Pakistan scholars call on Muslim world to fight jihad against Israel

Prominent Islamic scholars in Pakistan have called on Muslim-majority countries and their governments to fight against Israel to prevent its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, calling it an obligatory duty.

At the National Palestine Conference in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Thursday last week, Islamic scholars spoke of the obligation on Muslim countries and their militaries to defend the Palestinians against Israel’s occupation forces. Chief amongst them was Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, one of Pakistan’s most prominent clerics and a former judge of the Federal Shariat Court.

Stating that Muslim-majority countries had “failed to provide sufficient support to those fighting to protect” the Islamic holy site of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Usmani asked: “What is the use of the armies of Muslim countries if they do not engage in jihad?”

The Islamic scholar also called on Muslims who intended to go on voluntary pilgrimages, such as Umrah, to instead spend that money on supporting the Palestinian resistance. “We assembled within this very same convention hall one year ago in an act of solidarity for Palestine. Yet, ever since then, we have merely done conferences and not true action,” he stressed.

While highlighting the financial and verbal assistance many Muslims, governments and figures worldwide have given in support of the Palestinians, Mufti Usmani said that “up until now, we haven’t expressed to our governments that today jihad has become compulsory upon you…Jihad has become compulsory upon every Muslim government, according to their means.”

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