Haviv Rettig Gur
Far from Western eyes, a rich and complex debate is underway about the Islamic theological and historical meaning of Israel’s recent military successes. To those for whom Israel’s destruction is everything - the measure of Islamic dignity and the precondition for Islam’s restoration to its rightful place in history - lamentations such as this one feel pretty on point. I hesitate to comment further on this. Because these kinds of ideologues won’t listen to me. And that’s probably for the best. I mean, what have I got to tell them? That we will not go quietly into that good night? That they waste their blood and treasure on this dark and destructive path? That they’re going to have to find another path out of their weakness? Why would they listen? Or, in a more helpful vein, should I reveal the sources of our great power, sources they’ve spent a century refusing to acknowledge via the simple expedient of explaining each failure to destroy us as a function of an extremely well-timed rescue by a long line of inexplicably devoted imperial patrons? I seriously doubt they’re going to want to hear that we’re actually strong because we’re mostly the grandchildren of refugees. That they had us over a barrel when we thought we were safe and that withdrawal would make us safer; that then, in literally hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of rocket attacks usually from places we’d recently vacated, they convinced us otherwise. That it is they, ironically, who made us so resilient. Or that we are strong because we have free politics and free markets and a competent and innovative economy. That they should try these things; they really work. And we’d never have outclassed them in military and intelligence capabilities without these features. How much of the God-given talent and potential of the Arabs and Persians and other great peoples of this region is wasted by petty, controlling tyrannies? Should I reveal these dark mysteries that underlie our inexplicable power? Should I tell them, in other words, that they’re full of it, that all this self-pitying self-glorification is childishness, that we are weakened by safety, not by danger, and they, in turn, are weakened, not strengthened, by their vaunted devotion to pious tyrants and redemptionist ideologies? Or, you know, should we leave these ideologues in peace to write whining lamentations about lost honor and endless paeans to the grit and glory of clinging to the same old genocidal and self-destructive path that is the only one they are willing to imagine?
Ammar Kazmi 🇵🇸
The token Sunni support for Palestine since 7th October has died with Syria, and full Sunni normalisation with Israel is incoming. That's the only thing that's happened here. The Shi'a of Lebanon, Iran, and Yemen have sacrificed through years of starvation sanctions, assassinations, bombings, and much more for Palestine... and it's not because of PR with Sunnis! There has been a dominant current in Shi'ism since at least 1979 that has, theologically and materially, made Palestine its cause – because that current understands that eliminating the Zionist cancer in West Asia is essential for all Muslims, wherever they are. The Shi'a have been effective in mobilising for Palestine because of their Karbala'i traditions and theological commitment to material action. Meanwhile, Sunni nations (and Sunnis in general) have done little to nothing, because they have long since lost the theological capital to do so. Sunnis are plagued by childish neo-Ottoman fantasies, identitarianism, and a dearth of true, courageous leadership. Their 'leaders' (if you can call them that) are the heads of a few nation-states, and they are subservient to the West. Their 'scholars' have no theological coherence and, often, little education. Sadly, today's Sunnism is a hollowed-out shell. Only elements of the Palestinian population have bucked this trend. However, globally (outside of Palestine), the most effective 'Sunni' fighters today are the Khawarij of ISIS and al-Qa'ida, and they don't fight for Palestine but rather for the US and Israel. The Shi'a who support Palestine do so because they genuinely believe it is the correct, Islamic thing to do. And they will continue to support Palestine, no matter how many Sunnis throw Palestine under the bus. In fact, the Shi'a will fight for Palestine even if no Sunnis outside of Palestine do so. The (majority of) Shi'a have long ignored, and even tolerated, the most egregious, hardline Sunni supremacism and sectarianism in the interest of the greater good. They have attempted to show goodwill and extended olive branches in order to persuade other Sunnis to join them in the fight against Zionism. But it looks like the Shi'a will have to fight the Zionists alone.