Our Stance on Islamophobia

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa RaḥmatuLlāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu BiLlāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. BismiLlāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi RasūliLlāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al- Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

May Allāh ﷻ bless this gathering of ours; may it be of barakah, in shā’a Llāh. Shukr to Allāh ﷻ, we have been here for three or four days now. We make shukr to Allāh ﷻ for making it possible for us to be here amidst His ﷻ blessings and in the company of such good people. Our aim and purpose is to be together with good people. There is no strength in being alone; strength lies in unity. It is Allāh’s ﷻ command: ‘ 1 ’, ‘Wa-‘taṣimū biḥabli Llāhi jamī‘an wa lā tafarraqū’, ‘And hold firmly to the rope of Allāh all together and do not become divided.’ (Qur’ān 03:103). Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla commands, “Hold fast, all together, to the rope of Allāh ﷻ; do not separate.” The way of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla is one, and it is that of Tawhīd (declaring the Oneness of God); and not associating partners with Allāh ﷻ. Allāh ﷻ commands, “Unite upon this way.”

That way is the way of the prophets. There are many prophets who traveled to invite people to the true religion. They all labored for the goodness of humanity, striving for people to fulfill Allāh’s ﷻ commands and become good servants. Their task was very difficult; it was not easy. It was difficult to convey goodness to people because their minds were not set on this beautiful way, but rather on the exact opposite direction. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam went on this way and traveled. However, our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam did not venture far beyond Hijāz for the purpose of tablīgh (conveying the message). He ﷺ went only to Taif, where he was rejected and subjected to harm. As a result of that harm, he ﷺ was forced to return. Only one person there was guided, and he was a humble, destitute man. Wherever the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam went and whatever he ﷺ did, it all unfolded according to the divine wisdom of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. Indeed, there is profound wisdom in the fact that he did not venture outside the region to preach. The Prophet ﷺ made only one journey—to Damascus—and traveled nowhere else. This is significant because, in our time, those who wish to malign Islām often level numerous false accusations against the person of the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam; the fact that he ﷺ did not travel elsewhere refutes their lies. It was a matter of great wisdom that the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam did not leave Hijāz, for all of Allāh’s ﷻ revelations were sent down to him ﷺ there. His ﷺ mission of conveying the message began there. Later, letters telling about Islām were sent

to surrounding monarchs, shahs, the Muqawqis of Egypt, and the King of Rome. Letters addressed to each of them by name were dispatched to introduce them to Islām, carrying the message: “If you wish to attain salvation, embrace Islām.” This was the manner in which the Prophet ﷺ conveyed the message. After the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wasallam, the Companions traveled far and wide. The call to Islām reached every corner— extending as far as China—to spread the faith and show people this beautiful way. We, too, were in Samarkand about ten days ago. Qusam Ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, was martyred in Samarkand. The noble tomb of that blessed Companion is located there.

This is how they spread Islām far and wide after the Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wasallam. They did not force people to become Muslims. When they conquered lands, they left the people free; they coerced no one. They said, “If you wish to become a Muslim, you may; that is your right. If you become a Muslim, you will possess full rights, and no one can deny you them. If, however, you choose not to become a Muslim, then you must pay the jizya tax.” Yet, upon paying that tax, one would enjoy rights even greater than those of a Muslim. Furthermore, the tax collected was not at the rates seen today—sixty, eighty, or ninety percent. It was not an unmanageable burden; it was around two and a half percent—roughly equivalent to the rate of zakāt.

It was precisely this [justice] that facilitated the spread of Islām. Upon witnessing such humanity and justice, the people embraced Islām of their own accord. People claim that “the religion of Islām was spread by the sword,” but such claims are entirely false. Just as it does today, Islām removed oppressive rulers to liberate the people; it set free a populace that had been living in conditions worse than slavery. People say, “Islām is bad.” Here, people are afraid when they hear the word “Islām”; “Islāmophobia”—that is, a fear of Islām—exists among all non-Muslims. Yet, Islāmic lands were home to peoples of every background. Jews, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Hindus— they all lived freely in Muslim countries. Once they paid the jizya (their tax), they all lived together in peace. What ought to be said, in reality, is "Christianophobia"—a fear of Christians. They claim to follow the way of Jesus. But what did Jesus say? “If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek also.” Yet, when the Crusaders entered Jerusalem, instead of Christianizing the city, how many people did they slaughter? They recorded it in their own books: they killed seventy thousand people, sparing neither Muslim, Jew, nor Christian. Blood rose to knee-level in the streets; they left not a single soul alive. On their way, they arrived at Istanbul—or Constantinople, as it was known then. Even though their fellow Christians welcomed them, they looted Constantinople as well. As they advanced into Anatolia, Armenians—who trusted them because they shared the same Christian faith—opened their fortress gates, yet the Crusaders slaughtered them too. And this so-called “Holy Crusader Army”; priests and monks were at their head.

