Monday, January 26, 2009

Views on recent Israeli aggression and the responses by the Muslim Ummah

In the wake of the recent Israeli aggression we saw a new wave of outrage at leaders of Muslim countries by Muslims all over the world. There is no doubt the Arab rulers in particular are the real protectors of Israel and their treachery, cowardice and inaction has been blatant and a clear evidence of their role as guardians of Israel.

However, these leaders are not the only ones to be blamed; there are quite a few within our Ummah who will have to share this burden on the Day of Judgment. I would like to shed some light on who I believe these people are and what they can do to exonerate themselves so that they meet their Lord without this heinous crime as a burden on their necks.
In the face of any (new) situation which demands a response, the first step for every Muslim should be to understand the reality of the problem, learn the Islamic solution for it and then finally work wholeheartedly for the implementation of that solution. This approach is similar to any Islamic hukm, be it fasting, hajj, zakat etc., we first learn how to perform it and then accordingly translate our knowledge into actions.

Similarly, therefore, we should know and implement the Islamic solution to the Palestinian problem (and any other problem for that matter), since we are responsible and accountable for it and our action/inaction. This matter is not disputed and is no different from our responsibility to respond to the problems in Iraq, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Pakistan…and the list goes on. Indeed our beloved Prophet (saw) referred to the Muslims as one body, the whole of which would be restless and sleepless if only a part of it was affected with pain.

So who are those that can be considered as complicit in perpetuating the misery and humiliation that we witness?

The first, most serious complicity is of those who are in the position of ruling and leadership and are aiding the aggressors, even if it is by their mere silence and inaction. This is the worst kind of treason and betrayal because it is these very people who should be guardians of this Ummah. They are like the shepherd who opens the gate for the wolf to attack the sheep or pretends to sleep when the wolf attacks. Indeed, the Gaza crisis has further removed any doubt that the loyalties of the rulers in the Muslim world lie with the Whitehouse and Whitehall and not the Black-house (Kabah).

The second mode of complicity is when the Ummah, i.e. the general public does not raise to its duty to account the rulers and work to resume the Islamic way of life which it was entrusted with by the Prophet of Allah and was continued by the righteous caliphs and those who followed them. Even their actions which are to help and support the Muslims that are suffering, they themselves accept are not the solution to the problem that Palestine and indeed the Muslim world has faced since 1924 i.e. liberation from occupation through the Islamic obligation (fard, wajib, farz) of establishing Allah’s deen.

Just stop for a minute and think, would boycotting Israeli products (if that is achieved in first place by sending chain emails) help lessening the plight of the Palestinian people? Would knocking the doors of the UN be helpful in this regard? Can OIC deliver for the first time in its history by taking some action other than hollow meetings and shallow promises? Shall we focus all our efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the suffering Palestinian Muslims? Or shall we be content with just doing dua to Allah (swt) to grant our brothers and sisters in the occupied lands victory against the aggressors? Would all those protests and demonstrations which were held against the Israeli aggression but did not call for the solution of Islam, rather ended by mere condemnation achieve the objective of durable peace through the implementation of Islam’s solution? I raise these questions because these are among the most talked about activities when it comes to the occupation of Muslim land in Palestine. All of these and other actions can be broadly divided into two categories, those which are Islamic actions but not Islamic solutions to the problem at hand (e.g. doing dua and giving donations) and those which are not even legitimate Islamic actions (e.g. calling upon the OIC and the UN). Whether you fall in one or the other category, the sin of not fulfilling your obligation towards the Muslims in Palestine (and elsewhere in occupied lands) rests on your shoulders, with the only difference that in the former category you would be rewarded for your actions and in the later case you would be additionally punished for them because they are haram acts (a separate blog will talk about OIC and UN from the Islamic perspective but it should be clear to most readers that any institute which legitimizes, reinforces and ensures the disunity among Muslims and guarantees that they remain in their own cages of so called Nation-states is not allowed to become part of).

For those who say words to the effect, ‘this is the least that I can do’ – this has become such a prominent and dangerous expression amongst Muslims; distancing Muslims from the actions that they should ‘at least’ be doing.

This is because, whatever is the ‘least one can do’, must be directly connected to the solution itself. As an example, if my car breaks down, the solution is connected to getting it fixed. Therefore the minimum action e.g. calling a friend to get help to move the car to a garage, would be considered the ‘least I can do’ since it is connected to the solution. However, if I purchase an in-car perfume, this would not be considered the least that I could do, since this action has no relationship with the solution. Likewise, whilst we give charity, which we should; whilst we boycott Israeli products, which morally we do; to say that these are the least that we can do is disingenuous, since neither are connected to the solution i.e. liberation and establishing Allah’s Deen, upon the Prophetic method – and neither do such people advocate nor call for this solution publicly.

For over 60 years, we have thrown money, medical supplies, boycotts, supported UN resolutions, lobbied western governments in order to temporarily alleviate the misery of the people of Palestine, whilst maintaining their lives as people living in open prison camps. Such temporary alleviation has not stopped the occupation, the humiliation, the persecution, the attacks, the breaking of cease-fire agreements etc….it has not given any direction for the solution to Palestine i.e. its complete liberation and protection under the Islamic system.
Often people of this inclination (charity work etc…) speak of immediate solutions, whilst accepting the Islamic System is the long term solution. How can they think in such a manner?! It is this very attitude that has diverted the energy, focus and actions of Muslims in making the Islamic system the immediate solution. Such attitude which can be termed as a self-fulfilling prophecy, will always maintain the Islamic system as the long term solution (therefore, not on the radar) since they do not (will not) work for it. And 60 years down the line (may Allah forbid), such people will be saying exactly the same thing i.e. the Islamic system is a long term solution. This is the vicious cycle that such mentality breeds and gives a strong degree of comfort for the treacherous rulers in the Muslim world and the western colonial governments – to see the Muslims chasing their own tails.

I truly hope that this discussion throws a challenging light upon us all and asking ourselves, ‘what we are doing’ to support the Islamic obligation and solution in establishing Allah’s Deen, in knowledge that the crimes in Gaza, Kashmir, Iraq etc… continue in its absence.

It should dawn on us that we carry a huge responsibility towards Allah (swt) and our brothers and sisters in Islam who are suffering at the hands of occupying forces which can’t be fulfilled by just blaming those directly responsible for this misery or by doing those actions which suit us or which are ‘in’ right now. We can only fulfill our responsibility by first understanding the solution towards the problem of occupation, be it in Israel, Kashmir, Iraq or Afghanistan and then by working to establish Islam’s rule which will not only solve these problems but all the other as well, be it poverty, illiteracy or the technological backwardness of Muslims today. The bloodshed in Gaza is yet another reminder towards the responsibility we carry on our shoulders and we will surely be accounted for our actions. Do we need to witness another massacre? Haven’t we witnessed enough already over the past decade and beyond? Isn’t it time for us to think more deeply and ideologically upon Islam as to the measures that are required to bring change, measures and change which Allah has ordained and commanded upon us?

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