The Shaping Of The Modern Muslim World – PT 1
Date:
Channel: Yasir Qadhi
File Size: 45.86MB
Episode Notes
Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi embarks on a meaningful, necessary,enthralling and enlightening journey to acquaint us with the occurrences a hundred years ago that preceded the beginning of the modern Muslim world.
The year of 1914 was a landmark year of sorts in terms of abolishment of the Islamic Caliphate and the division of Muslim lands into the modern countries of the Middle East that we are well aware of. This happened primarily due to a series of catastrophic political and social changes in the world.
As a lesson that we as Muslims need to imbibe and inculcate , is that we need to learn from our past mistakes that happened in those 100 years and make genuine efforts to refrain from repeating them. The deceit, betrayal and treachery of European powers and also by the local Muslim leaders of the time should teach us to get our act straight before it is too late.
AI Generated Transcript ©
smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa salatu salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad in wider rd, he was like a big mine on my bed. We are now beginning the year 2014. And the fact of the matter is that many of us are quite unaware of what happened 100 years ago 1914 1914 marks the beginning of a series of changes that would profoundly impact Europe and especially the Middle East. And to be very simplistic before 1914, the British Empire ruled over a quarter of the entire world in a land that they claimed the sun never set in. Before 1914. America by and large was not yet a world power. It was just beginning its ascent into world politics. And it was almost completely
overshadowed by Europe before 1914 the Muslim world while no doubt having suffered a lot of calamities, and not as politically strong as it had once been, nonetheless, still had a unified caliphate. And despite the advent of colonialism, the Brits had invaded, the Germans had invaded, the French had invaded. Despite all of the colonialism. Still, there was a sense of a global oma and there was still some light at the end of the tunnel, there was still a ray of hope. All of this was going to change in 1914 onwards, in 1914, the one event that is basically assumed to be the catalyst of World War One is the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Now we're going to have to a
little bit of European history, because it is intrinsic, you cannot understand World War One without a little bit of European history. Believe you me, I will try my best to minimize the European side. But we need to understand some European history in order for it to play into role its role in the Middle East, and the Archduke that was assassinated, he was the heir. He was the Royal Prince, if you like to the austro Hungarian Empire, which was one of the largest empires at the time, it no longer exists. It has been fractured into eight, nine different countries in our times, Austria and Hungary and whatnot, there was an empire called the austro Hungarian Empire, and the Archduke, the
heir to the throne, is assassinated by a group of Serbians in Sarajevo. And this ignited nationalistic and ethnic tensions that had been simmering in Europe for many decades. And it sparked fires that would eventually lead to what was called at the time the Great War, it will it was not called World War One because there was no World War Two. At the time, it was called the Great War. Only when World War Two began did they call the first one world war one, then they call the second war, World War Two. World War One or the Great War was the largest global military conflict that humanity had ever seen up until that point in time, with over 70 million soldiers participating.
These are staggering figures. 70 million people on the battlefield fighting, these are the fighters, not the countries, the countries, obviously, if you include them, that's literally more than half of all most of the world's population, and around 10 million people died in the battles of World War One. It was also the first time that modern technology was used with such savagery. It was the first time that chemical weapons were invented was the first time that you had airplanes basically using guns and firing bombs from airplanes. This didn't happen until World War One. And this basically led to the development of munitions and more and more dangerous explosives. The war lasted for years.
And at the end of the Great War in 1918, the largest empires of the world, or I should say four of the largest empires of the world cease to exist. And the largest empire, England was cut in half. The effects of World War One were truly devastating. Four of the largest empires in the world were completely decimated. The first of them the German Empire, it became a small country called Germany, it used to be a large Empire with the dynasty. The second of them the Russian Empire, once again, this was a large Empire with a dynasty, then it became a smaller country, the third of them the austro Hungarian Empire, this was completely decimated. It didn't even remain austro Hungarian it
was actually split up into a number of smaller countries. And most importantly, for our lecture, the Ottoman Empire,
the end of World War One signal the end of all four of these empires, and also the loss of the Ottoman Empire is really what affects us as Muslims, that that's what we're interested in. We must realize from Europe's perspective, that's just a footnote. From Europe's perspective, all of the problems pertaining to the Middle East and the Ottomans. This is just a footnote to the real changes that are taking place in the West. World War One truly marks the beginning, the end of one era and the beginning of
Another era it is the end of Victorian England World War One is when the quintessential Victorian England comes to an end. It is the beginning of real modernity, our modernity, and realizes well, that World War One led to many factors, we'll talk a little bit about them, but not too much. I mean, for example, the reparations that were put upon Germany, the circumstances in what happened in the German Empire, led to, in the 1930s, the rise of Adolphe Hitler, the rise of Adolphe Hitler is a direct consequence of the problems of World War One, the nationalism that overtook the German people, and the, the the rise of this extreme nationalism. And the if you like, if you like the the
charismatic character that was needed by Germany at the time, this couldn't have happened unless World War One decimated Germany, and they needed this savior figure, and they saw in this megalomaniac Hitler, they saw the Savior figure, and of course, Hitler led immediately to World War Two. And of course, World War Two led to the power vacuum Europe was decimated after World War Two, after two world wars, Europe seized being an international superpower, a vacuum is created, who is sucked into that vacuum America. And so post World War Two, America becomes the only dominant superpower, it is no exaggeration to state that pretty much every single major political issue of
our times began being shaped directly in 1914, the superpower of our own country, America, the breaking up of Europe, the fractionalization of the Middle East, the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate, the last pillar that we had, all of this begins in 1914. So in order to talk a little bit, and this was the introduction, in order to talk a little bit about this, we need to mention a little bit about World War One. So if you look at the map here, if you look at the map here, we're going to set the stage for World War One, what exactly happened, that in order to make sense of the events that led up to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, we need to give just a very brief overview
of the political situation in Europe and the West in the time, the primary superpower at that time was England, America had been up until that point in time, isolationist, it does not want to get involved in world politics. It's a very Mind your own business type of stuff. And it was only after world war two that America comes to the superpower stage, competing with England, but a distant second is Germany. And after Germany, we have Czarist Russia, Russia is still being ruled by dynasties and France. And this large Empire, you see the austro Hungarian Empire, the austro Hungarian Empire, European alliances at the time, were very messy and confusing, and definitely not
something we're interested in. And what makes it even more confusing is that the countries that we talked about, some of the no longer exists, such as the austro, Hungarian dynasty, and even the ones that do exist Germany and Russia, they're not the same. Germany is now like literally one third or one half of what it used to be Russia as well completely changed. suffice for this lecture to point out, what we need to know is the austro Hungarian Empire is an ally of Germany. austro Hungarian Empire is an ally of Germany. And the Serbs are allies with Russia just keep this simple point in mind. Okay, the austro Hungarian and Germany is one block, and the Serbs and Russia are on one
block. So when the Archduke of which Empire who can remind me austro Hungarian Empire is assassinated by the Serbs. So this is igniting racial tensions, when the Archduke of the austro Hungarian Empire is assassinated by a group of Serbs. This ignites tensions that are beyond the scope of this class, but they've been stirring for many decades, and eventually austro Hungarian, the austro, Hungarians decide that they're going to retaliate by invading Serbia, when they are going to attack Serbia. Russia gets involved. And Germany who's an ally of Astro hunger, if we can get the map back on because then everybody's already confused. If you just look, they're also Yep,
leave them up. So Germany and Austria Hungary, you can consider them to be basically one force that was the one side of the World War One. You see Russia and Serbia on the other side, basically, they are all in yellow. That's one block if you like. So Austria, Hungary, decides to invade Serbia because of the assassination. Germany uses this as an excuse to invade France and Switzerland and Belgium and Netherlands. So they use this as a power grab excuse. You're going to attack from that side. We're gonna attack from this site. And slowly but surely, every single European power is forced into what was called the Great War. Eventually, all over the world superpowers are drawn in
and they're organized into two camps. On the one hand, you have you look at your map, now you have England, France, Russia, Italy, and right at the very end, America, right at the very end, America comes in America does not come in to World War One till the very last year, America tries to stay out, the very end comes in, we'll talk about that a little bit. As
Well, so notice Russia right now is not the bad guys, Russia is on the side of the Allied forces. This is the big confusing thing. Russia is different and world one versus World War Two, Russia right now is on the side of England is on the side of Italy. So on the side of America, against to against Germany and the austro Hungarian Empire, okay, this is basically and those are called the Central Powers Germany and austro Hungarian Empire, the Central Powers, and then you have the Allied forces when I say allied forces, this is the West as we know it, America, England, France, and Russia, Russia is a part of the Allied forces. Now, the great war lasted for four years 1914 to
1918, and was primarily fought in Europe, there was a western front in France and Germany, there was an eastern front between Russia and the austro Hungarian empires. And that was where most of the brutal trench warfare took place. It's not of direct concern to us. There were a number of small skirmishes significant battles in Ottoman and Muslim lands. And it is some of these battles that we are interested in. But before we get there, the question arises, how did the Ottomans get involved in a very European war? What do the Ottomans have to do with Europe? Why should the Ottomans be concerned about World War One, the Ottoman soltana at the time was so fun man made the fifth we have
