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a model of Muslim-Jewish ties

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    Posted: 28 July 2007 at 2:31am

Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem

assalamu alaikum

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0109/p09s01-coop.html

Morocco: a model of Muslim-Jewish ties

The tone of tolerance for the nation's Jewish minority begins with the king.

By Serge Berdugo

CASABLANCA, MOROCCOAs the flames of anti-Semitism continue to be fanned across much of the Islamic world, there is a risk that today's youth will grow up believing that Arabs and Jews were simply not meant to coexist, let alone thrive together.

That idea conflicts with history - and is a falsehood today. My country, Morocco, illustrates the viability and vitality of a Jewish community - my community - in an Arab country. It's a model of harmony other Muslim nations should follow.

The Jewish people have been a presence in Africa's Maghreb region for more than 2,000 years. North African Jews and Muslims traveled north and thrived together in southern Europe for more than 700 years. In 1492, when we refused to convert to Christianity, we were expelled - together - from Spain. And together we successfully sought refuge in Morocco, which accepted us into its society and institutions.

A history of defending Jews

Morocco's leaders have always made the well-being of the Jewish people a top priority. During World War II, when the Vichy government of occupied France announced that it had prepared 200,000 yellow stars for the Jews of Morocco, King Mohammed V replied that he would need 50 more for him and his family. He refused to make any distinction between his citizens.

The importance of a nation's leader setting the tone for recognition, respect, and treatment of minority faiths can- not be overstated. Today, King Mohammed VI has declared his religious, historical, and constitutional obligation to protect the rights, liberties, and sacred values of the Jews in Morocco.

This commitment dramatically affected Morocco's reaction at moments of great challenge. After May 16, 2003 - the Moroccan 9/11, when five terrorist bombs exploded, three directed at Jewish targets - King Mohammed VI expressed condolences at a Jewish Center, condemning the criminal acts and reaffirming his determination to protect Jews and all Moroccan citizens.

In doing so, he defined the attack as one upon all Moroccan society, awakening the national conscience and strengthening the bonds between us. Moroccans of all faiths responded with candlelight vigils at bombing sites and demonstrations attended by nearly 1 million participants.

Many Moroccan Jews have emigrated to Israel and elsewhere, but the attachments to our homeland are unique. "Morocco never loses a Jewish citizen - we gain an ambassador," Mohammed VI's predecessor, King Hassan II, once said. Today, there are 1 million such "ambassadors" all over the world and 600,000 in Israel alone.

We Jews who call Morocco home have a vibrant community that includes 30 functioning synagogues and three school networks, which many influential Muslim families choose for their own children. Moroccan Jews serve as counselors to the king, ministers, colonels, members of parliament, judges, and ambassadors. On Jewish holy days, Muslim authorities, out of respect, attend our services.

With help from the Moroccan government, we started a foundation to preserve Jewish historical sites. And we support research on our community - including 30 doctoral dissertations presently under way by Muslim candidates.

Muting the extremists' call

Are we an isolated society? Hardly: Moroccans young and old have access to as wide an array of media and ideological diversity as anywhere in the Islamic world. Yes, the extremists' call is heard here, too, but make no mistake - it's the response that differs. The tones of tolerance, trumpeted by a government that believes that Moroccan Judaism is an intrinsic and permanent part of the national culture, overwhelm the extremists' siren song.

Are we a historical accident or the path forward? Perhaps the answer is that our historical good fortune now has to be transformed into a model for others. We are more relevant outside our border than ever before.

Other world leaders must realize that the path forward lies not in fanning the fires of the moment, but in setting a tone of authentic coexistence that will endure.

The author is the president of Morocco's Jewish Community Council.

Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rami Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2007 at 2:38am

Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem

The Schindlers of the Middle East

Can learning that some Arabs saved Jews from genocide in the 1940s heal wounds today?


Reviewed by Deborah Lipstadt

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Long Reach into Arab Lands

By Robert Satloff

PublicAffairs. 251 pp. $26


Robert Satloff is a man with a mission. He believes that if contemporary Arabs knew about Arabs who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, they would reject the Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism that are now so prevalent in the Arab/Muslim world. This book tells of his quest to track down the history of those Arabs' deeds.

