Dear Gaza (4:135)*

*Originally posted on June 2, 2024; website builder was changed from Wix to Squarespace in compliance with the BDS movement

Bismillah (in the name of God)

"يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُونُوا۟ قَوَّٰمِينَ بِٱلْقِسْطِ شُهَدَآءَ لِلَّهِ وَلَوْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَوِ ٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ وَٱلْأَقْرَبِينَ ۚ إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًۭا فَٱللَّهُ أَوْلَىٰ بِهِمَا ۖ فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ ٱلْهَوَىٰٓ أَن تَعْدِلُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن تَلْوُۥٓا۟ أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًۭا"

O believers! Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives. Be they rich or poor, Allah is best to ensure their interests. So do not let your desires cause you to deviate ˹from justice˺. If you distort the testimony or refuse to give it, then ˹know that˺ Allah is certainly All-Aware of what you do.

Translation by The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab. Surah Al-Nisa, verse 135.

art by @yassindraws posted on Instagram on May 26, 2024

Dear Gaza,

I bear witness

Hind Rajab's final cries for help

"It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm still alive"

Reem the soul of her grandfather's soul

Saleh Aljafarawi's Quran recitation amidst the rubbles

7-month old baby Fayez, skin touching his bones, starved to death

Muhammad Abu Louli's little body shaking, in a state of shock

The pain in the eyes of journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh

Motaz Azaiza climbing rooftops for cell signal

Ahmed Kouta surviving on lemons

Plestia's diary entries

And many more that I didn't get to know the names of; I bear witness

"Uncle, will my legs regrow?"

Fetus murdered in his mother's womb

Boy carrying pieces of his brother on his back

Siblings watching their father burn after an airstrike

Dad searching the rubbles, calling out his children's names

Mom walking, pulling two car seats with her kids in them for 5 hours

Premature babies left behind in the NICU of Al-Shifa Hospital

Little boys under rubbles, eyeballs out of their sockets

Father holding up his headless child's burnt body

Little girl now guardian of her younger siblings

"My son died without eating"

With a heavy chest, eyes full of tears, and rage I've never felt before; I bear witness

Mass destruction. Mass displacement. Starvation. Surgeries with no anesthesia. Flour bags stained with blood. Bodies decomposing on the streets.

Children missing limbs. Ice cream trucks full of dead bodies. Human flesh hanging off rubbles. Refugee camp on fire. Bird's eye view of mass graves.

All are images engraved in my memory

All are images I bear witness to now and on the day we meet in front of our Lord

The day of justice that keeps me sane yet terrified

You will get your justice, Gaza, no doubt

But I'm afraid you'll rightfully demand your justice from me

So I will bear witness against myself

I'm afraid you'll bring up the days I chose my own comfort

Perhaps I let my desires deviate me from your justice

I'm afraid you'll ask me about the more that I could be doing

With this privilege I have and will be questioned about

I'm afraid because you're in the right

And your right upon me is to uphold your justice

Gaza, I am trying to uphold your justice

Imperfectly within my heart-

I pray for you, always

Even with the little voice in my head

Saying 'what are my prayers compared to yours?'

Imperfectly with my words-

I try to tell your stories

I speak about your genocide

Even when it seems like no one is listening

Imperfectly with my actions-

I share your voices

I march in your protests

I boycott those that support your oppressor

Even though I'm just one person; my impact is negligible

Negligible to me, negligible to the world

But I pray that it's not negligible to our Lord

And I hope that it's not negligible to you, Gaza

I do what seems negligible because I heard you asking me to do it

I do what seems negligible because it's what our Lord has asked me to do

And I intend to keep doing it, doing it better inshAllah, because you deserve so much better

Wallahi it hurts to watch you hurt but-

I will keep bearing witness until your genocide ends, Gaza

I will keep trying to uphold your justice until you are free, Palestine