Palestine through a Muslim lens: Past, present, and perspective
The latest wave of Zionist assaults on the people of Palestine has brought the decades-long conflict to the spotlight around the world once again. And each new wave of assaults generates greater and wider awareness among a growing number of people around the world who seek to understand what is happening, what has happened, why it’s causing such noise around the world, and why they are being affected by it.
But, as with any conflict, as with any story, there is a beginning that starts well before the moment you’re made aware of what’s going on. So let’s start from the very beginning.
What is Palestine?
Let’s first begin by understanding what (and not simply where) Palestine is.
Prior to the birth of ‘nationalism’ and the ‘nation-state’ in the late 18th century, the land on which the current state of Palestine and the occupied territories exists was a part of the administrative and governing region or division of Syria under the Ottoman Empire, the same geographical region of the historic ‘Greater Syria,’ or الشام (al-sham) as Arabs have known it for millenia. It was also part of the provice of ‘Bilad al-Sham’ under the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid Caliphates.
People from that region throughout those periods were referred to, in a general sense, as ‘al-shawaam’ (plural) and ‘shami’ (singular), and adjectives derived from the towns and cities within that land were used in a more specific sense, such as ‘damashqi’ for someone from Damascus, and ‘maqdisi’ from someone from ‘Beyt al-Maqdis’, or Jerusalem.
While the term ‘al-sham’ was more widely used throughout those periods, the term Palestine is not new.
According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, the word is derived “from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12th century BCE occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza.” As such, this predates the biblical ‘Kingdom of Israel,’ which Allah’s prophets Dawood (David) and Suleiman (Solomon) ruled over, from the 10th century BCE.
“The name was revived by the Romans in the 2nd century CE in “Syria Palaestina,” designating the southern portion of the province of Syria, and made its way thence into Arabic, where it has been used to describe the region at least since the early Islamic era.”
The Ummayads and the Abbasids would designate a western portion of the Bilad al-Sham province as a military district called ‘Jund Philasteen,’ or ‘the military district of Palestine.’
The word ‘Palestine’ then came into official use with the British Mandate of Palestine after World War I.
So while ‘Palestine’ as a nation-state is a relatively modern concept, as many nation-states in the Middle East and North Africa are, the area has been known as Palestine since ancient times.
And in this article, the word shall be used to refer to that historic region and its people, and not merely the modern nation-state.
The Islamic view of Palestine under the reign of the Israelites
To get a better understanding of the nuances of the conflict, it is critical to understand the religious and historic-religious aspects of it that are at the inner core of the passions on both sides. As such, it’s important to learn that Islam also views a number of Prophet-Kings of the biblical ‘Kingdom of Israel’ as having been devout and righteous Muslims.
Let me elaborate:
Islam is not an ethno-religion. On the contrary: It is a very inclusive religion in terms of ethnicities, races, tribes, peoples, etc.
The Islamic view of Judaism and Christianity is that these were originally the teachings of Islam, the teachings of prophets and messengers sent by the same God and Creator, but people corrupted the teachings for various interests, and so each new prophet and messenger was sent to correct these corruptions, until Muhammad was sent to reveal the final and uncorrupted Message.
Islam views the Kingdom of the Israelites in this light. They conquered a land and were sent messengers and prophets, including Dawood and Suleiman, with teachings, laws, and a covenant. As a result of their numerous transgressions against these teachings, laws, and their covenant, they were punished.
And [recall] when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, [enjoining upon them], “Do not worship except Allah; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give alms.” Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you were refusing.
And [recall] when We took your covenant, [saying], “Do not shed each other’s blood or evict one another from your homes.” Then you acknowledged [this] while you were witnessing.
Then, you are those [same ones who are] killing one another and evicting a party of your people from their homes, cooperating against them in sin and aggression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.
Quran 2:83–85
During the time of Prophet Muhammad, Muslims first prayed in the direction of the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and later turned toward the Kaaba in Mecca when the Divine Commandment to do so was revealed. During the Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous night journey from Mecca to the Heavens, he first traveled to Jerusalem, where he prayed with all the Prophets and Messengers who came before him, according to the Quran and Islamic tradition.
So Muslims view Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque as the third most holy site in their faith, their first direction of prayer, and the place where Muhammad led all the messengers and prophets before him in prayer before visiting the Heavens.
They also view Palestine as a land in which many of Allah’s messengers and prophets lived, reigned, and relayed the Divine Message.
Islamic Rule and the Crusades
The Israelites lost Palestine to the Romans, and the region was later captured by Prophet Muhammad’s companion and the second of the Rashidun Caliphs Omar ibn al-Khattaab. It remained under Muslim rule until the Crusades, when Europeans massacred the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 1099 according to their own descriptions of the events.
“Wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was more merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it be enough to say this much, at least, that in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies … This day will be famous in all future ages … it marks the justification of all Christianity and the humiliation of paganism.”
Within a century, Muslims managed to liberate Jerusalem and, within another century later, completely repelled the Crusaders from Palestine and all of Greater Syria.
Again, Palestine remained under Muslim control until the 20th century with the British invasion and mandate of Palestine.
