Transcription
Uh, I think many of you are aware of a video that has gone viral by a particular Republican candidate who's running for the Texas legislature. And she's pulled off a a PR stunt, a social media stunt, uh, in which she uses a torch gun or a flamethrower to set a copy of the Quran on fire and to incinerate it. All the while hurling the most foul adjectives, the most nasty language, full of hatred, raw hatred and vilification of Islam and the Muslims, and asking people to vote for her based on that, and saying that if she were to be elected, she would kick all Muslims out of the country, send them back where they came from.
And the same person is no stranger to us. She came to our own community and she did a video right outside of our masjid in the background, and she had similar vulgar, vulgar, foul words that are not, not even befitting of a dignified person to say. And the same rhetoric that, "Vote me in and I'm going to, you know, kick all those people out of, uh, the country." And this video has gone viral. It has been viewed by more than 20 million people, last I checked, in various tweets and retweets. And, uh, she's running for, um, literally Texas legislature in a particular district of Texas.
So today, I wanted to talk a little bit about this, uh, vicious PR stunt head-on, to provide some clarity, some guidance. And I'm going to summarize my talk in five specific points.
Firstly, purely theoretically, we need to understand and learn what exactly is the etiquette of dealing with the Mushaf and what is the ruling on doing this from a theoretical perspective. Without a doubt, the Mushaf, the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is a sacred symbol for us. In fact, truthfully speaking, there is nothing more sacred for us than the Mushaf. Not even the Kaaba. The Mushaf is even higher in sanctity than the Kaaba. The Kaaba is also sacred, obviously, but I'm saying the Mushaf represents something even higher because it is the Kalam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that is why there are rulings pertaining to dealing with the Mushaf. To even touch the Mushaf, you have to, to physically touch the Mushaf, you have to purify yourself. And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, when the Sahaba were going out, he said, "Don't travel to the lands of the enemies with the Mushaf, with the Quran, because I am worried that they might get a hold of it and do something to it." This was in the days of when the Muslims are going into enemy territory. Literally, in the Hadith, it is the highest level, "Do not take the Mushaf to your," because I'm worried, subhanallah, even if you die, you die a Shahid, but the Mushaf needs to be respected. I'm worried that it might get in the hands of the wrong people. Now, obviously, we're living in lands where we have to have the Mushaf, so we cannot not have the Mushaf here. But this is how sacred the Mushaf is, that in a land where there were no Muslims, the Prophet said, you should not take the Mushaf there because of something that might happen to it. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran, "Whoever shows respect to the signs of Allah, the sanctified signs of Allah, this is a manifestation of the piety of the heart." And by unanimous consensus, the Quran is of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the signs in our hands. The Quran is of the greatest, if not the greatest, sign in our hands. And that is why from the beginning of Islam up until our times, the Muslim Ummah has physically demonstrated respect to the book, much less the teachings and the tilawa. Just the book must be respected. We have authentic reports from the beginnings of time. The Sahaba, the Tabi'in would physically pick up some of the pages of the Mushaf. You know, back then, the Mushaf was very big. You couldn't pick up the whole Mushaf. They would physically pick up pages and they would kiss it and they would put it on their eyes and they would say, "This is the Kalam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." And the Sahaba would physically respect the Mushaf. That's why in our cultures, in our cultures, we all put the Mushaf on a high place. And we all have typically a wrapping over it. And it is fine to have all of this. Of course, we sometimes, jokingly, take the wrapping off and read it as well. That's good. Yes, you know, don't just keep it up there. That that does gather. But the concept of putting it in a high place, the concept of having, you know, extra wrapping around it, yes, that is without a doubt a part of our Islamic culture and a part of our creed.
