Gaza

By Ismail Obansa Nimah

Moments before the deadly Israeli strike on the Al Ahli Baptist Christian National Hospital, an official Israeli government page posted the following on X (formerly Twitter):  “Due to the lack of medical equipment and the lack of medical staff, it was decided to bomb the Baptist hospital in Gaza and give them euthanasia death”.  

The attack is the worst to hit a hospital since World War II. It has so far killed more than 500 people, with many still under the rubble. The tweet has been deleted, and as usual, Israeli and mainstream Western media have begun damage control to embellish the ignominy with half-truths and outright falsehood.

There is no sitting on the fence in this conflict. You are either here or there. You either stand for the Palestinians against the monstrous apartheid regime of Israel, or you are with the Israelis, of whom a significant majority, save just a few, are so inhumane.

And when I say Palestinians or Israeli, it does not just equate pitting Muslims against Jews. If you must know, Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus himself, is amongst Palestine’s illegally occupied and besieged regions and has been under constant attack and bombardment by Israel for the past seven decades.

I hope our Christian counterparts also realise that cheering Israel on and being sympathetic to their cause on whatever basis or allusion, scriptural or not,  erodes the very humanity in us and is tantamount to aiding the systematic tyranny and barbarism that entity represents – the same barbarism we all spoke against and condemned when it occurred in South Africa.  We are all targets. This is a war on our collective humanity. Upon deeper reflection, we will find examples of similar demagoguery against Jesus and his Mother, Mary, in the scripture.

Ask yourself, is it not insane and malevolent to think that the Just and Merciful Creator will choose a group of people as his beloved or ‘chosen’ and help them commit atrocities of this scale to fulfil some prophecy?

We, Muslims, are not your enemy. We are not what the propagandists of the West and Israel propagate. We have an entire chapter in the Qur’an named after Mary in deference to her honour. We have numerous verses exalting her status in the sight of God, away from what the Jews still assert. No Muslim is a Muslim until he/she loves, respects and honours Jesus Christ as one of the mightiest messengers of God. We do not call his name, except we add “peace be upon him” to it. We make no distinction between him and other great messengers of God. Yet you somehow think we are your enemy? And help the Jews who curse Mary and Jesus further their evil plot, particularly against us?

For more than One thousand years, the Muslims ruled Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital. During these years,  Muslims, Jews and Christians coexisted together in goodness, peace, justice and prosperity. Every Muslim was obligated to respect and ensure the human rights of those living under the Islamic Caliphate, no matter who they were and what they worshipped. It was and still is a huge sin and a punishable offence for any Muslim to trespass on the rights of a non-Muslim living under the protection of a Muslim government. No non-Muslim blood was allowed to be illegally spilt without justice. No one was made to unduly suffer on account of being different in any regard.

And even when the European Christian crusaders sacked Jerusalem and massacred hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants in the 11th century, the  Muslims under Salahudeen Al-Ayub did not spill a single innocent blood when they took the city back from the crusader occupation some 88 years later. Not even the blood of many cruel crusaders who had massacred Muslims in their thousands.

It may be that history is repeating itself all over again. But I am sure Palestine will again survive this cruel attempt at extermination and targeted ethnic cleansing. And I know that it will be soon, very soon. Until then, hang in there, brethren, for the help of our Creator is near.

I hope this opens your eyes and we all see more clearly away from sentiments and propaganda.

Ismail Obansa Nimah wrote via nimah013@gmail.com.

By Bala Muhammad

Every Israeli Prime Minister makes it an article of faith to attack Palestine – both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But as the West Bank is usually led by the compliant and complacent so-called Palestinian Administration of PLO inheritors, it is mainly spared the fury of Israel. But Gaza, the home of HAMAS and Islamic Jihad, always takes the brunt whenever an Israeli leader wants to flex muscle and show ‘manhood’.

With each passing day of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, with each additional death of a child or mother, Muslims worldwide are becoming more militant, more fundamentalist, and more jihadic. This is very ominous for the West, on whose behalf Israel is doing what it is doing.

Samuel Huntington, who died not too long ago, wrote Clash of Civilisations. Now, more than ever before, this Clash is at hand. If there is any cause that unites Muslims today, it is the Palestinian Question; if there is any future war that Muslim youth would gladly join and wage, it would be the Jihad to liberate Al Aqsa, Al Quds and Palestine. But for the Western-propped-up Arab regimes encircling Gaza, many young people would have gone into the Strip to join the martyred army of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

In the matter of HAMAS, Faith will always be Triumphant. Incidentally, The Faith Triumphant is the title of Chapter Eleven in one of the most important books of the Islamic Movement, Ma’alim fit Tariq (Milestones), written by the Movement’s leading intellectual and Martyr, Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ikhwan al Muslimun.

In Milestones, Qutb wrote: “Allah says, ‘Do not be dejected or grieve. You shall be the uppermost if you are Believers’ (3:139). The first thought which comes to mind on reading this verse is that it relates to the form of Jihad, which is actual fighting, but the spirit of this message and its application with its manifold implications is greater and broader than this particular aspect. Indeed, it describes that eternal state of mind that should inspire the believer’s consciousness. It describes a triumphant state which should remain fixed in the believer’s heart in the face of everything, every condition, every standard and every person; the superiority of the Faith.

“It means to be above all the powers of the earth which have deviated from the way of the Faith, above all the values of the earth not derived from the source of faith, above all the customs of the earth not coloured with the colouring of the faith, above all the laws of the earth not sanctioned by the Faith, and above all traditions not originating in the Faith. It means to feel superior to others when weak, few and poor, as well as when strong, many and rich. It means the sense of supremacy which does not give in before any rebellious force.

“Steadfastness and strength on the battlefield are but one expression among many of the triumphant spirit which is included in this statement of Almighty God. The superiority through faith is not a mere single act of will nor a passing euphoria or a momentary passion but is a sense of superiority based on permanent Truth centred on the very nature of existence.

“The person who takes a stand against the direction of the society – its governing logic, its common mode, its values and standards, its ideas and concepts, its error and deviations – will find himself a stranger, as well as helpless, unless his authority comes from a source which is more powerful than the people, more permanent than the earth, and nobler than life.

“Conditions change, the Muslim loses his physical power and is conquered; yet the consciousness does not depart from him that he is most superior. If he remains a Believer, he looks upon his conqueror from a superior position. He remains certain that this is a temporary condition which will pass away and that faith will turn the tide from which there is no escape. Even if death is his potion, he will never bow his head. Death comes to all, but for him, there is martyrdom. He will proceed to the garden while his conquerors go to the fire. What a difference!”

So wrote Sayyid Qutb. Let us now end today’s treatise with the following story on Challenge, the type the Palestinians are facing: “The Japanese love fresh fish. However, the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the catch. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

“To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen, and they did not like frozen fish. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish. So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem?

“To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now, they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. Because they are challenged, they kick and protest and ultimately arrive fresh. Or martyred.”

Allah has put a tiny shark (Israel) in the Arab tank. Only some fish called Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah are kicking. The others are frozen stiff. RIP. After all, L. Ron Hubbard once wrote: “Man thrives, oddly enough, only in the presence of a challenging environment.”

May Allah help the Palestinians.

Dr Bala Muhammad wrote from Kano, Nigeria. He can be reached via balamuhammad@hotmail.com.