Embedded video of key excerpts from 1/12/24 “khutbah”/sermon at The Islamic Center of Rhode Island, Providence, RI
Previously I analyzed a very inflammatory Friday sermon or “khutbah” (see Qur’an 62:9), delivered 1/3/25 at the Islamic Center of Rhode Island (ICRI). During the body of the khutbah, in English, the presiding imam invoked Qur’anic references reminding Muslims of their religious supremacism—extolling the global Muslim community (or “umma’) as mankind’s “best” community (Q 3:110), a single, united entity (Q 21:92), standing in opposition to any nationalism (even Egyptian Muslim, Saudi Muslim, and Pakistani Muslim nationalism!). The imam simultaneously advocated contempt for all non-Muslims, quoting, Qur’an 48:29, which calls upon Muslims, as “those with Muhammad,” to be “severe against disbelievers and merciful among themselves.” In his brief concluding Arabic only supplication, the imam exhorted Muslims to “fight the disbelievers and polytheists”—consistent with the multiple jihad war declarations of the Qur’an’s 9th sura or chapter (see Q 9:5; Q 9:29; Q 9:36; Q 9:41; Q 9:111)—a mere 2-days after the vehicular jihad carnage in New Orleans, on New Years Day, 2025.
A year ago, the same ICRI imam, during his Friday, January 12, 2024 “khutbah” (at the ICRI) launched into a virulently Antisemitic diatribe.
First, he provided a summary description of a canonical tradition of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, about how Muhammad explained to one of his early followers that the brief opening sura (chapter) of the Qur’an (sura “Al-Fatiha,” “The Opening,” chapter 1/sura 1, [verses 1–2–3–4–5–6–7]) was the “greatest sura in the Qur’an.” Here is that tradition, Sahih al-Bukhari 5006:
Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Mu’alla: While I was praying, the Prophet called me but I did not respond to his call. Later I said, “O Allah’s Apostle! I was praying.” He said, “Didn’t Allah say: ‘O you who believe! Give your response to Allah (by obeying Him) and to His Apostle when he calls you’?” (Qur’an 8:24) He then said, “Shall I not teach you the greatest Surah in the Qur’an?” He said, ‘(It is), ‘Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. ‘ (i.e., Surat Al-Fatiha) which consists of seven repeatedly recited Verses and the Magnificent Qur’an which was given to me.”
The ICRI imam’s own description of this tradition was as follows:
So the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad) s.a.w. (=”peace be upon him”) called him (Abu Sa`id Al-Mu’alla; see Sahih al-Bukhari 5006) during his prayer, so he did not say anything, he did not respond. He (Abu Sa`id Al-Mu’alla) finished his prayer and then he went to (the) Messenger of Allah s.a.w. and he said, “Yes Messenger of Allah, you called me, I was praying. He (Muhammad) said, “did you not listen to the Ayah (Qur’an 8:24) ‘O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls.’” “So even if you are praying and if at that time and you are in prayer, you’re supposed to break your prayer and answer Messenger of Allah” (s.a.w.) So he said, “Yes Messenger of Allah, I did not know that.” So Messenger of Allah s.a.w., he said, “I am going to teach you the greatest surah (chapter) of the Qur’an.” So this Companion (of Muhammad), he said, “when the Messenger of Allah s.a.w. he wanted to leave the masjid, I reminded him, ‘Yes Messenger of Allah, you told me you’re going to teach me the greatest surah of the Qur’an.’” So he (Muhammad) said, “the greatest sura of the Qur’an is Alhamdulillah wa Bil Alameen.” (“Thank Allah and the trustworthy”) (“This is the 7 of al-Mathani and the great Qur’an [i.e., sura 1, verses 1–2–3–4–5–6–7].”) “The greatest (sura of the) Qur’an (sura 1) is 7 repeated verses which a believer recites again and again and praises Allah s.w.t. (=‘the most glorified, the most high’)
