Khader Adnan was no stranger to “administrative detention” or rather imprisonment without trial by the Israelis. On this occasion however, the Israeli legal system may have regretted taking such a step. After all, how could they anticipate the up and coming, heroic and very long 66 day hunger strike that Adnan embarked upon? Israel was caught between the daily Palestinian driven demonstrations and the every growing media coverage that resulted from Khader Adnan struggle itself.

Twitter played an invaluable role. During Adnan’s hunger strike, Palestinians and their worldwide supporters tweeted their hastags up to the top 3 worldwide trending terms on a daily basis. Eventually headlines were made by the mainstream media in various parts all over the world. For Israel, this just would not do. Like a rabbit in the headlights, Israel could only do one thing to save it own interests and that is to get out of the way. It has now become in Israel’s interest to keep Adnan alive.

Adnan is currently in a Israeli hospital, taking in food upon the agreement of his release in April. The Israeli courts have ordered a review of the case for Adnan’s detention and whilst there is still some suspicion that Israel will simply put him back into the detention, we know that the Palestinians will never give up on him. They never give up on one of their own.

This is, in itself, an important lesson for the rest of the Muslims worldwide. Especially for those in the UK. Injustice and oppression of Muslims is rife in the forms of physical oppression from puppet regimes and terrorist nations or the political and ideological oppression through Islamophobia and teachings of a diluted Islam. Yet this is what we all have in common and, at the same time, have not only found it extraordinary hard and even refused to unite upon this issue over the past number of decades.

There is of course the exception of the Palestinians and others who face dire degree of persecution.  The people of Kashmir are another apt example. They find time to help those worse off than themselves, such as Aafia Siddiqi, despite going through their own hell.

So, whats stopping us? Its more than just sectarianism. We no longer see it as our duty to help the oppressed, despite the fact it is Fardh for a Muslim. To make it even worse, we very rarely hear of such an obligation or leadership from our religious figures. Whilst there is a void of understanding and leadership on these issues, surely it comes to us as the Muslim mass to rise up for those who need us most.

If we are ever to unite and overcome the difficulties, we as an Ummah, face and help our oppressed brothers and sisters, our current attitude to them and to Islam has to change. Social media, especially twitter, a space without boarders or social divisions, is the best place to continue that movement. It is in this space we can directly impact the lives of others through our Islamically obligated driven activism hundreds of miles away.

About the author

Imran Shah is a freelance writer from UK who has special interest in constructive role of Muslims in the Western society.

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