Praise be to God! There is no other god except God. As we know, Abraham had two main sons. Isaac – the father of Jacob (Israel) – from whom the Israelites descend. The other main son was Ismail from whom the Arabs descend. And here is what God tells Abraham about Ismail in Genesis 17:20. He says, “As for Ismail, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.” Now, among other things, this prophecy to be about the end times as well. So, the Arabs will be ruled by 12 rulers at the end times. Now, given that we are almost in the end times, it’s quite safe to speculate that the 12 rulers will rule the 12 Arab states. So, the Arabs consist of the people in these 12 states: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.
All of them are in the Arabian Peninsula. Now, apparently Muhammad was told by the Jews about this Biblical prophecy, and he understood it in the same way, but then the later Hadith writers wrote it as a Hadith, and hid the fact that Muhammad was giving his interpretation of the Biblical prophecy, and not his own prophecy. So, now the traditional Muslims attribute this prophecy to Muhammad, even though this was known thousands of years before Muhammad. Even worse, Shia people misunderstood this prophecy, and they invented the idea that there will be 12 rulers after Muhammad, starting with Ali, and then his son, and then his grandson and so on, one after another (across time), and then the world will end. But, the 12th descendant after Ali came, and their prophecy was not fulfilled, they killed or hid the 12th descendant and invented another lie “their so called hidden imam” so they can cover up the first lie. Bizarre lie after bizarre lie. Completely baseless, non-Quranic ideas. But let’s explain how that Biblical prophecy about the 12 Arab rulers should be understood. It should not be understood as 12 Arab rulers across time, but as 12 Arab rulers across space, which means 12 rulers of 12 Arab states at the same time. 12 Arab groups, and it should be understood like this because Ismail had 12 sons, and from them descend 12 Arab nations. Let’s explain this prophecy even further. See, even though we have listed here 12 Arab states, so far only 11 of them have their own rulers. Only 11 of them are independent, but the Palestinians are still not an independent Arab state. They are occupied by Israel. This means that the prophecy is almost fulfilled but not yet. This means that eventually the Palestinians will get their full rights, and that will be one of the signs that the End of the World is has approached very near – when the Palestinians get their full rights, when the Arabs are divided into exactly 12 distinct groups under 12 distinct rulers.
Now, before we go further and analyze what the Quran says about the Arabs, let’s first make it clear that no Arab nation today is a pure Arab nation. For example, Saudi Arabians might be about 70% pure Arab, while Lebanon might be only about 30% pure Arab, and the others are somewhere in between. We tried to order them here from the most Arab to the least Arab, approximately, depending how much they got mixed with other nations. So, today they are only a certain percentage Arab, and therefore when the Quran says something about them, it is actually talking about the concept of a pure Arab, which applies to the Arabs of the today up to a certain percentage, not fully. To show you what we mean by this, let’s take an example. Jesus says in the Bible that if you believe, then if you say to the mountain, “May you be thrown in the sea”, it will happen. This is true. However, if any of us today say to the mountain, “May you be thrown in the sea”, it will not happen, and this is because we are not 100% believers. What Jesus said was true, but what he said applies 100% only to 100% believers, and if we are only 70% believers, then that statement applies to us only 70%. So, in our case, with 70% belief or less, when we say to the mountain, may you be thrown into the sea, it will take time until it happens. It will happen when the end of the world comes. So, what Jesus said applies to us 70% or less to us, not because his statement was only 70% correct, but because we fit the description in that statement only 70%. In the same way, because Arabs today are not 100% Arabs, what the Quran says about Arabs applies only up to a certain percentage to them today, depending on how much Arab they are. So, the Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula today are on average only about 50% Arabian today, and this percentage keeps going down until the end of the world when the Arabs will fit the qualification of being an Arab very close to 0%. But today, let’s say that they are still 50% Arab on average. Even more, when the Quran says something negative specifically about Arabs, bear in mind that from each nation 91% of the people are not believers anyway, which is explained in another video, but this means that 91% of that negativity is already shared between Arabs and non-Arabs. But the question is, “Is there more negativity among the Arabs on top of the negativity which applies to all the other nations?” The answer is, “If you take all times into consideration “No””. But, there might be fluctuations at specific times where God puts some additional negativity on them, to compensate for the fact that He plans to put some additional positivity on them at another later time, to keep it equal, on average. But, even then the difference is only lower than 50% Arabism x 10% Belief which is only 5% difference. So, this means that whatever is said specifically negative or positive about the Arabs in this video, keep constantly in mind that it either:
- Applies to only less than 5% of them
- Or it applies to all of them but in less than 5% of the time
- Or it applies to all the other nations as well, but we just happen to be talking about Arabs in this sermon.
