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Arnold Yasin Mol-Human Development using Science, Humanism and Revelation
Arnold Yasin Mol-Human Development using Science, Humanism and Revelation
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New book: The Enlightenment Qur'an: The Politics of Translation and the Construction of Islam by Ziad Elmarsafy
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I have ordered this promising book, which discusses a very important topic; the influence of the Qur'an on the creation of the modern free and tolerant world.

Nowadays it is thought that the Qur'an represents the total opposite of what the free world stands for, but this was not the idea of early Enlightenment thinkers. The contribution of the Islamic culture and the Qur'an for the creation of the Renaissance, Enlightenment and today's modern free world, is enormous. But sadly due to the economical and intellectual decline in the Muslim world after 1500 caused by bad leadership, which caused a wrong direction of Muslim interpretation and thought, and the non-acknowledgement of Western thought of their debt ot Islam; the idea of Islam being the source of the modern world is a strange idea.

But modern academics are starting to acknowledge the contribution of the Islamic intellectual heritage to modern science, law, philosophy and politics. Ibn Rushd (Averroes), the great Muslim philosopher and judge from Andalus, is considered the founding father of secular thought (1). Voltaire, the important Enlightenment writer and philosopher who was a staunch advocate of freedom of religion and thought and who influenced the American and French revolution, said Muhammad was the founder of "a wise, severe, chaste, and humane religion" and he admired the Qur'an (2). Arnold Toynbee, a famous historian called Mohammad one of the greatest benefactors to mankind due to Islam's high religious tolerance and the complete abscence of racism. Because of this he said Islam still has an important role to fulfill in contributing to tolerance and peace among mankind (3).

Although the Muslim contribution to science is almost common knowledge now among academics, the contribution of Islam on Humanism and Freedom are still are relatively unknown or ignored, while Islam has greatly influenced it ,as in Fouad Khatib's words:

"Those who study the Quran for the first time might also reflect on the positive influence that Islam's holy text has had on Western civilization.

The Quran has the unique distinction of causing an ancient Semitic language, Arabic, to thrive as the language of learning for the better part of a millennium. While most ancient languages have either perished or been confined to the hallways of academia, Arabic continues to be a living language in more than two dozen countries. Arabic also formed the linguistic cornerstone of one of the greatest civilizations mankind has experienced.

The Quran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad, which gave Muslims a complete code of life, stimulated a belief in the importance of learning and inspired Arab-Muslim civilization to direct its creative energies into literary and scientific pursuits. Muslim science, mathematics, literature and medicine became the best in the world.

To understand how the Quran influenced civilizations, one should study the evolution of the Renaissance, the great revival of learning in 14th century Europe that had its origins in the interactions between the "Christian" West and the lands of Islam. For centuries preceding the Renaissance, Islamic Spain offered fertile intellectual ground from which sprang an enormous wealth of knowledge.

The famous libraries of Baghdad preserved in Arabic translations great Latin works of literature that were banned by the Church. Muslim Spain preserved the intellectual content of the Greco-Roman civilization that was later rediscovered by the West.

This vast knowledge base became the springboard for the Renaissance. The genesis of the Renaissance lies in the translation into Latin of books in all branches of knowledge then extant in the Arabic language.

Some precepts of law familiar to us today were also inspired by the Quranic code. Its influence on the international law is characterized by strict limitations on warfare, prohibition of harming of civilians or destruction of trees and crops, and adherence to treaties.

Distinguishing criminal intent from criminal action was first advanced by Islamic law. Consequently, children and the insane could not be prosecuted as they were deemed incapable of harboring criminal intent.

The Magna Carta and English common law were also influenced by the Quranic code. Pope Sylvester II graduated from a Spanish university with a degree in Islamic Law. He went on to translate Islamic legal texts into Latin and called it the "New Roman Law." This code became the basis for the French legal system as well as that of Louisiana.

On the social and civic front, a profound contribution of the Quranic code was the explicit banning of racism, which provided a practical framework for thriving multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies exemplified by the peaceful coexistence of different peoples in Muslim Spain.

