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As a medical student I’ve always been interested in getting involved in humanitarian work, be it a natural disaster, relief or aid for civilians in war torn countries. I must say that my father played a big role in this. When the Tsunami struck Acheh in 2004, a city in the North West of Sumatra, Indonesia, he volunteered to be part of the humanitarian aid team providing medical relief to the victims. He asked me whether I was interested to join as an extra volunteer as it would be good for the team. That was my first opportunity to step into the real world. However, I turned the offer down. I was 17 then, and like other teenagers of my age, doing volunteer work wasn’t the coolest thing to do. Little did I realise that I wasted a golden opportunity.  In later years, I was not able to join my father in his relief missions as I was busy with my A levels and university placement.
When Gaza was attacked during Operation Cast Lead, a friend of mine asked me to join him in a Palestine solidarity campaign rally held in Cardiff. I was a bit hesitant on doing so as I’ve never been to a rally or demonstration before. I kept on reassuring myself that nothing bad would happen and it is for Islam, so why shouldn’t I?

 “And those who strive in Our (cause),- We will certainly guide them to our Paths: For verily Allah is with those who do right. “ (29:69)

Since then, I’ve been following the news on Palestine and other issues on the Islamic world like never before. Sadly, the media has always portrayed a negative picture of Islam. It just doesn’t fit with the image of the real Islam. “Hamas uses civilians as human shield”, “Al-Qassam rockets hit civilian buildings in Israel” were the buzz quotes claimed by certain sides regarding Hamas.

Believing that a person or a group of people who fight for Islam should abide with Islamic laws, I became curious about the situation in Gaza. Bearing in mind that the media do make mistakes from time to time either intentionally or not, I really wanted to go there and see things for myself. Since then, it’s been a dream of mine to visit Gaza.

My first attempt to enter Gaza was in the summer of 2009 when I joined the second Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy in Cairo trying to break the two year old siege. Viva Palestina, led by George Galloway had successfully broken the siege earlier that year after the war (first convoy), to give medical aids and basic necessities. The second convoy dubbed themselves “the U.S. convoy” as most of the convoy members were made up of U.S. citizens.

On the authority of Abu Saeed Al-Khurdari, who said:
I heard the messenger of Allah say: "Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest of faith."

However, my first attempt to enter Gaza failed as a result of my lack of preparation. I didn’t have the right documents required by the authorities to pass through the Suez Canal, and with a few other obstacles that I faced, I had to pull out from the convoy. Even though my time with the convoy was short, I made friends with a few brothers and the experience I encountered had made me more mature and prepared me for my second attempt to enter Gaza.
This time, Alhamdulillah, after full preparation, I set off for my second attempt to enter Gaza during  the winter 2009/10 break. I took a flight to Syria to meet with the Viva Palestina convoy of about 500 people and 200 vehicles in Damascus, which was already halfway through the journey from London to Gaza. The volunteers were Arab British, White British, Black British, Irish, American, Turkish, Malaysian, Japanese, Belgian, and some other nationalities. The convoy spent two days in a 4 star hotel in Damascus which was sponsored by generous local (May Allah bless them). The convoy took this opportunity to get some rest and replenish their supplies. Some others used this free time to explore the historic Damascus. On our last night in Damascus, a press conference was held with a Hamas leader and George Galloway. As I don’t have any basic Arabic I was just relying on a friend’s translation on the content of the Hamas leader’s speech. Basically, it was a thank you speech to the convoy for fighting for the rights of the Palestinians. When the conference ended, a few male convoy members started to dance with background music. It seems that they were enjoying themselves a bit too much in my point of view. This is not how you want to get ‘barakah’ from Allah. They were making circles and a man spinning around in the middle like he was ‘high’. Most of the audience had left, but there were still some who were amazed with the dance and remained in the conference room taking photos. After taking some photos, I left for my room. I needed some sleep before starting my first journey on the road.

