Is protesting for Palestine Islamic? 🇵🇸🧵
Unfortunately, there are Muslims online unwittingly declaring that protesting is not Islamic and should be avoided as it is apparently ‘begging the nonbelievers’. No doubt this a severely handicapped understanding of the modern political landscape in the west.
Here are some passages that come to mind.
God does not like bad words to be made public unless someone has been wronged: He is all hearing and all knowing. (Quran 4:148)
Abu Hurayra said, “A man said, ‘Messenger, my neighbour does me harm.’ He said, ‘go & take your things out into the road.’ He took his things out into the road. People gathered around him & asked, ‘what’s wrong?’ He replied, ‘my neighbour injures me. I told the Messenger & he told me to take my things onto the road.’ They began to say, ‘O Allah, curse & disgrace the neighbour!’ Only then the neighbour came to the man & said, ‘go back to your home. I will not harm you.’” (Al Adab Al Mufrad)
And your Lord is never forgetful. (Quran 19:64)
Today protests have become a main form of activism for raising awareness on a large scale. There’s nothing inherently wrong with protesting providing the basic Islamic etiquettes are followed. We should also look to our local scholarship and leadership for guidance on these issues. Especially in recent times when genocide and oppression is being normalised in Falasteen and other parts of the world, protesting to send a collective, effective message for immediate change seems even more necessary.