In the 8th century Iraq, entire schools of grammarians in Baghdad, Basra and Kufa minutely scrutinized the Quran in an effort to elucidate its meanings. This led to the formal scrutiny of the Arabic language itself. Some significant outcomes of this intense linguistic exploration were the development of lexicography, rules of grammar and cryptology.

Only a serious study of the Quran and its influence on history can help one truly understand why more than a billion human beings revere this book as their revealed scripture. Polemics and hostile rhetoric, apart from being distasteful, do little to further understanding or mutual respect."(4)

But "The Enlightenment Qur'an" is a book which can change this ignorance. When the West finally realizes that modern society is a product partially based on the Qur'an, and the Muslims reform their approach to the Qur'an, then the world can finally benefit again from this Guidance, and we can all develop a peaceful pluralistic world society as intended by the Qur'an.

The review and description shows my hopes for this book are right:

Review

"Insightful, convincing and eloquent. Readers will gain a new appreciation of the complex background to our current intellectual and political reality." --Andrew Rippin, Professor of History at University of Victoria, Canada

"Erudite, subtle and profound. Stylishly written and a pleasure to read." --Robert Irwin, Author of 'For Lust of Knowing: The Orientalists and Their Enemies'

"Exquisitely persuades and provokes. Beautifully written and marvelously learned." --Thomas Burman, Associate Professor of History, University of Tennessee

Product Description

Iconoclastic and fiercely rational, the European Enlightenment witnessed the birth of modern Western society and thought. Reason was sacrosanct and for the first time, religious belief and institutions were open to widespread criticism. In this groundbreaking book, Ziad Elmarsafy challenges this accepted wisdom to argue that religion was still hugely influential in the era. But the religion in question wasn't Christianity - it was Islam. Charting the history of Qur'anic translations in Europe during the 18th and early 19th Centuries, Elmarsafy shows that a number of key enlightenment figures - including Voltaire, Rousseau, Goethe, and Napoleon - drew both inspiration and ideas from the Qur'an. Controversially placing Islam at the heart of the European Enlightenment, this lucid and well argued work is a valuable window into the interaction of East and West during this pivotal epoch in human history.

To purchase the book, got to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enlightenment-Quran-Politics-Translation-Construction/dp/1851686525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245010470&sr=1-1

Footnotes:
1. Averroes: His Life, Works and Influence by Majid Fakhry, 2001.Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1851682694.
2. "Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations" by Voltaire, Paris 1858, p167 note 175, 179.
3. Civilization on trial by A.Toynbee, London 1953. p 156.
4. The Quran's Influence on Western Civilization By Fouad Khatib.

June 15, 2009 | 5:43 AM Comments  0 comments
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New important book: Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform: A Collection of Articles from Contemporary Thinkers on Islam

This important book is a collection of writings of more then 30 modern writers on Islam. From professional Islamic scholars to individuals writers and thinkers, this collection is groundbreaking and unique as a serious collection of 21st century Islamic thought on critical research, reform and renewal in Islamic and Qur'anic interpretation. With diverse subjects on the interpretation and message of Qur'an and its relation to human rights, freedom and wellfare. History of Islam, society and thought. Modern experience of being a Muslim, the concept of gender and future thought.

To purchase the book, go to:

Critical Thinkers for Islamic Reform by Edip Yuksel, Arnold Yasin Mol, Farouk A Peru (Editors)
http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinkers-Islamic-Reform-Yuksel/dp/0979671574/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240250823&sr=1-1

Authors include:

Abdullahi An-Naim
Abdur Rab
Ahmed Subhy Mansour
Aisha Jumaan
Aisha Y. Musa
Ali Behzadnia
Arnold Yasin Mol
Ayman Abdullah
Caner Taslaman
Chibuzo Casey Ohanaja
Christopher Moore
Dilara Hafiz
Edip Yuksel
El-Mehdi Haddou
Eman M. Ahmed
Fereydoun Taslimi
Farouk A. Peru
Germaine A. Hoston
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui
Irshad Manji
Kassim Ahmad
Layth Saleh al-Shaiban
Melody Moezzi
Mike Ghouse
Mohammad Mova al Afghani
Mustafa Akyol
Naser Khader
Raymond Catton
Richard S. Voss
Ruby Amatulla
Shabbir Ahmed
T.O. Shanavas
Taj Hargey
Yasar Nuri Ozturk
Yayha Yuksel

April 20, 2009 | 2:59 PM Comments  0 comments
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Hadith as Scripture by prof. Aisha Y. Musa-book review by AY Mol
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

"Hadith as Scripture is the only book that covers both the earliest and most recent discussions on the authority of the Hadith. The authority of Hadith is a concern to Muslims in their daily lives, as well as a question of academic interest. Hadith as Scripture contains the first-ever Western language translation of the earliest extant text on the subject. This work explores the earliest extant discussions on the authority of the Hadith in Islam and compares them with contemporary debates."

