What is the ruling on participating in the intifada occurring in the occupied land, and what is the position of the brothers who seek salvation?

The questioner : And we ask our Shaykh regarding the people living in the occupied land: is the righteous work in repelling the injustice, or in the reconciliation currently taking place, which is the intifada—participating in it or leaving this matter? As for the Muslims there, everyone wants salvation if they are Muslim. So what is the position of the Muslim that should be in these situations? The situations of the trials (fitan) that we are living through, especially in the occupied land?

The Shaykh : As long as the Muslims, my brother, as you heard just now in his (peace be upon him) saying, when it was said to him, "Are they few?" he said: This description, unfortunately, applies to the Islamic world today, as evidenced by the reality of our Palestinian brothers who are living under the rule of the Jews. No hand of help, support, or victory extends to them from the millions of Muslims. As long as the reality is like this, I said long ago, before this intifada, that if the people of these lands were living in accordance with what I explained just now—beneficial knowledge and righteous work—they would have been saved in their religion and left behind the weakness of their fathers and grandfathers, not caring about it at all, and they would have had a model in the emigrants and the first ones. But the weakness of the Muslims' beneficial knowledge, and consequently their turning away from the righteous work resulting from their ignorance of beneficial knowledge, leads them to think that their remaining under the rule of these disbelieving Jews in their land is stronger for them politically. So where do the verses and hadiths that encourage Muslims to emigrate from lands of disbelief to lands of Islam stand today? They have no place in the hearts of Muslims today. I was saying this before the intifada, and after the intifada and the passage of a year or less than that, I stated, or less than that, I stated that this intifada, as long as the Arab states do not extend a hand of help to it, with everything—weapons, money, men, and so on—this increases the weakness of the Palestinian people upon weakness and increases the strength of the oppressive disbelieving colonizer upon strength. Therefore, I have not supported the intifada for a long time.
The adhan is being called.
"Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar." And I say that the principle, as I said, is that Muslims should rise as one man and defend these lands. Not only because they are sacred lands, but all lands of the Muslims must be defended. It is agreed upon by the scholars of the Muslims that if disbelievers invade a part or region of the Islamic lands, it is obligatory for all of them to rise to expel this disbeliever. Unfortunately, this does not exist today. The Afghan war is the greatest example; no state moved at all in it, even though the way was open until recently, unlike Palestine. And the reality of Palestine is more sorrowful and more sorrowful; because no person is able to enter Palestine to strive in the path of Allah in the literal sense. Therefore, I do not advise this intifada.

The Shaykh : And I advise that the Muslim youth preserve their strength for the Day of Judgment, when they prepare as the wise Shari'ah commanded in the well-known verse that many educators, guides, or counselors repeat, without noticing that there is an implicit direction in the verse. I mean the saying of Allah the Exalted: This material preparation cannot be achieved in the land of Palestine; this is self-evident. And how long will our Muslim brothers continue to meet bullets and bombs with stones? This lasts one year, two, three, and then? May Allah forbid the destruction of the Palestinian people and the complete emptiness of the land of Muslims. But in the verse, as I mentioned just now in its last point, which is if we notice to whom the address is directed: "And prepare, O Muslims, what you can of strength." Do you see these Muslims to whom such an address was directed? When the address was directed to them, had their souls been prepared to perform the obligation of jihad in the path of Allah or not? What do you think? Or do you not understand my words? Is my word clear? When our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, addressed the Muslims with His saying: to the end of it, this was not in the Meccan period, but rather in the Medinan period, that is, the day when Allah, Mighty and Majestic, knew that the Muslims had been prepared psychologically and raised morally to rise to fight the enemies. At that time, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said to them: Is this clear?

The questioner : Is that clear?

The Shaykh : Now, is the Islamic world as a whole, as they say today, and including the Palestinian world, have they performed this obligation? I say, with regret, no. So there is no room for victory with stones, even if we had prepared the first preparation, which is spiritual preparation; because we would then be lacking the material preparation explicitly mentioned in this verse. So I say that the Muslims now in the entire Islamic world should work as it was said in some of the rulings of the present age: The state on earth is not established unless the individual Muslims establish it in their souls. And a very simple example, and perhaps this will be the end of the answer to that question: if a Muslim has a small house, this small house cannot be established on Islam. Do you see if he can establish the state on the face of the earth on Islam? Of course not. So when the Muslims unite their affairs and establish the state of Islam in their hearts, then that means they were able to face the enemies and strive in the path of Allah. And this is a research that branches out into many and very many things. So today, for example, Muslims are most different. Let us leave the communist and non-religious parties and so on, and take the parties that are united by Islam. Are they in agreement or different? Different, unfortunately. Will this difference be a cause of victory if the means of jihad in the path of Allah were prepared for them? Will this difference be a cause of victory or a cause of abandonment, may Allah forbid?

The questioner : Abandonment.

The Shaykh : Therefore, the operation, as they say in our region in the Levant, requires shaking the shoulders, meaning it requires work, it requires a very long-term jihad, and its two pillars are these two words: beneficial knowledge and righteous work.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.