According to Islam, Muslims Should Not Be At War With Jews

Relations with Jews 

Muslims are not at war with Jews. According to the Qur’an, Jews have a special status as “People of the Book” and Muslims can establish good relations with them through marriage and the sharing of food. Kosher food is also lawful for Muslims to eat and permission has been given for Muslim men to marry Jewish women. So from an Islamic perspective, this shows that there can be no obstacle to living together and in harmony, and this is clear evidence that enable the formation of warm human relationships and tranquil togetherness between Jews and Muslims.

War only for self-defense

From an Islamic point of view, there can be only defensive war and war is only an unwanted obligation when one’s life, security and honor is under attack. Muslims do not attack, they can only defend themselves. War has to be inevitable at the point that one has to defend oneself. Even if it is considered obligatory for self-defense, it has to be carried out with strict observance of humane and moral values. To put it in another way, God granted permission for war only for defensive purposes, and Muslims are warned against the use of unnecessary violence. 

“Fight in the Way of God against those who fight you, but do not go beyond the limits. God does not love those who go beyond the limits.” (Qur’an, 2:190)

In another verse, God commands justice and warns Muslims against feeling rage toward enemies, so that their judgments are not impaired: 

“You who believe! Show integrity for the sake of God, bearing witness with justice. Do not let hatred for a people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is closer to heedfulness…” (Qur’an, 5:8) I don’t accept any kind of hatred between people, but even at those times when they are not strong enough to overcome their anger, they still are responsible to be just.

Protecting peace

When there is a peace treaty, both sides should adhere to the peace agreement meticulously, and commit not to attack to each other. Especially for Muslims, after making a peace agreement, according to the Qur’an one has to watch out to protect it and abide by it. This the way according to the Qu’ran.

God says: “If they incline to peace, you too incline to it…” (Qur’an, 8:61)

In the case of the Palestine-Israel conflict, when one side fires rockets at the other side, the other side is fully entitled (and obligated) to protect its citizens. If there is a peace agreement, in times of peace launching rockets from Gaza is a violation of the Qur’an. When Hamas fires rockets, it’s not firing rockets only at Israel, but at its own people as well; Israel retaliates and it becomes inevitable that civilians, including innocent children, are severely effected by this. The same goes for Israel.

Protection of civilians

There is no justification in the Qur’an for killing innocent people. God says that this is like killing all mankind (Qur’an, 5:32). It is a sin to target civilians or be reckless of their security during an attack. When Hamas launches rockets over Israel, there is no aim, no precise target, and thus these rockets fall sometimes on empty land but sometimes onto the homes of innocent Israeli civilians.

It is a sin to take an innocent life, and it is also a sin to cause disorder, to cause people to panic. Another important matter is that Islam absolutely forbids suicide attacks. God says: “Do not kill yourselves.”(Qur’an, 4:29) Consequently, killing oneself and killing other people are both prohibited in Islam.

The right to live in the Holy Land

It is against any conscience and above all against the Qur’an to tell Jews to go somewhere else. Jews have been expelled from Spain, they have been slaughtered in Europe and there has been enormous intimidation against them in many places all over the world. So where do they have to go? These lands are places where their forefathers lived. The graves of their grandfathers are on these lands. And it is confirmed by the Qur’an that Bnei Israel will be living in the Holy Land till the end of the world.

God says: “And thereafter We said to the Children of Israel: ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land.’” (Qur’an, 17:104) and the Prophet Moses (pbuh) says “O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously…” (Qur’an 5: 21) Thus, it is against the Qur’an to tell Jews to leave these lands; any Muslim who does so is in contradiction of the very Word of God Himself.

Let us not forget the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Jacob, the descendants of the prophets, are fighting one another. Both sides are Abraham’s children and surely the land is spacious enough for all. There is no real reason that we can’t coexist together. Let’s live together as brothers; dine together, have conversations together; let us pray side by side, Jews in synagogues, and Muslims in mosques. Let us adopt a language of peace, a language of love. This is easy! And there is no other way.

