30 March 2022
Ebrahim Moosa | Palestine Information Network
As Ramadan dawns, assessments and analyses from Bayt al-Maqdis abound on the potential for underlying tensions with the Israeli Occupation to spill over again, mirroring the events of Ramadan 1442.
A key factor driving these projections is the overlap of the Jewish Passover holiday with key dates in Ramadan, and the agitation of the Zionist Temple Movement to make provocative incursions into Masjid al-Aqsa during this period.
The Israeli Occupation government appears cautious to avoid a full blown escalation in the short term, wary of a repeat of the type of gallant resistance showcased across historic Palestine last year that undeniably shook its sense of preparedness and security.
Still, say analysts, the Zionist leadership is keen to project to its constituents during this period an image of strength, demonstrating a sense of full Israeli sovereignty over al-Quds.
Israeli officials have been crisscrossing regional and global capitals seeking mechanisms for ‘calm’ ahead of Ramadan. At the same time, the ultra-extreme settler establishment in the Israeli State is cognisant that the Naftali Bennett government is politically weak, and is actively inciting confrontation and a violent spillover with Palestinians to embarrass, if not bring down the present government.
Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, head of the Higher Islamic Council in Occupied Al-Quds and Imam of Masjid al-Aqsa, has held the Israeli Occupation fully responsible for the consequences of its tacit intent to allow Jewish settlers to desecrate the Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan.
The Jerusalemite official warned that no one could stop the Palestinian people when they rise up to defend their Masjid.
The month of Ramadan is a period which inherently raises the morale of Muslims globally, and in Palestine it sees an influx of yearning visitors from across occupied lands flocking to Masjid al-Aqsa.
With this burning devotion of Masjid al-Aqsa on the one hand, and an right-wing occupation authority enamoured with a settlement agenda and Judaization strategy allied with a Temple Movement on the other, a new uprising in Al-Quds is ever plausible.
On the back of the unhealed wounds of an unresolved refugee crisis, pending evictions, an unending siege, enforced family separation, mass detention, and the snail’s pace of reconstruction, Palestine this Ramadan faces the prospect of encountering yet more wounds and heartbreak.
For a Muslim world looking on, Ramadan offers an ideal spiritual ambience to harness towards assistance of the Palestinians.
We are often reminded that making dua for Masjid al-Aqsa and her people is an important responsibility. Yet, beyond occasions of crisis, how seriously have we internalised this duty?
In the Sunnah we find that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once came across a community of people encountering a tribulation. The exhortation from the Beloved of Allah ﷺ was “Why do they not supplicate (make dua) to Allah for assistance?”
Ramadan affords the opportunity for accepted duas daily; it rouses for the Ummah the spirit of victory as attested to by its history; and it reminds the believer that a prayer for a fellow brother or sister in their absence is met with the angelic supplication of “Ameen and may the same be for you too”
Harnessing the amalgamation of these golden opportunities this Ramadan, we can collectively stir a change in destiny for the troubled Ummah, and ourselves.
