Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Many thanks for your reply on this important subject. However I would like to clarify certain misgivings that still persists after reading your response. Please correct me if I am wrong as this is an important subject of the Muslim world and one should have strong conviction while discussing this subject with people of other faith.

 

You inform that indigenous population has been usurped by Israel which is a crime. Are we sure that indigineous population was not usurped during the time of Islamic conquest of the Third Khalifa? Is it proven that this population was allowed to stay as it is and most converted to Islamic faith on their own accord. Only if these converts are fighting for the cause of Islam in the holy land of Israel we can relieve ourselves of the same crime that Israel is commiting now. The Palestinian race does not seem to belong to this race. Howver they are also indiginous in a way that they have lived there parallely with Bani Israel since biblical times. But this would not give them sole rights of the land.

 

So the issue is truly knowing what happened to the indigineous population at the time of Third Khalifa's conquest who must be majority Jews? Aren't these people who may have fled returning to their own land. Aren't they indigineous enough?

 

Regards,

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Indigenous population of Israel

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol,  no person,  no grave, no prophet,  no imam,  no dai,  nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

The first thing all must be aware of is that when the Land of Israel was added to the Islamic rulership during the reign of the Third Khalifa,  the majority of the people living there were Christians and not Jews.  The Land of Israel at the time of being annexed to the Islamic territory, was ruled by Christendom.

 

Secondly, the Land of Israel was not taken by the muslim army by war and there was absolutely no bloodshed in the annexation of Israel to Muslim rule;  but rather, seeing the might of the muslims and their expanding empire, it was simply and peacefully surrendered by the Christian rulers to the muslims.  The transfer of power from Christianity to Islam in the Land of Israel was so peaceful, that the Christian rulers in their terms of transfer requested that they  give the keys of the city gates only to the leader of the muslims,  and the Khalifa of that times,  Hadrat Umar,  himself traveled from Medina to Jerusalem to receive the keys of the city.  The muslim army camped outside Jerusalem and waited for Hadrat Umar; and only after the keys were handed over to Hadrat Umar upon his arrival to Jerusalem, did the muslims enter the Land of Israel.   It was an absolute peaceful transfer of power.    

 

Whoever amongst the people of the Land of Israel wanted to accept Islam, accepted it; and whoever wanted to retain their beliefs as Christians,  Jews or whatever,  they were allowed to follow their own beliefs.   Had the muslims converted the Jews and the Christians by force in the Land of Israel in the 1300 years of their rule, there would not have been a single Jew or Christian in Israel… but that is obviously not the case!   And this truth is aptly documented in history.

 

History has also recorded that never have the muslim rulers ever committed atrocities upon their Jewish citizens as a race, wherever they might have been!   In fact,  the famous Jewish Author Norman Cantor in his book “The Sacred Chain,  A History of the Jews” has time and again admitted that the ‘golden years’ of the Jews were during the years of  muslim rule.  It has always been the pagans and then the Christians who have massaccered the Jews in History…..never the muslims!

 

From the massacre of the Jews and the destruction of the First Jewish Temple in 586 BC at the hands of the pagan Babylonian rulers,  to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple and the mass killing of the Jews at the hands of the Roman rulers of Judea in 66-70 BC,  to the destruction of the Jews in 115 AD at the hands of the Greek pagans,  to the destruction of the Jews in 135 AD at the hands of the Roman Christian Rulers, to the destruction of the Jews in 410 AD,  again at the hands of the Roman Christian Rulers,  to the almost total destruction of the Jews in 1096 AD at the hands of the French Christian Crusaders,  to the Cossack massacres of the Polish Jews in 1648,  to the final annihilation and mass destruction of the Jews at the hands of Christian Germany in the 1940s……   it was always the pagans before the birth of Jesus Christ,  and the Christians after the birth of Jesus Christ who massaccered the Jews because of their belief….. never the muslims!  For almost 2000 years, the Christian Rulers have held the Jews responsible for the (so-called) killing of Jesus Christ… and they are the ones who have severely persecuted the Jews for being Jews and Christ-killers!  Not the muslims!  

 

The Jews, Christians and the muslims lived in peace in the Holy Land of Israel for almost 1300 years under muslim rule.  An individual Jew might have had a fight with an individual muslim over something; but never in the History of the Land of Israel, have the Jews been prosecuted by their muslim rulers as a race!

 

When the State of Israel was established after World War II, the Jewish population in Israel was no more than 300,000; and the population of the muslims in excess of 5-6 million!  In the past 50 years of Jewish rule, millions of muslim have been expelled and have been forced to leave their lands and seek refuge in the surrounding countries and all across the world.   The ones who did not leave, were forced to live their lives in subjugation under the terroneous and prejudice laws of the Jews!  And during this time, millions of Jews were invited by the Jewish leadership from all over the world to migrate to this Holy Land, and settle on the lands of the muslims.  Thus not all the Jews who live in Israel today are indigenous to the land of Israel!!! 

 

The claim that this land belongs solely to the Jews because it was the land of their forefathers thousands of years ago, is absolutely illogical and against International Law.   If that is the case, then the United States of America should rightfully be given back to the indigenous American Indians, and Australia should be handed back to the indigenous Aborigines!   But that is obviously not the case!  

 

The forceful occupation of a land,  and the merciless prosecution and atrocities the Jewish rulers have done on the muslim population in the Land of Palestine is not only illegal in Islamic Law;  it is also illegal and immoral in the eyes of International Law.   There are several United Nations Resolution declaring the occupation of Israel illegal….but Israel,  under the sponsorship of the World Powers,  have blatantly refused to follow International Law and give up the occupied territories and lands to the indigenous people of the Holy Land!  

 

The Jews have never ruled any land for almost 2000 years….and in the fifty years that they have ruled the State of Israel, albeit illegally, they have indeed proved to be unworthy rulers.  

 

Whatever they are doing is within the grasp of Allah Subhanah, and nothing is unknown to the All Mighty,  All Wise Lord.   This period has been a trying time for the muslims; and Allah Alone is enough as a Protector and a Helper of the believers.

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan