Muslim Supporters of Israel 1 Muslim Supporters of Israel

Muslim supporters of Israel 1 Muslim supporters of Israel Muslim supporters of Israel are Muslims who support self-determination for the Jewish people, and a homeland for them in Israel. This support should not be confused with support for the policies and actions of the modern Israeli state. Some Muslim clerics, such as Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community,[1] [2] and Imam Dr Muhammad Al-Hussaini[3] believe that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel, are in accordance with teachings of Islam.[4] [5] Some Muslim supporters of Israel consider themselves 'Muslim Zionists'.[6] [7] [8] Muslims who publicly supported Zionism include Dr. Tawfik Hamid,[9] Tashbih Sayyed, a Pakistani-American scholar, journalist, and author,[10] and the Bangladeshi journalist Salah Choudhury. Additional Muslim people who voiced public support for Israel included figures such as Irshad Manji, Salim Mansur, Abdurrahman Wahid, Abdullah Saad Al-Hadlaq, Zuhdi Jasser and Khaleel Mohammed.[11] In the Muslim world, support of Israel is a minority orientation, and supporters of Israel have at some occasions faced intolerance and violence.[12] [13] History Middle Ages According to British-based Imam Muhammad Al-Hussaini, traditional commentators from the eighth and ninth century onwards have uniformly interpreted the Qur'an to say explicitly that the Land of Israel has been given by God to the Jewish people as a perpetual covenant.[3] [14] Hussaini bases his argument upon Qur'an 5:21 in which Moses declares: "O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has prescribed for you, and turn not back in your traces, to turn about losers." He cites the Qur'an commentator Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, who says that this statement is "a narrative from God … concerning the saying of Moses … to his community from among the children of Israel and his order to them according to the order of God to him, ordering them to enter the holy land." He argued that this promise to the Jews is ever lasting, and further said: "It was never the case during the early period of Islam … that there was any kind of sacerdotal attachment to Jerusalem as a territorial claim." This interpretation of the promise to the Jews as ever-lasting is not uniformly accepted by all Islamic commentators [15] According to a translation by the Islamic Law scholar Khaleel Mohammed, Ibn Kathir (1301–1373) interpreted Qur'an 5:20-21 using the following terms: "'That which God has written for you' i.e. That which God has promised to you by the words of your father Israel that it is the inheritance of those among you who believe."[16] Muslim supporters of Israel 2 The 19th Century In 1873, Shah of Persia Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar met with British Jewish leaders, including Sir Moses Montefiore, during his journey to Europe. At that time, the Persian king suggested that the Jews buy land and establish a state for the Jewish people.[17] Early 20th century After World War I, the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali and his son, the King Feisal of Hijaz and then of Iraq, proclaimed pro-Zionist views.[18] According to Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, the Wahhabi position, in contrast, was extremely anti-Zionist.[19] On March 23, 1918, Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and King of Hejaz wrote in Al Qibla, the daily newspaper of Mecca, the following words in support of the Balfour Declaration of 1917: "The resources of the country [Palestine] are still virgin soil and will be developed by the Jewish immigrants (...) Faisal (right) with Chaim Weizmann (also we have seen the Jews from foreign countries streaming to wearing Arab dress as a sign of friendship) in Palestine from Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Syria, 1918. America. The cause of causes could not escape those who had a gift of deeper insight. They knew that the country was for its original sons [abna'ihi-l-asliyin], for all their differences, a sacred and beloved homeland. The return of these exiles [jaliya] to their homeland will prove materially and spiritually an experimental school for their brethren who are with them in the fields, factories, trades and all things connected to the land."