Gaza: A Year into the Genocide, and No Help from the Western Puppets

“Please don’t skip this video to help a family in Gaza!”

“Please share this video to save my family and I.”

“Please donate so we can afford this medicine for my sick father.”

These videos have become a norm on social media platforms. Thousands of men, women and kids desperately asking for people to donate to their fund raisers to enable them to purchase tents, inhalers, medicine, food, or a chance to flee the only home they have ever known.

Many of these people did not speak English a year ago. Many of them did not use social media or take videos of themselves a year ago. However, this has become their new normal. Fathers who worked as doctors, accountants, lawyers, business owners, started learning English to come online to ask people to help. This comes after them having pleaded with Muslim leaders for months, after having asked them for safety for months and receiving nothing but empty promises in return.

The Ummah has failed these people, our corrupt Muslim leaders have failed these people, and as a result they have sought different ways to survive. They have stopped pleading with leaders, and have instead turned to the new generation, and they have listened. The new generation, many of which are still in school, live with their parents, work a minimum wage job, have taken the time, the effort to share the Palestinian people’s message. They have participated in boycotts, protest, encampments. Have organized conferences, have demanded justice and they too have been met with silence from our “leaders”.

Many of the Ummah have refused to speak about Palestine, fearing the repercussions. Others have stated that it was fard (obligation) to listen to the leader quoting the ayah in which Allah (swt) says:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ فَإِن تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاً]

“O believers! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. Should you disagree on anything, then refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you ˹truly˺ believe in Allah and the Last Day. This is the best and fairest resolution.” [An-Nisa:59].

However, they forget the hadith in which the Prophet (saw) said: Ali reported: The Prophet (saw) said, «لَا طَاعَةَ فِي مَعْصِيَةِ اللَّهِ، إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوفِ»“There is no obedience to anyone if it is disobedience to Allah. Verily, obedience is only in good conduct.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7257, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1840) And Allah (swt) also says:

[وَمَا لَكُمْ لاَ تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاء وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَـذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا * الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ الطَّاغُوتِ فَقَاتِلُواْ أَوْلِيَاء الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا]

“And what is it with you? You do not fight in the cause of Allah and for oppressed men, women, and children who cry out, “Our Lord! Deliver us from this land of oppressors! Appoint for us a saviour; appoint for us a helper—all by Your grace.” Believers fight for the cause of Allah, whereas disbelievers fight for the cause of the Devil. So fight against Satan’s ˹evil˺ forces. Indeed, Satan’s schemes are ever weak.” [An-Nisa: 75-76].

These corrupt Western puppets should not, and wan not be considered righteous islamic leaders. They are puppets in the control of Western leaders’ hands. This is further proven by Ariel Sharon, the former prime minister of the occupation who stated: “Egyptian armies will not move without our permission.”

It is evident that a year after the start of the genocide, the Muslim leaders have not been able to cut the strings their puppet masters hold. In doing so they prove to the Ummah that they are not standing with the Muslims. They stand with the occupation, and the Western powers. It is therefore time for the Ummah to wake up as the new generation has. It is time for the Ummah to unity under one Deen, one flag, one leader. It is time for us to stop asking for peace and a ceasefire and to start demanding an actual solution.

As one of the protestors has stated, after Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris, claimed the death of Hamas’ leader would bring peace: “asking for peace, is asking the Palestinian to go back to dying silently.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Amatullah Hechmi