Possible
Muslim Misunderstanders and Muslim on Jew Violence
There are those in the Muslim
community who seem to think that a Jew is a very inferior person (if a
“person” at all - see VIII/55
and V/60), in
general (see here), and to a Muslim, in particular.
Certainly, you
might interpret the following example of “a positive and accurate picture of
Islam” differently. It is from: http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/fatwah_story.asp?service_id=449
and is “Copyright 1992-2006 Al Jazeera Publishing, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.” To read the piece in its entirety, just click on the link.
“IslamOnline
is the leading and orginal (sic) Islamic portal on the Internet. Based in
Dubai IslamOnline's objective is to protray (sic) a positive and accurate
picture of Islam to the world as well as providing support services for Muslims
as well as for non Muslims wishing to explore Islam. IslamOnline is the number
one source for Islamic content in the Islamic world.” (from the same URL.
Accessed December 20, 2006)
Jews as
Depicted in the Qur’an
3/23/2004
8:00:00 AM GMT
Dear Sheikh!
As-Salam `Alaykum. What, according to the Qur’an, are the main characteristics
and qualities of Jews?
Answer:
In the Name
of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All thanks
and praise are due to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear
questioner, we are really pleased to have your question and we pray to Allah to
make our humble efforts, exerted solely for His Sake, come up to your
expectation.
As regards
the question you posed, the following is the fatwa issued by Sheikh `Atiyyah
Saqr, former Head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, in which he states the following:
“The
Qur’an has specified a considerable deal of its verses to talking about Jews,
their personal qualities and characteristics. The Qur’anic description of Jews
is quite impartial; praising them in some occasions where they deserve praise
and condemning them in other occasions where they practice blameworthy acts.
Yet, the latter occasions outnumbered the former, due to their bad qualities and
the heinous acts they used to commit.
The Qur’an
praises them on the verse that reads: “ And verily We gave the Children of
Israel the Scripture and the Command and the Prophethood, and provided them with
good things and favored them above (all) peoples.” (Al-Jathiyah:16) i.e. the
peoples of their time.
Among the bad
qualities they were characterized with are the following:
1. They used
to fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah...
2. They love
to listen to lies...
3. Disobeying
Almighty Allah and never observing His commands...
4. Disputing
and quarreling...
5. Hiding the
truth and standing for misleading...
6. Staging
rebellion against the Prophets and rejecting their guidance...
7.
Hypocrisy...
8. Giving
preference to their own interests over the rulings of religion and the dictates
of truth...
9. Wishing
evil for people and trying to mislead them...
10. They feel
pain to see others in happiness and are gleeful when others are afflicted with a
calamity...
11. They are
known of their arrogance and haughtiness...
12.
Utilitarianism and opportunism are among their innate traits...
13. Their
impoliteness and indecent way of speech is beyond description...
14. It is
easy for them to slay people and kill innocents...
15. They are
merciless and heartless...
16. They
never keep their promises or fulfill their words...
17. They rush
hurriedly to sins and compete in transgression...
18. Cowardice
and their love for this worldly life are their undisputable traits...
19.
Miserliness runs deep in their hearts...
20.
Distorting Divine Revelation and Allah’s Sacred Books...
After this clear explanation,
we would like to note that these are but some of the most famous traits of the
Jews as described in the Qur’an. They have revolted against the Divine
ordinances, distorted what has been revealed to them and invented new teachings
which, they claimed, were much more better than what has been recorded in the
Torah. It was for these traits that they found no warm reception in all
countries where they tried to reside. Rather, they would either be driven out or
live in isolation. It was Almighty Allah who placed on them His Wrath and made
them den of humiliation due to their transgression. Almighty Allah told us that
He’d send to them people who’d pour on them rain of severe punishment that
would last till the Day of Resurrection. All this gives us glad tidings of the
coming victory of Muslims over them once Muslims stick to strong faith and
belief in Allah and adopt the modern means of technology."
There are those who seem to think that
being a Jew is reason enough for a Muslim to want him/her dead. Again, your
interpretation of the language may dispute this.
