Ahmedinejad's Jew-hatred is common throughout the Islamic world: This is fueled by the fact that the Qur'an teaches that the chief enemies of the Muslims will be the Jews (5:82).
No, some Muslims may teach that, but that is not why this verse was revealed. In fact, it was revealed specifically about the Jews who lived during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. It was not revealed about Jews generally. From the Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs:
Allah then showed their enmity towards the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions, saying: (Thou wilt find) O Muhammad (the most vehement of mankind in hostility) and most vile in speech (to those who believe) Muhammad and his Companions ((to be) the Jews) the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah, Banu'l-Nadir, Fadak and Khaybar (and the idolaters) and the most vehement in hostility to the believers among the idolaters are the idolaters of Mecca.
See? Specific, not general. The verse is about those Jews who were hostile to the Muslims in the lifetime of the Prophet. Okay, that's just one book that says that. Let's try another. How about the Tafsir al-Jalalayn?
You, O Muhammad (s), will truly find the most hostile of people to those who believe to be the Jews and the idolaters, of Mecca, because of the intensity of their disbelief, ignorance and utter preoccupation with following whims...
Again, its about the Idoloters and Jews who lived during the time of the Prophet. Amazing what you can discover when you research a little bit. So, this verse does not teach that the chief enemies of the Muslims will be Jews. It only tells us that Allah told His Prophet that his worst enemies would be the Meccan idolaters and the Jews who lived in Madina. This was not on account of their being Jews, but of being treacherous against their Muslim neighbors.
Now, as for the spread of Antisemitism in the Islamic world - it is something that needs to be rejected by truly devout believers. It makes no sense that our Prophet would defend the Jewishness of his wife Safia, God be well pleased with her, and then his followers would curse those very same people generally. It's one thing to speak out against the oppression that the Israeli government has inflicted upon innocent Palestinians, but it's quite another to urge the murder and harming of innocent Jews. That has no place in Islam.
2 comments:
I agree. However, it should be noted that more than 50% of Muslims, (guess out of my ass) hate Jews and believe that ALL JEWS are evil, based on their taught interpretation of those passages.
Triple,
That's a wild guess, indeed. But to add to your point on extremism in education, the Wahhabi school of thought has essentially become the default Islam in many Muslim nations, as one major Muslim scholar put it recently. I tend to agree with that point.
The extremists back in the day did not have the backing of oil wealth to spread their views, but unfortunately in the last 80 years this has become the reality. It's going to take a lot of work to over come this reality and to re-institute the classical interpretations of Islam that once made the Muslim world so much more merciful, wise, and honorable.
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