Quds Day: Palestine, A symbol of Resistance

Jerusalem Israel Palestine Dome of The Rock Golden Dome

۞ فَلْيُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يَشْرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالْآخِرَةِ ۚ وَمَن يُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَيُقْتَلْ أَوْ يَغْلِبْ فَسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

4:74 – Let those, who would prefer the Hereafter to the present life, fight in the cause of Allah. And whoso fights in the cause of Allah and is killed or conquers, We shall soon grant him a great reward.

وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا

4:75 – What (excuse) have you (to offer) that you would not fight in the cause of Allâh and for (the rescue of) the weak and the down-trodden men and women and the children who all say, ‘Our Lord! Take us out of this town of which the people are tyrants, and grant us a defender who comes from You and a helper by You

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The cause of Allah is the cause of justice and the cause in support of the oppressed.

Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the sahaba were persecuted, tortured, mocked, assaulted, insulted and boycotted; those within the power of the enemy were put into chains and cast into prison. The oppression was worse for believing slaves, women, and children after the Hijrah. They pleaded for a protector and helper from Allah (SWT).

This same cry, this plea for help, now echoes for the past few decades from across the world, from Palestine, Rohingya, Kashmir, Somalia and Mali.

There are unimaginable brutality and savagery perpetrated by so-called “civilized” Western nations who have maimed and murdered at least 5 million Muslims since 9/11/2001. Muslim lands and its people have been pulverized, ravaged and plundered by the USA, Britain, France, Israel and Russia.

As we complete a month of high-intensity training this Ramadan, disciplining our minds, hearts, souls and bodies to proclaim the Truth and Justice of Allah SWT, we commemorate the first major military battle that was fought in the first Ramadan by Prophet Muhammad (saw), the battle of Badr, the day of Distinction between Truth and Falsehood. We also recall that Salahudin Ayyubi liberated Al Quds from the Crusaders in this revered month of Ramadan.

We remind ourselves of the plight of the 11 million Palestinians, symbolic of the stoic Resistance to oppression, who have been persecuted, expelled and destitute for over 7 decades. Al Quds, Jerusalem, land of the Al Aqsa mosque and our first Qibla, has been occupied by the Zionist Jews, bolstered by the colonial powers and in collusion with some Arab regimes.

A cancerous entity known as Israel, was implanted into the heart of the Arab and Muslim World by Western imperialism. The British created this genocidal Zionist regime from the rib of terrorism, as an extension of its colonial project to divide and control the entire region.

We have heard of the role played by the British, the Zionist Movement, the French, the Americans and the Balfour declaration, but the fact is that these powers can only infiltrate and manipulate the Ummah with the collaboration of Muslims themselves.

The bedouin tribal leaders out of the Arabian desert sold themselves to the British pound, abandoned their honor and faith, sold their lands, resources, peoples, and the fate and destiny of the Palestinian people, condemning them to life and existence as refugees in, and out of their homeland.

And for what? So that the two sons of their treacherous agent Sherif Hussein of Mecca and Medina, paid 2000 pounds per month, would be gifted Iraq and Transjordan to join the British to fight the Ottoman Turks and destroy the Khalifate.

Muslims joining non-Muslims to invade and usurp Muslim nations has been a consistent pattern for Muslims who have abandoned their faith to gain honor with the West that continues to this day in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and other Muslim nations.

الَّذِينَ يَتَّخِذُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۚ أَيَبْتَغُونَ عِندَهُمُ الْعِزَّةَ فَإِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا

4:139 – Do those who hold the disbelievers for friends to the exclusion of the believers, seek honor at their hands? Let them remember that all honor truly belongs to Allâh alone.

But in typical British double-cross, it was Abdul- Aziz Ibn Saud, on a monthly salary of £5,000 pound-sterling, that they crowned as King over territories he had seized, naming it “Saudi” Arabia, but not before these traitors took a pledge against opposing the British plan to set up the illegal Zionist entity in Palestine.

In effect, the Hijaz, Makkah and Medinah, is under illegitimate rule by the Saud family for nearly 90 years, in collusion with the British, Americans and Zionists!

Meanwhile, the plight of the Palestinian refugees is one of misery, perpetual degradation, humiliation and hopelessness. They are part of the 70 million mainly Muslim refugees that are victims of immense suffering, rape, torture, and mass starvation.

