Dear Imam and Masjid Committee Members Assalaamu Alaikum We would like to bring to your attention something of great

importance and significance for Muslims. Stop Islamophobia Week is a whole week dedicated to reflecting and remembering the devastation caused by Islamophobia around the world. It runs from 9th July until 15th July. This is the second year running and we would like your assistance to make it more prominent than before so that we can raise awareness and send out a clear message that we will not stand back and tolerate hatred against Islam and Muslims. This hatred is unacceptable and must be stopped. There cannot be a more chilling an example of what Islamophobia can ultimately lead to than what we witnessed in Bosnia during the mid 1990s. Within this week lies the anniversary of the shocking massacre that took place in the city of Srebrenica where over 8000 Muslims were murdered and thousands of women raped whilst the world stood by and watched. t It is our duty to remember them, to make dua for them and to do what we can to help the families that suffered losses. Their suffering, however, has largely been met with silence, even to this day. If we do not even speak about them, educate our people about them, how can we as Muslims claim that we are one Ummah? The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, The Faithful are to one another like [parts of] a building each part strengthening the others and Every Muslim is a brother to a Muslim, neither wronging him nor allowing him brother to be wronged. And if anyone helps his brother in need, Allah will help him in his own need; and if anyone removes a calamity from [another] Muslim, Allah will remove from him some of the calamities of the Day of Resurrection; and if anyone shields [another] Muslim from disgrace, Allah will shield him from the disgrace on the Day of Resurrection. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of `Abd Allah ibn `Umar] Bukhari We would be really grateful if you could arrange some sort of event during this week highlighting could Islamophobia and remembering our Muslim brethren who have suffered. At the bare minimum it should be mentioned in the speech before Jumuah. To make it more convenient for you we have enclosed some Jumuah Khutbah templates for you to use for SIW (Stop Islamophobia Week) 2012. We would deeply appreciate it if you would make use of these templates (in any way that you desire) to highlight these forgotten victims and to stand united against hatred and Islamophobia. We would really like to hear about any events you organise for this week or even if you just intend to use the khutbah templates for SIW 2012. If you let us know in advance we may even be able to publicise them on our website, newsletter or on our social media platforms. Jazakallah Khair MPACUK

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First Khutbah
1st Standing:
All praise is due to Allh; we praise Him; the praise of one who firmly believes in His Oneness in a manner h; that will annihilate and dwindle the worship of everything else besides His unique Oneness. We glorify Him with the glorification of him who asserts that everything besides All is futile and not worthy of being afraid of. We express our gratitude to Him for raising the sky for His servants as a solid canopy and for having leveled the earth as a carpet and a rug for them. He has followed the night upon the day and has thereby made the night a covering and the day as a means of sustenance. We bear witness that there is no deity but All He Allh, is alone, He has no partner, and we bear witness that our leader and master Muhammad (pbuh) is His Servant rtner, and Messenger from whose fountain the believers will proceed quenched after having come to it thirsty. May Allh send salutations, peace and blessings upon him and upon his family and his companions who did not let h his up in the assistance of His Dn even the least bit of energy and languidness. n

Most respected brothers and sisters, this week is an anniversary of something very terrible in our history. This week is the 17th anniversary of a most horrible massacre. Seventeen years ago, our brothers and sisters in niversary Bosnia experienced so much suffering & pain that we can never begin to imagine. There were many massacres that the Bosnians faced. The one in Srebrenica was the worst of them all. Between 1000 and 2000 Serbian soldiers surrounded Srebrenica, armed to the teeth with tanks and artillery. The Bosnians were essentially defenceless. 8,373 are thought to have been murdered by the Serbs in this week. I say thought to have been murdered, because we do not really know how many. They are still finding n bodies in mass graves till this day. These were of all ages from as old as 65 to little babies. There was no mercy. None at all. This was only 17 years ago. It was not 50 or 100 years ago. All of this happened in our lifetime. Young people years aged 25 remember this clearly. This should be fresh in the memories of all of us, but sadly, it is not. In this age of the internet, where anything about everything can be found with a few clicks of a button, we as a community have forgotten and neglected them. How can we help them if we do not know? Allah says: And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, "Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from ay, Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?" [Surah Nisa, Ayat 75]

And what will Allah say to us on Qiyamat when they cried for our help?

