Some opportunities are seized as they should, while others slip away and are lost, and some are granted, while others are created!
Such is the movement of history, not stagnant nor rigid, but it grants humans (individuals or groups) the chance to shape, write, and protect their events from distortion and manipulation.
It’s undisputed that October 7, 2023, solidified its place among influential historical events and pivotal moments that transcend their apparent significance to military, political, and media ramifications. The world thereafter, in short and focused terms, is not the same as before!
Perhaps the most significant point amid reviewing what happened is how to harness the momentum of the Al-Aqsa storm for the benefit of a more effective future and a pristine historical stage that marks this exceptional phase. This pertains not only to the Palestinian cause but also to the reality of the entire Arab and Islamic nation.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that today we stand on the threshold of a new era in which the components of the global system are being rearranged, and the maps of effectiveness and influence are redrawn according to different rules and meanings.
If the last century relegated Arabs and Muslims to a position of backwardness among other nations and turned them into tools in the hands of various external projects, subjecting them to humiliation to comply with plans of complete submission under multiple deceptive pretexts, then the storm created by the people of Gaza might erase all those effects and rearrange positions more powerfully and feasibly, but also according to the required empowerment conditions… The people of Palestine have done their part and are, awaiting the initiative of others.
Even though Hamas’s current attention-grabbing experiment highlights the fact that official regimes are not expected to bring about that change, as it’s one form of humiliation and a major cause of it, the most notable point available to everyone is (rectification) and moving insightfully towards the desired state of awareness. This is where many can possess the keys to salvation, especially with the success of bringing about a qualitative change in international attitudes in terms of sympathy and support, as well as the realization of the value of their role through boycotting entities supporting the Israeli occupiers or utilizing social media platforms to spread the truth for the first time in such a profoundly impactful manner.
What if we contemplated preparing an Arab and Islamic deal that emerged from the Al-Aqsa storm?
And what if we painted the picture of the new world we desire?
It’s not impossible but it requires a broad horizon, a balanced strategic mind, genuine belief in the cause, and strategic patience that bites into results one after the other, reaching the completion of the liberated homeland’s borders without loss or sabotage!
I don’t know why I remembered, as I write this article, that my academic field of specialization, which is the history of Muslim Andalusia went through many fluctuations towards total decline. It’s as if, in this moment, there is a resemblance – and history is inherently similar in its essence and meaning without a doubt – to the moment when the Amir of the Almoravids, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, crossed from Morocco to rescue Andalusia and restore the glory of the initial conquests through the immortal battle of Zallaqa in the year 479 AH.
Those who scrutinize events, find a clear similarity in the state of weakness and division today, the dominance of major world powers, and the emergence of an opportunity to avoid mistakes. When the first task was accomplished by Ibn Tashfin, who possessed an Islamic awareness and a genuine belonging, he searched to regain a state of unity and advocated for the establishment of a general Islamic state that supports each other, regardless of differences and sub-affiliations. But what could the official sectarian kings do? Their only action was to initiate their removal from the scene and put the entire Andalusia under the direct interest and administration of the Almoravids, thereby extending its years and years of life, igniting the spark of the cause that had dimmed again.
Today is the same, and the available opportunity lies in moving from the level of narrow and private thinking to the broader and larger level, which is the general Islamic belonging that surpasses the particularities of belonging for the sake of the basic reference and the possibility of employing scattered capabilities to regain the desired role. Especially with the greatest challenge aimed at uprooting identity and erasing belonging.
The Al-Aqsa storm has unequivocally shown the possibility of moving towards the goal of liberation and overcoming the shortage of influence tools by seeking allies, and the possibility of overcoming internal intersections in terms of sub-affiliations, on which the old and current colonizers have played a lot, by completing and bridging the gap with others, according to fundamental commitments that achieve the desired outcome without compromising the particular identity of this party or that. Let’s not forget that the global situation during the time of Andalusia was always unequal. In the face of the unified front against Islamic existence and led by a determined religious leadership, the Islamic Front was fragmented, conflicting, or fighting on multiple fronts, forgetting the central concern at that time. This led to that catastrophe whose echo still resonates from time to time.
The scene seems plausible for crafting an Islamic deal that embodies meaning, purpose, and content, bringing together the countries most biased towards justice, led by Turkey and Iran, along with regimes that still possess goodness or those that are annoyed by the dominance of others or provoke their humanity and the brutality of the enemy. Creating an international Islamic alliance that puts the Palestinian cause in its rightful place brings together energies, and directs the compass towards the liberation project and the end of the existence of this mutated entity, seeking to narrate the story as it is without distortion, and reaching a state of true peace by restoring the right and justice to the oppressed, not that illusory peace that carries the taste of submission with the bitter and demeaning normalization.
Yes, it’s a difficult plan and it requires time, patience, will, and belonging, but it’s not impossible but rather closer to possibility today, and we will see how the world is provoked by this necessary awareness to break free from its coercive dominance.
The lessons of the Al-Aqsa storm are numerous, but the most important lesson remains that you do not wait for others to make your victory and life, but rather take the initiative yourself to make them before it’s too late.
