inam ul rehman
From the age of 20 years onwards I used to question myself why is Palestine such an issue in the Muslim world? What is in Palestine that makes Muslims emotional. In most Friday sermons preachers would pray for the Palestinian people. The same preachers would bemoan Muslim rulers’ inability to attack the state of Israel. Then they would beseech if Muslims unite no one can stand in front of us!
Friday after Friday I would listen to this sermon and prayers. The state of Israel and the Jews were abominable. All the conspiracies and disastrous things happening in the world were put in the lap of Jewish people. Jews, as per the Muslims, controlled world economy, world politics, world weapons, rulers, media. Everything. The more the preachers and Muslim prayed for the destruction of the state of Israel the more powerful it becomes. Surprisingly I didn’t develop hatred or revulsion against it. I developed admiration for the state of Israel and its inhabitants.
Surrounded with not only hostile neighbouring regimes, Israel is marred by hostile Arab population as well, not to forget that many countries outside the gulf are quick to condemn it. The Arab world fought four major wars against the state of Israel and as the victor Israel annexed more lands. The Arabs tried to strangulate it and in-spite of it the state of Israel is one of the powerful nations in the world. With a population of only 9.5 million it is astounding to think that this country is thriving in every aspect. Jews are religious too, in fact more than many will think, but this religiosity has not stopped it to attain greater heights. And yet the state of Israel has not reached to its zenith.
Compare it with Muslims. Muslims are almost 2 billion people in the world which accounts for 24 percent of the world population. What do Muslims contribute to the world? What do Muslims make? What great work do Muslims do? What great inventions, discoveries, and innovations, Muslims have done in the past 100 years? Muslims have only 15 Noble laureates and if you take away peace prize winners among it the tally stands only 7! Just 7 Noble laureates within the population of 2 billion! Jews have 213 Noble laureates among its total population of 15.5 million! (https://www.timesofisrael.com/global-jewish-population-hits-15-7-million-ahead-of-new-year-46-of-them-in-israel/#:~:text=The%20global%20Jewish%20population%20climbed,the%20eve%20of%20Rosh%20Hashanah.)
Muslims see world through conspiracy theories. All their faults, problems, diseases, are because of the conspiracy of Jews. Imagine 15.5 million jews are running the whole world, and 2 billion Muslims are unable to outperform them! I see Israel moving insouciantly ahead paying no heed to diatribe and conspiracy theories.
Muslims also believe in another crap, if America is not at the back of Israel the latter will collapse. America was at the back of Pakistan in 1971, when it surrendered to India. The Americans are not going to fight your war, not going to get killed for anyone. The same United States give funds to the Islamic republic of Pakistan to protect its nuclear facilities (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/washington/18nuke.html)
Now where is Pakistan, and where is Israel. Israel has raised its standard. Its every citizen looks a country in itself.
Boycott Israeli products!
For the past 24 years I have been seeing boycott Israeli products trending, even if these products are not made by it. We are often told that Pepsi means “pay every penny to save Israel”, a ridiculous claim but pervasive among Muslims. What will be the reaction of these conspiracy theorists if they came to know that Jewish community also boycotted Pepsi products in the mid 70s of the last century! (https://repository.yu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/ab4965c6-fb02-4662-96a2-f7a089191c82/content)
This boycott trend is partial. Muslims talk about food items but do not list medical items, computer parts, and many other things in their boycott plan which Jews make. Many years ago Muslims tried Mecca cola to replace popular cola brands! Anyone remembers it!
Why is this boycott restricted to Israel only? Why was the US not boycotted when it entered one of the impoverished countries of the world, Afghanistan, and Iraq? Why this duplicity?
I look at the Islamic republic of Pakistan created by the British in 1947, and the state of Israel also created by the same empire in the same year. Where are both of these today standing. Pakistan has become expert in transporting militants to neighbouring countries, digging graves and throwing out bodies of its own citizen, declaring anyone blasphemous, taking funds from the USA, sending their children to study in US, and then rabble-rousing public against the same country!
