Mordechai Kedar: The Truth - and the Enmity- Behind the Slogans

by Mordechai Kedar

Read the article in Italiano (translated by Yehudit Weisz, edited by Angelo Pezzana)

Every Israeli would say that the alliance between Hamas and Iran is strong and firm, based on the shared world-view between Palestinian Islamic zealots who are Sunni, and Iranian Islamist zealots, who are Shi’ite. Iran has even stronger affiliations with other organizations like Islamic Jihad and the Committees of Popular Resistance, than with Hamas. The anti-Israeli, anti-American and anti-West interest, that Iran shares with these organizations has allowed the world and Israeli politicians to place Iran, Hamas and the rest of the terror organizations into a single framework of Islamic terror.

But matters are not so simple. The conflict between the Sunnis and the Shi’ites, which began approximately 1350 years ago, continues in full strength and severity, and is expressed gruesomely today in the civil war that is currently grinding Syria into dust. The Shi’ite coalition of Iran, Iraq, Hizb’Allah and the Syrian regime is conducting an all-out war against the Sunni coalition of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt, which supports the rebels against Asad, most of whom are Sunni, with all of its strength and means. The number of fatalities in the massacre, which has reached almost 50,000 men, women and children, as well as the Iranian  involvement in the genocide in Syria, raises a question regarding the Islamic legality of collaboration between Shi’ite Iran and Palestinian organizations, which are Sunni.

A short historical background: The Muslim Arabs conquered Persia in the middle of the seventh century CE and imposed Islam on the Persian nation. In 1501, sociological and political turmoil brought a group of descendants of a sheikh by the name of Safi al-Din to power over the Persian population,  and they forced Persia to adopt Shi’ite Islam. Even today, the Sunnis are angry that the Persians adopted Shi’a, because many Sunni Muslims, mainly the Saudi Hanbalis, see Shi’a as a type of heresy.

From the moment the Hamas movement began to depend on the money, weapons and political support of Iran, the question arose as to whether it is permissible for a Sunni to accept help from a Shi’ite, specifically from those who were Sunni until 500 years ago, and have switched affiliation.

Muhammad Asaad Bayud al-Tamimi, an Islamist from a family that is identified with radical Islam in Samaria, published an article this month on the subject, which was “adopted” by hundreds of Internet sites. The title of the article: “A Covenant with the Safavid Shi’ites (Iran) is forbidden by Islam, and if someone engages in such a pact, he forfeits his status as a Muslim”. The title makes clear his position that collaborating with Iran excludes a Muslim from Islam,  as if he had become a heretic and converted to another religion. Following the citation of a few passages from the Qur’an that deal with heretics, al-Tamimi writes (my comments in parenthesis):

If we checked all of the passages of the Qur’an that deal with heresy, heretics, and the deeds and beliefs of heretics, it would be clear to us that they apply to the Shi’ites, including those who are Safavids as well as those who are not Safavids. This is especially obvious regarding Amgushi Iran (a tribe of pagan Zoroastrians, a disparaging name for Iranians) who aspire to return the crown of the Amgushi empire (which, at its largest, stretched from Libya and the Balkans in the West to the depths of China in the East) to its former glory. The companions of Muhammad the messenger of G-d, who emphasize the oneness of G-d almighty, eliminated it and extinguished its light, beginning with the era of Abu Bakr (the first caliph, 632-634), through the era of ‘Umar (the second caliph, 634-644) in the battle of Qadisiyya (635) who lives forever in the history of Islam … and who still arouses within us – their descendants and those who continue in their path – the feeling of pride, honor and respect, and at the same time we find that among the descendants of the Persians, the Amgushim pagans, it arouses sour envy.