the picture of him. So fun man made the fifth and
for quite a while if we can see the PowerPoint for quite a while. The Ottoman Sultans for at least 100 150 years had become a mere figurehead. The next Oh, I have to do that. Sorry. Okay, here we go. The Ottoman Sultan, Mohammed, the 50 rule from 1909 to 1918. This is one of the last Ottoman Sultans, not the last, we're going to get to the last one as well. And the Ottoman Sultan at the beginning tried to be neutral. He said I don't want to take either side. However, one of the sad facts of Islamic history, it's not just for the Ottomans throughout Islamic history, many times the soupon or the halifa was a figurehead. And there were people that were controlling the Islamic
dynasty and Islamic lands more than the Khalifa himself. And this was the case right now, when World War One began, there was a group of people that call themselves the Young Turks. This is another subject in history, the young turks, the Young Turks were a group of forward thinking very liberal, basically, people that were controlling the palace and the Ottomans will bond by and large was a figurehead. And
to add to this, the Ottomans, head alpha had become a very weak philosopher. Europe had been mocking the Muslims for over 150 years by calling the halifa. And by calling the Ottoman Empire, what was the title Who can tell me
the sick man of Europe, this was the title of the Ottomans, Europe was made the sick man of Europe, the Ottomans are the sick man of Europe, because they are situated in Europe. And they're the sick man, they're about to die. So the British had already predicted the death of the Ottoman caliphate. And it would come now in World War One recently, right before World War One. The Ottomans had also lost a large chunk of their lands, the countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the countries of Albania. Additionally, colonialism was also very rampant at this time, there were the French were in Algeria, the Italians were in another place. The Germans were in the England, of course, was in
India, as you know, the British Raj was it was in power. So already large chunks of the oma had been cut off. But still there was the bulk of the oma still under the Ottoman lands. Now the Ottomans were technologically very backward. I gave a talk a year ago about the printing press to give you one example, right, that was just one example. Technical, technologically, they had to rely on the west, frankly, like every Muslim country, in our times does as well. Where did they import the electronics from the gadgets? from? Where did the import engineers From where did they import major projects from? You cannot have any Muslim country in our times, except that if there's a
multinational project that needs to take place, they're going to send out bids to the rest of the world, they're going to come and bid on their local projects, as you know, right? This is the reality. Even much of the construction of Mecca and Medina is being done by German companies. If you don't know this, I'll tell you, right. So the fact of the matter is, technologically, no Muslim land can be completely cut off, especially in the 18th 19th 20th centuries. So the Ottomans are relying upon Western powers for everything for a period of time in the 1800s. That Western power was England in 1880, for reasons beyond the scope of our class England cut off so we don't want anything to do
with you, England cut off from the Ottomans. They said get out of here. Wait, what we want nothing to do with you. So the Ottomans turned to Germany. That was the second largest power, just like in the 70s for most of you know, there was England and there was America and Russia. Well in the 1890s there was England and Germany. Okay, so the Ottomans then turned to Germany and a very strong relationship began in the 1880s between
Germany and the Ottomans between the Kaiser eisah of Germany. His title was Kaiser. That's the title of the German Emperor, the Kaiser of Germany and the halifa in Istanbul. And this is best exemplified in that very romantic and famous train called the Orient Express, which even to this day brings a sense of nostalgia or a sense of, you know, fame and whatnot, there was an Orient Express, which was the pinnacle of decadent luxury, you could board the train in Munich, Germany, and it would get you off in Istanbul. And as you know, the trains were the main highways and carriages at the time. So in 1889, you have this Orient Express and you see many movies even famous black and
white movies and books and whatnot written about the Orient Express what is the Orient Express is a direct train line from Germany to Turkey. What does that show you strong bonds between the two just one example of this, also the Kaiser had visited
the Istanbul many times and the halifa has also visited Germany. And there are to this day, if you go to Istanbul, you will find monuments built for the various kaisers that have come monuments that show the Kaiser landed here, he was awarded this over here, so Germany and the Ottomans already have a strong relationship before World War One. And in fact, the field of Orientalism, which is the academic study of Islam, Orientalism is what you used to call non Muslims who study Islam. Orientalism was strongest in Germany, and it began in Germany. I myself when I was studying at Hill, the books you have to read when you start studying Orientalism are German books. That's why I had to
learn German for reading, you have to study German, you cannot be a scholar of Islam in the western sciences, except by learning to read German. And the classics that were written were written in the 1890s to 1930s in Germany, in the German language to this day, these are the classics. So Germany has the greatest relationship with Turkey at the time. And even though in 1914, the Sultan said he's going to remain neutral. Circumstances changed and it is said that the inner court, the young turks maneuvered this whole time and the Grand Vizier, the parsha, the Grand Vizier whose name was Saeed pashas, the title site Pasha, along with the Minister of War, and the Minister of War is probably
the guiltiest culprit here. His name is Enver Pasha, so siete partion Enver Pasha, they entered into a secret agreement with the Germans without the permission of the Sultan without the permission of Sultan Muhammad the fifth, and they form what is called now an ottoman German alliance in August of 1914, around six months before the war, after the war began. So the movers and shakers formed a treaty with the Kaiser, and eventually the Sorbonne had no choice but to publicly support this alliance. So in 1914, November, the Sultan, Muhammad the fifth, for the very last time in our history, issued a call for jihad, literally, because the halifa has the right to call for jihad. As
you know, in Islamic law, the only person who has the right to call for offensive jihad is the halifa. So for the very last time, up until our times in our history, in November 1914, so upon magma to fifth proclaimed the jihad against the Allied forces, and the Allied forces are of course, England and Italy and France and Russia and America. So, this is a public commitment and therefore once the German once the Ottomans have been dragged in now, the Allied forces can attack the Ottomans affairs square when you've declared jihad against us, obviously, they're going to attack back and the Ottomans it was only a matter of time before the Ottomans would be invaded. And that is
exactly what happened. A few months later, in April 1915, Britain and France launched a joint attack against the Ottomans with the with the Express aim of conquering Istanbul. So for the first time, Western powers are attacking Ottoman lands, and this became known as the Gallipoli campaign, the Gallipoli campaign, and it was a brutal onslaught. And we have just a quick map over here. You can see it in front of you. If you look at the map in the middle, if you look at the map in the corner, you see Istanbul up there, right? And you see the Sea of Marmara as well. So they attacked in the Dardanelles straits, which is lower left corner of the map, you'll see that I don't have
unfortunately a clicker. I should have brought the pointer
or the mouse can be seen. Nope, it can't be.
Oh, here okay. So here is Istanbul. As you see right now, Istanbul, of course, there's the Black Sea and the Black Sea is connected obviously to the Russian Empire. So this is a direct passage to Russia and they have to go through the streets of Istanbul through the Sea of Marmara, down the Dardanelles. This is called the Dardanelles and this is a
Larger map of this small area. So the Allied forces wanted to attack what is basically this land over here so that they could control sea access to Russia. Because if you control this is called the Dardanelles straits, if you control the Dardanelles straits, you control the Navy of Russia. Is that clear? Right? If you control this small point of land here, this is Gallipoli, this is Gallipoli, and there's a famous movie in the 80s. By I forgot the very famous actor, very famous Hollywood actor. It's called Gallipoli. 1981, I think is a very famous Hollywood movie. And it talks about basically this invasion from their perspective. So they thought by control and they were correcting
this by controlling these streets, they're basically going to control the Russian Navy, so they attack full scale. Australia, New Zealand, England, they all attack the Strait of Dardanelles, here we go again.
And this attack proved to be a disaster for the Allied forces. They lost over 150,000 men. Now it wasn't easy for the Ottomans, the Ottomans one it was a resounding victory for the Muslims. And it the the Ottomans themselves they lost probably close to 150,000 people as well. It was it was an eight month battle. But the end result was
victory for the Ottomans and the Allied forces could not take Gallipoli to this day. The Turks take great pride in the success of rappelling the British and French forces. It was also in this battle that a general shot up to fame and eventually became the founder of modern Turkey. His name was Mustafa Kemal and eventually he was called a TED talk. It was this battle the Battle of Gallipoli that shot him to fame, it boosted his credentials, he was the commander and leader of the attack of the call the defense, not the attack, he was defending the Ottoman Empire. And because of the success of this battle, basically, he could ride on that success all the way to becoming the
president of Turkey. The first president, as we'll talk about in a while. Now, sadly, even though the Muslims did win the battle of Gallipoli that would basically be their only victory. That's the only victory that the Muslims had really in World War One. Elsewhere, the Allied forces prevailed. In 1915, the British invaded Iraq, and by March 1917, the Brits marched into the once grandiose capital of the abbasids. Baghdad. Here we have a picture of the British troops entering Baghdad in March of 1917. And they took down the Ottoman flag, and they raised in its place the British flag. And on another front, the famous general General Allenby was appointed by the British Prime Minister
and sent into Egypt, where General Allenby was told by the British Prime Minister, I want you to conquer Jerusalem. By Christmas, I want you to conquer Jerusalem by Christmas, and Allenby changed the tactics of his predecessors. He radically altered troop morale for the better, he devised a number of tactics to help him in his quote, unquote, crusade. And the most famous tactic of Allenby was a young, bright man by the name of t. Lawrence, also called Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence of Arabia, he has a whole long story. We don't have time to get into all of that. But if you watch the movie of Lawrence of Arabia, which is a romanticized version of the events, Lawrence of Arabia is
basically he's a, you can call them a type of spy or a type of provocateur of the British, the British gave him 200,000 pounds a month.
