Al-Azhar’s Silence and the Echo of Massacres: A Powerless Statement Will Not Save Gaza
(Translated)

News:

Social media platforms exploded, with controversy among users, after Al-Azhar Al-Sharif deleted its lengthy statement in which the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Al-Tayeb, issued a global call for immediate action to save Gaza from deadly starvation.

The statement stressed that human conscience is now being tested, in light of the continued killing of Palestinians in Gaza, warning that anyone who supports the Jewish entity with weapons or backs it through decisions is a direct partner in the genocide.

However, the statement remained posted for only a few brief minutes, before being deleted from Al-Azhar’s social media accounts, a move that sparked widespread astonishment among online users. (Source: Al Jazeera Arabic)

Comment:

After a long silence from Al-Azhar and its “ulema,” regarding the massacres that would make children’s hair turn grey, massacres taking place just a stone’s throw away from Al-Azhar, and after nearly two years of killing and starving, the people of the Blessed Land of Palestine, to the point where they are now dying from hunger, after having been slain and tortured, and after the voices of Gaza’s people grew hoarse, as they pleaded with their neighbors for help, only to lose all hope and resort to begging merely for the Rafah Border Crossing to be opened… after all that… suddenly, a sense of urgency stirred within “Al-Azhar Al-Sharif” and its ulema. And so, they issued a feeble statement, the kind that can only come from someone either powerless or cowardly.

Al-Azhar issued an “urgent global appeal” to “the forces of free and influential conscience” to take immediate action to save the people of Gaza from the deadly, widespread starvation imposed by the Jewish entity, as if Al-Azhar itself were not part of this call, as if it had nothing to do with it, and no Shariah obligation towards it, positioning itself more like a distant humanitarian body, far removed from Gaza, as far as the east is from the west. The statement closely mirrors the rhetoric of Turkey’s hypocrite, Erdogan, who declared, “Humanity is dying in Gaza, and the children are suffering from severe hunger due to lack of aid,” calling on the international community to “take a firm moral stance,” and labeling the situation a “full-fledged genocide.”

This cowardly stance is identical to Al-Azhar’s position, which emphasized that “targeting shelters for the displaced and aid distribution centers with live bullets is a crime.” It also stressed that “anyone who supports Israel with weapons or political decisions is a partner in this crime,” while warning in the usual recycled phrases that “the oppressors will soon know the fate that awaits them.” Al-Azhar’s stance harmonizes with that of the conspirator against Gaza’s people and supporter of the Jewish state, Erdogan, who also said, “Whoever remains silent about the genocide in Gaza becomes a partner to Israel in its crimes against humanity,” and called for a clear international humanitarian stance “to express rejection of injustice.”

Both Al-Azhar and the hypocrite Erdogan speak as if they were distant observers, using the language of detachment and indirectness, as if the crimes in Gaza do not concern them, as if they are not responsible, and the duty lies instead with “others” from the international community and its complicit institutions. Al-Azhar limited itself to denouncing “international silence” and “lack of humanitarian responsibility,” and condemned the global disregard for what is happening in Gaza. Yet it did not dare to criticize the silence of the Egyptian government, the slumber of its army, or the silence of its ulema in urging Egypt’s military the Army of al-Kinanah (the Quiver of Arrows) to fight the Jews. It is as if they had never read the words of Allah the Almighty,

[يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّضِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ]

“O Prophet! Motivate the believers to fight.” [TMQ Surah Al-Anfal: 65].

Despite these lukewarm statements, cowardly declarations, and spineless stances, even this degree of feebleness and betrayal was not enough for the Jews and their allies among Egypt’s rulers. They commanded the “ulema of palaces,” within Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, to return to their slumber and silence, and to retract their words, words that might have seemed “fiery” to some for these rulers had grown accustomed to their silence and betrayal. And so, they swallowed their tongues without any shame before Allah (swt) or His servants.

Why wouldn’t they?

They fear the disbelievers more than they fear Allah, as He (swt) said,

[أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّوا أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً]

“Have you O Prophet not seen those who had been told, “Do not fight! Rather, establish Salah and pay Zakat.”? Then once the order came to fight, a group of them feared those hostile people as Allah should be feared—or even more.” [TMQ Surah An-Nisa: 77].

The reason the Jews rejected and condemned even these weak, watered-down stances is not because they are bold or frightening to them. They know full well that such statements are merely for saving face issued only under pressure from the Muslim street, which is burning with pain, for their brothers and sisters in Gaza.

These statements were nothing more than tranquilizers meant to pacify the masses so that there is no inciting of Jihad or mobilization of the armies, which is what truly terrifies the Jews. The statements addressed only vague, nameless entities or bodies already biased in favor of the Jews.

However, what the Jews truly fear is that these whispers may one day develop… into something else, into sincere and genuine voices calling on the Muslim armies to mobilize immediately, overthrow the thrones of the rulers, fight the Jews, and liberate the land and the people from their evil and their crimes.

That is what terrifies the Jews and their agents among the rulers of Muslims.

Had the ulema of Al-Azhar truly been sincere and serious for the sake of Allah (swt), they would have clearly explained the Shariah ruling to the people, the clear and evident path that would truly lead to breaking the borders. And that path is now obvious to anyone with insight and vision: to overthrow the thrones of the rulers who are loyal to the Jews and the Christians, and to appoint a Khaleefah Rashid (Rightly-Guided Caliph) who rules by all that Allah (swt) has revealed, and mobilizes the armies to cleanse the Blessed Land - Palestine from the filth of the Jews.

However, alas… alas… the ulema of Al-Azhar, except those upon whom Allah (swt) has mercy, have chosen to side with the tyrannical rulers. They have become ulema of palaces, not ulema of the Deen, resembling the religious men of the People of the Book, about whom Allah (swt) said,

[وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَكْتُمُونَهُ فَنَبَذُوهُ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ وَاشْتَرَوْا بِهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا 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!” [TMQ Surah Aali Imran: 187].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Bilal Al-Muhajir – Wilayah Pakistan