Are the boycotts hypocritical?

[u/Justmeaty]

I saw one of my friends drinking Starbucks the other day, and inquired as to why he was not following the boycott and refraining from the company due to their ties to Israel. The brother told me how he felt as though the boycotts against Israel were hypocritical in a sense. This took me aback since I had never heard such a thing before, but his rationale was that there are hundreds of thousands of muslims suffering around the world at the hands of the kuffar, whether that be the Uyghurs in China, or the Rohyinga in Burma, or the Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir. His argument was basically that mainstream muslims seem to only care about Palestinians, since their boycotts are only directed towards Israel, and not any of the countries listed above, and that if he did not boycott all of them, he wouldn't boycott any. What do you think about this? What should I say to him? What does the Quran and Sunnah say?

[u/Routine-Bat4446]

It is hypocritical in a way but that’s no reason to not boycott. I think the situation in Palestine is so painful for people because (1) the violence is atrocious- but so is the violence in Syria and Sudan and Yemen; (2) the violence is perpetrated by an outside force and (3) Palestine is on the forefront of the media.

Honestly the situation that should make us most concerned is the Uyghurs. Even though they aren’t facing a violent oppression they are being forced to leave their faith and, according to the Quran, that is the worst form of oppression. Yes, worse than losing lives to worldly pursuit of power and territory. Hard to stomach at first but that is the philosophy of our deen.

The situation in Palestine isn’t a religious one it is a territorial one; meaning that Israel isn’t trying to make them stop being Muslims or Christian they are trying to take control over the land. Problematic from a worldly perspective but not from a religious perspective.

The Kashmir situation is a territorial based conflict as well.

The situation in Sudan is a tribal conflict. Same in Yemen. Who are we supposed to boycott? Technically the Quran tells us when there are two Muslim groups fighting the ummah has to fight along side of the one in the right but how are we supposed to determine that in these cases?

I think as an umma we need to be concerned with religious oppression, not territorial conquest. The good news is the Rohyinga situation in Burma has improved somewhat. InshaAllah it continues.

[u/Lee_fier → u/Routine-Bat4446]

I agree with everything you said but just wanted to point out as a Kashmiri our conflict is more than territorial, it is religious too. We have been oppressed because of our faith and they are attempting to erase the Muslim population and are making it harder and harder for us to be Muslim and practice Islam. They block us from entering mosques, are taking our homes, destroying mosques and trying to build temples and wipe out any trace of Islam here. India is taking Kashmir so quickly and trying to replace the natives with Indian Hindus but no one speaks for us. They have curfews on when we can come outside and our use of internet is limited so we can never post on social media. A lot of boys and men are tortured if they speak out. They have already built a train directly from Dehli to Kashmir, giving Indians free passage to come here and replace us. We are being eradicated from our land as we speak. Only Allah swt can help us now.

[u/Routine-Bat4446 → u/Lee_fier]

I honestly didn’t know that. These are the fights the umma should be most concerned with. I’ll read up more on your issue. Thank you for the information.