In our times, that would be a fortune imagine in 1914. To to do what to use that money to persuade the Arabs to break away from the Ottomans and to fight the Ottomans. So it is as if they're being paid to cause a civil war. So the Arabs are now promised as well, that you should fight against the Ottomans. And we'll get back to this point in a while, General Allenby launched a series of successful campaigns, Egypt was already pretty much under British control. By the time before World War One, Egypt was already very much pro British. So from Egypt, he launches into Gaza into Jaffa. And there he fought the German and the Ottoman forces. Eventually he reaches the holy city of
Jerusalem. He will mark this on the ninth of December 1917. Giving the British Prime Minister his Christmas gift that he wanted because he said I want to Jerusalem before Christmas. And we have some video footage if that can be shown if you can put that on. retreat in General Allenby is in hot pursuit. He wants to destroy as much of the enemy
As he can while he has the upper hand, he knows there is plenty of fight left in the Turks. They may be retreating, but they are not giving up.
Instead of continuing his drive to the north, Elon returns to the east, toward the holy city of Jerusalem. The symbolic history of that ancient city sacred to Christians, Muslims and Jews is more important at the moment than another great victory against the Turks.
Boy George has already told the Prime Minister take Jerusalem before Christmas.
The religious significance is not lost on Christians among the British troops.
For 10 Lizzy's plowed through the sand hills and raced along the coast tracks where Pharaohs war chariots have traveled, a derelict tank lay in no man's land, within rifle shots of where Samson's primitive weapon of the jawbone of an ass had proved more deadly.
Well, you're in some respects that it was a crusade.
But Alan B is really sensitive about this, because he does want it to be called crusade. A lot of his soldiers were Muslim, having his labor force. For example. He also had Indian troops. And so he doesn't want this sort of Christian versus Muslim conflict. And he just doesn't want to call that at all. But you couldn't help but be aware, if you were British soldier, that you were going into Bethlehem or that you were getting closer to Jerusalem. And so even though Allenby doesn't want it really talked about as a crusade, if some of the rank and file did think that way, and I think it was some motivation. For some of these things pretty sold.
On a night of rain and bitter cold, British forces attacked the holy city of Jerusalem on December 7 1917. The enemy offers strong resistance at first enemy that's 15,000 men against overwhelming enemy numbers.
They begin to withdraw from the city
for centuries of Ottoman rule have come to an end.
On December 11, General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot. This is one of the saddest moments in Islamic history. This is exactly when General Allenby is entering Jerusalem as a conquer. We have this on video. This is him entering for respect for the city. He is the 34th conqueror of Jerusalem and it's long volatile past after a campaign that has lasted 40 days and 40 nights with the loss of 18,000 men, the British soldiers have delivered a Christmas present to their nation
in the city LNB delivers a proclamation to the crowd and dignitaries gathered. Since your city is regarded with affection by the adherence of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has become consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of those three religions for many centuries.
Therefore, do I make it known to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, or customary place of prayer, of whatsoever form of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those two whose faith they are sacred?
The Turks lose 25,000 men in the struggle that began October 31. They are down but not out and still hold a strong defensive line from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. It goes on but we need to get back to our slide. So where do we get?
What do we do from current slide here? Okay. So we mentioned then that
we mentioned then that in March 1917, the British captured, captured what, March 1917 of the dead, Iraq in Baghdad by December 1917. They're in Jerusalem. And by October 1918, they conquer Damascus by October 1918. They enter Syria, and they conquer the capital of the ones who made Empire. It was only a matter of time now before the rest of the Muslim lands fall, and on November 13 1918. They invade Istanbul, French and British forces invade Istanbul and Istanbul falls to the allies. It is truly symbolic, in my humble opinion, that out of all of the magnificent and glorious capitals of the Muslim lands, both dad and
Damascus, and Istanbul, all of them, not symbolically, were literally conquered by the allies, literally, Western troops, Allenby and two of them. Allenby wasn't in Istanbul, but Western troops literally entered in to Damascus, and Baghdad and Istanbul. And then of course, Jerusalem, the holiest of holy in that region. And there is no doubt in my mind that in terms of political humiliation, this was one of the lowest points in the entire history of the oma. Perhaps the only disaster politically that was bigger than this was
the Mongols. Perhaps the only disaster that was perhaps more painful was the Mongols, and even that is you can debate but definitely these two disasters, and I intend to give a lecture sometime about the Mongol invasion. But that's really long ago, many people no longer, you know, care about this, even though that had its impact. But this disaster well, like, Can you imagine, every single capital of the Muslim lands physically captured by the allies, and Jerusalem, the holiest of holy, it's only a matter of time before obviously, the end is near. And the Allied forces eventually may have made similar conquests against Germany, and eventually Germany agrees to surrender. But before we get to
the end and the surrendering, we need to discuss some of the tactics that the British did, and some of the promises and treaties that they engaged in during this war to show us the reality of what post World War One will happen. And there are three primary promises that we're interested in. There are three primary correspondences and promises that we're interested in. Number one, the promises to the Arabs, the British promise to the Arabs, beginning in July 1915, the British High Commissioner of Egypt now who's the High Commissioner, high commissioner is basically higher than an ambassador. He's like a governor who represents the British interests in that region. So he is the highest
ranking British diplomat in the entire Middle East. And Egypt was already basically a British protectorate by the time so the British High Commissioner in Egypt, his name is Sir Henry McMahon, Sir Henry McMahon. He is the one who starts thinking of different tactics of sending t Lawrence as well. Answer Henry McMahon begins a series of correspondences with the Sharif of Mecca, who is the Sharif of Mecca we have a picture of the shooting for MK over here, should you send him an idea to Sharif of Mecca, and the Sharif of Mecca is the 40th descendant of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam This is a picture of somebody who is directly descendant of our prophet SAW Selim, he is
the 14th descendant of our profits of Allahu alayhi wa sallam him and his family have been ruling Makkah for over 700 years. 700 years, they have been the governors of Mecca, under the herbicides under the Mamelukes under the Ottomans. They kept the Sharif clan out of respect for them because they are after all, Sharif means.
Say yes, Sharif means for us say it, it means ahlulbayt. Sharif means they are of the family of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they have been a local power, really, to be honest, more than maybe like 1000 years. They have been in the in politics, basically. And they are the most prestigious of all Arab rulers, and the only Arab ruler who might be a threat to the Ottomans. Because after all, he should if and he's the governor of Makkah, so he's got the blood and he's got the geography. And he's got the history and that's 1000 year history. Right? So if anybody is going to be a unifying force, for the Muslims against their califa, you understand, divide and conquer
here, right? If there's anybody whom the Muslims could possibly be bribed into accepting, as an alternative Khalifa, it would be this man Sharif Hussein in it. And therefore, sir McMahon, Henry McMahon had began a series of correspondences. And t Lawrence became a personal friend to Sharif Hussein, a family friend, literally a family friend, he becomes on a first name basis to Sharif Hussein and his three sons. And
the Sharif Of course, now, Danny, yes, he is a little bit but we had mentioned in our lecture, just because you're at elevate doesn't mean you are automatically an angel or a saint. And the sheriff had ambitions of his own, and he had wanted to be the halifa for many years, even before World War One, we now have records of him pre World War One sending messages to the Brits that this is pre World War One that you know, if you want you can kind of help me and we can work something out against the Ottomans. Right. Now the Brits at the time had no need for this man. So they just ignored it. But now
The idea comes up again. And the Brits basically bribe
not just by money, but most importantly, what is the bribe that is really far more powerful than money, its power, its power. That is the most powerful bribe, a man knows power. They promise the sheriff that if you fight against your fellow Muslims, if you rebel against your halifa, and that is the Ottoman Sultan, we will make you the next Calif.
And we will give you a united Arabia, by Arabia, we don't mean Saudi Arabia, we mean the Arab lands, Damascus, Baghdad, everything in between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, everything, Arabia, you shall become the halifa, of a united Arabia.
And they continue to convince him until finally the it is now set in stone. And we have to point out here that yes, we're angry at the foreign powers at the West at England, we're angry at the double dealing, but in the end of the day, they used us against ourselves. In the end of the day, we have to put the blame where also it lies. And Muslims are also guilty, just like every other party is guilty. And we have to acknowledge the greed and the power struggles on all sides. And here we have a copy of one of those letters. If you take a look at it on the on your slide, this is a copy. If you look at the date, can you see the date on there? October 24 1915.
