Islam In Its Own Words--The Koran, Part Two: The Jews

ISLAM IN ITS OWN WORDS--THE KORAN, PART TWO: THE JEWS


THE THEME OF THE UNBELIEVERS FATE IS PARTICULARIZED WITH JEWS AND CHRISTIANS REPEATEDLY IN THE FIRST ONE-FOURTH OF THE KORAN, BUT OF THE TWO, THE CHRISTIANS STAND IN SLIGHTLY BETTER STEAD:

"you will find that the most implacable of men in their enmity to the
faithful are the jews and the pagans, and that the nearest in affection
to them are those who say: 'we are christians.' " 5:82

THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE KORAN COMMENTS EXTENSIVELY ON THE JEWS. IN THE FIRST ___PAGES JEWS ARE MENTIONED ON ___OF THEM. IN SURAH 2, ENTITLED "THE COW," ALLAH SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE. FIRST THEY ARE IMPLORED TO ACCEPT THE KORAN:

"children of israel...have faith in my revelations, which confirm your
scriptures and do not be the first to deny them." 2:39

THROUGHOUT THE KORAN ABRAHAM AND MOSES ARE LAUDED. IT IS THEIR DESCENDANTS, WHO REFUSED TO ACCEPT JESUS AS AN APOSTLE WHO ERRED:

"these are the men to whom god has been gracious...the descendants
of abraham, of israel...but the generations who succeeded them neglected
their prayers and succumbed to their desires. these shall assuredly be lost." 19:54

THEN THEY ARE REMINDED OF ALL THAT ALLAH HAS DONE FOR THEM, ANOTHER THEME THAT RECURS THROUGHOUT THE KORAN:

"children of israel, remember the favor i have bestowed upon you,
and that i exalted you above the nations." 2:47

"remember how we [the koran often speaks in the first person plural]
delivered you from pharaoh's people..." 2:47

"we parted the sea for you..." 2:47

"we pardoned you, so that you might give thanks." 2:47

"we divided them into twelve tribes...and when his people demanded drink
of him, we revealed our will to moses, saying: 'strike the rock with your staff.'
thereupon twelve springs gushed from the rock...we caused the clouds to
draw their shadow over them and sent down for them manna and quails...
[but] the wrongdoers among them replaced what they were told with other words;
and we let loose on them a scourge... and when they scornfully persisted in their
forbidden ways, we said to them: 'turn into detested apes.' " 7:158-166

BUT THE JEWS DIDN'T LISTEN, DIDN'T BELIEVE. THEY WERE UNGRATEFUL. ANOTHER THEME OF THE KORAN--HOW IMPUDENT MAN, HERE THE JEWS, HAS BEEN TO HIM:

"when we made a covenant with the israelites we said: 'serve none but god...
but you all broke your covenant except a few, and paid no heed." 2:80

"and now that a book confirming their own has come to them from god, they
deny it, although they know it to be the truth...god's curse be upon the infidels!" 2:88

"and now that an apostle has come to them from god confirming their own scriptures,
some of those to whom the scriptures were given cast off the book of god...and
accept what the devils tell of solomon's kingdom. 2:102

"when god made a covenant with those to whom the scriptures were given he said:
'proclaim these to mankind and do not supprress them.' but they cast the scriptures
over their backs and sold them for a paltry price. evil was their bargain." 3:187

"consider those to whom a portion of the scriptures was given. they believe in idols
and false gods and say of the infidels: 'these are better guided than the believers.'
these are they on whom god has laid his curse." 4:51

"see how we make plain to them [christians and jews] our revelations. see how
they ignore the truth." 5:75

"we have given you [all people] power in the land and provided you with a
livelihood; yet you are seldom thankful." 7:3

"truly man is ever thankless." 17:62

"when we bestow favors on man, he turns his back and holds aloof." 17:83

OVER AND OVER THE KORAN BITTERLY EXPRESSES ITS SENSE OF BETRAYAL BY JEWS, UF UNGRATEFULNESS, FOR ALL THAT ALLAH HAS GIVEN THEM:

"god made a covenant with the israelites and raised among them twelve
chieftains. god said: 'i shall be with you...but because they broke their
covenant we laid on them our curse and hardened their hearts. they
have tampered with words out of their context...you will ever find them
deceitful, except for a few of them." 5:12

"the unbelieving elders of his [noah's] people said: 'we see you as but a
mortal like ourselves. nor can we see you being followed by any but the
lowliest of our men...we see no superior merit in you: indeed we think
that you are lying.' "11:21

JEWISH DISINGENUITY AND OUTRIGHT LYING, NOT JUST UNBELIEF, IS CITED REPEATEDLY. THE KORAN GENERALLY IS VERY REPETITIVE. THERE IS VERY LITTLE THAT IS NEW IN ANY OF THE SURAHS:

