When Ash-Sham Weakens, We All Suffer

Wasallam if the people of Ash-Sham become corrupted, then there is no good in you all. So, let's really examine this narration for a moment. First of all, how many of us have actually heard of this narration before? Have we heard it before? Yeah? Maybe a couple. What is Ash-Sham that he's speaking about? So, Ash-Sham, as identified by the scholars of Islam, is currently divided into four general countries. If you take the really the epitome of what is called currently the Middle East, you take Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. These four countries, they almost form a crescent. These four countries, they are referred to in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam as Ash-Sham. That is the land of Ash-Sham. The epitome of Ash-Sham is Syria, Damascus. Palestine is mentioned in the Quran. Things occurred in Jordan. Jordan was referred to as al-Urdun in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Syria is the epitome of Ash-Sham, and these surrounding countries. So, Syria, namely the capital of Syria, which is Damascus, that is the epitome of Ash-Sham. And then we have Palestine, which shares borders, and Lebanon, and also Jordan. These four countries make up Ash-Sham. Now, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said this before Ash-Sham was a Muslim country, was a Muslim land. They weren't even Muslim yet in Ash-Sham when he made this statement. They were still mainly ruled and governed by the Romans at the time. And the Roman Empire was extremely Christian. And during that time, in Palestine, in Syria, in these areas, it was ruled by Caesar, which is a title for the Romans that was the general leader of the area of Ash-Sham. It was under his governance in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. However, he is in the Arab Peninsula before the people of Ash-Sham generally accepted Islam. And he tells his companions, radiyallahu anhum, he says, "If the people of Ash-Sham, and if Ash-Sham becomes corrupted, then there is no good in all of you." Now, when he says in all of you, who is he speaking about? The Muslimin in general, right? All of the Muslimin. Why is he saying this? Well, Ash-Sham would later prove to be one of the most rich and vibrant ambassadors of Islam. Of course, the capital, the most you know, core and heart of Islam with respect to its holy sites is Mecca, is Medina, and also al-Aqsa, which is in Ash-Sham. But Ash-Sham would later prove to be a stronghold of Islam for over a thousand years. Over 1,000 years, Ash-Sham acted as our Constantinople. That's what Ash-Sham was. It was the stronghold of Islam. It was where all the scholars were. It was where all the expansion of the Muslim Empire was. It was absolutely critical to Islam, and it continues to be critical to Islam. However, our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us that Constantinople would fall one day. Right? He prophesied that Constantinople would fall, that it would be taken, and it would be you know, eventually governed by the Muslimin. And this happened in the time of Muhammad al-Fatih from the Ottoman Empire. But when Constantinople fell, when it was conquered, what did that mean for Christianity at large? It was like cutting the head off of Christianity. It It was a sign that Christianity had finally been defeated to its core, and it was no longer the ruling and governing strength in the world. That then moved and shifted to the Muslimin. Ash-Sham for the Muslimin is the heart for the rest of the body. The doctors among us will tell us when the heart is clinically not beating anymore, what does that mean? What do we call this person now? I mean, we don't need the doctor for that. When someone's heart is no longer beating, when we want to check on someone's life or the lack thereof, what do we look for? We look for the heart. Is there a pulse? If there is no pulse, we judge that this person is no longer alive. This person is dead. And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam basically tells us in this narration that Ash-Sham is our pulse as the Muslimin. And once Ash-Sham becomes corrupted, notice he didn't say Ash-Sham would be conquered. He didn't say that it would no longer be for the Muslimin. No. Ash-Sham will be for the Muslimin even if al-Aqsa is momentarily even if the al-Aqsa is momentarily torn down, which some narrations do indicate that that would happen. But it would be rebuilt, and it will always be for the Muslimin. And in Ash-Sham, when the revival of Islam will come, where does Isa ibn Maryam descend? He descends in Damascus. He descends in Damascus. Where? In the heart of Ash-Sham. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells the companions hundreds of years before this would act as the pulse of the Muslimin and Islam. And Ash-Sham was really not hundreds of years, but decades. It was taken into the empire of the Muslimin and made its pulse during the governance of Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the Khilafah of Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiyallahu anhu. And he had the major companions posted in Ash-Sham, Amr ibn al-As and his son, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, and Muadh ibn Jabal. All of them in Damascus, in Palestine, in Syria. All of them in the land of Ash-Sham. And that is when that heart started to beat. And then our Prophet tells us that when that heart becomes sick, when that pulse is no longer regular, when it is erratic, the rest of the body is now ailing. The rest of the body is sick. The rest of the body is on the brink of death. That's what Ash-Sham means. And so, our Prophet tells us in this narration, he says, "If the people of Ash-Sham become corrupted, then there is no good in the rest of you." No good? There is no good at all. Are there not people.

[Arabic recitation]

There not people that still pray and fast and make Hajj? Are there not people Yes, of course. But this kind of wording means that there is no mentionable merit left for the Muslimin at that point. Just a person may be clinically alive, their heart is barely beating, the rest of their body might as well you know, be dead because they're unable to move, they're unable to stand, they're unable to walk, they're unable to function, and most importantly, they're unable to benefit others. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,.