In modern Islamic movements, a new trend has emerged, created because of the need to reform the Muslim society to make it progressive and 'to keep up with the times'. Famous reformers, Muhammad Abduh and Sayyid Qutb for example, were more focussed on the Qur'an and its message, than the Hadith and other historical materials deemed important as a basis for Islam. Their reason was that only the Qur'an could be seen as timeless and flexible in its usage and meaning so as to be applicable for modern society and knowledge. This trend was taken further, and eventually many reformers and groups became to renounce all historical material next to the Qur'an as unusable or even as false teachings, and have come to accept only the Qur'an as the major or only source for their ideas of what Islam is about.



These reform ideas have been seen as heretical by the majority of traditional schools in Islam and attacked and labelled as dangerous and blasphemous. As the majority of Muslims are still being deeply controlled by the traditional schools, these reform movements have always stayed a minority among the majority, and have been successful only in certain countries and social classes. But these 'Qur'an alone' reformers and followers kept popping up over the decades in all Muslim countries, and now in the age of the Internet have grown into a large community and are thus being taken more seriously, and are gaining attention and interest among the general Muslim public.



The 'Qur'an alone' or 'mostly focused on the Qur'an' movements are mostly labelled by the traditional Islamic schools as results of Western Orientalist research, who from the beginning of the 19th century have written many books critical of the reliability of the Hadith and other historical materials. Thus the 'Qur'an alone' movements are labelled as apologetic or caused by Western attacks on Islam, and thus are not based on Qur'anic teachings itself, but simply on Western beliefs and methods of viewing Islam. It is labelled as a 'Western caused' movement.



This tactic is similar to the treatment of the Medieval schools of Kalam and Mu'tazilah, who used Reason (aql) to interpret the Qur'an and its doctrines (tafsir bi'l-Ra'y). Most of these schools only accepted Mutawwir Hadith, historical reports that had multiple chain-sources. These were themselves miniscule in number compared to the accepted majority of Hadith based on simpler and more easily falsified transmission chains. And even the Mutawwir Hadith were approached with caution by these schools of Kalam. Many of the rational methods of the Kalam were taken to a certain degree into the later formed traditional schools, but their major beliefs on the Qur'anic message and their approach to the Hadith were rejected and deemed false, and thus non-Islamic (Western) teachings, created through the influence of the Greek philosophy.



When Muhammad Abduh, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, GA Parwez, Muhammad Iqbal and other reformers in the 19th and 20th century came to use the same arguments and conclusions as the Mu'tazilah, while most of the time not ever referring to them, they were labelled as neo-Mu'tazilah, conforming to the Western (and colonial ruler) judgment on Islam and its history.

They were accused of blindly believing Orientalists such as Goldziher, Schacht, Muir and others who attacked Islamic history as unreliable and many Qur'an interpretations as illogical and superstitious. Scholar Daniel Brown in his book "Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought" began to research these reformers and their methods and came to very different conclusions. According to him, many of these reformers based their ideas on the Qur'an itself and their personal research into the historical reliability of Islamic records, and believed to have found contradictions and falsified records. Thus these reformers came to the same conclusions as several Orientalists, but were not influenced by them. The traditional schools still outlawed their works or ordered rulings their work must not be read, and so many of the reformist ideas never gained firm ground in the Muslim mind.



In the late 20th and beginning 21st century, new 'Qur'an alone' reformers and groups have emerged and now have the power of the internet to spread their ideas. Although these were also branded as heretic by the traditional schools, the Internet has created a platform which could be reached easily by the Muslim majority, and thus has more impact. Also the works of Parwez for example, who belonged to the pre-Internet reform movement, have been rediscovered by many Muslims, as they are freely available on the web and translated into English and other languages, which was not possible before. And so the 'Qur'an alone' movement is gaining ground by the anarchistic and almost unbannable word-wide web.