And that is why, because the Mushaf represents the speech of Allah, because the Mushaf represents the Kalam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it takes on such a high sanctity. The Kalam of Allah is one of the attributes of Allah. The Kalam of Allah is an attribute of Allah. It is the speech of Allah. And even though, like Imam Bukhari famously remarked, there was a big controversy about the Kalam of Allah being created or uncreated. Imam Bukhari famously remarked that the pen that writes the Mushaf, that pen is created, but what is written is uncreated. The paper is created, but what is on it is uncreated. Meaning there are elements of uncreated within the Mushaf. Yes, obviously, the paper is created. We get that. The ink is created. We get that. Of course, nobody's saying. But there's something in there that is beyond the created, that is uncreated. The Kalam of Allah is manifested somehow. And, you know, some of the Christian theologians, they say, and this is not precisely correct, but there's an element, an element of truth. They say, "The way we view Jesus, you guys view the Mushaf." This is not technically correct, but there's an element of the sanctity that we give and the fact that the divine is finding. So the Christians want to say, this is incorrect. They say that just like you guys say that there's an element of divinity in the Mushaf, so we say about Jesus. Of course, that's not true. But there's a small element of truth, which is that yes, we do believe the Quran has within it something beyond words of men. It is the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And therefore, to show respect to the Quran is a part and parcel of our culture, our heritage, our creed. And in fact, by unanimous consensus of all the Ulama, there are no two opinions there. You know, there's very rare in our Ummah that has very rare. There's, you pray five times a day, yes, but everything else, where to place the hands, saying "Amen," as you know, every difference. When you have all the Ulama agreeing, it really shows something. And one aspect all the scholars from the beginning of time agreed upon is if a Muslim intentionally, knowingly shows disrespect to the Mushaf, that is a type of kufr. It's not a joke. It's not a trivial matter. If a Muslim intentionally, obviously intentionally, yes, you accidentally drop it. He understood there's no, of course, you just say, you know, I mean, it's not to sin anything accidental. We get the point here, right? Intentionally wanting to disrespect the Mushaf, then this is not just, it's not just like a sin. This is a manifestation of kufr in the heart. It is impossible to say, you cannot imagine somebody as a believer and they will do this. Even talking about it and you listening to it, wallahi, I know even now your heart is like, because just to imagine the scenario, your heart feels like a sense of like hatred and and disgust and anger. How is this possible? And this is a sign of iman. We do not show disrespect to the Mushaf. The famous scholar says, "There is consensus of the Muslims that the Mushaf must be protected and shown respect." And they said, "If a Muslim throws it in a pile of trash knowingly, then the one who throws it becomes a kafir for disrespecting the Mushaf intentionally, knowingly." Again, you know, understand the caveats here. This is consensus. And it says that the Muslims have all agreed that whoever, whoever shows any type of disrespect with the Mushaf, for example, if he throws it in the trash, or if he kicks it with his foot, or if he disrespects it in any way, he becomes a kafir. And the penalty is the penalty of kufr. And after the court and the trial, there will be, there will be, sorry, there will be punishment of execution for that crime, obviously, in a court of Islamic law. And I can go on and on. In the famous book of Fiqh, it says that whoever puts his foot on the Mushaf and he does so knowingly, intentionally, this is an act of kufr. And if it is done unintentionally, then of course, this is not. If you accidentally, you know, you didn't know, there was just a pile of books and you stepped on it, you all know that this is accidental. This is something that is different here.
Now, obviously, without a doubt, we should know this. In a society governed by the laws of Sharia, in an Islamic land where the Sharia is applied, any type of public blasphemy, any type of provocative and intentional blasphemy against Allah, against any of the prophets, against any of the signs of Allah like the Mushaf, would not only be forbidden, it is punishable. The court will arrest this person and a trial will be enacted. Find out what happened. Was it an accident? Was it intentional? And if certain conditions are met, then the punishment for blasphemy in classical Islam, in ideal Islam, it is going to be execution to send the message that this is not allowed in a land of Islam. In fact, all Muslims, this isn't just blasphemy against Allah and His Messenger. Can you believe the Sharia has come protecting the religious sentiments of non-Muslim religions? It is not allowed for a Muslim to make fun of or desecrate or mock the icons and the gods of false religions, much less correct religions. A Muslim, if he were to make fun of Jesus Christ, if he were to blaspheme against Mary, then that is in an Islamic land, execution. But if a Muslim were to make fun of an idol and desecrate an idol that is worshipped by another religion, Allah says in the Quran, "Do not mock and blaspheme against the false gods." What do you, what's the? You can debate. You can argue, but don't curse. Don't curse the false gods because when you do so, you're simply provoking religious sentiment. What are they going to do? They're going to do the same against you. They're going to make fun of Allah, the Prophet. What did you gain? What did you gain? There's a common sense. There's a civility here. Yes, academic debates. And by the way, even in an Islamic land, if a Christian were to present his beliefs, that's not blasphemy. If a Christian were to say, "I believe Jesus is the Son of God," that's allowed for him to say. That's not blasphemy. But if a Christian goes out of his way and makes fun of Allah and His Messenger, makes fun of the Quran, that is a separate ruling altogether. Now, this is in an ideal Islamic land, the, you know, the laws of the Sharia.
