What a Rabbi Learns from Muhammad

I first studied Islam when I was a student at UCLA almost 50 years ago, Then again while I was in Rabbinical school. Over the years I continued to read the Qur'an and other Islamic books. I read these books as the Prophet taught his followers in a Hadith "not as a believer, and not as a disbeliever". What does that mean? The Qur'an, of course, is sacred scripture for Muslims. A disciple of Muhammad named Abu Huraira relates, "The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Apostle said (to the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' " Following Muhammad's teaching I too neither believe nor disbelieve in the Qur'an. If I believed in the Qur'an I would be a member of the Muslim Ummah (community). But I cannot disbelieve in the Qur'an because I believe that Muhammad is a prophet and I respect the Qur'an as a kindred revelation, to a kindred people, in a kindred language. In fact, the people, the language and the theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other on earth.

I would like to begin by sharing my understanding of several Ahadith that have taught me about my own religion. My understanding is reflected in my application (gloss) of each insight from my perspective as a Liberal/Reform Rabbi. They are all from Bukhari: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded. (Volume 1, Book 2, Number 38)

Gloss: The statement against becoming extremists needs to be taught in every house of prayer in the world. This applies of course, to political extremists as well as religious extremists who always prefer the stricter path to the more lenient way. For example, both Islam and Judaism teach the importance of sacred slaughter of meat, and the avoidance of certain animals for food. In Islam the rules are simpler and fewer than in Orthodox Judaism. Most Liberal/Reform Rabbis regard the increasingly restrictive developments in kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), especially for Passover, as a counterproductive, overburdening of the people. The expansion of restrictions on Shabbat activities over many centuries is also seen by most Liberal/Reform Rabbis as a counterproductive, overburdening of the joy of Shabbat. Muhammad wisely differentiates between extremism and striving to be near perfect (no one is perfect) which involves a rejection of extremism. Just trying hard to do well will be rewarded.

Narrated 'Aisha and Ibn' Abbas: On his deathbed Allah's Apostle put a sheet over his-face and when he felt hot, he would remove it from his face. When in that state (of putting and removing the sheet) he said, "May Allah's Curse be on Jews and Christians for they build places of worship at the graves of their prophets." He intended to warn (Muslims) from what they (i.e. Jews and Christians) had done. (Volume 4, Book 56, Number 660)

Gloss: Allah's apostle strongly opposed any diversion of reverence or worship to anyone other than God. Christians, and even Jews, had started worshiping at the graves of holy men, saints and prophets. Although they claimed to be only worshiping God, their feeling that prayer was better or more effective at such sites was cursed by Muhammad. In later centuries, Muslims also began worshiping at the tombs of holy men and building places of worship near their graves. Liberal/Reform Rabbis would agree that such activity at grave sites should be condemned and could be seen as a curse. Allah's apostle must also have realized that even the Muslim community would also produce people whose piety would lead to such errors for a Hadith on the same page says,

Narrated Abu Said: The Prophet said: "You will follow the wrong ways of your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into the hole of an animal, you too will go there." We said, "O Allah's Apostle! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He replied, "Who else?" (Volume 4, Book 56, # 662)

Gloss: Muhammad criticized the failings of many in the Jewish and Christian communities (as did the prophets of Israel) but he realized that people are human, and most do not seem to learn from the failings of others. He hoped that Muslims would retain their original purity, but he foresaw that with time and power; corruption, decay and falsification were inevitable. Allah's apostle would certainly attack the false tradition of female genital mutilation in Africa today as sharply as he attacked female infanticide in Arabia in his day. It is a shame that many Muslim leaders in Africa today do not aggressively condemn it. But then, most Jewish leaders in the west do not aggressively condemn the Orthodox for not allowing Jewish woman to divorce their husbands. We all have to do a better job.

