against the Muslims, for those unbelievers pay taxes to their governments, and those governments in turn are fortified against the Muslims.

There is a wealth of evidence for this. Our obligation, therefore, is to avoid the unbelievers as much as we can: do not adopt their names; do not befriend them; do not honor them; do not initiate the greeting of salām with them; and do not give them the right of way. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Do not greet the Jews or the Christians with salām first; and if you meet one of them on the road, force him to its narrowest side.”

Where do we stand in relation to these instructions? Where do we stand with respect to the words of the Messenger ﷺ, who does not speak from whim? Why, when corruption spreads among us, do we not fear destruction? One night the Prophet ﷺ awoke with his face flushed and exclaimed, “There is no god but Allah! Woe to the Arabs for an evil that has drawn near!”—a clear warning. Woe to the Arabs, the standard-bearers of Islam, for an evil that has drawn near. He added, “Today a breach the size of this has been opened in the barrier of Gog and Magog,” and he formed a circle with his thumb and the finger next to it. Zaynab asked, “O Messenger of Allah, will we be destroyed while there are righteous people among us?” He replied, “Yes, when filth becomes abundant.”

That filth is both the corruption of deeds and the corruption brought by impure people. When wickedness increases in our actions, we are liable to perish; and when those impure human beings multiply in our lands, we are likewise liable to perish. Reality bears witness to this. We ask Allah to safeguard our land from our manifest enemies.