The declaration by the National Palestine Conference that made jihad compulsory on all Muslims for Plestine. Combined with the condemnation by Wifaqul Madaris chief and prominent religious scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani of the failure of Muslim countries to act against Israel, brings into focus some of the contradictions Muslims have been living with for a long time. He was flying in the face of the nrrtive that Islam is a religion of peace, and frowns upon violence. Not really. Islam, s Mufti Usmani said, forbids violence and damage to people or property, if it is carried out randomly. The state is supposed to sanction it. Freelance jihad is ruled out.
The method he stressed the most was boycotting entities which supported Israel. That includes breaking off diplomatic relations with countries recognizing Israel. Does that include Israel’s greatest supporter, the USA? What price Egypt or Turkey?
Then there is the issue of a boycott. What is the criterion to be followed. What is the degree of support for Israel? The company donating to Israel, donating to something like the American-Israeli Political Action Committee, having Zionist CEOS or Jewish CEOs? Or having branches in Israel? What exactly is nonviolent protest supposed to achieve? A renewal of the ceasefire? The ceasefire has broken down already, and there is no guarantee that it will not again, especially since it is gainst the interest of the current Israeli government. Not of Israel or Jews or Zionists, but specifically off the Netanyahu government, which will collapse otherwise. The Conference has raised many of the questions that have plagued Muslims ever since the post-World-War-II wave of decolonisation left Muslim-majority states as ex-colonies trying to establish themselves as nation-states.
The jihad call is not just theologically unavoidable, but there are many other requisites not addressed. Who is supposed to organize the Muslims of separate states, and how is this supposed to be conducted? It seems the Conference made a formal call without really meaning it, which is of not much help to the Palestinians, who are homeless and hungry and beleaguered, if at all alive. The problem may be that the Conference may have been prompted by the discomfort that is being felt by the ordinary Muslims of Pakistan at the events in Gaza.As Mufti Usmani pointed out, there is an intrinsic relationship between the Palestinian and Kashmir causes, which was recognized by the Qusid-e-Azam himself. Indeed, Pakistan and Palestine are bound to each other, not least because of the pre-Partition visit by the Grand Mufti of Palestine to what was then the Indian Subcontinent.
