It’s been a couple of weeks since the last Peaceful Religion Watch, our roundup of the weekly hate speech and incitements to murder disguised as sermons (khutba) in the happening mosques of the Arab world. Let’s see what the imams and sheikhs have been up to over our infidel holidays, shall we? (Hint: it ain’t “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men.”)

The common theme this week: if the Muslim ummah is having problems, it’s because they’re not devout enough.

Saudi Arabia has been telling their holy guys to cool it with the monkeys-and-pigs stuff lately, so from the holy mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia—the most sacred place in Islam—we get a strange rant about technology and power and the need to shun the ways of the Jews and Christians:

Shaykh Sa’ud Bin-Ibrahim al-Shuraym delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, urging Muslims to follow God’s orders and avoid the forbidden and stressing that the Islamic society protects the dignity of individuals and rejects tyranny and arrogance. He says that science and industry have made progress at the expense of the Islamic values, arguing that the Islamic society can abide by the Islamic law and achieve material progress at the same time. Those, who believe that material progress can only be achieved at the expense of faith in God, he says, are mistaken. Muslims’ weakness, he says, is due to their abandonment of Islam and their failure to abide by their religious duties. Citing Prophet Muhammad’s Traditions, the imam urges Muslims not to follow the “examples of Jews and Christians.” “The people of infidelity,” he says, “have not scored victory because of their power but because of the empty hearts of Muslims.”

Is it me, or did that make no sense whatsoever? In any case, it wouldn’t be khutba without calls for destruction and praise for jihadis everywhere:

In the second part of the sermon, the imam calls on Muslims to abide by their religion, stressing that only those fearing God and believing in his law can determine the future of Muslims.

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, humiliate infidelity an infidels, destroy your enemies, the enemies of Islam, and protect this country.” He goes on: “O God, help our mujahidin brothers, who fight for your sake everywhere. O God, help them score victory over your enemy and their enemy.”

Notice how carefully they avoid the word “Americans.”

But at the Grand Mosque in Sanaa, Yemen, the freaky sheikh has no such inhibitions:

Shaykh Akram Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on the faithful to obey God as a way to forgiveness, success, and happiness. Obedience to God, the imam says, will enable Muslims “to meet challenges in a world dominated by unjust, tyrant forces—the Americans and their allies—in a world, where injustice prevails and Muslims are massacred.” …

Turning to politics, the imam describes what is taking place in Palestine as a tragedy and regrets the fact that Muslims are sitting with folded arms, asserting that everybody “is responsible for these shameful and humiliating positions.” Blaming the Arab leaders for their silence over “what is going on in Palestine with the blessing and support of the United States,” he warns that “the Zionist role is part of a larger US plan to strike Iraq.” He also criticizes some Arab and Islamic countries for their secret support, their neutrality, or their silence over what is being planned for the Islamic nation. The imam says: “You all know that the US designs will not be restricted to Iraq. Conspiracies are being concocted for other countries with the aim of striking Islam and Muslims, humiliating them, and subjugating them to the tyrant will.” Muslims, he says, “are facing terrible and huge challenges, and the so-called globalization poses dangers to Muslims and Islam,” urging Muslims to achieve development in the Islamic world “in order to meet these challenges.”

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, support those supporting Islam, disappoint those disappointing Muslims, and give success to our president in serving the people. O God, destroy criminal infidels and atheists. O God, destroy the United States and its allies and let them suffer, particularly tyrant and arrogant Americans. O God, destroy the Jews, for they are within your power.”

Now there’s that bloodlust we’ve come to expect. Note that two days after this sermon, three Christian missionaries were brutally murdered at a hospital.

Jordan seems to be trying the hardest to say what the West wants to hear, even to their own people. From the martyr King Abdallah mosque in Amman:

Shaykh Mahmud Shuwayyat delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, urging people to obey God and his messenger all the time. Criticizing Muslims, who worship God only in the month of Ramadan, as having two faces, the imam says it is necessary for the Islamic nation to stick to its Islamic identity. The imam devotes his sermon to the need for Muslims to fear God and carry out their religious duties.

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, return us to your book and to the prophet’s traditions. O God, do not blame us for what the ignorant do. O God, close the ranks of Muslims. O God, relieve our brothers in Palestine. O God, give success to King Abdallah II.”

OK, back into the pit. On official Palestinian Authority radio, from the Shaykh Ijlin mosque in the Gaza Strip:

Shaykh Ibrahim al-Mudayris delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions. He says “the brutal military and political onslaught against our people, our cause, and our leadership is escalating day by day. They [Israelis] are carrying out a military onslaught on our people. They commit massacres, destroy our homes, uproot our trees, and tighten the siege.” Arabs, Europeans, and the United States, he says, are also pressing the Palestinians “to make concessions on our Palestinian cause, but that despite the massacres, they [Israelis] will fails to weaken our people, God willing.” The recent Israeli massacres against our people, the imam says, are part of the Israeli electoral campaign, urging the Palestinian people and the Arab nation to close their ranks. Addressing the Palestinian conscience, the imam calls on the Palestinian people “to close their ranks in the face of our enemies” in order to score victory over the enemy. He says: “Compared to the Palestinian people, neither Israel nor the United States, the strongest country in the world, does not enjoy the traits of a real society. The United States, which dominates the Arab and Islamic world and even the whole world, has a material power, but its society is corrupt and is expected to collapse, God willing, as long as it uses its weapons against weak Arabs and Muslims.” …

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, lift the siege imposed on us. O God, lift the siege imposed on our people and our Arab nation. O God, destroy the unjust Jews. O God, avenge the blood of our martyrs.”