Abu Huraira related: Two men, a Muslim and a Jew, abused each other. The Muslim said , "By Him Who gave superiority to Muhammad over all the people." At that, the Jew said, "By Him Who gave superiority to Moses over all the people." The Muslim became furious at that and slapped the Jew in the face. The Jew went to Allah's Apostle and informed him of what had happened between him and the Muslim. Allah's Apostle said, "Don't give me superiority over Moses, for people will fall unconscious on the Day of Resurrection and I will be the first to gain consciousness, and behold! Moses will be there holding the side of Allah's Throne. I will not know whether Moses was among those people who became unconscious and then has regained consciousness before me, or was among those exempted by Allah from falling unconscious." (Volume 8, Book 76, #524)

Gloss: Allah's messenger is so well known for his sense of justice that a Jew can appeal to him even in a conflict with a Muslim who has attacked a Jew. It is only natural for Jews to think that Moses is the best, and for Muslims to think that Muhammad is the best. Muhammad rebukes the Muslim, telling him not to claim that Muhammad is superior to Moses because even on the day of Resurrection, Muhammad himself will not know their relative merit, for although Muhammad will be the first to be revived, Moses will already be standing there holding the side of God's throne. Muhammad teaches us that comparisons of religious superiority are wrong, for no one in this world, and perhaps even in the world to come, will know who is the best.

Most Americans that I have spoken are amazed to hear such liberal and flexible statements coming from a religion that they think is ridged and fanatical. But the politicized Islam that has captured so much attention in the Muslim world today is the outgrowth of two recent factors. One is an anti-western reaction and scapegoating due to the great upheavals occurring in all modernizing societies in the 20th and 21th centuries. This reaction is inflamed as the result of several previous centuries of socio-economic decline that took place in the Middle East. Also Judaism and Christianity have already had reforming movements that took generations to bare fruit.. Islam is just starting the process of revival and reform. The Prophet had predicted that over the centuries Muslims would also become more rigid and orthodox, just as the Jews and Christian had. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reported Allah's Messenger as saying: You will tread the same path as was trodden by those before you, inch by inch and step by step, so much so that if they had entered into the hole of a lizard, you would follow them in this also. We said: Do you mean Jews and Christians? He said: Who else?" Muhammad was wise enough to realize that even his own ummah was subject to the circumstances of history.

Nevertheless as a Reform Rabbi, I realize that in many ways Muhammad showed seventh century Jews in Arabia how to reform Orthodox Judaism to bring it back to the simpler rules of the Torah..

Unlike Orthodox Rabbis, Liberal/Reform Rabbis accept the doctrine of nullification - which teaches that one verse in scripture can nullify another, and that rulings can be changed due to changed circumstances. Muhammad provides an excellent example of this principle in the following account. The Prophet originally told women not to visit graveyards, but toward the end of his life, he said to them: "I had told you not to visit graves; now I am telling you to visit them." The reason was that Arabian women used to wail at graves. The Prophet wanted this practice to be stopped. Therefore, he banned women from visiting graves to start with. After sometime, when Muslim women were better aware of how Islam wants them to behave in different situations, he allowed them such visits. In fact, the Prophet encourages visiting graveyards because such a visit reminds the visitor of his or her own death and the fact that they would have to stand in front of God when their actions are reckoned to determine their reward or punishment. Scholars like Ibn Qudamah, of the Hanbali school of law, make it clear that since this is the purpose of visiting graveyards, both men and women need such visits.

Another important teaching of the Qur'an is that God chose not to create human beings as one nation or with only one religion so that each religion could compete with the others in order to see which religion produces the highest percentage of moral and loving people. As it is written in the Koran [5.48] "For every one of you did We appoint a law and a way. If Allah had pleased He would have made you one people, but (He didn't) that He might test you in what He gave you. Therefore compete with one another to hasten to virtuous deeds; for all return to Allah, so He will let you know (after Judgement Day) that in which you differed." This is a wonderful further development of the teaching of the Biblical prophet Micah (4:5) that in the end of days-the Messianic Age "All people will walk, each in the name of their own God, and we shall walk in the name of the Lord our God forever."

There is no conflict, nor can there be any conflict, between Judaism and Islam. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is a territorial dispute. There are people who would like to make this territorial dispute into a religious one in order to rally support for their side. We must resist this. I believe that the Koran itself predicts the return of the Jewish people to the Land God gave to the descendants of Abraham and his two sons. I believe the reference in the Koran to the land of Israel in Sura V, where God says to Moses and to the Jewish people: "O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has decreed for you", Koran [5:21]. More important for us today is the statement "WE SAID TO THE ISRAELITES AFTER HIM "DWELL SECURELY IN THE LAND OF PROMISE (THE PROMISED LAND) BUT WHEN THE SECOND OF THE WARNINGS COME TO PASS WE GATHER YOU TOGETHER IN A MINGLED CROWD BANI ISRAIL, Koran [17:104]. This refers to the return of Jews to the Land of Israel that is part of the great upheavals that proceed the age of the final judgment. The age we live in. The mingled crowd refers to both the Palestinians and the Israelis who will share the Promised Land together.

