Press Release
Boycott is Obligatory, but it is not A Solution, Rather it is An Illusion that Deceives People Into Believing that they have Done What they Should!
(Translated)

In a controversial statement, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif called on Muslims to harness all political, diplomatic and popular capabilities to renew the activation of the boycott of products of the Jewish entity, within the framework of protecting Palestinian blood and Islamic sanctities, most notably Al-Aqsa Mosque. This request came in light of the escalation of events in the Palestinian territories, where the measure was described as a necessary step to support the Palestinian people in their ongoing ordeal. Al-Azhar stressed that the boycott represents one of the most prominent forms of popular resistance that can contribute to putting pressure on the occupation. The statement expressed its deep concern over the violations that the Palestinians are being subjected to, stressing the importance of global solidarity with their just cause. Al-Azhar scholars stated that renewing the boycott is a clear message that reflects the extent of the Islamic Ummah’s readiness to stand by the Palestinian cause. Al-Azhar called for the need to intensify the efforts of some governments to enhance cooperation with Islamic institutions and countries that support the Palestinian cause. (Akhbar Al-Ghad 1/9/2024)

The issue of Palestine is a central issue for the entire Ummah, headed by Egypt, which was the shield protecting the blessed land, from it Al-Nasir Salah ud-Din set out to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque after decades of its occupation by the Crusaders. Now, the Blessed Land is occupied by Jews, who desecrated the sanctities of Islam there and shed the blood of our people there. The matter did not begin on October 7, 2023, but from the first day their impure feet stepped on our blessed land. So why do calls for boycott appear from time to time? Isn’t the Ummah able to do something other than boycott? Can boycotting be of any use? What should the Ummah do towards our people in Palestine?

Boycotting is an obligation on Muslims. It is not permissible to establish any commercial, political or cultural relationship with the Jewish entity, as it is a state that is actually fighting and occupying the blessed land of Palestine. Despite the obligation to boycott the Jewish entity, it is an action of the weak, and it is contrary to what the Ummah in general and the people of Egypt in particular believe, as they are capable of crushing the Jewish entity in an hour of the day. Boycotting by the people of Egypt does not relieve them of their greatest duty to fight the Jews and liberate the first of the two Qiblahs and the third of the two Holy Sanctuaries (Haramain). The boycott is also an obligation on the state from the beginning, not just on the people, as it is the state that has the power to prevent imports and exports, not the people. If it did, the boycott would occur naturally, but for the state to continue to export and import and the people to be told to boycott, this is a joke! Calls for boycott do not appear as if it is not an obligation in all cases, nor as the condition that must be followed with the Jews and their supporters at all times. They only appear when the Jews’ brutality against our people in the blessed land intensifies and whenever they shed their blood, violate the sanctities of the Ummah and desecrate its sacred places! When people's anger over the crimes of Jews intensifies and this anger is about to explode like a volcano in the face of the shameful regimes that protect the usurping entity, these calls come to absorb people's anger and vent it!

Although the boycott is obligatory, it will not protect our people in Palestine and will not stop the West’s support for the Jews. It is not an actual boycott. The Egyptian regime imports natural gas from the Jewish entity after it actually ceded to them fields that were within Egypt’s territorial waters. It is the primary supporter of the Jewish entity and the closest guardian of its borders. It has harnessed Egypt’s ports to support the entity with what it needs. On top of that, it is the one who suppresses the people’s anger and prevents them and the army of Egypt from liberating all of Palestine.

Focusing on calls for boycott only without calling for the mobilization of armies truly capable of liberating Palestine should not be the work of Al-Azhar and its scholars or the scholars of Islam. The land of Palestine belongs to the entire Ummah, and they know that nothing is more obligatory after belief than repelling someone who has usurped an inch of Islamic land. Ibn Abidin says in the “Hashiya” (3/238): “And it is an individual obligation if the enemy attacks one of the borders of Islam, then it becomes an individual obligation on whoever is close to it. As for those behind them at a distance from the enemy, then it is a communal obligation if they are not needed. If they are needed, such that those who are close to the enemy are unable to resist the enemy, or they are not unable to do so, but they are lazy and do not fight, then it is an individual obligation for those who are next to them, like prayer and fasting, and they cannot abandon them. And the following and the following, until it is obligatory for all the people of Islam, east and west, in this gradual manner.”

The call for boycott alone is a distraction for the Ummah from the duty of jihad and a diversion of attention from the necessity of demanding the mobilization of armies to support the people of the blessed land, and to hold the rulers accountable for their failure to support our people there. Therefore, calls for boycott alone without the call to mobilize armies are a danger to the people of Palestine, as it gives people a false sense that they have done what they must do for the Blessed Land. It is another type of their failure under the pretext of inability to support them, while the Ummah is capable of much more. The people can stand up to the regime that guards this entity and demand that the army of Egypt Al-Kinana uproot it from its roots and everything that stands between them and the liberation of Palestine, and establish a state for Islam that will push them to do what Allah has obligated upon them in terms of jihad to uproot the usurping entity and support the oppressed in all the land, not just in Palestine. It is the duty of Al-Azhar and its scholars to explain to the people that the state of boycott is the original state that they must be in with what results from this entity, its supporters, and all those who deal with it,  that there must be no relations between us and it except a state of war until it is uprooted from the land of Islam, to inform them of what Allah has obligated upon the Ummah and its armies with regard to Palestine, its land, and the sanctities of Islam, and that the liberation of Palestine is the most obligatory thing for the army of Egypt Al-Kinana before others, indeed, it is truly capable of doing so in an hour of the day.

O scholars of Al-Azhar: This is your duty, so show Allah what He loves from you, and be a light that guides people to goodness and righteousness, and a fire that burns the regime that supports and partners with those who kill our people in Palestine, and say to it what the magicians said to Pharaoh:

[فَاقْضِ مَا أَنتَ قَاضٍ إِنَّمَا تَقْضِي هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا]

“So do whatever you want! Your authority only covers the ˹fleeting˺ life of this world” [Ta-Ha: 72]

Know that its plot will backfire and its scheming will lead to ruin. Allah is the supporter of His soldiers and the One Who honours His Deen, even if the haters hate it. So, demand the truth and incite people to it, and be steadfast and make them steadfast until Allah’s victory comes. Know that Paradise is Allah’s precious commodity, so seek it with its right and your reward is with Allah. Perhaps the truth will flow through your hands and someone will respond to you who will support Islam and establish a state that applies it on the people and carries it to the world through the Dawah and jihad, a message of guidance and light for the worlds.

[وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَكْتُمُونَهُ فَنَبَذُوهُ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ وَاشْتَرَوْا بِهِ ثَمَناً قَلِيلاً فَبِئْسَ مَا يَشْتَرُونَ]

“Remember, O Prophet, when Allah took the covenant of those who were given the Scripture to make it known to people and not hide it, yet they cast it behind their backs and traded it for a fleeting gain. What a miserable profit!” [Al-i-Imran: 187]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Egypt