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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Muhammad and the Jews

Jul 1, 2005 7:07 am By Robert Spencer

An illuminating article from James M. Arlandson in The American Thinker (thanks to Looney Tunes):

Everyone knows that many millions of the Muslims in the Arab world have a deep hostility towards Jews or “the Jew.” It seems to have reached a metaphysical level or has debased into an irrational state of mind.

The question is: where does it come from? From the anti-Israel news media? The media are powerful. So they may be a factor, partially.

Leaders in the Arab world and wider Muslim world constantly shriek that Israel is the oppressor, so this may be a factor in the hostility, but evidence that millions of average Muslims are influenced by their leaders on this matter must be brought forward, in a free and voluntary way without fear of reprisal in a dictatorship. It is difficult to imagine, for example, that millions of Muslims in Indonesia or Malaysia would become human bombs in Palestine or hate the Jews for this geopolitical reason.

So where does the deep and irrational hostility come from?

Osama bin Laden, the dark prince of terrorism, stands in for countless other fanatics, both violent and non-violent. In fact, he represents millions of average Muslims who have given him the status of a folk hero. In a 1998 interview (scroll down to Jonathan Miller interview), though, bin Laden cites the Crusader-Zionists as one source of enmity, he also says the enmity between Jews and Muslims runs more deeply in history than that.

The enmity between us and the Jews goes far back in time and is deep rooted. There is no question that war between the two of us is inevitable.

What does he mean that the enmity goes far back in time? How far back? Rooted where?

Bin Laden gives us an example of early Islamic history in his lengthy 1996 fatwa (point no. seven, and scroll a long way down past that point). He refers to the seventh-century Jewish tribe of Qaynuqa who lived in Medina with Muhammad the Prophet. The terrorist draws inspiration from Muhammad’s expulsion of these Jews just for a petty trick done by a Qaynuqa Jew. He pinned a Muslim woman’s skirt to a nail, and when she stood up, the skirt stayed down. A fight erupted and murders ensued. For that, Muhammad expelled the entire tribe. Therefore, goes the thinking, bin Laden is justified in hating the Jews because they are troublemakers.

Bin Laden gives us another example from early Islam. This message of his has a long list of irrational grievances against the Jews. He cites many verses in the Quran and hadith passages (hadith are the reports of Muhammad’s words and actions outside of the Quran). One particular hadith passage that he quotes says that trees will cry out that there are Jews hiding behind them, so Muslims should come and kill them. Other traditions say that Jews will hide behind stones and then be found and killed.

In his hostility toward the Jews, bin Laden believes that he is following his prophet. In a certain way, he is indeed closely following Muhammad. Bin Laden represents millions who have at least heard of these two examples (and others) of expelling and killing Jews, as these reports circulate around in their world, in newspapers, in school curricula, in books, in popular folk belief, and in major news media outlets, like the editorial pages in newspapers. But these incidents and beliefs are found in the source documents of early Islam, as well, so they have had centuries to seep into the fabric of the Arab and Islamic world today.

Arlandson then details the origins of Muslim anti-Semitism from Islamic sources. Read it all, and keep it on hand as a resource.

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