Neither side can claim it has the only right to the land or that its view is the only true one for as we have learned from the Hadith narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet himself taught that even in the world to come it will not be clear if Moses or Muhammad is the supreme Prophet. Each is supreme for his own faithful community. A Muslim is one who submits to the will of Allah and believes that Allah has sent many different prophets to the many peoples of the world. As a Liberal/ Reform Rabbi I believe that Muhammad was the Prophet sent to the Arab people. I believe that the Qur'an is as true for Muslims as the Torah is true for Jews. Indeed, I love the Hadith Narrated by Abu Huraira that says, "The people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and then explain it in Arabic to the Muslims. Allah's Apostle said (to the Muslims). "Do not believe the people of the Book, nor disbelieve them, but say, 'We believe in Allah, and whatever is revealed to us, and whatever is revealed to you.' " Following Muhammad's teaching I repeat that I too neither believe nor disbelieve in the Koran. I do respect the Koran very much as a kindred revelation to a kindred people in a kindred language. In fact, the people, language and theology are closer to my own people, language and theology than that of any other on earth. The strong support that the Qur'an gives to religious pluralism is a lesson that is sorely needed by the religious fundamentalists of all religions in the world today. As a well known Hadith says, "Prophets are brothers, sons of one father by co-wives. Their mothers are different but their religion is one." (Bukhari and Muslim).

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Rabbi Allen S. Maller retired after serving for 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Ca. His web site is rabbimaller.com.

Christian Fundamentalists coming out of closet over Iraq War

While Tony Blair was in office, he avoided bringing up the subject of religion but nearly every pundit knew that he was a staunch fundamentalist christian. Before the Iraq war, Bush and Blair prayed together and Tony Blair has never denied it. I wonder if they were praying that their power does not gewt taken away regardless of them embarking on a war that will kill hundreds of thousands and makes millions homeless.

If two Muslim leaders prayed together before starting a war, how would the world react?

In the winter of 2003, when George Bush and Tony Blair were frantically gathering support for their planned invasion, Professor Thomas Römer, an Old Testament expert at the university of Lausanne, was rung up by the Protestant Federation of France. They asked him to supply them with a summary of the legends surrounding Gog and Magog and as the conversation progressed, he realised that this had originally come, from the highest reaches of the French government.

President Jacques Chirac wanted to know what the hell President Bush had been on about in their last conversation. Bush had then said that when he looked at the Middle East, he saw "Gog and Magog at work" and the biblical prophecies unfolding. But who the hell were Gog and Magog? Neither Chirac nor his office had any idea. But they knew Bush was an evangelical Christian, so they asked the French Federation of Protestants, who in turn asked Professor Römer.

he best opinion is that like all Bible prophecy, it is a mixture of wish-fulfilment and contemporary (iron age) politics. Some of it at least seems to refer to the turmoil brought about by Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC (unlike Bush, Alexander actually conquered Afghanistan). But they have been for the last two hundred years the subject of increasingly excited evangelical fanfic, especially in America; in the 70s and 80s, Gog was meant to be Russia. Ronald Reagan seems to have believed that.

But with Reagan, the prophecy appreciation part of his brain functioned quite independently of the part that started wars (there's nothing in the Old Testament about Nicaragua or even Grenada). Bush seems to have taken the threat of Gog and Magog to Israel quite literally, and, if this story can be believed, to have launched a war to stop them.

Mr Blair has previously admitted that he was influenced by his Christian faith, but Mr Burton reveals for the first time the strength of his religious zeal.

"While he was at Number 10, Tony was virtually gagged on the whole question of religion," says Mr Burton.

"Alastair [Campbell] was convinced it would get him into trouble with the voters.

"But Tony's Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Iraq too – was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better."