That is why they keep a historical resentment against the companions of the prophet, against Islam and against the Muslims and especially the Arabs among them, and this resentment passes among them genetically from generation to generation. This is the reason that they acted so energetically to get rid of Islam, because their history testifies to this Satanic goal, and thank G-d that He took it upon himself to defend this nation… “They want to extinguish the fire of G-d with their mouths, but G-d reinforces his approval despite the fact that the heretics do not want this” (a passage from the Qur’an).
They murdered 'Umar (the second caliph), ‘Uthman (the third caliph), ‘Ali (the fourth caliph, the founder of Shi’a) and al-Hussein (the son of ‘Ali who was murdered and butchered at Kerbala in the year 680 by agents of the Umayyad caliph Yazid) in order to sow chaos and discord among the Muslims.

Years and centuries passed, and the first Safavid state known today as Iran came into being, under the leadership of Ismail the Safavid beginning in the 16th century.  He revealed his true Amgoshi faith, and his dark and hidden hatred for the messenger of G-d, his companions and his wives, while hiding it with the vain claim that he loves the family of the prophet, even though the members of that family rejected him. Ismail the Safavid slaughtered millions of Muslims who believe in true Islam (Sunni), especially those who were Arabs; he established courts resembling the courts of the Inquisition in Spain, and became one of the pillars of his religion.

He cursed the companions of the prophet, especially Abu Bakr and 'Umar (the first two caliphs, who are described in Sunni Islam as “righteous”) and claimed that they were heretics. He forced people to become Shi’ite, and some did change to Shi’a out of fear, while others remained faithful to Sunni in secret. Iran, which has been Safavid Shi’ite since the 16th century, stabbed the Ottoman (Sunni) state in the back, invaded Iraq, torched Baghdad, desecrated the graves of the companions of the prophet, the conquerors of heretical lands until the advent of the Ottomans, who destroyed the Safavid state in the battle of Galdiran (1514) and killed Ismail the Safavid.

However, Safavid fanaticism remains burning in the hearts of those faithful to Ismail the the Amgushi Safavid; so much so that at the end of the 1970’s, the nationalistic, factional (not Islamic) Iranian revolution occurred under the leadership of Khomeini, who professed (to be a Muslim) with a sort of “takiyya” (deception) in order to lead the Muslims astray. He began to spread slogans as if his revolution is the “revolution of the oppressed Muslims”, who would liberate Palestine. Many Muslims fell victim to this deception, we (the Palestinians) too, but it very quickly was exposed as a lie, a deception and when the fraud was revealed, we returned to correct thinking in time and discovered that the revolution was a “national Persian Amgoshi, sectarian (Shi’ite), Safavid revolution”, whose only aspiration is to avenge the rout of the first battle of al-Qadisiyya  (635, the battle in which the army of Muslims routed the Persian army). But Allah sent Saddam Hussein (may Allah have mercy upon him), who is a martyr in our eyes, to fight against the revolution, in order to wage the second battle of Qadisiyya (called the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988), to feed Khomeini with poison (the chemical missiles that Saddam launched to Teheran) so that he will die (1989) having been conquered, defeated and humiliated. But immediately after the Crusader invasion (forces of the international coalition headed by the US) in the year 2003 to conquer Iraq, the followers of the Safavid Khomeini came to conquer Iraq and form a pact with the crusaders (the Christians from the US and Europe) and the Jews so that they would be able to conquer Iraq more easily. And in exchange, the crusaders, under the leadership of the US, allowed the Shi’ite Safavids to take control of Iraq by means of a Safavid - Zionist – crusader pact, in order to drown Iraq in the blood of the Muslims who are faithful to Allah, the Master of the world, the descendants of the companions of the prophet, and conquerors of heretical lands. They began to murder anyone whose name was 'Umar, abu Bakr, ‘Uthman, Sa’d and other names common to Sunnah. They revealed their evil intentions by establishing satellite channels where they curse and slander the companions of the prophet and the faithful mothers, claiming that they were heretics. They repeat again the claims against Aisha “the mother of the believers”, (Muhammad’s last wife, who is despised by the Shi’ites) despite Allah himself having cleared her name from his throne in the seventh heaven. Thus they act against the wishes of Allah and claim that He does not speak the truth despite His having cautioned the believers not to keep repeating this claim after He had exonerated Aisha. Therefore, are those who repeat this story again after this severe divine warning, truly Muslims??? And this is exactly what the Shi’ites do in their satellite channels, their books, their oral tradition, their religious institutions and their religious texts… they call us, the Muslims, names such as “the fake 'Umars” referring to our beloved one, our leader, our commander, who resides in Paradise  - he who extinguished their fire, 'Umar (the second caliph). They slaughtered the Palestinian refugees who were in Iraq (in 2003) which caused most of them to flee for their lives and to gather in three refugee camps on the borders of Iraq with Jordan and Syria under unbearable living conditions (because these two states did not allow Palestinian refugees to pass from Iraq into their territories, Arab solidarity at its worst) until Brazil agreed to host them in its territory.

