The sudden piercing sound shattered the brief calm as it travelled at lightning speed through the darkness. Those familiar shuddered at what was to come next, for this was unmistakably a JDAM US made bomb, approaching 2,000 pounds in weight, homing in rapidly on its target.

The destruction was absolute. The whole structure came down within seconds in a ball of fire amidst a deafening explosion. Instantly more than a thousand innocents, mostly children, seeking treatment and refuge or both, were torn to pieces, body parts scattered like debris, with their souls hastening to their Lord. The Al Ahli hospital in southern Gaza was no more, its annihilation nothing less than a war crime of epic proportions, committed by a Zionist fascist state desirous to conquer more territory no matter the cost. 

On the ground mothers wailed over the lifeless bodies of their babies, fathers cried in despair, clutching hopelessly to what remained of their bloodied children. The cries of grief, anger and desperation echoed long into the night and do so to this day.

Imagery and videos of the carnage filled social media, reverberating across the globe within minutes. The Muslim world has reacted. Charged crowds have taken to the streets in cities across the Muslim world, focussing their anger on Israeli and other embassies they hold responsible, eager to bring to account those that have butchered their fellow brethren, with civilians of all backgrounds willing to take up arms in the defence of their brethren.

Even in the Western world, huge demonstrations have taken to the streets, outraged by their governments’ blind support for an illegitimate state whose standing today has been built ruthlessly on ethnic cleansing and genocide. “Free, Free Palestine” are words that today reverberate in the centres of power in the capitals of Europe and US.

Amidst the uproar, a deafening silence has emerged from those that matter the most. As Gaza, an open air prison on a tiny land strip, continues to be obliterated whilst under a brutal siege, having 6,000 bombs dropped upon it within a week, more than what the US dropped upon Afghanistan within a year, no military protection has arrived in their defence.

Across the Muslim world, with collectively soldiers numbering millions and the combined arsenal rivalling any global superpower, not a single sound is to be heard from the military barracks in defence of the blessed land of Palestine, where countless prophets have walked upon, home of the third most holiest mosque in Islam and where Prophet Muhammad (saw) himself led all the prophets (as) in prayer and ascended to the heavens. Not a single bullet fired, not a creak of a tank, alas not even a single takbeer is heard coming from the Muslim soldiers and officers in response to the ongoing massacre.

And this includes Pakistan. Arguably the strongest power amongst Muslim states, a potent fighting force reared on Islam possessing a well-trained and hardened army of over a million men, standing and reserves, and the only nuclear power in the Islamic world. 

Yet the time to act is now.

Right now.

No longer can the Pakistan Army sit on the fence, suspended in a no-man’s land between Haq and Baatil, of desiring to act but not acting. It is decision time.

Pakistan’s military officers; the majors, colonels, brigadiers and generals and the like, need to know that failure to engage comes with grave consequences. Firstly, no longer can they claim to represent Islam and have they the right to name their battle tanks after Khalid (ra), the fearless sahabi and general, who fought over a hundred battles leading from the front, or their missiles as Ghauri, who liberated much of India with Islam centuries ago, nor their navy vessels as Zulfiqar, the fearsome sword given by the Prophet Muhammad (saw) to Ali (ra). Indeed they will no longer have the right to these weapons nor the even the right to don their military uniforms. 

Secondly, and much more profound, they need to brace themselves for the inevitable punishment of Allah swt in this life, and the next, that will befall them at any moment, from any direction and in any form, as a result of His (swt) wrath over their persistent inaction despite having the means to act.

But equally they need to remember, that if they help Allah’s swt cause, Allah swt will forgive and help them. Indeed they will be up against great powers, but as their illustrious predecessors before them experienced in similar situations, victory is theirs if they place their complete trust in the All Mighty, knowing that the All Powerful is on their side.

So let the Pakistan military march forth to Palestine, to liberate the lands and masjid Al Aqsa, rallying every other Muslim military and force behind it in the process, ending this period of intense oppression in the process and ushering in the just reign of Islam under the Khilafah.