By: Mian Abuzar Shad – President, LCCI
Gaza — once a land of olive trees and songs of patience and resilience — has now become a valley of fire, blood, and cries of pain. Thousands of innocent Palestinians have been martyred under relentless Israeli bombardment, including a tragic number of children, women, and the elderly. Entire cities have been reduced to rubble. Hospitals are running out of medicines, and the innocent people, starving, wounded, and thirsty, look to the global conscience with hope in their eyes.
But alas — that conscience is blind, deaf, and mute.
Even more heartbreaking is the criminal silence of the 57 Islamic nations. Despite having vast resources, powerful armies, oil wealth, diplomatic strength, and the potential for unity, their leadership remains in a deep slumber. Hopes were pinned on them — and now those hopes have turned into despair.
The blood of these martyrs will testify on the Day of Judgment:
“We gave our lives, but you, the powerful Islamic nations – Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia, Qatar – you did not help us.”
Across the globe, Muslims protest, weep, and pray for the oppressed people of Gaza, while their rulers are confined to issuing hollow statements. There are no serious diplomatic efforts, no unified response, and no action beyond symbolic observances like Palestine Day, wearing black armbands, or releasing press statements.
Is that enough? Absolutely not.
If the major Islamic powers truly unite, speak in one voice at the United Nations, and reevaluate diplomatic and trade relations with countries supporting Israel, the global narrative could shift. But if the Islamic world continues to sleepwalk through history, tomorrow it may stand accused in the court of time.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in name only, has been utterly ineffective in formulating or acting upon a plan to address this barbarity. In truth, there is a crisis of leadership, unity, and empathy within the Muslim world.
Remember this: Supporting the oppressor is injustice. But failing to help the oppressed is an even greater crime.
The martyrs of Gaza are not just Palestine’s sons and daughters — they are the pride of the entire Muslim Ummah. The bullets that pierce their bodies are not just fired by Israeli soldiers — they are also the result of the cowardice and silence of the Muslim rulers who chose apathy over action.
It is time to awaken, to unite, and to stand for the oppressed — before history writes us off as complicit.
