🕋 The Islamic case for using organized force to confront oppression and genocide

This is Part 2 in a series on what I truly believe must be done to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Bismillah.

This is Part 2 of my two-part series on the moral and legal right to stop genocide — even by force.

Part 1 laid out the case from international law and historical precedent.
This part makes the case from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the practice of the righteous generations.

And here’s the truth:

Where the world’s laws are failing, Allah’s commands remain clear.

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We are witnessing a failure of the entire international system.

The United Nations.
The International Criminal Court.
The International Court of Justice.

They have passed rulings. They have gathered evidence.
They have acknowledged genocide.
But what has changed?

Israel continues to bomb hospitals.
The United States continues to fund and arm them.
And not a single nation on Earth has stopped it.

Even South Africa, a beacon of moral clarity, has seen its ICC filings met with silence, delay, or dismissal.

Why?

Because the United States and Israel are holding international law hostage.
They have veto power. They have weapons. And they have the world in fear.

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But Islam is not in fear. Islam does not stutter. Islam does not wait.

Where the UN fails, Islam speaks clearly.
Where the ICC hesitates, Islam commands.
Where world leaders cower, the Prophet ﷺ showed us how to stand.

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📖 “Do not oppress. And do not be oppressed.” (Sahih Muslim 2577)

This is one of the clearest and most revolutionary statements in all of religion.

Every moral system says “Don’t oppress.”
But Islam uniquely commands:

“Do not be oppressed.”

We are forbidden from accepting injustice.
From normalizing our own subjugation.
From sitting silently while our people are slaughtered.

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📖 “And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, ‘Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people...’” (Surah An-Nisa, 4:75)

Allah ﷻ is asking us:

• Why aren’t you fighting?

• Why aren’t you defending the women and children crying out for help?

This isn’t a metaphor.
It’s Gaza.

And the people crying out are real. Their bones are visible. Their children are dying. Their cries are documented.

And still the world refuses to act.

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We are not a passive ummah. Our legacy is one of resistance.

From the Prophet ﷺ to the Sahaba, to the righteous generations, we have never been told to tolerate oppression.
We have always been commanded to rise.

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📖 “Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they have been wronged.” (Surah Al-Hajj, 22:39)

This was the first ayah revealed to permit armed resistance.

It wasn’t about conquest.
It was about those who had been attacked. Tortured. Expelled.
And now had permission to defend themselves.

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📖 “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:190)

We are permitted — no, commanded — to fight those who fight us.

But not to become like them.
Not to kill innocents.
Not to transgress.

We fight with justice, mercy, and discipline.
But we do fight.

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💬 The Prophet ﷺ said:

“Whoever sees an evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot, then with his tongue. If he cannot, then with his heart — and that is the weakest level of faith.”
(Sahih Muslim, 49)

This hadith defines our levels of responsibility.

• Change it with your hand: physical action, intervention, resistance.

• If not, then your tongue: speak, write, call it out.

• If not, your heart: feel pain, make du’a, never normalize it.

And here’s the key:

The highest level is the hand.

This is not about overreaction.
This is about obedience.
This is about fulfilling what the Prophet ﷺ expected from us.

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And if not now, when? If not for Gaza, for whom?

The genocide in Gaza is not theoretical. It is active.
It is ongoing.
It is broadcast in real time.
And the world is doing nothing.

Do we think the Prophet ﷺ would tell us to sit this out?
Do we think the Sahaba would disarm while children starve?

No. They would act.
They did act.
And we must follow their Sunnah.

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🛡️ The early Muslims didn’t wait for the Mahdi. They became the answer to du’a.

When the Prophet ﷺ was attacked, he didn’t wait for divine punishment to stop the oppressors.

He formed alliances. He built defense. He fought back.

And his companions — Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, ‘Ali — all continued this legacy.

They defended oppressed people.
They defended the Ummah.
They led armies not for conquest, but for justice.

They did not say, “Injustice is too big.”
They said, “Injustice is not allowed.” And they responded.

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Today, we keep waiting.

We say, “Maybe the Mahdi will save us.”
“Maybe the Caliph will return.”
“Maybe someone else will act.”

But the Prophet ﷺ already answered this:

“Change it with your hand.”

Not when the Mahdi comes.
Not when you're wealthy.
Now.

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📜 Imam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله said:

“The most beloved of deeds to Allah after the obligatory duties is to bring joy to a Muslim, or remove from him a hardship, or fulfill a need for him.”
(al-Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā)

What greater hardship is there than genocide?

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💬 Imam Al-Ghazali رحمه الله wrote:

“To leave a person to perish when one can save him is to transgress against him.”

Then what is it when millions are perishing — and we remain still?

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Gaza is a divine test — not just of our compassion, but of our action.

If we love Allah — we obey Him.
If we love the Prophet ﷺ — we follow his Sunnah.
If we love our people — we defend them.

With our hands.
With our tongues.
With our hearts.

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✊🏽 Islam is not failing. The world is.

I want to be clear:

I respect international law. I respect the ICC. The ICJ. The UN.

But they are being held hostage.
They are paralyzed by the United States.
They are bullied by Israel.

They are useful — but only when they are free.

Islam is never held hostage.
The Qur’an doesn’t bend to power.
The Sunnah does not depend on permission.

Islam gives us clarity when the world offers only silence.

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🕯️ This is not the end of the Ummah. It is our awakening.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

“The example of the believers in their love, mercy, and compassion is like the body: when one part is in pain, the entire body responds with wakefulness and fever.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Palestine is bleeding.
Our body is in pain.

Will we respond?
Or will we prove that we are spiritually numb?

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This is our test. This is our duty. This is our Islam.

We do not seek war.
But we do not surrender to genocide.

And the Prophet ﷺ gave us permission.
The Qur’an commands it.
And Allah is watching.

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Love, rage, and resolve,
Your friend and brother,
Shaun King

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