[20] On 3 January 1919, Hussein's son, king Faisal I of Iraq and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization signed the Faisal–Weizmann Agreement for Arab-Jewish cooperation, in which Faisal conditionally accepted the Balfour Declaration based on the fulfillment of British wartime promises of development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and on which subject he made the following statement: "We Arabs... look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organisation to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through; we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home... I look forward, and my people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their places in the community of the civilised peoples of the world." "[21] [22] [23] As'ad Shukeiri, a Muslim scholar (‘alim) of the Acre area, and the father of PLO founder Ahmad Shukeiri, has rejected the values of the Palestinian Arab national movement and was opposed to the anti-Zionist movement.[24] He met routinely with Zionist officials and had a part in every pro-Zionist Arab organization from the beginning of the British Mandate, publicly rejecting Mohammad Amin al-Husayni’s use of Islam to attack Zionism.[25] In the 1920's, the Muslim National Associations was established in the 1920's by Muslim Arabs who were employed by the Palestine Zionist Executive. The president of the Muslim National Associations and the mayor of Haifa, Hassan Bey Shukri, has founded the organization with Sheikh Musa Hadeib from the village of Dawaymeh near Hebron and head of the farmers' party of Mt. Hebron.[26] [27] [28] In July 1921, Shukri sent a telegram to the British government, declaring support for the Balfour Declaration and Zionist immigration to British Mandate Palestine: Muslim supporters of Israel 3 We strongly protest against the attitude of the said delegation concerning the Zionist question. We do not consider the Jewish people as an enemy whose wish is to crush us. On the contrary. We consider the Jews as a brotherly people sharing our joys and troubles and helping us in the construction of our common country.[26] In 1929, Hadeib was murdered in Jerusalem, supposedly for his collaboration with the Zionists.[26] Modern times A number of non-Arab Muslims including Kurds and Berbers have also voiced support for Israel and Zionism.[29] Ramin H. Artin of the Kurdish-American Education Society, argues that the creation of Israel has been "a thorn in the eye of fascists who would rather eliminate the Jewish state". He concluded that an Israeli-Kurdish alliance is "natural", and that sincere mutual respect and recognition of each other’s rights can lead to peace and prosperity.[30] Palazzi noted that although in present days support for Israel among Muslims is a minority orientation, there are some exceptions, such as former President of Indonesia and leader of Nadwat al-Ulema, Shaykh Abdurrahman Wahid, and the Grand Mufti of the Russian Federation, Shaykh Talgat Tajuddin, the Mufti of European Russia, Shaykh Salman Farid, who wrote a fatwa against the intifadah. According to Palazzi, more examples for Pro-Israeli Muslim clerics are the Muftis of Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.[19] [6] Notable Muslim supporters of Israel Notable Muslim supporters of Israel include Dr. Tawfik Hamid A former self described member of a terror organization and current Islamic thinker and reformer,[9] Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community and self described Muslim Zionist,[1] [8] and Tashbih Sayyed - A Muslim Pakistani-American scholar, journalist, author, and self-described Muslim Zionist,[10] Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Islamic Law scholar of the San Diego State University and Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a Bangladeshi journalist and publisher, and a self-proclaimed Muslim Zionist. In Egypt Dr. Tawfik Hamid, an Egyptian scholar and self-described former member of the militant al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, said that most Muslims correlate the word Israel in Arabic to the word ‘Azra’il that sounds like Israel but means “Angel of death”. This created a link in the minds of most Muslim children the need to hate the word Israel. In an article titled "Why I loved Israel based on the Qur'an" he claims that according to the Qur'an, God gave the Israelites the land of Israel as their promised land (Quran 17:104: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, "Dwell securely in the land of promise". He explains the Quran went even further to consider the Promised Land as the permanent inheritance for the Israelites (26:59) "Thus it was, but we made the Children of Israel inheritors of such things (the Promised Land)"[9] He continued by saying "No Muslim has the right to interfere with the gathering of the Jews in Israel, as this is the will of God himself".[9] In Pakistan Dr. Tashbih Sayyed, a Shi’ite Pakistani-American scholar, journalist, and author, was a prominent supporter and Israel and critic of the Islamist movement.

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