Having established the importance of this sura, the imam focused on its last verse (Qur’an 1:7), in which Allah warns Muslims to follow, “The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray.” Beginning with a canonical tradition of Muhammad (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2954; “The Prophet said, ‘The Jews are those who incur Allah’s wrath, and the Christians are [those who are] astray.’”), through some 90 percent of authoritative Qur’anic commentaries, classical and modern, alike, Muslims are taught those who incurred Allah’s anger are the Jews (and those who went astray, are the Christians). The imam repeated this authoritative interpretation of Qur’an 1:7, i.e., the Jews having incurred Allah’s anger, and conjoined this theme, as authoritative Qur’anic commentators have done for 13-centuries, to the notion of the Jews as disobedient to Allah, therefore cursed (directly quoting Qur’an 5:78), and even killers of prophets (Qur’an 2:61, 3:21, 3:112). These negative, timeless Qur’anic characteristics of Jews—not the Israeli Defense Forces, or The State of Israel—especially their evil capacity to murder prophets, were invoked as the rationale for their falsely alleged wanton killing of Muslims in Gaza, which the imam libelously designated as a “genocide” of Muslims by Jews:
In his (a Muslim’s) prayer, in his daily five prayers, he repeats asking Allah s.w.t. to keep us on the straight path, which is the path of guidance (Islam), which is the path of Prophets and Truthful Companions and Martyrs, (the) Saliheen, the righteous people (“And excellent are those companions”). And not the (Arabic from Qur’an 1.7= “Not those who have incurred wrath nor those who have gone astray”) path of those people with whom Allah became angry, and those were the people who did not follow their Messengers and their Prophets, they did not obey their Prophets, they did not obey Allah s.w.t. and became rebellious and were cursed (Arabic= Qur’an 5:78: “Cursed were those who disbelieved among the children of Israel [Jews] by the tongue of David and of Jesus, the son of Mary”). So those people who are cursed mentioned in the Qur’an, the Israelites (Jews) were cursed because they did not obey Musa (Moses) a.s. (‘peace be upon him’) in his presence, they started worshipping an idol (Qur’an 7:149–50), they did not worship Allah s.w.t. and disobeyed Allah and killed the Prophets (Arabic from Qur’an 3:21: “disbelieve in the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right”) They were even killing the Prophets (also in Qur’an 2:61/3:112), so why is it a surprise to us if they are killing Muslims today? We witnessed that this is their pattern. We are sad that our brothers are going through this kind of suffering in Palestine, and in Gaza an act of genocide, a persecution unprecedented, acts of killing and murder…
The Qur’an: An Encyclopedia is a modern compendium of analyses written by 43 Muslim and non-Muslim mainstream academic experts, edited by Oliver Leaman, and published by Routledge, New York, 2006. These excerpts from p. 614 serve as a “summary verdict” on how Muslims and non-Muslims, both, are to understand the Fatiha’s last verse, vis-à-vis the Jews:
“The Prophet [Muhammad] interpreted those who incurred Allah’s wrath as the Jews The Jews, we are told killed many of their prophets and through their character and materialistic tendencies [usurious 2:275, 4:161; greedy/hedonistic 2:96; envious 2:109; hard-hearted 2:74; liars 2:78] have contributed much to moral corruption, social upheaval and sedition in the world [Qur’an 5:32–33; 5:64] …[T]hey were readily misled and incurred both Allah’s wrath and ignominy [2:61; 2:90; 3:112].
Qur’an 1:7 is repeated 17-times daily by pious Muslims, a staggering form of negative indoctrination about Jews.
Finally, putting the lie, definitively, to the vicious “Gaza genocide” libel, the US Census International Database shows Gaza’s population grew by 2.07% in 2023, and 2.02% in 2024!
It is the responsibility of Rhode Island Jewish religious leaders, but also non-Jewish religious leaders, especially Muslims, as well as politicians, to condemn, unequivocally, the ICRI’s promulgation of such “sacralized” religious hatred toward Jews, and non-Muslims, generally. Moreover, the Rhode Island media must demonstrate the basic journalistic integrity to report the hatred preached at the ICRI, particularly in light of their obsessive coverage (here; here; here; here; here) of an alleged “hate crime” shooting outside the mosque in November, 2023. Now, more than a year later, that shooting is still not designated a hate crime.