I want you to read this that subject to the above modification Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in all of the regions within the limits demanded by the Sharif of Mecca. Notice very clear here. This is the original letter by the way, you see Edward Henry McMahon and you see the signature, his original letter, Great Britain will guarantee the holy places and Great Britain will give the Arabs advice and assistance. And I'm convinced this declaration will assure you beyond all possible doubt of the sympathy of Great Britain towards the aspiration of her friends, the Arabs, and will result in a true and lasting Alliance, the immediate
results of which will be the expulsion of the Turks from the Arab lands, and the freeing of the Arab people from the Turkish yoke, which so for so many years has oppressed them so heavily. So McMahon with obviously the approval and the knowledge of the British government. They promise Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, that if he revolts, the British will give him a united arab land, and he will be made the next Khalifa from Iraq to Turkey to Syria to the ages. And the Arabs took this as an official promise from England. And based on this promise, the Sharif launched a war against the Ottomans, not against the Brits against the Ottomans. And the Brits, under the command of T Lawrence would
literally tell the *tiest forces attack here, attack there, do this do that. And now if you watch the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, now if you watch the movie with this background in mind, you will see exactly this is what Lawrence does, that he's the one who has the idea. Let's attack Aqaba Let's do this. Let's do that. Now the Brits are telling the Arabs where to attack against the Turks for their best interest. And the primary line of attack was the railroad that connected the the the Ottoman lands to Arabia and to Jordan, they wanted to minimize because railroad is the highway. If you cut off the highway, you're not going to get troops, right. And so even though the Arabs were not that
effective in terms of Army, they were effective in terms of destroying the railroad in terms of bombing, you know, the lines and whatnot. And therefore, the Arabs took this as the promise that if we fight against the Ottomans, we will be given our United Arabia and T Lawrence or Lawrence of Arabia was the one who was put in charge of this Arab revolt. Now, a little bit of footnote about Lawrence, Lawrence, his role has been sensationalized and made larger than life by an American journalist. His name was Lowell farmers from Chicago. He was visiting the lines and he found this British are dressed like an Arab speaking Arabic. And he kind of made it far more romantic. He's the
one who gave him the title Lawrence of Arabia. It's a very romantic view of an Englishman fighting for Arab independence. He basically painted in a very positive light. We cannot forget the T. Lawrence in the end of the day is a British agent provocateur, right? We should not have much sympathy at all for t Lawrence, even though there is no denying that Lawrence believed in his own cause, which is Arab independence. But when Lawrence found out about the other two agreements that we're going to mention right now, guess what? He didn't tell anything to the Arabs. And he continued promising them that which he knew his own government had already agreed elsewhere. Is that clear? Or
did I lose you guys? Te Lawrence figure it out? There are other agreements my government has made? We're going to talk about them right now. But he's still continuing
to promise to Sharif and his family, all of these promises, even though when World War One came to an end, and the negotiation was being done, it is true. Lawrence did fight the British verbally for an Arab independent state, but he was out ruled and outvoted. And he basically abandoned the Arab cause in one back in died in a automobile or motorcycle accident. Perhaps he felt guilty about the Arab cause, but there's no denying that he was a double agent, meaning that he knew exactly what his own country had promised, and he pretended to be a friend to the Sharif. But he continued fighting on behalf of England and telling the Sharif lies that he knew were lies. He did feel guilty, most
likely, but so what at the end of the day, he continued doing what he did. So this is the first backhand deal. It's called the McMahon promises or it's also called the McMahan, Hussein correspondence. We have physical letters, I showed you one actual letter very clearly the Arabs are promised complete independence, you will become the halifa if you fight against the present halifa. This is the first backhand deal. The second one, which was far more sinister, was the something called the Sykes picot agreement. And this is really the most important agreements. Now. Remember that the McMahon letters dates back to 1915. Guess what, in 1915, the same year that the Brits are
promising the Arabs independence, they have begun another series of negotiations, this time with the Russians and the French. Now the Russians and the French are on their site. Right, the Russians have the French on their site, and the Russian Foreign Minister and the British Foreign Minister and the French Foreign Minister, they met a number of times, figuring out what is to be done if we win. Notice degreed in 1915. They're already eyeing the price, and 1950. And they're gonna wonder how are we going to? How are we going to slice this pie? How are we going to divide this cake amongst us? You get the point you, right? If we win, what are we going to do? We don't want to fight in public.
Let's hash it out right now. And so Russia demanded, they want Istanbul
and they want the main land of Turkey. Why? Because we just said that in order to get to the ocean you need to go through is that also Russia had a vested interest in Armenia, Armenia, and Turkey always had a conflict between the two. And Russia was very pro Armenian. So they wanted basically, the main Ottoman lands, if you like, and France wanted a protectorate in Lebanon, what is now Syria, they want to chunks of Syria, and England demanded the bulk of the Arab lands, and that is basically that is basically Iraq and trans Jordan and the Hijaz, this is what they wanted, and eventually they agreed to this type of share. And this is called the Sykes picot agreement s y k S dash p IC OT, the
Sykes picot agreement after the British and the French Foreign Ministers who actually negotiated the treaty, and it was agreed upon by all three governments in utmost secrecy, and we have the original map of the Sykes picot agreement, if you see this, that is the actual original map. And if you look very carefully, you cannot probably see it there but you there is the signature of Sykes and Pico right at the bottom, you see my mouse?
How come you don't see my mouse? I don't know why you don't see my mouse. Okay. But on the bottom right hand corner, you see the the signatures of Sykes and Pico now literally they're gathered around a map, and they're figuring out who's gonna get the red who's going to get portion a who's going to get portion B, and they're arguing, and they're drawing arbitrary lines here and there. And the modern Middle East is literally being carved out and argued over on a map and a table between the two or three of them. Each one is saying no, this me that me finally the end map is in front of you, we still have the original map. And the only thing that comes to mind here is the Hadith of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reported in Muslim Iman, it is only a matter of time you should enter the Dalai Lama, it's only a matter of time before the other nations will call one another to attack you. Just like people are called to eat from a common plate. Just like people are called to eat from one plate, they're going to be called to attack you. They're literally debating and negotiating, who's going to get which share of the pie, which slice of the cake goes where and eventually they agree to these arbitrary lines. And these arbitrary lines basically form the map of the modern Middle East to this day, and this is called the Sykes picot agreement, and it was agreed
upon in utmost secrecy. And the irony of ironies, the the Frenchman was called Francois Georges Pico, and the British was called sir Mark Sykes. Both of them were ignorant of the Middle East. They had barely visited neither of them spoke Arabic there.
Complete JSON of the situation. There are a bunch of diplomats basically, right? They don't have first hand experience or ground knowledge of the ethnicities cultures, actual. It's literally a map that they have not even been to. And they're arguing and debating who's going to get which portion on an on an on a piece of paper. And this forms the basis of the modern Middle East, the Sykes picot agreement, the most of the country's borders and whatnot. were basically drawn out here in this secret agreement. Now. question arises if it was so secret and top secret and secret, how did it get public? Well, brief footnote here, not quite relevant to us. In 1917, Russia had its own internal
revolution not relevant to us, and the czars were thrown out, and the Bolsheviks came to power. So the Tsar dynasty comes to an end, and the Bolsheviks come to power. And the Bolsheviks wanted to expose how corrupt the czars were,
and how bad the Czar's were. So when they discovered these documents, they immediately went public with them.
And the next day, New York Times heading and the Times of London heading is basically a secret agreement between England and Russia and and whatnot, that goes against the McMahon promise that goes against the Arabs independence, even the British public and the American public are now savvy to what's going on. Compare this to Edward Snowden and what he's doing in our times, right. This is the the the people leaking the secrets and whatnot. Right? It was a source of great embarrassment to England, that here we are promising the Arabs. And as we are promising them and signing letters with them. We're also signing letters with the Russians and with the French, but they managed to smooth
it over, believe it or not, and will lie How naive the Muslims were. They managed to smooth it over and lie about it and say, Oh, no, no, don't worry, we still promised you still valid and the Arabs to the very end, believe them to the very end, right until the peace conference of 1990 was we'll talk about shallow data in a while. Now in this agreement. England got control over Jordan and Iraq and Philistine what is now for living in Israel, France was given the south eastern part of Turkey and Syria. And Russia was promised Istanbul and most of central Turkey and what is today, Armenia. This is called the Sykes Pico agreement. That's the second of the three deals we want to talk about
the third deal. So three separate treaties going on regarding the same land, look at how double dealing how duplicitous, how hypocritical, how backstabbing. The Brits were here, three different agreements. While all of this is going on, guess what? 1914 talk begins in the British cabinet at the highest levels of promising a Jewish homeland to the Zionists.
Talk begins of now carving out a independent Jewish homeland and giving it over to design it's not pause here who were the Zionists. The Zionists were a movement that began in the late part of the 19th century, a group of influential powerful Jews in Europe began this movement which was the call designer they call design ism, it was called the world Zionist Federation Council. And the goal of Zionism was the establishment of an independent Jewish homeland, preferably in Jerusalem itself. Now this is an 1880s 1890s. They're already talking about this type of talk, and the most influential. The most influential people in this movement were Theodor Herzl, who's basically the founder of the
Zionist movement. And then chain Wiseman, who eventually becomes the first president of Israel chain, Wiseman becomes the first president of Israel. Now, interestingly enough, in the beginning, the Brits tried to promise them another land. And they said, Why don't you choose Uganda?