Then hold your breath as we plunge into this extended rant from Al-Aqsa Mosque in the West Bank:

Shaykh Muhammad Husayn delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on people to obey God and to die as Muslims. He says: “Another colonialist Crusade is under way to dominate the Arab and Islamic countries under weak excuses, like the implementation of Security Council resolutions on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.” Denouncing plans to destroy the whole region, the imam also says: “The United States and its supporters and allies are planning to destroy the region, although Iraq has accepted the relevant Security Council’s resolutions and the inspectors are still looking for weapons of mass destruction, but with no avail. Nevertheless, the United States, with the support of its allies, is planning to launch a war against this Muslim country.” Assailing the Arab regimes, the imam says: “The Arab regimes’ defeatist positions encourage the enemies to commit aggression and carry out their designs.” The imam then condemns some Western press circles slandering Prophet Muhammad, the imam says that such a behavior “shows these circles’ hatred to Islam, its prophet, and its nation, as well as their racism and hatred to this genuine religion,” urging the Islamic nation to defend its religion. The upcoming devastating war, he says, “does not only target Iraq, but also the whole region in a wicked plan to redraw the map of the region in accordance with the ambitions of the invading colonialist.” The imam criticizes the Arab rulers’ “negative stand” as unacceptable and urges the Arab nation to stage demonstrations against the “aggressive war.” Turning to the Palestinian situation, he says that “martyrs are buried, the wounded and treated, homes are demolished, cities are closed, villages are besieged, and curfews are imposed,” urging Palestinians to close their ranks.

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, relieve Muslims everywhere of their worries. O God, have us back to you, relieve Muslims, and grant them faithful, merciful leaders to close their ranks and score victory.”

Weak finish, Sheikh.

Syria is just weird. We’ll skip them, OK? There’s something deeply wrong about that country.

Iraq is predictably over the top; from Abd-al-Qadir al-Jaylani Mosque in Baghdad:

Shaykh Abd-al-Razzaq al-Sa’di delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on Muslims to worship and obey God and urging the faithful to beware infidels and hypocrites. He says defeatism in front of the enemy is a cardinal sin, criticizing those alleging that “they cannot confront US tyranny and power.” He urges these people to step back and give room to those, who believe the opposite and who can lead the nation to the right path under Islam. Addressing the Arab nation, the imam warns Muslims that in the Hereafter, neither the United States nor others will be of any use. He urges Arabs “not to help infidels or give them a foothold on our land,” reminding that those, who have betrayed God and his messenger, will die some day and will be punished for their deeds. The imam then beseeches God “to save the Islamic nation, including the Iraqis and the Palestinians, from the evils of the Americans, Jews, Zionists, and Britons.” The imam also calls on all Muslims in both the East and the West “to stand in the face of tyrant, unjust Americans,” criticizing “conferences discussing trivial matters” and denouncing Muslims carrying arms against their Muslim brethren.

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, support Islam and Muslims, elevate justice and Islam, and help the faithful score victory over infidels.” He goes on: “O God, help your mujahidin servants in Palestine and Iraq. O God, strengthen them and help them score victory over your enemy and their enemy. O God, destroy unjust infidels, criminal Americans, and aggressive Zionist Jews. O God, destroy them, shake the ground under them. O God weaken them, disperse them, down their planes, and drown their ships.” The imam also beseeches God to help President Saddam Husayn confront infidels and liberate Palestine.

And last but not least, dire warnings about the subversive influence of infidel culture, from Umar Bin-al-Khattab Mosque in Doha, Qatar:

An unidentified shaykh delivers the sermon. He praises God, the messenger, and his companions, calling on each Muslim to stick to Islam and to die as a Muslim and denouncing enemies for attempting to dissuade Muslims from their religion and their culture. Citing a koranic verse, he says “Jews and Christians will not be content until Muslims follow them.” In modern times, he says, “the enemies of Islam are trying to deviate Muslims from Islam,” recalling how the Crusaders dominated the region and tried to damage Islam and how Muslims scored victory over them. Tartars, he says, were also defeated and many of them entered Islam, stressing that Muslims will never agree to live under the rule of non-Muslims. The enemies, he says, “are now working to change ideas, doctrines, and values through sweet talk and slogans,” by using education, the media, and missionary schools in order to change the Muslims’ social life and system. Americans, he says, “want us to change our values,” forgetting the fact that Muslims have the Islamic law and their own values and denouncing Western attempts to impose Western values on Muslims.

Concluding, the imam prays to God: “O God, destroy the usurper Jews. O God, shake the ground under them. O God, disperse them and let their plots destroy them. O God, support our weak brothers in Palestine, Kashmir, and elsewhere.”