Mr Burton, who was often described as Mr Blair's mentor, says that his religion gave him a "total belief in what's right and what's wrong", leading him to see the so-called War on Terror as "a moral cause".

"I truly believe that his Christianity affected his policy-making on just about everything from aid to Africa, education, poverty, world debt and intervening in other countries when he thought it was right to do it.

"The fervour was part of him and it comes back to it being Christian fervour that spurred him into action for better or worse."

Mr Burton says that inherent in Mr Blair's faith was the belief that people should be treated fairly: "He applied that same principle in everything he did – from establishing the Social Exclusion Unit to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and ridding Iraq of the evils of Saddam Hussein's rule."

It is very funny that these Christian Missionaries that come to our doors always trying to portray that Islam is a terrorist religion and Christianity is a peaceful religion. I always ask them who started the World Wars and how many people were killed. They quickly jump to 9/11 where say roughly 3000 people were killed by Terrorists. How many people has this war on Terror killed? In Afghanistan? In Iraq? In Pakistan? How many people have Israel Killed in Lebanon and Palestine? How many people did the Christian fundamentalists killed in Kosovo?

It is a well known fact that Mr Blair's Cabinet included several deeply committed Christians, such as Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, who is a Roman Catholic, and the Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong - but they rarely break the injunction not to mix religion and politics publicly.

Now, I read the most interesting stuff which I didnt expect.

Alastair Campbell said today he was inspired by the Bible when he gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry.

The former spin chief, who famously told Tony Blair: "We don't do God", said that on the eve of his appearance a supporter emailed him Psalm 56.

The psalm, which attacks those who "twist" the words of others, gave him comfort on a day when he was again in the media spotlight.

Mr Campbell quoted it on his blog, adding: "I never detected a death plot among the British media, but the rest of it sums up the Westminster lobby to a tee."

He revealed he was "amazed how many people, though they thought they know I don't do God, sent me passages from the Bible."

Its good to see all these liars and fundamentalists coming out of the closet and revealing their true face. I am sure that most common people do not see the Iraq war as the war between Islam and Christianity but day by day it looks to me thats what it is.

Christianity: Is it a hoax?

Interesting article from The Guardian:

Jesus was a Jew. Everyone knows that, don't they? Well, it would seem that they do and they don't. It is certainly not the view of most Christians, nor is it common knowledge among atheists or even Jews, that Jesus was to the brim a Jew, not incidentally or as a matter of temporal accident a Jew, not, in Jonathan Miller's joke, Jewish, but a Jew by faith, by temperament and by spiritual ambition; a Jew in his relentless ethicising, in his love of quibbling and legalistics, in his fondness - frankly, to the point of tiresomeness sometimes - for extended metaphors and sermons wrapped in parables, and in the apocalyptic urgency of his teaching. A Jew, in other words, on unambiguously Jewish business.

Jesus's Jewishness is as essential to Christianity as it is embarrassing. To Christians, Jesus was the Messiah - itself a Jewish concept - whose coming had been foretold in Jewish scripture for centuries. It is Jewish history that Jesus fulfils. How many of us, when we join in Handel's Messiah, raising our voices in Messianic exultation, know the origins of the words we sing? "For unto us a child is born," sounds wholly Christian to us now. As a Jew myself, though I love the Messiah, I balk at the churchy rejoicing in that verse - "and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" - but the words are taken from The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Old Testament not the New. For Christians, Jesus was there (and needed to be there) well before his actual coming, in the fervid longings of a people who had suffered exile, dispossession and, at the time of Jesus, occupation. He was what the entire Old Testament had been leading to. He closed that story in order to tell another.

Messiah does not mean son of God. Nor did Jesus ever claim to be the son of God. The idea would have been a nonsense to him. The God of the Jews is indivisible, capable of refulgence - a shekhina, a shining presence - but not incarnation. The long-awaited Messiah (the word simply means "anointed one") would prepare the way for God, not assume the title of a God. He was to be an eschatological prophet, a preacher of the end of days, a soldier of liberation in the royal line of King David. It was in order to show that Jesus fulfilled this latter but most essential part of the prophecy that the apostles came up with such labyrinthine and competing reasons for him to be born in Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, and that Matthew employs the opening 25 verses of the New Testament - through a plethora of begettings: Aram begetting Aminadab, Achaz begetting Ezekias, Eliud begetting Eliezer - to establish Jesus's line of descent, not only back to David but to Abraham. Thus begins the Christian Bible: bending over backwards to prove beyond dispute Jesus's impeccably Jewish bloodline. As though being the son of God is not genealogically enough.