And the Palestinians are again being slaughtered, this time in Syria, together with the Syrians, by the members of the Safavid ‘Alawite Shi’ite coalition of heretics, and again Palestinian refugee camps are crushed by Iranian weapons and ammunition as the Iranians carry out the religious rulings of the priests of Amgosh and the ayatollahs of Qum, Kerbala and Mazaar a-Sharif (Shi’ite cities in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan).
Now, after having reviewed all of the aspects of the Iranian coalition, and after mentioning the ideological, historical and current facts, we see that a coalition with the Iranians is forbidden according to Shari’a, since it is a coalition with the people most despised by Allah, his prophet and the believers.

And so I appeal to the Muslim youth of our Muslim Palestinian people, who are ready to confront the enemy, to all those who fight under any flag of any organization, movement or party, that have a pact or agreement with Shi’ite, Safavid Iran, to leave this pact while he is still alive, so that he will not die a heretic (because he will not be able to repent).
Some will complain that I call the Shi’ites heretics, and I ask: Can it be that those who do all of this villainy against Islam and its earliest leaders, the “righteous ones”, and claim that we (the Sunnis) have falsified the Qur’an, are Muslims? Who is sinning here, I or they? May Allah spare me from declaring a Muslim to be a heretic, but if the Shi’ites, who do not believe in the foundations of Islam,  are not heretics, then who is? Ibn Taymiyya (an Islamic philosopher who lived in the area of Syria between the years 1263 and 1328) said about them that their heresy is worse that of the Jews and Christians. So how can anyone who enters a pact with them be a Muslim? And how can anyone who is slain under their flag not be a martyr? And how can it be that someone declares himself to be a resister (to Zionism and the West) if his faith is contrary to the faith of Islam? This is one big lie and the Safavid project, the other aspect of the Zionist project, hides behind that lie. Is it logical that the Iranians, who own this Safavid project, slaughter us (the Sunni Muslims) in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, while being part of a pact in Palestine? Is this logical? An enemy is an enemy at all times and in every place, since his ideology is the same ideology in all places and at all times.

O, my brothers, youth of Islam; O, all who care about the religion of Allah; O, all who love the prophet and his companions, and take pride in being among those who continue in their path. Islam is dearer to us than our lives, dearer than the world, and even dearer than Palestine…Palestine will be liberated only under the flag of Islam, by those of the true faith, like all the Islamic victories since the War of Badr (624).
Be careful and guard yourselves, and know that one of the basic conditions of victory is “the true faith and faith in Allah”, so how is it possible to collaborate with those of a false faith, which opposes the faith of Muhammad and his prophets, when they join with 'Ali (the fourth caliph, the founder of Shi’a), with al-Hussein (the son of ‘Ali), with the fabricated hidden Imam (the leader of the Shi’ites who disappeared and will return – so they believe – at the end of days) and in all of the members of the family of Muhammad, which is utterly against Islam …”