But the same arguments are still used against them; they are Western creations or apologetic movements. Just as Brown, Professor Aisha Musa asked herself: Is this true, is it a Western creation, or is there some truth in their arguments? Having been herself part of the reform movements for a long time, she had seen the many accusations laid against the movement. As a professor having a degree in Islam, and thus having the education and knowledge to perform a professional inquiry, she focused on two areas which were not discussed by Brown in his book. One is a research into the question: If the idea of the Qur'an alone is based on arguments found within the Qur'an itself, shouldn't the idea of the Qur'an alone be the orthodox movement, instead of the traditional pro-Hadith schools? The second question concerned researching the movement of the late 20th and present 21st century movements- the modern day Internet-based groups, which were not covered by Brown. Are they a product of Western society?



The difference from Brown's book is that Musa searched for traces of evidence of similar discussions between the 'Qur'an alone' and 'Hadith accepting' schools and groups in the first centuries of Islam. If the 'Qur'an alone' arguments are sound, these must have been part of almost every age in Islam from day one, and indeed they were she shows.



Caliph Umar, the second ruler of Islam, was known for his rejection of the recording of Hadith. The reformers use this as a proof for their rejection of Hadith, while the Hadith-accepting groups that now form the traditional schools say he only did this because Umar didn't want the Qur'an to be recorded wrongfully, so he only allowed oral transmittal of Hadith. This prohibition of recording Hadith came from the Prophet itself it was said, and was upheld till as late as 70 years after the Prophet. The then ruling Caliph ordered scholars to write Hadith down, but they did this reluctantly. And as much time had passed and much strife had occurred among the Muslim societies, false Hadith were abundant in such a degree that most Hadith scholars in the second Islamic century rejected at least 90% of the Hadith they collected. But these were the historical question-of-reliability arguments which were already discussed by Brown. And so Musa goes on and searches for Qur'an-based arguments against Hadith or outside sources.

She found none, no documents written by a person that could be labeled as 'Qur'an alone' in the first centuries could be found. But the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence; and so Musa used a different tactic by reviewing the earliest pro-Hadith documents, as then we could deduce what arguments the Qur'an-aloners used. This tactic had also been used to deduce the doctrines of early Christian sects, and also for the Mu'tazilah by early 19-20th century scholars as almost no Mu'tazilah documents survived in common main Muslim libraries, and so by reviewing the opponents of the Mu'tazilah it could be understood what the Mu'tazilah believed by seeing what their opponents accused them of or argued against. In the middle of the 20th century, old copies of Mu'tazilah books were found in some libraries in Yemen, and so finally the works themselves could be read. Many of the deduced conclusions of what Mu'tazilah believed turned out to be correct.



Musa uses two main pro-Hadith texts written by two famous scholars of orthodox Islam. Shafi, founder of the Shafi school and labelled as the first scholar who made both Hadith and Sunnah as divine sources in Islam. And the later follower Ibn Qutayba. Both scholars have written books against the Qur'an alone ideology and thus showed that the Qur'an alone movements were present in their lifetimes and even important and known enough to write books for to attack them. She has found the proof she was looking for. Musa breaks their texts down and discusses how the pro-Hadith groups won their arguments over the majority and also which Qur'an verses were used by both sides. Her analysis is thorough and well explained. Shafi's text is not considered as simple, but Musa shows step by step Shafi's method in a very clear way. Next to reviewing their work and arguments, she also delivers the immense work of translating Shafi's Kitab Jima'al-Ilm, the Book of Amalgamation of Knowledge, for the first time into English, which must have been an extremely difficult task since the text's style and Classic Arabic form is not easy to read and understand.



Then she goes on discussing the modern Qur'an-alone movements, their founders and their arguments. She has found that these founders-Rashad Khalifa, Subhy Mansour, Edip Yuksel, Kassim Ahmad and several groups, are not persons coming from the West, but from traditional Muslim backgrounds, and were all brought up in Islam. All of them were highly knowledgeable in the Qur'an and Hadith, as for example, Mansour was a professor in history at the famous Al-Azhar University of Cairo. Also these reformers did not use Orientalist conclusions as proof for their beliefs, but came to their 'Qur'an alone' ideas based on Qur'anic verses. Only after reviewing these verses did they research the history of Hadith to further strengthen their belief that only the Qur'an can be used to understand what Islam is.



