Islamic Unity Can Provide a Broad Support for Gazan People

In this interview, Mr. Hadi Kobaysi, political analyst, looks into those features of Hajj that can make Islamic Unity and renunciation go hand in hand to provide a broad support for the people of Palestine from across the Muslim world.

Islamic Unity has always been a pivotal point in Imam Khamenei’s thoughts and statements, and he has often highlighted how this unity can help the Islamic Ummah to solve the issue of Palestine. During his meeting with Iranian officials in charge of conducting and organizing the Hajj pilgrimage on May 6, 2024, Imam Khamenei called this year’s Hajj to be “a Hajj of renunciation” against those who show hostility and animosity toward Muslims, namely the Zionists and their supporters. In this interview, Mr. Hadi Kobaysi, political analyst, looks into those features of Hajj that can make Islamic Unity and renunciation go hand in hand to provide a broad support for the people of Palestine from across the Muslim world.

Question: Considering that Hajj is one of the greatest grounds of unity, cohesion and empathy within the Islamic Ummah, how can this great capacity be utilized to solve the problems of the Islamic world in the best possible way?

Kobaysi: Regarding the first question, meeting other Muslims in Hajj is to get to know them face-to-face and learn about their issues and the issues of their countries, especially since many Muslims and many people in the new era have their own personal interests or are engrossed in their own interests and the internal affairs of their countries and do not care about other Muslims and their issues. Therefore, Hajj is a suitable platform for direct and mutual sympathy and to get to know one another closely in order to exchange insights and opinions about the problems and challenges.

Another issue is that Hajj, in essence, is migration from one’s homeland and appealing to God, the Blessed and Exalted, and freeing oneself from worldly matters for a short period of time that people set to strive for Muslims. The Messenger of God (pbuh) said in this regard: “Whoever dies while he had not strived for the affairs of Muslims is not a Muslim.” Therefore, there is a spiritual and unworldly atmosphere in Hajj that allows Muslims to pay attention to general and comprehensive Islamic issues, and there is also an effective factor in it, which is Muslims getting familiar with the breadth of the Islamic world, the diversity of the Islamic world, and the greatness of the Islamic world. People of different nationalities come to one place and for one destination, one vision and one God, and therefore, they break down the national, sectarian, language and ethnic barriers between Muslims, and look at Islam as an element involved in all of the individual, political and social issues, and also consider the Islamic world to be one with a certain knowledge, ability, vision and a single direction in terms of moral, spiritual, philosophical and legal aspects.

Question: Hajj is a unique opportunity for the declaration of the support, of the Islamic Ummah in general and the pilgrims in particular, for the people of Gaza. In your view, what actions can be taken during Hajj to that end?

Kobaysi: The gathering of Muslims in a place with this spirit and with these psychological and social preparations enables many special activities as well as public and group activities, since Hajj is like a public meeting and gathering for all Muslims. They put aside their minor affiliations, connect with the vast Islamic sea and make use of it to create momentum and present an image to the whole world and other civilizations. This image reflects the reality of Islamic civilization. Hajj is a mutual identity and force in which pilgrims express their moral and political positions through collective actions such as demonstrations and marches of renunciation, as well as through meetings of multinational groups to discuss the current issues of the Islamic world, its problems and challenges, and cooperation to solve them, and they benefit from different suggestions, ideas, cultures and experiences in the Islamic world to solve these problems, and they can also use the opportunities created by people of different countries, as well as various solutions and approaches that can appear in such a large meeting.

Question: If you personally participated in this year’s Hajj, would you have taken any action as one of the Hajj pilgrims in support of the Gaza Strip and condemnation of the genocide of the US and the Zionist regime?

Kobaysi: Certainly, taking part in this huge gathering provides the basis for that, especially since among the pilgrims there are Palestinians who come from different countries, as well as Muslims from different countries, in particular from the countries that have not witnessed demonstrations and movements, and where it is not possible to do activities in support of Gaza or the Palestinian cause. This presence opens the door for us – and any pilgrim who is interested in Muslim affairs – to raise these issues in the presence of these groups. It also opens the door for exchanging historical and political views, as well as enjoining one another to follow truth and patience, commanding the good and forbidding the bad, and calling for action in these countries based on their atmosphere.

The groups that participate in Hajj can be active in collective actions to motivate and encourage Muslims to fulfill their duties regarding the fundamental issues of the Islamic world, the most important of which is the issue of Palestine and the great war that is going on in Gaza and the West Asia region.

Question: What is the significance of “renunciation of the enemies of the Islamic world” in Hajj? In other words, how important is renunciation of the enemies of the Islamic Ummah, led by the US and the Zionist regime, particularly in this year’s Hajj, which is being held at the same time the genocide of Muslims in the Gaza Strip is unfolding?

Kobaysi: Regarding the fourth question, the renunciation approach completes monotheism. When we say “There is no God but God”, we first and foremost reject the Taghut (idols, tyrants, etc.); we reject the worship of the Taghut; we reject the worship of any deity other than God Almighty. And the US, global Zionism and the temporary Zionist entity are nothing but the Taghut, which invites people to be silent before all moral abominations and be silent in the face of the unprecedented and great crimes that are happening in Gaza.

Renunciation is a condition and necessity of this worship, and it is not possible for a person to worship Almighty God and remain silent in the face of these crimes and not sympathize with the residents of the Gaza Strip and the Muslims of the Gaza Strip. Muslims [in Gaza] have been oppressed for many decades, they love worshipping God and the Quran and read the Quran and memorize it, they are undoubtedly the real oppressed people, and they need spiritual and political support in all forms.

Therefore, this renunciation is not a political activity on the sidelines of Hajj, but it is at the core of Tawaf, at the core of worship, and at the core of Hajj rituals, and it reflects the readiness of Muslims for self-devotion and confrontation. With trust and confidence in Almighty God, renunciation [of polytheists] shows their desire to devote themselves to the path of God and to answer the divine call, self-devotion and jihad in the path of God, and this Jihad and this self-devotion is the sacrifice that every pious person makes, as stated in the holy Hadith: “Martyrdom is the sacrifice of every pious person.”

Therefore, this renunciation is an integral part of Hajj, and it is an integral part of the general position of Islam and the general humanitarian position, which has gone beyond the Islamic world in supporting the resistance of Gaza and rejecting the ongoing crime in the Gaza Strip.