Website: www.aaiil.uk

Islam and Antisemitism

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 1 December 2023

“And of Moses’ people is a party who guide with truth and with it they do justice.” — ch. 7, Al-A‘rāf, v. 159

وَ مِنۡ قَوۡمِ مُوۡسٰۤی اُمَّۃٌ یَّہۡدُوۡنَ بِالۡحَقِّ وَ بِہٖ یَعۡدِلُوۡنَ ﴿۱۵۹﴾

“And We divided them in the earth into (different) groups — some of them are righteous and some of them are otherwise. And We tried them with blessings and misfortunes that they might turn (i.e. turn towards the truth).” — ch. 7, Al-A‘rāf, v. 168

وَ قَطَّعۡنٰہُمۡ فِی الۡاَرۡضِ اُمَمًا ۚ مِنۡہُمُ الصّٰلِحُوۡنَ وَ مِنۡہُمۡ دُوۡنَ ذٰلِکَ ۫ وَ بَلَوۡنٰہُمۡ بِالۡحَسَنٰتِ وَ السَّیِّاٰتِ لَعَلَّہُمۡ یَرۡجِعُوۡنَ ﴿۱۶۸﴾

These days an impression is being spread that Muslims entertain a hatred for Jews as such, for no other reason that they are Jews. It is implied that it is the Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad who taught their followers this antisemitism. These accusa­tions are being made in a political context, since without the current climate of armed conflict in Gaza and Israel, they would be unheard of. Unfortunately, those who make such accusations are able to cite and quote, in support of their allegation, statements of many Muslim religious and community leaders which they make foolishly. The Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad never taught hatred to be directed towards Jews on any kind of religious or racial grounds. If the Quran condemns any people for wrongdoing, then it is the acts of wrongdoing which it condemns, whoever may have committed them, whether Jew, any other non-Muslim, or Muslims themselves, and the Quran always leaves the door open for reform and forgiveness.

The two verses I have recited are in relation to the Jews of the time when the Quran was revealed. This was a time long after their committing of the wrongs in the times of their prophets which I mentioned in my last Khutba. The first verse says that among Jews there are those, in fact not isolated individuals but a group, who adhere to truth and justice. They actually guide others to the truth as well. The second verse occurs shortly after the first. It speaks of the dispersal of the Jews in the world. This dispersal, both according to the Bible and the Quran, was due to their misdeeds in turning away from the worship of the One God, and becoming worldly and selfish. Yet the Quran tells us that among them some are righteous and some are “otherwise”. It says this while at the same time mentioning their wrongdoings and violation of the teachings given to them by God. This wording, “some of them are righteous and some of them are otherwise”, is significant as well. It mentions the righteous first, and then about the rest of them it just says that they were other than righteous, and it does not directly apply a bad term to them. In these two verses the Quran has shown very great fairness and lack of animosity towards the Jews.

In another place, the Quran first mentions that the Israelites were told by Allah: “I am with you” — اِنّیْ مَعَکُمْ. But this was conditional, and only applied if they remained true believers who did good deeds. However, they broke their side of the promise. So Allah punished them. But Allah said to the Muslims:

“You will always discover treachery in them (i.e., breaking their word and promise with you) except for a few of them — so pardon them and forgive. Surely Allah loves those who do good to others” (5:13).

This, again, is a teaching of unmatchable mercy: that they break their word with you, except for a few of them who don’t, but if you pardon them and forgive then Allah will love you. The same teaching is also mentioned in another verse of the Quran (2:109), where it tells us that the Jews of the Holy Prophet’s time were envious and jealous of his success, and they wanted those people who had become Muslims from the Arab idol-worshippers to go back to their old religion. They wanted this to happen even while they knew that Islam, like their own Jewish faith, taught the worship of the One God and was against idol-worship. Again, in this situation, the Quran still told Muslims to “pardon and forgive” the Jews for their attempts to make them go back to idol-worship. These two verses, one from chapter 5 and one from chapter 2, both revealed at Madinah, are separated in time by possibly up to five years. Thus the instruction to “pardon and forgive” was given the first time in chapter 2 and then repeated later in chapter 5. Therefore, even those people who believe that some verses of the Quran which were revealed later abrogated earlier verses, cannot argue that this teaching was only temporary and later it was overturned. Far from being overturned, later it was confirmed.