They had come, supposedly fighting in the name of Jesus peace be upon him. Fighting is already forbidden for them. They declared, “We are fighting for him; we will spread Christianity—a religion of grace, goodness, beauty, and mercy.” Which Islāmic army has ever committed even the slightest act of such cruelty? Indeed, when an Islāmic army set out on a campaign, it is already mentioned in the Qur’ān: “Do not harm the elderly, women, children, or the infirm. Fight only those who fight you.” It even commands: “Do not harm those who beg for quarter or surrender during war.” They have concealed the truth and planted a lie in the public mind—claiming that Islām is barbaric and bloodthirsty. Yet, the truly bloodthirsty ones are they—those acting in the name of Christianity. Why are they called Christians? Because they advance brandishing huge crosses, proclaiming a "Holy War," and refuse to treat human beings as human. There is no trace of mercy, yet an excess of oppression. And that is merely the visible side; the system they established in the name of Christianity is founded entirely upon oppression. The atrocities committed in Al-Andalus, the cruelties inflicted upon people by Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and the countless lives they took—there is no end to the list. In those times, they ruthlessly slaughtered anyone who was not a Christian. They claimed to be bringing civilization to the world through warfare! Yet, had it not been for the Muslims of Al-Andalus, they would never have attained civilization. Fine, we understand viewing us as enemies. But what did you want from those poor Africans? What did they do to you? You packed them onto ships like animals and sold them into slavery in the Americas; for every hundred taken, barely ten survived. A hundred million people perished during that process. That was not enough; they slaughtered people wherever they went—this time in the Americas. They took their "Holy Christian" ideals to the Americas and wiped out the indigenous populations there, massacring millions. Even that did not suffice; they targeted the Native Americans of North America. They killed millions of people; they wiped them out by deliberately infecting them with disease.

Hearing this makes me truly furious and angry. They keep harping on about “Islāmophobia”—“Islāmophobia, Islāmophobia, Islāmophobia.” What really needs to be discussed is “Christianophobia.” I first came to Germany in 1985. I was staying at the home of the late Jalal. There was a book there written by a professor; it said terrible things about our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. The person spreading these slanders was someone who had supposedly studied in Europe—an intellectual, a know-it-all. I was shocked when I saw this. Hearing such words spoken about our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam for the first time left me both astonished and enraged. How could men who claim to be “intelligent” say such things? Then we realized: these are not people who follow Isa ‘alayhi s-salām; these are people who follow shayṭān. The shayṭān has deceived them; he has made good appear bad to them, and bad appear good. Everything they do is based on lies, falsehoods, trickery, and deception. They are capable of every form of

dishonesty. There is absolutely no connection between what ‘Isa ‘alayhi s-salām brought and what these people do.

What ‘Isa ‘alayhi s-salām did was just like the actions of all the other prophets. As the ayah states:, “Lā nufarriqu bayna aḥadin min rusulihi”, “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” (Qur’an 02:285). It is commanded that we make no distinction between any of the prophets. We mustn’t differentiate between the prophets. The attributes of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam and the commands he conveyed are the same as those of the other prophets. Humanism, communism, socialism, imperialism—these are all things fabricated to distract people. What truly matters is the way of our Prophet ﷺ. On that way, no one suffers oppression; that way is one of justice. Where there is justice, everyone receives their due and everyone is content. This is the way of the prophets and of those who follow in their footsteps: to grant people their rights and to protect those rights. However, a person’s freedom extends only to the point where another person’s rights begin. One cannot encroach upon the rights of others; this is unacceptable in Islām. In the sight of Allāh ﷻ, all people are equal. In the sight of Allāh ﷻ, there is no difference between people based on color—whether black, white, or red. Of course, who are the people who are superior and close to Allāh ﷻ? Superiority is not found in wealth or possessions, but in being on the way of Allāh ﷻ and obeying Him ﷻ.

Therefore, a person’s aim should be to attain a high standing in the sight of Allāh ﷻ. As we have said, this is achieved by following the prophets—who hold the highest rank— and walking their way. It is necessary to love them, and loving the prophets means following their way. For the most important thing in life is love. As stated in the noble ayah: ‘1 1 ’, ‘If you love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you.’ (Qur’ān 03:31). It is commanded: "Say: If you love Allāh ﷻ, follow me and do what I do, so that you may become a beloved one for Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla." As we mentioned at the beginning of the Ṣuḥbah, being in the company of good ones is of great importance. For there are many people around who seek to lead others astray, and there is much discord that turns people against one another. The true way is the way of Allāh ﷻ— approaching people with kindness and love. What will save us is the love we bear for our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. Compassion, mutual aid, and goodness are the qualities most cherished by Islām and our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. This is the very essence of Islām and ṭarīqah. Since our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is the most beloved servant of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla, it is uncertain whether a du’ā’ will be accepted unless salawāt is recited at both its beginning and its end. Yet, when salawāt is recited, Allāh ﷻ surely accepts that du’ā’.

May Allāh ﷻ increase our love. May people always help one another, in shā’a Llāh. Through that love, we may attain the great glad tidings promised by our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, in shā’a Llāh. For there is a blessed ḥadīth of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, when a Companion was on his deathbed, the Prophet went to visit him, and the Companion was weeping. When the Prophet asked, "Why are you weeping?" he replied, "I weep because I am about to die and will no longer be able to be with you." Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam stated:, “Al-mar’u ma‘a man aḥabb”, “A man will be with whom he loves.” (Ḥadīth). This blessed saying is truly wonderful tidings for us all. Therefore, showing respect, reverence, and love for our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, appreciating and exalting him—is our greatest gain and benefit. Through that love, one will not face the distress of waiting at the Gathering Place on the Day of Judgment, nor—may Allāh ﷻ protect us—endure the torment of Hell. By virtue of love for our Prophet ﷺ one will enter Paradise directly, in shā’a Llāh. May Allāh ﷻ grant this to us all, in shā’a Llāh. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Wa min Allāhi t-Tawfīq. Al-Fātiḥa.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 26 September 2026/ 15 Rabih Al-Akhir 1448 Teiba Mosque – Berlin, Germany