When Will Muslims Take Back Jerusalem? Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

When will Muslims take back Jerusalem? This question has been asked over and over again during the last few decades…but the answer has always evaded us. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, however, has the answer.

Throughout his life, he has seen Muslims reacting to their situations with radicalism, anarchy, horror, and bloodshed. He doesn’t see them emulating the glory of Islam.

When he looks at them, he doesn’t see the character of the Prophet Muhammad, Salah al-Din, and other heroes of Islam, who treated others so well that they were praised by even their prisoners.

The problem, he says, is that Muslims are reacting too much like the ones that hurt them. We react to evil in kind, forgetting that those people who hurt us are not our teachers. He gives the examples of Imam Ghazali, who was ostracized for his teachings, and Imam Ahmad Zarrouq, who fought for the rights of the Jews, but whose teachings carried far into the future.

Now, left to represent Islam are beautiful stones like the Taj Mahal and the Blue Mosque, but the hearts that built them, are long gone.

Cover photo by Asim Bharwani.

Resources for Seekers

• When Children Suffer – Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
• Damaged Inner State? Imam Ghazali on Repentance
• Fitna Will Come and Go, Knowledge Stays
• Sunnahs for a Healthy Community – SeekersHub Blog
• Distorting Islamic tradition in our responses to the Chapel Hill shooting
• Lost Ummah? The Key to Jerusalem is Imam Ghazali’s Ihya
• How Can Muslims Become More Effective Community Members?