AP – In Muslim communities across the world, worshippers gathered at mosques for their first Friday prayers since the start of the latest Israel-Palestinian war.
In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a cleric at the pro-Taleban Red Mosque pleaded with Allah the Almighty to send help to the Palestinians.
“Oh Allah the Almighty destroy Israel! Break it apart into pieces,” urged Abdul Aziz in an emotionally charged sermon in a packed mosque, where around 900 worshippers had congregated for yesterday’s Friday prayers.
In his prayers and sermon, Aziz asked Allah the Almighty to help all those who wanted to join the war, in the Palestinian territories.
“Oh Allah the Almighty, make it easy for them to reach there, and bless us with the death of a martyr,” he declaimed, his voice reverberating through the mosque’s loudspeakers.
Similar sermons were held at mosques throughout the country, including the major urban centres of Karachi and Lahore. Some Islamic parties held anti-Israel rallies after yesterday’s Friday prayers.
People prayed for a Palestinian victory and clerics used their sermons to motivate worshippers to keep Palestinians in their prayers even if they couldn’t join the fight against Israel.
Pakistan has no diplomatic relations with Israel because of the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Some 1,000 Muslims rallied in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, after yesterday’s Friday prayers to show solidarity with the Palestinians. Chanting “Free Palestine” and “Crush the Zionists”, they burned two effigies draped with Israeli flags.
“This Israeli-Palestinian issue is more than a religious issue, it’s a humanitarian issue,” said a student Yasmin Hadi Abdul Halim.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 98, was among those attending the event.
“Seventy-five years ago, they took away Palestinian land to establish Israel. Not satisfied, they continued to take more land,” Mahathir said.
“It’s not just about seizing land. The people of Palestine are subjected to torture, murder, imprisonment, and long detentions. Hamas did what they did due to decades of oppression (by Israel).”
Dozens more people attended a smaller rally outside the United States (US) Embassy that shut its doors to visitors as a security precaution. The rallies ended peacefully.
Islamic leaders in Indonesia appealed to all mosques in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation to pray for peace and safety for the Palestinian people.
The chairperson of the Indonesian Mosque Council had urged all mosques to perform the Qunut Nazilah prayer, one made for protection, to ask for Allah the Almighty’s help so that “the conflict in the Gaza Strip would end quickly”.
The appeal from the nation’s former vice president Jusuf Kalla is in line with most Indonesian Muslims, who stand with Palestinians. The prayer was held along with the Solat Al-Ghaib, or prayer for the absent.
In a sermon at Abu Bakar Ashshiddiq Mosque, one of the most conservative mosques in Jakarta, a cleric called for mobilising “our power and efforts to help the Muslims in Palestine”.
“Prayer is a weapon for devout Muslims,” he added, “For those of us who have not been given the opportunity by Allah the Almighty to take up arms to defend the honour and religion of our Muslims brothers, then we can take up our weapons by raising our hands asking Allah the Almighty for His blessings.”
More than 200 people also rallied in front of the National Monument in Indonesia’s capital yesterday, waving banners expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.