So her book is unique in its approach and its conclusions. Not only is the Qur'an-alone a historical and orthodox movement, Musa showed that throughout the centuries, the same Qur'an verses were used as arguments for only accepting the Qur'an as divine and only source for Islam. It is not a Western movement, nor even an Western Orientalist caused movement, but an authentic Islamic movement based on its core text, the Qur'an. Just as the Mu'tazilah writings have been systematically wiped out from the general Muslim libraries when they fell out of favor, the same has occurred with the Qur'an-alone writings over the centuries. Which in my eyes not only shows political influence in the debate (the rulers clearly wanted no traces remained, so the pro-Hadith gave them more wealth and power it seemed), but also that the arguments supporting Hadith were not as strong as the majority believes. Why eliminate a weak threat? The following of Hadith became dominant as there was no literature remaining that attacked this view. Maybe the future will produce some hidden treasures somewhere. But the modern Qur'an-alone writings can not be lost to history because of the Internet and modern printing, and so more and more Muslims will and are reading them and are being influenced by them. The movement is growing, not only because the Qur'an-alone movement has sound arguments from the Qur'an itself and historical proof of false Hadith, but also because the Qur'an is accepted by all sects and movements in Islam, while there are many disputes on what and which Hadith and tradition is accepted. And as mentioned above , the Qur'an is the only timeless, flexible and very open-source text that can withstand the criteria of modern human knowledge and thought.



It is viewed as more gender-neutral, more universal, very humanistic and scientific than the Hadith which reflects mostly 7-9th century mythology and cultural beliefs. Thus the Qur'an alone can not only be the vehicle to modernize and reform the Muslim world, but even start a new revolution of a socio-humanistic scientific faith which is demanded by modern-day scepticism and rationalism. The Medieval scientists of Islam who were the founders of the Renaissance and modern science, were scientific because of the Qur'an. Muslim society was so tolerant and progressive mostly because of the universality of the Qur'an, while the rest of the world was oppressive and backward, stooped in the dark ages. The increasing acceptance of the Hadith as divine source in Islam from the 9th century on, has slowly demolished the revolutionary system of the Qur'an and caused the majority Muslim world to fall into its deplorable state it is in now. The Qur'an alone is not a heresy, it is a revival.



Professor Musa's book is a groundbreaking study into a very important and growing, or as her study shows, a re-vitalized movement within Islam that can positively change the world. This book is superbly written and a must read.


"The role they (the Hadith) have played has been so influential for so long that both Muslims and non-Muslims alike generally assume they have always uncontested authority. However, a survey of Islamic history shows that the Hadith did not always enjoy such widespread acceptance and authority.[...] Ignorance of these early disputes has contributed to the common misconception that opposition to the Hadith as an authoritative scriptural source of law and guidance is a modern-day, Western, Orientalist-influenced heresy," [Introduction to the book]

http://deenresearchusa-com.web26.winsvr.net/Blogs/tabid/73/EntryId/27/Hadith-as-Scripture-by-prof-Aisha-Y-Musa-book-review-by-AY-Mol.aspx

February 22, 2009 | 8:42 AM Comments  0 comments
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Gazing at Gaza
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Written by: AY Mol

As a Muslim, people always expect me to have a certain opinion about the Israel-Palestine conflict, which is understandable. But to make something clear, a Muslim means one who wants and lives in peace, so I support peace and not directly any people who label themselves as Muslim. I view the conflict as a human looking at other humans in distress and struggle. And as a person coming from a Dutch family who did not grew up in a traditional Muslim household I do not have the long emotional roots with the conflict as many of my born-Muslim friends. It is sometimes interesting to see them getting mad and very emotional about the current conflict, and I think by myself, I didn’t see this same reaction on you with the Sudan slaughters, or the hundreds of thousands people dying of hunger and disease every year. ‘Of course I feel the same anger about those things’ is their common reply. This is not an attack on them, it is just a common psychological phenomena called association. The association here is based on a common victim feeling among many of the Muslims in the world, which is in their consciousness deemed justified when looking at the horrors in Gaza. Also growing up with the constant images on Al-Jazeera creates an empathy which lacks among many in the West.