[Arabic recitation]

After we heat gold and silver in a kennel and make it hot and all of the impurities rise to the top, those impurities are discarded and what remains as a benefit to humanity, that is what Allah keeps on the earth and keeps relevant. That gold, that silver, that platinum, that whatever it is. And so our prophet tells us, "If the people of corrupted, then there is no good in the rest of you." These two things put together really help us to diagnose the greater ummah today. When you look around and you see all of the all of the atrocities that are being committed against the Muslimin, we say, "Why? Why? Why?" This is why. Because there is a superficial practice of Islam, but on a deeper level, there's nothing there. There's ignorance. There's defiance. There's disobedience. There's an attempt to meddle with the purity of Islam. There is an attempt to innovate, an attempt to worship other than Allah, an attempt to add and subtract from the from the message of Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But then this is all dressed with a veneer of wholesomeness and righteousness and goodness. A person may come into a hospital and they have the most chiseled, perfect looking body. Just, you know, muscles and whatever is the the picture of health. But they have heart problems. We don't look at when when someone walks into the hospital to get check a checkup, we don't look and say, "Well, it looks good to me." Looks all right. I mean, this guy looks strong. We don't test his strength. We don't test his mile speed. We don't test how much he can bench. What do we do? Check his pulse. That's going to tell us if he's healthy or not. We draw blood. That's going to tell us if he's healthy or not. It's not how the person looks. And this is our pulse. So, the Muslimin from that day on were to always look at Ash-Sham and notice what is happening there. How strong is Islam in Ash-Sham? What is going on with the people of Ash-Sham? What is going on in Ash-Sham? And that is going to be our pulse. So, let us do that now. Let's look at Ash-Sham. Let's look at those countries now that have been divided up into countries. First of all, they've been divided up and these borders have been put up. Were they put up by the Muslimin? No. Who who made these borders? Who made the difference between a Syrian and a Lebanese? Who made the difference between a Syrian and a Palestinian? Who made the difference between a Palestinian and a Jordanian? Who made those differences? Tell us. The English. A hundred years ago, they said, "You're Jordanian and here's your king. You, you're Lebanese. Here's your king. And you're Syrian. Here's your king and your president. And and you, you're Palestinian, but even that now is trying to be taken away from us. It's attempted to be taken away from us. And here's your president. Right? And here's this group of people, refugees. Oh, they were so oppressed by Germany and the Third Reich and they were so just take them in and let them live. They're so peaceful. They're so loving. Just you can all hold hands and sing Kumbaya together. Right? And then what happened? Now we're being burned alive. And those and our brothers and our sisters have tasted nothing but iron and fire for the past 50, 60 years. And as far as Palestine is concerned, anything after the '50s, forget about it. And so, the question is, what is the pulse of the ummah today? We may look at Ash-Sham. We may look at Ash-Sham, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. We say, "Those people should have been better." But that's not what our prophet taught us, is it? He taught us that there's no good in the rest of us if we allow the people of Ash-Sham to become corrupted. And if we allow Ash-Sham to become corrupted. And if we allow Ash-Sham to become infiltrated. And if we allow Ash-Sham to become colonized. And if we allow the young men and women of Ash-Sham to be to be colonized psychologically to the point that we are not even sure where the road is anymore even if we wanted to get back on the path. This is how bad things have got. Now, the question is, how do we put this narration into practice? Was this narration just for us to be able to look at Ash-Sham and take a general view on what the rest of the Muslimin are doing? No. He taught us that the people of Ash-Sham, they epitomize Islam and they are the pulse of the rest of us, the rest of the body. If that pulse is weak and erratic, the body is sick. We all play a part in what happens to our brothers and our sisters in Ash-Sham. My disobedience all the way across the water, all the way across the world, my disobedience, my innovation, my lack of knowledge about Islam, my all of these things, they weaken that body and everything goes back to the heart and routes through the heart. If the blood is infected at the very, very tip of a person's toe, it will eventually make its way back into the heart. It's a reflection of all of us. And so, we are all one ummah. And that means that if any part of this ummah is out of line, it will affect the rest and it will affect the deepest of our organs. Any part. In America, the Muslimin today in America, which part are we of the body? Maybe the toe? Maybe the tip of the pinky? Whatever we are, we still affect our brothers and our sisters there. And a lot of times we want to make dua. Sure. But raising our hands in dua, those same two hands that we have used to fill our homes with haram and to feed our families with haram, those same two hands that we have used to toil and sweat in haram, to eat haram and dress in haram and sleep in haram, those two hands, when they raised to the heavens, what effect will they have? How does Allah look at those hands when we raise them? And so, it's not just an issue of making dua. The best thing a person can do for his brothers, his sisters is to begin to live the sunnah of Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. To love and hate for the sake of Allah in the way that Allah loves and hates. To accept and to reject based on the criterion of the Quran. To learn the Quran, to recite the Quran, to ponder its meanings, to embody its teachings. This is what will work towards fixing the issue. Anything else is just what? Just band-aids. Anything else is nothing but band-aids.

[Silence]

Yeah, that's accurate. But here's the thing about Al-Mahdi, right? Other religions and other factions, other factions of Islam, they refer to Al-Mahdi as what? The awaited Mahdi, right? Al-Mahdi al-Muntazar. Correct? Even the Christians, the Jews, they refer to the Messiah as the awaited Messiah. Not Ahl al-Sunnah. He's not the awaited Messiah for us. The reason for that, Al-Mahdi is not going to come and save us. Al-Mahdi is going to come when we have figured this thing out and prepared that body and he will come as the scholars mention as a head for that healthy body. Very different. The Jews, the Christian Al-Masih or the Messiah or the awaited Mahdi is going to come to save them. For us? No. The prophet teaches us he's not coming to save us. He's coming to lead us after we've already chosen salvation over damnation. No.