  

A Muslim acts solely according to the moral values of the Qur'an

'Stones and trees calling out 'kill the Jews',' as revealed in the hadiths, is meant in a figurative sense. A believer will not act according to a voice coming from stones and trees and will not kill an innocent person. 

Abu Huraira (ra) reported Allah's Messenger (saas) as saying:

“The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews. The Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;’ but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
(Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat as-Sa'ah, Book 41, 6985)

“So that Jews will hide behind trees and the tree will say “Muslim! The servant of Allah! Come, look there is a Jew behind me, he hid here, behind me, come and punish him”. Only the tree Gharqad will not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
(Kitab al-Fitan, hadith. 2239)

One statement by Mr. Adnan Oktar concerning hadiths in which our Prophet (saas) refers to “stones and trees in the End Times telling Muslims the location of Jews hiding behind them and saying ‘Come and kill them’,” reads:

“We look at events in the light of the Qur’an and the hadiths. But one cannot issue a pronouncement on the basis of one single verse in the Qur’an. One must look at the verses as a whole. The same applies to the hadiths. The other hadiths complement one another.

Therefore, if someone comes and tells us, ‘There is a Jew here, come and kill him,’ we will not kill him. Why should we? That person would have to commit a crime. And if he commits a crime he will have to be tried. And the judge will pronounce sentence at the end of the trial. There is a whole system and legal procedure involved. It does not mean that anyone who sees him can kill him and try him himself.

We can see what this hadith means by looking at others. Otherwise, it is a sin to kill an innocent Jew, a person, a child, standing there, and heed a voice from a stone telling us to kill them. That is unacceptable. We must grasp what our Prophet (saas) really means. It would appear the hadith means this:

Jews who are atheists or enemies of religion cannot hide. Those who hide among wood or stones will be located using all kinds of electrical devices and equipment, and the evil and activities of these people will thus be prevented, and that will be a punishment for them. That is what the hadith may be implying.

(From Mr. Adnan Oktar’s interview on Adiyaman Asu TV and Kackar TV on June 3, 2010)

Mr. Oktar interprets this clearly figurative hadith in a very wise fashion. The content of the hadith is obviously figurative because the verses of the Qur’an regarding killing are quite explicit. It is clear that no decision to kill can be taken on the basis of producing a pronouncement on the basis of a voice from stone, trees or wood. There is no verse to that effect in the Qur’an. According to the Qur’an, a Muslim learns from the Qur’an, not from tree or wood. Nowhere in the Qur’an is it revealed that a tree or wood can bear witness for a Muslim. According to the Qur’an, it is what Muslims bear witness to that matters.

Allah compares hypocrites to “blocks of wood” in the Qur’an (Surat al-Munafiqun, 4). Allah also compares unbelievers to rock, “your hearts became as hard as rocks.” (Surat al-Baqara, 74) A Muslim does not behave according to rocks and wood. He acts according to what other Muslims say.

It is incompatible with the Qur’an and unlawful for an innocent person to be killed according to a statement issued from a stone. To say that such a ruling can be given without trying that person would mean to say that the voice from the stone was revelation (Surely Allah is beyond that). It would therefore be insanity, murder, to say, “I killed a man because of a voice from a stone” or “A rock told me, and I killed him.” A Muslim would never act in such a way toward anyone without trying them as the law demands.

If rulings were to be extracted from rock or wood, then what the rock or wood said would be regarded as Divine revelation. Since no other book apart from the Qur’an will come, to say such a thing would be to claim that rock or wood would reign over us (Surely Allah is beyond that). A Muslim acts by the light of the Qur’an and the hadiths of our Prophet (saas), not rock and wood. If a person regards stone and wood as issuing revelation, if he says, “what a rock says is revelation, rock bestows revelation on me, stone and wood rule me,” then he is departing from the religion. Under that belief, the rock might tell him other things, too. It will say anything and cause the person to do other things. There are no verses in the Qur’an concerning a Muslim obeying rock and wood.

