It is fard kifaya upon the ummah to help such a people so your comment is baseless from a fiqhi perspective. A person can do what lies in his power. If he can feed people, he does that. If he can perform dua, he does that. If he can send money (which is perhaps more important than presenting himself there) he does that.
Not his responsibility to physically go there and fight, feed people, help, etc .. - as the respected Shaykh Yaqoubi exhorted people to do in his letter.
Originally Posted by vagabond Why don't you go ahead and answer that question yourself? Is it really the same level of responsibility? What if your own neighborhood was attacked or was afflicted with a natural disaster? How would you react? Forget about you and me, how about the leaders of our Ummah react? Now, what if the same thing happened half a world away? What would be the reaction? Not the same .. you see? I gave him practical advise .. so that he actually does *something* rather than sitting around and sulking over something which isn't his direct responsibility. If it is his direct responsibility in the same way as if his own home was attacked - well, that has grave implications for many people. Are you willing to say that?
Would we have the same attitude if an earthquake happened in our homecountry even though we are not living there?
Now you are bringing in the issue of fard ayn. Stick to the original topic and your comment. It is about helping your fellow brothers and sisters who are in need of help. This is fard kifaya.
It is fard kifaya i.e. just like the funeral prayer. But if you don't care about fellow Muslims you can stick to your own family members.