It is later, with his deification, that the Jewish blood has to be squeezed out of him again. Judged Messianically, Jesus is a failure to the Jews. He neither liberates their land from the Romans nor brings in God's kingdom here on earth. To Jews - and this point hardly needs to be laboured - the world remains unredeemed. Christians turned Jesus's material failure into a spiritual success. God's kingdom is to be found elsewhere, they say. That is the meaning of the crucifixion. By this quibble on the idea of salvation, the early Christians achieved two notable successes: they turned what Jesus had not achieved into something Jews could not understand, and they doomed Judaism to a reputation for materiality. The invention of the silver-grabbing Judas - a figure today undergoing revaluation from all sides, even in the Vatican - helped in this. As did the exculpation of his moral counterpart, Pontius Pilate. In proportion as the name of Judas sank, so did that of Pilate rise. Though a governor of bloody reputation, Pilate was turned by stages into a man of sorrowing conscience. It was the "Jews" who called for Jesus's destruction - though there was scant reason for them to do so - while Pilate washed his hands. In this way, though the crucifixion will come to be susceptible to the most subtle and sublime theological interpretations, the events leading up to it take on the melodramatic qualities of pantomime - good versus evil, the material versus the spiritual, the innocent gentile world versus the perfidious Jewish one.

...

There is no point in crying theft. Every religion is an act of expropriation of some sort. And monotheistic faiths in particular exist as refutations of one another. There's the drawback of Only One God - ours knocks out yours. So it is vain to ask for Jesus back. But the purloining of him has had deadly consequences. Jew-hating didn't occur by mischance in the history of Christianity - it is inscribed in it. Because Jews attested negatively to the power of Christ they were worth keeping alive in their spiritual poverty; but because they killed Christ they were expendable too. Ours is not a peaceable world, but it would go a way to restoring harmony in some parts of it were Christianity to acknowledge responsibility for the anti-Jewish crimes committed in its name. Admitting the consequences of its falsification of the Jew Jesus would be a place to start.

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Funny that people dont know this fact and many other facts that may actually make them doubt Christianity. Jesus (pbuh - Muslims have to add pbuh with the name of their prophets. pbuh means peace be upon him. Jesus was a prophet according to Islam.) never said that he is God or son of God. He just asked people to stop distorting the religion and follow it properly. The first time the disciples of Jesus (pbuh) were called Christians was in Antioch. That was a derogatory term but it still meant that his followers were jews.

There are verses in the Bible that say that Jesus was sent for the Jews only. Pople have tried to make the simple thing complicated to provide explanations that dont really exist. See the following:

these twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them saying GO NOT into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans ENTER YE NOT. "But go ye rather unto the lost sheep of THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (to the Jews only)." MATTHEW 10:5-6

"But he (Jesus) answered and said, I am NOT SENT but unto the lost sheep of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL (the Jews only). "Then came she (the Canaanite woman) and worshipped him, saying Lord, help me (to cure my daughter). "But he answered and said, it is not meet to take the children's bread and CAST IT TO DOGS (the non-Jews). " MATTHEW 15:24-26

. . all these things are done in parables. That seeing they may see, and NOT perceive; and hearing they may hear, and NOT understand, LEST at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven " MARK 4: 11-12

Lets hope people open their mind and start thinking.

Rebuttal: 'Israel belongs to Jews according to Quran'

I have been asked this again and again and some people have written to me saying that, "Allah has said in the Koran that Israel belongs to Jews". They quote me the following verses to prove their claim:

Surah Al-Maida (Chapter 5), 20-21: Remember Moses said to his people: "O my people! Call in remembrance the favour of Allah unto you, when He produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin."

It is true that Allah mentions in many places in the Quran that he chose the 'children of Israel' (note that Allah does not mention Jews or Judaism) above all others but because of the fact that these 'children of Israel' were rebellious against God and his messengers, Allah took this favour away from them.

