Sheikh Abu Usama At-Thahabi said in a September 7, 2024 lecture at Masjid As-Sunnah in Orlando, FL that Muslims who criticize Hamas without discussing the actions of the "criminals" who caused Hamas to "do what they did" are guilty of not "reading the room." He also recounted the Quranic story about the Jews who were transformed into apes and pigs for disobeying Allah, explaining that those transformed into apes had done evil deeds while those transformed into pigs had allowed them to do so. He added: "We see that this is something that is within them today." The lecture was livestreamed on Masjid As-Sunnah's YouTube channel. Abu Usama At-Thahabi is a U.S.-born imam who used to serve as the imam of the Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham, England. He has recently returned to the United States.
Abu Usama At-Thahabi: "If people just hear you criticizing Hamas, and that's it, and you never, ever touch the pulse rate of the criminals who have done what they did that caused Hamas to do what they did... [If] you never mention that, that's not reading the room.
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"Nobody is pro-Hamas, but we are pro-wisdom. Pro-being able to read the room.
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"The Israelites were cursed by David, whose son was Solomon, and on the tongue of Jesus son of Mary. Their own prophets cursed them. Why? Because they used to disobey Allah, and they used to go overboard. Instead of stopping that which is evil, they used to do that which is evil.
"And when Allah changed the Israelites into monkeys and swine... The scholars who interpreted the Quran said that the ones who did the evil were turned into monkeys, and the ones who allowed them to do the evil were turned into swine, because they used to allow that stuff to happen. They had a religious responsibility, collectively to say 'No.' And we see that this is something that is within them today."