We left Damascus after remaining idle for two days and headed towards Amman. I was placed in “Echo 6” van with two other brothers, Mahmoud and Roshan. Echo 6 was part of the Echo group which was led by a respectable leader, Zuber. Once we had left the hotel, there were many locals waiting by the side of the road cheering and waving at us. We honked in return.  We moved in groups of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot. Most of the vehicles in our group were equipped with the CB radio for communication and I was so excited using it for the first time. Mahmoud, who has been driving Echo 6 from London put on the Quran recitation on his small ‘mp3 like’ device along the journey. Somehow, I felt comfortable being with these people. I’m so thankful to Allah that He placed me with pious men. The view along the way was scenic with olive trees on both sides of the road with a silhouette of mountains on the horizon and the blue sky on top of us like a canopy.

We were warned that there would be a problem with the Jordanian authorities at the border as they apply strict rules for their national security. Some of us started to open up a discussion on why the Jordanian authorities were giving us a hard time. There were lots of theories for it,  of which I wasn’t sure of as my knowledge on Middle East countries  is so little. Of all theories, one sounds rather familiar. Just like the Egyptian government,  the Jordanian government is pro-western and thus they were trying their best to slow us down or give us as much trouble as they can. Sometimes, it seemed so but Allah knows best. To me, throughout the journey to reach the people of Gaza we had a hard time with many deterrents. It wasn’t  just with the Jordanian authority, but with the Egyptians the Israelis, , time, pressure from outside and home, the problems with our vehicle and not to forget the problems within ourselves.

I have seen some of the Muslims in the convoy who didn’t behave like proper Muslims in terms of socialising and ibadah. Alhamdulillah, they were just a minority and may Allah give them Hidayah (guidance). Almost half were pious or at least kept themselves to be among the pious. InshaAllah, they have fulfilled what Allah asked us to do. However, within the group of people there seemed to be some who had a disease in their heart. There was no unity. They hardly obeyed what was instructed by their group leaders. Each of them started to fight with each other, trying to prove who’s right and who’s wrong. Whenever a problem surfaced, one would try to prove that the other was wrong and that his idea should be accepted. Such actions led to the breakdown of certain groups in the convoy and caused trouble on multiple occasions. Because of this some of the groups arrived late at the meeting point. Some vehicles got separated and were lost.

 “Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, "We believe", and that they will not be tested?”
(29:2)

The remaining volunteers, which I am keen to mention, were the most successful group. Since I joined the convoy from Damascus, I was hearing a lot about this particular group. They were well organised, always moved in groups and were very tight to the schedule. They were the Turkish group which made up almost half of the convoy. Initially I thought this was because they can communicate well with each other as all of them came from the same country and spoke the same language. When the convoy was stuck in Aqaba, the port city in Jordan, I was able to get to know only a few Turkish people in the convoy. They were very nice indeed even though there was hardly any verbal communication between us as most of them did not speak English.  From Aqaba, the Turkish convoy became the main movers of the convoy as they took care of most of the convoy’s logistics as the delay in Aqaba cost  many of us a lot. Some volunteers left for home.
Eventually, the convoy was rerouted back to Lattakia, a port city in Syria where our vehicles were loaded onto a Turkish vessel and the convoy members were to be flown to El-Arish, in Egypt and reunited with the vehicles there. We stayed at A’idun Refugee Camp in Lattakia for about 5 days and that was the time I had a chance to get to know the Turkish volunteers better. They would always pray together on time regardless  of where and what the condition was at that time. At night almost all of them would recite the Quran and perform Tahajjud(night prayer) . They take care of their brothers in Islam like they are blood relatives. Each night I would join them around a  campfire drinking ҫay, eating Turkish delight and having a chat to get to know each other. Some of them spoke moderate English while with others I would rely mostly on translations and my limited ability to speak Turkish. Murat and Oktay are the ones  who could speak English. They would always remind me that the believers are brothers and they should take care of each other. They quoted that from a verse in Quran. I had a great time with them during those 5 days of waiting in Lattakia before we headed for the port of
 El-Arish…

On the authority of Anas bin Malik, the servant of the messenger of Allah, that the prophet (pbuh) said :
"None of you [truely] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." (related by Bukhari and Muslim)

by
Muhammad Ibrahim Azmi


Continue the story next month as we follow the convoy into Egypt, amid chaotic scenes at the airport and the port of El-Arish,  and eventually to Gaza.

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