Listen to Me: Islam Does Not Command War Against Jews
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Turkish political and religious commentator Sinem Tezyapar.
In an op. ed. piece for the Jewish Press, I cited from the Qur’an to show that war is an exceptional matter for Muslims, an unwanted obligation to be fulfilled in limited circumstances, and for defensive purposes only.
In response, I’ve been denounced and accused of being a Trojan horse, the wolf trying to devour Little Red Riding Hood, of not being a Muslim or being the worst kind of liar, misguided, deceiver, of practicing taqiyya, of disseminating propaganda with the intention of deceiving Israelis & Westerners, of using jihadist tactics in disguise, etc.
The most moderate reaction has been that I am young, naive… and don’t know my religion and the real world.
Despite the criticism, I stand behind my words, and I say further that Hamas or any other Islamic group that uses violence against civilians is doing wrong according to the Qur’an and that Jews, Christians, and Muslims must and can live co-exist together in harmony and peace. The reactions to my statements have been along the following lines: “What about the jihad verses in Qur’an? What about taqiyyah? What about abrogation of the verses which counsel peace?”
Let me clarify these misconceptions about Islam so that there is no excuse for warmongers and those who wish to shed oceans of blood.
War and violence in the Holy Books - Admittedly, there are commandments about war in the Qur’an, and those verses pertain to self-defense. The Tanakh and the Gospel also contain provisions about war and violence, and there are verses full of killing, especially in the Torah. The passages about war in those are, just as with the Qur’an, in regard to self-defense. The Torah and the Gospel command peace and love, and contain commandments about love and affection too. A person of love will interpret that in one way, and a cruel person in another. One can interpret it truly if one looks at it sincerely. For instance the Gospel speaks of blood up to the manes of the horses; it speaks of nobody being saved apart from 144,000 Jews. These are actually metaphorical and must be elucidated within the general tone of the Gospel, which is one of love and affection prevailing. But if someone insists on interpreting it in terms of violence, if he adds additional things to it out of his own mind, then a climate of violence will of course ensue. But a real Jew or a real Christian would never murder innocent people simply because there exists verses regarding killings in their Holy Books. In the same way, people who will look at Islam and the Qur’an through the eyes of love will not come up with violent interpretations.
Dictators against Prophets’ divine message - Let us not forget that the Prophet Mohammed was a prophet who sought to spread the pure faith of the Prophet Abraham, which is faith in God, the One and Only and ascribing no equals to Him, in a pagan society which had been dominated by idol worship. Like many prophets whose names appear in the Tanakh, the Prophet Mohammad has been commissioned for transmitting the message of God. It was impossible for the prophets to make any concessions on this, and they carried the true message, even at the cost of their own lives, to the most extreme leaders of their times and the most perverse communities. Conveying this message sometimes meant to oppose the tyrant Nimrod, as in the case of the Prophet Abraham, and sometimes to oppose dictators such as Pharaoh, as with the Prophet Moses. At all such times, believers found opposition from people who sought to take their lives. Despite circumstances where no one enjoyed freedom of expression, all the prophets communicated God’s message without regard to the cost. And this is no different in Islam as well.
War (qital) and jihad are not the same - The basic claim of the accusations and reactions trying to portray Islam as violent -God forbid- is that there are verses about jihad in the Qur’an and that these speak of killing. First and foremost, jihad and war are entirely different concepts: Jihad is not synonymous with holy war, as some misguided people think. Jihad means rather exertion, which is to strive, to make effort toward some object identified to the will of God as revealed in the Qur’an. Some worthy objects of jihad include strife against one’s egoistic passions, or to make an intellectual challenge against irreligion, radicalism or fanaticism. One convinces people with scientific and intellectual evidence. To expose the signs of God’s existence, to convey His revelation, to explain the malice of atheistic ideologies etc… These are the legitimate objects of the “jihad” for a Muslim, not beating someone about the head, killing someone or forcing a person to embrace Islam as an act of coercion.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Sinem Tezyapar is an executive producer on Turkish Television. She is a political and religious commentator and a peace activist. She can be reached on Facebook, and Twitter.
