Why is Palestine Significant in Islam?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

We’re living in a world full of conflict. Muslims being brutalised in Palestine, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and beyond. For our brothers and sisters in Palestine, we have seen the invasion and occupation of cities, settler violence, starvation and journalists being killed. 

We must support our brothers and sisters in their fight for liberation and recognise the legendary patience and resilience they’re showing. One way in which we can uplift the Palestinian cause is to understand its origins, and expel the misconceptions surrounding it. 

An Ummatic Issue

There is a common narrative within the pro-Palestinian camp that presents Palestine solely as an issue of human rights, international law, or humanitarian concern.

But this is erasing the most important actor which is the Muslim ummah.

Palestine is important to us because Allah سبحانه و تعالى told us in the Quran and the Prophet ﷺ explained that Baytul Maqdis is ours and the Holy Land belongs to the Muslims. The Evangelical Christians believe it's a religious duty to put the Jews in the Holy Land to bring the arrival of Jesus. For the Jews, their settlement in Palestine is to await the arrival of the Dajjal (Anti-Christ.)

We cannot separate religion from this because it erases the promise of Allah سبحانه و تعالى  to the ummah. This means Palestine can never be a secular cause, but an Islamic one. For those seeking support from the United Nations and the White House, this issue will never be resolved by these actors. Only the Muslim ummah has the power to bring a true solution.

Land of the Prophets

Allah سبحانه و تعالى  chose sacred lands in which He made of great importance. These lands are Makkah (specifically the Ka’ba), Medina, Ash Sham (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine). It is in Palestine where Masjid al Aqsa was built.

In the lecture ‘History Of Palestine’ by Sheikh Ali Al Tamimi, he explained that Palestine is the land of the Prophets. It is where Our Father Ibrahim  عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ  travelled to Jerusalem after preaching Tawhid (Oneness of Allah) to his people and was driven out due to their disbelief. He worshipped Allah at Masjid Al Aqsa which he built.

Palestine is where Prophet Musa  عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ  went with the children of Israel to, desiring to enter the Holy Land. He told them:

 "O My people! enter the Holy land (Palestine) which Allâh has assigned to you, and turn not back (in flight) for Then You will be returned as losers.” (5:21)

They refused, and so they did not enter the land. After worshipping the golden calf the Israelites were forbidden from Baytul Maqdis for 40 years and left to wander the desert, bringing in a new generation free from the scars of bondage and idol worship.

Under Prophet Yusha (Joshua) عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ  they entered Jerusalem.

Masjid al Aqsa was rebuilt by Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and is where Maryam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ worshipped and the land where Prophet Isa (Jesus) عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ was born. 

It was Baytul Maqdis from where Prophet Muhammad ﷺ undertook the miraculous Night Journey and prayed 2 rakahs at the masjid. 

Historic conquests of Jerusalem 

Since the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the Muslims had prepared to take the Holy Land, as seen during the Battles of Mu’tah and Tabuk. During the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه, the leader of Jerusalem surrendered the city to the Muslim army led by Abū Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ رضي الله عنه. Caliph Umar then travelled to Jerusalem, accompanied by his servant on a camel. While in the city, the caliph made a treaty with the Christians, visited al-Aqsa, prayed two rakahs, and recited Sūrah Ṣād.

Salahuddin reclaims Jerusalem

During the Abbasid Caliphate, Palestine was taken from the weakening Seljuk Empire by the Fāṭimid Caliphate, a Shia regime based in Egypt. In 1099, the Crusaders launched a Christian-led campaign to reclaim the Holy Land and captured Jerusalem during the First Crusade.

Efforts to restore Muslim control of the region began under the Zengid dynasty. Imād al-Dīn Zengī reclaimed key territories such as Edessa and Aleppo, and his efforts were continued by his son, Nūr al-Dīn Zengī. Nūr al-Dīn commissioned a minbar (pulpit), intending it to be placed in al-Aqsa Mosque once Jerusalem was liberated.

It was around two decades after his death that this vision was fulfilled by his former general, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Ayyūbī (Saladin). Following the Battle of Ḥaṭṭīn in 1187, Jerusalem was returned to Muslim rule, and the minbar was finally installed in al-Aqsa.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem came under British control. By this time, Britain also controlled Egypt and Iraq. In 1920, during the French occupation of Syria, General Henri Gouraud visited the tomb of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn in Damascus. He is reported to have kicked it and declared, “Awake, Saladin—we have returned.”

Later, the British handed over control of Palestine to the newly formed United Nations, which proposed the partition of the land. In 1948, following the end of the British Mandate, the state of Israel was established.

Palestine in the modern day

In a time where Israel is massacring Palestinians queuing for food, while facilitating a starvation campaign witnessed by the West whose complicit in genocide, it’s easy to think the Jewish state is unstoppable. 

As Muslims, we must believe the victory of Allah will come and destroy the oppressors through the hands of the believers. For Israel, whose economy has been decimated, forced to recruit more reservists, battling with its residents fleeing back to their original countries and dealing with a PR crisis, it’s evident the Jewish state, founded in 1948, is on the brink of collapse.

In a 2024 Haaretz article, ex Israeli general Yitzhak Brik writes that Israel will not survive in the next year if it maintains its campaign to wipe out Hamas and Hezbollah, warning the country is on ‘the edge of an abyss.’ 

This sentiment is not new. Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in a 1999 interview predicted the fall of Israel by 2027, which at the time of writing in 2025 is two years from now by Allah’s decree. 

Sheikh Ahmed, who was martyred through an Israeli airstrike in 2004, explained that nothing last forever, and for Israel, it’s in its last quarter. He predicted that roughly by 2027 the state will fall. He explained through the Quran that generations change every 40 years. This is referring to the Children of Israel wandering the desert for 40 years as punishment for worshipping the golden calf. In that time, the older generation who’d lived under Pharaoh died, and a new generation was born—one that eventually entered Jerusalem.

In the interview, Sheikh Ahmed expanded on this idea: 

‘During the first 40 years, we had the Nakba, in the second 40 years, the Intifada started, with confrontations the fighting, and the bombs, and the third [group of] 40 years, will see [Israel’s] end, inshallah.”

-Al Jazeera 1999 interview (transcript here)

Given the current instability of the Israeli regime, now fully reliant on Western funding to withstand its massacres on multiple fronts, we can take comfort in the Quranic assurance that this corrupt regime will fall. This is a matter of Islamic belief, and it is essential for the ummah to believe in the promise of Allah in the Quran, that victory is near. 

How do the Muslims reclaim Palestine?

The ummah continues to suffer from the machinations of the Jews who have taken Muslim lands and caused corruption. Their aim is to lead the Muslim ummah astray and alienate it from Quranic teachings. As long as we're estranged from its sources of power and knowledge, we’ll continue to remain weak.  We need to return to utilising Quranic guidance in our activism, using the same Islamic sources used by our righteous salaf.

This involves understanding that our lands are spiritual and rich with history, reshaping the secular narrative as one of ummatic purpose. We need to adapt our language when learning about Palestine to make it in an Islamic responsibility to liberate it, and not rely on other institutions and nations. Defending the Holy Land revives a prophetic tradition of faith-driven activism that links our politics to religious duty.

May Allah bring forth righteous Muslims from our generation who utilises the Quran and sunnah to liberate our Muslim lands and free the believers from oppression. Ameen.
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To download a PowerPoint on the History of Palestine by Ali Al Tamimi, please see the link below: