On the Duty of Rebuilding Gaza: A Historical Perspective
The frontier cities
are those military sites located on the borders between Muslim lands and enemy
territories. These include cities on the borders of the Islamic state and the
Byzantine Empire, such as Adana, Tarsus, and Al-Musayyisah, as well as those on
the borders of Islamic Andalusia and the Christian Spanish kingdoms along their
shifting frontiers, such as Zaragoza, Murcia, and Baltiyus.
The maritime lands located on the Muslim coasts that were
targeted by enemy navies are also considered frontiers, such as those on the
shores of the Mediterranean — among them Ashkelon, Acre
(Akko), Alexandria, and Tunis.
Gaza was one of the frontier cities,
as it was attached to, or adjacent to, the frontier of Ashkelon—lying about 21
kilometers to its south. Their close proximity likely led some historians to
confuse the two, as seen in their disagreement over the birthplace of Imam al-Shafi‘i:
was it Ashkelon or Gaza? Al-Nawawi stated, “The majority opinion is that
al-Shafi‘i was born in Gaza, though it is also said Ashkelon. Both are among
the blessed holy lands that God has blessed, being about two stages’ distance
from Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem).” (1)
The Strategic Importance of the Location
Throughout the Ages
The Islamic conquest of Gaza was led
by Mu‘awiya ibn Abi Sufyan in the year 23 AH, after a siege that lasted several
years. He left a group of frontier guards Garrison troops there to protect
it.
When the Crusaders
occupied Jerusalem in 492 AH / 1099 CE, their army failed to capture Ashkelon
after fierce battles. They tried again and besieged it in 547–548 AH / 1153 CE
for six months until it fell. Salah al-Din later recaptured it during his
conquests, but it eventually fell once more into Crusader hands.
Gaza
became a refuge for thousands of displaced people who carried within their
hearts the tragedy of exile. Their generations grew up nurtured on the values
of Islam and jihad.
When the negotiations for the Treaty of Ramla
took place in 583 AH / 1192 CE between Salah al-Din and Richard the Lionheart,
Salah al-Din stipulated that Ashkelon and the territories beyond it should
remain in ruins and belong to neither side. Richard refused at first, but Salah
al-Din eventually compelled him to agree, for he understood the strategic
danger of Ashkelon and nearby Gaza lest the Crusaders’ presence there sever the
vital route connecting Egypt and the Levant.
The same course was taken by al-Zahir Baybars
when he recaptured Ashkelon; in 668 AH / 1270 CE, he ordered its destruction to
prevent the Franks from resettling there again.
Ashkelon fell into Zionist occupation
in 1948. At that time, it was a small village on the seashore. The occupiers
revived its ancient name, Ashkelon, and forced its inhabitants to flee—driving them
southward toward Gaza.
The Virtue of Guarding the Frontiers
(Ribat) in Ashkelon and Gaza
Regarding the virtue of guarding the
frontiers (ribat) in Ashkelon — and by extension Gaza, due to their
close proximity — the Prophet (PBUH) said:
"The beginning of this matter will be prophethood and mercy, then it will
be caliphate and mercy, then it will be kingship and mercy, then it will be
rule and mercy, until people begin to bite one another like donkeys. So hold
fast to jihad, for the best of your jihad is ribat, and the best place for
ribat is Ashkelon." (2)
It was narrated that ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased
with him, said:
"If it were not that the frontiers would be neglected and Ashkelon
would become overcrowded with its people, I would have told you of the great
virtue it possesses."
ʿAbdullah ibn ʿUmar also said:
"Everything has its peak, and the peak of al-Sham is Ashkelon."
Ibn Taymiyyah likewise stated:
"As for Ashkelon, it is one of the Muslim frontier cities. The
righteous among the Muslims used to reside there for the sake of guarding the
frontiers in the path of Allah."
Gaza’s Modern Destiny: Between Exile and
Struggle
It seems fate has reserved weighty
matters for Gaza: it became a refuge for thousands of displaced people from
across Palestine after the Zionist aggression, who carry in their hearts the
tragedy of repeated displacement. Their conviction deepened that they have no
refuge except God, having despaired of help from near and far, and their
generations were raised on the values of Islam and jihad.