Whether it is the Rohingya Muslims, victims of the Buddhist monks in Myanmar, or Muslims in fascist India and Kashmir under a terrifying occupation by 700,000 Hindu troops; or the genocide of Bosnian Muslims by Christian Serbs, where Muslims girls were systematically raped, thousands tortured, starved and killed- only because they are Muslims who “don’t eat pork (Bosnia), or eat beef (India)”.

And yet, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, linked to a paramilitary Hindutva nationalist force determined to victimize Muslims in India, has been feted by the Emiratis, Saudis and even some Muslims in South Africa.

The Serbs routinely raped children. The Guardian published a report on it entitled: The child whose guilt is being a Muslim. It was a 4-year-old girl, blood running between her legs.

What’s the matter with us? What is wrong with the Muslim Ummah that when the kuffar lay their hands on our daughters we do not even raise a finger to help them? Are we not supposed to be the protectors of our women and children? Should we not be outraged and demand, at the very least, that the perpetrators be charged for crimes against humanity?

Did Allah SWT not say in

الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ

4:34 – “Men are the protectors of women”

Muslims are supposed to be an Ummah. Al Nu’man ibn Bashir reported a Hadith that Rasoolilallah saw said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever”.

Or have we fallen into the nationalist trap, where our compassion for humanity is selective and manipulated to serve a particular sect? Does our humanity and the Truth of Islam not transcend sectarian lines or geographic borders?

Have we become so fearful of authority lest we be labeled “terrorists” if we help the suffering in Gaza, or have we become desensitized to the anguish of Muslims?

Is it enough to say “make dua” only, as powerful as dua is, when your sister or daughter is being raped, your children blinded, brother tortured, mother starved, father killed?

When you see your child drowning in the sea desperate to escape conflict, it is not sufficient to raise your hands in prayer but to jump into the water to save him, and to stop those responsible for creating the crisis.

Surely it is evident that pleading to the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, all tools of the West, are futile.

Allah Taaʼla says:

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ إِلَّا تَفْعَلُوهُ تَكُن فِتْنَةٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَفَسَادٌ كَبِيرٌ

8:73 – And (as for) those who disbelieve, they are friends one to another. Hence if you (O Muslims!) do not act (as has been ordained for you to help one another) there will be persecution and great corruption in the land.

So what do we do? I am reminded of a story related by Imam ibn Athir records in ‘Kamil’, about the story of a Muslim woman harassed by the Romans in a Roman city.

She was just harassed. She was not raped. She was not killed. She was not murdered. She did not have her throat slit, like our sisters in Palestine, Kashmir or Bosnia. She did not have her baby taken from her stomach as the Muslim sisters had in Gujarat, Mali or Syria, where they were cut open alive. Nothing like this happened to her. She was just abused and locked up for no reason.

Frightened and alone she called out the name of the Khalifa, “Ya Mu’tasim” ‘Oh Mu’tasim’. When the Khalif heard the plight of this woman, he prepared a large army and set off for battle to rescue the woman.

Al Mutasim’s army conquered the Romans and freed the woman. This was the decisive response of the Khalifah when the honor of one sister was touched.

He is a celebrated example of a Muslim ruler defending Islam and the honor of Muslim men and women.

Do we see even a little courage in any of our leaders, Presidents and Prime Ministers, Maulanas and Muftis today? Do they threaten some sought of retaliation against China, India, USA, Israel or Russia, or condemn the craven collaborative Sheiks and Kings?

Sadly, we have become blind and deaf, fearful and impotent, neglecting all the atrocities committed against Muslims by these enemies of Allah SWT. Yet Muslims relentless bomb the innocent in Syria, Libya and Yemen, but dare not come anywhere near the Zionist entity.

May Allah [SWT] grant these ummah rulers of the same caliber as Khalifah Mutasim Billah and give us our honor back.

Today our leaders, rulers, kings, Emirs, academics, Maulana’s and Mufti’s issue pointless statements on social media, debate peripheral issues endlessly on WhatsApp, acquiesce too easily to government ministers who make empty promises simply to placate the ummah.

Have we Muslims become so weak, passive and supine? Let us briefly survey the Muslim world.