So, now let’s delve into the bad and good about the Arabs. Let’s start with the bad. Here is what Rashad Khalifa said about the Arabs in the 1980s “So, I wrote here back in 1980, 1400, that God had forsaken the Arabs. The Arabs meaning in the Arabian Peninsula”
Rashad made this statement based on his personal experience with Arab leaders, his intuition, and inspiration, but he did not know how to fully explain it. We know how to also explain it, thanks to God, so here is the explanation:
The nations of the past, depending on how isolated they were from other nations, they developed different tendencies and preferences for what type of evil they are willing to tolerate and what type of evil they are not willing to tolerate. For example, Sodom and Gomorrah tolerated homosexuality, but they probably did not tolerate violence. It was all about having fun for them. On the other hand, Pharaoh who was also evil, he tolerated violence against the Children of Israel, but very likely he did not tolerate homosexuality. To him, it was not about having fun. To him, it was about having power. However, as civilizations developed, and nations communicated and traded with one another, their evil preferences became more shared and less unique, but until recently a tiny evil uniqueness remained among each of them, cultural differences. For example, the evil Africans of the past had a tendency to tolerate some kinds of property oriented evils, the evil Asians of the past had a tendency to tolerate some kinds of family oriented evils, the evil Europeans of the past had a tendency to tolerate some kinds of nationality oriented evils, and the evil Jews of the past had a tendency to tolerate some kinds of globally or ideologically oriented evils. But what about the Arabs? The evil Arabs had a tendency to tolerate some kinds of religiously oriented evils. And this is where it gets complicated with the Arabs. Here is why: While the other nations, when they wanted to be evil, they decided to give up on religion, Arabs in general when they decided to be evil, they were still locked inside the religion. And this is because in verse 43:28, God promises to keep the religious rituals of Abraham preserved through the descendants of Abraham, the Arabs. So, the Arabs were God’s tool to protect the religious rituals, but they were not better in faith than the other people, on average. So, what happens is that when the Arabs lost their faith, God still made them keep their religious rituals through social pressure and other things. So, they still continued to observe the Contact Prayer and give the Zakat, as they have always done as a group traditionally. To them, those rituals are just an intrinsic part of being an Arab. In fact, until recently they did not even distinguish between religion and nation. The word “religion” is a western idea. Arabs called themselves “a Muslim ummah” which means “Muslim nation”. So, they did not perceive Islam as a religion, but as a nation. They did not see sufficient distinction between religion and nationality. So, to Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula, being an Arab and being “a Muslim” was pretty much the same thing. This why in verse 49:14, God tells the Arabs to say that they are Muslims. Now, if Arabs were sometimes Muslims and sometimes not, God would not say that, because then God’s word would not be true, but when God orders the Arabs to say that they are Muslims, then it is done. God’s word is true. So, this means that being an Arab automatically meant being a Muslim. However, religion, organized religion, and nation are the same thing for the Arabs.
So, the Arabs were always Muslims by virtue of their nationality and organized religion. Now, because they were locked by God inside the Muslim nationality and Muslim organized religion, whenever they were not believers, instead of leaving Islam as an organized religion, they added something on top of Islam, without leaving it. So, whenever God wanted to let them deserve Hell, instead of making them leave Organized Islam, God let them add something else on top of Organized Islam, to nullify their Islam. In this way, they could express their disbelief while still being locked inside Organized Islam, to preserve it. In other words, when God weakened the souls of non-Arabs, He just did not give them spiritual food, but when God weakened the souls of Arabs, He still gave them food, but He let them add poison on top of the food, so their souls got weakened anyway.
