Why Some Muslim Scholars Are Silent Palestine?

There has been a concerted effort, especially as of late, to reduce the Islamic moral framework–one that is unapologetically justice-oriented–to one that is quietist and pacifist, a spirituality detached from the realities of the material world. This narrative is often pushed by supposed scholars, bought out by their governments, who preach to the masses that it is haram (prohibited) to hold accountable their government leaders, to engage in economic boycotts of entities that are complicit in occupation and genocide, or to take any tangible, material action in general. 

These shameful scholars undermine and disrespect our freedom fighters, and make light of their sacrifices for the liberation of their people and their homeland. By doing so, they are not engaging in legitimate theological debate, they are attempting to disarm the Muslim populace. Their aim is to quell and numb the righteous anger that we as Muslims must feel and act upon for our brothers and sisters in Islam, and our brothers and sisters in humanity, and to divert us from unleashing the full potential of our anger, when acted upon in a principled and righteous manner.

However, these “scholars” and their governments who discourage action in the name of justice are not reflective of true Islamic theology. Not only are we taught to enjoin good and forbid evil, but the Prophet (pbuh) likened us to one body, meaning that when another Muslim experiences joy, we feel their joy, and when another Muslim is suffering, we feel their pain:

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو نُعَيْمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا زَكَرِيَّاءُ، عَنْ عَامِرٍ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ النُّعْمَانَ بْنَ بَشِيرٍ، يَقُولُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم

‏ "‏ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى عُضْوًا تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ جَسَدِهِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى ‏"‏‏.‏

Narrated An-Nu`man bin Bashir: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "You see the believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resembling one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6011)

This hadith does not just describe a passive empathy, it describes an embodied response in the Muslim collective against evil and oppression. When the body is injured, all parts of the body do not simply sit back and pray the pain away, they work in tandem to heal the wound. 

In contrast to the regime-aligned scholars, the righteous ulama’ (scholars) have historically been crucial to resistance movements in the Muslim world, including the Palestinian struggle. A resistance movement cannot succeed unless the masses are educated, politically and spiritually, and the righteous scholar embodies this role, teaching that not only is it permissible to stand against tyranny and injustice, but that it is actually haram to remain passive in the face of it. The righteous scholar preserves and sustains the teachings of our faith and the legacy of our resistance movements. They bind individual suffering to collective responsibility, and they serve as the moral anchors for the youth on the frontlines, providing the moral language and framework through which their sacrifices are made and understood.

If the scholars are the heart of the resistance, the youth are the body. Whether on the ground or in the diaspora, the youth continue to sustain the movement by taking up arms, protesting, organizing, fighting digital ideological battle, and pressuring their institutions. The youth are not merely reacting to their oppressors, they are deeply rooted in a collective spiritual and political consciousness, taking initiative and mobilizing using the tools that they inherited from their elders and spiritual leaders.

It is this relationship between the youth and the ulama’ that sustains the resistance. Resistance comes with steep sacrifices, and the youth draw strength, resilience, and patience from their faith which affirms their struggle in the face of hardship, while the ulama’ likewise are revitalized by the courage and the initiative of the younger generation. It is because of this that state-bought actors who call themselves scholars are paid off to strip Islam of its grounding and justice-oriented nature–it is a deliberate strategy aimed at breaking the continuity of the resistance. A body without a heart cannot function, and a heart without a body cannot mobilize.