In the West, many have grown up with older family members who have experienced World War II personally. In Holland, many of the fictional children’s books are about the war, and of course the diary of the Jewish girl Anne Frank is normal school literature. The many documentaries, movies and memorials are focused on the suffering during the war, and of course, mostly on the Jewish suffering. When talking about the Holocaust, it is mostly only focused on the Jewish suffering, which is logical since they were the majority victims, but the killing of hundreds of thousands of Gipsy and homosexual people in the same Holocaust is downplayed and rarely mentioned. But just as the growing up within a Muslim family and with Al-Jazeera creates a deep emotional association with the Palestinians, in the West an association has been created with the Jewish people. The Muslims had mostly defended and supported the Jewish people in Islamic countries and many times had given them prominent places in governments, and compared to Europe, only rarely had a negative or oppressing attitude towards them. Thus the Muslims do not have the idea of Jews as victims and mostly associate Jews with their modern position in the world; a powerful people with a powerful military state which has acted unfairly towards its neighbors.

For the West, Muslims were always the Other, the people we had fought in the crusades, and later who we had colonized in the 1700’s. The idea of seeing them as possible victims is alien to the Western mind, it was easier to see them as a burden or an enemy. As is clearly expressed in today’s irrational Islamophobia and the easy acceptance of accusations of terrorism being laid at the feet of Palestinian resistance while ignoring the oppressive and deplorable state of these people.

This explains the extreme display of anger among Muslims for the Palestinian conflict, and the silence of the West. The West does see the crimes of Israel, but as it grew up with a feeling of guilt towards the Holocaust, and the eternal ‘victim’ stamp put on the Jewish people, it is hard to disassociate the Jewish people who were for 2000 years victims of the West, and the now very powerful Israel. The Jewish people have come a long way, and they are now far from being victims, they are a powerful nation with nuclear missiles, a large weapons industry that sells weapons to the West and a large army. Because of this, many people in the West are in an inner conflict as they have been programmed to have empathy with the Jewish people and to support them. Who could have guessed these victims would turn into oppressors? The silence because of denial is the result. And in the mean while, the West keeps swallowing ridiculous excuses of Israel so they can keep attacking and oppressing the Palestinians. We still do not accept that these are not the same weak victims of 50 years ago, we refuse to see them as they are, a strong people who do not need our sympathy anymore. A people who not only has the power to oppress other people, but also the confidence to ignore our demands to stop the oppressing.

All major human rights and aid organization as the Red Cross and UN aid are saying Israel is committing war crimes. Everybody has seen the countless of images of dead or severely hurt children and women. What does it take to break this silence to truly condemn Israel as having fascist oppressive politics? Anti-Semitism is hating the Jews just for being Jews, so how can criticizing and condemning Israel of war crimes and oppression being part of anti-Semitism? The anti-Semitism card has been used far to long by Israel to silence any criticism. Israel is, and has in the past, constantly violated all human rights and war rules accepted by the international community. When will stop ignoring this? We must stop being in denial.


The creation and history of the Israeli attitude

The Western association together with the many politically powerful Christians who believe Jesus will return first in Jerusalem, Israel has always had support from the West. The Zionists who first created the plans of a Jewish owned and ruled country in the 1800’s, started slowly to realize this in the beginning of the 1920’s. Zionism itself was a nationalistic, mostly secular, product of the 19th century, which was a century wherein almost all major European countries created their own form of nationalism. Which eventually created the conflicts of WWI and WWII. Within all these national conflicts, a Jewish idea of nationalism formed based on the idea that their origins was superior (this is the idea of all forms of nationalism) and that they needed a country of their own so they could not be made victims of anti-Semitism. The land of Palestine was of course the most logical choice as the history of their whole culture and religion was centered around this land. This would attract non-religious and religious Jews alike.