Satloff begins by relating the oft-ignored story of how Nazi Germany, Vichy France and fascist Italy exported their anti-Semitic policies to North Africa. They deprived Jews of their civil rights, confiscated their property, forced them to do slave labor and established concentration camps across the Sahara. Had Germany prevailed, North African Jews would have been annihilated.

Many Arabs willingly -- and, according to survivors, gleefully -- played an essential role in this persecution, serving as camp guards, clerks, policemen, foremen, overseers and torturers. Some assisted Germans as they went door to door hunting Jews. One Arab volunteer military unit, after being flown to Berlin for training, fought with the Germans in Tunisia. Some Arabs were so closely aligned with the Nazis that they fled to Germany when the Allies landed.

But Satloff has discovered "noble, selfless deeds" by Arabs. In normal times, such acts would have been routine, but during World War II, routine kindness was in short supply. When Vichy officials offered Algerian Arabs windfall profits if they took over Jewish property, not a single Arab in Algiers participated. (Vichy had no trouble finding willing Frenchmen.) On a Friday in 1941, religious leaders throughout Algiers delivered sermons warning Muslims against participation in schemes to strip Jews of their property. Some Jews were able to get false identity papers at the Grand Mosque in Paris. In 1940, two months after the Germans entered Paris, the Germans warned the head of the mosque to cease assisting Jews. In short, Arabs behaved like many Europeans during the Holocaust: Some helped Jews; others persecuted them or benefited from their persecution; the majority looked the other way.

The most interesting aspect of this story is the reluctance of contemporary Arabs to acknowledge noble past acts. Satloff speculates that Arab attitudes toward Jews are now so hostile that to acknowledge the help given Jews by preceding generations would inflame Middle Eastern passions. It would run counter to the prevailing myths in the Arab world about the Holocaust, which range from crude Holocaust celebration (in which Hitler is a hero) to Holocaust denial.

As Satloff notes, the Holocaust has become part of the high-stakes battle against Israel -- a battle in which history itself has been turned into a weapon. Some of the most virulent Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism today emanate from mainstream figures in the Muslim world. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, alas, is not alone. Typical of the anti-Semitic invective that has become so common in the Arab world was a 2002 article by the editor of Egypt's state-owned al-Ahram, the largest newspaper in the Arab world, entitled "Jewish Matza Is Made from Arab Blood." In popular Arab culture, Satloff observes, Zionism is a more heinous crime than Nazism.

Satloff believes that if Jews and Arabs were less reluctant to address the history of Arabs and the Holocaust, relations could be improved. He faults the custodians of Yad Vashem, the Israeli national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, for not being more energetic in seeking out Arab rescuers. Jews from Arab lands have also been strangely reluctant to address their experiences -- positive and negative -- during the Holocaust.

But Satloff is being a bit naive here. It is strange that the highly respected executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a well-trained historian should have convinced himself that history could serve as an antidote to irrational hatred. Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitic prejudice. The etymology of the word "prejudice" illustrates the futility of Satloff's mission: Prejudice means pre-judging. It amounts to saying, "Don't confuse me with the facts; forget evidence; I have already made up my mind."

The deniers' arguments are a tissue of lies. This was the finding of Judge Charles Gray of England's High Court of Justice, who presided when Holocaust denier David Irving sued this reviewer for libel. He concluded that deniers' claims are "unreal," a "travesty," and "unjustified." Deniers, he found, "pervert" and "distort" history. Rationally telling stories of Arab rescuers, however admirable, will not change the minds of those whose views of history are rooted in unreasoning bigotry.

To be sure, Satloff's efforts to tell the story of Arab behavior -- both complicity and heroism -- during the Holocaust are important. The stories of rescuers of all faiths and ethnicities should be told. Not only is their courage part of the history of the Holocaust, but it also gives the lie to bystanders' claims that nothing could have been done. But these stories should be uncovered for the sake of history, not for the purpose of changing irrational attitudes. Satloff has told an important story and told it well, but he has done so for noble but misguided reasons. ?

Deborah Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. Her most recent book is "History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving."

Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rami Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2007 at 2:46am
Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote minuteman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 July 2007 at 3:37am

 

 Every one has a right to exist. If Jews are a nation then they must have a home. It was the mistake of the Muslims that created the present state of Israel. Yet no harm. It is all politics. That means the survival of the fittest. If Muslims were the fit people then they would not have lost anything at all.