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what book is that then?
what book is that then where war and killing is allow.
I see that two of my talk backs have been deleted; so, I'll post one more time with a condensed version. When a sage, such as the Rambam for instance, stated that a certain man, Muhammed, is a false prophet and insane, it would behoove us to stay far away from him and his followers. Maybe we don’t have what it takes to intellectually fight against this false prophet and his followers but the Rambam does have “the CHUTZPAH to tell this Turkish intellectual that we know HER religion better than herself and her friends”. Quotations from Yori's email friend. The Rambam was closer to HaShem than any one of us; so, to follow the Rambam’s advice is not “an arrogant approach” as Yori’s email friend termed it but rather a very wise and humble approach.
ah jest doesn’t buy it.
I also wonder at the fact that most muslim countries have muslim populations in the high 90, s 99, 98 97%. So does it really matter how the rest of the population was eliminated. The end result is the elimination of non muslims. Turkey is held up as the most tolerant muslim society and has 99% muslim population.
I like the Suffi's, they seem to me to be the most humanistic tolerant and inclusive of the branches of Islam, meanwhile they are being killed for that attitude in Pakistan.
I've read too much about it, I've experienced second hand with a Turkish girl we knew who had to go back to Turkey and was not allowed any outside contact.
There is no mention about the trilogy, Qur'an, Hadith and Sinar, there is no mention about the Qur'an not being set up chronologically but based on chapter length. Thus confusing the reader not knowing that there is the Qur'an of Mecca and later the Qur'an of Medina. It's irrelevant for me to say any more. I could write a whole page of 14 years of reading, dissecting and who knows what. Go to Bill Warner's page http://www.polticalislam.com! He says it all.
The Muslim leaders made the religion a tool to help them against Israel, achieving political power, control women and everything that they need for their power, did you know that by the time of Muhammad, Muslim women were allowed to wear sleeveless dresses?
The hope of the world is that the sacred consensus that is a part of Middle Eastern.
tradition for thousands of years before the Torah was revealed, will eventually.
have consensus similar to Tezyapar's.
In the many centuries of the existence of the Torah, the New Testament, and the Koran there have always been more humanistic and more blood-thirsty interpretations.
In part it is also about an understanding of the Creator.
Although the Creator is above and separate from his creation, everything he has created, and everyone he has created is holy and must be loved and protected.
wonderful article. we need to work together.
wonderful article. we need to work together.
There will people who quote certain suras to prove that Islam is a genocidal cult, and those who will quote others to prove that Islam is a religion of tolerance and compassion. What disturbs me the most is that many of the professionals and intellectuals who should be advocating ecumenical dialogue (doctors, engineers, scientists, and academics), are frequently the ones to be found in the ranks of organizations such as Al-Qaeda.
the author of this piece belongs to a Muslim cult whose leader wishes to rekindle the Ottoman Empire and bring all of it's former vassals back into it's control, plus he blames the "jews" for this not happening: ".
the stage was set for a new character, a modern Turkish-Muslim man. On to this stage walked Oktar, clutching the first of his books, Judaism and Freemasons, a derivative retread of anti-Semitic clichés in the manner of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which identified Jews and the masons as the devious obstacles to the emergence of a new, powerful Turkish-Muslim nation. “The principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey,” Oktar wrote, “was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and make them like animals.”.
http://newhumanist.org.uk/2131/sex-flies-and-videotape-the-secret-lives-of-harun-yahya
why is this being taken seriously?
Ha! Nice to see no mentions of Quran 5:51 and 5:81. Or hadith like Sahih 6985.
Sorry; I have no desire to live the life of a dhimmi.
