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A girl, on a boat, with a Palestinian flag. Only one woman comes to mind. Greta Thunberg.
A young woman, not from the ummah, raises the banner of Palestine.
Her faith? Not Islam. Her cause? Islamic.
This is where the Muslim world finds itself, frozen between moral obligation and political discomfort. Supporting a non-Muslim feels uneasy. Not supporting justice feels worse.
The Trap of Association
Many hesitate: “She stands for Palestine… but what about everything else she stands for?” This is the modern paralysis of the ummah. We over-analyse who is carrying the torch, while forgetting why it is being held.
Islam doesn’t ask us to idolize personalities. It commands us to stand with truth, even if it comes from the lips of a stranger. As mentioned in the Quran: “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.” (5:2). Support for justice is not endorsement of the entire person. It is an endorsement of the act.
The Alliance We Hesitate to Own
A similar tension brews in geopolitics. When Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a strategic defence pact, something with the potential to be the first seed of a Muslim NATO, the reaction from the ummah was fractured. The idea is Islamic. The actors are questionable.
Muslims fear that supporting these governments may look like endorsing their un-Islamic governance. But here’s the strategic failure: We cannot build power if we keep rejecting every stone just because the mason is imperfect.
The history of Islamic movements is clear. Prophets, reformers, and revivalists worked with imperfect alliances to bring divine justice into reality. Muhammad (SAW) himself accepted support from non-Muslims in specific contexts when it aligned with the mission of truth, without ever compromising the message.
Supporting Acts Without Worshipping Actors
This is the nuance the modern Muslim world has lost. We’ve learned to either glorify or cancel. We don’t know how to strategically support an action while spiritually disassociating from its flaws.
Greta marching for Palestine? Support the cause, not her ideology. Saudi-Pakistan alliance for collective Muslim defence? Support the strategic act, not the personal ambitions of the rulers. A step in the right direction doesn’t become invalid because the walker isn’t pure.
Vision, Not Vessels
The mission is not Greta. Not any prince or general. The mission is the establishment of Allah’s justice on earth. Every moment, event, or action that tilts the world closer to that vision, no matter how wrapped in imperfection, can be tactically amplified, directed, and used.
But the caution is clear: Don’t let temporary allies become permanent leaders. Don’t let borrowed steps dictate your future. This is where the ummah must grow up strategically. It’s not enough to be right; we must also be smart.
A New Strategic Consciousness
Muslims must start naming and amplifying righteous acts, even if committed by imperfect people. At the same time, we must clearly mark the un-Islamic parts, so we do not lose the purity of the vision. This duality is not hypocrisy. It’s clarity. It’s strategy.
Will the ummah learn to ride the right waves without drowning in them?
Or will it keep standing on the shore, too pure to act …
… and too powerless to lead?
Ahmed Velmi
14-10-2025
