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[Make sure to read Robert Spencer’s contributions in Jamie Glazov’s new book: Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America.]
It’s understandable that in times of crisis, people would reach out for reassurance, for some indication that things aren’t as dismal as they seem. Still, when times are tough, it is more important than ever not to be seduced by wishful thinking.
In a disheartening exercise of willful ignorance and the myopia that wishful thinking can induce, the Jerusalem Post published a curious piece Tuesday entitled “Hamas has perverted Islam for their sacrilegious, blasphemous actions.” The author, Yakov Nagen, is identified as a rabbi and “the director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue.” Interfaith dialogue is a realm in which self-delusion can all too easily run wild and fond hopes reign supreme over reality; Nagen’s article is, unfortunately, yet another example of this.
“What empowers Hamas and allows it to thrive,” Nagen asserts, “is that too many have accepted their corruption of the teachings of a world religion.” He notes with satisfaction that Hamas does have opponents within the Islamic world: “Hundreds of Muslim leaders signed a public statement issued by the Global Imams Council (GIC) unequivocally condemning the massacre. In the condemnation, they refer to a legal ruling issued by the Islamic Fatwa Council, located in the Iraqi spiritual capital of Najaf: ‘It is prohibited to pray for, join, support, finance, or fight on behalf of Hamas.’”
That sounds wonderful, but then Nagen adds, “The ruling enumerated 11 correlations between Hamas and ISIS, including the use of suicide bombers, missile attacks against civilians, and genocidal aspirations, in the case of Hamas annihilating the Jews.”
It is unpleasant, but nonetheless true: neither ISIS nor Hamas originated these ideas. They are all rooted in core Islamic texts. The justification for suicide bombing is in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam: “Indeed, Allah has bought from the believers their lives and their wealth, because the garden will be theirs, they will fight in the way of Allah and will kill and be killed.” (9:111) This is the only promise of paradise in the Qur’an, but one can take hold of that promise by being killed while killing unbelievers.
Killing women and children, i.e., civilians, is justified in an Islamic tradition, a hadith, in which Muhammad waves away those who object: “It is reported on the authority of Sa’b bin Jaththama that the Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him), when asked about the women and children of the polytheists being killed during the night raid, said: They are from them.” (Sahih Muslim 4321)
And the genocidal aspirations of Hamas and ISIS toward Jews are justified in another hadith: “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)
Nagen then goes on to say that “one example of Hamas’s sacrilege is the cynical way they use al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as a pretext for murder and terror.” He calls this “an Orwellian inversion of reality” and asserts that “the use of al-Aqsa to justify the massacre of Jews is profoundly sacrilegious.” He even claims that “al-Aqsa Mosque should be a symbol of the close, even intimate relationship between Islam and Judaism. It is an inversion of what should be the meaning and significance of the fact that al-Aqsa Mosque is located on Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount. This is where, according to Muslim tradition, Mohammad received the commandment of prayer.” Consequently, he says, “for centuries, the link between the ancient temple and the mosque was a source of pride for many Muslims.”
All this is apparently designed to give the impression that the al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the Temple Mount as some sort of gesture of brotherhood and solidarity. In reality, however, the reason why “for centuries, the link between the ancient temple and the mosque was a source of pride for many Muslims” is that the location of the mosque was considered to be a visible sign of Islam’s victory over Judaism and superiority to it.
Al-Aqsa is like Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, a great cathedral converted into a mosque as a sign of Islam’s victory over Christianity and its superiority to it. It is also like all the mosques in India that were built over the ruins of Hindu temples the jihadis destroyed. This is, in other words, an extremely weak foundation for interfaith harmony and an appeal to those true Muslims who detest all this jihad terrorism, about whom we hear so very much from non-Muslims and so very little from directly.
Nagen’s earnest irenicism is understandable but nevertheless naïve and ill-informed. It is better to have a full and accurate understanding of who and what we’re dealing with.
Robert, I do not think Hamas has perverted Islam. Hamas is Islam in all of its gory, murderous self. Furthermore, all of the little cult offshoots of Islam should be renamed. Hezbollah should be Islamic Hezbollah.
Islam’s goal is global dominance through the Global Jihad, and we should use the proper nomenclature.
THEY ALL READ THE SAME BOOK !
