In a Friday sermon delivered at the Masjid Al Furqaan in Cape Town, South Africa, Sheikh Riyaad Fataar said that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was "slipping from the hands of the Islamic nation... because the plans of the Jews are moving [ahead]." Quoting Saladin and saying that Muslims "are staying in Jihad in order to get rid of the Zionist occupier," Sheikh Fataar, who is the Deputy President of the Muslim Judicial Council of South Africa and the imam of the Husami Masjid in Cravenby, a suburb of Cape Town, called upon all Muslims in the world to support them and "show your help in whatever different ways there are." "All other free people of the world are called: If you think that holy sites are important in your religion... you should be standing with them," said Sheikh Fataar, a graduate of Al-Azhar, who serves as the lifetime president of the South African Students' Association in Egypt. The sermon was delivered on March 16 and posted on the YouTube channel of Masjid Al Furqaan, which is part of the Islamia College in Cape Town.
To view the clip of Sheikh Riyaad Fataar on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"All Muslims Around The World Are Called To Support Them – To Show Your Help In Whatever Different Ways There Are"
Sheikh Riyaad Fataar: "Today we speak about Palestine and we speak about Al-Quds, and you know Al-Quds means Jerusalem – the Al-Aqsa Mosque – because it is in continuous danger. It is in continuous danger, oh Muslims. It is slipping from our hands. It is slipping from the hands of the Islamic nation, it is slipping from the hands of the Muslims, because the plans of the Jews are moving [ahead], are moving, while the Muslims are sleeping.
"[Israel] is busy, and it is continually changing the features around the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al-Quds, and Palestine – changing anything that looks Islamic, Arabic, or Christian, and so on – because the ultimate objective is: 'Let's remove these Muslims from here. Let's get them out of here. Let's get the Christians out of here.' This is the road of the Jews, this is the road of the Zionists, so that they will make sure that they are going to end up with something that is pure... purely, only for them – for the Zionists and for the Jews.
"The Zionists are as fierce as always in their violence. They are armed terrorists, and at the end of the day, say the ulema, their whole objective is to wipe Islam out of [Jerusalem].
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"The one thing that we must realize is that this is an Islamic belief situation... issue. Muslims are staying in Jihad – and you are going to hear the words of Saladin at the end of this... They are staying in Jihad in order to get rid of the Zionist occupier. Their objective is to protect their community, to protect the holy sites, and all Muslims around the world are called to support them – to show your help in whatever different ways there are. Muslims... All other free people of the world are called: If you think that holy sites are important in your religion, then you should be the same people standing here, protecting the Muslims and the Christians of the holy sites in Palestine. You should be standing with them."
"[Saladin] Says [To The Crusaders]: 'By Allah, Allah Will Never Give You Steadfastness On This Land As Long As The Muslim Nation Is [Engaged] In Jihad'"
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"This is a beginning. We tell the Jews, and we tell the Zionists: There is a new page coming. There is a new page coming that is going to exclude the Zionists from that page, and you are not going to be part of that page.
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"[Saladin] says [to the Crusaders]: 'By Allah, Allah will never give you steadfastness on this land as long as the Muslim nation is [engaged] in Jihad.' Therefore, oh Muslims, the words of Saladin have been proven many times. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, there are still your Muslim brothers and sisters that are there, that are in Jihad, that stay [in Jihad]. They are on the battlefield. They come back. They [are] shot, and they are crippled, and they did... Mothers and wives and grandmothers – they see off their sons and their husbands, not knowing whether they are going to come back."
