University Chaplains’ Perspective On Campus Protests [Part V] – A Situation Of Haqq And Batil

By Ibrahim Moiz for Muslim Matters

Previous Parts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

After the tumultuous 2023-24 school year, where American students protesting against the Israeli genocide at Gaza were vilified and repressed across the country, MuslimMatters interviewed chaplains Omer Bajwa of Yale University and Abdul-Muhaymin Priester of Grinnell College for their thoughts on these momentous events. In this third part of a five-part interview, the imams discuss the relationship of these events on interfaith relations, the impact that an institutionally approved genocide has left on non-Muslim communities, and the apocalyptic motivations behind much American support for Israel.

Oppressed and Oppressors

Abdul-Muhaymin Priester:  From a personal standpoint, speaking as a Muslim outside of anything else right now, I think one of the main things that we have to remember is that despite all of the suffering that we’re witnessing, despite how much confusion and anger that people may be experiencing, or sadness or whatever emotions they’re going through – this is from the Qadr (predestination) of Allah. Qadr is Qadaa’ (decreed). This is Divine determination of what’s going to happen and this is Divine decision about the outcome of whatever intentions or choices that we may have.

This is one of the things that I kept trying to remind the students of in my khutbahs. Just to remind them that we have to get our minds out of that secular-religious paradigm that we were operating from, and we have to look at this strictly through the prism of, like I said earlier, this is Haqq, this is Batil. You’ve got Zalims (oppressors), you’ve got Mazloums (oppressed). These people are oppressing a particular people, and there’s nothing else to discuss about, anything else, period, for me.

And I think in seeing this we also have to remember that there is something that is very good that is coming out of this right now. We have seen an entire government, political, ideological structure get dismantled in front of our eyes in the last eight months. Allah has taken all of the money and time and everything that was invested into this idea called Israel, this apartheid state of Israel, and He’s turned it on its head.
Yes, they’re fighting to uphold it, but at the same time like we understand, the entire world outside of the United States and a few of their European allies, the opinion of the entire world has flipped on its head. And everyone has, in some aspect or other, it may not be in totality, but in one aspect or another, they have seen the reality of what this project is.

What Israel Was Always About

(Abdul-Muhaymin Priester continues:) This was never about making sure that they had a homeland. Now this is where the political aspect that we talked about earlier comes in. This was about making sure that they had a foothold in a region of the world that would allow them to continually make sure that they would disrupt any effort that Muslims could ever put forward into unifying themselves among one civilized form of leadership. That’s all this was ever about. It was about dismantling the Ottoman Empire and fracturing the Muslim world to the point where they didn’t have to worry about it as a polity any longer on the world stage.

And if you’re a student of political science or history [and] you think otherwise, you need to go back and take your degree back because it didn’t work for you. That’s all this ever was. That’s all it is right now…As Muslims we need to remember this is a situation of Haqq and Batil.

And this also should be an encouragement for us to get up and put in that work that we know we need to know. It doesn’t have to do anything with being belligerent, bellicose, none of that. This is about putting in the work in order for Haqq to triumph over Batil, end of discussion. Whatever manifestation that comes through, because like we talked about – yes there’s Muslims participating, there are voices that are being heard, but we should have been the ones leading the charge from day one. Anybody who came to participate in anything that had to do with this situation with our brothers and sisters should have been coming to join us, we shouldn’t have been going to join them. Because, end of the day, these are our brothers and sisters.

And yes, everybody [will] have their questioning on the day of Yaumul-Qiama, but as Muslims we’re the ones who hold a responsibility, and we’re going to get questioned about it in some form or another for some reason, whatever capacity that we were responsible for.

I Want the Students to Know We Care

Omer Bajwa: What I would say is definitely, as a chaplain, as a spiritual advisor and spiritual caregiver to our campus community, I want them, the students and the readers to know that we care so deeply and are so impressed with their activism, their civil disobedience – this is a great American tradition, right? First Amendment right to free assembly, to free speech, to civil disobedience? Our students, our communities are understanding that this is so effective and critical and essential to this conversation.

Then, (to know that) we care for them. As the imam said, at the end of the day, from our spiritual lens, this is about Haqq and Batil, Haqq versus Batil. There’s a great moral and ethical awakening that is happening in front of our eyes. They’re asking very deep, existential, and spiritual, and philosophical questions – they’re grappling with these issues in real time, they’re seeing this. There’s a great unveiling going on about power, and about hypocrisy, and about obfuscation, and about lies.

And this is, like – you’re getting a front row education in the way the world works, is what I would say. We’re seeing that especially on college campuses. And as chaplains who work alongside these communities, we’re walking with them through this.

End of Interview

Related:

A Tide Is Turning: The Capitol Consensus On Israel Is Crumbling

Debunking Beheaded Babies, Concert Rapes, And Human Shields: Hasbara Words That Work For Israeli War Crimes, Apartheid, And Genocide