The second point, we also need to be clear here because the far-right will love what I just said. And I'm already telling you, the clips that I have just said will be taken out of context. And I know this, and I've come prepared for that. It is what it is. You cannot argue against people that have such a sinister agenda that the lecture is 10, 15 minutes and they will quote 30 seconds and they will ignore the rest of it. I cannot protect myself against this. The critics from without and the critics from within. I leave Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect my dignity. I speak the truth and I do not fear the criticism of the critic that is doing so unjustly. I have to face this all the time. What I just said in front of you, I guarantee you by tomorrow, day after tomorrow, the far-right will take the clips. "Look, he is saying the death penalty, this and that." What did I just say? In Islam, when Islamic laws, etc. Now I move on to the second point, and they're not going to quote this point. And that is, in a land other than Islam, these laws do not apply. And no scholar allows vigilante justice. No scholar allows a person to just take the Sharia into their own hands and do something without judge, jury, executioner, without the Sultan, without the Dar al-Islam, the court system. By unanimous consensus, all of the penalties of Islam do not apply in the land outside of Islam because there is no court system there. And I said this 15 years ago, 10 years ago, 10 years ago when the Charlie Hebdo thing happened. You know, that Charlie Hebdo cartoon, they released a very, very vulgar cartoon about the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, extremely vulgar. And some youth in that land, in France, in Paris, some youth, they became so angry, they went and they killed, uh, the the cartoonists and they attacked and they caused, you know, uh, mayhem and chaos. And I gave a Khutbah where I clearly outlined exactly what I'm saying here. Nobody is debating the Sharia's ruling in Islam. But that ruling does not and cannot apply outside of Dar al-Islam. And when vigilante Muslims do such actions, not only is it un-Islamic, not only is it against what our own Fuqaha have taught us, the Ulama also say, but the backlash and the repercussions and the harm and everything that negative comes from their actions is far worse than any positives they have imagined. And so we clearly state that yes, the rulings on the blasphemer and on anybody who disrespects Allah and His Messenger is clear, but those rulings do not apply outside of a land that is not judged by the Sharia. Therefore, here in America, or in Europe, or in Canada, or in Australia, and we should not have to be embarrassed about this because we have to fight so many battles all the time. We have a different system of laws. As Muslims in Western lands, we respect the laws of our country. And in our private lives, we must apply the Sharia. I must apply the Sharia in my, in my Zakat, in my, but I will, and I cannot apply the Sharia on other people in the land that is not the land of Islam. So I demand, in any Western land, I will live my life in accordance with my laws and I will state clearly, but it is not my right to impose my laws on other people. And that isn't wishy-washiness, that isn't watering down, as some of our unfortunately overzealous youngsters think. No, go read the books. Go read any book of Fiqh. Go read any book of Usul. You know, this is something well-known. Even in the time of the Prophet, when the Muslims were living in Medina, there was a famous incident. Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul, he became a murtad, he left Islam and he became a Christian. And he would make fun of the Muslims. "Oh, you guys, you haven't seen the the reality." And not a single Sahabi in Medina did anything to him. He died a miserable death on his own, sickness, illness. That's Allah's dealing with him. But not a single Muslim touched a hair on his head. This is what are you going to do? You have chosen a different way. We learned this from our own Prophet. So yes, Sharia is very clear, but the Sharia when it comes to rulings on other people is not applied by even in a land of Islam. You wouldn't just take the law into your own hand. You would go to a court and you would say, "Hey, so and so has done something. Can you investigate?" And a proper, a proper judge that has authority. Because again, we, we don't need to apologize. The Sharia is not liberal democracy. The Sharia aims to sustain the soul. The Sharia wants you to flourish. So the Sharia has a different goal. Liberal democracy, secularism has a different goal. Two different goals. The Sharia wants to