A MAN CAME came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: ‘Messenger of Allah, what do you think of a man who comes to me to take my possessions?’
He ﷺ said: ‘Don’t surrender your possessions to him.’
The man asked: ‘If he fights me?’
He ﷺ remarked: ‘Then fight (with him).’
The man asked again: ‘What do you think if I am killed?’
He ﷺ said: ‘You would be a martyr.’
The man asked once again: ‘What do you think if I kill him.’
He ﷺ said: ‘He would be in the Fire.’
This hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim makes an important point about the right of the individual to protect what is his and to take physical action if need be, to defend his possessions. It establishes who is in the right and who is in the wrong, who is the victim and who is the criminal, and links the actions of both to their place in akhirah.
It allows us to see past the propaganda and see clearly what is happening in Palestine at the moment.
We Muslims scratch our heads when we so hear so many Western commentators describe the issue as complicated. It isn’t complicated at all. The Palestinians have had their land stolen from them by the settler occupiers and as such they are the victims of a crime and as such they have every right to resist and take back what is theirs.
That right is not because it is what international law says is right and just. But it is because Allah and His Messenger ﷺ say that this is right and just.
It’s an important point that can get lost in the war of words and our need to be heard in times of desperation and deception.
Many Muslims call out what the Zionists and their supporters are doing as unjust based on international law. Whilst we can call them out based on the standards that they themselves are supposed to adhere to, we must never assume that these are our standards.
The Geneva Conventions, the International Criminal Court, the UN etc are founded on ideas of secularism and as we have seen far too often are nothing more than tools that the leading nations use to further their agenda. They are used when it suits them and thrown out the window when it doesn’t. How can these ideas be the standards we call for or adhere to when the West themselves show utter contempt for them? These secular laws are also diverse and where some may coincide with Islamic ideals, others (such as the liberal values) are far from Islam. It would be equally inconsistent of us to pick and choose international laws that suit us and reject those that don’t
Far from such inconsistencies, our law is one that is derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Our law is based on the truth. Coming from the all-Knowing, most Wise and most Just, our law is both comprehensive and cohesive and as such has the ability to address and solve every problem that we face.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَآءَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ
O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice. (al-Ma’ida 8)
Related Articles
The real heroes
My wife gathered the children the other night to watch a video that she had come across of Amy Goodman from Democracy Now interviewing Dr Hammam Alloh, a nephrologist at al-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza on 31st October. She asked: ‘The Israeli military has dropped thousands of pamphlets warning people where you are in northern Gaza […]
Why is Palestine so important?
WHY IS AL-AQSA and what surrounds it so important? It can be appreciated by the first khutba given in al-Aqsa by Al-Qadi Muhiy ad-Deen ibn Az-Zaki following its liberation by Salahuddin after 88 years of occupation. He said: “It is the home of your father Ibrahim (as), the place of ascent (Mi’raj) of your Prophet […]
In every race there are winners and learners
STATE SCHOOLS ARE different from private schools. Take Sports Day. I recall at my daughter’s previous state school Sports Day, I was surprised to find that the children no longer competed against each other. Each child participated in set activities. Each child received the same ‘Participated in Sports day’ certificate at the end of the […]
