YES, Al-Aqsa Mosque is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and is blessed by God. Thus all Muslims have no choice but to sacrifice their souls and wealth in order to defend it and retain it forever as a Muslim holy place. Al-Aqsa Mosque has been captured by the Jews and all Muslims are called for a ceaseless struggle to liberate it. It goes without saying that whatever is taken by force returns only by force. Along with the powerless Palestinians, Jerusalem resists the disfiguring of its Islamic and Arab identity by the Jews who take full advantage of the inaction of most Arab leaders. The Palestinians, however, enjoy the strongest support from all sincere Muslims from Cape Town in South Africa to Jakarta in Indonesia. The Muslim demonstrations around the world denounced and condemned the crimes and atrocities of Israel. The struggle will continue until we see the green flag inscribed with “No god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” waving over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Sadly a number of Arabs and some Arab leaders still maintain an outward show of respect for our enemy and the godfather of the Jews, America. The American president, the peace broker in the Middle East, has proved himself to be a dedicated servant of Israel; he blithely ignores the daily Israeli crimes and atrocities, the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure, the assassinations and the starvation policy employed against the Palestinians. As if the American president had not made his position clear enough, he uses his strength over submissive Arab leaders and has threatened to halt economic and military assistance to those who oppose or resist Israel.
With this as the background, Muslims all over the world are supporting and endorsing the intifada of Al-Aqsa in memory of the Al-Aqsa Mosque fire in 1969. At the same time, a number of Arab countries have banned their citizens from gathering, holding meetings or demonstrations in memory of that crime!
In fact, the Israeli who was guilty of the crime, was sentenced to two months in jail; the excuse given was that he was insane. What a contrast to the sentence given to the two Arab soldiers who shot a number of Israelis! They received life sentences in their own Arab countries!
The current anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Mosque fire coincided with the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers which only produced more Arab frustration. How shameful that the chairman of the meeting in his final statement said, “The Arabs are in no position to deal with the attitude of the Israelis and American assistance must be sought to end the violence.”
The Arabs have already planned to meet in October in Damascus. The topic to be discussed is the possible reactivation of the Israeli boycott. We can already tell what the result will be: The Arabs cannot and will not boycott Israel in any way. They are far too interested in fighting and boycotting each other. Israel, again taking advantage of Arab divisiveness, has succeeded in peacefully establishing economic ties with some Arabs; they had never done so as a result of war. Evidence for this claim is the rush by a number of Gulf states to license Israeli economic and trade offices and thus allow Israeli-produced items in their markets. We have begun to see this even in Saudi Arabia as has been reported by Al-Bilad newspaper. A permit has already been granted to Marks & Spencer, the Jewish-owned department store. The justification given was that it was a British business. I know that what I am writing is not acceptable to many. It is, however, the least I could do being a Muslim. I know it is my duty as only a single Muslim to stand alongside the heroes who defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque while many Arab leaders do nothing but watch. — [email protected]
