Boycotting Israel?

Many Muslims talk about boycotting Israel and Israeli products, even America or American products. I don’t necessarily believe the Muslim’s doing this will change much for Israel or American’s international powerful positions, but I do understand and accept why a boycott is adamant for Muslims on a personal level.

Muslims are meant not to add to terror in any way. Muslims are not supposed to support terror; directly or indirectly. Muslims who do such things know they will individually be punished (by the only One who truly can punish us) and are meant for our own sake as well as societies to support peace and only peace.

Muslims are instructed to stay away from the things that are unclear to us, as well. So if the acts of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, etc. make the issue of who ‘peace-seekers’ actually are unclear to you and I, shouldn’t we recognize that all the innocents who have suffered at the hands of them are in no way more important than the innocents at the hands of America or Israel? If you and I are confused, should we not support any of them?

This point was addressed to me in a conversation over on Secret Arabian**. I understand and am even compelled myself to support Hezbollah and deny Israel and America the same support because of recent atrocities and my belief of ‘when stuck between two evils it’s best to choose whichever seems less evil’. This is still pondering in my mind and I do have a blatant bias on the issue because of it. I’m sure many of us do regardless of which side we stand on. But I am not physically or financially supporting Hezbollah or Al Qaeda and I never knowingly would. I see many of their actions as disproportionate to the atrocities that I believe Israel & America inflicted on the Muslim nations first. But I also believe that they are fighting (albeit, in a less than efficient and desirable way that often causes Muslims more trouble than we’d like to admit) for the sake of protecting Islamic freedom, morals and culture – as is rightfully ours. The same thing could be believed for Israeli’s or American’s, who insist that their disproportional responses to terror they’ve felt at the hands of Al Qaeda or Hezbollah (which also cause America and Israel more problems than they’d like to admit).

I am not consciously boycotting Israel or America at present. Though I’d been given these links and warnings before, the point never really struck until I read the Fatwa’s from multiple Imam’s from what I believe are multiple sects of Islam, including both Shia and Suni. I believe, somewhere in Islam it’s believed that if all educated Muslim’s agree on one point, it is true and thus I believe I should be making effort to boycott as instructed here.

I have a Nokia phone; actually I have three of them as I’ve never cared for any other brand. I used to drink Starbucks coffee almost daily, and the only products I’ve ever used on my child were Johnson & Johnson. I’m not running out the door to resell my phones in order to buy a different brand. I’m not throwing away what’s left in the bottles of my child’s toiletries. These were purchased before I made this conscious decision and before I knew they were supporters of Israel; I will get whatever is left out of them and will not purchase them again, it’s that simple. I will not drink Starbucks coffee. I will not buy another Kitkat bar, I will try my hardest to avoid the products that are listed on this page, and I will check the background research done to verify the claims that these companies are supporting Israel.

I’ve heard all the arguments from those who are against boycotting, saying it’s useless because things like the Internet or Intel (pretty much necessities) would have to be boycotted as well and we’d lead ourselves to ruin as a nation. At the end of the day, it’s an individual choice to make; what is a necessity and what is not; what we believe will make our challenge intolerable and what will benefit us in the long run. Personally, I believe the internet should be exempt, simply because leaving the world wide web Muslim free, means we have no voice to partial and non-partial users.

I do not expect non-Muslims to fully understand this and I’m well aware that many of you look at us as the terrorists. This information is not necessarily meant for non-Muslims unless they’re willing to question with open minds and accept that I’m the last person who will claim to have all the religious answers. And I would appreciate any thoughts from better educated Muslims on this, corrections if I’ve misrepresented anything here and welcome all to discuss this topic.

For now, here’s that link again, Boycott Israel, which includes Fatwas, explanations and research information and resources to assure that Muslims are boycotting what they are for the right reasons, according to their choice based on information provided and not just the list of products without any background information.

**I noticed in the comments at Secret Arabian someone asked me which Imam I follow, and I hadn’t answered. I don’t know. I’m pretty much a self-educated Muslim who has chosen the Sunnah is the right path. I have not studied different Sunni sects to determine the differences and decide on a single one. I have studied the history of Islam through the Quraan, Hadiths and multiple religious writings, though during that time I failed to note who was writing and what for which sect. Since I found few (possibly none other than things like, some Muslim’s believe touching a member of the opposite sex breaks wodhoo and some don’t) discrepancies in the many things I’d read on and off-line, I’d not have guessed that they were written by different scholars. Sunni’s in different sects must have more in common with one another than Christians of different sects because had I noted the same discrepancies, I’d probably not have reverted. I became Muslim based on the concepts of core Islamic belief and I’ve not fully applied those beliefs (other than the five pillars of Islam – which all sects abide by) to every aspect of my life.