In addition, Jews are people given protection in the time of our Prophet (saas) and who followed Muslims. The compassion and justice shown by the Prophet (saas) in the light of the Qur’an, acted as a role model for subsequent Muslim rulers. Allah says in the Qur’an, "... Do not let hatred for a people incite you into not being just. Be just. That is closer to taqwa”(Surat al-Ma’ida, 8). Allah also commands Muslims to ensure the safety even of the idolaters (pagans who do not heed Allah’s revelation): "If any of the idolaters ask you for protection, give them protection until they have heard the words of Allah. Then convey them to a place where they are safe...." (Surat at-Tawba, 6) A Muslim will therefore uphold justice, for Allah’s sake, in the face of anyone and everyone and will only seek solutions to all matters as revealed in the Qur’an.

The insulting words “descendants of apes and pigs,” aimed at Jews reflects the logic of radicals

Radicals are savage people who claim to represent Islam. But how do these fundamentalists draw such an interpretation from the Koran?

The Koran speaks of a community that God makes apes and pigs: This community is one that has emerged from those who have been given a Book, in other words, from Christians and Jews (5:60–7: 166).

Another verse (2:65) speaks of “...those who broke the Sabbath,” who are told to “Be apes.” It appears from this that the community in question emerges from among the Jews. These communities that are despised in those verses have one very important characteristic: They are deniers and aggressive. The rebellious nature of this community is described in the previous verses as their mocking believers’ faith and acts of worship and their making problems for believers. One verse reads:

“You who have faith! do not take as guardians any of those given the Book before you or the disbelievers who make a mockery and a game out of your religion.” (5: 57)

 The words “...who make a mockery and a game out of your faith” require closer inspection: Only those of the people from the People of the Book (Christians and Jews) who mock religion being elevated as rulers and administrators is condemned in the Koran. But what about those who don't mock religion?

A couple of verses after the above verse, the position of those people is described:

“Those who have faith and those who are Jews and the Sabaeans and the Christians, all who have faith in God and the Last Day and act rightly will feel no fear and will know no sorrow.” (5: 69)

 The same verse is repeated in verse 2:62, just before verse 65, which speaks of “apes.”

In this verse, God imparts glad tidings to Jews who believe in God and do good deeds (and also to Christians). They are freed from fear in this world and the hereafter and they are rewarded. This is the glad news of paradise. In other words, God loves them. How can a Muslim not love those whom God loves?

Finally, just before verse 7:166, in which God says “Be apes”, He praises good Jews in these terms:

“Among the people of Moses there is a group who guide by the truth and act justly in accordance with it.” (7: 159)

 In these sections of these verses, it is unbelieving Jews who mock religion, that are aggressive and make difficulties for believers who are despised, while honest and pure Jews are praised and rewarded. Just like Muslims who mock religion, are aggressive and make things difficult for believers are despised in the Koran, while pure and honest Muslims are praised...

Numerous verses that praise Jews and Christians are rejected in the polluted world of the fundamentalists; many are totally unaware of these verses. Others have described Jews in these terms. They cannot know that it is aggressive mockers who are described as apes, not immaculate Jews. There is no Koran in these people’s lives. They live isolated from the outside world in tiny ghettos, and they are surrounded by a fundamentalist worldview pervaded by hatred. Their religion is not Islam, though they think it is. For that reason, the greatest scourge in the world is radicalism, a scourge on all religions and ideas, and the main source of this is ignorance.

Those who disagree and favor war must not forget that if the problem is ignorance, then guns, rockets, war, rage and hatred are of no use. They just encourage the ignorant to be more hateful.

