Dr. Abdul Karim Meqdad
The
duties towards any cause are magnified by its holiness and
its great status. Since the cause of al-Aqsa Mosque is linked to the faith of
the Muslims, it reached the highest and noblest ranks. Al-Aqsa
Mosque, apart
from being a house of Allah Almighty, is the first Qibla of Muslims, the
second mosque placed on earth for people and it is the third mosque in terms of
the reward of prayer, which is mentioned in the holy Quran. In addition, it is
the spot of blessing that radiates on its surrounding lands, places and houses.
Thus, al-Aqsa Mosque is associated with everything that is holy to the Muslims,
qibla, Quran, prayer and blessing.
Without
exaggeration, this is the greatest issue that Muslims’ efforts must be focused
on. The nature of the duties varies according to the
abilities and capabilities of the people. The ruler or the Muslim sultan is
responsible for specific duties that are different from the duties of the general
Muslim community and these are different for the specialists from intellectuals,
media and creative people, which we refer to briefly in this article.
1.The duty
of governments, and the official Islamic authorities towards al-Aqsa Mosque:
The
duties of the Arab and Islamic governments towards al-Aqsa Mosque are varied:
i. Supporting
the resistance of the Palestinian people in its various forms: The
right of the people under occupation to defend their lands is one of the rights
guaranteed by all religions, laws and international organizations. It is
therefore incumbent on governments in the Islamic countries to help the
Palestinian people in defending their lost rights. This support is not limited
to one form, but it includes also the support of weapons, money and political positions,
especially that the forces of evil in the world,
led by the United States is doing its best to support the Zionist occupation. As
well as they have to provide money to support the steadfastness of
the Palestinians in Bait al-Maqdis and all their whereabouts, whether in
Palestine or in the diaspora, especially as they are subjected to the worst
forms of extortion from the Zionist enemy in its ongoing process of Judaizing
Palestine and al Aqsa. Furthermore, they
should cooperate together to support
the adoption of UN resolutions that support the Palestinian people to achieve
their rights of freedom, return of land, liberation of the prisoners and the
return of refugees.
ii.Rejecting
the normalization with the Zionist enemy: Islamic governments must undertake to halt all
forms of normalisation with the Zionist enemy.
In
addition, their legal systems must include clear texts that criminalize the act
of normalization and consider whose is doing so as a criminal according to the
law. Instead of opening embassies and diplomatic representation offices for the
Zionist enemy and making economic and cultural agreements with it, the governments
of the Islamic countries must launch boycott campaigns not limited only to the
economic activities, but include all the political, cultural and sports forms until
the Zionist enemy become isolated.
iii. Including
the Palestinian cause in the curricula: Islamic regimes and governments should also
include courses, publications, and activities with an educational dimension
emphasizing the Islamises of the Palestinian cause. Moreover, they need for
joint collective work to liberate Palestine, and return the rights to their
people.
2. The duty of people and Muslim masses towards the Palestinian cause:
The will
of the people will remain the heart of this nation and the will of their rulers
and politicians and as far as they raise their voice and preserve their causes,
their governments then will response to them. Hence, the duty of the peoples
and the masses is huge. The most important of these duties:
I. Understanding
the reality of the conflict and knowing the nature of the case: Understanding
the nature of the conflict between the Palestinians and their Jewish enemies is
the most important duty relating to the people. The conflict is between the
right holder (the Palestinians) and the aggressor (the Zionists), between the
defenders of their land and sanctities and the violator. The conflict has no
relation to a sect, race or gender. As well as they must know the nature of the
Palestinian cause, and the Palestinian people did not sell their land, and did
not abandon any part of their holy places on their own volition. But an
international conspiracy was the effects of the occupation of the purest parts
of the earth after the displacement of its people. However, the fact is that
the international community has conspired against Palestine, which led to the
occupation of one the holiest parts on the earth after the displacement of its
people.
II. Economic
boycott: The Muslim people must impose a state of awareness in order to
reject any try might contribute to support the Zionist
occupation, including the economic boycott of all the Zionist products and
whatever is produced by the supporters of the Zionist policies.
III. Drawing
the priority attention of the International forums to the
Palestinian cause: people must emphasize the presence of the Palestinian cause in all
their social and cultural forums. They must participate in all the supporting
activities and events. Moreover, they should emphasize the Islamises of the
cause, and show solidarity with the Palestinians as they are not alone in this
battle.
IV. Raising
the generation to love Palestine and work to serve its cause: In the
battle of awareness that targets the Islamic Ummah, people must instil the
rightness of the Palestinian cause in their generations. They must teach them
that Palestine is an Islamic waqf land for all Muslims, and the duty to
liberate it is the duty of the whole Ummah.
V. Provide
moral and material support: The Islamic Ummah must
be behind the Palestinian people in their battle of steadfastness and liberation and
provides them material and moral support to preserve the independence of their
resistance choice. Which requires the Ummah to provide all forms of support,
especially material, to ensure that the Palestinian decision is not subjected
to extortion from any of the parties.
3. The duty of media professionals and Muslim intellectuals towards
the Palestinian cause:
Media is
one of the most important and effective weapons in the modern-day. Therefore, who can
use it in his favor, can easily
win the major battles. Thus, the media professionals and Muslim intellectuals have
a set of duties, including:
i. Spread the spirit of dignity and honour to the nation: The Islamic Ummah has passed through very difficult
conditions on several levels and in different countries which spread the spirit
of defeat and surrender. Thus, the media professionals and Muslim intellectuals
must impose the spirit of dignity and honor in the nation. They must emphasize
the facts that the darkness will be
revealed by the day of prosperity, and hardship will be followed by victory
because the future is for this Ummah and its great religion.
ii. Put pressure on decision-makers: As we have mentioned, the media is a strong and
influential weapon, and it can affect decision-makers, rulers and politicians.
Thus, their political decisions can be in harmony with the popular mood that
supports and the Palestinian cause.
iii. Exposing
the crimes of the Zionist enemy and its unjust alliances: The
Zionist enemy has committed the worst forms of crimes against humanity which
are still continuous until the present day. Therefore, the media must highlight
these criminal practices of the Zionist war machine and show in public the
magnitude of the crime committed against the unarmed Palestinian citizens,
which would expose the Zionist propaganda and respond to them, as well as
expose the unjust alliances that are behind the scenes which aim to liquidate
the Palestinian cause and eliminate it.
iv. Correcting
terminology and concepts: The media has an important role in correcting
the terminology, as the process of manipulating the cultural ideas has reached a dangerous level
specially when the media speaks about an ‘Israeli’ state next to a Palestinian
state, and East of Jerusalem next to West of Jerusalem and reconciliation
process which is actually a metaphor for the process of relinquishing most of
historic Palestine. Many other concepts must be corrected such as “Coexistence
and Peace” and “Security Coordination”, etc.
These
are some of the duties of the Islamic Ummah towards the Palestinian cause,
which are just the tip of the iceberg. We ask Allah Almightily
to guide us and our Ummah to achieve
and these duties and adhere to it.