PrintApril 11, 2010
Eternal Islamic Enmity toward the Jews
Al-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity & The JewsBy Elias Al-Maqdisi and Sam SolomonANM Publishers, 2010216 pp., $17.05
Islam is the only major religion in the world that does not adhere to the Golden Rule to "love they neighbor as thyself" or "do unto others what you would have others do unto you." Instead, the Koran exhorts Muslim to "slay the unbelievers wherever they find them," "not take non-Muslims for friends" and "when ye meet unbelievers, smite at their necks." Mohammed, whose very actions define morality for Muslims, encouraged his followers to deceive kuffars, or non-believers. Islamic doctrine explicitly supports the killing, insulting, torturing, robbing, beheading, enslaving, pillorying, and raping of non-Muslims.
A "Doctrine of Enmity" toward non-Muslims is part and parcel of Islamic practice and belief, with the greatest wrath reserved for the Jews as punishment for their refusal to recognize Mohammed as the final prophet.
In their latest book, Al-Yahud: Eternal Islamic Enmity & the Jews, authors Elias Al-Maqdisi, an expert on Islamic teachings, and Sam Solomon, a former professor of shari'ah law and Christian convert, examine the historical and doctrinal sources of Muslim enmity and the continuing jihad against the Jews and Israel. The work follows their previous book, Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, in which they explain how the hijra (migration) and jihad function today to further worldwide Islamic conquest.
Their important new book exposes the story behind the Palestinian "crisis," giving readers new insights into the perceptions and actions of the Arab-Muslim world vis-à-vis Israel, popularly maligned as the "Zionist entity." Al-Maqdisi and Solomon, both raised as Muslims, reveal the truth about the doctrinal foundation of a conflict engineered for Muslim dominance.
The authors detail how, five times daily, observant Muslims worldwide condemn all non-believers in ritual prayers, singling out Jews and Christians. Muslim students readily identify Jews and Christians respectively as "those against whom there is wrath" and "those who are astray," phrases found in the Koran's opening Sura (chapter). This veiled cursing of non-believers has occurred for 1,400 years, even amidst duplicitous attempts to appear conciliatory and engage in interfaith dialogue.
Muslim enmity toward Jews is a special, more extreme case than that against other non-believers, Al-Maqdisi and Solomon argue. The dispute with Israel has a religious and moral basis rather than a territorial one. So its presentation as a solvable political crisis over land claims is little more than a smokescreen for an intrinsic, unending jihad against the Jews. The authors draw parallels between Muslim displacement of Arab Jews from Iran, Egypt, the Sudan, Morocco, and Syria in the last century and similar threats facing Jewish (and Christian) populations today in Europe and the Middle East.
In Al-Yahud, the authors reveal how Israel is systematically discredited by the alleged Israeli victimization of Muslim-Palestinians. The so-called Arab-Israeli conflict provides a flash point and platform to advance Islam under cover of a struggle for statehood and "restoration" of "stolen" land. These issues are cloaked in the vernacular of a desperate human rights tragedy; yet, the authors observe, all aid to Arab-Palestinians comes from the non-Muslim world. Fellow Muslims fail to lift a finger to aid their "victimized" brethren. They sabotage efforts to alleviate Palestinian suffering by refusing to accept Palestinians as citizens elsewhere in the Arab world.
While Israelis are denounced as "occupiers" and history is rewritten to deny more than four thousand years of Jewish presence in the land, the reality of terrorist and rocket attacks by Hezb'allah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and Iran are largely ignored. The conflict is presented to the West in terms of Israel's recent actions -- the 1948 "occupation," 1967 "expansion," West Bank wall, and "settlement expansion." Recognition of relentless, decades-long Arab attacks on Israel, Jewish rights to the land, and legitimate national security measures of a sovereign state are all ignored or denied. Academia and the media willingly participate in the deconstruction of Israel and the legitimization of "Palestine." So the issue appears to outsiders to be over land, when in reality, the present-day enmity toward Israel is based on the Koran's 7th-century doctrines against the Jews. Modern-day Muslims are seeking to enforce this mandate of the Koran, according to Al-Maqdisi and Solomon.
