Gaza today is not only a landscape of rubble and mass graves. It has become a moral reckoning—one that exposes the conscience of the global order, and more painfully, the conscience of the Muslim world itself.

When Muslims across the world marked Eid al-Fitr on March 30—celebrating with new clothes, sweet dishes, and warm family gatherings—Gaza observed Eid beneath hunger, bombs, and mourning. Prayer mats lay beside mass graves. Takbīrs echoed through ruins.

The contrast was unbearable.

Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, writing from Gaza while malnourished and under siege, posed a question that should haunt every Muslim home that celebrated in comfort:

How do you celebrate while we are wrapped in shrouds? How do you eat sweets while children here draw food in the sand?

These words were not emotional excess. They were a moral indictment.

Sympathy Is Not Solidarity

Since the assault on Gaza began, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed, including nearly 18,000 children. Over 110,000 have been injured, with thousands more buried beneath rubble or presumed dead. These figures do not account for those lost to starvation, untreated disease, or the collapse of Gaza’s medical system—most of which has been systematically destroyed.

And yet, beyond expressions of grief and carefully worded statements, the Muslim world has largely remained inert.

We claim to care.
But caring without consequence is not virtue—it is complicity.

As Abed wrote bluntly, Muslims did not truly confront their governments, nor did they force an end to political, military, or economic ties with Israel. Marches erupted, chants were raised, and hashtags trended—but sustained, coordinated pressure largely evaporated.

There were exceptions: student movements, grassroots organizers, and activists in cities like New York, London, and Johannesburg who refused to let Gaza disappear. But exceptions do not define a global response.

Silence has.

Power Exists—But It Is Not Used

The Muslim world is not powerless.

Countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, and Egypt rank among the world’s top military forces. Saudi Arabia holds one of the largest military budgets on Earth. Dozens of Muslim-majority states possess immense economic leverage, strategic geography, and diplomatic weight.

Yet what has this power been used for?

In March 2025, Saudi Arabia announced plans to invest $1.3 trillion into the U.S. economy. The UAE followed with a $1.4 trillion commitment. At the same time, Gaza starved.

Worse still, some Muslim states actively bolstered Israeli security—intercepting regional threats while Palestinian civilians were slaughtered.

This is not fear.
It is collaboration.

Double Games and Diplomatic Deceit

The hypocrisy deepens when diplomacy is examined.

While publicly endorsing Arab-led reconstruction plans for Gaza, some states quietly worked behind closed doors to undermine them—appeasing Western interests while maintaining a façade of solidarity.

This duplicity is not accidental. It is policy.

From Gaza to Sudan, from Yemen to Libya, Muslim populations pay the price for regimes that prioritize Western approval over moral accountability. Public statements soothe the masses; private dealings secure power.

The result is a political order utterly detached from the suffering of its own people.

Faith Without Action Is a Hollow Ritual

The Qur’an is unequivocal:

“What is the matter with you that you do not stand for the oppressed—men, women, and children?” (4:75)

Yet much of the Muslim religious establishment has reduced its response to charity drives and supplications—important, but profoundly insufficient.

As legal scholar and human rights advocate Dr. Asim Qureshi has warned, the Muslim world is experiencing not only political failure, but spiritual collapse. When religious leadership divorces ethics from action, injustice is normalized.

Rebuilding mosques while allowing people to be annihilated inside them is not piety. It is denial.

Al-Aqsa Under Threat, Gaza Under Erasure

More than a thousand mosques in Gaza have been destroyed. Meanwhile, extremist groups openly prepare plans to dismantle Al-Aqsa Mosque itself—one of Islam’s holiest sites.

What is the Muslim world’s plan to defend it?

Recently, a group of prominent scholars—at great personal risk—issued a ruling calling for political, economic, and, where lawful, military intervention to halt the destruction of Gaza. Whether one agrees with every implication of this decree or not, it signals something critical: the era of passive religiosity is being challenged.

History will not judge intentions.
It will judge actions.

Last Warnings, Final Appeals

On March 24, 2025, Israeli forces assassinated journalist Hossam Shabat. Hours earlier, he issued a final plea—not to governments, but to ordinary Muslims.

His words now stand as a final mirror:

Do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.

Gaza does not have to become the graveyard of the Muslim world’s conscience. But time is running out.

If even a fraction of the Muslim world’s economic power, political leverage, and collective will were mobilized with unity and courage, Gaza could mark a turning point—not just for Palestine, but for the moral revival of the Ummah itself.

What remains is the question history will ask us all:

When Gaza burned—where were you?