What is your opinion of one who takes the stance of a gloater, rejoicing that the oil of the people of Kuwait is removed from them due to the war of Iraq against them?

The questioner : What is your opinion, may Allah bless you and your work, of the Muslims from the people of this country who take the stance of a gloater toward their Kuwaiti brothers, one who calls upon Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to remove their oil from them and from the people of the Gulf, and you know that the people of Kuwait in particular, and the people of the Gulf in general, have good effects in all the Islamic lands?

The Shaykh : Yes, without a doubt, this is without a doubt a result of poor Islamic upbringing. Here it is appropriate to mention a hadith, and although it is not authentic from a hadith perspective, its meaning may be realized regarding these people you are asking about: "Do not show gloating toward your brother, lest Allah cure him and afflict you." This hadith is narrated in some of the Sunan, such as Sunan al-Tirmidhi, but its chain of narration is weak and does not justify us saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said. If knowledge were by wish and desire, I would wish that this hadith were authentic, because it is a very strong means of upbringing for such gloating people. For the gloater, usually out of his negligence, thinks that he is better than the one he gloated at, while the reality, unfortunately, in the Islamic world is like what that Turk says, "We are like the Berbers," meaning everyone is like the other. So we cannot say that this nation as a whole is better than this nation. But as the Egyptian proverb says, and an Egyptian is present now, "O one entering Egypt, there are thousands like you." O one entering Egypt, there are thousands like you. What is the meaning of this? If you, O one entering Egypt, are righteous, there are thousands like you. And if you, may Allah forbid, are wicked, even then, as they say, there are thousands like you. Therefore, this gloating returns upon the gloater with woe, misery, and great matters. It is sufficient that this is not among the morals of the Muslims, and it is a plague of the Islamic world, the entire Islamic world. And this is what we constantly and always emphasize: that the Islamic state cannot be established except after purification accompanied by upbringing. Now there is some purification accompanied by what is called today the Islamic awakening. But the truth is that upbringing, after its effect began to appear in the Islamic society, is only in scattered individuals in this entire Islamic world. As a nation, as a community, as a group united on Islamic morals, we have not yet found that. Therefore, we constantly and always emphasize to all Islamic groups that they should not focus on gathering and clustering, but on purification and upbringing. And just an hour ago, here, you heard about Ali ibn al-Hajj al-Jazairi, and stories circulated about the current situation. And I mentioned him with this issue because we understood from him and others before that the groups or individuals who belong to his group number in the millions. Therefore, I reminded him of the necessity of focusing on purification and upbringing, not on clustering and gathering, such that it is said that such a party or such a group numbers in the millions. No, what we should strive for is only purification and upbringing, because the few of the group that is established on these two conditions are those by whom the goal of every Muslim is hoped to be realized, which is the establishment of Islamic rule and the Islamic state.The Shaykh : Ali ibn al-Hajj al-Jazairi, reports have circulated regarding the current situation. I mentioned this issue to him because we understood from him and others before him that the groups or individuals who belong to his group number in the millions; therefore, I reminded him of the obligation to focus on purification and education, not on massing and gathering, such that it is said that such-and-such a party or such-and-such a group numbers in the millions. No, . What we should strive for is only purification and education, because the small group that is established upon these two conditions is the one by whom the goal of every Muslim is hoped to be realized, which is the establishment of Islamic rule and the Islamic state.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.