The authors clarify that expelling Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula is a religious obligation for Muslims. In Sahih Al Muslim, Hadith #3313 -- one of six collections of the Islamic prophet Mohammed's words and deeds -- Allah says, "I will expel Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula until there is none but Muslims in it." As an example of how this religious obligation is translated into modern-day action, the authors cite Al-Qaradawi, one of the most influential Sunni Islamic clerics and the ideological leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently stated, "... and it is a duty of the faithful to obey Allah and his apostle and liquidate the enemies of Allah and, in particular, ... who else but the Jews?" Further, the authors state that Al-Qaradawi justifies Arab-Palestinian suicide bombing of innocent Israelis as a legitimate response to Zionist "occupation."
Al-Maqdisi and Solomon explain that no man has the power to override Allah and that Islamic doctrine is permanent and immutable. So there is no way out of the predicament but annihilation of the Jewish state. In other words, even if the Arab-Palestinian land crisis were "solved," jihad would not cease because it is an Islamic duty to completely destroy the Jews. Besides, treaties with non-Muslims -- even peace treaties -- are invalid over time and contrary to Islam. This is exemplified in the Sura which chronicles Mohammed's deception, when, in a weak military and political position, he accepted the Jewish tribes of Medina, only to terrorize, murder, and behead them when his fortunes changed.
Mohammed's atrocities toward the Jews established the precedent for the Sunnah, requiring Muslims to emulate his hatred and enmity toward them everywhere for all time and without exception. The present-day enmity toward Israel is based on the Jews' refusal to accept Islam, their failure to recognize the supremacy of Mohammed, and their misleading of other non-Muslims regarding the final seal of the prophet (or last prophet). Muslims solidify their claim to Jerusalem through the "Night Vision" or Al-Isra' wal Mi 'raaj in the Koran. Although Mohammed never visited Jerusalem, he reportedly was transported in a vision on a winged steed by the angel Gabriel to the "farthest mosque" and led Abraham, Moses, and Jesus in Muslim prayer. According to Muslim belief, in this act, Mohammed declared himself the last prophet, supreme over all mankind. With this verse, Muslims lay a retroactive claim to Jerusalem.
Despite Mohammed's persistence in persuading the Jews that he was the messiah referred to in their scriptures, the Jews ridiculed him and refused to recognize him as such. This refusal intensified his desire to conquer them and take all their land and possessions. Using this verse, Muslims believe that all of Israel belongs to them and that this indisputable proclamation in the Koran is not subject to negotiation. They are commanded by Allah to fight for Israel, or Islamic land known as "Waqf," until it is fully "regained" and thoroughly Muslim.
In Al-Yahud, Maqdisi and Solomon refer to another doctrine, the Fitrah Doctrine, which Muslims also use to establish present-day land claims. The Fitrah Doctrine proclaims that all mankind from eternity is Muslim. The proclamation is irrevocable and mandatory and labels anyone who is not in observance of it as having gone astray. Jews in particular are viewed as perverted, and they are purported to be followers of the path of Satan for their refusal to recognize the Prophet Mohammed even though being forewarned in the Jewish scriptures.
These proclamations and doctrines help bolster Islamic attitudes in which any perceived criticisms of Islam or the very existence of non-Muslims within a Muslim society is viewed as an attack against Islam. Non-Muslims, simply by their religious choices, are resisting Allah. Thus, kuffars are considered to be in rebellion and must be "returned" to their Muslim faith by "reversion" or by force (jihad). Jihad is always viewed by practicing Muslims as a defensive move against unbelievers for rejecting Islam. Thus, by their deaths, Islamic martyrs receive exalted status, celebrations, and rewards, having gained favor with Allah.
Lamentably but realistically, the authors conclude that there is no Arab-Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but instead, a Muslim-Jewish conflict that dates from the time of Mohammed. They demonstrate through well-researched and extensive citations of passages from Islamic doctrine how the policies of enmity and supremacy have their origin in the Koran and Sunnah, and not in the present-day situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories. They clearly illustrate that throughout Islamic history, treaties with infidels have been employed as temporary deceptive measures to be broken at an advantageous time, in accordance with Allah's instructions and commandments. Al-Maqdisi and Solomon discouragingly surmise that any Israeli attempts to forge land or peace treaties with Muslims are destined for failure, as has been repeatedly illustrated since Israeli statehood.
