Overview
On October 31, 2023, the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), a radical Islamist
organization based in Qatar, held a press conference to announce a fatwa entitled “The duty
of Islamic governments regarding [the necessity to respond to] the Zionist invasion of Gaza.”
It called on the regimes and armies of the Muslim countries for urgent military
intervention to save the residents of the Gaza Strip and provide material, religious,
political and legal assistance.
According to the fatwa, it was primarily the duty of the
Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Israeli Arabs, as well as of the countries bordering
Israel. The fatwa criticized their silence, claiming it was a “religious sin and a betrayal of Allah.”
It was the second fatwa issued by the IUMS since the beginning of the war. On October 21,
2023, it issued a fatwa claiming that the actions of the residents of the Gaza Strip and
“Palestine” were “jihad” according to Islamic religious law, and therefore they were
obligated to “liberate their land,” and helping the residents of Gaza and “Palestine” was a
religious duty that applied to all Muslims, each according to status and ability, whether by
sacrificing life and money, or through words, demonstrations or political stance. On October
7, 2023, the organization issued a message supporting Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack