Those Who Broke Free from Ignorance

“What do I care about Jerusalem or Palestine?”—we live in an age where people share Ramadan greetings for Isra and Mi’raj while uttering such words. What a contradictory, superficial, and disconnected age this is... There is abundant knowledge but little awareness; plentiful sharing but deficient understanding; plenty of words, but no conviction.

When Mi’raj is mentioned, people feel emotion—but they do not know where it took place. Those who know pretend to have forgotten.

Mi’raj begins in Jerusalem. It is a truth in which the Prophet walked from Al-Masjid al-Aqsa toward the heavens.

That land today is soaked in blood. Al-Masjid al-Aqsa is being defiled with postage stamps. Children are crushed by bullets, mothers by grief, and the earth by death. Yet still, some dare to say, “What does Palestine have to do with us?”

This is the real issue. This is not a matter of geographical knowledge—it is a matter of faith, conscience, and the capacity to form bonds.

We are Muslims. Our religion does not limit us to prayer alone; it commands us to take ownership, to share in suffering, and to stand against oppression. We have become a generation that soothes its conscience with candlelight messages and mistakes silence for wisdom.

I am not making this critique from a distance. I have broken free from that ignorance. I know it from within myself. I come from days when I never heard the name Jerusalem even in candlelight conversations. When Palestine was mentioned, nothing came to mind—not a map, not a history, not a resistance. Therefore, I do not look down on anyone. I simply want you to see, through my own inner journey, that awakening is possible.

Awakening is a moment. A single image, a single word, a single text...

It begins with self-questioning. If you accept as your guide the Prophet who walked toward the heavens during Mi’raj, then you must also stand up for the land upon which he set his footsteps. If not with your hands, then with your tongue; if not with your tongue, then with your heart.

Otherwise, your path is incomplete, your prayers are half-formed.

I speak of an awakening not merely built on knowledge, but on consciousness layered upon it—not the few symbolic images shared on social media, but knowing Jerusalem as part of your own honor... as you know Lefkoşa, as you know Mağusa... I speak of cultivating a soul that does not merely hear of the blood spilled there as news, but feels it flowing in its own veins...

The ignorance of this age is digital, rapid, and above all, mass-based. Yet awakening is equally possible at the same speed—if only people confront themselves honestly: “What am I immersed in? What am I ignoring? What am I complicit in?”

I said it—I know from my own experience. Everyone faces their own test with Jerusalem. Some pass it with candlelight greetings; others with silence. Some break free from the ignorance of the age—not by walking, but by thinking, and by adopting a stance—and live their Mi’raj to the extent they can.