The Virtuous City of Gaza: The Divine Template for Gaza’s Future
Gaza Will Not Rise Without a Vision. But it Already Exists
Realistically, the Gaza Strip—and perhaps the broader Palestinian cause—currently has no future worth imagining. In statecraft, power dictates outcomes. Recent events have underscored the Palestinian people's stark powerlessness.
The Axis of Resistance" lies shattered. Iran and its allies have proven vulnerable to Israel’s overwhelming military might. The balance of power has collapsed utterly against Palestinians. Twenty years from now, Gaza may exist only as a depopulated enclave, governed by dysfunction, trapped in perpetual reconstruction, occupation, internal strife, and largely abandoned by those who watched its destruction.
Unless the Palestinian nation—and the broader Arab, Islamic, and Western worlds claiming solidarity with it—embraces a vision capable of guiding Gaza beyond mere survival toward genuine renewal. One compelling path lies in the philosophy of Abu Nasr al-Farabi, whose Virtuous City offers a model for moral, intellectual, and spiritual flourishing—a vision waiting centuries for this moment of profound crisis.
Gaza’s Telos Cannot Be Resistance Alone
The Palestinian national project emerged from collapse—Ottoman retreat, British betrayal, Zionist colonization. Palestinians inherited oppression and infringement upon basic human dignity. Resistance naturally became their defining stance. Gaza, in particular, has embodied this role. Following the 1948 war, the All-Palestine government, under Hajj Amin al-Husseini, was established there, serving as a nexus for Palestinian fedayeen resisting the newly formed state of Israel.
Yet resistance without transcendence becomes a trap. A nation cannot build its future solely on opposition. Gaza’s current condition—a traumatized, starved graveyard of hope—is in part the result of a nation caught in a struggle defined by survival rather than flourishing.
Every Strong Nation Has a North Star
Successful states historically begin with a clear telos—an anchoring purpose guiding legitimacy, strategy, and attracting alliances. America and modern Europe emerged from secular egalitarianism and Enlightenment values. Marxist-Leninism shaped the Soviet Union and China. Zionism integrated Jewish trauma with modern sovereignty. Much of the Arab-Islamic world draws legitimacy from the Prophet Muhammad’s vision of a just society.
The core telos of the Palestinian national movement has been survival through resistance—against occupation, erasure, and indignity. Its moral authority rests upon sumūd—the steadfast commitment to endure. The right of return, memories of the land, martyrdom—these are sacred pillars symbolizing profound loss and dispossession. Yet what Palestinians urgently need is a forward-looking telos: a clear vision of the society they aim to create, not just the oppression they resist.
Al-Farabi’s Vision Was Made for Gaza
Al-Farabi’s Virtuous City is precisely such a vision. This medieval Greco-Islamic treatise synthesizes Greek rationalist philosophy within the Islamic tradition. Its ultimate goal is sa‘ada—human flourishing—achieved through intellectual, spiritual, and moral perfection. The truly Virtuous City exists to elevate the souls of its inhabitants to connect to the divine, a concept Al-Farabi labeled The Active Intellect. Education is sacred, as it cultivates rational faculties, connects individuals to the divine, and promotes collective virtue and justice. Leadership arises from the wises rulers rather than the most powerful Warlord. The Citizens of the Virtuous City harmonize like organs within a living body, all contributing their function for the greater good.
The Virtuous City provides a universally resonant template deeply intertwined with the Islamic tradition. Its framework speaks profoundly across the Israeli-Palestinian divide:
Intellectual perfection: valued by Jews and cultivated by Palestinians.
Spiritual perfection: central to Islam, resonant across Abrahamic faiths.
Moral perfection: embodying justice and mercy, bridging Torah and Hadith, Jerusalem and Medina, coexistence and conflict.
Practical Palestinian Needs Come First
Right now, Gaza is starving. Post-war plans circulate, some of which formalize ethnic cleansing. A philosophical framework might seem detached from daily survival. And indeed, as I write from thousands of miles away, it inevitably is.
Yet humanitarian relief without direction merely manages perpetual crisis. Immediate survival needs must be met while simultaneously igniting a coherent vision of sustainable renewal.
Gaza’s Rebuilding Must Honor Its Martyrs
Palestinians universally deserve self-determination. While the international community should never dictate Palestine’s future, it rightly asks what future it is asked to support. Rebuilding Gaza must not recreate conditions leading to its repeated destruction.
I invoked Islamic history not as an imposition but as an offering of spiritual inheritance, after recognizing schools sheltering Gaza’s displaced that were named after philosophers like Al-Farabi. This legacy lives in Islamic intellectual history and the Palestinian national consciousness.
Let Gaza rise—not merely as reclaimed rubble but as the Virtuous City—demonstrating justice, wisdom, and mercy to the world.
Palestinians must recognize this moment: global awareness of your struggle has peaked, yet attention fades quickly. If you reject an outsider’s vision for Gaza’s rebirth, propose your own—grounded in your values, comprehensible to the global conscience. Failure means this historic moment passes without meaningfully advancing liberation. The sacrifice of over 50,000 martyrs will become tragically meaningless.
Gaza will not rise simply from visible suffering. It will rise only if it chooses a vision worthy of its sacrifice. If Al-Farabi’s blueprint is inappropriate, then reveal yours. But reject returning to martyrdom, resentment, and endless resistance—paths leading inevitably to planetary devastation.