The Sign that is Palestine

The Sign that is Palestine

1986 1 January 11-14 The Sign that is Palestine (1567) The place for showing the Muslims the signs of God continues to be Jerusalem, as it had been for the People of the Book before them.

The expulsion of Palestinian Muslims from their native land in 1948 was followed by their removal from the neighbouring countries of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. They then made Lebanon their centre, but the 1982 Israeli invasion of that country forced them to forsake even that final stronghold. It is hard to find, in the entire annals of Islamic history, any Muslim group that has suffered such persecution.

The Palestinian diaspora, as it has come to be known, is far more than just a simple matter of merely local significance. It is an event of tremendous importance for all Muslims. The fate of Palestinian Muslims is a warning for Muslims the world over. What it indicates is that the Muslims of today have, as a community, brought down the wrath of God upon their heads. Their efforts have ceased to be blessed with divine favour, and this, despite the presence among them of leaders who stand up on the world stage and proudly proclaim that “the Arab people have rediscovered themselves”; and despite the presence among them of thinkers who have successfully moulded the modern age into an era of Islamic renaissance; and despite the activities of certain groups who claim to have conveyed the message of Islam to all four corners of the world.

Mohammad was the last of the Prophets. After his coming, he is the only Prophet to be followed. The Prophethood prior to his Prophetic mission no longer provide mankind with practical guidance. Now it is the Prophethood of Mohammad alone which has the stamp of divine approval. It is only by following his teachings that one can earn salvation. The decision of God to terminate Prophethood with Mohammad had to be shown to the world in plain form. Some event symbolic of Mohammad’s status as final Prophet had to be staged. So it was that, during the Prophet Mohammad’s Night Journey, all the Prophets were brought together in one place. Gabriel instructed the Prophet Mohammad to lead them in prayer, and all his predecessors prayed behind him.

The Prophet Mohammad’s leadership of all the Prophets in worship could have happened in the House of God in Mecca. But instead the Prophet’s ascent to heaven was chosen for this event. The Prophet was first taken to Jerusalem, and there he led the other Prophets in prayer. The reason for the Prophet being transported to Jerusalem for this highly significant event has been given in the Quran. It was “in order to show him some of our signs” (17:1). Jerusalem had traditionally been the place where God’s signs had been made manifest to the Jewish people. Now the Prophet Mohammad, during his Night Journey, was taken to the same place to be shown God’s signs. What this meant was that the followers of Mohammad were heirs to both the House of God in Mecca and the Sacred Mosque of Jerusalem. Along with the town of Jerusalem, they also inherited the spiritual and symbolic significance that had, over thousands of years, been attached to it.

One thing that emerges clearly from a study of biblical history is that at times when the Jewish People were in God’s favour, they were allowed to live freely in the land of Palestine. At such times the sovereignty of that country was entrusted to them. Then, when God was displeased with them, he removed them from Palestine and tremendous affliction came upon them. Palestine, then, was a sign of the Jews’ being in favour or disfavour of the Lord. The same is the case with the Muslims. Palestine shows the Muslims how they stand in the sight of God. When God is pleased with them, they are given possession of the Holy Land, and enabled to live there in peace. Their removal from Palestine, on the other hand, is a sign that God is not looking upon them with favour: they have earned God’s displeasure, and are paying the price.

With the coming of the Prophet of the final era, control over both the great centres of worship – the House of God in Mecca and the Sacred Mosque in Jerusalem – passed to his community. Mecca, then, could also have been a suitable venue for the manifestation of God’s signs to the Muslims. God’s favour or disfavour towards them could have been made plain there. But Islam, being a religion preserved in its original form, had to have a centre preserved from destruction and strife. That centre is Mecca. Were it to come under threat, the security of Islam itself would be endangered. It had to be protected, as the religion it represents is protected. The place for showing the Muslims the signs of God, then, continued to be Jerusalem, as it had been for the People of the Book before them.

To think of what is happening in Palestine as the result of American and Israeli aggression is to miss the point; it is to close one’s eyes to the way of God. Rather it is God’s way of showing those whom He has chosen to spread the message of His Scripture that they have not fulfilled their responsibilities with regard to it. Before the Muslims, the Jews were the bearers of the divine message of the Scriptures. It was they who used to be shown in Palestine whether God was looking upon them with favour or displeasure. Now it is the Muslims who are the bearers of the divine message of the Scripture, and it is they, therefore, who are the target of God’s wrath.

The great irony of the situation is that it is the Jews who have been chosen to deliver this rebuke to the Muslims. The Children of Israel, who had themselves been robbed of the Holy Land because of their failure to discharge their responsibilities as bearers of God’s Scriptures, have been brought back there. It is they who are robbing their successors, the Muslims, of their place in Palestine.

There are two ways of looking at this event. From the Jews’ point of view, it would appear that they are being gathered in one place, eventually to be afflicted there by some severe punishment on a mass scale. As for the Muslims, their being persecuted in the Holy Land by people who have themselves incurred the rage of God shows the intensity of the divine disfavour which the Muslims have brought down upon themselves. This disfavour will continue until the Muslims have rebuilt their own lives on the solid foundations of the Book of God.

Today the whole Muslim world is united in support of their Palestinian brethren. Perhaps there is no other issue affecting Muslims in which Muslims are so united. The whole Muslim world has adopted the Palestinian cause. With one voice Muslims the world over have extended their support to the Palestinian people, while heaping blame upon America and Israel for precipitating their plight. And the Muslims’ support for the Palestinians is not limited to words. The international Islamic community has also adopted the Palestinian cause on a practical level. The honour of the Palestinians is the honour of Muslims, young and old, the world over, while if Palestinians are disgraced the whole Muslim world shares a sense of shame.

Yet despite total support from the Muslim world, the Palestinian question is now no nearer solution than before. In fact, from day to day the problem becomes more and more intractable. The reason for this is simple: the problem has festered in one region, and Muslims are searching for a solution in another quite different site.

The question of Palestine is not to be looked at in terms of America and Israel, but in terms of the Muslims’ relation to the Book of God. If America was causing the problem a solution would have been found by now, as Vietnam showed us ten years ago. But it is neglect of and injustice to the Book of God that lie at the root of the problem. The Muslims have betrayed God’s trust, and only by restoring it will they be restored to the Holy Land.

The plight of Palestinian Muslims shows, furthermore, that the work being done in the name of Islam is not the work which God requires of Muslims. It does not constitute the real service of God’s cause which the Book of God requires of us. There is no doubt that great Muslim leaders have emerged in modern times and Islamic work is being conducted on a huge scale, but if the nature of this work was in accordance with the will of God, the Muslims would not have suffered God’s chastisement as they have. God’s succour would certainly have been theirs, and they would certainly not have gone unrewarded. But sheer quantity can never make up for a lack of quality.

This is a question of the utmost importance, to which all Muslims should address their thoughts, for if they continue to be rejected by God, they will have no place either in this world or the next. Only if we set about performing the task that God requires of us will we be restored to His good favour; and that is the only way that Palestine can be restored to us.