But it appears that they have fallen from the Grace of Allah. They are not at the same spiritual status that they used to hold. So they have to suffer. The primary cause of such suffering is the total misunderstanding of anything religious or worldly matters.

No one should be hated. The more the Muslims do such a thing they more they will suffer. The Muslims were made a fool for more than 200 years. And they did not try to catch up with any technology. The land belongs to Allah and He gives it to the worthy people. The life of the Morrocon people may be a good guidance for all to follow. i.e. a message of peace i.e. Islam. But it is all due to a wise king. He deserves all respect and praise. May he live long. Ameen.

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For other nations have not inflicted on us and on Christ this wrong to
such an extent as you have, who in very deed are the authors of the
wicked prejudice against the Just One, and us who hold by Him. For after
that you had crucified Him, the only blameless and righteous Man,--
through whose swipes those who approach the Father by Him are
healed,--when you knew that He had risen from the dead and ascended
to heaven, as the prophets foretold He would, you not only did not repent
of the wickedness which you had committed, but at that time you
selected and sent out from Jerusalem chosen men through all the land to
tell that the godless heresy of the Christians had sprung up, and to
publish those things which all they who knew us not speak against us
.
So that you are the cause not only of your own unrighteousness, but in
fact of that of all other men
. And Isaiah cries justly: 'By reason of you,
My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.'


Dialogue with Trypho the Jew � Justin Martyr, c.116 CE
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You will find that the worst enemies of the believers are the Jews
and the idol worshipers.


Holy Qu'ran, 6:146
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Abu Mujahid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 July 2007 at 10:18pm

 

 

This is what I call liberal kumbaya business. Do we really need to remind people the model ties of Jewish suckers and womenized King who used/using his whole Kingdom to serve Jewish agenda. How long this self defeatist slogans will continue.

BTW, who said Moroccan Jewish fifth column are peaceful commnunity loyal to this fake king and his junta rulers? Look at Jewish State cabinet, inteligence community, Military bras, University faculties etc. Many of these come from Morocco with hate/vengence despite good treatment they got from muslims. They are frontline of lobby groups taking pride to be permanent dagger on the heart of muslim ummah.

 

 May Allah show you true nature of Jewish traitors

 

Abu Mujahid

Islam need true muslims
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nichole Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 July 2007 at 6:34pm

I can't agree that it was the Muslims that created the present state of Israel. In fact, the scope and domination of Israel was envisioned with the first terrorist organizations of Israel. They were adamant that Israel would encompass all of the former "promised land" including Joran and part of Iraq and that nothing would prevent their goal form occuring eventually.

 

Many of the leaders advocated the "transfer" solution of the Palestinans and if that failed, the final solution of ethnic cleansing. Their goal is to make like as unbareable as possible for the Arabs until they pick up and leave or if that fails, to build as many Jewish settlements as possible in order to bolster their claims that the land is a Jewish majority now and should be annexed. Subhana'Allah. The similarites between Israel's treatment of Israel and America's treatment of the Native Americans are astounding.

 

We cannot try to "catch-up" with the rest of the world using technology or the likes. The standards that you measure the non-believers and the believers must be different. The Haddith narrated by Umar (RAH) tells us exactly what we need:

�When people are stingy with their money, buy and sell on credit, follow the tails of cattle, and abandon jihad in Allah�s way, Allah Almighty will inflict a humiliation upon them which He will not lift from them until they go back to their religion�

[Imam Ahmad related this in his Musnad, as has At-Tabarani in Al-Kabir and Al-Bayhaqi in the Shu�ab Al-Imaan on the authority of �Abdullah Ibn Umar.]

And you may read in your books of jurisprudence all that has been written, both in ancient and modern times, on the question of when jihad is a collective responsibility and when it is an individual one. The facts and their implications are clear yet what is this lethargy that has settled over you? What is this hopelessness that has seized your minds, so that they neither remember nor awaken? Muslims, this is a period of rebuilding: re build yourselves, and your Umma will as a consequence be rebuilt!

This divine commandment requires your souls to believe and your hearts to be pure; therefore work to strengthen your faith and to purify yourselves. It demands of you self sacrifice in terms of wealth and struggle; therefore prepare yourselves. What you possess is temporary, but the things of Allah endure, for surely Allah has bought from the believers their persons and their wealth, in that Paradise is theirs, which has a breadth the size of the heavens and the earth.

Salaams

 

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