To the Beloved of Palestine
﷽
حمدا لمن هداني لسنة العدناني
I begin in the name of Allah, the Most High, The Mighty. I ask Allah to grant me His tawfeeq (Divine Assistance) and to forgive me for my shortcomings. I ask Allah to bless the reader of this article and to rectify the affairs of the Muslims no matter the temporal or geographical bounds in which they are situated from the writing of this piece until the Day of Judgement. We ask Allah, The Most High, to send His peace and blessings upon the Master of Creation, the Best Example, Muhammad ibn Abdillah ibn Abdil Mutallib ibn Hashim.
I ended upon the name of Hashim when recounting the nasab (lineage) of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)[1] for a particular reason and it ties into the point of this article. How can it be that the land named after the Prophet (ﷺ)’s great-grandfather, ‘Gazzatu Hashim’ (غزة هاشم), the land of the First Qiblah, the land explicitly mentioned in the Holy Qur’an [2] is desecrated? How can it be that its people are slaughtered? How can it be that its men and women are raped? How can it be that the child is left headless by a sniper bullet? How can it be that its land is ravaged by missiles and its mosques and masahif[3] torn apart by human, nay, animal hands? How can it be that for 327 days [4] the men, women and children of Gaza and more widely, Palestine, have been abused, abducted, beaten, butchered and burnt alive?
You see, Hind wasn’t just another 6-year-old girl [5] who was killed by the IDF. Yasmin Abu Suwirah wasn’t just another 4 year old girl who died out of fear in Al-Aqsa Hospital. Abdulrahman Jamal Al-Khattib wasn’t just another 14 year old whose head separated from his body after receiving a sniper-shot from the IDF whilst he went to check on his house at the entrance of Abu Arif Street in Deir al-Balah.
That was our sister Hind. That was our sister Yasmin [6].That was our brother Abdulrahman [7]. And amongst the reported 40,000 of those brutally killed and terrorised by the IDF (although the numbers are most likely much higher), are, our brothers and sisters.
Yet, here we are living our lives. Desensitised at their suffering. We see the numbers of martyrs daily and consider it another unfortunate event. Although tragic, we often think to ourselves ‘what can I, a young adult university student, do to help? I’m just one man or woman.’ so we shut ourselves off because the news is too painful for us to bear. Out of our desperate attempts to silence our own emotional cries we unintentionally silence our voices and by extension their pain. We’d rather a swift and seamless slip into ignorance than to have to confront our deepest fears. The fact of the matter is, we, in all of our luxury, have failed them. We did not do so because we possess the blessings of living relatively comfortable lives, rather we have failed them because we do not utilise those blessings to strive to attempt to alleviate their pains by whatever means necessary.
It was only a few months ago that SUMSA took part in an encampment, a piece of activism that shook the national stage. We inspired Muslims in the United Kingdom to engage in the encampment themselves. Our brothers and sisters suffering in strife overseas received word of our solidarity and acknowledged and thanked us for our efforts. And who were we to do so? Our encampment was nothing compared to their strife. For indeed one may find themselves waking up in tents filled with water during the encampment as did the Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes, but the difference between us and them was that we weren’t pinned in by bombs being dropped outside. We didn’t have to stay lying down in a thick puddle of water in the freezing cold. We were allowed to leave.
At one point during the encampment, we organised a message for the Eid congratulations to be sent through a contact to our brothers and sisters in Palestine.
Their response back was as follows:
عيد مبارك على أمة الإسلام وعلى أحبابنا في استراليا
كل عام وأنتم بألف خير
Eid Mubarak upon the Ummah of Islam and upon our beloved ones in Australia. With every passing year, may you be forever in good health.
Despite the fact that we as an ummah have been in extreme neglect of them. Despite the fact that we forget about them as we go about studying for exams or going to work.
Despite the fact that we scroll past every post talking about their plight because of its repetitiveness.
Despite the fact we have lost feelings for them-
They have not lost their feelings for us.
They call us their ‘beloveds’.
I ask myself what have I done to be worthy of such a call by such a people that Allah has honoured for indeed if Allah wills good for someone (which is a sign of Al-Wadud loving them) ‘He afflicts them with trials’ [8].
How can it be that we claim to be from the Ummah of the Prophet (ﷺ) who described us as ‘one body’ [9]. Does it make sense that the leg is able to walk comfortably whilst the skin of its foot is singed and burnt?
O reader,
Know that indeed I make this plea to myself before I make this plea to you.
Do not give up on the people of Gaza.
Do not ignore their suffering no matter how painful it is to witness.
Do not lose the war of information and truth for indeed history bears witness to the revolutions resounding from the loud roars of discontent at injustice.
Do not neglect the power that words hold. Indeed they are the most potent of poisons and the most mystical of medicines. Indeed the Prophet (ﷺ) mentions the power of words for in it is ‘The best type of Jihad (which) is speaking a true word in the the presence of a tyrant ruler’ [10]. Is it not our government and our very own educational institution that is attempting to silence our words? Are they not tyrants? Make dua and speak out where possible. Remember, words are power.
Do not think that Allah has forsaken the people of Palestine rather He (تعالى) [11] has favoured them over us by taking them in a state of struggle and strife.
We are deceiving ourselves if we believe that we can sit back and watch as silent observers whilst the people of the Land of the First Qiblah, our brothers and sisters, are massacred. We will answer to Allah (تعالى) for our treachery. Although the people of the past engaged in and promoted unfathomable corruption, they never allowed their brothers and sisters to be slaughtered like we do.
May Allah forgive our shortcomings and lift the difficulty of our oppressed brothers and sisters wherever they may be. We ask Allah (تعالى) to provide His divine aid, protection and support to those who strive in His path. We ask Allah (تعالى) to not write us amongst the negligent nor amongst those whose hearts are hollow with apathy for our brothers and sisters. To you Allah we complain of our leaders who aid in oppression or stand idly by as your servants are massacred and sufficient are You as our Protector and You are the Best Disposer of our Affairs.
Remember,
أَلَآ إِنَّ نَصْرَ ٱللَّهِ قَرِيبٌۭ
Unquestionably, indeed the help of Allah is near [12].
References
[1] ﷺ = Peace and blessings be upon him
[2] The Holy Qur’an Chapter 17 verse 1.
[3] Codices of the Qur’an.
[4] At the time of writing this piece.
[5] Circa. 2018.
[6] Circa. 2024
[7] Circa. 2024
[8] Bukhari 5645.
[9] Bukhari 6011.
[10] Riyad al Saliheen 194.
[11] تعالي = The Most High.
[12] The Holy Qur’an Chapter 2 Verse 214