Okay, can someone please explain to me this verse ⇨ “the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until 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.”.. doesn't sound to peaceful does it? Also didn't Mohammed molest a 9 year old baby? Didn't he murder? Steal? Rape? Sorry people, but Islam us untrue. Yeah it may be a monotheistic religion but itis untrue
I wonder if someone will ask the Armenians what they think of Muslim rule.
Hi Sinem,
I think you are sincere but you haven't read the entire Quran.Sura 5:14 curses Christians wijth "ENMITY and HATE" "UNTIL the DAY or RESURRECTION".The same for JEWS in sura 5:64, it's hatred and enmity "UNTIL the DAY of RESURECTION".If I said that about blacks, borwn people or women you would condemn me.
Please read the entire Quran without prejudices and with an open mind. The verse you refer to, 5:14 and 5:64 are talking about, the first one, about the Christians who at the time of Isa, Jesus (peace be upon him) or after his time, who, changed the Holy Bible, such as The King James Verison etc.
The second part, talks about the Jews and Christians at the time of the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) who claimed Allah (God) was poor, for not providing enough or whatever they saw as enough richness to the Prophet (peace be upon him) The verse, teaches us to stay away from materialism fall in love with it, due to the fact that it is only shortly, for a while, and that we shall all die within a short time on this planet.
Please educate your selves, and learn properly.
May God have Mercy on you all and guide you straight
Ev Max On what do you base your statements? Any empiric studies that you've made, or is it just your general thought?
How come Albanians and Bosnians destroyed all the railways in order to deport 0% Jews from the Balkans?
How come Turkey has installed a missile defense system on its territory solely to protect Israel from any kind of missile attacks. Israel and Jews are sacred to us, as everybody else regardless their backgrounds. War is only permitted for defensive purposes, but when you bomb and slaughter people all around the world, with a Darwinian mindset, with a teaching of evolutionary unscientifically arguments (kill or be killed), when you urinate on corps, then, you should be surprised, people might take their arms, and even go as far as blow them selves up in order to make their voice heard (which we all condemned, anyway)
Israel's jihad is mine | Qanta Ahmed | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Larry Israel.
By: Dr Qanta Ahmed is Associate Professor of Medicine at the State University of New York (Stony Brook)….
As Israel considers building a new fence to contain the Syrian conflict to the north, which fences can keep out Hamas’s even more lethal ideologies? While Gaza and the Muslim Arab world continue to claim victory in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, for the sane observers among us, there is only ever defeat – the defeat of morality in the desecration of a great religion. While most Muslims laud Hamas and scorn Israel, for me, an observing Muslim, Israel’s war against Hamas remains my struggle – my jihad.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israels-jihad-is-mine/
A truly good Moslem. One of the cult member journalist girls (Sinem?) earlier asked a Jewish guy on this thread what he thought she should do to help defeat the "bad' Moslems. I don't think he answered but I will. To help us help defeat the evil within Islam you Moslems have to come to the side of the ISraelis in defeating Hamas, Hezballah, their patron Iran, the evil Al Qaeda and its supporters Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia for starters. Just like good Germans and Frenchman helped in the underground to destroy Nazism, you good Moslems must spy on your neighbors, friends and relatives and annul their evil plans and beliefs until they are no more just like the world did for the Nazis. That is how you defeat an evil ideology, not by apologizing for it as you do here.
islam si a religion of defense and when islam or islamic land are under attack then islam should get into war.. because it is Allah jugment that we miust fear, and not the one of the hypocrits.
Here it is a sign to change this secularism's new world order with that link.
http://www.islam-2012-newworldorder.com
Spread that link around the world for the call to freedom of all muslim nations around the world!
Uhhh no one answered my question, Okay, can someone please explain to me this verse, maybe I missed the 'peaceful' message⇨ “the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until 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.”.. doesn't sound to peaceful does it? Also didn't Mohammed molest a 9 year old baby? Didn't he murder? Steal? Rape? Sorry people, but Islam us untrue. Yeah it may be a monotheistic religion but itis untrue
May God have mercy on you,
It is not a verse you are referring to!