If we as a people went through what they went through, would we not want our Ummah to help? Where is the Ummah? Where are we? And if we were going through what they went through, would we not remember the silence of our brothers and sisters more than the vicious cr of our enemies? cries It is time we remember them and do whatever w can to help. we

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2nd Standing:
We, dear brothers and sisters, have no story to rally behind. Black people in the US were oppressed for many hundreds of years until they were able to rally and mobilise under a unifying story. The one thing that unites us all as Muslims, is the suffering and oppression in which we all are a witness of. If we do not educate ourselves, remember our people in our hearts, words and actions, then how can we really, truly care for our Ummah?

This week, as some of you may already know, is Stop Islamophobia Week. A week where Muslims can unite Week. in spite of the differences we have. Unite and rise up for a concern that affects us all. Let it be clear: the EDL and those who hate Muslims do not hate us because we are sufi, brelvi, deobandi, salafi or something else. They hate us because we are Muslim. They are not born hating us, they are taught to hate us, by those who hey push to demonise us. They make us out to be barbaric, alien and a threat. The Messenger of ALLAH (saw) said: "A Muslim is a brother to a Muslim. Neither he wrongs him, nor hands him over (to another). And whoso Neither comes in need of his brother, Allah comes in his need; and whoso removes a calamity of a Muslim, Allah will remove a calamity from the calamities of the Day of Resurrection, and whoso conceals th faults of a Muslim, the Allah will conceal his sins on the Day of Resurrection." [Bukhari and Muslim] If we do not make efforts to stop their demonisation of Islam and of our people, then we only open up the door to more oppression for our people and for our children, both here in the UK and abroad. our May Allah grant us the strength, patience and imaan to strive for those who need us and always to be in service of the oppressed for the sake of Allah.

***

Second Khutbah

1st Standing
All praise is due to Allh; we praise Him, the praise of one who firmly believes in His Oneness in a manner h; that will annihilate and dwindle the worship of everything else besides His unique Oneness. We glorify Him with the glorification of him who asserts that everything beside All is futile and not worthy of being afraid besides of. We express our gratitude to Him for raising the sky for His servants as a solid canopy and for having levelled the earth as a carpet and a rug for them. He has followed the night upon the day and has the thereby made the night a covering and the day as a means of sustenance. We bear witness that there is no deity but All He Allh, is alone, He has no partner, and we bear witness that our leader and master Muhammad (pbuh) is His Servant and Messenger from whose fountain the believers will proceed quenched after having come to it thirsty. May untain Allh send salutations, peace and blessings upon him and upon his family and his companions who did not let h up in the assistance of His Dn even the least bit of energy and lan n languidness. Brothers and sisters, this week is the anniversary of something very terrible in our history. This week is the 17th anniversary of a most horrible massacre. Seventeen years ago, our brothers and sisters in Bosnia experienced so much suffering & pain that we can never begin to imagine.

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40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica were targeted for extinction simply because they were Muslims. For no other reason then that they were Muslims!

8,373 Bosnian Muslims are thought to have been mercilessly murdered by the Serbs in this week. I say mercilessly thought to have been murdered because we are do not really know how many. They are still finding bodies in mass graves up to today. They were of all ages from as old as 65, to as young as babies. There was no mercy. None at all. Muslim houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burnt down, Muslim villagers were rounded up or captured and, in the process, sometimes beaten or killed. Men and women were separated, with many of the men detained in the former KP Dom prison. ormer According to a survivor, a Serb told a Muslim mother to make her child stop crying, and when it continued to cry he took it and slit its throat, after which he laughed. Women were gang raped in front of their families. The stories are so horrible I cannot even describe what happened to our sisters! How they were raped till they went crazy. According to another account there was a girl, aged about nine years old. Some of the Serbs instructed her brother to rape his sister. He did not do it and so they murdered him. Here is another Testimony:

