Humanitarian Disaster
First and foremost this is a humanitarian disaster. Already, from the indiscriminate air-bombardment of a densely populated area, there are hundreds of dead and thousands injured (not to mention the thousands made homeless).
All of this is occurring while there is an Israeli-backed embargo against Gaza which is being done with the cooperation of the Egyptian regime. The first priority for all Muslim and human rights groups in the West is to break this blockade. This can be achieved two ways; first by putting pressure on the governments of Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and even Nicholas Sarkozy and then if that does not work physically breaking the blockade.
What does this mean? A call for martyrs?
Call for a Fleet of Martyrs
If the governments of the West will not pressure Israel to stop the air raids and upcoming invasion and to end the blockade then those of us with Western citizenships should physically break the blockade.
I say those of us with Western passports because Israeli would think twice before bombing a boat full of Westerners (even if those on it are Muslims). If the boats arrive safely to Gaza then the people in need will be aided and everyone gets home safe Alhamdudilah; but if the boat is bombed and those aboard are killed then it will expose Israel to an international pressure it cannot withstand.
Western governments would more than likely stand up and force Israel to end the embargo and stop the invasion. Israel would also loose whatever popular support it had in the West.
The idea of American, Canadian, British and other Western Muslims setting up a fleet to go into Gaza at once is something I would like to see the major Muslim organizations take on. It is a win-win situation. If the fleet arrives those who made it possible will be rewarded for the good deeds and the people of Gaza will be helped and if the fleet is attacked then I pray that Allah will grant those on board martyrdom and this event will be used to create an international al outcry for the people of Gaza.
Cycle of Violence
The bombing that has occurred this far is the latest wave in a cycle of violence that has caused a lot of pain and misery on both sides of the conflict. With each bomb that kills a Palestinian in Gaza and with each day of the embargo, Israel is creating thousands of Palestinian men ready to carry the flag of jihad into the next generation.
Political Islam
A major part of this bombing and a major reason America and the neighboring Arab-regimes are turning a blind eye to what is going on is all parties want to see the death of political Islam. As soon as Hamas was democratically elected to lead the Palestinian people Israel and America were looking for ways to undermine the regime. Eventually they provoked the corrupt agents of America and Israel in Fatah to try and militarily displace Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. However, Fatah only succeeded in the West Bank and Hamas routed them in Gaza. Hence today Gaza is the target. The Islamic Movement represents a threat to America and the West as they see it and a victory for Islamists in Gaza, Somalia or anywhere else in the ummah will be fought. So in addition to this being an assault on the people of Gaza, the current events must also be seen as an assault on the Islamic Movement, which equally threatens the power of the likes of Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Jordan, and the rest of the tyrants of the ummah.
Our Role in the West and Our Connection to the Islamic Revival
Traditionally it has been understood by the bulk of Muslim leadership in the West that we have a role to help the political situation of our fellow Muslims in Muslim countries and that because of our greater political freedom and affluence as a group we have special responsibilities.
In Muslim majority countries ran by secular tyrants, Islamic Movements were outlawed and driven underground. Therefore, fundraising and political organizing for the opposition to these tyrants (whether it was the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad, Muammar Khadafy, or Hosni Mubarak) was better done in the West.
The Western powers and the secular tyrants both had a shared goal of driving Islam out of the political sphere and erasing the influence of Islam from the minds of the Muslims in order to create Muslims open to a secular-humanist capitalist New World Order.
Muslims in America, as an example, used our political freedoms to support charities that were friendly to the Islamic Movement and not connected to the tyrants and to help those trying to reform their societies based on the principals of Islam.
Our role in the success of many Islamic groups in many Muslim countries has been crucial (whether our role was financing or helping refine the message to the State Department). That is why it is catastrophically wrong for some Muslim leaders today to say Western Muslims should ignore the politics in the Muslim World and remove our support for Islamic movements. When they tell us we should give up on the idea of an Islamic State, “hard power” and other aspects of the Islamic revival they are telling us we should turn our backs on our brothers and sisters striving to reform their societies and to surrender governance to tyrants and secular-humanist capitalists. There is no wonder that this brand of Islam is so popular in the State Department, in Western Academia, and with those such as the Rand Institute.
The Death of a Brother
I would also like to pray that Allah have mercy on our brother in Islam Nizar Rayyan and his family. This brother was killed along with his 4 wives, 6 sons, and 5 daughters in an airstrike. This was a brother who had a love for the Sunnah and was an example for the Muslims of Gaza.
15 responses so far ↓
hbm // January 2, 2009 at 9:12 pm |
I wonder if you ever heard of the USS liberty.
What happened to it was covered up!
MR // January 2, 2009 at 10:22 pm |
Israel would still kill the Western citizens and get away with it.
kalimat // January 2, 2009 at 10:35 pm |
Islamic movements are no different to the tyrants in power in Muslim countries. Their policies are no different to the current regimes and are simply exploiting religion to gain support from the uneducated, naive masses.
muslim // January 3, 2009 at 5:43 am |
Br. Umar you’re right about everything you said, the shared goal between Arab regimes and the west is clear and the proof is that the Israeli foreign minister declared the operations from Egypt after meeting with Mubarak( La Baraka Allahu Vihi).
