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| Scholar says Koran gives the Jews Israel |
| 2004-06-10 |
| Fatwa in 5, 4, 3, 2,
A contrarian Muslim professor claims the Quran actually teaches Israel belongs to the Jews. Khaleel Mohammed, assistant professor of religious studies at San Diego State University, said in an interview with Frontpage Magazine the person most mentioned in Islam’s holy book is Moses, the great Old Testament prophet and leader of the Israelites. Mohammed says the Quran presents Moses "as God’s revolutionary" who "leads a people despised and tormented for no other reason than that they worshipped God, out of the land of bondage to the Promised Holy Land." The professor quotes from Chapter 5: 20-21, which says Moses declared, "O my people! Remember the bounty of God upon you when He bestowed prophets upon you, and made you kings and gave you that which had not been given to anyone before you amongst the nations. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers." Mohammed points specifically to the reference to the Holy Land as a place God has "written" for the Israelites, a term that conveys, in Jewish and Islamic understandings, a "meaning of finality, decisiveness and immutability." "So the simple fact is then," he says, "from a faith-based point of view: If God has ’written’ Israel for the people of Moses, who can change this?" The professor describes himself as a scholar "interested in a moderate Islam, one that is inclusive and is concerned about all human rights. My mission is to help reclaim the beauty that once was practiced in Islam, a message not currently in fashion amongst more traditional or fundamentalist Muslims." Mohammed said while Muslims may argue the present state of Israel was "not created in the most peaceful means, and that many were displaced," this, for him, is not the issue. "The issue," says Mohammed, "is that when the Muslims entered that land in the 7th century, they were well aware of its rightful owners, and when they failed to act according to divine mandate (at least as perceived by followers of all Abrahamic faiths), they aided and abetted in a crime. And the present situation shows the fruits of that action -- wherein innocent Palestinians and Israelis are being killed on a daily basis." He says medieval scholars, "without any exception known to me," interpreted the Quran to recognize Israel as belonging to the Jews. According to Mohammed, the idea that Israel does not belong to the Jews is a modern one, "probably based on the Mideast rejection of European colonialism, etc., but certainly not having anything to do with the Quran." Most Muslims, he laments, do not read the Quran for themselves and instead rely on imams and preachers to do the reading and interpreting for them. |
| Posted by:Korora |
| #10 Love it, eLarson. I think a telethon is in order. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-06-10 4:27:39 PM |
| #9 Muslims for Zion... like the ring of it. Do they have t-shirts? |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-06-10 4:21:03 PM |
| #8 My alma mater: San Diego State...Go Aztecs! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-06-10 4:12:18 PM |
| #7 RWV, The Moslems lost both the Siege of Vienna and the Battle of Vienna. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-06-10 4:10:46 PM |
| #6 Mohammed says the Quran presents Moses "as God’s revolutionary" who "leads a people despised and tormented for no other reason than that they worshipped God, out of the land of bondage to the Promised Holy Land. He has blasphemed! Cut out his tongue, and sew his lips together! It is Written (Or at least find someone to do an "honor killing") |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-10 3:29:47 PM |
| #5 I definitely LIKE this guy XD But CrazyFool, an apologist might put it that that was the point ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-06-10 3:14:09 PM |
| #4 RWV, JFM, Of course if the average layman could understand the Kuran then their Iman would not be able to dictate what Didn't the Catholic Church have the same thing in the middle ages? --- The bible was only in latin and, for the most part, the average person could not read even their own language let alone Latin so they had to have it interpreted by the priesthood. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-06-10 3:03:42 PM |
| #3 Much as I am loathe to give people who use religion as a political weapon any accolades--this man deserves 1.) A slot on Larry King 2.) The biggest body guards to be found in Jersey 3.) A newspaper cover story in every major US city with large Muslim populations. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-06-10 2:59:40 PM |
| #2 It is worse than that. They memorize Kuran in Arabic, even whey they don't speak a word of it. Even when they are native speakers I have my doubts over what a Moroccan who speaks dialectal modern Arabic from Morocco understands about Kuran who a) has no punctuation signs, b) vowels are omitted and c) is written in 7h centuray classic Arabic. It is difficult for a westerner to read texts written five centuries ago and Kuran was written over theirten centuroes ago? |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-06-10 2:37:05 PM |
| #1 Like many people, the students in the madrassas memorize but don't analyze. The can recite the verses by rote but have no thought as to what they might mean. They should contemplate for a minute why, if Islam is the chosen religion, they are reduced to advancing it by suicide bombings and the beheadings of Westerners, why Islamic armies haven't won a battle since the siege of Vienna in 1653 and ask themselves what they have done that Allah would allow them to have become so pathetic. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-10 2:24:25 PM |