THE LEGACY OF JIHAD IN HISTORICAL PALESTINE - Part 4

 

Andrew Bostom

 

(Part II - 2)

4^th  part of 4

 

Conclusions

Ibn Warraq's trenchant critique of Edward Said pointed out the bizarre evolution of this Christian agnostic into,

...a de facto apologist and protector of Islam, the least Christian and certainly the religion least given to self-doubt. [52]

Moreover, as Warraq observed, despite Said's admission,

...that he does not know anything about Islam, and...the fact that he has never written a single scholarly work devoted to Islam, Said has always accepted the role in the West of an Islamic expert, and has never flinched from telling us what the real Islam is. [53]

Warraq highlighted this tragic irony, just prior to Said's death, which even had Said lived, is unlikely to have ever been resolved. It is almost certain, for example, that Said would have reacted with hypocritical silence to the early September 2005 Palestinian Muslim pogrom against the small West Bank Christian village of Taiba.

As a secularist defending Islam, one wonders how he will be able to argue for a nontheocratic state once Palestine becomes a reality. If Islam is such a wonderful religion, why not convert to it, and why not accept it as the basis for any new constitution? At some stage, Said will have to do what he has been avoiding all his adult life, criticize Islam, or at least indirectly the idea of a theocracy. [54]

Ibn Warraq has also noted how Said - the Literature Professor and literary critic, made a distressingly stupid error in Orientalism, (both in the 1979 and 1994 editions) confusing the words "eschatological" and "scatological". [55] A revealing, even pathognomonic error to this medically-trained observer.

In closing, let me move, mercifully, from the ridiculousness of Edward Said to the penetrating insights of Bat Ye'or.  Noting the ceaseless calls for jihad in Palestine during modern times, from 1920 through the present era, Bat Ye'or observed, that jihad remained,

...the main cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  Since Israelis are to be regarded, perforce, only as a religious community, their national characteristics - a geographical territory related to a past history, a system of legislation, a specific language and culture - are consequently denied.  The 'Arab' character of the Palestinian territory is inherent in the logic of jihad.  Having become fay territory by conquest (i.e. 'taken from an infidel people'), it must remain within the dar al-Islam.  The State of Israel, established on this fay territory, is consequently illegal. [56]

And she concluded,

...Israel represents the successful national liberation of a dhimmi civilization.  On a territory formerly Arabized by the jihad and the dhimma, a pre-Islamic language, culture, topographical geography, and national institutions have been restored to life.  This reversed the process of centuries in which the cultural, social and political structures of the indigenous population of Palestine were destroyed.  In 1974, Abu Iyad, second-in-command to Arafat in the Fatah hierarchy, announced:  "We intend to struggle so that our Palestinian homeland does not become a new Andalusia."  The comparison of Andalusia to Palestine was not fortuitous since both countries were Arabized, and then de-Arabized by a pre-Arabic culture. [57]

Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS is the author of the recently published, The Legacy of Jihad.  

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

 

 Notes  Part II (3 and 4)

[32] Samuel b. Ishaq Uceda, Lehem dim'ah (The Bread of Tears) (Hebrew). Venice, 1606. [English translation in, Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, Pp. 354.

[33] Bat Ye'or, Islam and Dhimmitude- Where Civilizations Collide. Cranbury, NJ.: Associated University Presses, 2001; p. 318.

[34] Gedaliah of Siemiatyce, Sha'alu Shelom Yerushalayim (Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem), (Hebrew), Berlin, 1716. [English translation in, Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, Pp. 377-80.]

[35] Edouard Engelhardt, La Turquie et La Tanzimat, 2 Vols., 1882, Paris, Vol. p.111, Vol. 2 p. 171; English translation in, Bat Ye'or. Islam and Dhimmitude- Where Civilizations Collide, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001, pp. 431-432; Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls Relating to the Condition of the Christians in Turkey, 1867 volume, pp. 5,29. See also related other reports by various consuls and vice-consuls, in the 1860 vol., p.58; the 1867 vol, pp. 4,5,6,14,15; and the 1867 vol., part 2, p.3 [All cited in, Vahakn Dadrian. Chapter 2, 'The Clash Between Democratic Norms and Theocratic Dogmas',  Warrant for Genocide, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction Publishers, pp. 26-27, n. 4]; See also, extensive excerpts from these reports in, Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity, pp. 409-433; and Roderick Davison. 'Turkish Attitudes Concerning Christian-Muslim Equality in the Nineteenth Century' American Historical Review, Vol. 59, pp. 848, 855, 859, 864.

[36] Gregory Wortabet, Syria and the Syrians. Vol. II, London, 1856, pp. 263-264; Consul James Finn, published in, Albert M. Hyamson. The British Consulate in Jerusalem (in relation to the Jews of Palestine) , Edward Goldstein Ltd., London, 1939, p. 261.

