Blogger Najm Al-Deen says despite the daily horrors in Gaza and the immense trauma Muslims are experiencing globally, the Palestinians’ plight has awoken a spiritual and moral awakening in the West which could inspire a unique cultural revolution.
Like millions around the world, the macabre scenes emerging from Gaza have left an indelible mark on my psyche which cannot be erased. It’s been over two months since the carnage ensued and my heart refuses to unsee the unspeakable horrors visited upon the inhabitants of the world’s largest open air prison.
As a Muslim with a faith-based attachment to millions of Palestinians, it has become nigh impossible to function normally without being reminded of the Zionist state’s callous disregard for human life.
After retiring to bed, the images of flattened apartment blocks with limbs extending out of the rubble surface in the mind. When commuting to work, the disemboweled children being mourned by their loved ones weigh heavily on the heart. On arriving home, the unpleasant ordeal of sons and daughters recovering the charcoaled body parts of their parents plays back in my head, before casually settling in for the evening.
This is the new normal for many Muslims across the world who are collectively weeping for the Palestinians’ unimaginable losses. Like Khaled Nabhan, the Palestinian grandfather who went viral after being filmed kissing his granddaughter’s body goodbye, we are grieving the “soul of my soul.”
But as jarring as this overexposure to bloodshed may be, it’s consoling to know that amidst such hopelessness a profound lesson is being delivered to the world from the dwellers of this irrepressible coastal enclave.
Faith
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By some miraculous quirk of fate, Gaza has become the nucleus for Islam’s proselytisation, highlighted by the increasing phenomenon of Western social media influencers whose curiosity for the Muslim faith has been roused by the resilience of Palestinians.
While many in the West grapple with an existential anxiety stemming from their belief in a creation without purpose, the unwavering faith of Gazans who have endured every conceivable misery has strongly resonated with those living with the perpetual angst of a meaningless universe.
Despite facing a barrage of bunker-busting missiles and being deprived of every material comfort, their ability to patiently bear calamities by showing gratitude for God’s blessings has galvanised millions of TikTokers to decry Israel’s genocide, express solidarity with Gazans and inquire deeper into the beliefs which foster such a mindset.
One of them is Megan B. Rice, who was so moved by this powerful expression of the sacred that she organised a Quran study club on Discord before announcing her conversion to Islam a few weeks later.
Her epiphany is not an isolated one and forms part of a growing trend where those of no religious affiliation cite the emptiness arising from their lack of spirituality as a fundamental reason for sympathising with Palestinians and gravitating towards Islam.
With Zionist propaganda increasingly debunked and Western media outlets weaving Israel’s web of deceit, the duplicitous coverage of the conflict has encouraged many observers to go beyond a mere interrogation of facts. Instead, they see it as a moral duty to dispel previously held misconceptions about Islam and uncover the secret behind the Palestinians’ coping mechanism when the greatest of Western taboos stares them in the face: death.
As a result, internet searches for the Quran have spiked and many non-Muslims have taken to online forums to parse through its passages on salvation and redemption to make sense of why Palestinians do not dread mortality and exude such optimism when their lives have been shattered.
As much as I’m tempted to despair for Palestinians, I am heartened to see their tribulation functioning as a catalyst for introspection and soul-searching for millions who have lost sense of an absolute sacred reality.
Not only are they acknowledging the mental health benefits of faith in a transcendent reality which many implicitly desire, they are appreciating the intrinsic value of being God-conscious in a materialistic world and turning to Islam to anchor their psychological well being.
Anti-capitalism
But it’s not just the uptick in Islamic conversions which has resulted from the conflict. While the plight of Palestinians has inspired liberals to reflect on their own crisis of faith and contemplate on a higher calling, Gaza has also become a clarion call for revolution against state-sponsored oppression, the effects of which have been acutely felt at home.
In recent years, the popularity of Western democracies has considerably waned, with public trust in officialdom wearing thinner by the day. The pandemic exposed the cronyism at the highest echelons of government and public anger continues to mount with the recent Covid inquiry confirming the ugly double standards of parliamentarians who breached quarantine protocols.
Furthermore, Western sanctions against Russia triggered a cost of living crisis, fuelled by banking and energy conglomerates which have raked in stellar profits while populations are forced to pay through their noses for energy bills.
Meanwhile, as unelected dignitaries with a shocking carbon footprint line up to make net-zero emission pledges at COP28, the climate agenda is perceived by many as another cash cow to fleece the public through “green” taxes.
With budgets on healthcare and education cut to the bone, working class wages suppressed and living standards under assault by governments that have little qualm boosting military expenditure, a palpable feeling of discontent has set in amongst European citizens, who feel betrayed and exploited by the broken promises of virtue-signalling politicians.
Therefore, the continent wide protests condemning the bipartisan support for Israel must be seen against the backdrop of a larger problem which transcends the Israel-Palestine conflict.
For the millions who are navigating their own battle space in Western metropolises, Gaza has become the latest flashpoint in an asymmetric struggle between a self-serving ruling class and a shell-shocked public that is disempowered by the system’s inequities.
The obscene profiteering and self-interest of politicians is slowly reaching a tipping point with Western populations, who refuse to remain silent as their governments endorse Israeli war crimes and dehumanise an entire ethnic group.
Demonstrations aside, Gaza has also breathed new life into the growing trend of conscious consumerism. With databases of companies complicit in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise circulating en masse since the genocide unfolded, civil society groups, largely inspired by the South African anti-Apartheid movement, have invigorated millions of people of conscience to put their money where their morals are by escalating strategic boycott campaigns against multinational corporations aiding and abetting the Zionist entity.
Clearly, Palestine is not your average social justice struggle and those advocating for its liberation are far from lone strident voices. Rather, it has dominated the cultural conversation and become a global metaphor for resisting capitalist predation, mirroring the struggle of several dispossessed groups against neo-imperialistic machinations.
Decolonisation
So there can be no denying that the pain and suffering inflicted on Gaza has awakened a global collective consciousness, a la Vietnam in the 60s.
Waves of “Gen Zers” with no family, religious or community ties to the Arab-Muslim world are using the conflict as a springboard for activism, joining a large demographic of Westerners who see the Palestinian resistance as an impetus for railing against a kleptocratic status quo.
From left-leaning socialists and secular humanists to environmentalists and beyond, the New Yorkers, Londoners, Parisians and many more who are championing the Palestinians’ right to self-determination have cottoned on to how the moral foundations of the political systems supposedly representing them lie buried in the rubble of Gaza.
They have no shared culture, language or diaspora links with the Palestinians but their shared experience of being colonised by a gilded elite which treats them with abject contempt is enough to make them take action.
The international “rules-based order” which professed an unyielding commitment to peace and justice in the post-war era has finally been exposed for its charade. By failing to check its imperialistic impulse, it has energised an internationalist decolonial project seeking to dismantle apartheid and transform systems of power.
This outpouring of support for the Palestinian cause marks a watershed moment in the history of liberation struggles. With many now perceiving Gaza as ground zero for the future of AI-assisted urban warfare against grassroots movements, defending the Palestinian right to resist becomes a matter of survival, having acknowledged a daunting truth: The main enemy is at home.
It begs a question. Is the W.est breeding its own intifada?
While the U.S and the UK continue to lend support for Israel’s brutality, many at home are identifying with the very people their governments have collectively criminalised. Thus confirming a Quranic motif: As much as the enemies plot, Allah is the best of planners.
