Epitomizing the Western position vis-à-vis history, Napoleon Bonaparte once remarked that history is a bunch of lies, which a community agrees upon. The subject of the history of Palestine is an excellent case in point.

The case denotes a center of gravity around which the majority of other foremost issues revolve. The level and intensity of untruths applicable to the Palestinian case are expected to spill over and permeate the other either scientific or cultural domains. 

That is why the triad – or unholy trinity – of Zionism, Islamophobia, and Orientalism belong to the same family of Western civilizational aberration. Although they had diverse origins and divergent performance metrics, the three continuously aided each other’s existence and functionality.

Whenever needed, they carved out plenty of convergence points where they could stand united and perform accordingly, appearing thus stronger and lending additional credence to the clouts of their respective spheres.

This means that despite its aspiration to become a global spectacle and despite its aggressive proselytizing proclivity, Western civilization is compatible neither with the spirit of the Islamic faith nor the disposition of the Muslim mind.

Whatever has been imposed on the Muslim biological, intellectual, and spiritual existence, chiefly by way of Western forceful expansionism and colonization, is artificial.

The same increasingly alienates Muslims from their religion, history, culture, and identity while at the same time not bringing them any closer to the actual orbit of the West and its civilizational legacy. Retaining the status quo does not bode well for the future of the Muslim world.

Western civilization belongs to the West. That is not a club for Muslims. The sooner Muslims start reducing their civilizational dependence on the West, Islamizing what is at hand, and generally working on producing viable Islamic alternatives, the better.

The West should be eschewed as much as feasible, and all focus should be directed inwards, towards rebuilding what has been lost or forgotten.

Islamic civilization was the most consequential in history. It did not die – in fact, it cannot die because it represents the truth and the truth does not die. Islamic civilization merely went into a hiatus.

It declined as a consequence of the vicissitudes of time and space (the laws of the rise and fall of civilizations) and just waits to be resuscitated.

Indeed, since many Muslims are torn between the beckoning of Western civilization which offers a poisoned chalice, and the prospect of reviving Islamic civilization, which at this point demands hard work and sacrifices, the same Muslims stand at a crossroads insofar as responding to the Palestinian situation is concerned.

What the intrinsic states of their heart and soul invite them to is not necessarily that which their indoctrinated mind feels inclined to. The clash between the two moods is real and painful. The physical battles on the streets of Gaza are almost similar intensity-wise to the inner battles those people have to endure.

The Palestinian quagmire is inextricably linked to the part played by both Israel and the West, which are mutually reinforcing in pursuit of a common objective. This is a proxy war wherein the West is the mastermind and Israel the marionette.

The latter does the dirty work its masters in the West are supposed to do. When it comes to harming the interests of Islam and Muslims, the two principles that preside over the other considerations are unity – i.e., unity is strength – and collective efforts – i.e., collective efforts yield mutual success. Nothing unites those vultures better than an agenda against the Muslim interests.

Like so, for the West Israel signifies a bulwark of defense against the peril of Islam, whereas for Israel the West signifies a defensive shield from both the back and the flanks.

Owing to this pact, while currently Israel mercilessly keeps pounding the vulnerable Palestinians trapped in Gaza, using some of the most sophisticated weapons on the planet, its master patron, the US, warned: “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.”

It moreover said would send multiple military ships and aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, and would also increase military aid and provide munitions to Israel (Aljazeera.com).

With this in mind, one muses when Muslims will gain insight into what really is going on and when they will recognize the key protagonists in the evolving scenario. When will they understand that they themselves, their Prophet, and their Creator are their only friends and supporters?

Wake-up Call

When will Muslims finally wake up? The other communities, especially the West and its staunch allies from other corners of the world, are either outright enemies or cunning hypocrites.

This is not surprising, though, given that all religions were destroyed long ago and that their man-made substitutes keep faltering and vanishing into oblivion by the day, except Islam, which not only refuses to succumb and go away but also keeps getting stronger and adherents getting more numerous by the day.

Without a doubt, hatred towards Islam and Muslims is factual and is as much impulsive as premeditated. Islam is the only power formidable enough to stand against the emergence and spread of devilish world orders.

When will Muslims start listening to the words of their Creator, who knows the seen and the unseen, and the disclosed as well as concealed intentions of people? When will they heed, for example, these words:

“And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say: ‘Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the (only) guidance.’ If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper” (al-Baqarah, 120).

Also: “O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves (like the Jews and Christians), for they will not spare you (any) ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear the signs if you will use reason. Here you are loving them, but they are not loving you, while you believe in the Scripture – all of it. And when they meet you, they say: ‘We believe.’ But when they are alone, they bite their fingertips at you in rage. Say: ‘Die in your rage. Indeed, Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts.’ If good touches you, it distresses them; but if harm strikes you, they rejoice at it. And if you are patient and fear Allah, their plot will not harm you at all. Indeed, Allah is encompassing of what they do” (Alu ‘Imran, 118-120).

God’s Promise

Is Gaza God's Will?

Finally, if there is any silver lining to what is happening in Palestine it is the fact that more and more Muslims are starting to ask questions they never asked before, and are starting to feel what they never felt before.

This truly gives hope, for as long as there are questions there will be answers too, and as long as there are appropriate emotions and right mental states there will be right actions too. What is calamitous and assassinates hopes is apathy.

Indeed, the confinement and suffering of the body are inconsequential when compared to the imprisonment of the intellect and soul. Before a person (a nation) gets out of his physical predicament, he must get out of the predicaments of his inner self first.

The Muslim potential is undeniable, imbuing the foes with a sense of dread. However, the outpouring passions and energies need to be fused and as such channeled towards a set of shared objectives.

The key words are unity and cooperation: the unity of purpose, enthusiasm, and direction, and cooperation – as per the Qur’anic directive (al-Ma’idah, 2) – in righteousness and piety, rather than in sin and aggression. If the West can constantly be united in matters of mischief, one ponders what prevents Muslims from getting united in matters of goodness and virtue.

It is high time to start getting to the bottom of things, and perhaps allow the latest chapter in the Palestinian tragedy – which contributes significantly to the separation of the wheat from the chaff, both domestically and internationally – to serve as a watershed. It is better to start taking things into our own hands before things take us into theirs. 

As far-fetched as it may seem, but the recent events in the valiant Gaza denoted a step closer to the apocalypse about which the teacher of all teachers – Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family – informed us in such vivid and minute details.

The Prophet told us that a great sign of the imminence of the Day of Judgment will be when Muslims as the only proponents of the truth will fight the Jews as a prominent segment of those who will follow Dajjal (false Messiah). The Jews could well be the vanguard of the rest.

Hence, when the big one comes, a person should be capable of discerning the true character of each side involved in the unfolding bedlam, and long before then, both in body and spirit, he should be in the ranks of the right party. Otherwise, there may be no extra time for reassessment, nor extra opportunity for redemption.

The Prophet said: “The Hour will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them, until a Jew hides behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will say: ‘O Muslim, O slave of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’ Except the gharqad (a thorny tree), for it is one of the trees of the Jews” (Sahih Muslim).

“The Jews will fight you, and you will prevail over them, then a rock will say: ‘O Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him’” (Sahih al-Bukhari).