Islam Times - When Sacrifice is Children then Hajj is Gaza

Islam Times - Whenever people get promoted to parents, they become determined to sacrifice whatever they possess for the wellbeing of their children. There is no way things can go differently unless the situation is measured by human dignity.

Over eight months of war, and two Eids so far, have brought to 37337 the number of Palestinians martyred, and to 85299 the number of those injured.

The latest count released by Gaza Government Media Office found that 15,694 Palestinian children have been martyred since October 7.

On the first day of Eid Al-Adha, pilgrims and Muslims in general offer an animal sacrifice to remember Prophet Ibrahim [PBUH]’s oblation. It is an age-old tale of the messenger of Allah’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Prophet Ismail [PBUH], as an act of obedience to Allah’s test.

While everyone else was sacrificing animals to feed the poor in the world, people in Gaza and South Lebanon were, and are still sacrificing their flesh and blood to save the land to which they belong. The land of their ancestors, which has been occupied, attacked, and stolen, proved to be the scale upon which every other precious thing is measured.

On the first day of Eid Al-Adha, the ‘Israeli’ occupation military has committed at least three massacres. The massacres claimed the lives of 41 Palestinians, and left more than 102 injured. One attack against a house in Al-Bureij Camp in central Gaza has left nine martyrs, six of whom were children.

Also on this day, a displaced mother with her four children were injured in Shaqra, South Lebanon. Their injuries were caused by an ‘Israeli’ occupation strike that targeted the place where they sought shelter after fleeing their house in another South Lebanon village, Houla.

Although on the same page of suffering, the level of sacrifice in Gaza tops that in South Lebanon. Children in the besieged strip are in desperate need for relief due to everything they have been through since the beginning of the war.

With continued restrictions to humanitarian access, people in Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger. Over 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition, according to UNRWA records. Additionally, 625,000 children across Gaza have been denied an education as schools have been forced to remain closed since October 7.

In 2023, over 3,000 permits for Palestinian children to leave the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank for medical treatment were denied or delayed. Children hence were forced to pay the highest price kids in the world can afford; their childhood. If not injured, orphaned, traumatized, or bearing a responsibility that is bigger than they are, children in Gaza have definitely been martyred.

Although it has been 18 years since the ‘Israeli’ siege was imposed on the Gaza Strip, these days are unmatched in the region’s history. With children composing 47% of Gaza’s population, more than two million Palestinian people are forced to deal with catastrophic circumstances with the scarcity of food, water, and medicine.

When children in the world enjoy everyday of Eid, children in Gaza and South Lebanon enjoy surviving one more day on the land they belong to, the land they love and never hesitate to give their life for the sake of its liberation.

Gaza became the oblation and its children are victimized to save the Muslim Ummah’s dignity. Gaza, South Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq are resisting on behalf of the Muslim Ummah. They are fighting the enemy of all, in which the true meaning of Hajj is conveyed in their valiant action.

The Abrahamic approach to Hajj means clear renunciation of enemies, which is today more important than ever, according to Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei’s assessment of the situation.

This renunciation must be demonstrated in the words and actions of nations and governments, and it must impede the actions of the murderers, according to Imam Khamenei.

Imam Khamenei referred to the unprecedented atrocities taking place in Gaza. “Tragedies in Gaza along with the audacity of the ruthless Zionist regime, which is the embodiment of cruelty, leave no room for any tolerance by any individual, government, or Muslim denomination.”

Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] has set a rule when saying that “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever.”

There is no need for any other measurement to learn that the true Hajj is taking place in Gaza, in South Lebanon, and every front daring to show clear renunciation of the enemies of humanity. And the mindset of people who would pay whatever they can for the sake of liberation is “the land is mine and the blood is my sacrifice.”