If this receives any coverage at all, it will focus on Bernie and his condemnation of anti-Semitism. No one at all will consider the implications of Hassan Qazwini’s casually enunciated anti-Semitism, which he clearly assumes his audience will share.
And why is that? Could it be because of what is written in the Qur’an? The Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil. They are bent on destroying the well-being of the Muslims. They are the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under Islamic hegemony (9:29).
An update on this story. “Bernie Sanders Endorsed By Detroit Imam Hassan Qazwini – Who In 2016 Called Sanders ‘An Honorable Man, Even Though He Is A Jew’; In 2015, Called ISIS ‘The Arm Of The Zionists In The Muslim World… To Defame The Name Of Islam’; In 2019, Openly Praised Iran’s Proxy In Yemen For Attack On Saudi Oilfields: From The MEMRI TV Archives,” MEMRI, March 11, 2020:
Special Dispatch No. 8625
Imam Hassan Qazwini, the Iraqi-born head of the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, was one of the speakers at Bernie Sanders campaign rally in Dearborn on March 7, 2020.[1] Beginning his speech in English, Qazwini stated that he supports Sanders as a presidential candidate, saying that he is dedicated to eradicating antisemitism, Islamophobia, and white supremacy. He then continued: “We need to send someone to the White House [who] can clean it of the coronavirus called Trump.”[2]
Qazwini concluded his speech in Arabic, calling on Muslims to vote for a candidate who “defends our rights as Muslims and Arabs in the United States without any discrimination [against us compared] with other ethnic groups.” Continuing in Arabic, he described Sanders as a “brave and noble man” who “represents the values that we all believe in.”
This is not the first time Qazwini has spoken in support of Sanders. During a Friday sermon on September 15, 2016, Qazwini said of Sanders: “[He] is an honorable man – I truly consider him an honorable man, even though he is a Jew.” He then claimed that Sanders had lost the 2016 presidential election because he refused “to sell America for the interest of Israel.”[3] Previously, in 2015, Qazwini had claimed that ISIS is controlled by Zionists, who seek to kill Muslims and defame Islam.[4]
The following are clips of Imam Al-Hassan Qazwini from the MEMRI TV archives.
Qazwini: ISIS Run By Israel, Zionists In Order To Kill Muslims, Defame Islam; Israel Benefits From ISIS More Than Anyone – November 22, 2015
Iraqi-born Shi’ite Imam Hassan Qazwini said in a November 22, 2015 video of an address at the Az-Zahraa Islamic Center in Detroit, Michigan that ISIS is motivated by an agenda and is being run by the enemies of Islam. He said that almost every country in the Middle East except for Israel has been targeted by ISIS and that this “speaks volumes” about a possible connection between ISIS and Israel. Qazwini said that ISIS is the arm of the Zionists in the Muslim world that serves to kill Muslims, defame Islam, and alienate people from Islam. He said that the Zionists and the Zionist regime benefit more than anybody else from the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS and from the fact that ISIS jeopardizes the fate and wellbeing of Muslims throughout the West. For more from Imam Hassan Qazwini, see MEMRI TV Clips No. 5710 and No. 5644. Imam Hassan Qazwini served as the imam of Az-Zahraa Islamic Center until 2015, and Imam Bassem Al-Sheraa (see MEMRI TV Clip No. 7002) is the Center’s current imam.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:
Hassan Qazwini: “When ISIS attacks non-Muslims, they immediately blame Islam for it. I have no doubt that ISIS is motivated by an agenda run by the enemies of Islam, and I want to bring this to your attention. ISIS has targeted people in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, in Kuwait, in Saudi Arabia, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in Yemen, in Algeria… The only place that has been completely safe and [that] has never been threatened by ISIS, nor has it been targeted, is Israel. What does this tell you? This speaks out, this speaks volumes – that ISIS somehow is connected to Israel. ISIS is playing the role of the arm of the Zionists in the Muslim world to kill more Muslims and non-Muslims so it can defame the name of Islam, so people can blame Islam for its atrocities, so people can be alienated from this religion – this peaceful religion, our religion. Otherwise, who is benefitting from these atrocities? Muslims are benefitting? When they are jeopardizing the fate of over six million Muslim in the United States, 20 million Muslims living in Europe… Their faith, their fates, their wellbeing, their livelihood is being jeopardized by ISIS. Islam is benefitting? No. The number one beneficiary of all these atrocities, I tell you, is the Zionist[s]. It is the Zionist regime.”
Qazwini On U.S. Military Aid Package To Israel: The Pro-Israel Lobby Uses The U.S. As A Cash Cow – September 15, 2016
In a Friday sermon in Detroit, Michigan, Iraqi-born Shi’ite Imam Hassan Qazwini said that the U.S. administration was “bowing to the pro-Israeli lobby,” which was using the U.S a “cash cow” or a “farm.” In the sermon, which was delivered at the Az-Zahraa Islamic Center and posted on YouTube on September 16, Qazwini praised former Democratic contender Bernie Sanders – “an honorable man, even though he is a Jew” – and said that he “was made to pay the price” by losing the campaign because he refused “to sell America for the interest of Israel.” Following are excerpts.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:
Hassan Qazwini: “At a time that our country is going through financial and economic difficulties, when many people struggle to find jobs, when our federal government is being pressured by the public debt, that reached over one trillion or two trillion dollars… Now, the United States, due to the pressure by the pro-Israeli lobby… The President of the United States, due to the pressure by the pro-Israeli lobby, is offering this generous offer to Israel.
[…]
“Yet Israel is not happy. Israel will never be happy. Netanyahu is never happy, and unfortunately, that is the painful truth: The pro-Israel lobby has been using the United States as a cash cow. That is the reality. When many people now, in our own community, struggle to find jobs, our country, our administration, is bowing to the pro-Israeli lobby by giving them 38 billion dollars. 38 billion dollars.
[…]
“This [F-35] warplane is being given as a gift to Mr. Netanyahu, and yet Mr. Netanyahu is not happy with the United States. He will never be happy. The Quran says: “The Jews and Christians will never be pleased with you, until you follow their religion.” Netanyahu will never be happy with the United States, unless the US becomes an unconditional cash cow – a farm – for Mr. Netanyahu.
[…]
“That’s what Netanyahu wants. He thinks that the United States is nothing but a farm for him. He owns that farm, along with the pro-Israeli lobby, and no one in the US has the right to say “no” to him. The minute someone says “no” to him, they are doomed, unfortunately. We saw that with our own eyes during this election. An honorable man – I truly consider him an honorable man, even though he is a Jew… But you know, we have no problem with Jewish people. We have a problem with the Zionists, not with the Jewish people, like Bernie Sanders.
[…]
“When other candidates were competing among themselves to show more loyalty toward Israel, and to show more willingness, I would say, to sell America for the interest of Israel, this man refused to do so, even though he is a Jew himself. But then he was made to pay the price. He lost.”…
tgusa says
Bernie is living proof that there are many people in America who have lost their instinct for survival.
mortimer says
Bernie Sanders has no interest in religion. He is a communist. He thinks he can convert Muslims to communism.
tgusa says
Right on all accounts but religion has little to do with the instinct for survival.
tgusa says
If it were little green man from outer space screaming, death to all of you down there!
I wouldn’t care what their religion was.
mortimer says
Sacha Baron Cohen spoofed the bigoted attitudes of Muslims towards Jews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QB07vaNoLE
jewdog says
More accurately, I’d say that Bernie is an idiot (or a useful idiot) even though he is a Jew.