Honorable Muslims!
It was in the early days that the Prophet (saw) began to invite people to tawhid. The number of Muslims was increasing day by day. The polytheists were trying every method possible to turn them away from their faith. They sent the Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib to him (saw) in order to dissuade him from his cause. However, the Messenger of Allah (saw) never backed down from his journey of truth and expressed his determination as follows: “By Allah, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this cause, before Allah has made it victorious, or I perish therein, I would not abandon it.”1
Dear Believers!
With this attitude and stance, our beloved Prophet (saw) was actually teaching us that Islam has a vision and an ideal. This ideal is the endeavor to enlighten people’s minds and hearts with faith in Allah. It is the determination of i‘la-i kalimatullah, that is to proclaim the Exalted name of Allah to the four corners of the earth. It is the effort to bring humanity together with the exemplary morality of the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (saw). This ideal is the determination to create a civilization on earth based on knowledge, wisdom, love, respect, compassion, and mercy. It is the will to prevent oppression and evil, and to make justice and goodness prevail in the world. Indeed, Our Lord Almighty commands us to protect this will as follows: “Let there be a group among you who call ˹others˺ to goodness, encourage what is good, and forbid what is evil—it is they who will be successful.”1
Dear Muslims!
The foundation of the ideal of Islam is the Holy Qur’an and the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims, guided by these two sources, have endeavored to ensure a humane life on earth. Five years after the demise of the Prophet (saw), they liberated al-Quds from the bondage of oppression and turned it into Dar al-Salam, a land of peace and tranquility. Seven years later, they raised the banner of Islam on the walls of Diyarbakır and paved the way for the dawn of Islam in Anatolia.
Dear Muslims!
Today, what is incumbent upon us is to keep alive the sublime ideals taught by Islam. It is our duty to protect our unity, solidarity, brotherhood, and affection at all times. We should be strong in every field in order to eliminate the traps set for our country and nation. Our duty is to make good prevail instead of evil, justice instead of oppression, and love instead of hatred. It is to establish strong families where these sublime values are taught and practiced. It is also our duty to raise our children, the safeguards of our future, as generations who are loyal to their national and spiritual values and who are beneficial to society and humanity.
I conclude my khutbah with the following hadith, which expresses that all the oppressed, especially in Gaza and Palestine, will be victorious and cherished, and the occupying oppressors and Zionists will be defeated and humiliated: “Islam will certainly reach every place touched by the night and day. Allah will not leave a house of mud, or even of fur, except that He will cause this religion to enter it, by which some will be honored, and some will be disgraced. Allah will glorify Islam, and disgrace disbelief.”3
[1] Ibn Hisham, Sirah, I, 101.
[2] Ali ‘Imran, 3/104.
[3] Ibn Hanbal, IV, 104.
Friday Khutba of Tokyo Camii “Let Us Keep The Ideal Of Islam Alive” (PDF)