All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear brother in Islam, we are really impressed by your question, which shows how concerned you are about the affairs of your fellow Muslims and your interest to abide by the Shari`ah in all aspects of your life. May Allah help us all lead a righteous life based on Islam!

It is the duty of all Muslims to lend their fellow Muslims all forms of support, each according to their means. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said "The Muslim is the brother of his fellow Muslim. So he should never oppress him or hand him over (to his enemies) or forsake him (in times of difficulty)" (Muslim).

Where Muslims are a minority, they ought to unite as one. It is important that Muslims living in the West and in other minority places organize themselves in order to fight for their rights and the rights of their fellow Muslims all over the world by using all the available means and resources (constitutional, economic, legal, media, etc.). Furthermore, Muslims living in the West should take advantage of their civil liberties and freedom of speech to give a political voice to their own communities and to advocate for their Muslim brothers and sisters abroad.

It is common knowledge that there are many decent and concerned people in the West who are against these atrocities and aggression against innocent people. Therefore, Muslims living in the West must make use of the position of these just people to denounce all forms of terror and aggression against the innocent non-combatant men, women, and children.

In his response to your question, Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, president of the Fiqh Council of North America, states the following:

Our duty is first to turn to Allah and pray to Him sincerely to help the People of Palestine and Lebanon in their difficulty. We should repent from our sins and start doing good things by keeping away from sin, corruption, injustice, and wrong doings to any person.

Second, we should be united as one body and one Ummah. We should forget our differences based on madhhabs (schools of jurisprudence) or nationalities. We should work together for our common objectives. We must be one voice against the injustice and oppression committed by Israel.

Third, we should be generous in helping the victims of this man-made disaster.

Fourth, we should work to change public opinion in favor of the oppressed Palestinians and Lebanese people. Israeli propagandists have been quite successful in turning the attention of the people away from their evils of bombing and killing and injuring thousands of innocent people.