After WWII, the small Zionist groups in Palestine suddenly had support from all Western countries by helping Jewish people to move to Palestine. Now there were more and more non-Palestine Jews coming in, the first Jewish terrorist acts against the British rule had already started. After the British distributed the land into two states between the native Palestinians and Jews to solve the conflict, they gave up their rule on the land. Then the new focus of the Jews was on the original Palestine people who lived in the most fertile areas, and for many religious Jews, the most holy places. Palestinians were mostly Muslim, but many also Christian, for example Bethlehem was 80% Christian. As Jews had been unjustly prosecuted and harassed for 2000 years in Europe, a strong inward looking culture was created which was very much focused on ethnicity. So strong, that although many Jews became non-religious, especially after the horrors of WWII because their version of God surely couldn’t exist allowing such atrocities, their identity and culture didn’t became more outward looking or less strong. Zionism was created that bonded religious and non-religious Jews towards the same land and goal, but for different reasons. The religious Jews believed it was their God-given land, and for example many sects want to rebuild the Temple at the Temple mount as they believe their messiah will then come. These orthodox groups also believe that non-Jews are not allowed to live on their holy land.

The non-religious Jews are driven by the mindset which they have inherited from their always prosecuted European forefathers and of course those that survived the horrors of WWII. To not be victims anymore and create a strong well defended country. As through the centuries a very business specialized culture was created, which was also many times the reason for the hate towards them created through envy of their wealth creating potential, the Jewish began to take more and more land from the surrounding countries and the native Palestinians. Driven by these mixed intentions, religious, protective against future horrors and capitalistic, the state of Israel was born with help from the UN. The land was split between Arab and Jewish state. But many conflicts occurred. And eventually Palestinians were driven out of their lands, first through terrorism and raids by small Zionist groups, later on by an official state army. In the 60’s Jerusalem was taken and the surrounding lands, and the Palestinians were getting cornered into small pieces of lands. The surrounding countries were easily defeated in short battles, and Israel was deemed unbeatable. This fascist colonial behavior is clearly the result of nationalistic racist behavior by the Israeli government, which is supported by the majority of the Israeli people. After the centuries of oppression against the Jewish people, now they have taken it over while still seeing themselves as victims of mankind.


The Palestinian despair

The Palestinian state was ruined, before the 60’s it was one of the only really free secular and progressive Arab countries, although it’s conflict with Israel. As all Arab countries were and are ruled by dictators, corrupt governments and monarchs, none of them seemed to like the idea of a free country among their midst which maybe would give hope and ideas to the other Arabs. So silence was the common answer from Arab governments towards the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel took care of their little problem.

Many view the Israel-Palestine as a Jewish-Muslim conflict, while forgetting that the majority of Israeli’s are secular, and although the majority of Palestinians are Muslim, they also have many Christians (one of the Palestinian leaders in the 1960’s was a Christian). The true conflict was more between Arabs and Jews, Around the 1950’s to 70’s, it was Pan-Arabism against Zionism. Later on it just was an oppressed Palestinian people versus the oppressor Israel. Although this is just a small summary, it does show how complex the situation is, and how important it is to understand the drives of the peoples involved.

Being funded by the West, Israel was given a free hand, and so few protests were raised against their very fascist-like behavior. How sincere were the peace talks organized by American presidents and other Western authorities? Personally, I really don’t know. During the Cold War, the Middle East was a central point in the conflict, so the USA was using every country as a pawn in the Cold War game. After the Cold War, the capitalistic elite game was and is played. In the last 10 years, the UN has given many resolutions against Israel for example for building the wall surrounding Palestine. But no action has been taken against Israel, although they keep ignoring and violating these UN resolutions and international court rulings. Why is this so? One of the reasons used to justify the war against Iraq, was that Saddam had violated UN resolutions. When Russia had its short conflict with Georgia, the whole West was immediately taking action and interfering. Why is the West now just standing by with Gaza?

