In a December 8, 2017 Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of Tennessee in Antioch, a neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, Somali-American Imam Ahmedulhadi Sharif criticized terror attacks in the West, such as the October 2017 vehicular attack in Manhattan, saying that they "take innocent lives, running over people who were just biking, just going around," and adding that these victims might have converted to Islam. Imam Sharif explained the concept of dhimmis in Islam, saying of the non-Muslim minorities who are citizens or residents of Muslim countries: "Their lives are sacred." The sermon was posted on the Islamic Center of Tennessee's YouTube channel the same day.
In a previous Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of Tennessee, in Antioch, Sharif said that the Zionists, the "number one terrorists in the world," had "kidnapped" Al-Aqsa mosque. Imam Sharif prayed to Allah to "inflict Your revenge upon them" and to "make a deterrent example out of them." He further said: "If we lose Jerusalem – know that it is not going to stop there... The enemies of Allah will come and try to destroy the Kaaba." The sermon was posted on the center's YouTube channel on July 24, 2017 (to view the MEMRI clip of this sermon, click here).
Imam Ahmedulhadi Sharif is a signatory to a letter signed by 147 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders in congregations across Middle Tennessee and area universities denouncing U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed and signed executive orders on immigration and refugees.[1] On January 8, 2018, on Twitter, Sharif invited President Trump to the Islamic Center of Tennessee, saying: "Why don't you stop by the Islamic Center so we can help you cure your ignorance about Islam?" On December 4, 2017, he tweeted: "Trump's Islamophobia, Bigotry, and Racist Muslim ban is in effect now – feeling hurt." On November 29, 2017, he tweeted: "Unfortunately, the islamaphobia [sic] is getting the booster this time from our own president."
In a Facebook post on December 26, 2017, Sharif wrote: "It's part of our faith be kind, gentle, caring for Non-Muslims. But being kind does NOT mean compromising. Christmas is an exclusive religious and unique symbol for Christians, and we are NOT allowed to celebrate or be part of it. Attend their social events, celebrate with them at their wedding, congratulate them on newly born baby, give condolences to the family who lost their beloved ones, join them with social justice causes,... etc get evolved but draw the line, and in the name of cooperations, do NOT lose your identity. Fear Allah, O Muslims."
To view the December 8 Friday sermon by Imam Admedulhadi Sharif at the clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
The following are the transcripts of Imam Ahmedulhadi Sharif's December 8 Friday sermon and of his previous sermon.
Friday Sermon, December 8, 2017
Imam Ahmedulhadi Sharif: "What about the people who take innocent lives, running over people who were just biking, just going around, just doing their living things? What did they do to you? Many of them – if you give them Islam, if you give them proper da'wa, they could take Islam. Even if they don't want to take it, you cannot force it on them. Every non-Muslim is a candidate. We don't hide it. He is a candidate for Islam. We want them to be Muslims. So in general, my brothers in Islam... I know I'm running out of time, but the topic is so important. We need to learn, we need to know. We need the world to know Islam and what Islam teaches.
[...]
"The non-Muslims in Islam are divided into groups. Number one is a dhimmi – a non-Muslim who is a citizen, a minority, in a Muslim country. He lives in a Muslim country – the Christian minority who live in Egypt, for instance, the Jewish minority who live in Yemen or in Iran. Those minorities, those who gained citizenship or have residency – they were allowed to live in that land... Their lives are sacred."
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Friday Sermon Posted On YouTube July 24
"The Zionists, The Number One Terrorists In The World... Want To Add The Al-Aqsa Mosque To Their Occupations; They Kidnapped It"
AhmedulHadi Sharif: "The Zionists, the number one terrorists in the world, had occupied and kidnapped that land a long time ago. Now they want to add the Al-Aqsa Mosque to their occupations. They kidnapped it, and the call to prayer was not raised since then."
[...]
The Zionists Are "Claiming That Land To Be Their Lands" – But According To "Historians... It Was The Land Of Arab Palestinians Since Day One"
"There is fabricated history that they placed, claiming that land to be their lands.
"But the truth that the historians had proved is that it was the land of Palestinians, the land of Arab Palestinians, since day one. Maybe some empires would conquer here and there, but the majority of the residents in that land were always Palestinians. When the Ottoman Empire fell, the Jews were only 3% of the communities living there. They were living in peace with the Muslims.
[...]
"We do not hate the ethnic Jewish [people]. Rather, we do hate the Zionist oppressors. The prophets of Allah – some of them were from the Israelites, so we do not have a problem, ethnically, with them. But politically, the Zionist politics... They come and take a land of the people, claiming that this is the Promised Land, and they call themselves from all over the world – West and East – so they can take over people's land. After that, they say: 'Let us have peace.' And they are still blocking the roadways to peace."
[...]
In School "Back Home... We Used To Say Constantly: Jerusalem Belongs To Us, Not To Israel... The Enemies Of Allah Will... Try To Destroy The Kaaba"
"When I used to go to school in my country, back home, we used to recite songs. One of them we used to say constantly: 'Jerusalem belongs to us, not to Israel.' We used to repeat that. Jerusalem belongs to us. It is the property of all Muslims. The issue of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is not the problem of Palestinians only. It is a problem of the entire Islamic nation. This is a sacred place for the Muslims. Today, if we lose Jerusalem – know that it is not going to stop there. They are going to come... The enemies of Allah will come and try to destroy the Kaaba. They will not stop there.
[...]
"They will have humiliation in this world. They could go up, as much as they want, but the wrongdoers and oppressors will always lose at the end."
[...]
"The Zionists Exceeded All Bounds... Oh Allah, Inflict Your Revenge Upon Them... Defeat Them, Convulse Them, And Support Us"
"The Zionists exceeded all bounds in their oppression and tyranny. Oh Allah, inflict Your revenge upon them. Do not let their banners fly high, and do not let them achieve their goals. Make a deterrent example out of them. Oh Allah, defeat them, convulse them, and support us."
[1] Tennessean.com, March 4, 2017.