Islamic Terrorism
1,400 YEARS OF MEANING WHAT THEY SAY
QURAN the bible of the inbred blood cult founded by a
warlord
Why not edit 37? Koran 2:191 “Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them.”
Koran 3:28 “Muslims must not take the infidels as friends.”
Koran 3:85 “Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable.” Koran 5:33 “Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam”
Koran 8:12 “Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Quran.”
Koran 8:60 “Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.’ Koran 8:65 ‘The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.”
Koran 9:5 “When opportunity arises kill the infidels wherever you catch them.”
Koran 9:30 ‘The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.” Koran 9:123 “Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.” Koran 22:19 “Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.”
Koran 47:4 “Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.”
_ STOP the denial of reality
Yeah, Ill believe this Rabbi Nagen, and not my lying eyes.
The guy is a tool.
And what of the Jerusalem Post publishing such ignorance and perversion of the truth? JP used to be a Zionist newspaper. Today it calls Judea and Samaria the “West Bank.” I cancelled my subscription to it years ago,
Islam is Islam like a turd is a turd. The mainstream media, politicians, academia, apologists, Muslims, etc., can paint it a pretty color, spray perfume, sprinkle glitter on it, put it in an attractive box, wrap it with beautiful paper, ornate bow and present it to the gullible masses as a thing of beauty. But its underlying characteristics remain and cannot be changed.
Read the koran that states about 100x it’s fine to do violence to infidels… especially jews … 1,400 years and still not edited out!
What’s does that tell any thinking adult?
WHY oh why is the Koran not banned on a worldwide basis for what it is, a book of HATE.
For the same reason Mein Kampf is not banned: To tell the thinking scholar what the founder of a murderous cult was thinking concerning his reasons for founding it. Unfortunately there are some sick, twisted people who read Mein Kampf as a how-to manual, and unfortunately there are a great many sick, twisted people who look at the Koran the same way.
hamas is pure islam
With all due respect to Rabbi Nagen, he missed the mark entirely. For one thing, islam is NOT a religion, it’s a totalitarian ideology pretending to be a religion – which has enabled it to get away with endless nefarious deeds for the past 14 centuries.
“Being a muslim really is not having a relationship with God, it’s a contract with the state. You are obliged to go to a mosque, to behave like a Moslem and to abide by the laws of sharia.” (Nonie Darwish).
“Islam is primarily a legal system, a law,” rather than a religion”. (Professor Vermeulen, former President of the European Union of rabists and Islamacists)
“One of our greatest mistakes is to think of Islam as just another one of the world’s great religions. We shouldn’t. Islam is politics or it is nothing at all, but, of course, it is politics with a spiritual dimension, “(American political scientist Mark Alexander)
“The reason I am against Islam is not because it is a religion, but because it is a political ideology of imperialism and domination in the guise of religion. ” (Ali Sina, Iranian islamic apostate)
And for another, being perversion itself, this totalitarian ideology cannot possibly be perverted.
I am waiting for some Iman to declare Hamas to be apostates. I am also waiting for the taliban to be called apostates.
They are koran readers daily… the most toxic book on the planet written by a known beheading warlord … unreal that this passes for peaceful after it’s history… No book copies in libraries so why is that ?
This guy who is calling himself a Rabbi is the core of Israel’s and American Jews problem. We all know Jewish world is comprise of three groups. Ashkenazi -Eastern European Jews-. Sephardic -decedents Spanish Jews-. Mizrahi – Jew who lived in Arab lands-. Unlike Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews who lived under sword Islam. Who understand Muslims mind set and behavior. Ashkenazi Jews like European Christians who fought and won many of the fights against Muslims. Do not understand Islam’s effect on Muslims mind set and behavior. No observing Muslims or even non observing Muslims misinterpret the Koran. The Koran is explicit on how Muslim should behave. There is no perversion. As Turkey’s Erdoğan once said Islam is Islam no moderate or qualify Islam.
Admit it or not the world is in the middle of the clash of civilization. And Muslims are dead serious to win this war.. If the Christian west is not wake up soon, It will experience much bigger October 7 Israel experience. And 9/11 will look like a child play
What has Hamas done that Mohammed would frown upon? Did he pervert Islam too?
This Nagen person, whether a rabbi or not, obviously knows little of Islam and Islamic doctrine. I suspect the same is true of The Jerusalem Post.