realized that the woman is a mighty and important fortress of the Muslim nation, and that for centuries this fortress protected the strength of Islamic society…"

"The enemies learned the lesson of what happened to the Greek and Roman societies, which collapsed because of the woman's corruption. When these cultures began, the woman was protected and modest, and engaged in housework… Then [the Greeks and Romans] succeeded in their conquest, establishing mighty empires. When the woman began to beautify herself, and to go out to clubs and public places… she corrupted the moral values of the men, weakened their combat skills - and their civilization collapsed. Yes, these two mighty cultures collapsed, and [the enemies] maintain that the Muslim nation must collapse in such a way that will make it incapable of recovery. This is the strategic goal towards which the enemies of the Muslim nation strive, as is written in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion… The enemies of the Muslim woman are the Jews, the Christians, the hypocrites, the secular, and the opportunists trailing behind them."[41]

Another illustration was provided by Sheikh Muhammad Abdallah Al-Habdan in a sermon at the Al-'Izz Bin Abd Al-Salaam mosque in Al-Riyadh: "I warn of the danger [inherent] in the woman if she deviates from the divine path. The man can be steadfast in many battles, but surprisingly the same giant man often founders in the face of the woman and her enticements… The main reason for the downfall of Paris and the French army's swift surrender to the German armies, as historians have acknowledged, was overindulgence in urges and immersion in pleasure…"

"Why do the West and the secular Westernizers focus on the [Muslim] woman? The answer is that they grasped the status of the woman and her role in the building of the nation, and her influence on society, and therefore realized that if they corrupt the woman and manage to entice her into deviating from the path of righteousness, it will facilitate their infiltration of the Muslim strongholds… The satanic Jews say in their Protocols: 'We must get the woman. The day she stretches out her hand to us is the day of our triumph'…"[42]

Another way preachers illustrate the imminent danger to Islamic women is by showing the "downfall" of the Western woman. Speaking at an Al-Riyadh mosque, Sheikh Fahd Bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Abyan said: "Some people have been influenced by the putrid ideas spread by the infidel West about the [Islamic principle of] man's custodianship over the woman. On the face of it, these ideas appear to protect the woman's rights. But in truth, their goal is to push the people into sinful liberty that has caused the downfall of [entire] societies. [In the West] this false liberty has engendered a society with crime as its hobby, adultery as its entertainment, and murder as its means of sublimating rage; a society in which the number of illegitimate children approaches and sometimes even surpasses the number of children from permitted unions… a society in which the woman does as she pleases even if she is married... a society in which underage girls know and do what married women know and do, and even more… These putrid ideas - no more than conceptual trash disseminated by the West - have begun to appear in the whorish journals and on the [Arab] satellite channels…"

"[In the West] the woman leaves the home whenever she feels like it, goes where she wants, and wears what she wants, without her husband's permission. Furthermore, in some homes the situation has reached the point where the woman gives the orders, and that is that… It is no wonder, then, that the [Western] women have become masculine. But what is amazing is that some men have become feminine. You can see some husbands with nothing in common with men except external appearance, while the woman calls the shots and controls the children's fate without asking her husband's opinion, even without consulting him or informing him of her intentions…"[43]

Sheikh Saleh Fawzan Al-Fawzan discussed the situation of Western women in a sermon at the Al-Basateen` mosque in Al-Riyadh: "In [Western] societies, the woman has become cheap merchandise, displayed naked or half-naked before the eyes of men… Women are servants in homes, clerks in offices, nurses in hospitals, hostesses on airplanes and in hotels, teachers of men in schools, film and television actresses. If they do not succeed in presenting the woman in these ways, they present her voice on the radio, as an announcer and a singer… As is known, the number of women in society surpasses the number of men. Nevertheless, they have limited marriage to a single wife, abandoning the rest of the women to corrupt and be corrupted…"

"They travel unsupervised and live as strangers among strangers, with danger threatening from all sides. Thus, the enemies of Allah and of humanity have stripped the miserable woman of all the elements of a happy life and of all her social rights, so that she serves as a tool of corruption and destruction. You will be surprised to hear that in spite of these crimes, they claim that they are protecting the woman's freedom."[44]

According to the preachers, the status of the Muslim woman is far better not only than that of Western women, but also than that of women in any other culture. "In India," said Sheikh Mansour Al-Ghamdi in a sermon at the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq mosque in Al-Taif, "the woman has no right to independence from her father, husband, or son… She must die the day her husband dies, and be burned alive, together with him, on the same pyre. In China, a man has the right to sell his wife as a slave. If a Chinese woman is widowed, her husband's family has the right to her, as property. A Chinaman has the right to bury his wife alive…"