In Africa, it's easier for us go to Uganda will give you Uganda have your own independent land in Uganda. Now remember, the Brits controlled one fourth of the world at the time, the Brits controlled much of Africa and India and all of these lands, the Far East. They're all under British control. And many countries in Africa were British protectorates. So they wanted to give a country they felt wouldn't be problematic. So they tried to convince them to take Uganda. And if they had said, Yes, history would have taken a whole different turn, Israel would have been in Africa and the heart of Uganda, there'd be Israel over there, right? But they insisted, no, we only want Jerusalem. Our eyes
are on the price. We want Jerusalem. And eventually the British negotiated out and they agreed to support the Zionist cause. Now, this leads to a very, very big question. Why?
Why would England? Why would Britain want to support the Zionists? What are they gaining out of this? And here we have a whole bunch of theories, some of which border on conspiratorial and bizarre Allah knows best I will mention basically for reasons
And there are more than these, I will mention for reasons that at least the first three I kind of sympathetic to the last one I'm so so about. The first reason. And by the way, this topic of why the Brits wanted to support designers is a very interesting topic. And as I said, you get a lot of theories. And some of them really are conspiratorial, and I just want to dismiss those outright. The first reason that I think is very clear, and there's no denying this, the same reason why every single politician makes promise to members of his own congregation, his own group, and that is for their support. You make promises to people to segments of your people, right? When a politician is
running for office, he's gonna promise the gun holder something is gonna promise the abortions, something's gonna promise, you know, elderly people, so it's a part of what you do as a politician, right? You gather their support, and the Jewish population in England was relatively speaking, powerful and wealthy. And like every political party, there's nothing sinister about this. What is a politician? Do you want the support of those people? So the British Parliament felt the need to get the support of Britain's Jews? That's number Reason number one. directly from this Reason number two, one of the richest and most powerful Jews in all of England, was Chaim, Weizmann himself. And
Chaim Weizmann in particular, was very much needed by the British. Why? Because chain Wiseman wasn't just rich because of having some businesses and whatnot. He was in the business of producing acetone, which was a necessary ingredient in the manufacture of bombs and explosives. And with the advent of war, the price of acetone and the availability of acetone starts to become very, very important. And Chaim Weizmann was a chemist, by the way, and he patented a new technique of acetone, this is before World War, there's basically a stroke of luck, or whatever you want to call it, that his expertise was acetone, he had a company that produced acetone, and acetone is a necessary
ingredient in the making of bombs. And the Brits now desperately need him to increase the supply of acetone by 1,000%. So
it could be and he happens to be the president or the secretary of the world Zionist Federation, right? So it could be that by promising him Jerusalem, you get him on your side. And this is a very logical and rational reason to promise something right? And it is said that when the issue of payments came up, how much would England give Wiseman's company? How much was would be the going rate? He's already a multi billionaire, one of the richest men of Europe. His response was, I don't want any money. I want Palestine.
I don't need any money from you. I want Palestine. That's my payment. Right? And this makes sense that why would he want any money when he himself is a very rich person. So it could be one of the reasons they're supporting designers causes is to get Chaim Weizmann and his company to produce acetone, which is a very reasonable explanation as well. A third cause that is given a third reason that is given,
was hinted at by the person that was speaking in our video, and that is the Christian connection with Judaism, and the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of the second coming of Jesus. It is bizarre for most Muslims to know this. But actually, many Christians are more pro Zionist than most Jews.
We as Muslims, most of us are ignorant about this. Some of the Christian fundamentalist groups are more pro Zionist, then Jewish groups. And the reason for this is because they believe that when the Holy Land is ready, Jesus Christ will return again. And they want to expedite the process. And no doubt they fundamentalist Christians think Jews are misguided, but they think Jews are misguided because they haven't been updated yet. For us, they view us as being not even on the chart of misguidance. We're not even we're not even on the chart. We're completely off the charts. Jews are they they lost the plot because they didn't believe in Jesus. That's what they really, for us. They
believe we are not even on the path of guidance. So there's more sympathy to Jews, obviously, because in the end of the day, Jesus was a Jew, he came for the Jews, and they all acknowledge this. There's more familiarity with the Jews, and we are considered to be heathens and barbarians and following a false prophet. That's their view. And the Prime Minister of England, Lloyd George, at the time, was an ardent evangelical Christian. And he clearly had pro Zionist and very Christian tendencies when he wants to conquer Jerusalem and whatnot. You see yourself what you saw yourself, his his statements and whatnot, and there's no denying that there's an element of pro Zionism coming
out of a Christian theology. Okay, so this is Reason number three
And again, I don't see any conspiracy here, it's pretty obvious you believe in something, you're going to do it. The fourth reason given this is where I say Allahu Alem. It's a bit of a conspiracy. I don't know, I don't I'll just say it. And I don't know if it's true or not, there is a theory, you'll find it in a lot of books. But I'm not. I'm not an expert in this. So I just mentioned it. And I'll leave it at that, that by promising Palestine to the Jews. This was a bribe, to certain high ranking officials in the White House to try to drag America into the war as well. And this is a theory that is given and they mentioned some names and whatnot, that this was some type of, you
know, promise that America would also get involved. But you know, a lot of it is true or not. But let me say one thing, and this is shocking to many of us, but it's historically true, mainstream American Judaism was completely opposed to Zionism. For the first 40 years of Zionism.
mainstream American Judaism 1880s 1890s it was a European phenomenon. Zionism was a complete the European phenomenon. American Jews, by and large, scoffed at the idea of an independent Jewish homeland. They thought this is ridiculous, we're happy where we are, you know, we're climatized. We love America, there was no notion and they didn't understand that would cause problems and whatnot. And mainstream Jews in America did not support Zionism, until basically Hitler and World War Two, that's when they felt the need to have an independent Jewish homeland. And this is well documented. This is not some type of theory. This is a known fact that mainstream American Jews were not pro
Zionist, and whatever the reasons might be. Eventually, these discussions between European Zionist and the British government continued until finally in August 1917, the discussion reaches the British cabinet. Now it's going to become official should we vote or not. And very interestingly, this is another interesting point, there was only one Jewish member of cabinet in that entire meeting, there was only one Jewish member. And that Jewish member was the most vocal opponent to the plan of giving Palestine to the Jews. And his name was you can write this down. Edwin Samuel Montague mo n t Agu, Edwin Samuel Montague. And what he said was listen to this, and this is the
only Jewish member of the cabinet. And he's one of the most vocal opponents to the plan of giving Palestine to the Jews. What he says was, this would cause great alarm in the Muslim world would create enemies for us when we don't have enemies. So Muslims and Jews were not enemies to one another for the bulk of their history. And this is something that is shocking to modern Muslims and Jews, modern Christians. The fact of the matter, Muslims and Jews got along very well, in what is now Palestine, up until the beginnings of Zionism, Muslims and Jews did not have too much problems. And here we have a senior member of the British Parliament who is a Jew, saying that I am worried if
you're going to do this, you're going to cause tensions between us, you're going to cause problems between us, and you're going to reinforce anti semitism and bigotry. Notice this is a Jew speaking out against this saying, If you do this, we're going to get into trouble from our Muslim, if you like neighbors and whatnot. And this more than anything shows us dear Muslims, let us not confuse anti Zionism with anti Jewishness, we have to be very careful here. Many, many Muslims confuse the two together.
We are anti Zionist, we are not anti Jewish.
We are anti Zionist, and we criticize Zionism. As for Jews, they are a helicopter. And the shade er has and always will grant them rights that are known to all of us. And historically speaking, Jews and Muslims always found sympathy and comfort against the Christians in the Crusades. And throughout history. Whenever the Christians persecuted the Jews, the Jews always found safe passage in Muslim lands. This is an undeniable historical reality. And that is why there were large groups of Jews living in Muslim lands up until the creation of Israel. You Arabs know this. Yemeni Jews, Moroccan Jews, Tunisian Jews around the world there's a Jewish synagogue in Cairo, which is now empty because
of Zionism. Right? Jews flourished and Muslim lands. And historically speaking, there was not the type of animosity that exists right now. And unfortunately, in our anger against Zionism, many Muslims have become anti semitic and anti Jewish, and this is a problem. we criticize Zionism. And let me tell you, from my own experiences, some of the most vocal and effective critics of Zionism
Orange juice.
