Support for Gaza from Northwest Syria: The "Wage Jihad With Your Wealth" Campaign

Interview

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October last year, a number of charity initiatives have emerged within the Muslim world under the guise of supporting Gaza in the face of Israel’s military campaign. One of the more interesting examples is the “Wage Jihad With Your Wealth” (Arabic: Jahid bi-Malika) campaign. Based out of northwest Syria, the idea of the campaign, as its name suggests, is that donating money is a form of waging jihad. The campaign has received donations from a variety of ‘muhajirin’ (foreigners who have come to the territories controlled by the insurgents in Syria).

I decided to conduct an interview to learn more about its aims, donations it has received, its position on providing support for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Western university campus protests in support of the Palestinian cause. Any parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.

Q: When was the campaign established and who leads the campaign? Is it affiliated with a specific faction or institution?

A: Praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds, and I offer prayers and salutations upon our prophet Muhammad and all his family and companions. As for what follows:

May God reward you best for this good interview, and I ask God Almighty to place it in the balances of my good deeds and your goods. I will not go on too long for the dear reader, and so I will begin by answering the first question.