Several prominent Muslim scholars have issued a rare religious decree or “fatwa”, calling on all Muslims and Muslim-majority countries to wage “jihad” against Israel after 17 months of devastating war against Palestinians residing in the besieged enclave.

Ali al-Qaradaghi, the secretary general of the International Union Of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), an organisation previously led by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, called on all Muslim countries on Friday “to intervene immediately militarily, economically and politically to stop this genocide and comprehensive destruction, in accordance with their mandate”.

“The failure of the Arab and Islamic governments to support Gaza while it is being destroyed is considered by Islamic law to be a major crime against our oppressed brothers in Gaza,” he said in the decree comprising some 15 points.

Qaradaghi is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities and his decrees carry significant weight among the world’s 1.7bn Sunni Muslims.

  • arifinhiding@feddit.org
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    7 days ago

    Muftis (and scholars) occupy a prominent position in Islam but their departments often sit within the state. They owe their existence to the state governments they’re in. Even if this decree carries weight among muslim communities where fatwas are often studied to their minute detail, respective muslim governments ultimately have the final say on whether they’re willing to adopt their decree. With leaders like MBS and others, I doubt there’s real appetite for change even if the fatwa in question is in line with traditional islamic laws.

  • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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    I’m only surprised it took so long. I would have thought they’d done this long ago, or at least considered it as obvious. Haven’t they been waging Jihad against Israel since its inception?

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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      Most Arab countries are in bed with Israel. Anyone who stokes the flames there goes to jail. Their top imams speaking out is not a big deal by itself but it does indicate a turning of the tide.

      • MetalMachine@feddit.nl
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        6 days ago

        Your name is gold. It really does describe it well. And yeah, most arab countries are in bed with israel and the US. They only care about staying in power or being a puppet for them.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
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      Muslims: we should defend Palestinians.

      You: look at these stupid brown people thinking they have the right to defend themselves against the civilized white man.

      How do you propose they get rid of the occupation. Flowers?

    • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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      No, Israel wants them to be quiet and do nothing while they eviscerate their cities and kill their citizens.

      Maybe you should be locked up somewhere for your gross views that generalize millions of people and wishes to “let them kill each other”.

      Things decent people say, surely.

    • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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      "how about declaring war against Hitler specifically? And the top leaders of Germany, perhaps, but leave the rest alone.

      Seriously, if you want to stop the violence, put leaders of both Germany and Jewish partisan organizations against a wall and have both groups be led to peace by actual reasonable people"

  • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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    Wouldn’t it have been better to fatwa specific Israeli leaders instead of the entire country that is full of civilians who didn’t cause this?

    Would have gone a long way I think to showing they are the moral high ground in the situation.

    • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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      6 days ago

      “wouldn’t it have been better to only go to war with specific Nazi leaders, instead of the entirety of Nazi Germany, that is full of civilians who didn’t cause this?”

    • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
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      Wouldn’t it have been better to fatwa specific Israeli leaders instead of the entire country that is full of civilians who didn’t cause this?

      I hate this excuse liberals keep making, either to whitewash the actions of nations that have lost their minds, or to do cringe “I hate the government not the people” sthicks.

      The government doesn’t fall from the heavens. The Israeli leaders, just like the Americans or Nazis did not come out of nowhere and cause mass hypnosis amongst the innocent populations whose only crime was to be too weak to resist hypnosis. These leaders emerged from the population. They were supported by the population before they acquired legislative/executive power (that’s how you aquire the power in the first place). Their commands mean nothing if the population doesn’t go along with it. These leaders are leaders of nations only so long as they represent the wills of their nations, and the will of their nations is to kill, to loot and to worship their capitalist masters.

      No man, and I mean none at all rules alone. One comes to realise this truth when one converses directly with the supposed innocents in America, or Germany or Israel. These people by and large know that their governments are involved in genocide (at this point, who isn’t aware?), and if they aren’t actively cheering it on, at the minimum they are going along with it.

    • blitzkrieg@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Israel is a democratic country. The Israelis willingly elect war criminals to lead their country.

          • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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            No, that’s idiotic collective punishment. This whole thread is full of fucking genocide supporters pretending they have the moral high ground.

              • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
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                Yet cheering for a fucking fatwa against all of Israel, what the fuck kind of reality are we in where now we’re applauding this shit.

            • voodooattack@lemmy.world
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              I’m not a genocide supporter. I was pointing out an obvious contradiction in your statement.

              And if you think Israelis are against collective punishment then how would you describe what’s been happening to Palestinians all those decades?

              Are innocent Israelis more deserving of mercy than innocent Palestinians?

              Here is your lever and some complementary trolleys 🎚️🛤️ 🚃, please submit your answers before all Palestinians are ethnically cleansed

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                Jesus christ you people just make up what you think I believe huh?

                My principled stance is genocide is bad regardless of who is perputrating or even saying it SHOULD BE perpetrated (basically what this Fatwa is saying no?)

                I am absolutely against the abhorrent things that Israel is doing, fuck off.

                • voodooattack@lemmy.world
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                  All genocide is bad. A declaration of war is not.