I repeat that some of the most vocal and effective critics of Zionism, Zionism is political. Judas Zionism is a type of racism. We have no qualms about this, you are saying that somebody who's a Jew has the right to go to a land that he's never been in for 50 centuries. And he can take over the property and land of somebody who's right there. This is racism and ethnic cleansing in a way, we are opposed to Zionism. We are not opposed to the rights of Jewish people to be Jews. And our religion has always given that we will continue to give them these rights. And here we have in in Edwin Montague, a very good example of a Jew standing up for the rights of the Palestinians and
saying, If you do this, you're going to get us into trouble. Well, obviously as you know, he was outvoted. And in any case, the opposition was minimal. He was one of a handful, and the cabinet basically allowed this to pass and immediately the British Foreign Secretary, sir author belfor, eagerly wrote to telegram to Baron Rothschild, if you can show now on the screen. And this is the actual telegram that was sent. This is called the Balfour Declaration. This is called the Balfour Declaration. That is Sir Edward. That is Sir Arthur Belfer, and he wrote to telegraph to Baron Rothschild, you have over here, Dear Lord Rothschild. I have the pleasure. This is the actual
Balfour Declaration. Look at the date, November 2 19 1970. This is the actual telegraph that was sent yours. Oh, here we go again. Yours, author Belfer, and it says that his Majesty's Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective. It's being clearly understood, that nothing shall be done, which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. This is the Balfour Declaration dated November 2 1917. And he wrote to to Baron
Rothschild, and the Rothschilds. I mean, another is a whole bunch of a whole tangent over here, the Rothschilds were. Well, who is Baron Rothschild. Baron Rothschild is the highest ranking He is the Lord. And the Lord is like, there is no equivalent in America but like he's higher than a senator. He is the Lord. And he is the highest ranking Jewish, basically member of, you know, the British Parliament and royalty. He is the Lord in the in the House of Lords, and he is the highest ranking Jew in England. And so, and he's also obviously a member of the world Zionist Congress. And so immediately sir author Belfer sends him The Telegraph. And of course, the Rothschilds is a whole
different. There's a whole different tangent over here, the Rothschilds is, how can I even phrase this I mean, this is a dynasty that has spanned over 350 years, a Jewish banking dynasty that has branches to this day in Austria and England and France and Americans, Switzerland, and it is the pioneer, one of the pioneers of worldwide banking, and their net worth in today's value. Back in the 17th 1800s, would literally be in the hundreds of billions. The Rothschild family, there is no other equivalent in all of Europe, they transcended politics. They're so wealthy, they don't care who's in power. These are people that are the bankers and the people of wealth in a number of European lands,
and they are still around to this day, one of their members is founder of that famous Swiss bank is worth $100 billion or something while the bank is worth not him. But I mean, he's the, you know, the president of whatnot, the family is still active to this day. So this is he writes the letter to Baron Baron Rothschild, and he basically promises him that look, you help us out and you will get your state and Palestine, you will get your Israel now, the same land has been promised to three people basically. Right? Well, you can say when the British promised it to themselves, they feel they have the right to give it to the to the Jews now. So they're promising the Arabs freedom. And
they've already negotiated with the French and German that they're going to keep Jordan and then they've already said a part of Jordan will be given over to trans Jordan will be given over to the Zionists. Now, the Arabs and Muslims once again found out about the Balfour Declaration because the Balfour Declaration was not top secret. Unlike the Sykes picot agreement. The Balfour Declaration was made public and it was publicized in the newspaper.
Once again, the Brits convinced the Arabs that don't worry about it, we'll deal with it when the time comes. And the Arabs basically went along, they fell for it again. That Don't worry, we trust you. You guys are going to help us out. And they ignored the Balfour Declaration. And do realize that when all of this began pre World War One, only 5% of Palestine had a Jew were Jews. The Jewish population was less than five
percent. And they are being told that you're going to get a state in modern Palestine. I mean, in some cities, Muslims are 5%, here in America, probably in New York, where more than that, imagine if we are told, oh, you can get all of New York, don't worry. This is literally their promises being made. Right? all over New York is yours if you just help us out. Well, how about the rest of the people of New York, how all of this we need to understand this is what's going to happen now. That's exactly the tensions that are going to come this is exactly the problem. And these are the three primary agreements that the Brits made. And it is undeniable that these agreements demonstrate the
duplicity and the outright hypocrisy of England, and the double crossing role that they played in promising different people different things, and in particular, how they backstabbed the Arabs and the Muslims. Now, we need to start wrapping up what exactly happens, obviously, Germany eventually is defeated. And Germany basically resigns or surrenders at a very infamous date at 11am. In the 11th month of the in the 11th day of the 11th month, as a famous thing that happened, it just so happened 11am, on the 11th of November, in the year 1918. This is when World War One officially comes to an end. And there are many results of the end of World War One to summarize some of them
that obviously, first and foremost, there was the loss of life, in some European lands, more than 20% of the male population is gone, changes the whole dynamics. Second was the famine because when you don't have men, you're not gonna have fields, you're not gonna have this, and the famine probably killed, at least triple or quadruple the amount that died in the actual war. 10s of millions of people across the globe died as a result of famine. And then when you have famine, and you have a lack of sanitation or whatnot, then the third disaster, and this was the Spanish influenza of 1918. And what will make you understand what is the Spanish influenza, the Spanish
influenza was the worst plague that man has seen since the Black Death of 1320 or something. It is estimated that up to 5% of the world's population died in the Spanish influenza, the Spanish influenza, it's called the Spanish influenza, but it spanned the globe from America to the Far East, people just fell sick, healthy people. And the demographics are typically between 35 to 55. Healthy People would just start coughing blood, and, and this is by Oh, I forgot to mention, this is the original bird flu virus, h one and one. This is the first one.
And that's why when the bird flu virus resurrected three, four years ago, everybody panicked. Because they didn't have a cure for the Spanish, it just stopped on its own after a good percentage of the world just basically died. And this was the largest plague that mankind had seen. Basically, since the, you know, Black Death, it is estimated that up to 100 million people died in the Spanish influenza of 1918 1919 1920. On a personal note, my own great grandfather also died in 1980. And as a young man, my own great grandfather in 1918, just fell sick started coughing, and this is in the village of India, right middle of nowhere, and Spanish influenza 1918. So, that was the third issue
that we're gonna talk about. So the first was basically the tragedies of the war itself. The second was the famine. Then the third was the Spanish influenza. Obviously, World War also caused a lot of economic and social reforms that's beyond the scope of this class. But just one look to our one footnote here, feminism.
Feminism, for the first time in human history, the roles of men and women were reassessed in human history, not Muslim history. It was understood what is the role of a man and the role of a woman in human history across the globe. Men and women have a certain understanding and relationship men are in charge of one thing women are in charge of another has Allah says what they said the curriculum for the man is not like the woman.
And it is understood the woman is more of a caretaker more of a homemaker. This has historically always been the case. Well 1918 changes all of that. It has to 120 percent of your population that are men are gone. What's going to happen?
Women have to go to the workforce. And women are told you have to take and for the first time and we have many posters to this day that you have women you can do it you know that poster of a woman with the scarf and the the you know, the quintessential feminist poster, right? That masculine look with the muscles, you can do it right you're going to go and do it. And World War One was the first time when women were asked to leave the sanctity of the house, the peacefulness of the house, and we're told go and work we need you. Then obviously when they're going to do this and World War Two made it even bigger. So the first wave of feminism began after World War One, the second wave
Not coincidentally, after World War Two, and then we are still basically seeing this entire re shifting of men and women. All of this comes about from World War One. But for us, we're interested in the politics and especially the Middle Eastern, and the automatic collapse. So what happens in 1918, November, ceasefire is declared, and in 1919, the victors all gathered to divide the cake.
The victors all come together and party for almost a year,
meant by party, I mean, engage in meetings and dialogues. And they chose Bowery Paris, France, and this is called the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, when the world leaders of America, England, Italy, and France all came together if we if we can, if we can see the next slide as well. Here we have the presidents of here you see on your slide, the President that is the president of
Firstly, that is England, and then Italy, and then France. And then that's Woodrow Wilson, right at the very end. On the right, Woodrow Wilson, right. This is the infamous picture. Paris, 1990, the presidents of England, Italy, France, I should say, Paris, excuse me, in Paris, sorry, France, and America. These are all of the four presidents and obviously, hundreds and 1000s of entourage, ministers of every single country, for 1919, Paris became the capital of the world. delegations are coming from all over the world, even from the small islands of whatever coming for independence, clamoring for this, and not petitioning the African movements as well. Here in America, the African
Americans trying to petition for independence from the whites, I mean, all over people are coming to basically, you know, petition against, you know, other causes and whatnot. And, obviously, this Paris Peace Conference of 1919 was when the victors agreed on how to divide all of the spoils in front of them. And of the most important effects, although not directly relevant to us, was the financial constraints and burdens and taxes they put on Germany. And they said that the Germans are completely guilty, you must acknowledge that every one of you is guilty for causing World War One, or for causing the Great War, and you have to pay back every single country, all of the damages that
has happened. So Germany is placed with trillions of dollars of basically taxes and debt, it's impossible to pay off, right. And the Germans knew this. And Germany has this now complex of how they're going to do this. And obviously, in this complex in this underdog type of mentality, you know, Adolf Hitler comes along in the 19, late 1920s, and 30s. And he gives that German pride that they were waiting for, and that was that pride that basically caused Hitler to come to power, which of course precipitated World War Two, which of course, precipitated the collapse of Europe as a world power, which of course, shot America up into the superpower status that it still continues to
enjoy to this day. It was also in this conference, that both the Arabs and the Zionists came and argued their case in front of the Allied politicians, and Woodrow Wilson. Now, at this point in time, America is neutral. I know that sounds bizarre for us. But once upon a time, America was not biased towards Israel. Well, there was no Israel right now. But America is not biased towards designers. And America actually tried to be neutral, believe it or not, what did Woodrow Wilson do 1919 he said, let us send our own independent study into the land. And let us see if it's feasible to give the Zionists a land for themselves. And this is called the king crane commission, King dash
crane crna, the king crane commissioned because there was two people, and they were both arabist. They spoke fluent Arabic. They were scholars, academics, if you like.