"some of the people of the book wish to mislead you." 3:66

"people of the book! why do you deny god's revelations when
you know that they are true?" 3:66

"people of the book! why do you confound the true with the false,
and knowingly hide the true?" 3:66

"and there are some among them who twist their tongues when
quoting the scriptures,..." 3:78

"among the people of the book... there are some who, if you trust
them with a heap of gold, will return it to you intact; and there are
others who, if you trust them with one dinar, will not hand it back
unless you demand it with importunity. for they say: 'we are not
bound to keep faith with gentiles.' " 3:74

"some jews take words out of their context and say: we hear, but
disobey. may you be bereft of hearing!--thus distorting the phrase
with their tongues and reviling the true faith." 4:46

"they denied the truth and uttered a monstrous falsehood against
mary. they declared: 'we have put to death the messiah, jesus son
of mary, the apostle of god.' " 4:157

"they [jews] tamper with words out of their context..." 5:141

IN MANY PASSAGES CONCERNING JEWS, THE KORAN EMPHASIZES, ALMOST IN STILTED FASHION, THAT ALLAH'S DISPLEASURE IS NOT WITH ALL JEWS:

"had the people of the book accepted the faith, it would surely have
been better for them. some are true believers, but most of them
are evil-doers." 3:110

"god has cursed [the jews] in their unbelief. they have no faith,
except a few of them." 4:46

"they have no faith except a few of them." 4:153

" there are some among them who are righteous men; but
there are many among them who do nothing but evil." 5:65

APPARENTLY JEWS ATTEMPTED TO DISSUADE PEOPLE FROM ADOPTING ISLAM, A PARTICULARLY GRAVE OFFENSE:

"people of the book, why do you debar believers from the path
of god and seek to make it crooked..." 3:97

"because of their iniquity, we forbade the jews wholesome things
which were formerly allowed them; becaute time after time they
have debarred others from the path of god; because they practise
usury--although they were forbidden it--and cheat others of their
possessions." 4:158

"cursed are the evil-doers who have debarred others from the path
of god and sought to make it crooked..." 7:44

"god's curse is on the wrongdoers, who debar others from the path
of god and seek to make it crooked..." 11:20

SINCE THE KORAN ACCEPTS JESUS, HIS KILLING BY THE JEWS IS MENTIONED REPEATEDLY AS ONE OF THEIR SINS:

"shame and misery were stamped upon them and they incurred the
wrath of god; because they disbelieved god's signs and slew the
prophets unjustly; because they were rebels and transgressors." 2:61

"their [the jews] words we will record, and their slaying of the prophets
unjustly. we shall say 'taste now the torment of the conflagration.
here is the reward for your misdeeds." 3:177

"why did you slay them?" 3:183

"we took from them a solemn covenant. but they broke their covenant,
denied the revelations of god, and killed the prohpets unjustly." 4:153

"we made a covenant with the israelites and sent forth apostles among
them. but whenever an apostle came to them with a message that did
not suit their inclinations, some they accused of lying and others they
put to death." 5:70

"those of the israelites who disbelieved were cursed by david and jesus
son of mary, because they rebelled and committed evil...evil were their deeds." 5:75

THE HELL THAT AWAITS UNBELIEVERS:

"ask the israelites how many conspicuous signs we gave them. he that tampers
with the gift of god after it is bestowed on him shall find that god is stern in
retribution." 2:206

"scalding water shall they drink and be sternly punished for their unbelief." 6:70

" 'the scourge of the fire awaits the unbelievers.' " 8:12

"their necks shall be bound with chains. they are the heirs of the fire and shall bide therein for ever." 13:5

AS MANY OF THE PASSAGES ABOVE ILLUSTRATE IT IS NOT "UNBELIEF +" THAT DOOMS A PERSON, UNBELIEF PLUS AGGRESSION FOR EXAMPLE, IT IS SIMPLY UNBELIEF. BELOW ARE EXAMPLES OF THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE KORAN WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE JEWS:

"those that live on usury shall rise up before god like men whom satan has
demented by his touch..." 2:273

THE PASSAGE ABOVE LITERALLY DEMONIZES JEWS

"those that deny god and his apostles, and those that draw a line between
god and his apostle, saying: 'we believe in some, but deny others,'--thus
seeking a middle way--these indeed are the unbelievers. for the unbelievers
we have preparerd a shameful punishment." 4:147

THE FIRST TWO PASSAGE BELOW USES ANIMAL IMAGERY IN REFERENCE TO JEWS:

"shall i tell you who will receive a worse reward from god? those whom god
has cursed and with whom he has been angry, transforming them into apes
and swine, and those who serve the devil." 5:55

"and when they scornfully persisted in their forbidden ways, we said to them:
'turn into detested apes.' " 7:166