Lets go back to the start and read the Books of the Old Testament which is considered holy by both the Jews and the Christians. We find the prophets (and through them God) making very scathing attacks on the people who deviated from the teachings of the earlier prophets.

For example, we find these verses rebuking the transgressions of the Children of Israel in the Book of Jeremiah (3: 8 – 10):

“And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.”

And again, Jeremiah (5: 7 - 8):

“How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife”

And now listen to Jesus rebuking the Israelites of his day in Matthew (23: 25-- 33):

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous and say: “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Also worth mention is the Book of Deuteronomy (28:16-68) where Moses warns the Jews that God ‘will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me’ (28:20).”

Now lets see what Qur'an says.

Al Baqrah (Surah 2), verse 40: O Children of Israel! call to mind the [special] favor which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your covenant with Me as I shall fulfill My covenant with you, and fear none but Me.

Surah 2, verse 47: O Children of Israel! call to mind the [special] favor which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all others [for My message].

Surah 2, verse 83: And remember We took a covenant from the Children of Israel [to this effect]: Worship none but Allah; treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need; speak fair to the people; be steadfast in prayer; and give Zakat. Then did ye turn back, except a few among you, and ye backslide [even now].

Surah 2, verse 246: Hast thou not turned thy vision to the Chiefs of the Children of Israel after [the time of] Moses? they said to a prophet [that was] among them: "Appoint for us a king, that we may fight in the cause of Allah." He said: "Is it not possible, if ye were commanded to fight, that ye will not fight?" They said: "How could we refuse to fight in the cause of Allah, seeing that we were turned out of our homes and our families?" but when they were commanded to fight, they turned back, except a small band among them. But Allah has full knowledge of those who do wrong.

Surah 5, verse 70: We took the covenant of the Children of Israel and sent them messengers, every time, there came to them a messenger with what they themselves desired not - some [of these] they called impostors, and some they [go so far as to] slay.

Now we have to remember the following points:

1. The Qur'an addresses the children of Israel as the people who were descendant of Jacob, son of Isaac, and the grand son of Ibrahim. Israel is another name of Jacob. Jacob was a Muslim, the Qur'an says: "…and so did Jacob, 'Oh my sons! Allah hath chosen the Faith for you; then die not except in the Faith of Islam.' Were ye witnesses when death appeared before Jacob? Behold, he said to his sons: 'What will ye worship after me?' They said: 'We shall worship Thy god and the god of thy fathers, of Abraham, Isma'il and Isaac, the one (True) God: To Him we bow (in Islam).'" (Al-Baqarah: 132-33)

2. Allah has never chosen any people because of any racial or ethnical entity but he chose certain people because of Islam.

3. Children of Israel, when they followed Islam, they were the best nation; they were Muslims but others were Mushriks or Kafirs.

4. The Holy Land is blessed because of being the place of Allah's Messengers and His Message. Descendants of Jacob, among whom are Moses, David, Solomon and `Isa (Jesus) who are holy prophets, so they can fit the Holy Land.

5. The Qur'an addressed earlier the followers of Moses to liberate the Holy Land, they were afraid to get into the Holy Land and they made an excuse for not restoring that land because they believed that the Canaanites are too strong to defeat. They mocked Moses and rebelled his request, the story is detailed in surat al-Ma'idah, 21-26.

6. The Holy Land is always the land assigned for the servants of Allah who surrender everything to him.

7. The occupation of the Holy Land is due to Muslims’ lapsing in weakness and deviating from Allah’s teachings. The occupation of the Jews to the Holy Land is something casual. The Holy Land is waiting for the time when there will be holy people who strictly abide by Allah's teachings to deserve it.

Now, lets quickly recap some historical facts:

During certain eras, ignorance and atheism dominated most societies save for a few number of believers who followed the Messengers as happened during the time of Prophet Noah, Muhammad, Abraham, Jesus (peace and blessings be upon them all). In one of those eras, the Jews were the only believers on earth, as they followed Moses, who was sent to them and in whose company they were saved from Pharaoh and his soldiers.

