Qatar Sermon:"Aggressor Jews and their wicked Crusader allies"

Doha Qatar Television Service in Arabic, official television station of the State of Qatar, on 20 February 2004 at 0858 GMT carries a live 60-minute sermon from Umar Bin-al-Khattab Mosque in Doha.

Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric based in Doha, delivers the sermon. He praises God and thanks Him for "having honored us by the best of books and the best of prophets." Islam, he says, "has guided people to the right path," urging Muslims not to boast about themselves. Jews, he says, have claimed that they "are God's chosen people," calling on Muslims "to pursue virtues as a way to salvation in this life and in the Hereafter." He says people always talk about money, women, profits, and loss, but say nothing about death and the hereafter. Young people, he also says, learn the names of actors, actresses, and singers by heart, while they do not know anything about the prophet's companions, stressing that animals are better than these people.

In the second sermon, the imam turns to politics, saying that the land of Al-Aqsa Mosque "is still revolving in a vicious circle." He says: "Blood is shed, sanctities are violated, homes are demolished, trees are uprooted, and farmlands are leveled. Nevertheless, we are sitting back with folded arms." Regretting the imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians, the imam says: "Some people say that the Arab-Israeli conflict is no longer an Arab-Israeli conflict but is a Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Israel has everything. What do Palestinians have? They have nothing but their souls, which they sacrifice by blowing themselves up for the sake of their religion, homeland, sanctities, and cause. Therefore, some people consider them terrorists and criminals, who should be fought and resisted. Palestinians defend their right. They have no warplanes, tanks, missiles, or weapons arsenals, like those of Israel. Israel is backed by American money, American weapons, and American veto."

Regretting the fact that the 1.3-billion Muslims in the world have no political, religious, or ideological leadership, the imam says "we have no choice but to appeal to God to unite this nation." Condemning the assassination of the former Chechen president in Doha last Friday, he says Qatar hosts "oppressed people, who are expelled from their countries or who cannot return to their countries." "Regretting the incident, he expresses hope that Qatari investigators "will find the killers."

In conclusion, the imam prays to God: "O God, support our mujahidin brothers on the land of Palestine. O God, strengthen them, unite them, and help them score a victory. O God, turn against the arrogant, usurper, unjust, aggressor Jews and their wicked Crusader allies."

3 posted on 03/15/2004 12:21:24 AM PST by tkathy (Our economy, our investments, and our jobs DEPEND on powerful national security.)

I am bewildered why America has been cast with the mantle of "Crusader." The Middle Ages were long before America was explored and colonized by Europeans. Certainly Native Americans never participated in the European Crusades. There have been waves of immigrants from all over the world to America whose ancestors were never associated with the Crusades.

They claim to prize themselves on historical memory. Well, it is a fact that not one participant in the Crusades was an American.

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