Egyptian move to ‘barricade’ Palestinians slammed

 NOTED Pakistani Islamic scholars have joined their counterparts elsewhere in the Muslim world to condemn Cairo for constructing a huge metal and concrete wall along its border with Gaza which will literally starve Palestinians to death.

Religious clerics from a wide spectrum of Muslim schools of thought have criticised Cairo which, they said, had been acting as a stooge in the hands of Washington and Tel Aviv. They called upon Muslim Ummah to rise to the occasion, calling for their urgent help in the name of Muslim brotherhood and Islamic principles of helping out the oppressed.

They also criticized Al Azhar University, Egypt’s largest Islamic institution, for issuing an edict justifying the construction of wall in the name of national security. Pakistani scholars praised those few Muslim scholars of the world who dared to raise voice against Cairo and Al-Azhar such as Qatar’s cleric Allama Yusuf Qardhawi, Yemen’s Sheikh Abdul Majid Zandani, Cairo University’s Dr Abdul Saboor Shaheen, Kuwait’s Sheikh Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ali and Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan’s Syed Munawwar Hasan. They have condemned rest of the Muslim world, particularly the states who are keeping a criminal silence over the issue.

Many Pakistani clerics and religious groups will be holding protest meetings in coming days to condemn Cairo’s move, while some of the big institutions such as Jamia Ashrafia – the largest university affiliated with Deobandy school of thought in Lahore – has already held meetings, condemning Cairo for such a blatant violation of Islam and demanding immediate reversal of the decision.

Cairo has already completed initial phase of 10-kilometre long wall which will also go down 50 to 60 feet into the ground to cut off the tunnels which Tel Aviv accuses Palestinians of using to smuggle arms along with food supplies into Gaza. Cairo has also practically shut its border crossings with Gaza under Tel Aviv’s demands. This porous border was the only available link of Gaza with the outside world since Israel constructed a similar wall on Gaza boundary with the occupied lands, turning the area into a literal prison camp.

Renowned scholar and chairman Central Royat Hilal Committee, Mufti Munibur Rehman said Cairo’s move could provide Israel a fresh license for a renewed spate of Palestinians’ genocide which, God forbid, could result into complete wiping out of Palestinian Muslims from the face of the world besides turning entire Palestine into Israel. 

Talking to The News, the head of Pakistan’s official moon sighting committee, said the Egyptian wall could prove more disastrous than those of Israel and Germany since it could change the geography of the world on a large scale. Terming the wall against Islamic principles of Muslim brotherhood and helping the oppressed, he said: “Why has Cairo cited a flimsy argument like national security for clamping prison like restrictions on 1.5 million Palestinian Muslims languishing under extreme Israeli-Egyptian blockade for the last many years that caused deaths to thousands of patients, infants and other Palestinians”. 

Mufti Munib, who is also the head of the board governing seminaries belonging to Barelvi school of thought, noted that Cairo had always been acting as US-protÈgÈ since the signing of Camp David accord, carrying out Washington’s agenda in the region. He said besieged Gaza people never threatened Egyptian security though they managed to smuggle small amounts of food, milk and medicines etc. through Egyptian borders in their attempts to ward off serious scarcity of vital supplies. 

“Cairo’s move to construct Israel-like wall against Palestinians is heart rending for entire Muslim Ummah, and we in Pakistan are so deeply grieved that we don’t have words to condemn Mobarak administration,” said Hafiz Fazl-e-Rahim, head of Jamia Ashrafia, Lahore, while talking to The News. He said Cairo not only turned against fellow Muslims but also betrayed Allah Almighty for giving away the first Qibla (House of worship) of Muslims to the enemies literally in a platter, instead of waging jihad for its recovery. 

Maulana Abdul Maalik, noted scholar and president Jamiat Ittehad-ul-Ulema, termed Cairo’s wall as anti-Islamic, anti-humanity, and in serious violation of rights given by Islam, besides the ‘much talked-about’ fundamental human rights. He said such a move that allowed enemies of Islam to commit mass murders of Muslims was highly condemnable and entire Ummah should raise voice against it. 

Maulana Abdul Maalik equated Cairo’s move with Islamabad’s U-turn on Afghan policy providing vital support to US forces to overthrow Taliban’s Islamic regime in Afghanistan in the wake of 9-11. “Hosni Mobarak’s action is similar to the strategic and logistic support given by General Pervez Musharraf to the US forces invading Afghanistan resulting into massacre of over a million fellow Muslims,” he said.

Maulana Abdul Maalik also slammed the religious edict issued to Cairo by Egypt’s largest Islamic university justifying the construction of wall on the plea of national security. He said any edict allowing committing blatant violations of Quran, Sunnah and Islamic principles of brotherhood, besides the ‘world known’ human rights, had no value in the eyes of Muslim scholars, since anything like that is believed to have been issued under government pressure.

Noted Shia scholar, Allama Abdul Jalil Naqvi, said Cairo’s vital help in likely massacre of millions of Palestinian Muslims was a matter of great shame for the entire nation. Talking to The News, the leader of the largest religious party of Shia sect in Pakistan, said Egypt had always been a partner in Israeli and US genocide of Palestinians despite serious protests by Muslim ummah. Cairo’s latest move to construct an iron wall on the remaining boundaries of Gaza is nothing but pure enmity of Islam, he said.

Naqvi wondered under what Shariah Al-Azhar justified and aided Israeli plans of wiping out entire Palestinian population of Gaza. He said Al-Azhar appeared to be working under the slavery of Cairo rulers instead of Allah Almighty.