This concludes the citations from al-Tamimi’s article, which expresses the opinion that many in the Islamic world share. There is one thing he does not say; he does not call for jihad against the Iranians, which contradicts the Muslim obligation to wage jihad against infidels. The reason that al-Tamimi refrains from clearly calling for jihad against the Shi’ites in general and the Iranians in particular  may be his desire to remain alive, because such a call might turn him into a target for the knives and bullets of the Iranians and their supporters. Another reason is his desire not to be out of favor with the regime in Jordan, where he lives, because the king fears that declaring the Shi’ites to be infidels will result in a similar declaration about the king himself because of the fact that his regime does not implement Islamic Shari’a literally. But Tamimi’s strongest reason to refrain from calling for jihad against the Shi’ites is that this is exactly the message of al-Qaeda, mainly in Iraq, and he does not want to be identified with such an aggressive message.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that many do not agree with al-Tamimi’s approach and take the logical approach that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, and according to this, Sunnis may join hands with Shi’ite Iran in order to fight their common enemies. It is also important to note that currently there are trends to bring Sunnis and Shi’ites closer together, and even the most eloquent spokesman for political Sunni Islam, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, has called in the past for finding ways to bridge the differences between Sunna and Shi’a which were expressed in al-Tamimi’s article.

Ultimately, each organization decides for itself regarding this matter, and this decision may change over time: when Syria was an orderly state, there was no important reason for the leaders of Hamas to give up the support of Iran, but since the civil war broke out and the slaughter of Sunni citizens began as a result of demonstrations that began in March 2011, collaboration with Iran has become fairly problematic for Hamas. In his article, Tamimi calls on the last  Palestinians who are still collaborating with Iran to leave it, and we must wait to see if this call falls on listening ears or will perhaps remain a solitary call in the desert. It depends on the desire of other states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Turkey to support Palestinian organizations with weapons, money and political support. Is this an impossible scenario? If the Marmara was possible then the possibility of similar developments in the future cannot be discounted. In the Middle East, several scenarios that seemed totally delusional two years ago are being played out today in front of our eyes. Slogans that politicians disseminate might become actual reality: if the Damascus regime falls, the image of Iran will become that of a loser; from under the carpet will come all of those sectarian anti-Shi’ite snakes that al-Tamimi fosters, the Sunni bloc will be encouraged and Israel – as we know – is not the favorite of Mursi, Erdogan and Sheikh Hamed of Qatar.

Since Israel announced that it plans to build in the area of E1 between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, a chorus of protest has arisen, led by the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, who announced that “Israel is playing with fire”. Without getting too deeply into the the Turkish announcement, nothing good can come from this, because this is Turkey’s way of encouraging Hamas, the ideological ally of the Islamic party that rules in Turkey, to do in Judea and Samaria what it has already done in the Gaza Strip since July of 2007: establish armed and aggressive Islamic emirates. Anyone who thinks or speaks about an Israeli withdrawal in Judea and Samaria must take into account that any area that Israel vacates might turn into a terror swamp, like Gaza. Can anyone promise it will not happen?

In facing a cohesive Sunni front, Israel must appear strong, united and consolidated behind its leadership which knows well that only those who are strong and invincible enjoy peace and stability in the Middle East.  In the arid, forsaken and violent area that we live in, if you beg for peace you get a kick in the behind and thrown out of the arena. Here, only he who is ready for war wins peace, and that peace will survive only as long as he presents a credible threat to anyone who dares to conspire to attack him. The Middle East is no place for bleeding hearts, rather it is for those of strong spirit, imbued with a sense of security and faith in the justice of their cause.

Al-Tamimi is an enemy who is not willing to give up his ideology for interests, no matter how important. The question for us is how much we stick to our ideology, and how ready we are to surrender it for other interests.

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Dr. Kedar is available for lectures

Dr. Mordechai Kedar (Mordechai.Kedar@biu.ac.il) is an Israeli scholar of Arabic and Islam, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and the director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (under formation), Bar Ilan University, Israel. He specializes in Islamic ideology and movements, the political discourse of Arab countries, the Arabic mass media, and the Syrian domestic arena.

Translated from Hebrew by Sally Zahav with permission from the author.
 
Additional articles by Dr. Kedar

Source: The article is published in the framework of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (under formation), Bar Ilan University, Israel. Also published in Makor Rishon, a Hebrew weekly newspaper.

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