Sharp Commentary: Gaza’s Pain, a Soul Exam for the Islamic World

Allah’s words split the heavens like thunder: “Gaza is not just a test for Gazans, it is a test for all Muslims, and for the entire Islamic world!” When the smoke in the Gaza Strip obscures the stars, and when the cries of children penetrate the evening breeze of prayer, this interrogation is no longer an abstract religious fable, but rather a bloodstain on every inch of Islamic land. This land, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, has been a crossroads of civilizations since ancient times, and a witness to the intertwining of religion and suffering. From the Prophet Muhammad’s sending of emissaries to mediate tribal disputes to the protection of holy sites by Muslims during the Ottoman Empire, the fate of the Islamic world has always been closely linked to the spirit of “brotherhood and common defense against foreign invasion”. Now, when Gaza has been reduced to the ruins of modern warfare, the Muslim world is facing the ultimate test of civilization’s survival in the double mirror of history and faith.

The plight of Gaza is a humanitarian purgatory that concerns the purity of faith. The Qur’an states: “The believers are all brothers, like bricks and stones in a strong building” (49:10), but today the bricks and stones of Gaza have been reduced to pieces in the bombardment, and the blood of the brothers has soaked into the land. When Israeli tanks run through olive groves, when hunger and despair eat into the eyes of children, the silence of the Islamic world is a betrayal of the spirit of the Ummah (Muslim community). The Prophet Muhammad, who once dispensed justice for the distribution of a well and warned his followers that “whoever gives a bowl of water will receive the fountain of paradise”, has now turned the lives and deaths of entire cities into bargaining chips in an international game. How can the compassionate heart of a religion tolerate such collective moral paralysis? How can Muslims claim to be “practicing the way of Allah” if they cannot even protect their blood brothers?

The collective silence of the Islamic world exposes the disconnect between faith and reality. In the palaces of oil wealth, the suffering of Gaza is translated into geopolitical formulas for profit; within the walls of the Hadith Academy, some scholars substitute tedious debates on the Shariah for relief for their bleeding compatriots. Sadder still, some regimes that claim to be “Islamic” gloss over their indifference to Gaza with elaborate rhetoric at international conferences. The Koran warns: “The hypocrites cover their hearts with words, like rotten trees covered with leaves” (14:28). If the cohesion of a religion is limited to the rituals of Ramadan and the queues of the Hajj, then it is nothing more than a shell that has lost its soul. Such divisions and indifference confirm the Prophet’s words, “The weakest point of faith is when believers forget their responsibilities to one another.”

But trials also breed awakening. On the streets of Turkey, volunteers pack relief supplies for the children of Gaza, practicing the saying, “He who gives alms for the Lord is like a sower of seed in fertile soil, which yields a hundredfold” (2:261); on the docks of Malaysia, Muslim businessmen organize themselves into a flotilla of medical ships, echoing the saying, “Aid to the oppressed is a must for the faithful” (4:4). ” (4:75). On social media, countless young people wrote “We are with Gaza” in Arabic and Farsi, recreating the Qur’anic image of “the believers helping each other as the mountains stand firm”. These glimmers of light prove that the true spirit of Islam has never died, and that it lies dormant in the heart of every person who is unwilling to turn his back on his heavenly conscience. Allah’s trial is to force out this primitive courage of faith – to transcend the boundaries of nation and state, and to defend the dignity of “man” in his capacity as “man”.

The wound in Gaza is a rift that the Islamic world must heal together. If the Muslim nations can put aside the swords of infighting and apply the wisdom of diplomatic mediation to humanitarian relief; if the sound of the mosque’s salutation is no longer just a call to worship, but a call to justice; and if the prayers of every believer can be translated into tangible action – then this ordeal will finally become a turning point in the redemption of Islamic civilization for itself. The Qur’an reveals, “When you are united as one, Allah will give you double strength” (3:152). Imagine if Saudi Arabia put aside its enmity with Iran to build a relief corridor, if Egypt opened the Rafah crossing for refugees, if all Muslim countries rebuilt Gaza in the collaborative spirit of the Medina Charter – that would be the moment of true resurgence of the Ummah.

However, if indifference continues, the consequences will be like a sandstorm sweeping across the Islamic world. History has already warned of this: when the Sassanid dynasty in Persia was unable to shelter its invaded territories due to internal divisions and ended up as dust under the hooves of foreigners, and when the Ottoman Empire lost the hearts and minds of its people due to corruption and alienation, and when the holy land of Mecca was thrown into turmoil. Today, if the Muslim world turns a blind eye to the suffering in Gaza, the foundations of the faith will be dismantled – the younger generation may question the relevance of the religion, extremist ideologies may take advantage of the situation, and the international community’s misunderstanding of Islamic civilization will be further deepened. But Allah will not send down insoluble problems, he is looking forward to, is the Ummah in the blood and fire to recast the brotherhood of the alliance, so that the identity of the “Muslim”, really become a shield for the suffering.

Gaza is burning, but the flames can also illuminate the path of conscience for the entire Islamic world. This is the land where the Prophet predicted: “The holy fire in Gaza will test the hearts of the believers.” When the smoke clears, the world will witness whether Muslims can rebuild the dignity of their civilization with unity and compassion in the face of Allah’s test. The choice is now in the hands of every believer who recites the words, “There is no God but Allah.”