"Western culture waves around empty slogans about women's liberation, women's equality with men, and no controlling of women. In the wake of these slogans, the woman has left her home… lives a life of misery, and is burnt in the fire of this false liberty… Acts of abomination have proliferated in an unprecedented manner… and they are no longer restricted to the brothels, but are also committed in hotels, cafes, dance clubs, and even on the roads. It is no longer considered strange or perverse for a father to lie with his daughters, or a brother with his sister…"

"To the woman, the man has become a predatory animal treating those weaker than himself with cruelty... On the other hand, the man sees the woman as a wildcat. [Even] Sylvester Stallone said: 'I have all the reasons [in the world] to hate women.'"[45]

At the same time, many sermons instruct women how to behave so as not to slide down the slippery slope of the "moral degradation" pervasive in the West. The sermon of Sheikh Hamad Ibrahim Al-Hariqi at Al-Basateen mosque in Al-Riyadh is one example of many: "One of the mistakes made by women with regard to their husbands is to avoid [joining] the husband when he calls her to bed claiming that she is fatigued, or simply because she wants to anger him, or because she is ignorant and does not know that by doing so she denies her husband the greatest of his rights and places herself under serious threat… As it was said: 'If a man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses to come, the angels curse her until she wakes up'…"

"Another mistake is deficient service to her husband. If she does not fulfill his needs, such as cooking, laundering, keeping the house clean, and the like, it is because she is lazy and for no other reason. There is no doubt that this is a grave thing. [These tasks] are the woman's right and obligation towards her husband… The wise Muslim woman must take care of and serve her husband, in a way that will gladden him and cast happiness between them."

"Another mistake is to allow entrance to anyone whom the husband does not permit to enter the home. The husband has the right to bring only the people he likes into his home, and the woman must obey him. She has no right to bring in anyone he hates, even if it is her relatives … When the husband takes other wives, some women behave with exaggerated jealousy, ignorance, and stupidity."[46]

APPENDIX - About Al-Minbar
The website Al-Minbar (www.alminbar.net)[47] - "Direct From Mecca" - was founded by Wajdi Al-Ghazzaawi, who is also the website's executive director. According to Al-Ghazzawi, "Alminbar (The Pulpit) is a site for every Muslim who seeks knowledge and more specifically for every Imam looking to improve his speech and enhance the knowledge level of his congregation." According to VeriSign, Al-Minbar.net was created on July 13, 1999 and is registered to Wajdi Alghazzawi. All phone numbers and other contact information provided by Wajdi Alghazzawi and listed on VeriSign and on Al-Minbar.net list the website as Saudi-based.[48] [49] ,

According to Al-Minbar's introduction page, Al-Ghazzaawi created the website in an attempt to "provide [Imams] with the educational support they need, similar to the support other professionals have in their fields." Al-Ghazzaawi considered the Internet a perfect vehicle for accomplishing his objective, and despite facing a level of resistance from Imams who proclaimed that they "do not even have computers let alone internet access," the site was formed.

The website, which contains "thousands of written and audio khutbas [i.e. sermons]," was initially staffed by a team of "three sincere brothers" and has since grown to require a staff of "fifteen professional brothers." Al-Minbar apparently receives, or at least seeks to receive, funding from "prosperous Muslims," as in the site's introduction, Al-Ghazzaawi mentioned the difficulty of soliciting Muslims who were accustomed to donating to "traditional forms of charitable projects such as building Masjids or schools."

Al-Minbar states that the website is visited by "about three thousand Imams on [a] weekly basis," representing "sixty two countries and territories."

The following are listed as Al-Minbar.com's "education" staff:

"The site is being supervised by a distinguished team of students of knowledge. They are graduates of Islamic universities and Institutes of Hadeeth from Saudi Arabia, and specialized in different fields of knowledge. The following is a summarised introduction to the educational team."

• Dr. Munqith Saqqaar, Monotheism (Tawheed), Ummul-Quraa University.
• Mustafaa Aitiem, College of Hadeeth, University of Medinah.
• Adnan Siamie, Hadeeth, Daarul-Hadeeth.
• Adnan Safa Khan, Hadeeth, Daarul-Hadeeth.
• Abdur Rahmaan Qaaid, Hadeeth, Daarul-Hadeeth.
• Zahir Balfaqieh, The Advanced Academy For Imams and Du'aat.
• Abdul Khaaliq Juma'aan, The Advanced Academy For Imams and Du'aat.
• Tariq al-Wahidie, Islamic University of Madinah.

---

Notes
All links provided were accurate at the time of publishing but may no longer be so.