And they went right after this peace conference 1919 directly at the command of President Woodrow Wilson, and they toured Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Damascus, they went all over the Arab world. And they literally met with Bedouins and tribal leaders and they were on the ground. Unlike Sykes Pico in the air conditioned room with the map in front of them, they're on the ground, and they spend the bulk of 1919, literally wandering and walking and surveying and whatnot. And they come back with a very strongly worded resolution, or not resolution, but I mean, suggestion or whatever I mean, their findings, if you like, where they say that any establishment of a Jewish homeland in those areas, is
impossible. Without severely trampling the rights of the locals. It's just not possible. You can't do it. And they suggested very strongly that the whole idea should be scrapped. This is the official response of the king crane commission. And it is you can find this the original documents, we still have them in the Library of Congress. You can Google them, I didn't put them on on the slide, but you can find them the original findings are still there, and they are against establishing a Zionist homeland. Well, what do you think happened?
That is basically filed away. Nobody cares about that. And Woodrow Wilson, eventually other members of his parliament and whatever Congress convince him otherwise, and the king crane commission simply becomes a footnote in American history. It was never acted upon. However, the New York Times did talk about the kincraig. commission. There's a whole article in 1919, New York Times about the results of the kincraig Commission. It's amazing now, how the New York Times even has changed from its position in 1919. to its position right now. Now, most importantly for us. Eventually, the gist of the Sykes picot agreement was ratified and agreed to and the Paris Peace Conference, and this is
called the Treaty of Versailles, the Treaty of Versailles. Now, what is the Treaty of recite it is one of the treaties of the Paris Peace Conference, the Paris Peace Conference is the whole year, many, many treaties. And the Treaty of Versailles is the most important treaty for us because it deals with the Ottomans. There were other treaties about Europe and whatnot. That's not our business too much in this classroom or in this lecture. We are more interested in the Treaty of Versailles. And by and large Oh, sorry, we have a picture here. If you can show this here. Here we have a picture of face. Oh, here we go again.
Let me see if I can. How do I get this on the wire?
If we do if I don't want to how do I get this larger?
How do I get this one? justice? Because I can't show my
this one okay. Yeah, knows. But yeah, this is face on.
There we go again. This is Faisal the son of Sharif Hussein. And this was the best friend of Te Lawrence. This is t Lawrence in the background. You see him in the background? Where did my cursor go? Do you see my cursor? No. Okay, let me see this. For some reason. My cursors not working. You see him on the left of Faisal. You see him on the left behind him. He's the only white guy wearing the ultra wearing the Shema is the only white guy wearing the Arab headgear. Kind of smirking. That's t Lawrence right there. Okay, so you have in the forefront, Faisal the son of the Sharif Hussein. Right. So surely if we're saying had three sons, we're gonna talk about this fight. Saul
was the closest friend to t. Lawrence. He was also the youngest son, and this is in Paris, this they're standing in Paris. That's one of his slaves in the background. By the way, he brought his slave entourage, one of his slaves in the background, his bodyguards is standing in the back, and towards his right is his.
One of his visitors or one of his admirals. And then you have two British people in prison. And there's t Lawrence over there as well. So he is arguing for Arab independence. He's arguing for give my father the caliphate. That's what you promised me. That's why he's there. Chaim Weizmann also is there and the Zionist Federation and they're saying the Balfour Declaration You promised us, right? So this is where the you know, what hits the you know what, right? This is where both parties are saying You promised us You promised us? What are you going to do? And so what happened was, they kind of sort of basically acquiesced and agreed to the Sykes picot agreement, and a portion of Syria
came under French protector. If we can see this now, a portion of Syria became French protectorate. And one of the first things that the French did, well, this is the French protector. This was this was given to France, one of the first things that the French did was to quite literally create a new country that they called Lebanon, sorry, all Lebanese brothers and sisters, but you should know your country is very recent, and it was created by the French for,
for the Christian Arabs. The French wanted to reward the Christian Arabs for having helped them out in World War One. And the first thing that they did, they said, Let's divide this land into a number of different lands. Let's give it a Sunni land, a Christian land. And either we land New Zealand, this was the proposition is a proposition. There were different, you know, different theologies over there. And over the first things that they successfully did, they carved out Lebanon, and they made it for the first time in human history, a separate country. And they said, Okay, this is now for the Maronite Christians, but obviously it didn't. It didn't turn out that way. Eventually, Lebanon
became a multicultural land, but it was meant to be only for the Maronites. And there was also talk, as you see on your chart of a separate deluzy state at the bottom it said it was called the juggler, Guru state. And on the upper left, either we state right they wanted to give a separate land for the other ways. Now, what else did the French do? The French ruled over this land for 2030 years till World War World War Two, then the Syrians revolted and kicked the French out and then they, you know, went their separate ways. But during French control, they wanted to find a group that could be loyal to them against the Sunni majority. And so they came across the other ways. And the other way
is up until that point in time had been barbarians.
I should say they still are some of them. But up until that point in time, they had been quite literally uneducated. When I say barbarians, I mean it uneducated, illiterate, reading, what would if you look at history books, what were the other was known for raiding, certainly property, killing their men and women, sometimes raping and then taking their, their property, and the Sudanese were scared of them because of their bark ferocity, they lived in the mountains, they had their own separate land and their own separate land, meaning, you know, area and whatnot. And that was the case, when the French came, they recruited Luis for the first time sending schools, educating them,
and giving them a lot of military positions. Why, as we explained why they wanted a group that they could trust against the Sudanese. And so the other ways we're civilized, if you like, by the French, and it is not a coincidence, 30 years after the French left, that the other way now comes to power half is elicited from the military. Had it not been for the French, that otherwise wouldn't be in the percentage they are in the military, had it not been for the French, that otherwise would not have that education would not be in the army would not to become generals. And so half is an asset and now his son, Bashar Al Asad, they're a direct consequence of the frenches basically helping the
other ways. In the 1920s onwards, this is what happened in this region, the Brits, what did the Brits do? The Brits awarded themselves three territories, they get the lion's share, because they're the bridge, they get whatever they want. The first land they call the trans Jordan, the first land they call the trans Jordan, and eventually trans Jordan. In our map, it is Jordan, Palestine and Israel. They call the trans Jordan. The second land is Iraq. They get all of Iraq and the third land is Hijazi Arabia. So they get these three large lands and
the Sharif of Mecca kept on clamoring you promise you promise your promise. So they decided, Okay, you know what, you're right, we did promise. So they took his three sons.
And in one of the most bizarre things in recent history, they literally handed each one of the sons one of these lands yellow ticket. Now obviously when they said this, it's understood the Brits are going to be the real puppeteers. These are figureheads, and they know it, the figureheads know it, right. And so the eldest son of Sharif Hussein, his name was Ali. Ali was given the ages, you get Arabia. And immediately, he called himself the king of ages. And he ruled that very long rule from October 1924 to December 1925. Very long group, because obviously, there was another power brewing in that region. And that is the power of the rude.
The Saudis, who were also financed by the British unbelievably, as their financing the Sharifs, they're also financing the answer route. And I know this is painful for some of us in the audience. But the Hulk is the Hulk here, okay, that as they are financing them, they're also financing the other group. Right? And it is now well known. I mean, you cannot deny this, the documents are quite there. Right? And it's unblemished, it's real, how many groups are you financing? What are you instigating with whom, and eventually, when as your route becomes more and more powerful, the Brits basically absolve themselves of the Sherif Ali, administrative Hussein, and they allow us to to
basically unify Arabia, and the answer would then call the country their own, and they say it is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And so from that point in time, that surely family is cut off. Okay, so Ali, Sharif Hussein is cut off now. And he goes into exile he dies a miserable death, a sad death or lonely death. and Saudi Arabia is now as you know, Saudi Arabia, the second oldest son of Sharif, his name is Abdullah intiative. Hussein, he is given Jordan, he is given Jordan and that is the only one of the three who Allah either has it was successful in his own way. And he proclaimed himself the king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Hashemite because he's
Hashimi in lineage, right. And eventually, his grandson Hussein becomes the king. And Hussein was the king from 1952 to 1999. And then he died. And currently it is Hussein son Abdullah. And so the current King of Jordan is the great great grandson of the Sharif Hussein of Makkah.
Clear, the current King of Jordan is the great great grandson of the very one who made the deal with the Brits. And he's the only one that allows other has it, that they remain there. Otherwise, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has absolutely nothing to do with your
He is from Makkah. And he is Hashimi. And the Brits literally plucked him up there and threw him there. And he is still ruling that land to this day, him and his descendants die. That's the second of the three. The third of the three was the youngest Faisal. And Faisal was the most friendliest at Lawrence. And Faisal was made governor of Iraq and he immediately calls himself the king of Iraq, Mashallah, we got three kings, three brothers, all of them wanted to be kings is king here, King here, King there, and you can see in their blood, you see, it's in them right. By the way, I forgot to tell you, I lead the eldest.
