Oppression in Palestine and Oppression at Home

Al-Maghrib Institute partnered with Islamic Relief to raise

mashaAllah over $500,000 for Palestine. Islamic Relief has pledged $2.5 million in food and water, mattresses and medicine to the displaced and wounded Palestinians in need. Many mashayakh came online and spoke at a great length. From them I would like to especially thank Sr. Yasmin Mogahed for reminding the Muslim community of two really great points.

First, Sr. Yasmin said, “Palestine is in this state of oppression due to our love for this world and fear of death.” The Prophet (s.a.w) prophesized that a time will come when the world powers will invite each other to invade the Muslim countries, although Muslims are great in number, they will not defend each other out of love for this world and fear of death.

A vast number of Arab countries today pretend to be oblivious to the killing of children in Palestine. Even individual Muslims all around the world believe that as long as we are not directly occupied, we’d rather have as much fun as possible (granted we show our solidarity with Palestine on facebook).  There is no nation more extravagant and overindulgent than the Muslims. The only month of worship, Ramadan is the best example of our bloated gluttony. Its not like we are going to die or anything? The prophecy of Muhammad (s.a.w) has materialized, we do love our "dunya" more than Palestine and we are so scared of death that we don't really want to think about it that much.
Sr. Yasmin maintains that “if we want to help Palestine, [then] we [must]  change ourselves first:” change the way we think about life and live our personal life.

Second, Sr. Yasmin explains that “the oppression in

Palestine is a manifestation of oppression that lies inside of us.” We commit many acts of violence everyday against our family and against the people in our Masjid. We are a source of distress and nuisance for the people around us. We need to start our charity from home and then help people closest to our social circle. 

"Oppression in the home is not a private matter between a husband and wife that should be ignored. It can lead to the destruction of a Muslim family, which is already so fragile in the current Islamphobic environment. The destruction of one Muslim family is the destruction of one unit of the Muslim Ummah" - Abdul Malik Mujahid