Press Release
The Issue of Palestine is the Issue of Islam and Muslims Alone, and it is the Issue of Armies that Must Be Mobilized to Liberate it
(Translated)

In a statement published on Monday, 26/8/2024, on its official portal and accounts, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif strongly condemned the extremist and provocative statements issued by an extremist Zionist official regarding his support for the establishment of a Jewish synagogue inside the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these provocative statements are issued only by an extremist mentality that does not respect religions, nor the sanctities of others, nor international laws and conventions, and knows only the law of the jungle, brutality and criminality. Al-Azhar reminds the entire world that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque was, is and will remain, Allah willing - with its courtyards and all its areas - purely Islamic, and a historical right for Muslims. It is Islamic in origin, and it is the first of the two Qiblahs and the third of the two Holy Mosques, and it will remain so despite the criminal plans of the Zionists to Judaize the historical landmarks of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the city of Al-Quds. Al-Azhar calls on the governments of Islamic countries to take serious and strict positions towards these irresponsible and repeated statements by this Zionist figure and other extremist figures, who are accustomed to storming the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and inciting violence and terrorism against innocent Palestinians, and to put an end to these criminal statements and terrorist practices by the officials of this extremist occupying entity.

O Scholars of Al-Azhar: You know that the issue of the Blessed Land is the issue of Islam and Muslims alone, and it is the issue of the armies of Muslims, who are mobilized to liberate it, while the entire world and its international covenants do not do justice to Islam and Muslims, but rather support the Jews and their existence and their continued usurping of the land of Islam. Their speech is a cry in the desert, and it is not permissible to rely on them. Rather, relying on them and the suspicion of justice and goodness in them contradicts the Almighty’s saying:

[وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ]

“And do not be inclined to the wrongdoers or you will be touched by the Fire. For then you would have no protectors other than Allah, nor would you be helped.” [Hud 11:113]. You also know the reality of this entity and that it is an enemy usurper of the land of Islam, and it is not permissible to deal with it, and that dealing with it is a betrayal of Allah, His Messenger, and His Deen. However, you do not deny the Egyptian regime’s dealings with it and the agreements, treaties, and trade that it has concluded and is concluding, and you do not deny or declare that this is contrary to the Sharia and deserves Allah’s wrath and anger. And you know for certain that there should be nothing between us and the Jews except a belligerent state until their entity is uprooted and the entire land of Islam is liberated. This is what the rulers of our country, whom you are addressing, and whom you know to whom their loyalty lies, have not and will not do, and you know that they are the reason for the existence of this usurping entity that does not have the means of life or existence without them and without their support, especially the Egyptian regime, the primary supporter of the Jewish entity and the guardian of its southern borders.

O Scholars of Al-Azhar: You know that expelling the military presence of the Kuffar (infidels) from the lands of Muslims is obligatory. When an attack occurs on the land of Islam or when it is known that the enemy is preparing to invade the lands of Muslims, then jihad is obligatory to repel the enemy until everyone in that land is sufficient. If the enemy is able to do so, the obligation of jihad is transferred from that country to those next to them. If they are unable to do so, then it is upon those next to them, and so on until the obligation is applied to all Muslims. If the enemy is able to do so, jihad becomes voluntary for the people of that occupied land because they become prisoners, but it remains obligatory for those Muslims who are able in the countries surrounding the occupied area. Since the existing rulers prevent jihad to liberate the occupied lands, whatever is necessary for a duty to be fulfilled is itself a duty, then removing these rulers is obligatory to restore jihad and liberate the land of Islam and its sanctities, and before that the crown of obligations is ruling by Islam in its state, the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood.

You know, O scholars of Al-Azhar, that nothing is more obligatory after faith than repelling the attacking enemy that has usurped the land of Islam. You see the crimes of the bastard entity against our people in the Blessed Land and you know that the regime that has not moved to repel the injustice from them, support them and liberate their land will not move for provocative phrases and that what concerns it only is containing the anger of the people of Egypt and preventing them from moving in support of the people of Palestine and in anger at the violation of dignities and the desecration of sanctities. Perhaps what you are doing is part of this role, as your speech is as if it is calling for the restraint of the extremists of the Jewish entity so that they do not issue statements that provoke the emotions of Muslims and ignite a revolution of anger that the regimes cannot tolerate and may be a way to uproot it.

We have repeatedly said that the Jews are an entity that usurps the land of Islam, violates the sanctities of the Ummah, desecrates its sanctities, and has shed the blood of our people in the Blessed Land. Its reality is that of an aggressive enemy occupying the land of Islam, which must be mobilized to repel and armies must be mobilized for this purpose and the provocative statements issued by the Jews were preceded by even more provocative actions, and the mere presence of this usurping entity on the land of Islam is a provocative action that requires armies to mobilize to uproot it. We all know that the rulers of our countries are agents of the West, the sponsor of this entity, which created it to be a dagger in the side of our Ummah and an advanced base for it in the heart of the Ummah. Therefore, our rulers are guardians of this usurping entity, and they are the real iron dome that protects it and stands between the armies and the Ummah and what Allah has obligated upon them of supporting the people of Palestine and uprooting this usurping entity from its roots.

O Scholars of Al-Azhar: The submission of the rulers, their collusion and their refusal to mobilize the armies to liberate all of Palestine obliges you to demand the armies and to work to mobilize them first to uproot these rulers who stand between them and the duty of jihad to liberate the land of Islam, and second to establish the Islamic state that puts its rulings into practice, the first of which is to repel the enemy who has gone on the rampage and shed the blood of our people in the blessed land.

This is your duty for which you will be asked before Allah on the Day of Resurrection. You know, as we know, that nothing is more obligatory upon you than this. It is not permissible for you to remain silent. Rather, you must urge the people and incite the soldiers of the Kinana to do what Allah has obligated upon them until Allah completes His command and grants victory to His soldiers. It is not permissible for you to sit back or act indolent, otherwise the word will be due upon us and the law of substitution will be due upon us

[وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْماً غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُم]

“If you ˹still˺ turn away, He will replace you with another people. And they will not be like you.” [Muhammad 47:38]. Show Allah from you what He loves, forbidding the greatest evil, which is the absence of the rulings of Islam and the absence of its state from existence, and what this has brought of occupation of the land of Islam, desecration of its sanctities, and the encroachment of the ignoble goods upon the Islamic Ummah, and disdain for it and its sanctities, which no one would have dared to do if the Ummah had an imam and a state.

And order the greatest good, which is inciting the sincere ones in the army of the Kinana to move to liberate Palestine, starting with liberating Cairo from the system of subservience that stands between them and that, and establishing the Islamic state that applies its rulings completely and pushes them towards liberating the entire usurped land of Islam, not just Palestine. So be a light for this Ummah that illuminates for it the correct path towards regaining its authority again under the shadow of Islam and its state, the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood.

[وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَكْتُمُونَهُ فَنَبَذُوهُ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ وَاشْتَرَوْا بِهِ ثَمَناً قَلِيلاً فَبِئْسَ مَا يَشْتَرُونَ]

“˹Remember, O Prophet,˺ when Allah took the covenant of those who were given the Scripture to make it known to people and not hide it, yet they cast it behind their backs and traded it for a fleeting gain. What a miserable profit!” [Aali’Imran 3:187]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Egypt