protect morality. So the Sharia has a whole different system of laws. And Western liberalism, it is about individualism. It is about your own pleasure and happiness. So when the goals are different, we don't have to apologize for who we are. So first point, the Sharia is very clear. Second point, in this land and in this country that we live in, we understand the laws and we will abide by those laws. And no Muslim has the right to do anything physical about somebody who crosses those laws. And whoever does so, not only have they disobeyed Allah, they will cause harm to the Ummah and they will cause a backlash that is much worse than anything that they have done. So we say this unequivocally and as clearly as I have said it. I guarantee you when the clips come out tomorrow, day after tomorrow, what you have just heard from me will not be there. But it is what it is. The, the, the lecture will be available, inshallah, fully online for those that are interested to do so. That's the second point.
The third point, the constant tension that happens, especially in this country of America, between the freedom to offend and the freedom of speech. This is a constant battle and tension that cannot easily be resolved. And I find it extremely ironic that this incident happened literally a day or two after President Trump signed an executive order criminalizing the desecration of the Bible, the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, the cross. No. You know what is haram for them to, to show any desecration to? It is the flag. Everybody has red lines. Everybody has red lines. Everybody has something you cannot do. Everybody has something sacred. The human heart requires sanctity and sacredness. When you remove God, when you remove the fear and love of Allah, it is replaced with another type of love. And for us, all loves are conditional upon the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's only one that is unconditional love, and that is Allah. And then all He told us to love, we love the prophets. We love the Quran because He told us to love these things. Everything else is conditional. But when you remove that, something has to go to the top. And so in the nation-state, in fascism, in most countries in the world, that thing is to do with the country. So President Trump happily, with great fanfare, you saw the videos and whatnot, he, by executive decree, because this goes against the Constitution, it goes against the Supreme Court, but his followers love it. Anybody who, you know, I just quoted you about desecrating the Mushaf, "Remove the Mushaf, put the American flag." And that's basically Trump's decree. Literally, anybody who shows any type of disrespect to the American flag will be, this and this and this done to him. What happened to the freedom of speech now? And again, by the way, it's not as if I'm opposed to the law. By and large, you, this is my only point. There should be, I have no problems. Listen carefully. I have no problems saying that the flag should be respected. Well, I have no problems with this. But I would say, if you understand an emblem that you have such pride for should be respected, then how about a holy book? How about any religious icon that is respected? I would like, not just for the flag, but any holy book, any religious sacred relic, that it should be respected. Not just for Muslims. I would love if we would all come together and say, "Hey, we should not disrespect the Old and New Testament. We should not disrespect any holy book." Go ahead and have public debates if you disagree, but to take a holy book, to take an icon and to throw it on the ground to make a point. No, this should not be done. So, I have no problems saying, "Respect the flag." I wish, when you understand this point, add things more important than the flag. Because Christians should agree that the holy book is more important than the flag. Why are you so worried about the flag and not worried about your own holy icons and books? So we find here a cognitive dissonance, an internal contradiction. And by the way, for the record, it is only in this country of America where you basically have almost, not completely, because no country has complete, almost carte blanche authority to say whatever you want. In every country, in Denmark, in Sweden, in the United Kingdom, in Canada, in Australia, in Germany, in Finland, go on and on. In every country in the world other than this country, certain speech is banned. Other speech will get a fine, and other speech will send you to jail. Go do your research. Understand it is only in America where there is almost carte blanche authority to do as you please and say as you please. Otherwise, in all, not