[37] Tudor Parfitt, The Jews of Palestine, 1800-1882, Suffolk, England, The Boydell Press,  1987, p. 168, 172-173.

[38] Yair Auron,  The Banality of Indifference, New Brunswick, NJ, Transaction Publishers, 2000, p. 77.

[39] Musa Kazem el-Husseini, (President Palestinian Arab Congress), to High Commissioner for Palestine, December 10, 1920 (Translated January 2, 1921), Israel State Archives, R.G. 2, Box 10, File 244.

[40] Shai Lachman, 'Arab Rebellion and Terrorism in Palestine 1929-39: The Case of Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam and His Movement', in Zionism and Arabism in Palestine and Israel, edited by Elie Kedourie and Sylvia G. Haim, Frank Cass, London, 1982, p. 72.

[41] Joseph B. Schechtman, The Mufti and The Fuehrer, New York, 1965; Zvi Elpeleg, The Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al-Hussaini, translated by David Harvey, Frank Cass, 1993; Yossef Bodansky, Islamic Antisemitism as a Political Instrument , Houston, 1999, p. 29.; Jennie Lebel, Hajj Amin ve Berlin (Hajj Amin and Berlin), Tel Aviv, 1996;  Jan Wanner, in, 'Amin al-Husayni and Germany's Arab Policy in the Period 1939-1945', Archiv Orientalni Vol. 54, 1986, p. 244, observes,

'His appeals...addressed to the Bosnian Muslims were...close in many respects to the argumentation used by contemporary Islamic fundamentalists...the Mufti viewed only as a new interpretation of the traditional concept of the Islamic community (umma) sharing with Nazism common enemies'

[42] Joseph B. Schechtman, The Mufti and The Fuehrer, p. 151.

[43] Joseph B. Schechtman, The Mufti and The Fuehrer, pp. 152-63; Jan Wanner, in his 1986 analysis ('Amin al-Husayni and Germany's Arab Policy', p. 243.) of the Mufti's collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II, concluded,

'...the darkest aspect of the Mufti's activities in the final stage of the war was undoubtedly his personal share in the extermination of Europe's Jewish population. On May 17, 1943, he wrote a personal letter to Ribbentrop, asking him to prevent the transfer of 4500 Bulgarian Jews, 4000 of them children, to Palestine. In May and June of the same year, he sent a number of letters to the governments of Bulgaria, Italy, Rumania, and Hungary, with the request not to permit even individual Jewish emigration and to allow the transfer of Jews to Poland where, he claimed they would be 'under active supervision'. The trials of Eichmann's henchmen, including Dieter Wislicency who was executed in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, confirmed that this was not an isolated act by the Mufti.'

[44] Efraim Karsh, Arafat's War, New York, 2003.

[45] Walid Phares, Lebanese Christian Nationalism, Boulder, CO, 1995; Farid El-Khazen, The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon- 1967-1976, Cambridge, 2000.

[46] Efraim Karsh, Arafat's War, p. 117. A decade and one half earlier, upon Khomeini's ascension to power in Iran, Arafat immediately cabled the Ayatollah relaying these shared jihadist sentiments (February 13, 1979):

 'I pray Allah to guide your step along the path of faith and Holy War (Jihad) in Iran, continuing the combat until we arrive at the walls of Jerusalem, where we shall raise the flags of our two revolutions.'Quote from, Bat Ye'or, 'Aspects of the Arab-Israeli Conflict', Wiener Library Bulletin, Vol. 32, 1979, p. 68.

[47] Raphael Israeli, Islamikaze- Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology, Frank Cass, London, 2003.

[48] For example, From Cairo, 1968, The Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, Sheikh Hassan Khalid, Mufti of the Republic of Lebanon, (excerpts from, Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, Pp.391-94.)