He actually called himself halifa for a while. The one in Makkah, the oldest one, his father died, and the Ottomans are no longer there. So now he says, I am the halifa. To Muslim he self appointed himself, the halifa didn't really last for too long and the falafel never was considered to be his. In any case, the third of the three phases of Lebanon, Hussein, he is made the governor of Iraq he becomes the king of Iraq. And Iraq is a little bit more complicated. But the people of Iraq reject they literally, they literally kicked him out literally, they didn't want him and they kicked him out. The Brits installed one of his cousins and nephews, again, the Hashemite shady family, and two,
three other you know, Kings cousins, relatives came until finally, in 1958, the Iraqi army revolted against the visit the great grandson of the sheriff, basically one of the sheriff's and in a sad tragedy, no doubt, although these are sad. They gathered together the entire family, men, women and children in a room, and they shot them to death all over them the entire *ty family that was in Baghdad at the time. And that was in 1958. And a young, a young army cadet at the time, eventually in 1968, rises to power and his name is Saddam Hussein, just 10 years after he was in the army at the time, he wasn't in the room. But his leaders, the people he knew were in charge of the 58
revolution. Right? So we're not going too far back here. You see my point here. This is very recent history. Well, what happened in Turkey,
the Allied forces initially agreed to a treaty that was called the Treaty of Severus in 1920, which effectively handed turkey over to the Brits, effectively, the Treasury, the politics, the police will be given over to the Brits, but a faction of Turks rebelled against this, and that faction was led by that dashing Gen who had become famous in the world of Gallipoli, and his name is
well his name is not a TED talk. His name is Mustafa Kemal and Mustafa Kemal fought against the British revolted against this treaty make a long story short, he established an independent homeland for the Turks, one sixth of the original size of the Ottoman land, but nonetheless, an independent Turkish state. And he called it the Republic of Turkey. And you all know that a TED talk was of the most secular Muslims we have seen, he hated Islam with a passion as you know, and he completely changed the entire, you know, system inside of his lands. He banned the recitation of the Quran in Arabic, the event was given in Turkish the Salah was recited in Turkish. He banned the job he banned
religious schools, he did so many things, and one of the acts that he did, eventually, on March 3 in 1924, he deposed the last Ottoman Calif have done Majeed the second and he sent him into exile, and therefore, in 1924, the Ottoman Caliphate In fact, the Philadelphia of the Muslims that had been in operation since the time of obaku, should be non stop continuously. Even the Hmong goals did not destroy the caliphate it lived on. Even the Mongols could not get rid of the caliphate. Well, from 1914 onwards, a series of events precipitated in the Muslim world that eventually led to the collapse of the caliphate, and from 1924 up until our time, we have not had a Caliph. Here there is
a picture of the last Ottoman Caliph Abdul Majeed, the second
and I chose a very interesting picture. I apologize about the picture of the lady, but that is his daughter by the name of Khadija, and she was his last daughter. And this is a picture taken in Paris, he went into exile in Paris, he died in 1939. I think before World War Two he died and listen to this is very interesting point of history, very recent, in fact, their children are still alive. Now, listen to this, the most powerful and richest Muslim ruler in the world was
at the time was
you should know.
Yes.
The Indian knows. Then exam of Hyderabad huh?
Then exam of Hyderabad
It is estimated by modern historians that the Nizam of Hyderabad was the richest man in human history.
This is what is estimated, the richest man in human history was the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Because, obviously, I mean, he's accruing his wealth over hundreds of years. And I think they evaluated a 200 billion or something dollars, I mean, this he owns jewels and whatnot and at that time, the equivalent of 200 billion at that time obviously not now, he doesn't exist at the point right. So, then Azzam of Hyderabad. Then Azzam of Hyderabad was the richest and one of the most powerful Muslim rulers, the Ottomans had collapsed. And
there was this feeling that we need a type of Messianic figure.
So, what is to be done? Let us take the son of the aneurysm of either Hyderabad scene in his Mashallah Italian suit, if you can now go back to the picture is handmade Italian suit over here. And his name is What is his name? I forgot his name. Oh, it's under himayat le han Bahadur.
himayat le han Bahadur, the son of the Nizam of Hyderabad, marries the youngest daughter of the deposed Ottoman Khalifa. And that is Khadija in the background. And it is hoped that the union of these two will bring about the madfinger if you like whether or not not the mme it, but you know, you get the point, the Savior, right? Well,
they had children, but their marriage ended in divorce. And those children are still alive to this day. But they are very far from having any role in Muslim woman. Let's just put it that way. Okay. And it didn't quite turn out the way that that they had planned. In any case, final point what exactly happened to fall asleep and go back to the slide. last and most definitely not least what happened to Philistine? And where and how did the modern nation state of Israel come along? Well, for that story, I'm afraid we will have to go to part two, and we will continue this insha Allah to Allah, this Sunday, we will continue on Sunday, inshallah you get an email around 11 o'clock or so.
And I will have the help of Dr. Nebula and others as well in sha Allah, who won't just be me because there's a lot of history here. So we will inshallah continue this class, and we especially want you to bring the youngsters because by youngsters, I mean, like, above 10, nice to understand history, because the fact of the matter is, forget the youngsters will lucky most of us.
We don't know, we do not know, the reality of how Philistine was taken away from us. We do not know. So what happened after World War One, and between World War One and World War Two, and all of these different treaties and whatnot. This is a whole different lecture and talk and we have decided to be controversial. We have decided to go full swing ahead. And I don't think there's any real controversy because the whole point is we will give you the facts you'll be the judge this is the reality we I'm there's no conspiracy here. We have told you what the Brits promise the Brits promise the promise, this is the reality. Right. And now after World War One, what happened to the site's
Pico and the Balfour Declaration and trans Jordan and Philistine in Israel, this will be the topic of Sunday inshallah, to Allah, we will send you the flyer and maybe 11 1130 or so, don't have the exact timing but in sha Allah, make sure you bring the youngsters in you as well make sure you come and be prepared to basically take notes or no, because the fact of the matter is, will love the brothers and sisters. How many of us even I, when I started studying Islam had no idea of how recent these things were. You really think these countries are set in stone. And you never stopped to realize how did they come about? How did the Muslim oma get divided into 60 plus countries when we
used to have one in Africa? Where did these borders come from? We never stopped to think. Right? And the reality is these borders are in the generation of my grandfather and your grandfather.
You know, the last survivor of World War One died last year.
This is recent. Last year, the last survivor was big news last year. And the children are some of these people we discussed are still alive. I was shocked to find out that some of the children of the Ottoman Caliphate are still alive. 1980 something years old, the last Ottoman halifa still alive, right? This is not we're not going back to ancient history. This is our generation 100 years ago, this began 1914 and inshallah, the next few years, I have made it my own personal agenda, to talk about these lectures and this history and, and bring it back to the conscience of the oma because and with this, we conclude in my humble reading of Islamic history, and I'm not an expert in
history.
But I'm dabbling. As you can see, I'm not an expert, by no means but we should all know this stuff in my humble reading of Islamic history. One of the lowest of the lows of the oma happened in 1914 onwards. Can you imagine hearing the Brits have taken Damascus, the Brits have taken Baghdad, the Brits and the French have marched into Istanbul right to the gates of the Ottoman Khalifa, literally surrounding the Ottoman palace. Can you imagine? Right? Can you imagine the distress hearing the Ottoman Caliphate has been abolished? The Indians Pakistanis who wish to study your own history, the concept of Crawford movement, Pakistan owes its existence to the feeling of depression that happened
when the khilafah was abolished. The Hill aphromoo the Chaudhary brothers, sugar daddy and and, and and Muhammad Ali, right, the entire Hereford movement if Bob is versifying, if BOD has poetry about Hussein and Sharif making fun of them the *ty family, right making fun of them. What have you done? What's the famous line? Maybe you told me you have ages in your blood but as long as your character something like this right that you're Hejazi in your ethnicity, but what do you Where do your actions you're betraying the woman? Right? She cuando Abhishek, who also comes in this time. So the point is, this is very recent stuff. And the entire transformation of the oma, we can dated back
to now. Now my point is, if we had been alive at this time will love it would be like one stab after another. But my dear brothers and sisters, and my humble analysis, we see now a revival Alhamdulillah that is pleasing to the hearts.
Yes, politically painful, politically, Syria Look, the whole hotel a villa? May Allah azza wa jal give them support and patience and overthrow this Allawi regime that has destroyed the land of the Muslims. But that is politics. How about the people? How about the show? How about the Sahaba the enthusiasm of them oma Alhamdulillah we see Muslims coming back to their religion. We see Muslims wanting to study, learn, pray, we see Muslims identifying with Islam feeling Islamic. And this is optimism that did not exist in 1918.
So, I believe in sha Allah, that times are changing, that inshallah huhtala we can look forward to better times in the future in our own inshallah timeframe. And that's one of the reasons why we need to study the past so that we don't make the same mistakes in the future so that we don't have deja vu promises and this No, we should see through the reality and learn from the mistakes of the past and see what we are selves, the mistakes that were made, the double crossing and the internal fighting, and inshallah we will continue this on Sunday. It's really late. Unfortunately, we don't have time for q&a, but inshallah on Sunday we will have time for q&a. I will see you then does
akmola head on was said on Monday.
You'll get an email but I think our 1130 or so inshallah.