September 9, 2002
This past weekend, people gathered in houses of worship to reflect on the
horrific events of last September 11. However, Arab mosques echoed this
weekend with messages of a very different sort.
Location: Sanaa, Republic of Yemen
Broadcast: Television in Arabic, carries a 34-minute live sermon from the
Grand Mosque in Sanaa.
Authority: Official television station of the Republic of Yemen
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0909 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi
… Let Muslims and their rulers know that if Iraq is struck and Muslims keep
silent, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others will also be struck…Let them close
their ranks, confront the United States, and tell it not to strike Iraq or any other
Islamic country or shed the blood of any Muslim. …
Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, support those who support Islam,
disappoint those who disappoint Muslims. O God, help the mujahidin in
Palestine achieve victory. O God, help the mujahidin everywhere to achieve
victory.” He goes on: “O God, destroy the Jews and their followers. O God,
destroy the Christians and their supporters.
O God, shake the ground under their feet, instill fear in their hearts, and
freeze the blood in their veins.”
Location: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Broadcast: TV1 in Arabic, carries a 25-minute live sermon from the holy
mosque in Mecca.
Authority: Official television station of the Saudi Government
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0929 GMT
Imam: Shaykh Salih Bin-Abdallah Bin-Humayd
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions and calling on
people to obey and worship God. The imam devotes the entire sermon to
women´s rights before and under Islam.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims,
humiliate infidelity and infidels, protect Islam, and disappoint tyrants,
unbelievers, and Islam’s enemies.”
He goes on: “O God, help the mujahidin score victory and elevate the
word of Islam. O God, give victory to the mujahidin in Palestine, Chechnya,
Kashmir, and elsewhere. O God, support them. O God, destroy the usurper,
tyrant Jews, who have spread corruption, killed people, destroyed property,
and displaced people. O God, destroy them for they are within your power.”
Location: Doha, Qatar
Broadcast: Television Service in Arabic, carries a 30-minute live sermon
from an unidentified mosque.
Authority: Official television station of the State of Qatar
Date & Time: 6 September 2002 at 0848 GMT
Imam: unidentified
He begins by praising God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on
Muslims to abide by Islam and saying that if Muslims do not understand the
nature of the enemies of God, then they will fail to understand their enemies,
“particularly the Jews, whom the Koran describes as wicked.”
The imam goes on: “If Muslims had known the nature of the Jews, then
their media organs would not have declared that these people seek peace and
want to live in peace.”
The imam then gives examples from Islamic history on “the wickedness of the
Jews, who want Muslims to abandon their Koran and their prophet’s
traditions,” stressing that this nation will restore its glory and dignity only if it
returns to God.
Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, use your might to take revenge
against the usurper Jews. O God, show them a black day for they are within
your power. O God, have mercy on our martyrs through your capability.”