'Your honorable conference has been an Arab, Islamic and patriotic necessity in view of the present circumstances in which the Arabs and Muslims face the most serious difficulties.  All Muslims expect you to expound Allah's decree concerning the Palestine cause, to proclaim that decree, in all clarity, throughout the Arab and Muslim world.  We do not think this decree absolves any Muslim or Arab from Jihad (Holy War) which has now become a duty incumbent upon the Arabs and Muslims to liberate the land, preserve honor, retaliate for [lost] dignity, restore the Aqsa Mosque, the church of Resurrection, and to purge the birthplace of prophecy, the seat of revelation, the meeting-place of Prophets, the starting-point of Issa, and the scenes of the holy spirit, from the hands of Zionism - the enemy of man, of truth, of justice, and the enemy of Allah...The well-balanced judgement frankly expressed with firm conviction is the first stop on the road of victory.  The hoped-for judgment is that of Muslim Scholars who draw their conclusions from the Book of Allah, and the Sunna of His prophet.  May Allah guard your meeting, and guide your steps!  May your decisive word rise to the occasion and enlighten the Arab and Muslim world, so that it may be a battle-cry, urging millions of Muslims and Arabs on to the field of Jihad, which will lead us to the place that once was ours...Muslims who are distant from the battle-field of Palestine, such as the Algerians, the Moroccans, all the Africans, Saudi Arabia people, Yemeni people, the Indians, Iraqi people, the Russians, and the Europeans are indeed sinful if they do not hasten to offer all possible means to achieve success and gain victory in the Islamic battle against their enemies and the enemies of their religion.  Particularly, this battle is not a mete combat between two parties but it is a battle between two religions (namely, it is a religious battle).  Zionism in fact represents a very perilous cancer, aiming at domineering the Arab countries and the whole Islamic world.'

From the Mecca Islamic Summit Conference, 1981:

'The undertaking by all Islamic countries of psychological mobilization through their various official, semi-official, and popular mass media, of their people for Jihad to liberate Al-Quds...Ensuring military coordination among the front-line states and the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the one hand, and the Islamic States on the other, to ensure full utilization of the potentialities of the Islamic States in the service of the military effort; and setting up a military office in the Islamic Secretariat to be responsible for such coordination, in agreement with the Committee on Al-Quds... Resolution No.2/3.P (IS) on the Cause of Palestine and the Middle East: Considering that the Liberation of Al-Quds and its restoration to Arab sovereignty, as well as the liberation of the holy places from Zionist occupation, are a pre-requisite to the Jihad that all Islamic States must wage, each according to its means....Resolution No.5/3-P (IS)- Declaration of Holy Jihad: Taking these facts into consideration, the Kings, Emirs, and Presidents of Islamic States, meeting at this Conference and in this holy land, studied this situation and concluded that it could no longer be tolerated that the forthcoming stage should be devoted to effective action to vindicate right and deter wrong-doing; and have unanimously. Decided: To declare holy Jihad, as the duty of every Muslim, many or woman, ordained by the Shariah and glorious traditions of Islam; To call upon all Muslims, living inside or outside Islamic countries, to discharge this duty by contributing each according to his capacity in the case of Allah Almighty, Islamic brotherhood, and righteousness; To specify that Islamic states, in declaring Holy Jihad to save Al-Quds al-Sharif, in support of the Palestinian people, and to secure withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, wish to explain to the world that Holy Jihad is an Islamic concept which may not be misinterpreted or misconstrued, and that the practical measures to put into effect would be in accordance with that concept and by incessant consultations among Islamic states.' (excerpts from, Bat Ye'or, Eurabia- The Euro-Arab Axis (Galleys), Cranbury, NJ.: Associated University Presses, 2005, Pp. 288-90; 295.)

[49] excerpts from, Bat Ye'or, Eurabia- The Euro-Arab Axis (Galleys), Cranbury, NJ.: Associated University Presses, 2005, Pp. 314-19.

[50] MEMRI, 'Muslim-Christian Tensions in the Israeli-Arab Community', August 2, 1999,  ; MEMRI, 'A Friday Sermon on PA TV: ... We Must Educate our Children on the Love of Jihad...' ', July 11, 2001.

[51] MEMRI 'Muslim-Christian Tensions in the Israeli-Arab Community'

[52] Ibn Warraq. 'Edward Said and the Saidists- Or, Third World Intellectual Terrorism', in Robert Spencer, editor, The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, Amherst, NY, Prometheus Books, 2004, p. 511.

[53] Ibn Warraq. 'Edward Said and the Saidists', p. 511.

[54] Ibn Warraq. 'Edward Said and the Saidists', p. 511.

[55] Ibn Warraq. 'Edward Said and the Saidists', p. 476. The original 1979 edition as well as the 1994 reissue edition of Orientalism each contain this howler, supporting the notion that the use of the word 'eschatological' instead of the appropriate 'scatological' was not a mere typographical error. Here is the relevant paragraph from p. 68 of both editions:

Mohammed's punishment, which is also his eternal fate, is a peculiarly disgusting one: he is endlessly being cleft in two from his chin to his anus like, Dante says, a cask whose staves are ripped apart. Dante's verse at this point spares the reader none of the eschatological [sic...should be "scatalogical"] detail that so vivid a punishment entails: Mohammed's entrails and his excrement are described with unflinching accuracy.

[56] Bat Ye'or. The Dhimmi-Jews and Christians Under Islam. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1985, p. 116.

[57] Bat Ye'or. The Dhimmi, pp. 122-123.

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