by Shimon Cohen
Arutz Sheva spoke with Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Odeh, who believes that God promised to bring the Jewish people back to Israel.
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Muslim and Christian clergy members in Israel were invited this week to view the uncensored footage from the October 7th massacre.
Among those who viewed the footage were representatives sent by SheikhMuhammad Sharif Odeh, the leader of the Ahmadi Muslim community in Israel, which is currently participating in a joint Jewish-Muslim campaign titled "Holding On to What's Common." We spoke with him about October 7th, Islam, and coexistence in the State of Israel.
Regarding the massacre, the Sheikh says that "what happened was a terrible thing, a cursed act that we must condemn with every cell in our bodies, and whoever doesn't condemn it has something wrong with his personality." While he has not seen the complete horrifying footage himself, he did see part of it on Instagram. "It is shocking, and one needs a lot of evil, of human animals, to do such acts against humanity and Islamic values. Therefore, we condemned it from the first day."
And what if other Muslim sects see such acts as legitimate while calling the name of Allah? "If there are fanatics, it doesn't represent Islam. I gladly heard from all Hamas clergy that the act was cursed and terrible, a crime that has no connection to religion. It conflicts with clear verses in the Quran and the reality that was between Jews and Arabs for nearly 1400 years in Muslim lands. The Cairo Geniza attests to the cooperation and the cultural flourishing of Jewish life, which grew together with the Arab flourishing."
On this, we ask about the 1929 massacre and other massacres over the years, apart from the many terror attacks, and if maybe coexistence was only possible in Arab lands when Jews were subjected to Arab rule, while here in Israel, the reality of Jewish rule is unacceptable to Islam. The Sheikh answers that despite everything, "coexistence before and after October 7th are exemplary. Jews and Arabs work and live together in trade, in hospitals, and on the street. We live excellently, and we need to thank Allah that we live well. Islam doesn't want to create a theocracy, and according to the Quran, it doesn't matter who rules; the Quran tells us to follow the laws of the state, no matter who the leader is."
When asked about the opinion that the Land of Israel is the property of the Mosque that must be liberated through force, the Sheikh says that it is an invention that does not have a single verse in the Quran to back it up and that "those who make this up is making a fool out of themselves. G-d forsaw the return of the children of Israel to the Land of Israel. It is a clear verse in the Quran in the Surat Bani Israel, the chapter of the night journey. The roadmap is clear: G-d brought the people of Israel here and kept his commitment to them, and the question is if they will keep their commitment to him, that is, the good relations with the stranger, which G-d warned about many times since he knew you would have power and a state, and it is important to know how to treat others in this country."
Whoever thinks they'll do things through force is mistaken, and I say that to both Jews and Arabs," the Sheikh says and adds: "I didn't choose who my mother is and if I would be born or not, and therefore when the world is a small village, you need a loving universal message, and therefore, Muhammad said that all creations are the children of G-d, and the most worthy in the eyes of Allah are not the Arabs or the Muslims, but the ones who do good for others. Therefore compassion and comfort are characteristics that with them man becomes an animal."
We ask Sheikh Odeh if his stance represents the general Arab sector and its leaders, a question that gets more weight in light of the Israeli Arab political leadership's failure to condemn the massacre. "To their credit, I have recently seen messages of reconciliation. They were not drawn to extreme statements, and we have to encourage that," he answers.
"I am a Muslim and an Arab, and after every terror attack, I pay a consolation visit. Thus, I was in Efrat by the Dee family, by the Sorek family in Ofra, and by the families of the victims of the Har Nof attack. I do it because tomorrow, I will have to stand before G-d, who will ask me what I did and what I said. I condemned the murder of the two police officers. That is the proper behavior," the Sheikh adds and notes that according the tradition, there is no place for protests, strikes, and roadblocks that disturb the peace and security.
When asked if his activities are criticized by the general Arab public, Sheikh Odeh says that there are marginal statements, but the majority supports his initiatives. "That is an important image for Arabic society, and we need to advance it to create coexistence through a deep vision of cooperation and mutual aid."
Shimon Cohen
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382285
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