Press Release
O Scholars of Al-Azhar: If you do not speak the word of truth today... then when?!
(Translated)

At a time when the chapters of the massacres committed by the Jews in Gaza are escalating, and food, medicine, and water are being withheld from children, women, and men, Al-Azhar issued a statement condemning the "crime of starvation" committed by the criminal Jewish entity. The statement was later deleted! So is it permissible for a cry in the face of the oppressor to be deleted?! And can the voice of scholars remain silent in the face of massacres?! The statement came loaded with humanitarian expressions, appealing to the people of living conscience, the international community, and influential powers, and called for the opening of the crossings and the provision of relief. The Jewish entity was described as committing a crime of starvation, accused of genocide and preventing aid, and it called for the humanitarian organizations, the United Nations, and international bodies to move to open the crossings, along with supplication for the people of Gaza that Allah support them and take vengeance for them.

But what was absent from the statement – and it is the essence of the matter – is that the Islamic obligation, which must be issued from a platform as significant as Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, is the call for the armies to move, the removal of the regimes that guard the Jewish entity with iron and fire, and to proclaim the truth in the face of the ruler who closes the crossing, withholds food, and conspires with the Jews.

The statement has turned from an Islamic obligation into a faint humanitarian text, appealing to the international system – that is, seeking help from the very war criminals themselves – while the Muslims possess armies, equipment, faith, and the Shari’ah that obligates them to support the oppressed.

Al-Azhar should have declared the truth, not concealed it. For the righteous scholars do not suffice with describing tragedies, but they proclaim the truth, call crimes by their names, expose the conspirators, and explicitly call for the change of evil.

And we, in the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Wilayah of Egypt, affirm that:

• The Egyptian regime is a full partner in the crime of starving the people of Gaza, by preventing convoys of solidarity with them from crossing Egypt, closing the Rafah crossing, and arresting those who extend a helping hand to them, thus tightening things on them from every direction.
• Silence about this regime, or ignoring it, is complicity. And statements that do not expose or unmask it and its masters are statements of betrayal veiled in the garment of preaching.

In this regard, we demand the scholars of Al-Azhar, at their head its Sheikh, if he is truthful in his concern for the blood of Gaza, to take a position of truth in the face of this cowardly siege, and to launch from Al-Azhar Mosque a clear and explicit cry that the regime which prevents support for Gaza is sinful, and its removal is obligatory, and rising against it is a duty, and that supporting the people of Gaza with weapons is an obligation upon the armies of the Muslims, and whoever remains silent about this is a concealer of the truth and a partner in the crime.

And finally, we renew our call for the establishment of the second Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, for it alone applies Islam, mobilizes the armies, uproots the Jewish entity from its roots, and liberates Al-Aqsa and all of Palestine. And we call upon the soldiers of Egypt to work with us for this great obligation; perhaps Allah will accept them and forgive them for what has passed, and make them supporters of this religion. O Allah, hasten it and make Egypt its base, and make the Kinanah soldiers its supporters.

[وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَٰذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيّاً وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيراً]

"And what is [the matter] 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 and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?'” [An-Nisa: 75]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Egypt