Around 60,000 worshippers performed the Friday prayer at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, despite the siege on the city of Jerusalem and its isolation from its depth in the West Bank, and the strict restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation forces at crossings and military checkpoints to prevent worshippers from reaching the mosque, alongside the intensive deployment of occupation forces in the vicinity of the Old Town and Al-Aqsa Mosque, and personal screening and searches at its gates.
The occupation police stated that they arrested six worshippers under the pretext of entering Jerusalem without obtaining permits from the military rule.
They also clashed with a worshipper in the Al-Wad area leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque near Bab al-Majlis, where a group of special forces abused him, handcuffed him, and transferred him to the "Maskobiyya" detention center in West Jerusalem.
The occupation forces intensified their troop numbers and personnel on the eve of the so-called "Jewish New Year" holiday in the Old Town and the streets of occupied East Jerusalem, redeployed their forces at dawn on Friday, set up military checkpoints, and subjected arrivals to searches and identity checks, which prevented a number of them from reaching Al-Aqsa and performing prayers in it.
This coincided with escalating Palestinian and Jerusalemite calls to intensify ribat (presence) and mobilization at Al-Aqsa Mosque, alongside the approaching Jewish holiday season during the current month of September, amid fears of escalating settler incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the imposition of further restrictions on worshippers.
Jerusalemite institutions warned against the exploitation of Jewish holidays by the occupation authorities and extremist settler groups to intensify incursions and organize Judaization events in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, in an attempt to impose new facts on the ground inside the mosque and alter the status quo.
In an atmosphere filled with faith, the minbar of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque was ascended by His Eminence Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Salim as the preacher, delivering a comprehensive sermon that addressed a highly important topic: "The Muslim Ummah's unfilialness (uquq) toward its Lord's Book, its Prophet's Sunnah, its Companions, its history, and its mission," drawing a connection between unfilialness towards parents within the Muslim family and the more dangerous and encompassing moral unfilialness that has afflicted the entire Islamic nation.
Sheikh Mohammad Salim said, "If unfilialness to parents is a specific form of unfilialness concerning them and within the scope of the Muslim family, then this true unfilialness may extend beyond the family to encompass the Muslim Ummah with a more dangerous and encompassing moral unfilialness."
He warned that unfilialness to parents is not merely a limited individual sin, but rather a malicious seed that, if it sprouts within the family, its roots extend to corrupt the entire nation's relationship with its Lord, His Book, its Prophet, and its history.
The preacher noted realistic examples of the Muslim Ummah's unfilialness, saying: "O Muslims, the Muslim Ummah in this era is unfilial to the Book of its Lord, neither taking judgment from it nor defending it."
He added, explaining: "And the Ummah is unfilial to the Sunnah of its Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, and his guidance, raising its voice above his voice in words and deeds."
He warned against a third dangerous manifestation of unfilialness, saying: "And the Muslim nation is unfilial to the Companions of its Messenger, neither following in their footsteps, nor guided by their guidance, nor proceeding on their path."
He then pointed to another unfilialness of no less danger, saying: "Among the unfilialness of the Muslim Ummah is that it is unfilial to its glorious history and its authenticity, imitating the West in its disbelief and values, and salivating over the crumbs of its misguidances."
The warning escalated in Sheikh Salim's sermon when he said: "O Muslim men, O Muslim women, the unfilialness of our nation magnifies when it is unfilialness to its mission, which Allah the Almighty assigned to it and chose it for over all nations, to bring people out of darkness into light through it."
The preacher noted that this unfilialness was not limited to one group over another, saying: "O believers, the unfilialness of the Muslim Ummah of which we mentioned examples includes its commoners and elites, its scholars and masses. Although this unfilialness exists in varying proportions and different levels, it has become widespread and all-encompassing."
Sheikh Salim added: "It is incumbent upon the Ummah, with all its components, to rise from its unfilialness that has disabled it from its goodness to people, and to hasten to dutifulness towards its Lord, His Book, and His Messenger, and to be dutiful to itself through obeying its Lord and implementing His Sharia and religion, and to restore its role and status in leading nations."
The preacher warned that the punishment for unfilialness is not delayed until the Hereafter only, but is rather hastened in this world.
He called for sustaining dutifulness towards the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying: "And sustain your dutifulness to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, so tighten your saddles to it for prayer and the remembrance of Allah therein."
The preacher warned against contemporary manifestations of unfilialness, saying: "Some of them obey his wife and take his father or mother to a nursing home, while being able to care for them. And some of them forget that his mother stayed awake for him for long nights, and that his father spent his youth to spend on him, nourish him, and live a dignified life."
He continued with pain: "And the unfilialness of some sons and daughters magnifies, to the extent that a son beats his father, and a daughter beats her mother. Indeed, the unfilialness of some children has reached the point where they do not communicate with their parents in any form of connection. Is this from the dutifulness to parents that Allah commanded? Or is it from the unfilialness that Allah threatened?"
He warned against the punishment of unfilialness, saying: "So beware of unfilialness in all its manifestations; it is the path of disgrace in this world and the path of loss in the Hereafter. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: (The pleasure of the Lord lies in the pleasure of the parents, and His displeasure lies in the displeasure of the parents)."
Sheikh Salim concluded his sermon with a final warning: "Ka'b al-Ahbar said: 'Verily, Allah hastens the destruction of a servant if he is unfilial to his parents, to hasten punishment for him.'"
