Dr. Asim Qureshi asks whether Muslims need to reassess their priorities in the midst of the Palestinian genocide, and consider if acts of resistance against Israel are of equal importance to one of the five pillars of Islam.
Hajj, and the performing of the pilgrimage to the Grand Mosque – the Ka’aba – constitutes one of the five acts that are obligatory on a Muslim, providing they are capable.
The coming together of people across the world in worship, all wearing the simplest of clothes, is a potent symbol of Islam’s unifying message. People visiting the Kaaba will often be reduced to tears, visibly moved to be in the shadow of a simple cubic building.
Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the sanctuary was ever threatened with attack from an aggressive army. Surely, there would be public outcry across the Muslim world. People would travel in their millions to defend Islam’s most holy site – incapable of countenancing that anyone would be brazen enough to spark the ire of the global Muslim population.
And of course, they would be right to be so outraged.
With such a scenario in mind, I’ve had cause to reflect on a specific narration of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) – one in which he informs us that the sanctity of Muslim life is more important to Allah, than the sanctity of the Ka’aba. In fact he speaks to the Ka’aba itself, that no matter how great its status is within Islam, for the community of believers, that the sanctity of a single believer is more valuable to Allah.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
I’m not someone who would minimise the performance of the Hajj in any way. It is one of the central pillars of Islam and one that brings about a closeness to God that as an individual act of worship, is almost unparalleled within the schema of the faith – but it is ultimately, an individual act of worship that benefits the single believer more than anyone else.
What then, if we were to take the words of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as an explicit instruction to prioritise the sanctity of life – especially in these days that Muslims in their millions travel to the Ka’aba?
The genocide of Palestinians
In the midst of a genocide, it is not just the sanctity of a single life that is at stake, but in fact the sanctity of an entire people – one that has been living under the shadow of oppression.
This is the 77th year since the Nakba – the catastrophe that befall the Palestinian people as thousands were killed and 750,000 displaced and dispossessed of their property and lands by Zionist forces. The Qur’an speaks directly to this dispossession, by reminding us that fighting to regain what has been lost is a moral and natural law right of those who have been dispossessed.
Actively fighting to defend Palestinian life has become difficult for most across the world, as the borders into historic Palestine are closely controlled – not just by the Zionist state itself – but also by Egypt and Jordan. Those two countries operate as jailers for the Palestinian people and their struggle, inhibiting actual physical support to reach those most in need.
Many Muslims across the world have been clamouring for Muslim armies to come to the aid of the Palestinian cause – but those armies are repressing their own people.
How can we really help the Palestinians?
Thus, how does the Muslim today exercise the command of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), that when you see an evil, to change it with your hand? The giving of aid is changing very little, as the aid is either not getting through or spoiling, or it simply subsidises the ongoing unlawful occupation of the Zionists.
Protests are important as public acts of solidarity with the Palestinian people, but we should not confuse showing public support with affecting change – as protests are largely limited to managed dissent – it has little bearing on affecting the wheels of power.
We can boycott of course, to harm the economy of the Zionist state and those who support it – and this has proven to be an invaluable tool of solidarity – as it forces companies to make a decision as to whether they continue to engage with a settler colonial apartheid regime, or worry about their bottom line for shareholders.
There is now a plethora of research that boycotting does in fact work, and is a central tool for both Muslims and non-Muslims to manifest their solidarity for the Palestinian people – a key strategy being to cut off the supply lines that permit the apartheid state to continue.
As an act, boycotting is much more of an absence than it is a physical act of solidarity – one only need not purchase an item. In today’s market, there is always an alternative. The supply lines for the Zionist state also take other more violent forms, and this includes the manufacture and supply of arms to Israel.
Palestine Action
For those living in countries and cities where arms are being manufactured to supply the Israeli occupying and genocidal forces the obligation to change something with our hand becomes heightened – due to our proximity.
In this context, I turn to the work of Palestine Action. Their actionists have been shutting down the weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in the UK and abroad – but not only them – any company associated with the maintenance of Elbit Systems.
Elbit Systems manufacture the drones and quadcopters that leave UK soil, are sold to the IDF, and target Palestinian men, women and children. The quadcopters are so particularly evil, that they emit the sounds of women and children crying to lure unsuspecting adults into the open as rescuers, only to kill them. This has a double effect – of killing more Palestinians, but also forcing them to reconsider coming to the aid of others in need.
By climbing the roof of Elbit Systems factories, or lowering themselves inside, and smashing weapons – the actionists perform the highest form of solidarity and love that one can for the Palestinian people. That is, to physically stop the tools of violence from leaving the factory. This is the work of Palestine Action, who choose to break into Elbit factories and dismantle their drones.
My wife and I had the opportunity to visit two of the female Muslim actionists in prison recently, both in their early twenties. They are known as the ‘Fliton 18’ and it is alleged they caused over £2 million in damage to Elbit Systems in Bristol. They will have been in prison for two years before their case even reaches trial.
They spoke of their abiding love for the Palestinian people. Of their desire to do something that might effect some change, make some real difference in the lives of the Palestinians. For them, the cost of imprisonment is a price worth paying, as physically stopping weapons from reaching the Israeli genocidal forces is more important than their own security.
They understand, that like boycotts, their actions are part of a constellation of actions that culminate in denying the Israeli apartheid state the oxygen it needs to continue its ongoing genocide.
I’ve thought about those prison visits a great deal, especially when returning to the notion of the sanctity of the lives of believers being more precious to Allah than the Ka’aba itself.
I’m left wondering, could it be that at this moment in time, during a genocide, that the smashing of drones could be considered as equal in importance as visiting the Ka’aba – and if so, what does that mean for the future of our activism in the UK?
Dr. Asim Qureshi is Research Director at CAGE, an independent advocacy group working to empower communities impacted by The War On Terror. He specialises in investigating the impact of counterterrorism practices worldwide, and advises legal teams involved in defending terrorism trials in the U.S. and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He is the author of A Virtue of Disobedience.