The legacy of the Spanish Inquisition
Before addressing the British Mandate over Palestine, the Holocaust, the Jewish migration to Palestine, and the events leading to the “Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel,” it’s worth mentioning the Spanish Inquisition and the resulting outflux of Muslims and Jews from the Iberian Peninsula.
As the Reconquista was making waves toward its goal of conquering Andalusia and expelling the Muslim rulers from the Iberian Peninsula, a wave of persecution against the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants followed.
Tens of thousands of Jews were killed in Castile, Aragon, and Valencia in the late 13th century, and thousands more, fearing violence and death, converted to Christianity. In 1492, following the loss of the last Muslim stronghold in Granada, The Alhambra Decree was issued, ordering the expulsion of Jews by July 31st of that year. Among the regions and empires Jews fled to were the Muslim-ruled North Africa and the Ottoman Empire; the latter even sent ships to receive Jewish refugees from Iberia.
Then came the Inquisition. Thousands were killed for being non-Christian, and thousands more converted in fear of persecution. And again, many Muslims and Jews fled to other countries, including those ruled by Muslims.
The Spanish Inquisition would not be the last time Europeans massacred and expelled Jews.
World War II, Zionism, Balfour, and the Jewish exodus from Europe
Between the 18th to the early 20th centuries, while the Western world was dividing up the Muslim world “like people inviting others to share their dish,” as the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) prophesied, Europe was busy debating “the Jewish Question.”
The Nazis considered a few options, including supporting the Zionist movement’s wish to establish a state for the Jews in Africa or South Africa. In the end, they ultimately resorted to extermination with the holocaust.
Even prior to the Holocaust, pogroms throughout Europe persecuted the Jews in the 19th century. Fearing for their safety, thousands of Jews fled for safer lands. At least 50,000 fled to Ottoman-controlled Palestine between 1882–1913.
In 1917, the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration, promising that it “will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of” “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” The Jewish Virtual Library places the percentage of the Palestinian population that was Jewish in 1918 to be 8.1%.
Then came the British Mandate of Palestine, when Britain occupied Palestine after defeating the Ottomans. Between 1917–1947, at least 450,000 Jews migrated to Palestine. The Jewish Virtual Library places the percentage in 1936 at 32%.
Since the British Mandate and until the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, many clashes and conflicts broke out between the Arabs who have long been a part of the land and the newcomers who landed from Europe. The British occupation of the land and the Balfour Declaration did not help alleviate the fears of the inhabitants that these weren’t merely families seeking refuge from European persecution, but rather an attempt at a demographic change and the birth of a new occupation.
Then came the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, and war broke out.
Invasion, war, occupation, and resistance
With the Balfour promise fulfilled and the transfer of land complete, the Arabs fought back. But these were freshly independent former colonial armies fighting against Western-backed militias with their backs to the sea, as Europe would’ve likely not been eager to welcome them back so soon.
The wars from 1948–1967 ended with a devastating defeat to the Arab armies and the expansion of the new state, from the Suez Canal in the west to the Golan Heights in the east. Numerous massacres against the Arab population accompanied these wars. By 1970, Jews made up over 85% of the population.
Through a mix of war and diplomacy, the Egyptian government managed to regain the Sinai and recognized the 25-year-old state in 1973. Since then, the governments of Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates followed suit.
But the resistance continues. The First and Second Intifadas eventually resulted in the occupation’s disengagement from Gaza (while still maintaining control on the borders, and the power and fuel inflow) in 2005.
And, as has been the natural pattern throughout history, with the occupation came more massacres. And each time the Palestinians demanded their rights and their land, whether through politics and diplomacy or through military resistance with what little force they have, they were met with a brutal military response that did not care to discriminate between the armed and unarmed, between the women and children and the men.
What are we looking at?
What we’re looking at today is the culmination of 70+ years of occupation and an attempt at a massive change of demographics by any means necessary. We’re looking at the accumulation of US and Western funds pouring like torrential rain over the course of those 70+ years into the government treasury and military arsenal on one side, and the trickling of humanitarian (band-)aid on another; you know, to pacify the collective social conscience.
What we’re looking at today is the accumulation of failure upon failure of a fractured Arab and Muslim world to support and defend the Palestinians in the face of these aggressions. And a growing eagerness among some leaders to abandon the real struggle and accept the status quo by normalizing relations without providing the Palestinians with a fraction of the monetary and military support they need to stand on their own feet. All while trying to appease the West and its papier-mache values that crumble whenever the occupation is threatened; appeasement often at the expense of their own people’s interests.
We’re looking at an Arab and Muslim world whose imported arsenal of modern arms are used against each other in conflicts over resources, scraps of land, and influence and hegemony over a feeble Muslim world.
What we’re looking at is a small population in the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip standing steadfast against a modern military might backed by the world’s currently only superpower, refusing to go down without a fight, holding on to each brick and each piece of land, refusing to surrender, refusing to become but a footnote in the history books. With only the backing of few who dare to stand against the might of the occupation and its sponsors.
And what we will soon see is the natural order of things: Even if it takes one century or two, or a few more, so long as a steadfast people stand in defiant resistance against the aggressor, an occupation is bound to fail.
But those who knew with certainty they would meet Allah said, “How often has a small group overcome a mighty host by Allah’s Leave?” And Allah is ˹always˺ with the steadfast.
Quran 2:249
