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Operation Al-Aqsa Storm

Suggested Talking Points for Friday Jumu’ah Message
Friday, 27 Rabi al Awwal 1445 - 13 October 2023
*(Approximate reading time: 4mins)

َ َ َُ َُ
ٌ ‫�ه ِْم لَ َقد‬
٣٩ ‫ِير‬ ٰ َ َ �‫ٱ‬
ْ َ‫� ن‬ َّ
َ َّ ‫�ن‬ ۚ ‫وا‬ ُ ‫ون ب� َّ� ُه ْم ُظل‬
‫ِم‬ ‫ل‬ ‫ت‬ َ �َِّ ‫أُذ َِن ل‬
ٰ ‫ِين �ق‬
‫ـ‬
ِ ِ
“Permission (to fight) is given to those against whom fighting is launched, because they have been wronged.
They are those who have been expelled from their homes for no reason other than proclaiming: “Our Lord is Allah…”
(22:39-40)

Many experts familiar with the Palestinian Question, whether from within the Muslim world or beyond it,
foretold and concluded that what is happening now, would be the only logical outcome of Israeli Apartheid
policies, occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing.

As sincere and honest people of the world, we refuse out-of-context arguments that:
• Israel has the Right to Defend Itself: What is not said is that Palestinians, as an occupied people, have
under international law, the right to armed resistance. In the same way Israel enjoys the support of the
powers of the day, in the US and the EU, Palestinians are entitled to solicit support from those who identify
with their legitimate aspirations for freedom.
• ‘Hamas was set up’ so that the Zionists can finish off Palestinian resistance and annex Palestinian
Occupied Territories: This is a convenient excuse for inaction and instills helplessness in the minds of the
people. To the contrary, there is growing support for the Palestinian Cause as just and legitimate. We
should be in the forefront of solidarity efforts for justice, and the defence of Masjid al Aqsa.
• The Current Escalation Started with Hamas: Since the Nakbah, Zionist occupation has not ended but is
being entrenched and normalised. Israel engages in endless provocations at Masjid al Aqsa, commits
murderous incursions in the West Bank and on a daily basis, humiliates Palestinians at checkpoints, and
starves Palestinians, through a blockade of Gaza. Protesters, women and children languish in the
occupier’s jails where they are mass-imprisoned. Illegal settlements on stolen land represent an affront
to any prospect of Palestinian statehood.
• Palestinians are Terrorists: This is a deliberate ploy of “giving-a-dog-a-bad-name” in order to hang it.
The struggles of Palestinian people for their rights are recognised as legitimate. Israel only needs
malleable Arabs whom they can turn, at will. Invariably, colonisers are quick to call freedom fighters,
“terrorists.” Palestinians need not choose between dying and living with dishonour, just as Zionists and
their allies demand.
• Inflicting Collective Punishment on Palestinians Ensures Israeli Security: This is not the first war on
Gaza… For the sixth time, since 2007, the Zionists have declared a war on a people it occupies,
devastatingly bombing an area of 365 sq.km, inhabited by 2.3 million people. Coupled with the building
of an Apartheid Wall around itself, occupying Israel is far from secure. Repeating policies that do not yield
intended results, each time expecting a different result, is nothing but folly.
• Palestinian Terror Tactics Target Women and Children: It should be noted that children born when
Gaza was blockaded in 2007, make up to 41% of the city’s population. Israel shows contempt for
international conventions by perpetrating war crimes on an occupied people, whom it is obliged to
protect. Among the more than 1000-dead in Gaza, are 260 children and 230 women. Before the current
escalation, 2023 had already been the deadliest year for Palestinian children, with 38 killed by the Zionist
forces in the West Bank, before the start of October 2023. Defence for Children International documents
27,700 child detentions, by Israel, between 2008 and 2022.

Regardless of the outcome, Palestinians are sacrificing themselves, driven by nothing but their faith and a
conviction of the legitimacy of their Cause for Justice. When they fall, they attain martyrdom, in-sha-Allah.
َ ْ َ َّ َ ٓ ْ َ ْ ۢ� ٌ َ ْ َ َّ َُُْ َ ُ َُ ََ
١٥٤ ‫�ن � �ش ُع ُرون‬ِ ‫يل ٱ�ِ أم�ٰت ۚ بَل أح َيا ٌء َول ٰـ‬ َ
ِ ِ ‫و� �قولوا ل ِمن �قتل ِ� سب‬
“Never say that those martyred in the cause of Allah are dead - in fact, they are alive!
But you do not perceive it.” (2:154)

Commentators refer to the outcome of the Battle of Badr as a miraculous victory, and Uhud, a reality-check.
We are being tested by the events unfolding before us. Since our deeds have a bearing on the affairs of the
Ummah, as one body, we have to be on our guard. It is important that:

• We turn to Allah in repentance, and seek His forgiveness, with humility.

• We engage in acts of devotion such as special supplications, dhikr, fasting and tahajjud.
• We spare time to follow events in the news and familiarise ourselves with the history of the Blessed Lands
of Masjid Al-Aqsa and the struggles of its people.
• Those who can, should support efforts to educate, and correct the record of disinformation campaigns
against Palestine, the land and its people, on various media platforms.
• Let us be generous towards those in need around us, and also in support of relief initiatives towards the
mitigation of the suffering of widowed, orphaned and disabled Palestinians, who will be forced to rebuild,
yet again.