most, in all countries in the world other than America, there are strict laws. Now, what those laws are vary from country to country. Generally speaking, generally speaking, inciting hatred against a religion or a minority is banned or punishable by a fine or even in jail. And what has happened in the last 10 years in many countries, in many countries, criticizing Israeli policy is also now banned or fined or put into jail. So they have equated criticism of Israel with something like disrespecting a book. And in some countries, and again, I'm not justifying that people should do this, I'm simply saying nobody argues about freedom of speech over there. In 17 countries in the Western world, to dare talk about the Holocaust in a negative manner, to make fun of it, or even, can you believe, to doubt the numbers? If somebody says, "It wasn't 6 million, it was 5 million," in a number of countries, you will be fined or even go to jail. Can you imagine an academic researcher concludes, "Well, in my opinion, it wasn't this number, it was that number." To question the numbers is forbidden. So my point is, those who talk about freedom of speech, we don't find them saying, "Why can't we question those numbers in England and Australia and Austria and Vienna? Why can't we do this?" It's very select outrage. And the tension between the right to express and offend versus the right of the government to maintain civil order, that tension has not been resolved, neither in America. We just gave you some examples. Much less anywhere else in the Western world. However, I'm not really asking for a rehaul of the American Constitution. It's not going to happen. By the way, you should all understand. We have the Bill of Rights. We have our Constitution. And the Bill of Rights essentially guarantees the freedom of speech. It's really almost impossible to criminalize speech. And it is what it is. We have to deal with it. As I said, I personally would not have any problem if we rethought through and actually had some reasonable bans. But realistically, that's not going to happen. Realistically, because of the way our country was founded and our Bill of Rights and our Constitution, by and large, what we just saw is not going to be criminalized. So, if it's not going to be legally criminalized, what should be our aim and goal? Well, well, let's move to the next level here. And that is, okay, if it's not going to be legally criminalized, it should be socially unacceptable. That much is a requirement we should put on ourselves and the community. What do I mean socially unacceptable? Just look at the cancellation culture in this country. If any celebrity, if any famous figure, if any businessman, if any, uh, uh, uh, politician were to say a vulgar curse word against a minority, against an African-American, against a Hispanic, in a way that is, again, there are all red lines. These red lines vary from place to place, but you get my point here. Let's give a very bad example. I'm not going to say the word, a very vulgar word, the N-word that is used for African-Americans. Can you imagine if a person says that? Would they be allowed to appear in public and hold office and be a businessman CEO? They're not going to go to jail. They will not go to jail. How vulgar it is. Wah, how sad. Somebody says that, but they're not going to go to jail. But they will essentially lose everything they have. There was the case of one of the most famous comedians, I forgot his name, one of the most famous comedians, Jerry Seinfeld, and he was drunk, whatever, and he said that word. You have never seen him. Kalas person non grata. It's as if he's gone from the public eye. He completely destroyed one of the pinnacles of Hollywood and of the, the comedy world. Completely destroyed because of five seconds when he was drunk. He didn't go to jail. There's no fine. But society has deemed it unacceptable. And guess what? I have no problem with that. I agree. I accept when somebody's a bigoted racist, we should not platform him. But then which one is worse? And I'm not necessarily, each is bad. But this is a holy book. There's an element of sacredness involved. Just like, and again, I am, for the record, I have no problem with this whatsoever. If somebody makes fun of the Holocaust, that is crude, that is cruel. The Holocaust happened, and it's a very, very evil chapter in human history. We should not make fun of it. But if somebody were to do so, they would immediately lose their career and job. Well, then why can't we hold these types of people to the same standard? I'm not asking for legal repercussions. I'm asking for social ostracization. And that is something we, as the Muslim community, have to work for.