                  My principled stance is genocide is bad regardless of who is perputrating or even saying it SHOULD BE perpetrated (basically what this Fatwa is saying no?)

                  No. There is nothing in it about killing unarmed civilians or eliminating all Jewish people. It’s a call for all Arab/Muslim nations to form a united front and declare war, which, like all wars (sans Israel’s concept of war?) has rules of engagement.

                  Your assumption that the word “jihad” means genocide is the problem with this conversation. “Jihad” literally means “to struggle/strive”. It’s used in several contexts and there are types of Jihad. (See the Wikipedia article on it for more)

                  • There is “jihad Al nafs” for example, which translates to “to struggle against one’s self”, and an obvious example of it is to quit smoking, or stop overeating, etc.
                  • There is “jihad Al mal” which means “struggle with money” and an example would be donating to a rightful cause
                  • There is “jihad Al tarbiyah” which means becoming an educator/a teacher of good morals and Islamic/scientific principles

                  You think I’m advocating genocide. I am not. I, however, am supportive of a war against a genocidal rogue state.

                  Source (in Arabic): https://www.uae71.com/posts/117288

                  Direct translation for the lazy bums who won’t bother:

                  The International Union of Muslim Scholars, through its Ijtihad and Fatwa Committee, issued a fatwa regarding the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the violation of the truce. The fatwa called for jihad and urgent, widespread action by Muslim states and peoples, including military action.

                  The fatwa, shared by Ali Qaradaghi, Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, via his X account, affirmed “the obligation of armed jihad against the Israeli occupation for every capable Muslim,” emphasizing that “this duty extends throughout the Islamic world.”

                  The committee also called for “immediate military intervention” by Arab and Islamic countries to halt the aggression on Gaza and impose a comprehensive blockade on the occupying entity by land, sea, and air, including closing its waterways, straits, and airspace.

                  The fatwa emphasized the necessity of supporting the Palestinian resistance militarily, financially, politically, and legally, deeming it a “religious duty.” It also called for the formation of an Islamic military alliance to defend the nation and deter any aggression, asserting that the establishment of such an alliance is an urgent necessity.

                  In the same context, the fatwa prohibited any form of normalization with the Israeli occupation, prohibited the supply of oil and gas to it, and called for a review of the peace treaties signed with the occupier.

                  The committee stressed the need for financial support for the people of Gaza and the importance of urgently opening the crossings to provide humanitarian aid.

                  In concluding the fatwa, the committee called on Muslim communities in the United States to pressure the US administration to implement its election promises to halt the aggression and work to bring peace to the region.

                  Last Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced the expansion of his military operations in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

                  The death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 50,523 martyrs and 114,776 wounded since October 7, 202

                  Edit 2: more sources for your perusal:

  • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
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    I’m sure Western News will report on this in a completely fair, unbiased, and reasonable way, of course.

    • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      Yes because as we know western media is known for having a fair and unbaised view whenever a native people fight back against a foreign military occupation. Especially when said resistance is supported by a non Christian people who also dont fit the arbitrary definition of white.

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        Muslim scholars are calling on fellow Muslims to fight back against genocide.

        The problem is that they are scary words like “futwa” and “jihad” and, in the West, this language is seen as uncivilized and barbaric.

        Orientalism, in other words.

        • Korkki@lemmy.ml
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          I mean at this point if you have seen what Israel has done, unfiltered by the media, then there is almost nothing that will shake people out of their views. If you support Israel after knowing that they purposefully shell hospitals and children, then you will most likely keep supporting Israel no matter what. Same goes for those who oppose Israel and it’s genocide.

          • OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml
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            Right, but whether or not it’s disputed outside of Lemmy doesn’t change the fact that it’s a genocide. The only people who don’t think it’s a genocide are those in favor of the genocide and the genuinely uninformed/propagandized.

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            I think for now most objective would be “actions consistent with genocide” and war crimes. That being said most prominent human rights organizations do classify it as genocide. Here i think bias was referring to nonfactual reporting, so translations or what some people dispute bears no value.

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            Not sure what your translation says, fatwa or not doesn’t really matter or do shit for the Palestinians.
            But I do know MEE is a UK based garbage source.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    Meanwhile every Muslim country government bar Yemen: Nah, I don’t really feel like it

    • AreaSIX @lemm.ee
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      I’d say Iran and Hizbollah in Lebanon haven’t exactly ignored the situation either, and have paid a fairly heavy price themselves thus far.

    • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      In yemen the houthis (aka not the government) is willing to do anything, the actural government only makes statements and votes in the UN while taking no real action.

      • Eiren (she/her)@lemmygrad.ml
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        The Houthis are Yemeni government.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Political_Council

        They have their own government, with its own policies, and de facto recognised territory.

        The continued application of military force by the U.S.-backed Presidential Leadership Council, and capitulation to U.S. hegemony leading some member states of the U.N. to attempt to delegitimise them, cannot change the reality of the situation.

        • Md27@lemmy.world
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          Lol I was thinking the whole western world accepting all Israeli transgressions against international law, and rewarding her with political shielding, vetos, and their own citizens tax money… And double standards.

          No where in the world is it acceptable to use a military against unarmed civilians with sustained force. But Israel gets her pass… Why?