When a group of imams recently signed a letter denying Israel legitimacy, Fiyaz Mughal wasn't convinced by their counter argument that Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust
July 4, 2019 13:41
A few days ago, an open letter organised by Shaykh Asrar Rashid from Birmingham was signed by 30 UK imams, including one Haitham-al-Haddad, who a few years ago used to be indulged by some UK universities who allowed him to speak on campuses to local Islamic societies.
I remember this, since Westminster University were clueless around his beliefs on LGBTQ communities and were willing, in 2015, to let him speak on campus until local students signed a petition in their hundreds to stop him from speaking. Another imam on the signatory list, Yasir Ayyub, has a history of anti-Shia rhetoric and anti-Ahmadi bigotry. His sectarian comments are sickening.
The letter says that the imams “do not regard Israel as a legitimate state” and that “Israel must return the entirety of Palestinian land”. The political posturing goes on to say that “Jerusalem will be the capital of the Islamic Caliphate when it returns”.
In trying to sweeten the picture of an Islamic State administrating Israel, the letter posits a rosy picture of Jews, Muslims and Christians living together in peace until the “Zionist occupation”. What they fail to mention is that all three faiths co-existed at points in history but also turned against each other at points in power plays for resources and religion.
The rosy picture that some paint of co-existence under Islamic rule is partly true - but also partly false since it was always Jewish communities who came off worse when having to live under the straight-jacket of Christian or Muslim rule. Within the Promised Land, Jews were always fair game, whether it was by the Egyptians, Romans, Christians or Muslims.
So, by suggesting that Israel has no legitimacy, 30 British based imams have, at a sweep of their pen, trashed over 5,500 years of Jewish connection to the land of Israel.
What is deeply ironic about the views of these Imams is that many of them will feel pride in their Pakistani heritage, a heritage that was created by the British at the end of empire, much as was the State of Israel when British rule came to end.
On the one hand they celebrate the history and heritage of British-made Pakistan, since it gave them a predominantly Islamic state, partly at the expense of many Sikh and Hindu families. Flip the coin regarding the creation of Israel and suddenly this state become illegitimate, since their utopian dream of an Islamic Palestine has come to an end.
The usurping of the Palestinian cause into an Islamic cause is one of the biggest disasters to happen to this cause. Throughout the 1950s through to the 1980s, Palestine was never a predominantly faith-based cause. It was based on pan-Arabism and socialism. Yet Islamist groups saw this legitimate grievance in the region as a means to suck in people to their totalitarian religious movements, a means of funnelling them into the cause to Islamicise governments, nations and societies; as though Islam was the panacea to any problem.
With their grubby campaigns, they fused Islamic text, ideology and politics into the mix and over the last three decades you can rarely distinguish the cause for an independent Palestine from calls by Islamic religious groups and leaders, as if this was the over-riding concern for many within Muslim communities, when many live below the poverty line and can barely make ends meet.
This is not to take away or tarnish their beliefs in social justice; it is, however, expressing the fact that the Palestinian cause has been hijacked by groups and people who see the world in black and white terms, with no nuance or shades of grey. Such hardened and deep set views explain why 30 Imams have decided to walk over the sensitivities of British Jewish communities and wish for a future where Jews are second class citizens under an Islamic Caliphate.
It is the final statement that is the most troubling of all in this cobbled together letter. Much like Christian Evangelists who believe in the coming of Christ, the conversion of Jews to Christianity and the ‘end of days’, these imams spout the bizarre notion of a sort of Islamic ‘end of days’ when the Caliphate will once again rule over the Promised Land, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Yet the history of the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims was not peaceful, nor was it non-violent. It was a bloody venture, much like that of the Crusades, with the latter going even further in their retribution against Jews and Muslims. I would not be surprised if this last statement in the letter sent a shiver down the spine of many Jews. This sounds much like fighting talk.
What has also been so depressing about this statement has been the lack of counter-voices against it from Muslim communities, many of whom I know have been repulsed by this pathetic political posturing. If nothing else, I would have hoped that the use of religious positions to legitimise inflammatory views that go against Jewish history and sensitivities would have warranted more of a response from my co-religionists.
Furthermore, how can these imams square notions of forgiveness, love and the protection of human life with what are deeply troubling statements.
I say one thing to these imams.
They mention the fact that Palestinians have no link to the Holocaust, which is true if you overlook the actions of Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem who saw a future Palestinian State by aligning the cause of Palestine to Hitler’s success in Middle East military campaigns.
I also accept that he was one man, albeit influential in his role. Yet by bringing the Holocaust into the letter, you have brought into play a history that many of you will never have taken time to study in detail.
A few days ago I was in Germany and took the time to visit a synagogue in the village of Celle, just outside Hanover. The synagogue had closed by the time I got there as I asked for directions from residents and had been sent from pillar to post. As I stood outside the closed synagogue doors, lamenting the journey to find it, underneath me I saw Stolpersteins or ‘Tripping Stones’ that mark out the name, date of birth and the date of deportation and murder of Jews who lived in the synagogue.
Many of these can be found in European villages and cities where Jews were systematically marginalised, deported and murdered by the Nazis. They mark the spot where a human being lived, breathed, laughed and cried and where eventually they were removed from and sent to their deaths. I saw 4 Stolpersteins that listed two couples, all four of whom were murdered in camps in Theresienstadt and Buchenwald.
They were killed because they were Jewish and I could not help think that if I rented a room in that building, the Nazis would have sent me to a concentration camp and worked me to death because I was Asian. Days later, I still feel that deep connection in the pit of my soul to those two couples, to the point where I have woken up from sleep feeling that I should have somehow got into the synagogue to pay my respects.
The Holocaust was the systematic, industrial scale murder of people because they were Jews. It was a ritual humiliation and mass aggression against European Jewry, which has only started to recover from what took place 75 years ago.
To the imams in the letter, I say: “Hang your heads in shame for bringing the Holocaust into your political arguments”. To Jews reading this, I can only apologise for these 30 individuals. They may share my religion but they do not share any part of a huge social responsibility that goes into referencing the Shoah.
The very rights that they enjoy in the UK have been built on the blood, sweat and tears of others, including Holocaust survivors. By glibly referencing the Holocaust, they have also insulted these very rights.
Fiyaz Mughal is Founder and Director of Faith Matters