The fourth point, and there are five points in today. The fourth point, I'd like to comment a little bit about a sad reality. What does it say about our culture, American culture, about the society at large, about the Republican party, about frankly the Trump climate we find ourselves in? What does it say when the act of burning the Quran is a tool that is used to increase a politician's popularity? What does it say about the world we find ourselves in? Not only is this act accepted, it has actually driven up her numbers. She is the most famous candidate running in that district, and she knows burning the Quran. And by the way, this candidate hasn't just burned the Quran. She has been extremely vulgar against so many minorities. And of course, don't be surprised. The irony. She herself is an immigrant. She is a minority. She is not from the broad Caucasian class of this country. She is an immigrant from South America. And yet she is making fun of other immigrants, saying, "Anybody illegally, this and that." And she has a video where she has a mock execution of an illegal person in the country. She literally has a mock dummy wrapped up, and she fires a gun into the mock dummy's head. Can you imagine this person is running for office? I mean, if this were a crazy person in a mental asylum, we would cut her some slack. This is a lady campaigning to get elected, and she's doing this by mock shooting a false, you know, fake figure, and by burning a copy of the Quran, and by jogging through various neighborhoods of other minorities. Uh, I believe there's one where she has some negative about African-Americans as well. And that's her tactic to get elected to office. What? And and and and the sad thing is, she's popular. Her own party has not distanced itself from her. What does this show of the state of affairs of our country? And it really is terrifying if she were to win. Because if she were to win, then the next cries is Congress, and then Senate, and what not. And we have to, and I ask my fellow Americans that are going to watch the whole clip here, I have to really, and also us here, obviously, what is coming of our country when such bigotry and hatred actually popularizes rather than distances you? It will increase your chance of getting elected. That is a sad state of affairs. And how can we just let that happen? Which leads me to my fifth and final point here. And that is, what message are we sending to the Muslims, the future Muslims, Muslims, the young Muslims, when their holy book is being desecrated? What, what, what message is being sent to them by the country that is allowing this? By the Republican party that is still, by the way, some senior Republicans have distanced themselves. Some, but as a default, no, she's running on the Republican ticket. She's still on the platform. What message are we sending to the future of this country? And even as I and others will try our best to not allow such raw evil to stop us from being productive and healthy members, the message that is being sent by a lone radical, and is being tacitly endorsed by the larger Republican party, does not bode well for civil society. This is not a veiled threat. This is not a hidden threat. Because by burning the holiest of holy, she's literally lighting a match to a peaceful civil society. Today she's burning the Quran. 10, 20 years from now, potentially, this rhetoric is burning mosques down. History teaches us if we don't stop this hatred now. History teaches us this. Look around you. What's happening in India with the BJP? Look around you. What's happening in other places in the world. Such rhetoric. And this is why, by the way, believe it or not, I'm sympathetic to European laws that ban racial hate speech. Because Europe has gone through what America has not gone through. Europe has seen what happens when you allow hatred to go unchecked. And that is why they have these strict laws, which overall I'm sympathetic to, because America didn't go through that to that level. So we have no checks and balances. But the only way you get to mobs killing other people, having pogroms, having mini-Holocausts, having actual Holocausts, the only way you get there is by years of systematic hatred, keep on pushing the boundary, pushing the boundary. And this should send alarm bells not just amongst Muslims, but amongst all fellow Americans. So all Muslims, my advice to you is, don't fall for her traps. Don't give her more attention. That's why I haven't mentioned her whole name. And I also ask you not to retweet her video. Unfortunately, some Muslims, I mean, it's not as if it matters, 20 million views, but still, why would we want to retweet it? Just, if you have to mention it generically and refute it generically. Why would you want to show an image of the Quran being burnt in this manner? I don't agree with this. I mean, maybe some people have some wisdom here. I don't like this. It's not, why should we show that image? And that's why I'm not even giving her any attention by mentioning her name, intentionally leaving her to be anonymous. Let her be, uh, anonymous in this regard. My, my advice to my fellow Muslims is very simple. And that is, she is not the first Islamophobe, and she won't be the last. In fact, the Prophet faced much worse bigotry. Can you imagine? He had to witness his own followers being tortured. Can you imagine? He saw the bloodied body of his beloved uncle. He saw the mutilated body of Hamzah, when all of his fingers had been cut off, his nose had been cut off, his body had been pierced open, and the liver literally taken out and chewed and spat on. He had to see that with his own eyes. He saw much worse. And subhanallah, the very people who did these crimes, because of the mercy of the Prophet, they all ended up embracing Islam. The very people who did that to the body of Hamzah, from Washi to Hinn to everybody, Abu Sufyan was a part of that, you know, army, all of them eventually ended up converting. You will not gain people by responding to evil with evil. You will not gain the dignity of Islam by responding to such vile crudeness with our own vile crudeness. No. Learn from the Seerah of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And yes, hate this act. Show in your heart a level of anger. Yes, that is Islam. But do not express that anger as hatred towards the other. No.