"I saw how a young boy of about ten who was killed by Serbs wearing Dutch uniform. This happened in front of my own eyes. The mother sat on the ground and her young son sat beside her. The young bo was placed boy on his mothers lap. The young boy was killed. His head was cut off. The body remained on the lap of the mother. The Serbian soldier placed the head of the young boy on his knife and showed it to everyone.... I saw how a pregnant woman was slaughtered. There were Serbs who stabbed her in the stomach, cut her open and ughtered. took two small children out of her stomach and then beat them to death on the ground. I saw this with my own eyes." This mass murder was described by the Secretary Secretary-General of the United Nations as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.

But do you know what the worst part is, my brothers and sisters? The worst part is that WE, us Muslims, WE let our brothers and sisters in Bosnia down. Especially us European Muslims. Where were we when the Muslims. massacre was happening? What did we do to prevent it? This did not happen 100 yrs ago or even 50 yrs go. This massacre occurred only 17 yrs ago. Yet how many of us remember it? How many of us even know what happened to our brothers and sisters in Bosnia? others

2nd Standing
The Prophet (pbuh) said: the Muslims are like one body so that when one part of the body hurts the whole body feels the pain. How much pain did we feel for our brothers and sisters in Bosnia? How much I ask you?! The Prophet said you do not have FAITH till you love for your brother what you love for yourself. Is a massacre what we would love for ourselves brothers and sisters? If not, then how could we let it happen to our brothers and sisters in Bosnia? How can we say we have faith when we do nothing for the Ummah?

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We may pray, fast, wear hijab but do we have faith? Do we stand up for justice? Do we stop oppression? What use are our prayers and our fasts if this is the kind of Muslims we have become. Muslim without Muslims justice. Who do not enjoin the good and forbid the evil. Mans rights are based on accountabilitydo we think we will get to heaven if our brothers and sisters in Bosnia do not forgive us on the Day of Judgement?

slims, Allah says in the Quran: O Muslims, be you the standard bearers of justice we are supposed to eradicate injustice and establish justice in its place. The Jews remember the holocaust. They remember every single part of the holocaust. Yet us Muslims dont remember anything of what happened to us. We are asleep. ppened Today, Islamophobia is spreading. Everyday we hear something in the media about those bad Muslims. We hear about attacks on mosques, we hear about our sisters having their hijab pulled off, we hear talk of the niqab and hijab being banned, we hear about groups like the EDL and BNP and we do nothing to stop them. b We are still asleep. We dont take the initiative to do anything about it. We dont try and find out what to do about it. Do you think that it will just go away if we ignore Islamophobia? Do you think that if we ignore Islamophobia and do nothing that a massacre will not be repeated? Do you think that this cant happen in Britain because the people are nicer here and we are more integrated? The Bosnian Muslims were more assimilated than you. They were of the same ethnicity as their murderers. They re eyes were bluer than yours, their skin was fairer than yours but at the end of the day all that mattered was that they were Muslim therefore they must be gotten rid of! Today the time for excuses are over. We need to stand up and remember our duty to counter oppression. This day week from 9th-15th of July is Stop Islamophobia Week to raise awareness of Bosnia and Islamophobia in 15th general and to teach us what we can do to prevent another atrocity from occurring. Islamophobia is our problem and if we dont do anything about it no one else is. You can find information for Stop Islamophobia Week on Facebook, Twitter and even if you just Google on the internet.

Please take the time to do this and find out how you can take part and make a real difference. It is every Muslims duty to take a part in this. In these difficult times we are living in, we must make tackling oppression a priority in our lives. Remember that what happened in Bosnia is what Islamophobia can lead to if you dont counter it. Our Brothers and sisters are waiting for our help. ***

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