The Quran in another place speaks of a plan by the Jews of Madinah to make Islam look a worthless religion by first becoming Muslims and then quickly leaving Islam. This was meant to create the impression that they had discovered something wrong with Islam so soon after embracing it, which made them leave Islam. But three verses later the Quran says this:

“And among the People of the Book is he who, if you entrust him with a heap of wealth, would pay it back to you; and among them is he who, if you entrust him with a penny, would not pay it back to you, unless you kept on demanding it” (3:75).

The words translated here as “unless you kept on demanding it” are literally: “unless you stood over him”. By “People of the Book” here are primarily meant the Jews, since verses before and after it refer to Jews and not any other People of the Book. By mentioning both kinds of Jews, the Quran has shown remarkable fairness. If the wrongdoings of some of them are described and condemned, the good qualities of others are also pointed out. Again, the good ones are mentioned first. It says you can rely on the good ones to pay you back a heap of wealth which you had asked them to look after for you. But there are others, even if you gave them a penny or penny’s worth of things to look after for you, you would only get it back by persistently asking for it.

Of course, in this verse, entrusting someone with your money is also meant in a broader sense than just literally money. Your money could also be your rights which belong to you, but which are in the hands of the People of the Book to safeguard for you and give to you when you require them. In that broad sense the verse means that Muslims will encounter some Jews and Christians who will give them their just due rights without any reluctance or resistance, but they will also encounter others who will only do so if Muslims are vigilant and watchful to demand their rights.

A little later after this verse, again while describing the wrongs committed by the Jews against their own prophets, and their opposition to Muslims at the time of the Holy Prophet, the Quran goes on to say:

“They are not all the same. Among the People of the Book some are upright — they recite Allah’s messages in the night-time and they adore (Him). They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they enjoin good and forbid evil and hasten in (doing) good deeds. And those are among the right­eous. And whatever good they do, they will not be denied it. And Allah knows those who keep their duty” (3:113–115).

The very statement “they are not all the same” kills off any idea that the Quran condemns a whole nation or a whole religious community. What do we say when we condemn a group of people in a blanket way? We say: They are all the same! Moreover, since the condemnation in the Quran is directed at mis­deeds and wrongs that were committed, it goes on to mention the good deeds that they ought to commit and which some of them do commit. Reciting Allah’s messages here does not mean reading the Quran but receiving inspiration from their own scriptures that were revealed by God. This point, and all the other good points listed here, are possible for the “People of the Book” to do. They can adore God, and passages enabling them to adore God can be found in the Bible. They can believe in God and the Last Day, as indeed is stated in their scriptures. They know what good and evil are, and it is very similar to the concepts of good and evil as believed by Muslims.

The last verse of the above passage again removes any idea of prejudice against and hatred towards a whole nation: “And whatever good they do, they will not be denied it”. When they do the good deeds required by their own scriptures, which are corroborated by the Quran as being good deeds, they shall not be denied reward for those deeds by Allah.

In the Quran, Allah allowed Muslims to fight in self-defence. It says in that passage that if Allah did not allow people to fight other people to repel their attacks then the consequences would have been that:

“cloisters (i.e., monks’ places of worship) and churches and syna­­gogues, and mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down” (22:40).

This verse shows that it is legitimate in Islam, in fact necessary, to preserve all such places of worship and save them from destruction. As you can see, Jewish syna­­gogues are included here.

There is another interesting incident relating to the revelation of the well-known verse of the Quran: “There is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Among the Arabs of Madinah there was a custom, before Islam, that sometimes they would bring up their children in the Jewish faith, because they considered it to be superior to their own ancestral religion. When Islam came, and the parents embraced Islam, they wanted to convert their children to Islam as well. Then this verse was revealed to say that no one could be forced to convert to Islam. If the children wanted to continue to adhere to the Jewish religion, in which they had been brought up, they had the right to do so, according to the Quran. In fact, some of them did wish to remain with the Jews, and did so.

After all this evidence, showing conclusively that the Quran does not teach antisemitism, or require Muslims to hate Jews, there is a basic point which no one on earth can deny or dispute. That is that the Quran requires Muslims to believe in the prophets of the Jews as a fundamental of Islam and to respect and honour these prophets and take their names with reverence. This is why Muslims add the prayer ‘alai-is-salām, peace be upon him, after the name of every one of the revered figures of the Jews: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Job, Jonah, who are mentioned in the Quran. Moreover, the Quran is explicit that Muslims must not make any distinction between the prophets of God, and to do so is a great sin. When you respect someone’s elders like your own, you cannot be biased against them and hate them as a group.

Website: www.aaiil.uk