Allah Almighty says: “And (remember) when We did deliver you from Pharaoh's folk, who were afflicting you with dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your women: That was a tremendous trial from your Lord.” (Al-Baqarah: 49) Then Allah made them subject to various tests which they couldn’t stand, due to their impatience. Furthermore, they did not abide by the true religion of Allah. They demanded lots of evidence and signs from Moses and, even after these signs were shown to them, they proved reluctant. Moses asked them to enter the sacred land of Palestine which Almighty Allah had promised them as a reward for their faith in Him; Moses said: “O my people! Go into the holy land which Allah hath ordained for you. Turn not in flight, for surely ye turn back as losers.” ?(Al-Ma’idah: 21) Their response to this Divine command was nothing but refusal which reflected their trait of showing reluctance and disobedience to Allah’s teachings. Depicting this, the Qur’an said: “They said: O Moses! We will never enter (the land) while they are in it. So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will sit here.?” (Al-Ma'idah: 24)

The believing Jews then lived in Palestine where they were governed by Prophets till the time of the Prophet David and his son the Prophet Solomon (peace be upon them both).

Eventually, Jews became corrupt and started to defy the teachings of Allah. Thus, Allah made them easy target to other peoples who conquered them and drove them out of the land where they were living. Allah Almighty says: “And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the scripture: Ye verily will work corruption in the earth twice, and ye will become great tyrants.? So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might who ravaged (your) country, and it was a threat performed.” (Al-Isra’: 4-5)

Later, Allah returned them to Palestine after the Babylonian capture as they showed genuine repentance and obeyed their Prophets during their stay in Babel. However, they soon lapsed into their old bad ways and became so cruel and too haughty to worship Allah. Consequently, Allah punished them and allowed the Romans to humiliate them. After some years of living under the yoke of the occupier, Almighty Allah gave them another chance to repent when He, Glory is due to Him, sent them another Messenger to warn them and give glad tidings with Paradise to the believers. That Messenger was Jesus who was born in the respectable family of `Imran and his miraculous birth by Virgin Mary was a sign for all those who have faith in Allah, the Creator.

Jesus Christ was supported by tangible proof and Divine miracles, for he could speak while he was still in the cradle, he could quicken the dead and heal people with serious fatal diseases. However, the Jews never believed in him and again they were punished by Allah. Their punishment was that they were thrown out of Palestine and severely tortured by the polytheist Romans.

The holy land of Palestine remained under the reign of the Romans till the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Prophet Muhammad sent a message to the Caesar of Rome, Hercules, calling him to embrace Islam but he haughtily rejected and all the Romans followed his example. Consequently, Allah punished them by depriving them of Palestine and gave Muslims the authority over it for years after the Prophet’s demise. Moreover, the people of Jerusalem insisted that the Jews should not be allowed to enter the holy city. Palestine remained under the control of Muslims who worked for the dissemination of the message of Islam among all peoples of the world. The Muslims remained powerful and united till conflicts erupted among them, and they deviated from the true path. As a result, Allah punished them by the Crusaders who massacred 70 thousand in Jerusalem alone and millions of Muslims in other cities. They succeeded in seizing nearly the whole of the Levant.

However, after Muslims returned back to the right track and adhered to the principles of their religion, the heroes of Islam like `Imadud-Deen Zinki, Saladin and Nurud-Deen Mahmud unified the Muslim Ummah under the banner of Islam and succeeded in restoring the holy city of Jerusalem. After that, the Crusade emirates fell in the Muslim hands one after the other in spite of the huge support that the West had given to these emirates to be kept from falling down.

Throughout the Ayubid , Mamluk and Ottoman regimes Jerusalem remained in the hands of Muslims. Again, when Muslims showed loyalty to the enemies of Islam and were dominated by material allurements of the world, they lost control over it in 1917 when the Ottoman Empire was trying in vain to stand united in face of the external conspiracies and the internal conflicts that ravaged the whole tapestry of the Empire. As a result of the conspiracies of the traitors and the enemies of Islam, Jerusalem fell in the hands of British occupation in 1917, the British army entered the holy city under the command of Alenby, who is known of his famous saying: “Now the Crusades are over."