While Muslims sleep and cook conspiracy theories Israel makes great efforts to mitigate world problems, but for Muslims all that Jews do is to conspire. For Muslims who want to help their brethren in distress, Israel should have been a country to emulate. Instead, Muslims get jitters on listening to this. The latter is open to all Jewish people around the world. Can any Muslim country do such a thing for Muslims?
Traditionally, Christians and Jewish share antagonistic relations. Whenever Christians went for crusades, writes British author Karen Armstrong, they would first slaughter Jews and loot their houses. Christians did the Holocaust in which around 6 million jews were killed. Muslims and Jews do not share such hostile relationship. In fact, Jews lived in harmonious relationship with Muslims. Yet, today we are made to believe that we cannot co-exist with them!
Is fighting for Palestine a part of our faith?
In the name of Palestine we have been made deaf, dumb, and blind. If we ignore Palestine, are we losing our faith? Is standing up and getting killed for Palestine part of our faith? Why not the same faith for Rohingya Muslims? Why not the same faith displayed for Xinjiang Muslims of China? Why were the Afghan Muslims ignored from this faith? Why is that we hear drums only about Palestine not Mali, Ethiopia, Philippines, Tibet, et al, where persecution of Muslims is going on.
The Islamic republic of Iran since 1979 has created such a whirlwind propaganda toward Palestine and particularly toward Masjid al Aqsa as if it is the 6th pillar of Islam. As if Muslims have no Imaan if they do not talk about Palestine. The hatred of Israel has been drilled so deep in us that we have become blind to everything. Why can’t Muslims be friends with Jewish as was a wont in the past?
But Iran, as a nation state, uses the Palestinian issue to brow beat Muslims only. It has kept proxies throughout the gulf region so as to put pressure on Arab nation states. It was on the instance of Iran that its proxy, Hamas, acted dastardly against the Israeli population in October 2023.
You look at the Hamas and cringe at the methods it used last year against the Israeli civilians, shamelessly parading a dead naked woman on the streets. And when the retaliation came the same Palestinian people including Iran are beating chest “where is Ummah”. When you started the war against Israel did you ask the Ummah: we are going for a war we need your suggestions? And what was the need of attacking Israeli civilians when you were about to get two state solution? As a proxy of Iran, Hamas will never think on its own and act for its own interest. For Iran any decision taken by the Arab countries to mitigate the Palestinian people is not acceptable.
Israel killed forty-one thousand people since last year. None of them were Iranians. Houses razed down were not of Iranians, people maimed by bombing are not of Iran. Those who became orphans are not Iranians. The women who became widows are not from Iran. Yet Iran is no mood to let the Palestinian people to have peaceful coexistence with Israel.
When someone here tells people why should Muslims be sitting ducks, often he is shut with the couplet of Iqbal:
Kaafir hai to shamsheer pe karta hai bharosa
momin hai to be-tegh bhi ladta hai sipaahi
Even if the whole Muslim communities unite they will not be able to defeat Israel. The latter does not take emotional decisions, don’t fool people in the name of religion, give priority in safeguarding their people rather than making them sitting ducks for enemies.
Nation states have interest not religions. It acts according to its interests. If religion propels these interests then it has no qualms to use religion for it. Iran, which is trying to portray itself as a Mahdi for the Palestinian people throughout the world, had no qualms in bombing Muslims in Syria, no compunction in helping the “Shaitan-e-Buzurg” USA to fight against ISIS. Saudi Arabia is also a nation state. Why should Kashmiris shun their relationship with each other, or brickbat for those nation states whose interest keep changing.
The problem is not Israel, the problem is us, for we are not ready to open up our minds and think on our own.
Israel is a reality. It will not go away no matter what you do. The best is to learn from it. The best is to elevate your ranks first and then think of helping Palestine.
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