Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem are going through a critical phase, and there are many negative repercussions from my detention. I reiterate that there is nothing between me and my brothers in the Awqaf except love for the sake of Allah; my enmity is with the Jews and their rulers. I have previously been detained three times; one of those detentions lasted for five months due to the bilateral summit between Egypt and Jordan, which paved the way for surrender conferences and treaties. The second detention of the pulpit lasted two months because of a fatwa from the late King of Morocco stating that the Islamic hijab is not a religious matter but rather an Arab tradition. As for the third detention, it lasted six months, following the first intifada.
A Pulpit for Defending Al-Aqsa
The pulpit for defending Al-Aqsa began thirty years ago, engaging in battles for Islam against the enemy, with its impact evident among the Jews during the blessed first intifada. They would arrest every Palestinian found with a tape of Sheikh Al-Qattan, and these tapes were banned in most Arab countries, only entering through smuggling. But today, thank God, God has opened up means of communication like the internet and satellite channels, and what is to come in the future. The truthful word has crossed the borders of tyrants and has reached all people around the world. It is indeed backwardness to restrict it in a narrow area while it spreads across all lands.
I am very pained and deeply saddened; Al-Aqsa and its people are suffering immensely. They have been bombed with planes, their homes have been destroyed, their trees uprooted, their children killed, and their crops burned. They are now going through a phase far more dangerous than that, which is the suppression of the intifada.
May the Eyes of Cowards Not Sleep
The conspirators now are striving from every direction as if they were Gog and Magog, to suppress it, and the pulpit is burning. Its supporters, both within and outside Kuwait, feel this pain. Serious events have occurred during the conspiracy against Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, including the visit of the Mauritanian foreign minister to occupied Palestine, and the bombing of Muslims there from the air. I fear that the Gulf states are preparing either in the near or far future for full normalization with the Jews, engaging in political communications through some of their countries, and that it will soon lead to diplomatic relations with the Zionist state, whose leaders boast in all their political and religious meetings that their ambition extends "from the Nile to the Euphrates," with the Gulf located between the Nile and the Euphrates!
Exposing the Conspiracy and the Conspirators
One of the roles of the "Pulpit for Defending Al-Aqsa" is to expose this conspiracy and reveal it to the public. I recall that my sermons during the first intifada laid out everything that the Jews are currently doing regarding their breach of covenants, and that they are not trustworthy; rather, they are merely stages and gains that they achieve, an investment of time, and a deception of this nation.
Those who do not hesitate to kill the prophets do not hesitate to kill Arab Muslims. Those who greet our Prophet with "Sama," which means "death," and accuse his mind of foolishness—while he is the wisest of people—will never hesitate to violate any agreements between them and the authorities, or between them and some Arab regimes.
The nation is currently going through a dangerous phase, teetering on the brink of a devastating war with the Jews. It must prepare for it and educate future generations on the love of jihad and the pursuit of martyrdom.
Cowardly States
It is astonishing that the issue of Palestine, Jerusalem, and Al-Aqsa is purely an Islamic matter, and the ones who should speak openly and clearly about it, and who should expose the conspiracies against it, are the preachers in mosques above all. Yet, they are silenced if they reveal this conspiracy under the pretext of not embarrassing Arab or friendly states, even though these states openly declare themselves and exchange ambassadors with the Zionist enemy and promote its goods. The youth of the intifada—who brought the Jews to their knees—emerged from the prayer niches of the mosques, responding to the call of "Allahu Akbar,” echoed by the mosque preachers.
The Primary Cause of Muslims
The Palestinian issue is one of the foremost issues in Islam and of utmost seriousness. There is a war on Muslim generations aimed at stripping them of their Islamic identity. There is collaboration between the Zionist Jews and their allies among Christians and Arab Jews to tear this nation apart. The preachers have tried—for seventy years—to restore the righteous caliphate, but they were imprisoned and detained. They have also sought with their jihadist battles against the Jews to achieve victory, yet they were taken from the battlefield to the darkness of prisons.
We Demand Justice
The preachers and mujahideen today demand justice—at the very least—in granting opportunities. Secularists, leftists, nationalists, and others have been given tremendous opportunities: they governed states and controlled their wealth, yet they led the nation to nothing but defeats and submission to the enemy. Isn’t it just that preachers, mujahideen, and speakers are given a chance similar to those?
The mujahideen in Jerusalem and Palestine seize moments of jihad in urgent circumstances, to make the intifada—which is on the verge of defeating the enemy—emerge, while conspirators come from all sides to stifle it in its infancy and rescue the enemy once more. For whose benefit? Thus, my primary cause is the liberation of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa; it is the cause of all Muslims. This does not prevent me from saying thousands of sermons on various educational, moral, and faith-based aspects. Islam is a unique fabric, with every aspect meeting the other in harmony and completion.
By the mercy of Allah Almighty, He made Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem a matter of belief and Qur'an. Just as we say when we see the Sacred House: "O Allah, increase this house in awe, honor, respect, and magnification," we are always reminded of its connection in a single verse with Al-Aqsa in His saying: "Glory be to Him who carried His Servant by night from Al-Masjid Al-Haram to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing" (Al-Isra: 1).
And one of the blessings of Allah is that He made the issue of Palestine the issue of 'Al-Aqsa' and Jerusalem. Religion resides in souls and hearts, and thus this issue is embedded in souls and hearts; it will remain as long as religion exists and as long as the Great Quran endures. Then comes the prayer of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with his fellow prophets, which means the handing over of the legacy of 'Al-Aqsa' to him and to his nation. When Abu Ubaidah, the trustworthy of this nation, liberated Jerusalem and 'Al-Aqsa' from the Romans, who had turned the mosque into a place for waste and filth, he presented us with a model that the one who will liberate 'Al-Aqsa' in the future will possess certain qualities. History tells us that he is among the poorest of people and the richest; among the poorest in terms of worldly desires, and the richest in faith.
The first to strive to liberate Al-Aqsa was the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).
The first to struggle for the liberation of Jerusalem and 'Al-Aqsa' was the messenger (peace be upon him) in the battles of 'Mu'tah' and 'Tabuk'. Here we mention the army of Usama; despite this, the months passed one after another without a fire being lit in his home due to poverty, and he was one of the richest people in terms of religion, as he held the keys to the treasures of the world in his hands but did not hoard them for himself or his family.
Likewise, Abu Bakr possessed the same qualities; he was among the poorest of people and the richest. He lived with his family after abandoning trade due to the caliphate on his daily sustenance, and he was among the richest people; during his caliphate, many lands were conquered, and the Arabian Peninsula was unified.
Similarly, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) would wear tattered clothes; he was among the poorest and the richest, for the treasures of Khosrow and Caesar were all in his hands in Medina. He would tell the conquerors: 'Indeed, a people who have fulfilled this are trustworthy.' His advisor, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, said to him: 'You have set a good example, O Commander of the Faithful, and you have led the people to be good. If you had indulged in excess, they would have indulged as well.' Thus, he was among the poorest and the richest.
The same goes for Saladin Al-Ayyubi, the conqueror, as his name suggests; he first corrected the religion by eliminating the Ismailis and correcting the beliefs of the people. Then he was among the poorest of people; when he died, his inheritance did not exceed 35 dinars, yet he was a sultan whose empire extended to Russia, making him both the richest and the poorest."
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This text is from an interview with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Qattan, may Allah have mercy on him, published in the magazine "Al-Mujtama'" (issue 1455) on the 24th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1422 AH / 16th of June 2001.