Thirty years later, the Jewish state was established in Palestine and named after Prophet Israel (Jacob, peace be upon him). Such a state implemented all Jewish principles, tried to revive Hebrew language, which was not, up to that time, even spoken by the Jews themselves. Moreover, they have used all means of oppression and humiliation in treating the Palestinian people.

Coming back to the argument that Jews claim Palestine is their promised land, we would like to cite for you the following fatwa issued by the prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former Head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee:

“Twenty centuries before the birth of the Christ, there lived on the shores of the Euphrates a tribe from the descendants of Ibrahim (Abraham) searching for rich places to graze their flocks; they went westwards till they crossed Galilee. They were given the name of the Hebrews, now known as the Jews. They moved aimlessly without having a certain destination until they arrived Egypt where they lived in peace and security for five centuries.

The rulers of Egypt, known as the Pharaohs, kept a tight fist on the Jews and humiliated them. The rescue of the Jews was attained when Moses (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent to them. He led them through Sinai to a new land and a fresh dwelling. For some time, they stayed in Sinai till commands were given to them to enter the Holy Land of Palestine. In Palestine, there was a tribe called Canaanite who built some cities part of which is Jerusalem. Days went on till the Jews revolted against the teachings of Allah and deviated from His religion. Almighty Allah sent to them the governor of Babel, Buchtnasser who humiliated them and enslaved many of them.

Many years later, they returned back to Palestine and some of them went to dwell in the Arabian Peninsula. The Jews in the Arabian Peninsula showed enmity to Islam and fought the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) till they were driven out from the peninsula by Muslims.

Though, seizing the chance of Muslims’ lapsing in weakness and deviating from Allah’s teachings, the Jews have occupied Palestine, they will never remain there forever, for the evil within themselves is beyond description. They will suffer another defeat and sever blow; we hope this will be at the hands of Muslims once they return back to their Lord and be unified again. Allah says in this regard: “And when your Lord announced that He would certainly send against them to the day of resurrection those who would subject them to severe torment; most surely your Lord is quick to requite (evil) and most surely He is Forgiving, Merciful.” (Al-A`raf: 167)

As for claiming that the Jews have a right to take Palestine as their promised land, we will say that the verse that reads: “Go into the holy land which Allah hath ordained for you.” (Al-Ma`idah: 21) means that the promise stands so long as the people given this promise abide by Allah’s teachings. Once they show disobedience, the promise no longer exists. In addition, this promise is not an absolute one; rather, it is confined to a certain period of time. Now, the promise is no more valid, for Almighty Allah says: “We have written in the Scripture, after the Reminder: My righteous slaves will inherit the earth.” (Al-Anbiya': 105)"

So who are the people preferred in sight of Allah? Lets look at the Quran and Sunnah (Hadiths):

Surah 49, verse 13: O people, We have created you from a male and a female and made you into races and tribes so that you may know each other. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God are those who are the most pious among you. And Allah knows every thing and is aware of every thing.

During the last pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he said: "O People! Your God is one; your father is one; no preference of an Arab neither over non-Arab nor of a non-Arab over an Arab or red over black or black over red except for the most righteous. Verily the most honored of you is the most righteous."

Prophet Muhammed's (pbuh) close companions included a black slave called Bilal (raa) and a Persian called Salman (raa) which is a clear prrof of the above verse and hadith.

It is noteworthy that Jews were among the earliest converts to Islam - in Madinah - and, throughout the Middle Ages Jews also found sanctuary to practice their own religion, under Islamic rule. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi mentions: “it is truly disappointing and naive to ignore more than 1400 years of history and learned discourse on the Qur'an and to argue that the current political situation in the Middle East has its roots in passages from the Qur'an!!”

The Qur'an was not just revealed for Muslims, but for all people, including Jews and Christians. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was in the line of previous prophets of God, including Prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus. And, in fact, the Qur'an is the culmination of all the previous scriptures revealed by God. The Qur'an does not condemn the Semitic race and, in fact, accords Jews a special status, given their shared prophetic traditions with Islam.

In conclusion I would like to state that Jews (or rather the 'Children of Israel') were once preferred by Allah above others but because of their arrogance and rebellious nature they lost this favour from Allah. When Islam came, it had a simple message that everyone is equal in the sight of Allah and the only way one can come closer in the sight of Allah is by his righteous virtues and piousness.