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ISLAM (19)

 

Islam’s View of the Jews (1)

Victor M. Eskew

 

            When a person investigates various aspects of Islam, there are mixed messages sent by different ones associated with the religion.  This is true when one looks at Islam’s view of the Jews.  In this article, we want to set before our readers two quotes.  These quotes will verify the truthfulness of the statement just made.

            At www.islamicfaq.or, a question is posed that says:  What is Islam’s view of the Jews?  The following is the answer.

 

“Islam requires Muslims to respect people of all faiths and this clearly includes followers of Judaism.

 

“Jews are regarded as one of the groups of people described as ‘People of the Book.’  This is a title given to two groups of people; the Jews and the Christians, both of which were given guidelines directly by their founders, Moses(as) and Jesus(as) respectively.  Furthermore Islam does not condemn any individual since everyone has an equal opportunity to earn God’s pleasure.  So Jews have the same opportunity and have been respected in Islam and Islamic communities.  When the Prophet (saw) travelled to Madinah and was made Head of the State, he made a treaty with the Jews based completely on fairness and equal opportunities.  Another example would be the Golden Aga of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula, that being when the Muslims ruled Spain in the eighth century.  The Qur’an does note that some Jews were responsible for seeking to have Jesus(as) – a prophet of God – killed on the cross and this earned them God’s displeasure.  However as mentioned above this in no way means that all Jews are guilty or indeed punishable as the Qur’an states that,

 

Surely, the Believers, and the jews and the Christians and the Sabian – whichever party from among these truly believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them nor shall they grieve. (Ch. 2: V.63).”

 

This statement makes it sound like Islam has a positive view of the Jews.  The first sentence of the quote affirms that they are “required” to respect Judaism.  If this were the only statement a person every read about Islam’s view of the Jews, he would think that they are kind and respectful to all those in Judaism.

 

Let’s now look at the second quote.  It is taken from .www.txlady706.wordpress.com in an article entitled, “Islam and the hatred of the Jew – by Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Yaqub.  The Sheikh is an Egyptian cleric.  His speech aired on Al-Rahma TV on January 2, 2009.

 

“Our hatred, animosity, and rage toward the Jews grow.  Our hatred of the Jews grows when we see them destroying our brothers.  Rage boils within us.

 

“If only we could strangle the criminal Jews…If only we could strangle the Jews with our bare hands, and bite their heads off with our teeth, not with weapons.

 

“If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them?  Of course not!  We will never love them.  Absolutely not!  The Jews are Kuffar not because I say so, and not because they are killing Muslims, but because Allah (SwT) said:  the Jews say that Uzair is the son of Allah, and the Christians say that christ is the son of Allah.  These are the words from their mouths.  They imitate the sayings of the disbelievers before.  May Allah fight them.  How deluded they are. (the Quran: 9:30).  It is Allah who said that they are Kafirs.

 

“Your belief regarding the Jews should be, first, that they are Kafirs, and second, that they are enemies.  They are enemies not because they occupy Palestine.  They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing.  Allah (SwT) said:  You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the disbelievers to be the Jews and the polytheists. (THE Quran 5:82)  Third, you must believe that the Jews will never stop fighting and killing us.  They {fight] not for the sake of land and security, as they claim, but for the sake of their religion:  And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back youre your religion, if they can. (The Quran 2:217).  This is it.  We must believe that our fighting with the Jews is eternal, and it will not end unto the final battle and this is the fourth point.  You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, unto not a single Jews remains on the face of the Earth.

 

“It is not me who says so.  The Prophet (PBUH) said:  Judgment Day will not come unto you fight the Jews and kill them.  The Jews will hide behind stones and trees, and the stones and tree will call:  Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews. (Sahih Muslim Book, Book 41, Number 6981, 6982, 6983, 6984, 6985)  I have heard that they are planting many of these trees now.

 

“As for you Jews the curse of Allah upon you.  The curse of Allah upon you, whose anscestors were apes and pigs.  You Jews have sown hatred in our hearts, and we have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren.  You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains.

 

“Oh Jews, may the curse of Allah upon you.  Oh Jews…Oh Allah, bring Your wrath, punishment, and torment down upon them.  Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs.  You pigs of the earth!  You pigs of the earth!  You kill the Muslims with that cold pig [blood] of yours.”

 

Notice the hatred for the Jews that fills this article.  Notice also that he says that his beliefs come not from himself but from the Qur’an and from the prophet Muhammad.

            The question is:  “Which one of the above quotes is the true view of Islam toward the Jews?”  In our next article we will begin to answer this question.  Sadly, the answer is being played out many times every day in the world news.