Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

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Long ago there were no country barriers or different sectors...the land of Islamic people were huge...so i can say that i'm from this region instead of saying i'm from this country like today...so can i say that palestine is my country and i should fight for it...or do i say that palestine is my friend's country and do i fight for it? and if i fought for it..would it be justified?

Jazak allah khair.

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ANSWER:

Can I fight for Palestine?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

There are three places which are considered Holy or Sacred in Islam: 1. The Sacred Mosque in Makkah, 2. The Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and 3. Masjid-Aqsa or Al-Quds in Palestine.

A person or family or people who are born in some place, and live there, and build their houses there, etc.. they become citizens of that country. If anybody uproots these people by force and throws them out, then it is not only wrong and illegal in humanitarian terms, but also in Islamic terms. The force that throws them out is a tyrant force, and the people who are thrown out are victims. And they must be helped, no matter where they are. No one has the right to uproot a people and throw them out of their lands.

This is precisely what has happened in Palestine. The people of the land were uprooted and have been thrown around by force by the invading tyrants. The tyrant forces then invited all the Jews, wherever they might be, to come and settle in these occupied territories! This is absolute injustice and illegal, in both humanitarian as well as Islamic terms. And everyone who stands for justice must do all they can in their power and ability to help the victims, and oppose the tyrant occupying forces.

The case with Palestine is even more serious, because it houses one of our three holy mosques, and thus it is the duty of every muslim that he must strive hard to help and liberate this holy place, and help the people of the land who are being oppressed and dealt with in an unjust way.

Makkah, Medina and Palestine cannot be claimed by any people … These are muslim properties, and every muslim who fears Allah and the Last Day must hold these sacred places dear to his heart. Thus the case of Palestine is different than lets say, Bosnia, Chechnya and Kashmir.

For Palestine, yes, we can say it is our country, and we must strive hard with all our wealth and our selves to liberate it from the disbelieving oppressors, and help our brothers and sisters and children who are being oppressed in their own land!

But for other than the three holy places and the our own land, (Bosnia, Chechnya or Kashmir, etc.) we cannot say that it is my country. But because our brothers and sisters in Islam are being oppressed there, it is our duty as muslims to help them against the oppressors, in whatever way we can… with prayer, with wealth, and with our own lives!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verses 190-191: And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight against you, but do not commit aggression; because Allah does not like the aggressors. Fight against them wherever they confront you in combat, and drive them out from where they drove you out! Though killing is bad, persecution is worse than killing!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verses 39-40: Permission to fight has been granted to those against whom war has been waged, because they have been treated unjustly! And Allah is certainly able to help them. These are the people who have been expelled unjustly from their homes only for the reason that they said, “Our Lord is Allah”.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisa verses 74-76: Those alone, who barter away this worldly life for that of the Hereafter, should fight in the way of Allah. Then We will bestow a great reward upon him who fights in the way of Allah, whether he be slain or be victorious. Why should you, then, not fight in the way of Allah for the sake of those helpless men, women and children who, being weak, have been oppressed, and are crying out, “Our Lord, deliver us from this habitation whose inhabitants are unjust oppressors, and raise a protector for us by Your Grace, and a helper from Yourself.” Those, who follow the way of Faith, fight in the way of Allah; and those who follow the way of disbelief, fight in the way of ‘taghut’ (Shaitaan). So fight against the helpers of Shaitaan with this conviction that Shaitaan’s crafty schemes are in fact very weak.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said in an authentic narration: “One who fights to make Allah’s Word Supreme in the land, is indeed fighting for the Cause of Allah.”

Fighting ‘Jihaad’ for all of them would be absolutely justified, if your intention is to help your muslim brothers and sisters who are oppressed in those places, and make the name Allah Supreme in the land. If you were to be slain in this struggle, then you will be considered a ‘martyr’ in the eyes of Allah. And the station and rank of a ‘martyr’, who gives his life for the sole Pleasure of Allah, is the epitome of Imaan in Islam. We cannot even imagine the reward that is awaiting him from Allah Subhanah! There are many aayahs in the Quran and many ‘ahaadiths’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws) describing the rank and reward of the one who gives his life for the Pleasure of Allah Subhanah. May Allah increase our imaan and give us the opportunity to lay down our lives in His Cause and for His Pleasure. For a believer, there is no bigger rank than that of a ‘martyr’.

The Prophet (saws) said, "Nobody who dies and finds good from Allah (in the Hereafter) would wish to come back to this world even if he were given the whole world and whatever is in it, except the martyr who, on seeing the superiority of martyrdom, would like to come back to the world and get killed again (in Allah's cause)."

The Prophet (saws) said, "A single endeavor (of fighting) in Allah's cause in the afternoon or in the forenoon is better than all the world and whatever is in it. A place in Paradise as small as the bow or lash of one of you is better than the whole world and whatever is in it. And if a houri from Paradise appeared to the people of the earth, she would fill the space between Heaven and the Earth with light and pleasant scent and her head cover is better than the world and whatever is in it."

Allah's Messenger (saws) said, "The martyr receives six good things from Allah: he is forgiven at the first shedding of his blood; he is shown his abode in Paradise; he is preserved from the punishment in the grave; he is kept safe from the greatest terror; he has placed on his head the crown of honor, a ruby of which is better than the world and what it contains; he is married to seventy-two wives of the maidens with large dark eyes; and is made intercessor for seventy of his relatives."

The Prophet(saws) said, "The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah's cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). Had I not found it difficult for my followers, then I would not remain behind any sariya going for Jihad and I would have loved to be martyred in Allah's cause and then made alive, and then martyred and then made alive, and then again martyred in His cause."

The Prophet (saws) said: A martyr does not suffer when he is slain any more that one of you suffers from being bitten by an ant.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: All the sins of a Shahid (martyr) are forgiven except debt.

Every human being shall taste his death, and we know that the time of our death is pre-ordained. The choice that we have is either we die in our beds and homes, or we die in the Cause of Allah! There is no hiding or evading this thing called death. And who can have a better and more honourable death, than the one who lays down his life for the Cause of Allah Subhanah. Those who understand and comprehend this reality in truth, are the ones who strive and fight in the Way of Allah.

What is it that is stopping us from fighting in the Way of Allah today, when there are so many of our muslim brothers and sisters and children being oppressed and tortured in their own lands? What is it that is holding us back? The naked truth is, it is nothing, but the love of this worldly life and its transitory pleasures! If only we could comprehend and believe Allah and His Messenger (saws) with conviction, the rewards that await a ‘martyr’, we would not sit in our homes, but rather, like the ‘sahaabees’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws), strive with our property and our lives in the Way of Allah.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa verse 122: The promise of Allah is true, and who can be truer in his word than Allah?

O Allah increase our imaan, and honor us to lay down our lives and die the death of a ‘martyr’. That would be the ultimate success.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan