# Should Palestinians stay and defend the holy land at the cost of their lives?

*A lost war: life before place, a Muslim's honour above the Kaaba, and the whole earth a place of prayer*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/s/5/
- Date: 2021-05-17 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Israel's war crimes, UAE ties & possible solutions? (full context) | Mufti Abu Layth (15:51–18:30)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6R6PNmTG0w&t=951s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/

**Topics:** Palestine and Gaza; Middle East and the wider world

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No, in Mufti Abu Layth's view: life comes before place, a Muslim's honour outweighs the Kaaba rebuilt seven times, and the whole earth is a place of prayer. He says the war is lost and that those who insist Palestinians stay would stop caring about them once they were safe elsewhere.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that the war against Israel is lost, that the preservation of life comes before holy places since a Muslim's honour outweighs the Kaaba destroyed and rebuilt seven times, and that Muslims guilt-trip Palestinians into staying and dying.

**Evidence, his words at 16:09:** “life comes before place like if you had if you had the choice to save a life or the kaaba” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6R6PNmTG0w&t=969s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims must accept that this war is lost and there is no point fighting a lost war; the tragedy is the number of people dying. While Muslims rightly make much of the deaths, they gloss over the fact that they are guilt-tripping Palestinians into enduring it. Life comes before place: he cites the hadith that a Muslim's honour, let alone his life, outweighs the Kaaba destroyed and rebuilt seven times, and asks what 'the holy land' is worth against hundreds and thousands of lives. The tyrants will not back off, and the Prophet said the whole earth is a place of prostration, so Jerusalem is not needed. He repeats that one must know when a fight is lost, that Israel is a tyrant terrorist state that will go on butchering children and is not going to stop, and that this is his suggestion for making it stop. He notes the irony that people would stop caring about Palestinians the moment they were relocated to a comfortable city elsewhere, since they care about them only so long as they stay in Palestine and die.

## Sources and names cited

- report: if you destroyed the kaaba and rebuilt it and destroyed it that is not as great as harming the honour of a muslim
- Ka'bah
- report: the earth has been made a place of prostration for me

## Transcript (machine tier, 15:51–18:30)

[15:31] bricks and mortar you know it's not it's not life more valuable it's you know allah didn't send us on this earth just to preserve some bricks preservation of life trumps all and at the end of the day look they they just want to set up a temple if they want to set up the temple and they take over and they won't be killing people and it's what dedicated to the israeli prophets who by the way are all in the quran so okay but we have to just accept that this battle is this war is lost there's no point fighting a lost war

[16:09] because it's just what is really tragic is the amount of people dying and muslim and i think even though muslims are making a big deal about that which is rightly so but they don't seem to be making a big deal about like they seem to be glossing over the fact that wait a minute why are we we guilt-tripping these people to put up with it we should be life comes before place like if you had if you had the choice to save a life or the kaaba the hadith teaches you that

[16:47] if the hadith says a muslim not even his life his honor is much more important than the entire kaaba being destroyed rebuilt destroyed rebuilt destroyed rebuilt destroyed goes up to seven times the honor of a muslim it says here you've got entire hundreds thousands lives being killed blood being shed and people you know yeah they're upset about it but they're like yeah but the holy land what the hell is the holy land yeah what is this holy land you know the holy land the holy land we

[17:25] need to realize that look human life comes first these people who are tyrants are not gonna back off so you you know what does allah say in the quran the prophet said that the whole earth is a sacred place for for us to to bow down we don't need jerusalem so i feel that look we it's we need to this is my understanding that we need to know when a fight is lost that this against israel is lost and you need to you know you need to just we need to kind of like just accept that

[18:02] and and realize that these tyrants israel is a tyrant terrorist state it is not going to back down it is going to butcher a missile children so and there needs to be some kind of this needs to stop but how do people stop it they're never gonna it doesn't seem like they're gonna stop so this is my suggestion but you see the irony is i bet you people all of a sudden wouldn't care about the palestinians because they were they only care about them so long as they're in palestine they wouldn't care about them if oh yeah let's get them relocated and living in a another place in another nice city

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment M6R6PNmTG0w/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/m6r6pnmtg0w/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.