Weekly Q&A: Hazar Imam's Comments on Palestine-Israel Conflict
A compilation of the Imam's past interview remarks about Palestine and Israel
Question:
Has Mawlana Hazar Imam ever talked about the Palestine-Israel conflict?
If so, what has he said?
Answer: The Imam has made remarks about the Palestine-Israel conflict over the course of several interviews. Below are a list of excerpts of his comments with a link to the full-length interview:
Aga Khan: Today, the world is divided into theocracies and secular states. Sometimes people talk – quite rightly – about the three nations which are, each in its own way, theocratic, namely Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia. If they were to change, you would have a different world. If I dare say it, politics should be left to politicians, and God to God.
Lafaye: Doesn’t the Israeli constitution, which does not allow the formation of clear, stable majorities, also impede the achievement of enduring peace between the Jewish state and its neighbours?
Aga Khan: I do not know the specifics of the Israeli constitution well enough. However, as I told you, it makes no doubt that the problem of dysfunctional constitutions is the most frequent source of political instability in a vast number of countries.
Lafaye: What should Israel do now to achieve lasting peace?
Aga Khan: I have never wanted to engage in this debate but I believe there is one fundamental requirement – a viable Palestinian state. Furthermore, I shall surprise you by saying that, as far as I am concerned, one of the conditions for peace is the acceptance of Israel by the Shia minority within the Muslim world. Iraq has a Shia majority, so does Bahrain, and there have always been large numbers of Shia in Lebanon. Let’s not forget that Bashar El-Assad is himself a Shia. This is an essential key, something that President Sarkozy understands very well. Agreement with Sunni countries** is fine, but it isn’t enough.
Politique Internationale, “The Power of Wisdom”, Issue 127 (2010)
SA/EF: Even if warlords and a former members of the Taliban are represented in Afghanistan’s parliament?
Aga Khan: You either accept the results of democracy or you don’t. Otherwise you talk about qualifying democracy.
SA/EF: That means the West should deal with the radical Islamist Hamas as well?
Aga Khan: You have to work with whoever the population has elected as long as they are willing to respect what I call cosmopolitan ethics. Now, it’s true that Hamas has a record of conflict …
SA/EF: … of outright terror …
Aga Khan: … but it would not be the only time that movements that have such a record make it into parliament, and even end up in charge of government later on. Can I remind you of Jomo Kenyatta and his Mau Mau movement in Kenya, for example, or the ANC in South Africa? Take away the causes of extremism and extremists can come back to a more reasonable political agenda. That change to me is one of the wonderful things about the human race.
Spiegel Online Interview, “Islam is a Faith of Reason”, 12 October 2006
CP: As a pacifist religious leader, could you play a significant role in the current conflict in the Middle East?
Aga Khan: If you are thinking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I would not intervene in a problem that is essentially political. If, on the other hand, you are talking about building a future civil society in that region of the world or in any other, certainly, because we have a significant presence in Egypt and Syria, and also in Pakistan, India and East and West Africa, as well as in Central Asia, which includes Afghanistan.
Let us never forget to underline that the causes of discord in the Muslim world occur in the main outside the framework of the Islamic faith. We should be aware, for example, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the First World War. But, above all, take care not to generalise about the Muslim world, because it is at least as pluralistic as the Christian world. So it is essential not to lump everything together under the banner of religion, because Islam is first and foremost a religion. Indeed, if I were to say that the conflicts in Ireland and Spain represented the Catholic faith, the immediate response would be that I am an ill-informed Muslim. Associating the name of a religion with a conflict really does not mean that the conflict represents the religion in question.
Aga Khan: Well, I have been a student of history, I have read the Balfour Declaration, I have read the Sykes-Picot Agreement when I was student, and it had just been released, so if you will, I know history. And it is terrible. It is terrible. But we have a terrible historical heritage that we have to resolve. We have to resolve it. And I think that this situation in the Middle East shows a fundamental problem that is: if you leave a situation to degrade, decade after decade, it ends up becoming a global problem. And now, we should find a solution. This situation has lasted much too long, much too long.
AM: What are your feelings about the Palestine Liberation Organisations methods?
Aga Khan: That is a highly political question! There are no Ismailis in either Palestine or Israel.
AM: You are not concerned about the future of the Holy Places?
Aga Khan: I am not convinced that the problem of the Palestinian homeland is a religious issue (said Karim). I didn’t say that it is not. I am just not convinced of it.
ML: Recently the World Council of Churches pledged support to African liberation movements. Don’t you think it is high time the Muslims took a stand on this issue?
Aga Khan: I think it would be extremely difficult to get a united front of all Muslim countries on a policy issue such as this. I can understand and sympathise with your question [but] if anything ought to have created a united front among Muslims, it should have been Israel. But even that did not create a united front. So I question whether any other issue will succeed. The dictates of politics are not always co-incidental with emotional or moral issues.
Unity in allegiance to 49th Imam and Fatimi Khalifatullah, the divinely chosen guide of our age is the solution in the light of verse 3:103.
Strange, this article got posted on October-8th 2023, not sure why the author never thought about posting it before but has referenced articles from 2010 and earlier during which the middle east uprising and Hamas and Islamic Jihad (hope the World knows now based on their deeds) were different than they are as of October 2023. Anyways, Ismaili Ginosis is not an official website to represent the community but we all live in free speech movement (which has its own cost (or benefits) to community and eventually the faith).
Freedom of Palestine has now taken the political shape and it cannot be linked to justify any atrocities of October-7th massacre or any related future attack to civilian of Israel or its allies, which unfortunately the people of Palestine (or the terror groups behind it) seem to propagate internationally that as of today and has potential threat to people practicing Abrahamic faith (Islam, Christianity and Judaism) in the developed countries.
I guess, in future, the results will be out behind such "free Palestine" whereas the Islamic nations and community should be actually condemning the October-7th 2023 event but strangely it has taken different tone after the attack
Ref: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/international-reactions-hamas-attack-israel
One thing is for sure, the terror group and its allies countries be it Lebanon, Iran seems to play politics in the name of Islam (probably to bring Sunni countries as well in this movement) . It will be challenging, specially for the underdeveloped or developing nations where the free speech and the factual and anecdotal information is either holded or changed by a Leftist leader or a religious group, (even a missile failure launched by Islamic Jihad on Gaza hospital is blamed to Israel) and there are countless information which gets twisted in these countries, where atrocities against Palestine's own people or their neighbors like Israel have risen significantly because of malicious groups of ISIS, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and similar terror groups.
Use of "Islam" in politics and violence unfortunately has costed to faith faith itself, to its own leaders of past. be it the war of Karbala or 9/11. Ultimately war is the outcome from these and that leads to loss of life, disaster of its own political territory and economic downfall for people who are in these countries.
There is only 1 motive behind all this as per FBI and intelligence: The One Khilafat movement and has nothing to do with "Islam". May Allah guide the righteous.