Kalimat, when were the Islamic movements given a chance, the only time they reached power was in Algeria and in Palestine and we all know what happened next and who was behind it.There is no more “naive masses” peaple are very well aware of what’s going on and they know who’s for them and who’s against them.
Rasheed Moore // January 3, 2009 at 6:18 am |
Umar,
I am with you 100% ak but I think the most effective thing we can do is to continue to explain to our fellow citizens and local representatives how the interests of the US and Israel are inherently distinct and if we continue to be subservient to Israeli interests it’s going to bring us down as a nation.
Wallahu A’laam
Falstaff // January 3, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
“I would also like to pray that Allah have mercy on our brother in Islam Nizar Rayyan and his family. This brother was killed along with his 4 wives, 6 sons, and 5 daughters in an airstrike. This was a brother who had a love for the Sunnah and was an example for the Muslims of Gaza.”
This kind of example. He told the journalist Jeffery Goldberg:
“Allah changed disobedient Jews into apes and pigs, it is true, but he specifically said these apes and pigs did not have the ability to reproduce. So it is not literally true that Jews today are descended from pigs and apes, but it is true that some of the ancestors of Jews were transformed into pigs and apes, and it is true that Allah continually makes the Jews pay for their crimes in many different ways. They are a cursed people.”…“You are murderers of the prophets and you have closed your ears to the Messenger of Allah,” he said. “Jews tried to kill the Prophet, peace be unto him. All throughout history, you have stood in opposition to the word of God.”
It was a crime to kill his wives and children- ‘though one son had already died in a suicide bombing with his father’s encouragement- but was it not a crime to hide among his wives and children too and rely on their protection?
» Umar Lee calls for a “fleet of martyrs … Talk Islam // January 3, 2009 at 7:58 pm |
[...] out his whole post on Gaza here. [...]
To Falstaff // January 3, 2009 at 10:35 pm |
All What was said to Jeffrey Goldberg is what Muslims believe to be true.
May Allah makes the Jews pay for their crimes !
saarim // January 4, 2009 at 12:15 am |
What did you want him to do Falstaff; stand on top of a building with a bullseye? Not surprising coming from the braindead Fox “News” crowd.
Falstaff // January 4, 2009 at 1:35 am |
“All What was said to Jeffrey Goldberg is what Muslims believe to be true.”
Not many say so, though. Perhaps what Muslims believe to be true- not only about Jews but about all unbelievers- should be quoted before any claim for islamic toleration is made so we always remember the precise meaning of toleration in that context.
Well, Saarim, Raayan did do the equivalent of standing with a bullseye. He stood his family there too.
Khalid Waleed // January 4, 2009 at 5:25 pm |
I am reminded by what one of these aspiring RAND oriented “American” Muslim “progressive” leaders once wrote after 9/11:
“It is time that we acknowledge that the freedoms we enjoy in the US are more desirable to us than superficial solidarity with the Muslim World.”
–Muqtedar Khan
Thoughts on Gaza-Umar Lee « MT. Akbar // January 4, 2009 at 10:56 pm |
[...] Br.Umar Lee, I agree with this particularly if there is a fleet of ships that we can get to break through the [...]
mtakbar // January 4, 2009 at 11:11 pm |
Ak Umar that is a good creative idea, and I support it, I am willing to put up all my money (which isn’t a lot wa lillah hil hamd) for any Muslim to match who can set up an enterprise such as this where we head off from Cyprus with food and medical Aid with the flags of the nations of our citizenship and LA Ilaha Illah Allah and for it to be in His path to break the blockade. There has to be a Muslim ship captain out there who has navigated the waters of the Meditteranian. I am sick of sitting on my butt when those fighting the oppression are getting killed and their family’s.
-MT
Samir // January 6, 2009 at 8:49 pm |
As-salamualaikum, Br. Umar. Very interesting idea. The US press and politicians will probably brand the group on that ship with the usual terrorist accusations, and everyone connected with such an effort will be deemed a terrorist. But then who cares, if all we’re doing is to break the blockade, right?
Jonathan // February 4, 2009 at 10:53 pm |
Remember that by having western civilians trying to break the blockade you are ignoring two things:
1. Even though unarmed, these “civilians” are not peaceful.
2. This is definitely use of human shields.
I want to go to the White House and speak with the president of the United States because I don’t agree on his policies. Do you mean that if I try getting in I might be stopped by security guards? If I insist going in will they just let me in or use force to stop me? But I’m unarmed! Obviously they are targeting a peaceful, unarmed men and are very violent people that participate in global imperialism controlled by the Zionist entity.
Give me a break! Ten thousands and hundred of thousands of muslims/arabs died at the hands of their own regime across Africa and Asia. King Hussein had to kill ten thousands of Palestinians after they tried taking over his kingdom in the early 70s. Yet one doesn’t hear as much as a peep about this. Arabs don’t really care about Palestinians. They use them as means of diverting world/local attention to other problems. The fact that there is poverty, illiteracy, women abuse, censorship, lack of freedom of speech in most Arab countries is a result of culture and not Israel/US/Western fault.
The US/Israel/West is so bad and corrupt? How come there are thousands of Arab and Muslim immigrants to the west if it is so corrupt and hardly (if any) immigration of westerns to Arab/Muslim countries? The reason is that in the west you have much more freedom and better quality of life and Arabs/Muslims know this best.