In a hadith (collected accounts of the sayings and deeds of Muhammad), the Prophet said: "It is very close, that different nations will invite one another against you, just as people seated around a platter of food invite one another to consume that food."

Someone asked the Prophet: "Will we be few in number that day?"

The Prophet said: "No you will be many, but you will be like the rubbish of the flood. Allah will extract from the hearts of your enemies their fear and Allah will cast in your hearts wahn (weakness)."

Someone asked the Prophet: "What does wahn mean?"

The Prophet said: "The love of the dunya (the world) and the dislike (fear) of death."

This hadith has been identified as one of the greatest prophecies of our Messenger. Indeed, today we are seeing this prophecy being fulfilled, word for word, and in thorough detail.

The example that the Prophet gave is that of a group of people seated around a platter of food, a very large plate. Traditionally, the Arabs would sit together in large numbers and eat together from a very large plate, rather than individually. And often, when they would cook an animal, they wouldn't cut up the pieces of meat beforehand. Most often, they would roast the whole animal and it would be there, ready to eat. The Arabs, being very hospitable, would gather around this large plate of food and invite one another... they would even invite strangers, in the knowledge and conviction that there is sufficient food to go around. As they gather, one rips off part of the shoulder, another rips off part of the leg, another rips off part of the body of the animal, and in this way they would consume the food, thoroughly enjoying themsleves.

This is the example that the Prophet has given in the hadith and he says: "Soon a time will come upon you when in this same fashion and manner, different nations will invite one another to consume the Muslim ummah (the global community of Muslims) in the same way."

Calmly, pleasantly, without any embarrassment or shame, without any fear of retaliation or consequence, with total impunity, people will invite one another against you. And the Muslim ummah will be so large in numbers, in size, so scattered across the globe, that there will be enough for all. Everyone can have a party and there will still be leftovers.

Earlier this morning, both Maulana Ashraf Patel and Ibrahim Mogra spoke in detail and at length, first of all about Islamophobia in the media and secondly about the state of Muslims in Britain.

I would like to take that further and speak about not just how Muslims are targeted, villified, demonised in the media, and speak not just of how Muslims are being targeted by punitive laws, discriminatory practices in this country, but how Muslims are being physically persecuted all over the globe, their lives and property are being taken from under their very noses, the honour and dignity of their womenfolk is not sanctified or guaranteed any more and how their blood has become so cheap that it is shed.

We do not need to go far. Let's look at Europe. Over the past 10 years, many of us have - through the newspapers, through the magazines and media, despite their hostility towards Muslims, despite their bias - been able to witness the massacre and genocide of Muslims in Europe, only a few miles away from this country. First of all Bosnia, then Kosovo and right now in Macedonia.