We Must Unite for Gaza

When Al-Quds was occupied by the Crusaders in 1099, the Muslim Ummah was divided into the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates, weakened by their disputes and internal problems. Whereas the Crusaders had formed a powerful alliance.

However, when Al-Quds was conquered by Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi on October 2, 1187, the situation was reversed. The Crusaders were divided and in disagreement, while the Muslim Ummah was united and in alliance.

The Muslim Ummah, fragmented and divided, was unable to protect Al-Quds while they were fighting amongst themselves. They suffered a major defeat against the Crusaders and lost Al-Quds, which remained under Crusader occupation for exactly 88 years.

When Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi ended the Fatimid Caliphate and reunited the Muslims under the Abbasid Caliphate, Al-Quds was reconquered and the Crusader occupation ended.

When Palestine was occupied by the British in the early 20th century, Muslims were divided by their internal conflicts and problems, weakened, and later unable to prevent the usurping Jewish entity plunging like a dagger into the chest of Muslims due to the weakness caused by this fragmentation.

Today, a similar situation is repeating itself. Following the Al-Aqsa Flood, a large Crusader-Zionist alliance formed among the colonial kuffar has martyred more than 100,000 of our Muslim brothers and sisters in Gaza. With attacks that continue day and night, Gaza has been turned into ruins and rubble, and turned into a death and extermination camp under the blockade and siege of the usurping Jewish entity, leaving our Muslim brothers and sisters in Gaza abandoned to starvation and death.

Unfortunately, with the collapse of the Ottoman State and the abolition of the Caliphate, the Muslim Ummah – whose borders were drawn by colonial kuffar – has been divided and fragmented by nation states and has lost its unity.

Furthermore, on top of this fragmentation, Muslims have also been divided by conflicts arising from differences in opinion and views among themselves in their own countries, leading to further fragmentation through structures and organizations such as different communities, sects, political parties, and civil society organizations.

As a result of all this, their weakness and powerlessness have increased, and with this weakness, they have been unable to help their Gazan brothers and sisters, and they have been helpless in solving other crises and problems facing the Ummah. In other words, while the enemies of Islam and Muslims, the colonial kuffar, are united and allied against Islam and the Muslim Ummah, Muslims are in conflict, divided, and scattered, far from unity.

To overcome this disarray and weakness, to become a great and powerful Ummah once again, to return the defeats we have suffered against the colonizers to them, to take pride in the victories we have forgotten, to tear down the walls built between us, and for the salvation of Gaza and the Ummah, we must unite.

[وَأَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلاَ تَنَازَعُواْ فَتَفْشَلُواْ وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ وَاصْبِرُواْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ]

“Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not dispute with one another, or you would be discouraged and weakened. Persevere! Surely Allah is with those who persevere.” [Al-Anfal:46]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Remzi Özer