Christians are Natural Allies of Muslims

Christianity, which is also a revealed faith sent down as a blessing by our Lord through true scriptures shares many common beliefs with Islam. The essence and moral values of the Christianity is to a large extent preserved in the Gospel sent down from the Presence of Allah. In the Gospel, there are many parts that are in line with the Qur’an and the authentic hadith. These followers of these two revealed faiths all believe in the absolute existence of Allah, that He is eternal, that He created the universe from nothing and that He rules all matter with His almighty power. Muslims and Christians also oppose the same intellectual errors. They share the same intellectual struggle against Darwinism, atheism, irreligion, racism, fascism and moral degeneracy. The two faiths strive to preach the existence of Allah in the same way. Members of the two faiths aim for a world full of justice in which everyone will know Allah, sincerely believe in and submit to Him, and live in peace and compassion. They act out of a fear and love of Allah, follow in the path of His messengers and abide by His revelation. 

The pure faith of the Prophet Abraham (pbuh), whom Allah praised and sent as a guide for mankind, and the belief in the one Allah that forms the basis of that faith, are common values shared by Christianity and Islam. Therefore, the members of the two faiths have a responsibility to worship Allah, the one Lord of all, He Whose All-Powerful might pervades all things and all places, the Creator of all things. 

This common value requires the members of all the three revealed faiths to come together in a single monotheistic belief and to act together for a common purpose. 

This alliance is especially crucial at the End Times, when materialism, irreligion, atheism prevail in ever-increasing intensity. Hence, an alliance with Christians is one of the most important aspects because as cited above, they are the natural allies of Muslims. First and foremost, Christians are people who are full of love. They are open to compassion, mercy and affection. They have no hidden agenda; they are pure people whose hearts are filled with the love of Allah. This cooperation will also bring many benefits to the Christians. They will regain ther vigor and stamina against the irreligious movements. 

Monasteries, Churches And Synagogues Should Be Respected

Another important fact we learn from the Qur’an is that Muslims must respect Jewish and Christian places of worship. In the Qur’an, the places of worship of the People of the Book, i.e. monasteries, churches and synagogues, are mentioned as places of worship protected by Allah.

…if Allah had not driven some people back by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, where Allah's name is mentioned much, would have been pulled down and destroyed. Allah will certainly help those who help Him - Allah is All-Strong, Almighty. (Surat al-Hajj, 40)

This verse shows all Muslims the importance of respecting and protecting the sanctuaries of Christians and Jews.

Indeed, in the Qur’an Allah commands Muslims not to harbor any enmity towards any people. In many verses, friendship is recommended, even with idolaters. Allah even refers to the idolaters at war with Muslims in this way: "If any of the idolaters ask you for protection, give them protection until they have heard the words of Allah. Then convey them to a place where they are safe." (Surat at-Tawba, 6)

Jews and Christian are People of the Book. They are subject to a revelation sent down by Allah. They know what is right and what is wrong, what is lawful and what is unlawful. They know they will give an account to Allah, and they love and revere His prophets. This shows that Muslims and the people of the book can live easily together and cooperate.

Allah revealed to all messengers that He is the Unique and that there is no one but Him whom people must worship, serve and obey. The divine message, conveyed to the people by Allah through His messengers, has been communicated to people since the creation of man. Some societies have accepted the message and followed the right path while others have denied and swerved from it. This also holds true for the present day. Some people will side with the righteous, whereas some others will plunge into mischief. This is the law of Allah. Those who believe should also adopt such an outlook and never forget that there may be sincere, pious people who have fear of Allah among the members of all religions as well as those who are far removed from the religious tenets.

Our hope is that a world will be established in which people will be able to live together in peace, no matter what race or religion they belong to, in which every racist perversion will be rejected, everyone's rights will be safeguarded and everyone will be respected. The struggle that will have to take place on intellectual grounds against all anti-religious ideologies will hopefully establish the peace that has been longed for.

