Mufti says condemning Jews is heresy

Haaretz: Syria’s Mufti: Islam commands us to protect Judaism

Syria’s foremost Muslim leader declared on Tuesday that Islam commands its followers to protect Judaism, according to Army Radio.

“If the Prophet Mohammed had asked me to deem Christians or Jews heretics, I would have deemed Mohammed himself a heretic,” Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun, the Mufti of Syria, was quoted as telling a delegation of American academics visiting Damascus.

Hassoun, the leader of Syria’s majority Sunni Muslim community, also told the delegates that Islam was a religion of peace, adding: “If Mohammed had commanded us to kill people, I would have told him he was not a prophet.”

Comment: For a Sufi Muslim, Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun sure has a familiar way toward the Prophet of Islam. Then again, he was probably being allegorical, a fact that is lost in Haaretz’s report. If anybody knows better, do opine!

Gaza- of all places- giving aid to Haiti

Haaretz: Gaza collects Haiti aid, says it was similarly shaken by Israel

Palestinians in Gaza are offering donations and financial support for the victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake at the Strip’s Red Cross headquarters, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported on Monday.

The Ma’an reported said that Gazan family members of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel also participated in the effort, offering financial donations and goods such as blankets and covers, as well as food and milk for children.
…
Head of the Committee to Break the Siege Jamal Al-Khudary said “people may be astonished at our ability to collect donations from our people [in Gaza]; we tell them that this is a humanitarian campaign and our people love life and peace.”

“We are here today supporting the victims of Haiti; we feel for them the most because we were exposed to our own earthquake during Israel’s war on Gaza.”

Comment: Mr Jamal al-Khudary, donate all you want, but please leave cheap potshots out of the picture. You’ve turned an essentially noble gesture into a public-relations exercise.

Muslims destroying Prophet Ezekiel’s tomb

JPost: Iraq erasing Jewish identity of Prophet Ezekiel from tomb

For centuries Jews, Christians and Muslims came to Al-Kifl, a small town south of Baghdad, to visit the tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel and pray.

The distinctive Jewish character of the Al-Kifl shrine, namely the Hebrew inscriptions and the Torah Ark, never bothered the gentile worshipers. In the 14th century a minaret was built next to the shrine, but the interior design remained Jewish. The vast majority of Iraq’s Jewish community left some 60 years ago, but Shi’ites took good care of the holy site.

Until now.

Comment: Although the article seems to imply that Sunni insurgents are responsible for the desecration of Prophet Ezekiel’s tomb, I am not so sure about that conclusion. Contrary to popular belief, Shia Muslims are even more intolerant of Jews than Sunni Muslims are. While Shia Muslims in Iraq remained relatively quiet under Saddam Hussein’s Baath-inspired and essentially secular rule, the subsequent American occupation has helped to nurture unprecedented links between Iran’s ideologues and Iraqi Shias. These links are entirely one-way, because of Iran’s appeal as a mature Shia superpower and its ability to produce a coherent nationalistic framework. The vandalism of Ezekiel’s tomb is a strong signal of Iran’s growing, and anti-Semitic influence amongst Iraqi Shias. All in all, a worrying sign for the 8 Jews left in Iraq to ponder about.

Taking lessons from Malaysian extremists

BosNewsLife: Islamists Burn, Loot Algerian Church

Islamists burned and looted a Protestant church in northern Algeria in an attack that was fueled by violence against Christians elsewhere in the Muslim and Arab world, church officials said Monday, January 11.

The Pentecostal oriented Tafat Church, which is located in an apartment block in the city of Tizi Ouzou some 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the capital Algiers, was reportedly ransacked and set ablaze on Saturday night, January 9.

“They even attacked the cross of Jesus, which was torn and burned,” church pastor Mustapha Krireche told Algerian media.

Comment: I think it is a mistake to generalize these isolated attacks as a global pattern of violence and vandalism against Christians, even though Churches in Malaysia continue to be attacked for the “Allah” controversy.

I do anticipate an escalation in mistrust as more discriminatory policies like the ban on minarets continue to be implemented across Europe.

Tariq Ramadan defends his views

LA Times: Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan defends his views

Liberal Muslim or closet fundamentalist? Peaceful intellectual or militant in sheep’s clothing?

Tariq Ramadan has been called all these things — and more — by his friends and foes. Whatever the truth, the Swiss-born Oxford University professor ranks among the most influential thinkers in the Muslim world.

The grandson of the man who founded the radical Muslim Brotherhood…