Holocaust Denial and the Muslims « Foehammer’s Anvil

Thanks to Ma_Zilla for alerting me to this article:

Holocaust Denial and the Muslims
By Tashbih Sayyed | February 5, 2007

Iran stood alone in shame on Friday, (January 26, 2007) for rejecting a United Nations resolution that condemned any denial of the Holocaust. The fact that the resolution was sponsored by 104 countries and was approved by consensus did not matter for the Iranian Islamist regime which is determined to complete Adolph Hitler’s unfinished business.

Nobody who understands the Islamist mind and is familiar with Muslim history and sociology was surprised by the Iranian action; Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, just like the Wahhabi masses, represents an ideology that thrives on the hatred of Jews — a common passion that binds all holocaust deniers together.

This evil passion has been responsible for the persecution of Jews for more than two thousand years. The persecution of Jews has taken different shapes and forms but the objective has always remained the same — annihilation of Jewish people. In fact, one of the earliest recorded incidents of persecution against the Jews occurred in 306 C.E., when the church Synod of Elvira banned marriages and community contacts between Christians and Jews.

Islamic anti-Semitism has its roots in the historical rivalry that existed between the Arabs who had emigrated to Medina from Yemen in the aftermath of the destruction of Maarib dam and the Jewish tribes who were living in Medina for a very long time. Prophet Muhammad was invited to Medina by the Arabs of Medina who had converted to Islam. When the Jewish leaders of Medina first heard of the coming of a prophet preaching belief in one God, they were intrigued. They did not immediately accept or reject him, but they wanted to know more (Ibn Ishaq, 192).

Relations began to deteriorate as the Jews discovered Muhammad was not very familiar with their scriptures and traditions. The rabbis taunted him with questions he could not answer (Ibn Ishaq, 351). Consequently the Jews did not accept Prophet Muhammad as a prophet of God. And during the wars that Muslims fought against the Meccan pagans, they suspected that the Jews were in a secret alliance with the enemies of Muslims. This set the stage for Muslim anti-Semitism for all times.

During over 1300 years under Islamic rule, Jews have been tolerated along with Christians as people who had defined religion and discovered prophets of God. Since the Jews did not accept Muhammad as the final authoritative true prophet of God, they were assigned the inferior status of Dhimmis. In Muslim society there are three classes of the population that are inferior and have no rights: slaves, women, and non-believers. The Jews as Dhimmis are much better off than slaves or women, but they are inferior to every Muslim male in the country. For example, in Iran in the 19th century the law read, “A Jew must never overtake a Muslim on a public street. He is forbidden to talk loudly to a Muslim. A Jewish creditor of a Muslim must claim his debt in a quavering and respectful manner. If a Muslim insults a Jew, the latter must drop his head and remain silent.”

Holocaust denial is the logical consequence of the anti-Semitism that is the main driving force behind Islamism or political Islam. This fascist ideology has historically been controlling Muslim societies ever since the establishment of the caliphate in Islam, making it impossible for ordinary Muslims to learn anything positive about Jews or Judaism. Consequently, in today’s context, Muslims remain the most ill-informed, or misinformed, about the darkest chapter in the history of mankind — the holocaust.

While I agree with this article and the author on most counts, I must make note that it does not take into account the anti-Semitism as it is dictated in the Quran itself. Be wary of Muslims that try to convey that Islam itself is not to blame for Islamist beliefs, that use terms like “radical”, “political Islam” and the like. Sometimes the misdirection is so craftily done, you don’t even know you’re reading it.

From the Quran in reference to Jews, a few quotes:

“And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.” 2:65

“Say: “Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, (as judged) by the treatment it received from Allah? those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil;- these are (many times) worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path!” 5:60-61

“When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.” 7:166

This author blames a “historic rivalry”, “Wahhabism” and conflict between “Jews” and “Arabs” for the roots of Holocaust denial, but never once does he point a finger straight at Muhammad or the Quran he penned. I don’t blame him: to do so in Pakistan is going to get a writer killed; I however am a little more sheltered, so I had to point-out the left-outs.