Anwar al-Awlaki, the famous da’i who originated from the USA harshly condemned the brutal Israeli strikes on the Gaza strip, and at the same time he criticized the leaders of the Arab nations and called them “impotent” for their incapability of taking any assertive action on the Zionist regime for their brutality towards the Palestinian citizens, which had taken place for decades. In his personal blog entitled “The Meaning of Gaza”, Sheikh al-Awlaki gave three important points from his thoughts about what have been happening and what is currently happening.
First, al-Awlaki stated that the occurrence in Gaza showed that the enemies of Islam (Zionist Israel) have succeeded in giving a hard slap on the face of the Islamic ummah. He assessed that the responses received from the Islamic ummah for the brutality of the Zionist Israel were not enough and their directions were unclear. In this matter, Awlaki compared it with what happened during the time of Rasulullah SAW, the moment a Muslimah was attacked by the Jews. Rasulullah SAW declared war towards the Jews.
“Today in Gaza, though the number of casualties amongst the Palestinian Muslims had reached by their hundreds, we only saw demonstrations and criticisms, and the Arab leaders only held a high level meetings which are useless. Those were the only actions and therefore it has become our responsibility to heighten the awareness of the masses around us regarding the events.” Awlaki wrote.
Second, the da’i of the Yemeni descendant stated that what was faced by the Palestinians in Gaza was a clear indication that the Islamic world has long been experiencing bankruptcy. Their leaders are impotent. According to Awlaki, the defects in the governments of the Islamic world could not be fixed anymore and they should be uprooted down to its finest roots to be replaced. Such a conclusion had been thought over by many Muslim countries, but there was always a camp who still debated against it on the name of the rulers who have betrayed and caused the Islamic ummah to be defeated.
“The fact is, our kings and presidents are getting further from playing their roles and nearer towards protecting their own interests, as well as the interests of the modern crusader forces. They trained the military and security forces only to muzzle the Islamic ummah and not as a responsibility to defend the interests of the Islamic ummah. Instead, the leaders of the Islamic world are suspicious and feeling sick of the Islamic ummah,” Awlaki criticized.
He reminded the Islamic ummah not to be fooled again by the “criticisms” given by the Muslim leaders. Sheikh al-Awlaki took Egypt as an example, which he considered as taking part in attacking Gaza and implementing the blockade on the people of Gaza.
“If the Islamic ummah today is thinking of performing jihad, the first to stop them from performing jihad are the leaders of the Islam world,” Awlaki said.
Third, according to al-Awlaki, the state of Israel must be destroyed like how Rasulullah SAW expelled the Jews from the Arab peninsula. The Jews in Palestine must be driven out to the other side of the sea until there is no more Israeli civilians, only the Muslim citizens remain.
“When the enemies are attacking the women and children, we must also make their women and children as our enemies and targets. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen said, ‘if the enemies are killing our women and children, to me it means that we can also kill the women and children of our enemies as it would weaken their hearts and embarrass them,’” al-Awlaki explained.
He also quoted the translation of al-Quran, surat al-Baqarah verse 194 which says, “If then any one transgresses the prohibition against you, Transgress ye likewise against him. But fear Allah, and know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves.”
In this regard, al-Awlaki affirmed again that women and children could not be made as targets of attacks in a war. But if we are fought against and it has forced us to fight back, then in this particular case we are allowed to kill the non-combatant parties. Awlaki took the example of the attacks on Taif using catapults during the time of Rasulullah. The same goes with today’s situation, there are two methods adopted by the Palestinian fighters, the method of martyrdom operations and rocket attacks on the invaders’ territories. These two methods could not avoid the casualties from amongst the women and children.
What is happening in Gaza is an even bigger dimension, where the Zionist Jews have made the entire community of Gaza as the target of a blockade and uncontrollable bombardments. “That is the reason why I tend to incline towards the opinion of Ibn Uthaymeen in a specific situation like this,” Awlaki wrote.
Looking at the situation that is happening in Palestine, he stated his agreement with the methods adopted by the Mujahideen and he also agreed with the statement of the Mujahideen, that they would never stop targeting the Israeli civilians as it was Israel who first started committing the same acts.
Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki stated that he was ready to reassess his view if anybody could give him references regarding the said issue.
He prayed to Allah SWT so that He would soon lift the sufferings of the people of Gaza, stretch out His hand and give victory to the people of Gaza. And prayed so that Allah SWT would forgive the shuhada and give victory to the Mujahideen of Palestine. Ameen.
