✦ Ghamidi’s View: The Palestinian Struggle and the Concept of Divine Punishment
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has advised Palestinians that their current struggle will not yield any meaningful result. He suggests that they should focus on strengthening themselves socially and economically and wait for Allah’s decision. According to him, powers like the USA and Israel have dominated Muslims due to their moral decline, and Muslims are walking in the footsteps of Banī Isrā’īl. He views these tribulations as a form of divine punishment from Allah.
This same idea is promoted by Rehan Ahmad Yousufi (Abu Yahya), a student of Ghamidi, in his novel “Jab Zindagi Shuru Hogi.”
✦ Commentary by Muhammad Deen Johar
- The core aim of Ghamidi’s religious interpretation is to frame Western dominance as an unchangeable decree of destiny, to be accepted passively.
- Through this view, all means of political and civilizational resistance are nullified.
Reference: Muhammad Deen Johar (Editor, Quarterly “Jee”)
✦ Commentary by Dr. Zahid Mughal
- Ghamidi presents civilizational dominance and subjugation as predestined, while resistance and striving for the dominance of religion are considered exclusive to prophets and require divine revelation.
- However, when it comes to Muslims accepting colonial subjugation, he does not require revelation and constructs a religious strategy based solely on personal reasoning, labeling the situation as divine punishment.
Reference: Dr. Zahid Mughal (Professor, NUST University)
✦ Resistance Against Oppression in Islam
❖ Resistance — A Natural Right
- Resistance to oppression is inherent in human nature.
- Every living being instinctively fights for survival—even a small insect will defend itself when threatened.
- Thus, the struggle against injustice is a survival instinct, acknowledged by every religion and legal system.
✦ Islamic Perspective on Resistance
Islam, being a religion in harmony with human nature, fully recognizes the right of the oppressed to resist—even when the balance of power favors the oppressor.
✦ Qur’anic Evidences
❖ Overcoming Superior Forces by Patience and Faith
“How many a small group overcame a large group by the permission of Allah! And Allah is with the steadfast.”
(Sūrah al-Baqarah: 249)
❖ Permission for Armed Resistance in Self-Defense
“Permission [to fight] has been granted to those who are being fought because they were wronged—and indeed, Allah is capable of granting them victory—those who were expelled from their homes unjustly only because they said: Our Lord is Allah.”
(Sūrah al-Ḥajj: 39–40)
✦ Historical Truth
History testifies that no nation has ever achieved freedom without resistance to tyranny and aggression.
Nations that chose silence and submission remained eternally subdued.
On the other hand, nations that resisted faced hardship at first, but ultimately, victory belonged to them.
✦ Poetic Wisdom by Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan:
کب اشک بہانے سے کٹی ہے شب ہجراں؟
کب کوئی بلا صرف دعاؤں سے ٹلی ہے؟
(When has the night of separation ended by weeping alone?
When has any calamity ever been averted by prayers alone?)
❖ Conclusion
✔ Resistance against injustice is fully aligned with human nature and Islamic teachings.
✔ Abandoning resistance and submitting to tyranny is essentially surrendering one’s right to live with dignity.
✔ Strategic planning is essential, but resistance against oppression is non-negotiable.