Of this Allah relates the following in the Qur'an:

Those who disbelieve are the friends and protectors of one another. If you do not act in this way (be friends and protectors of one another) there will be turmoil in the land and great corruption. (Surat al-Anfal, 73)

Would that there had been more people with a vestige of good among the generations of those who came before you, who forbade corruption in the earth, other than the few among them whom We saved. Those who did wrong gladly pursued the life of luxury that they were given and were evildoers. (Surah Hud, 16)

According to the Qur'an, Muslims, Jews And Christians Must Live in Friendship

In the Qur'an, there is a significant difference between the People of the Book and those who have no belief in Allah. This is especially emphasized in the area of social life. For example, it is said concerning those who associate others with Allah: "(they) are unclean, so after this year they should not come near the Sacred Mosque." (Surat at-Tawba, 28) Those who associate others with Allah are people who know no divine law, have no moral precepts and who can commit every kind of degrading and perverse deed without hesitation.

But the People of the Book, while they rely basically on Allah's revelation, have moral precepts and know what is lawful and what is not. In the same way, permission has been given to a Muslim man to marry a woman from among the People of the Book. On this subject Allah commands:

Today all good things have been made lawful for you. And the food of those given the Book is also lawful for you and your food is lawful for them. So are chaste women from among the believers and chaste women of those given the Book before you, once you have given them their dowries in marriage, not in fornication or taking them as lovers. But as for anyone who disbelieves, his actions will come to nothing and in the hereafter he will be among the losers. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 5)

These commands show that bonds of kinship may be established as a result of the marriage of a Muslim with a woman from the People of the Book and that those on each side of the union can accept an invitation to a meal. These are the fundamentals that will ensure the establishment of equitable human relationships and a happy communal life. Since the Qur'an enjoins this equitable and compassionate attitude, it is unthinkable that a Muslim could take an opposing view.

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saas), a just and compassionate policy was practiced in relation to the People of the Book. In the contract made with the Christians of Najran, who lived in the south of Arabia, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) demonstrates one of the best examples of compassion and justice. The contract included the following article:

The lives of the people of Najran and its surrounding area, their religion, their land, property, cattle and those of them who are present or absent, their messengers and their places of worship are under the protection of Allah and guardianship of His Prophet. (The Pact of Najran, Article 6, http://www.islamicresources.com/Pact_of_Najran.htm.)

By means of such contracts, the Messenger of Allah secured a social order for Muslims and the People of the Book alike, which was marked by peace and security. This order was a total manifestation of the following verse:

Those who believe, those who are Jews, and the Christians and Sabaeans, all who believe in Allah and the Last Day and act rightly, will have their reward with their Lord. They will feel no fear and will know no sorrow. (Surat al-Baqara, 62)

The Constitution of Madinah is the most important contract that secured justice and compassion among Christians, Jews and pagan communities. The Constitution of Madinah was prepared under the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (saas) 1,400 years ago, that is in 622 AD, to meet the needs of people of different beliefs, and was put into practice as a written legal contract. Different communities of different religions and races that had harbored deep-seated enmity towards one another for 120 years became parties to this legal contract. By means of this contract, the Prophet Muhammad (saas) showed that conflicts between those societies, who had been enemies and quite unable to reach any form of compromise, could come to an end, and they could actually live side by side.

According to the Constitution of Madinah, everyone was free to adhere to any belief or religion or to make any political or philosophical choice. People sharing the same views could come together and form a community. Everyone was free to exercise his own justice system. However, anyone who committed a crime would be protected by no one. The parties to the contract would engage in co-operation with one another, provide support for each other, and would remain under the protection of the Prophet Muhammad (saas). Conflicts between the parties would be brought to the Messenger of Allah.

This contract was in force from 622 to 632 AD. Through this document, the tribal structures which had formerly been based on blood and kinship were abolished, and people of different cultural, ethnical and geographical backgrounds came together and formed a social unity. The Constitution of Madinah secured absolute religious freedom.