“…nevertheless,
the Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah’s promise whatever time
it might take. The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will
not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide
behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind
me, come on and kill him!” (From: http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html.
Accessed December 20, 2006)
According to The Sheik of Al-Azhar
University,
Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, who is considered considered to be one of the leading religious
authorities in Sunni Islam, "more than one-third of (the Qur'an) deals with the
Jews. [Tantawi] wrote a dissertation dealing with them [the Jews], all
their false claims and their punishment by Allah. I [Tantawi] still believe in
everything written in that dissertation." (From: http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR00398)
About Al-Azhar,
an Egyptian institution:
"Al-Azhar
University (Arabic: الأزهر
الشريف; al-Azhar al-Shareef, "the Noble
Azhar"), is a premier Egyptian institution of higher learning,
world-renowned for its position as a center of Islamic scholarship and
education…Al-Azhar is considered by most Sunni Muslims to be the most
prestigious school of Islamic learning, and its scholars are seen as some of the
most reputable scholars in the Muslim world." (From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University)
"AL
- AZHAR enable to spread here and there the rays of guidance, emanating from
the rowans pastilles of AL - AZHAR have been the warring the course atheism,
the procession of deviation, the doctrine of subversion, the missionary
campaigns, and the rising tide of anarchy and decadence.
AL
- AZHAR has, thereby, been conveying the Mission of Islam to people at large,
making manifest its geniuses and revealing its contribution for humanity’s
welfare and progress. It is because Islam is the faith that combines the
issues of this world and life beyond, being the creed with the right
fulfillment of worship can be realized and upon which depends the management
human affairs..." (From: http://www.alazhar.org/english/about/index.htm)
Not
insignificant to this discussion are the following websites which purport to
document anti-Semitic (there may possibly be some purported anti-Christian, Hindu,
Buddhist, etc., language there, too.) rhetoric allegedly coming from the mouths
of Muslims and Muslim leaders. The following are a few of the links that will take you to some of these sites:
From
www.YouTube.com. (There may be a little
overlap in content)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH4UuWFk5Sg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH3fCDm45Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7R_YZiRlPs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTpBAr5tH3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKRKOpjuPbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0UGrXQgFXk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0C2QvqIlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyL-9rrCDZs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLFC3TnkUAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBwbOA8Ejk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3xG3DYUXaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66maIBToYv4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWITXgXl5Kc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51poygEXYU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1aC7e_LjWg
From
www.memri.org:
http://www.memritv.org/View.asp?P1=964
http://www.memritv.org/View.asp?P1=1333
http://www.memritv.org/View.asp?P1=1329
http://www.memritv.org/View.asp?P1=1302
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD140807
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR01002
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR01102
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR2504
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP85505
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP91605
http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR2604
From
www.meforum.org (The Middle East Forum)
http://www.meforum.org/article/396
http://www.meforum.org/article/607
http://www.meforum.org/article/603
From
www.pmw.org (Palestine Media Watch)
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_Manar4kids.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_MotherNotHumiliate.asx
http://www.pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_kidPoem.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_tabisho.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_momGun_7.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_allahAkbar.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_Armedkids.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_noFear.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_toys.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_girl.asx
http://pmw.org.il/asx/PMW_kidKalach.asx
Of some
interest and possible relevance, is the relationship between the Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood:
“Founded in 1928 by the Egyptian activist Hasan al-Banna,
the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood is one of the oldest, largest and most influential
Islamist organizations. Egypt has historically been the center of the
Brotherhood's operations, though the group maintains offshoots throughout the
Arab-Muslim world -- including in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the
Palestinian territories (Hamas),
Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Sudan -- and is also active in the United States and
Europe…
…Hamas in January of 2006 defeated the rival Fatah
party to win the Palestinian legislative elections, becoming the first branch of
the Muslim Brotherhood to control an official government.” From: http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6386
accessed December 20, 2006)
The Website of the Muslim Brotherhood
can be found at: http://www.ikhwanweb.com.
Whether violence towards Jews could be
a political/religious act is a possibility you might want to consider. If
interested, you can look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MSFbhIG-sk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoi5DWt3b0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_TjzCcTkE8