Reconstruction: A Historical Tradition
in the Islamic State
The devastation that befell Gaza was
not unprecedented among the frontier cities. However, the response to its
aftermath has differed greatly between the era of the established Islamic state
and that of the modern nation-state that succeeded it. In the presence of a
caring Islamic state, its leadership bore the responsibility of
reconstruction—rebuilding cities, rehabilitating communities, and renewing
determination.
Harun al-Rashid rebuilt the frontier
stronghold of Tarsus in 179
AH after it had been destroyed by the Byzantines. He settled people there from
the Syrian troops and others, granted them fiefs (iqtaʿ), stationed frontier
defenders, and wrote to the people urging them to strive (jihad) there.(3)
And
today it calls on the people of Islam to supply it with the necessities of
life, as well as with steadfastness, resistance, and the protection of
sanctities and honour.
When Malatya was destroyed by Byzantine attacks between 840 and
860 CE, the Abbasid caliphs restored its vitality.(4) And when
Antioch was devastated by the Crusaders during their First Crusade, Nur al-Din
Mahmoud rebuilt it in 552 AH, turning it once again into a frontier stronghold (ribat).(5)
The same occurred in the frontier
cities of al-Andalus: Alfonso VI destroyed the frontier of Murcia on the
eastern coast of al-Andalus in 1086 CE, but the Almoravids revived it as a
stronghold of jihad.(6) The Muslims also rebuilt Zaragoza after it
was destroyed by the Christian Spaniards in 512 AH,(7) as well as
Badajoz in western al-Andalus, which
suffered destruction several times — yet the Muslims rebuilt it after each
devastation.
The Destruction of Gaza Today: A Deep
Wound in the Body of the Ummah
In those times, the sources of
strength were abundant, despite the presence of certain weaknesses. The Ummah
was united, even if its political banners were many. Its rulers were protective
of Islam and its people, and of the dignity of the Islamic state in the face of
its enemies. The Muslim community as a whole was devoted to its faith unwilling
to let some of its sons sleep in the open after their cities were destroyed, or
go hungry after their livelihoods were ruined, or leave the frontiers of Islam
in peril while its enemies grew in power.
Yet the destruction of Gaza today
stands out as unique in another sense. It is true that the Mongols once
slaughtered hundreds of thousands in the cities they invaded, but the Zionists
have targeted not only people, but also the very stones and trees. Around 80%
of its buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed, while thousands of
unexploded shells lie buried beneath the rubble carrying death to its remaining
inhabitants at any moment. More than 10% of its population has been killed or
injured.
The Duty of the Time and the Obligation
to Support
And today Gaza cries out to the people
of Islam to supply its inhabitants with the necessities of life, as well as the
means of steadfastness and resistance for it has borne on their behalf the noblest
of Islamic duties and the very summit of its spear: namely jihad and the
defense of sanctities and honour.
And the Ummah in this revolves around
obligations, not supererogatory acts. It is incumbent upon it to erase evil
with good and to wash away the shame of having abandoned them amid waves of
death by killing, by siege, and by
starvation over the course of two years.
It must not let the matter of support and assistance be decided at the tables
of political gambling and Western–Zionist adventurism, nor be pawned to the
ambitions of rulers who see their glory in our humiliation and weave their
accomplishments on the looms of our children’s screams and our women’s cries
for help. Nor should they make the duty to aid conditional on surrender to the
enemy and submission, or on plotting against the mujahidin, or on pursuing the
illusions of being saved from them.
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(1) Al-Majmu‘ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab
(1/8).
(2) Al-Haythami said: Narrated by
al-Tabarani, and its narrators are trustworthy — Majma‘ al-Zawa’id
(5/190). Authenticated by al-Albani in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah
(7/802).
(3) Al-Baladhuri: Futuh al-Buldan,
p. 255; and al-Tabari, Tarikh (8/209).
(4) Ibn al-Athir: Al-Kamil
(6/226).
(5) Ibid. (10/231).
(6) Al-Maqrī: Nafh al-Tīb
(3/221).
(7) Ibn ‘Idhari: Al-Bayan
al-Mughrib (3/139).
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