“Canadian Imam Younus Kathrada: Disbelievers Live Like Animals; They Are Like Cows Grazing In The Pasture, Unaware That They Will End Up In The Slaughterhouse; We Are Commanded By Allah To Hate Them,” MEMRI, May 26, 2023:
During a May 26, 2023 Friday sermon delivered at the Muslim Youth Victoria Islamic Center, Canadian Imam Younus Kathrada said that Allah has commanded the Muslims to hate the disbelievers. He qualified that hating someone does not “indicate violence” against them, saying: “Hatred might lead to violence, but not necessarily.” Kathrada explained: “If I hate broccoli, does it mean that I am going to smash it all up and not allow anybody to eat it?” Later in the sermon, he said that the disbelievers live a “life of animals,” fulfilling their “lusts and desires,” while they are unaware of what is going to happen to them in the Hereafter. He compared them to cattle grazing in the pastures, unaware they will end up in the slaughterhouse.
Younus Kathrada: “Yes, Islam, that is, Allah, who legislated Islam for us, has ordered us and commanded us to hate, to reject, and to detest the disbelievers. And here, let me just pause for a second. If I hate broccoli, does it mean that I am going to smash it all up and not allow anybody to eat it?
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“When I say I hate something or someone – let’s say that I hate someone – it means I hate them because of something that they stand for, for example. But it does not in any way, shape, or form indicate violence. Hatred is not equivalent to violence. Hatred might lead to violence, but not necessarily.
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“From the qualities [of the disbelievers] is that they live a life of animals. They live like beasts – not like human beings. This Allah clarified for us, and this is why we see them exaggerating, going to extremes in fulfilling their desires and their lusts. Nightclubs, drugs, you name it.
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“The disbelievers enjoy their lives – ‘enjoy’ in quotation marks – to the fullest, while they are heedless of what is going to happen to them in the Hereafter, just like the cattle, that graze in the pastures, are unaware of the fact that they will probably end up in the slaughterhouse.”