To conclude, a spiritually bankrupt, morally dead, intellectually debilitated failure of a politician, screaming for attention by staging a social media antic and burning the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Such an act must be pitied more than anything else. If it were not so sacrilegious, if the video were not so cringeworthy, we might even be excused to laugh at the sheer smallness of her ambition. She believes that she can set the world on fire with nothing more than a match and her own emptiness. How pathetic that in the absence of beneficial ideas, she must fling herself against the sacred, as though blaspheming and desecrating were themselves credentials that would qualify her for political office. This lady struts before the cameras with the bravado of a conqueror, even as she hides in her own backyard. Yet we see through that reality. And all that I see is a trembling figure begging to be noticed, screaming for attention, feeding on the outrage she knows she's going to cause because she cannot nourish her society with wisdom, and she cannot lead with nobility. So what does she do? She spews hatred and vulgarities because that is all that she has to give. It is not conviction that moves her. It is her own insecurity. In her own attempt to overcome her shortcomings, all that she knows how to do is to try to hurt as many millions of people as she can. And yet, I state, she alone is not the only guilty party here. The real indictment lies not with her only, but rather with a segment of society, a select segment, an audience that she is catering to, she is nurturing, an audience that rewards such grotesque theater, an audience that mistakes provocation for courage and scandal for substance. She is pitiable, yes, but her online audience that cheers her on, and her own party that does not distance itself from her, are all guilty of what she has done. She dances only because the online world has built her stage for her, and her followers continue to cheer and clap her sleazy performance. Her stunt is not a victory, but a confession that in the bankruptcy of modern politics, hatred is the only currency that is paid any attention. And yet, oh Muslims, I state loudly and clearly that it is not the book of Allah that she will harm. It is not the speech of Allah that will be burnt and destroyed in the slightest. Rather, with her shameless act and her brazen indecency, she has incinerated her own self-dignity. She has scorched her own self-worth. And she has cremated any remnants of compassion and dignity and decency and even humanity that she might have had. And that is her verdict in this world. And as for the next, without a doubt, if she does not repent, then she might as well be of those for whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, "Say to them, you are going to punish the real burning fire of Jahannam." And as for her flamethrower torch and her fiery antics, I have nothing better to say than what Allah has said in the Quran, "The fire of Jahannam is much hotter than anything you have, if only you understood." So, oh Muslim, do not allow this antic to get to you or your hearts. Understand Allah will protect His book. Understand her indecency is against her in this world. And if she doesn't repent, it will be used against her in the hereafter. But if she does repent, then people worse than her have repented and been guided to Islam. Our job is to protect the Quran via our actions and embodiment of its virtue. That is how we will protect the Quran. By demonstrating the beauty of the book when we interact with the broader public, by showing the dignity of our faith as we show the Muslim and non-Muslim people of this land what it means to be a believer in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You want to defend the Quran? Then act upon it as you deal with the rest of mankind. That is the ultimate defense. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of those who love this book. Those who protect this book. Those who memorize this book. Those who absorb the values of this book. And those who, like the Prophet, those who start embodying the character of the Quran. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make the Quran a shield for us, a guide for us on the day of judgment. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of the Quran and the Quran. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of those who it is said to on the day of judgment, "Recite as you used to recite in this world, and for every verse you recite, you shall rise up one degree in Jannah." May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cause the Quran to be our companion in the darkness of the grave, our light in the darkness of the grave, our shafa'ah on the day of judgment, and our guide when we meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Which is [Music] [Music] Fore! [Music] [Music] Foreign! Foreign! for [Music] the river of me.