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Whenever I say that Egypt should open its borders immediately to enable the persecuted masses to flee to safety, I am offered this rebuttal: “But if they leave, they will lose their lands forever.”

A demand asked of no other people on earth. When the Rohingya fled Myanmar, the masses demanded Bangladesh open its borders, even as it struggled with its own humanitarian crisis resulting from unprecedented floods.

When Syrian refugees fled with their lives into Lebanon, Turkey, and on to Europe, we rallied around them, sending containers of aid, warm winter coats and makeshift homes. For every other people, we say, “The earth is spacious: come!”

But of this downtrodden people we demand the opposite, pleading with them to stay in harm’s way, as if it were a religious duty. Though not, of course, their leaders, who are free to take up residence in Beirut, Doha, Istanbul and London as they please.

For common folk, taking flight is made out to be a shameful deed: a betrayal of the cause. But this is not what the Quran says, which instead recounts the migrations of Abraham, Jacob and Moses, enjoining that nascent community of believers to do the same.

It is as if no one has ever heard that the preservation of life is central to our tradition, or that our faith is intended as a living path towards achieving a state of safety and good health. That to be a Muslim means striving throughout one’s life to be healthy, both individually and collectively.

How does demanding a people submit to horrendous suffering and persecution square with such ideals? In truth, whether they remain or leave, that promised annexation is coming anyway, as intended by the supposed resistance so eager to spark all out war.

Whatever happens to a people, the land remains. Regardless of the apocalyptic ramblings of men of faith, this land has exchanged hands nearly every generation for 4000 years. A people alive can always migrate back home when hostilities cease.

But a people wiped out with white phosphorous artillery rounds and laser-guided missiles? Half a nation sacrificed so that the Hamas leadership abroad get the ground invasion they yearn in pursuit of that victory they believe is finally theirs? What madness is this?

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the east or west, but it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and to free slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which you have made; and to be steadfast in misfortune, adversity, and times of danger. Such are the people of truth, mindful of God.

Quran 2:177

We will not be successful until we truly respect human life, and strive our utmost to preserve it. Let the downtrodden flee to safety.