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Let us be blunt and direct.

The normative Islamic solution for Palestine, and for any other occupied land, is to liberate the land through Jihad. It is not permitted to accept any permanent peace with an occupier, or to ally with them in any way whatsoever.

As mentioned by Allah in the Quran –

إِنَّمَا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ قَاتَلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَأَخْرَجُوكُم مِّن دِيَارِكُمْ وَظَاهَرُوا عَلَىٰ إِخْرَاجِكُمْ أَن تَوَلَّوْهُمْ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُمْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ

“Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion – [forbids] that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers.”

While the land remains occupied, the obligation to liberate it falls upon every Muslim until the obligation has been fulfilled.

What does that mean from a practical perspective? After all, the average Muslim is unable to make any material difference to the military situation, which requires an army of liberation and not a militia of well-intentioned folk.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, stated

مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ

“Whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he is unable to do so, then with his tongue. If he is unable to do so, then with his heart, and that is the weakest level of faith.”

It is clear that the obligation of changing the evil is conditional upon capability.

As mentioned by Allah

لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا

“Allah does not burden a soul with more than it is capable of”

Applied to this situation, the obligation to change the situation by the hand, is addressed at those who are capable of doing so. In the case of making the necessary political and military preparations, this falls upon the leadership and military of the Muslims.

If those who are capable of doing so do not fulfil their obligation, then the obligation falls upon the rest of the Muslims to encourage and demand them to fulfil that obligation so long as they have that ability and opportunity.

The reality is that the nation states that are the political entities governing the Muslim lands and maintaining control of the armies, will not fulfil this obligation. The reason is very straightforward – any nation-state seeks to protect and promote its own interests. The government or leader of a nation-state will always seek to further the interests of that nation and will not act in a way that conflicts with its interests.

Couple this with the issue of Palestine being turned from an Islamic issue, into a Palestinian issue. People talk about the establishment of a Palestinian state, rather than the liberation of Islamic land from an oppressive authority. What national interest is there for any other nation state to involve themselves militarily in the situation? And to work against a regional nuclear power, backed by a World superpower and by the West as a whole?

Consequently, the Islamic solution is unlikely, or even impossible, to be achieved via the current polities and status quo. It is also why the current leaders of the nation-states in the Muslim lands are all to a greater or lesser extent, traitors to the Islamic cause of liberating Palestine.

Despite all the rhetoric that is rehashed every time the conflict re-ignites into flames from its continuing embers, the facts are that major Islamic countries such as Turkey maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, while Egypt maintains a blockade of Palestine on behalf of Israel, while the Gulf countries maintain strong relationships with Israel either officially or unofficially. Iran, one of the countries which supports Hamas directly, does so to maintain leverage in its ongoing turbulent relationship with the Israeli government and the US, and has and will never push the conflict any further in a way that would negatively affect its own interest.

So what does the above mean for the average Muslim? What can they do to fulfil their obligation given the dire political situation in both Palestine and across the Muslim lands?

First of all – that they should be aware that the obligation to liberate Palestine falls upon the Muslim political and military leadership. All the governments should be held accountable to the Islamic standard and should be called out to act accordingly. This message should be spread among all their family and colleagues, raising awareness about the situation, and the Islamic solution to it.

Alongside this, people must demand the same from the leaders of their communities, and the scholars that they follow. These people in positions of public influence must convey the Islamic solution to the public, in line with their public profile.

This public accounting of Muslim governments should take a number of forms, and can include protests, petitions, social media activism adopting the following –

1. Calling upon those governments with diplomatic relationships with Israel to cut all ties immediately
2. Demanding Muslim governments end all economic ties with Israel, boycotting all Israeli businesses and products
3. Ending all cultural and tourism exchanges (non-fun fact – Israeli citizens can travel to Turkey on a free visa)

All of the above are certainly practical and achievable immediately, and if the governments and leaders refuse to implement them then the demands should persist and increase, putting pressure upon them to either act in accordance with the interests of the Muslim ummah or step aside if they are unwilling to do so. At a minimum, their position is further exposed in our eyes, and the Muslims masses will have accounted them for their refusal to do what is clearly within their remit at this time.

And most importantly for all the above:

To recognise that the solution is within the hands of Muslim leadership and governments, and that Muslims are responsible for holding their governments and leadership accountable to deal with the situation and bring about its resolution; and to pray to Allah to facilitate that for us.

These are all actions which can be done right now and are within our capabilities, and yet most have not been adopted or called for by those making public statements and taking positions on the issue.

That is despite the fact that these are the most critical issues for raising the awareness of our Ummah, and the most critical for achieving the fulfilment of our obligations, while dismissing or ignoring them is a betrayal to the cause however sincere or well-intentioned we may be.