After more than 548 days of unimaginable horror in Gaza, the Secretary General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has finally issued a strong, unflinching fatwa — a long-overdue call for the Muslim ummah and its leaders to wake up. This isn’t a scene from some horror movie in the cinema. This is real. And we’ve been watching — helpless, silent, numb — as if it’s entertainment.
The fatwa makes it clear:
“It is a religious obligation upon every capable Muslim to participate in armed resistance against the Zionist occupation in Palestine. It is a duty upon Arab and Islamic nations to immediately intervene militarily, to besiege the Zionist entity by land, sea, and air, and to support the resistance with arms, funds, politics, and full rights.”
Ten critical points were outlined, among them: banning normalization with the Zionist regime, halting oil and gas supply to the occupiers, reviewing disgraceful “peace” treaties, and building an Islamic military alliance to protect the oppressed. But the real question is: will the Muslim leaders take this fatwa seriously and act, or will they continue to issue statements from behind ivory towers while blood floods the streets of Gaza?
We’ve condemned the UN for being toothless, for failing to stop Netanyahu and his terrorist group, even as war crime charges stack up. But what about the OIC — the Organization of Islamic Cooperation? What exactly are they cooperating on? Silence? Inaction? Empty summits while children are burned alive?
During the final 10 nights of Ramadan, as Muslims around the world prayed for peace and mercy, the apartheid regime in Tel Aviv declared they’re not only rejecting ceasefire — they openly admitted this is to erase Palestinians. They block food aid, behead infants, burn journalists alive, and target ambulances and aid trucks. These are war crimes, genocide — deliberate, public, and proud.
And yet — mainstream media? Still sanitizing. Still using passive language like “clashes” or “crossfire.” Still hiding behind “unverified reports.” Beheaded babies? They won’t report them. Even though names are known: Ahmed Najjar, Amal Alyan, Hamza Issa Abu Issa. Even though we’ve seen the videos — children trembling in fear beside the mutilated bodies of their neighbors. We see it. We feel it. But media silence makes it invisible.
How do we break that silence? How do we get the world to acknowledge this genocide when even journalists won’t speak up for their own colleagues? They don’t see Palestinian journalists as human, let alone as peers. They still don’t say a word seeing the video and image of their colleague, Ahmed Mansour being burned alive.
We go to bed thinking the day can’t get worse. We wake up to new videos of people blown into the sky — literally. You can picture it. Like the towers in your own city suddenly exploding upward. And still, we argue about whether we should boycott companies funding this horror. Still, we calculate profit margins before choosing to divest from blood-soaked corporations enabling these atrocities.
But there are those who refuse to be silent. Like Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, a young Microsoft engineer, who interrupted a corporate summit to call out their employer’s complicity in genocide. They knew the risks — to their job, future, family — and still chose to speak up. And we cheer for them, we call them a hero. Everyone talks about how brave this young lady is/are. Meanwhile, we debate whether avoiding a burger or canned drink might “hurt our economy.” Are we still going to be calculative when it comes to divesting from companies that clearly are breaking international laws by providing arms, bulldozers, and planes to continue these atrocities?
Now that the fatwa has been issued, now that the truth has been screamed loud enough to shake minarets and boardrooms alike — what will we do?
Are we going to continue watching this livestreamed genocide like it’s a series finale, or are we going to act — really act — with our voices, wallets, bodies, and prayers?
Because silence is betrayal. And we’ve been complicit long enough.
So what do we do? How do we — as individuals, communities, and nations — turn outrage into impact?
We follow the call of the Palestinian civil society and strengthen the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
This is not symbolic. It’s strategic.
- Boycott companies complicit in the occupation — like Caltex, HP, McDonald’s, Burger King, Dominos, and Reebok — until they end their support for apartheid Israel. Withdraw your money, your purchases, your platforms.
- Divest from institutions and banks that fund Israeli arms manufacturers or profit from illegal settlements like Caterpillar, AirBNB, Siemens, Microsoft, Intel, Google. Pressure your universities, unions, and local councils to cut ties and investments.
- Sanction the apartheid regime. Demand your governments halt military trade, visa-free travel, and diplomatic ties with Israel until international law is upheld and Palestinians are free.
This is our generation’s anti-apartheid struggle. And history will ask: where were you when Gaza burned? Did you repost? Or did you resist?
This fatwa is a wake-up call. Let it not fall on ears that hear but do not act. The resistance is not only in Gaza — it lives in your choices, your wallet, your voice.
