News:

On Tuesday 8^th July, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees published a report entitled, "Woman-Alone - The Fight for Survival by Syrian Refugee Women". It stated that more than 145,000 Syrian families now living in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan are headed by women with sole responsibility for providing for themselves and their children because their men had been killed, captured, or were missing in Syria. This is 1 in 4 of all families who have fled the fighting in the country. The report details how these women face a life of severe poverty, harassment and isolation, and how they struggle daily to provide food and shelter for their children as well as protect their own dignity from criminals intent on violating them. 1 in 3 reported that they did not have enough to eat. The report reads, "Most faced a daily struggle to find enough money to pay the rent, buy food and basic items, or access services such as healthcare. Their stories were often heartbreaking: mothers having to spend hours getting their sick children to a hospital for treatment; mothers having no choice but to let their children work, or leaving their children alone to go find a way to make money." One woman, Faten, aged 70 and living in Cairo who was interviewed for the report, stated that she went without food to provide for her granddaughters aged 9 and 11. She said, "I don't eat until they're full. I'm happy to eat a toasted piece of bread to make sure they get enough to eat." Antonio Guterres, UNHCR Chief commented, "For hundreds of thousands of women, escaping their ruined homeland was only the first step in a journey of grinding hardship....They are being humiliated for losing everything." Almost 3 million people have now fled the country - nearly 4 out of 5 of them are women and children.

Comment:

The honourable Muslim women of Al-Sham have escaped the bloodshed and indescribable oppression in Syria, only to be subjected to a living nightmare in their new home. Despite their heart-breaking plight, this is not enough for the conscienceless Muslim regimes to move to provide them good lives or mobilise their armies to protect their blood. These treacherous governments have committed a double crime against our sisters. Not only have they abandoned them to the clutches of the mass-murderer Assad and his henchmen who violated them in the most brutal way but they have also forsaken them on their own soil, forcing them to live lives of never-ending misery and unceasing agony.

O Sons of the Muslim armies! Is it not surely time for you to dispense with these treacherous rulers who have bought nothing but humiliation and pain to this Ummah, and to move to the protection of your sisters who are crying out for your protection? Is your heart not torn apart by what you see and hear of what your honourable sisters and their children are enduring in Syria, Palestine, Myanmar, Central Africa and across the world, while these despicable tyrants chain you to your barracks and do not allow you to move to their aid? Do you not wish to embrace the honour of being the defenders and heroes of the Muslims, those of whom Believers of generations to come will make dua for as those who liberated the Ummah from its oppressors? So replace your fear with courage, your shame with dignity and walk in the footsteps of the great generals of the past of the likes of Salahuddin Ayubi who in this very month of Ramadan returned honour to the land of Al-Sham by ridding it of its oppressors. When some of his advisors counselled him to delay the fighting till after the month of fasting, Salahuddin replied to them, "Man's life-span is short, death gives no appointment and leaving the occupiers in the Muslim lands for more than a single day, despite the ability of driving them out is an abominable act that I could not bear." In one arousing speech to his soldiers, this great general said, "Dear brothers! Remember that the life, honour and property of every Muslim is under your protection. You are the supporters and soldiers of Islam today. There is no one except you who can face this enemy. If you lose heart and thus give way, the enemy will destroy the Muslim lands. And if it so happens - may God forbid! - then you will be answerable for it, because you have taken responsibility to defend this land and its people. Therefore, on you alone depends the safety of the Muslims and their lands."

O sons of the Muslim armies! You are the descendents of Salahuddin, so take note of his wise words, follow in his legacy, and defend your Ummah. Return Ramadan as the month of victories for the Believers. And give triumph to Islam through your hands by ridding our lands of these cowardly, criminal regimes and giving your Nusrah for the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" that will return honour to your name as defenders and fighters for your Deen. And in doing so you will embrace the great status of the Ansar of Islam which promises untold rewards in the Hereafter and one of the highest stations in Jannah.

Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir