Thursday, June 10, 2004

I wouldn't say that one Muslim assistant professor's thoughts posted on a right-wing/libertatrian website is going to change the world, but one can dream....

Scholar: Quran says Israel belongs to Jews

The professor quotes from Chapter 5: 20-21, which says Moses declared, "O my people! Remember the bounty of God upon you when He bestowed prophets upon you, and made you kings and gave you that which had not been given to anyone before you amongst the nations. O my people! Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers."

Mohammed points specifically to the reference to the Holy Land as a place God has "written" for the Israelites, a term that conveys, in Jewish and Islamic understandings, a "meaning of finality, decisiveness and immutability..."


He says medieval scholars, "without any exception known to me," interpreted the Quran to recognize Israel as belonging to the Jews.

According to Mohammed, the idea that Israel does not belong to the Jews is a modern one, "probably based on the Mideast rejection of European colonialism, etc., but certainly not having anything to do with the Quran."


Even if this were the case, someone would still have to define "Israel".

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