Back in 2007, I debated Dinesh d’Souza at CPAC and on a few radio shows on the thesis of his book, The Enemy At Home, which claimed that jihad terrorism was a reaction to the corruption of American pop culture, and recommended that U.S. conservatives ally with “conservative Muslims” on shared moral grounds. During these debates, I pressed him repeatedly to name even one conservative Muslim that he thought would be a good ally for conservatives in the U.S. He refused repeatedly, and repeatedly misrepresented my request as evidence that I thought all Muslims were terrorists, but finally he named Ali Gomaa, then-Mufti of Egypt. As I expected, d’Souza thus exposed the weakness of his entire argument, for Ali Gomaa, far from being a moderate, Western-style pluralist, actually endorsed wife-beating, Hizballah, and the punishment of apostates from Islam.
And now he insists that the notorious hadith that calls for genocide of the Jews is authentic and will come true, and even claims that the Jews believe it and are preparing accordingly. I don’t know if Dinesh d’Souza still thinks he would be a reliable ally or still stands by his ridiculous thesis, but over the years I’ve spoken to many conservatives who bought his argument hook, line and sinker. The damage is done.
“Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.” (Sahih Muslim 6985)
“Former Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa: Jews Plant ‘Gharqad’ Trees to Hide from Muslims on Judgment Day,” MEMRI, December 23, 2014:
Following are excerpts from a program featuring former Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa, which aired on CBC TV and was posted on the Internet on December 23, 2014:
Ali Gomaa: The hadith that relates how [the stones and the trees will say:] “There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him” is a 100% reliable hadith that appears in Muslim’s compilation. But I must stress that we will not attack anyone. We are the ones under attack. The Prophet Muhammad was right when he foretold that before this, the Zionist entity would occupy our land, and would kill our sons, violate our women’s honor, and steal our money.
One day this miracle will take place, when the Palestinians and all the Muslims will fight the Jews until even the stone and the tree will talk, except for the Ghardaq. That is what the hadith says. In Egypt, we have turned this into “Ghardaqa.” The city of Ghardaqa is named after the Gharqad trees planted there. They changed the order of the letters, but it’s the same thing.
[…]
Some people question the reliability of this hadith, but it is 100% authentic and will come true. Look how the Jews are planting Gharqad trees all over the West Bank. They know that it will protect them when they hide behind it. They believe these sacred texts, while some Muslims doubt them. But most of the Muslims believe in these texts and will continue to do so.