In the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate.

We are all running through emotions of empathy, fury, sadness, anger, tribalism, patience, helplessness. As a Muslim, I must speak of injustice when I see it.

I believe you already know my feelings go towards the Palestinians. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to hold to account Hamas for going against the Islamic laws on warfare by killing civilians in Israel on last Saturday. There’s a beautiful story from Sahih Bukhari (a collection of authentic accounts of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) where our dear Prophet ﷺ said:

“Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one.” People asked, “Oh Messenger of God (Allah)! It is alright to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet ﷺ said, “By seizing his hand“

Now that we have reprimanded the wrong-doings of Hamas, I consider my position on Israel as the following:

We are all aware of the history. Israel (or Beni Israel) was the land of the Jews, where our Prophet Moses led the children of Israel to safety away from the terrorist Pharaoh- Yes he was a terrorist for he inflicted terror on the kids of Israel. And yes, terror can be inflicted from a position of legitimate power (like Russia did when they struck innocent civilians in Ukraine or when the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

The more recent history shows a land of majority Muslims who called it their home where European Jews began migrating in large numbers in the 19th and 20th century. Right now, the number of Muslims and Jews are almost equal in the combined landmass of Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories (if you have a problem with the name, you should talk to the UN, the EU and the UK).

One may call it settler-colonialism, apartheid or occupation of native lands in breach of human rights and international law. I call them an oppressor regime terrorising an oppressed population while self-declaring their actions as justified. Yes, the Israeli military has turned into the modern day army of Pharaoh which their ancestors ran away from. But the Palestinians have nowhere to run towards.

What is the future of the land of the sons of Israel? I do not see an end to Israeli expansionism until they demolish the holy mosque of Al Aqsa and build the temple of Solomon (also another prophet in Islam) in its place. That will be the final victory for the extremists in Israel.

Any lasting peace agreement needs to take away all hopes of future control over temple Mount/ Masjid-ul Aqsa away from the hands of Israel. This means the military that controls the area surrounding it must not be Israel’s, instead of a global Muslim coalition. But since this is not possible due to the current political structure of the world, I see only temporary agreements of peace in the region.