"people of the book, is it not that you hate us only because we believe in god
and in what has been revealed to us and to others before, and because most
of you are evil-doers?' " 5:55

"evil is what they do." 5:61

"the jews say: 'god's hand is chained.' may their own hands be chained! may
they be cursed for what they say!" 5:64

"they spread evil in the land, but god does not love the evil-doers." 5:64

"the jews say ezra is the son of god, while the christians say the messiah is
the son of god..how perverse they are!" 9:27

CONFRONTATIONAL RHETORICAL QUESTIONS TO JEWS:

"people of the book, why do you argue about abraham when both the torah
and the gospel were not revealed till after him? have you no sense?" 3:60

"are they not committed in the scriptures, which they have studied well, to
tell nothing of god but what is true?...have you no sense?" 7:167

AND TO CHRISTIANS:

"what has come over these men thay they can hardly understand a word?" 4:78

"All We Are Saying..."

"ALL WE ARE SAYING...

is give peace a chance."

i am ready to join my comrades in protest. i have bought a pair of birkenstocks, i'm going to tie my gray hair in a ponytail and i pledge not to use any deoderant until this madness is stopped.

kim jong il, let's make love not war.

the administration got its tit caught in a wringer when it included north korea in its "axis of evil." before that goddamned speech the north was contained in a padded cell and kept sedated with the latest anti-psychotic meds. they posed no threat to us. the first rule in dealing with a paranoid schizophrenic is, don't give him reason to be paranoid.

the axis of evil speech gave north korea reason to be paranoid. how could it not have? you don't have to be paranoid to connect these dots. (1) the president says we are at "war" with terrorism. (2) he says in this war you are either "for us or against us." (3) he says iraq, iran and north korea are against us. further, they are an axis of evil, explicitly drawing a parallel with the axis powers of world war ii. (4) the u.s. did go to war with one of the axis of evil states (5) the administration has adopted a military doctrine of preemptive strikes against hostile nations.

what the fucking fuck are the north koreans supposed to conclude except that they're next?

how to get out of this. first, stick a sock in rumsfeld's mouth. it was he who ratcheted up the conflict when, on the eve of the iraq war, in specifically answering a question about north korea, he said that the u.s. had the capability of fighting two wars at the same time. so keep rumsfeld out of this lest some "wolfowitz of asia" be spawned and let secretary of state powell handle it. the administration is doing that.

second, use diplomacy. here our "allies," especialy the chinese, and the united nations can be helpful. this is an opportunity to repair some of the damage done to these relations by the iraq war. the chinese want to be a responsible global actor. this is their opportunity too. china borders the north and so also has an interest in keeping the korean peninsula a nuclear free zone. the administration is doing that too and all the reports seem to indicate that china has been helpful.

what does the north want? by all accounts, food and fuel aid and attention. their economy is ruined, their people are starving, the cutoff of our aid to them following their breach of the anti-proliferation agreement just made things worse and their isolation, though self-inflicted, has them not wanting to be ignored anymore.

give it to them. if they want a face-to-face meeting to show themselves that they are important then give it to them. if a resumption of aid is the condition for a return to the status quo ante then give it to them.

the administration is supposedly torn by hawks and doves on this issue, some wanting to go the diplomatic route, others the military. in this context the military route includes air strikes only as a last resort. it favors giving the chinese a deadline to bring north korea into a negotiated settlement. if that fails then an economic blockade, implicitly with world support, would be enforced, leaving the north with the choice, in the new york times words, between "collapse and dismantling its nuclear programs."

when is the world going to learn that economic sanctions against a dictatorship don't work? it hasn't worked against cuba, it didn't work against iraq and it won't work against north korea. all economic sanctions do is further impoverish the people while the ruling elite lives as before. again, that's the situation with castro, that was the situation with saddam hussein and that will be the situation with kim. a dictatorship will gladly sacrifice its people to maintain its control.

imposing economic sanctions does not leave north korea with only two choices, collapse or abandoning its nuclear ambitions. there is, and they will adopt, a third, lashing out militarily, in which case south korea and perhaps japan will be struck with missiles.

so if our tough option includes that as its penultimate sanction then skip it and go directly to air strikes.

the administration better hope diplomacy works. they better be prepared to swallow their pride and cave in to the north's demands. this recrudecense of hostility is entirely of their own making. under no circumstances must north korea be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. that was the american position even under the clinton administration. but the north would not be doing what they're doing now if the administration hadn't called them out as a member of the axis of evil.

a new war on the korean peninsula would be an unmitigated disaster. thousands of american troops on the border would be jeopardized, south korea might be overrun, japan might be struck. such will be the price to pay if diplomacy fails. such will be the price that will have to be paid if north korea is about to acquire a nuclear capability, but it did not have to be this way. the administration created this problem. now they're going to have to get out of it.



-benjamin harris