It is a FALSE hadith, fabricated, by enemies of Islam and God, to make Islam look bad, obviously.
Muhammed (Peace be upon him) did not molest anyone, may God have mercy on your soul, Aisha, was 14 and did not get in the household until later age, and for the info, she is one of the greats scholars of the authentic time, because of her young age, she memorized everything, or at least the maximum she could, on Prophets (peace be upon him) sayings and teachings.
You have a lot to read and learn, don't just psit out a lot of nonsense before you read, please.
Peace to you,
Sinem Tezyapar is a member of the Adnan Oktar's community which praises a Turkish Islamic Union in the Middle East. They say that ''Turkey will conquer Israel and the Arab States and then peace will come.'' Beware of Taqiyya, she pretends like she is a peace activist. Here is their official website: http://www.turkishislamicunion.com.
to call a flotilla full of antisemites and lots of terrorists an "humanitarian aid" ship is more than simple antisemitism.
Adnan Oktar aka Harun Yahya is a sick Turkish Islamic tele evangelist …… he keep sending his blond and enhanced tits Oktarette to neo Ottomanize the Jews :
http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/2131/sex-flies-and-videotape-the-secret-lives-of-harun-yahya
Adna Oktar , Oktarettes ……..
http://www.dazeddigital.com/blog/article/15089/1/turkeys-anti-evolutionist-showgirls
This cult and its good-will bimbo ambassadors operate on several levels:
1) Promote Turkey as the dominant power broker in the Middle East and Muslim world, with a subordinate role for Israel in a Neo-Ottoman Turkish Union
2) Wage a campaign of propaganda and lies against the Theory of Evolution and Atheism, since reason, science, and secularism are the greatest threats to Islam and religion in general
3) Defame secular Zionism and distort the established definition of Zionism to pander and appeal to Islamists, Leftists, anti-Zionists, anti-Semites, and conspiracy theorists
These are just the dangers and threats that are readily visible. More digging and scrutiny will eventually reveal the true goal and mission of this cult with respect to Jews and Israel. For the time being, I am buying nothing that's written by this cult and as long as its representatives just talk the good talk and reject open criticism of their anti-Israel prime minister, they have zero credibility in any intellectually honest discussion of the Middle East conflict.
It's interesting that Sinem Tezyapar has never published anything in Turkish but English. I can not believe people still consider her as a peace activist. No one takes her serious in Turkey but the whole Israeli media is amazed by her whitewash. None of the Turkish journalists have ever published something about her, can't you realize the truth?
Thats a lie..they ceretainly do…..SHALOM from a Jew.
This "Oktarette" Sinem is publishing in English for the leftist "Jews" of the USA or from the USA , for the 80 % if not more that support Barak Obama . Nothing in Hebrew in Israeli newspapers about her crap.
Nothing significant from this holocaust denier and Turkish Islamic Neo Ottoman televangelist Adnan Oktar on Israeli news in Hebrew.
On Adnan Oktar holocaust denial past :
http://books.google.nl/books?id=SLMGmSbQm4EC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=adnan+oktar+holocaust+denial&source=bl&ots=dn4K-MzW1B&sig=401vHP8buZhYgnuBwEXDANt71fA&hl=nl&sa=X&ei=a0JRUfSBHYmm0wXjrICgDQ&ved=0CF8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=adnan%20oktar%20holocaust%20denial&f=false
http://whoisharunyahya.wordpress.com/
So who are Turkish media leaders who genuinely CAN be considered reliable Turkish interfaith peace activists and activists for an alliance between Turkey and Israel? Who are some examples?
Ev Max,in Turkey, the real secular medias are the one who genuinely can be considered reliable.
Keep religion private and at home …….. don't mix it with politics , especially for a missionary religion such as Islam .
Sinem is part of a radical Islamic sect run by the charlatan Adnan Okar, a Turkish televangelist .