And Organized Islam consists of the Friday Prayer (Organized Prayer) and Zakat (Organized Charity), nothing else. The Friday Prayer includes in itself the Contact Prayer. So, the Arabs preserved their Contact Prayers, through common prayer during Friday, which indirectly let’s people double check each other’s prayer, and therefore it keeps it preserved for all generations So, one of the purposes of the Friday Prayer is to confirm each other’s Contact Prayer once a week, and this keeps it unchanged across generations. And in Arabia, since the time of Muhammad, there has never been a Friday, where the Friday Prayer was not performed, and therefore the Arabs did not lose it. They preserved all the necessary steps of the Contact Prayers. All those steps were in there. But they added things on top of it. For example, mentioning the name of Muhammad unnecessarily, and doing salavat for Muhammad, and this nullified their Contact Prayers, and therefore all that spiritual food which they ate damaged their soul as much as it nourished it. So, that was the first part of Organized Religion which they preserved, while being disbelievers for centuries. The second part of Organized Islam is Zakat (Organized Charity, Public Charity). This religious ritual was again all preserved among the Arabs. And unlike the Contact Prayer, which was not accepted by God for centuries, because it indirectly involved idol worship, there was no idol worship involved in their Zakat, so God actually accepted it until 1980. So, the only things which kept the Arabs from being cursed as a community is the fact that they observed Organized Zakat (Organized Charity), without idol worship, which God accepted. However, regardless of whether Zakat is being done correctly or not, there is a condition for God to accept it. And that condition is that they should not reject a messenger whom God sends. This condition is in verse 9:54. So, for as long as God did not send another messenger from the time of Muhammad, the Organized Zakat of the Arabs was accepted to God. However, in 1980, God sent His Messenger of the Covenant, Rashad Khalifa, and because they rejected him, then even their Zakat became unacceptable and nullified, according to verse 9:54. So, this is why Arabs were cursed since 1980, while still remaining inside of their Organized Islam, so they can preserve the rituals of Islam. The question is, “Will this curse go forever, or will it be removed?” Well, here is the good news: The curse was removed during last year, in 2021. So, God closed the door to the Arabs from 1980 until 2020, for 40 years, but He opened another door for them now. Since last year, since 2021, we have established public organized Zakat online, which can reach the Arabs, and they have started to join. By the way, they would not join while being believers otherwise, without organized Zakat, because organized Zakat is part of being a pure Arab, and it was not possible for God’s Messenger of the Covenant to organize the Public Zakat for them, given that they lived in different countries, and there was no internet then. But today, God made it possible, as part of his plan through internet to open the door again for the Arabs. And you know what? For 13 years, since 2008, Alban Fejza was preaching online, and not a single Arab believed, until Public Zakat was organized through internet, and then on the 14th year, soon enough they started believing and joining us, and today, about 10% of our congregation are Arabs, people born in the Arabian Peninsula. And apparently, now we realize that God had a system and a purpose for the temporary curse and redemption of the Arabs. The system was similar to the time of Moses. During the time of Moses, when the Jews disobeyed Moses, God cursed the Jews and left them in the desert for 40 years, as we are told in verse 5:26. And similarly, there are exactly 40 years from 1980 when God sent the Messenger of the Covenant until 2020. On the 41st year, in 2021, God lifted the ban of Arabs, and soon after that, they started to join us. So, this was the system.
Now here is the purpose: God’s purpose is to use the Arabs as the supporters of believers during the end times, during the time of the Mahdi. However, this would mean that they would be given priority over the other people in the end times. But, God is not racist. To God and to me, the Arabs are not better than the non-Arabs. There is no chance. God will send an equal proportion of people from all races and nations to Heaven. But, if God is going to use the Arabs for the end times and give them priority then during the time of the Mahdi, then to compensate for that, God left them behind from 1980 until 2020.
