Dear Muslims, consider your complicity in Gaza genocide this Eid

As I write this, I am malnourished because, for the past 20 days, my Muslim brothers and sisters have not been able to send even a bottle of water into Gaza. 

For 538 days, I mistakenly believed that the Muslim world would come to our aid in our hour of need. Having expected so much from them over the past few months and receiving nothing in return, I am filled with deep disappointment — there were barely any protests and most people kept silent, scared of losing their jobs. 

Maybe their careers are more important than the life of a Gazan child stolen just three days after birth, one of at least 15,500 other young souls taken by Israel over the last 17 months.

Dear Muslims, we never asked you to ease our suffering with bottles of water or food parcels. You misunderstood Islam when you chose this path. Sadly, you only act with Israel’s approval, as you’ve been unable to lift the ongoing Israeli blockade on Gaza for over 20 days.

You should have stood with us in the fight against injustice and oppression, not passively stood by. This is what Islam and the Quran teach us. Don’t just offer us well wishes while we continue to be slaughtered en masse. 

Thank God, I am a Muslim and a Hafiz of the Quran. And as a student of sharia and Islamic studies for the past eight years, I’ve learned that Muslims must stand united in the face of extreme adversity, sharing in the pain of any Muslim, no matter who or where they are.

In Surah An-Nisa, verse 75, Allah asks why you don’t fight in his cause and help the weak, men, women, and children, who are in desperate need of your support. 

So why haven’t you responded all these months? This is just one of many verses in the Quran urging you to fight to ease the suffering of your brothers and sisters. Yet, you have failed to act, even in the smallest of ways.

What truly saddens me, and should awaken your numb consciences, is that you have allowed your governments to support the killing and torture of us. Your governments maintain close ties with Israel, always eager to strengthen their military and diplomatic relationships, enabling our slaughter and scourge before your very eyes.

You never truly stood up against your governments, nor did you pressure them to end their sales and connections with Israel. What we are witnessing now is a systematic normalisation effort, aimed at dismantling the unity of the Muslim world and erasing our identity.

Muslims need Gaza, but Gaza doesn’t need Muslims

During the holy month of Ramadan, we’ve seen the so-called Muslim leaders from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others sit around the table with the US Secretary of State and Israeli officials — literally breaking bread with one another. Meanwhile, my family and I struggle to find anything to break our fasts. 

I’ve seen thousands of you post your daily meals on social media. Did the prophets not teach you to share your food with others, or at the very least, to eat quietly so as not to offend those who cannot find any? 

Haven’t your so-called Muslim leaders read the last verse of Surah Al-Mujadila, which says that genuine believers in Allah and the Last Day will not form alliances with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they are their closest relatives?

Day after day, you watch hundreds of us drowning in our own blood, thousands of exhausted families living in ramshackle tents, begging for food and water, and hundreds of barefoot, traumatised children shivering with fear, cold, and hunger in the sewage-filled streets. What have you truly done for them?

We wish we never had to lower our dignity in front of the world to ask for our basic human rights, but we were forced to because you and the world have tolerated our unimaginable suffering. Over 60,000 people have been killed and more than 110,000 maimed. Are you waiting for this number to double or triple? How much more do you need to see to finally act and stop the hell that is being inflicted upon us?

Subscribe Now and Listen to our Podcasts On

We’re now in the final days of Ramadan, one of the two periods Allah asked us to intensify our worship throughout the Hijri calendar.  

In verse 76 of Surah al-Nisa, just one verse after Allah compels us to fight for those who have been wronged, Allah also prioritises struggling for the oppressed over prayers, Zakat, and fasting. 

So when you go to the mosque and stand foot-by-foot to pray, what comes to your mind when you remember Gaza? That is, of course, if you remember it. I know many of you don’t.

We should have been together hand in hand to free the entire occupied Palestine and its holy religious places. But you resorted to normalising war criminals, giving up most of our land, and encouraging genocide in Gaza. Nothing has been achieved on the ground. 

Instead, we received nothing but hollow platitudes and degrading pleas. Allah’s mercy is greater than theirs, but you decided to live under theirs. He indeed bestows his blessings and mercies onto you daily, but you refuse to realise it.

I naively assumed that I would spend Ramadan peacefully and comfortably with my family. However, Israel did what Israel does: implemented a starvation strategy against us and closed the borders two days later. And it was so easy for Israel to do this because you did nothing. 

Now, our lives are shattered once more, the salt rubbed into our wounds. This isn’t some sort of aberration, this is genocide by design.

Please remember, as you break your fast this evening, Gaza will eventually escape the horrors we face. We will regain our independence, our right to life, and justice for those who wronged us. And when that day comes, you will need Gaza more than ever — to avoid facing the biggest question in the hereafter or at least to preserve your humanity.

You’re losing both right now, and you’ll not find anyone to intervene for you tomorrow because you didn’t intervene when we needed you today. This must be your daily reminder.

Two days before Eid, I wonder how you will celebrate when the essence of celebration has been absent from our lives for nearly two years. How can you wear your finest clothes while we are wrapped in shrouds? How can you enjoy sweets while the children in my neighbourhood draw food in the sand? How can you go to the mosque, having witnessed the destruction and desecration of nearly 1,000 mosques in Gaza? And how can you visit your loved ones and rejoice at home while we stand in grief by the graves of our family members and dear ones?

Many questions weigh on my mind. But Eid is a time when all Muslims celebrate together. If this reality doesn’t cross your mind, then it’s not truly Eid — it’s merely fleeting, self-indulgent joy, stripped of both Islamic and human values. It’s like a neighbour throwing a party on the very day your father passed away.

I don’t know how to silence the relentless agony within me. My heart has no room left for more pain. Yet, instead of easing my burden, your actions only deepen my suffering.

Abubaker Abed is a Palestinian journalist, writer, and translator from Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp in Gaza, interested in sports and languages.

Follow him on X: @AbubakerAbedW

Have questions or comments? Email us at: [email protected]

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.