  • Islam has 1.8 billion adherents, making up over 23% of the world population. Almost one in every four persons is a Muslim.
  • 70% of world oil reserves are in “Muslim countries.”
  • 49% of the world’s Natural Gas reserves are in Muslim majority countries.
  • 21% of world production of Uranium, is from “Muslim countries.”
  • Africa, where over 60% of Muslims live, is resource-rich.
  • The Muslim world is also located in some of the most strategic locations around the globe. Muslim countries are surrounded by the Red Sea, Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Northern Indian Ocean.

In fact, the Muslim world should be one of the economic and political powerhouses of the world, if not the leading player, but it hardly registers on the global stage.

In military terms the combined armed forces of the Muslim world has the largest army in the world, at least 3 million soldiers; it is in control of key strategic naval straits and airspace; it has the largest landmass, possesses nuclear weapons and has one of the largest air force and navy. Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia and Turkey have a technologically advanced military industry in parts.

How, then, does a country of 7 million Zionist Jews arrogantly confront an ummah of 1,8 billion Muslims?

We do know from the Quran that it is not the number or the quantity of the force, but the quality.

ۚ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَاقُو اللَّهِ كَم مِّن فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةً بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

2:249 – But those who held it as certain that they (one day) were going to meet Allâh said, ‘How often a small company has triumphed over a numerous host, by the leave of Allâh! And Allâh is with the patiently-persevering.

Perhaps the cause of our weakness lies in being divided and most importantly, our lack of Iman, faith! The most sophisticated weapon that no power on earth can overcome is the weapon of iman, of faith and commitment to Allah’s cause. People armed with iman become impervious to threats and can never be defeated.

The perseverance and steadfastness of the Palestinians under a 13 year strangulating siege in Gaza with such an incredible spirit of resistance that the arrogant Zionists, and Egyptians, cannot break. All these are the direct result of having a strong faith in Allah (SWT), the only Superpower there is and will ever be.

Islam, sadly, has been abandoned by the majority of the Muslim world. We are spellbound by the Western system.

We cannot condone Mufti’s and Moulana’s citing fatwas against each other in a secular court seeking judgment on a matter on Islamic jurisprudence.

وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ ۗ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ۙ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

2:120 – And the Jews will never be pleased with you nor the Christians unless you follow their creed. Say, ‘Allah’s guidance is the only perfect and true guidance.’ If you were to follow their low desires after there has come to you this perfect knowledge, you shall have from Allah neither a protecting friend nor any helper.

We as Muslims have only ourselves to blame for the state of chaos, civil wars, corruption, intolerance and timid acceptance of the greedy, self-serving leaders and tyrants who have sold themselves, our land, our resources and our honor to the enemies of Islam, so that they may preserve their authority.

Muslim leaders splurge and waste our wealth on worldly pleasures and invest in western economies, whilst the Muslim world is mired in poverty, hunger and illiteracy, and in need of the most basic necessities of life.

Muslim refugees are dying of thirst, sickness, lack of shelter, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder, while elite, corrupt Muslim rulers devour the peoples’ resources. Oil-rich Arabs compete to build the world’s tallest towers, luxurious sports arenas, indoor ski resorts in the desert, an underwater hotel, and spend tens of billions of dollars to host the Olympics in the desert.

It is time that we, as Muslims, introspect at our dismal state, look inward and end the mental slavery into which we have fallen. Without breaking the chains of slavery, no change or development is possible.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ ۗلَهُ ۚ

13:11 – Verily, Allâh does not change the condition of a people until they (first) change their ways and their mindset.

Only then can we expect Allah SWT to help us recover from our current appalling and miserable state of affairs.

Muslims can take comfort in the fact that our current state of powerlessness is not a permanent condition; circumstances can and do change.

But first, we must take the initiative to change ourselves in terms of studying, understanding, and uniting in our faith and under the banner of “There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger”.

It was with just this simple powerful faith and bond that Muslims reached the pinnacle of Islamic civilization and spread Islam from the Hijaz to Spain, to Asia, Africa and the subcontinent.

The Quran and the Seerah confirm that those who strive in Allah’s Way will ultimately triumph. While Allah says that He will test even those who have committed themselves to Him, as He does in Palestine, Kashmir, Mali and elsewhere, Allah SWT also promises help and victory both in this world and in the Hereafter.

وَأُخْرَىٰ تُحِبُّونَهَا ۖ نَصْرٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

61:13 – And (He will confer upon you ) yet another (favor) which you love. (It is the) help from Allâh and an early victory (that you will win in this very world). So give glad tidings (of it) to the believers.