JEW HATRED FROM THE MUSLIM POPE ATLAS EXCLUSIVE: ANDREW BOSTOM

This is not Osama Bin Laden or some" radical extremist."  Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi is the head of Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University  - as close to a Pope of Islam as you are going to get. Think about that.

Jew Hatred from the “Muslim Pope”

Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS

Imagine the following (thankfully unimaginable) scenario: Some twenty years prior to being elected Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a 700 page treatise detailing and rationalizing for present (and all) times the most virulent anti-Jewish motifs extant in Christian theology. Sadly, what is unimaginable in Christendom, has not only occurred, but passes virtually without recognition in the Islamic world of today.

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi wrote these words in his 700 page dissertation rationalizing Muslim Jew hatred, Banu Isra’il fi al-Qur’an wa al-Sunna [Jews in the Koran and the Traditions], originally published in the 1970s, and then re-issued in 1986:

[The] Koran describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e. killing the prophets of Allah, corrupting His words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people’s wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their deep-rooted lasciviousness…only a minority of the Jews keep their word….[A]ll Jews are not the same. The good ones become Muslims, the bad ones do not.

Tantawi was apparently rewarded for this scholarly effort by being named Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in 1996, a position he still holds. These are the expressed, “carefully researched” views on Jews held by the nearest Muslim equivalent to a Pope—the head of the most prestigious center of Muslim learning in Sunni Islam, which represents 90% of the world’s Muslims. And Sheikh Tantawi has not mollified such hatemongering beliefs since becoming the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar as his statements on the Jews as “enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs”, the legitimacy of homicide bombings of Jews, or “dialogue” with Jews (excerpted just below), make clear.

…anyone who avoids meeting with the enemies in order to counter their dubious claims and stick fingers into their eyes, is a coward.  My stance stems from Allah’s book [the Koran], more than one-third of which deals with the Jews…[I] wrote a dissertation dealing with them [the Jews], all their false claims and their punishment by Allah. I still believe in everything written in that dissertation.

Unfortunately, the orthodox Islamic archetypes of Jew hatred promulgated by Hizbollah and Hamas, are also being disseminated by the most respected, mainstream Islamic institutions. Tantawi’s case illustrates the prevalence and depth of sacralized, “normative” Jew hatred in the contemporary Muslim world which can no longer be ignored.

Dr. Bostom, www.andrewbostom.org is the author of “The Legacy of Jihad”, from Prometheus Books

UPDATE: Andrew Bostom will be on History TV tomorrow;

History on Book TV
A look at non-fiction history books. >On Sunday, July 30 at 1:30 pm

The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims
Andrew Bostom

Description: Andrew Bostom discusses the history of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Middle East, a subject he takes up in his new book, "The Legacy of Jihad." Dr. Bostom also talks about the treatment of non-Muslims living in Islamic countries, the threat to Israel posed by fundamentalists in the region, and the war on terror. Commentary is provided by Laurent Murawiec of the Hudson Institute and Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation.

Author Bio: Andrew Bostom is an associate professor of medicine at Brown University Medical School and a contributor to Frontpage magazine (www.frontpagemag.com). For more information on Dr. Bostom and his work, visit www.andrewbostom.org

Comments

[Indigo Red]

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar writes (as quoted above) "...Allah’s book [the Koran], more than one-third of which deals with the Jews…"

That is incredible! It's incredible the Grand guy himself would admit to it, but it's far more incredible that a holy book, any holy book, should focus so much attention on hatred as a positive experiance, let alone hatred of a particular people.

My idea of a book written by a god would have more to do with the inner spirit, personal salvation, moral and ethical guides to daily life than on why and how to kill the people who live across the street. If that one fact alone - 1/3, 33% of 6,236 total verses, roughly 2078 of them - does not astound and amaze and cause one to question the publically described Religion of Peace, then nothing will.

Additionally, 164 verses of the 6,236 verse Koran deal with jihad. How many verses of the Christian Bible deal with killing one's enemies - the how and why? The Torah and Talmud talk about killing, but not as a holy duty in order to curry favor with the devine. It is, rather, something to avoid, to be entered into reluctantly and without haste.

I for one am amazed.

[tazzerman2000]

Indigo Red, in my own brief studies and readings of both the koran and the various hadiths, it became abudantly clear to me that this is NOT a religion of peace.

Far from it.

That the word islam itself means 'submit' or 'sumission' speaks volumes regarding the actual intent of this so called religion.

These materials are a codified manual for war and the global subjication of all peoples and the expansion of islamic law and power to every corner of the planet. Period.

Any muslim who trys to disavow this is lying. (Something that is allowed in the koran in defense of islam. It's called Al Takeyya or 'to prevent')

Either that or they are fooling themselves.

Those who speak of a reformation of islam are also fooling themselves. It can not be done.

We are engaged in a world-wide struggle that I call an Evolutionary War. As in times past, these evolutionary wars have had the capability of thrusting mankind forward or pushing us all back into a dark age.

There is no guarantee that the forces of progressive, liberal, western thought will prevail in this struggle.

Not to sound too pessimistic but I currently give us a less than 40% chance of succeeding in stemming the onslaught of this 'religion of peace'.