Muslims see no justification for wall

Dubai: For many Muslims around the world, the war of edicts between scholars for and against the building of an embedded steel fence between Gaza and Egypt is unnecessary because cutting off 1.5 million people in Gaza from supplies is not the right decision regardless of the justifications being used to support the fence.

Dr Abdullah Al Asha'al, a veteran Egyptian retired diplomat, said: "Those who explicitly stood against the fence and the one who stood up to justify the position of the Egyptian Government towards building the fence from an Islamic point of view, both were aware that their views will just serve as contradicting political views that have nothing to do with Islam."

All points of view

In a special statement obtained by Gulf News, Dr Al Asha'al said Islam does not allow for people to be cut off, regardless of their religion and for their basic living needs to be denied.

"If the tunnels of Gaza must be closed for security reasons concerning Egypt, the Islamic Research Foundation of Al Azhar University, the highest Islamic organisation for issuing Islamic edicts in Egypt, should have agreed with the government to close off the tunnels that impose threats against security in Egypt, but simultaneously open up the borders with Gaza to allow the movement of people and goods that are deemed necessary for life in Gaza," Al Asha'al added.

"Any talk about the right of the government to erect whatever it sees necessary to protect its borders against infiltration is half the story and an Islamic edict should look into the matter from all points of views to come up with a true religious stand not a justification of what this side or that wants it to do. Islam should not be used to serve a political stand. An Islamic ruling should be abided by all parties, including governments. Thus, the imbalanced use of Islam was not suitable in this case," he said.

"Similarly, the stand taken by the International Union of Muslim Scholars headed by Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi, against the erection of the fence was not necessary too, because every Muslim knows by instinct that the erection of the wall was to put pressure on Hamas and its authority in Gaza to surrender. The stand of Islam should have been expressed in a balanced way in order to differentiate between the need to protect the needs of people imprisoned in Gaza and the interests of Hamas as a governing authority on the province," he added.

However, Palestinian scholars and religious figures, were themselves, used to support the conflicting parties. A week ago, Mohammad Al Habbash, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in President Mahmoud Abbas's government in the West Bank, issued a statement supporting Egypt's right to build a fence on its border with Gaza and to close down tunnels that are used to illegally smuggle goods and arms to the area.

"Islam's stand is clear in this regard. No one human being on earth should be denied the right to live. We are talking here about 1.5 million people. Intensifying the embargo with no other means of allowing the movement of goods is not going to help security, it will rather destroy stability not only in Gaza but in the whole region," Dr Mohammad Salim Al Awwa, Secretary-General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, said.