Hamas was chosen by the Palestinian people as for the people, Hamas was the only one which represented their feeling for the want of freedom, to fight and resist the constant oppression of Israel. Was it a smart choice? How many choices did they have? People have been living in refugee camps for the last 40 years in Lebanon. What hope for resolutions when Israel was given free hand and no actions were taken against any of their violations? Does Israel have a right to exist? Yes, it does. A solution to co-exist equally and fairly with the native Palestinians in one state or two states, sharing the resources and potential of the land is possible. So Israel must be given the chance to pursue this, but with their fascist behavior, Israel must be forced into this. So many of the extremist demands of ‘erasing the state of Israel’ are not realistic and will not create any solution. Also within the Palestinian government and Hamas, there is much hypocrisy, corruption and selfish behavior. This has also created much internal conflicts which made the situation only worse. The resistance attitude of Hamas, and because it doesn’t shun using violence which are condemned as terroristic, a new escape goat was created by Israel and its supporting factions in the West to allow more Israel violence against Palestine and to weaken the people by taking away the humanitarian aid. Of the two nations created by the UN in 1947, 60% of the Palestinian land has been taken by Israel. There is no justification for this colonialism fascist behavior.

When the new offensive (invading a country can hardly be called defensive) started after Christmas, I was watching TV and suddenly on one Dutch channel there was a documentary on a Holocaust camp in Poland. Although this could be just coincidence, to me it still felt strange since normally these documentaries are only aired around the month May as this is the month when Holland was liberated in 1945. Was this a propaganda tactic with the purpose to brainwash us in the illusion to still see the Jewish people as the victims, as a weak people who could never be the criminals? Whatever it was, I certainly see this tactic used in all major media around the world. We are coerced to always believe the Jews are constantly defending itself against others, as the constant victims, as ones that could be only morally right since they have been oppressed themselves. But thank God, many in the West are finally waking up and understand they must not confuse the fascist people running Israel with the Jewish people who suffered under the hands of the Europeans.

Although the ‘We are eternally victims’ illusion card played by the Israeli government is losing its power on the world’s mind and so hope is there for the Palestinians that the world will interfere more in the future, too much damage has already been done. How could these wounds of oppression be healed? How would you feel if you were born in Palestine, your land been taken, no freedom by living in an open air cage together with 1.5 million others oppressed in one of the most crowded area’s on earth? If your family was constantly oppressed and killed, wouldn’t you take up weapons and just fight? Hamas shooting at civilian target is breaking every international and Islamic rule on struggle, but when an oppressed people is doing this, it is a sign that this people feels there is no way out. Israel uses the missile attacks of Hamas as an excuse to further pursue their colonial plans to take away all the land and hope of a future of the Palestinians, and the West is buying this lame excuse. Yes, Hamas shouldn’t do this, but the world must ask itself; isn’t this a sign of despair? The only criminal in this war is Israel, the Palestinians themselves have for so long being oppressed and deprived of any hope, they cannot be held accountable for their behavior which is based on emotional despair.

In justice courts, a person can be held not accountable for their deeds based on temporarily insanity due to an emotional outrage, this surely must also count for the people in Palestine. The only way the guerilla tactics they use will stop is when they finally get the justice, peace and aid they, as human beings, deserve. People say the Palestinians much change for this conflict can end, which in my eyes is denying the real cause and solution. Israel must change their policy and give the freedom and rights back to Palestine, only then will the wounds heal that will change the Palestinians.

Ask yourself, what would you do if you see no hope for your children?

My heart and tears are with the people of Gaza and I hope the Israeli government will soon be held accountable for war crimes and that people will see the difference between the peaceful Jewish people living around the earth and the fascist Israeli government.

http://deenresearchusa-com.web26.winsvr.net/Blogs/tabid/73/EntryId/23/Gazing-at-Gaza.aspx

January 11, 2009 | 8:34 AM Comments  0 comments
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DRC new website and features
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Salaam aleikum all,

I'm pleased to announce the upgraded website of DRC with new features as a larger library, new Bloggers and upcoming projects.

See:

http://www.deenresearchcenter.com/

We will be moving to a new host soon so we will keep you updated on any progress.

We are trying to create a huge library and resources for the study of the Qur'an. If anyone has or knowns any resources usefull for research, please contact me:

arnoldjwmol@hotmail.com


Upcoming newbie:

Interview with Professor Richard Martin of Emory University on the Mu'tazili approach to Islam. He is a very well known author and scholar who has many publications and editorials under his name. Our interview revolves around his publication on the Mu'tazili:

http://www.amazon.com/Defenders-Reason-Islam-Mutazilism-Rational/dp/1851681477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228602647&sr=1-1