And now that we look back at it, it all makes sense. We had tried to understand organized Zakat for many years, because we was aware that there was something missing in the Zakat in the way the submitters after Rashad Khalifa were understanding it. We had tried to find the solution for many years, and God only allowed Alban Fejza to find the solution in 2021. This is exactly when God removed the ban on Arabs.
However, there is one slight change: In the past, had the Arabs accepted Rashad as God’s Messenger of the Covenant, God and Rashad would have given the Arabs priority to organize the Zakat, due to their geographical centrality. But they rejected him, so now they lost that chance. Now, internet has made geographical centrality obsolete when it comes to Zakat, and God has appointed Alban Fejza to organize it, and he will delegate that priority to the Congregation Directors which he chooses, regardless of the nationality, Arab or non-Arab – as prescribed by the Quran.
One more thing. A message to the Arabs: Since the ban on you has been removed by God, please pay attention to a hidden danger, if you are an Arab. Because you are destined to be Submitters anyway, it is harder for you to know whether you have been truly guided, or whether God is just using you to fulfill His plan to preserve the organized religious rituals. In other words, as an Arab among us, you are more likely to turn into a Hypocrite, which is mentioned in verse 9:97. The other people are more likely to leave submission, which is actually a blessing in disguise, because if they leave, they know they left, and they might repent and come back, but you are less likely to know that you have left, which makes it harder for you to find your way back, because you might not even know that you are lost. And to help you with that, if you are an Arab, we looked at the verses where God specifically addresses the Arabs, specifically talks to them, and in those verses, we found seven main signs which you can use as indicators to know whether you are being truly guided, or whether God is only using you to preserve the Abrahamic religious rituals:
First sign: Are you a Muhajer (migrant)? (verse 9:100). Or do you live in the same country where you were born? Or, even better, how willing would you be to migrate, if you have to do it in the cause of God?
Second sign: Are you an Ansar (supporter)? (verse 9:100) If another submitter needs to migrate in the cause of God, how willing are you to offer your house for support, in case there is space for them, provided that the gender rules allow it, of course, until they can support themselves, provided that they don’t take advantage of the good deed? Verse 9:100 says, as for the early vanguards who immigrated (Muhajerun), and the supporters who gave them refuge (Ansar) and those who followed them in righteousness, God is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him.
Third sign: Are you trying to hide behind God’s messenger? (Verse 9:90-9:91). This sign does not apply to weak men, or to women, or to children, because they are not expected to necessarily engage in public struggles. So, when Alban Fejza organizes, if you are an Arab man blessed with wealth or education, are you intentionally trying to stay at the back of the struggle? Are you hiding yourself so that others don’t know who you are? Or are you trying to come at the front of the struggle. In verse 9:120, God says to you that you will not suffer even a little bit in the cause of God, without having it written down for you as a credit. God never fails to recompense those who work righteousness.
Fourth sign: When you spend in the cause of God, when you give the Zakat for example, does it feel like a loss which you have to undergo so you can be with submitters, or does it actually make you happy? (Verse 9:98). Do you believe that your spending will be a means towards God, and a means of supporting the messenger? (verse 9:99). If this second one is true, then indeed it will bring you nearer, and God will admit you into His mercy. God is forgiver, Most Merciful.
Fifth sign: When your financial independence increases, does it feel like a better opportunity to be closer to the messenger of God, or like a better opportunity to stay further away from the messenger of God? This is partly based on verse 48:11 and the verses around it.
Sixth sign: How much do you believe that the messenger of God and the believers will eventually win? (Verse 48:12).
Seventh sign: Do you think that you are doing Alban Fejza a favor by being a submitters, or do you think that God has done you a favor by being a submitter? (Verse 49:17).
And these are the sings which indicate now or in the future how guided an Arab who has joined us is.
So, to conclude, when it comes to the Arabs, they have to rely on other sings beyond submission to know if they are believers, because submission comes naturally to them anyway by virtue of their nationality, and so submission is only a partial sign of their belief. But when it comes to the non-Arabs, submission is one of the biggest signs of their belief.