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PEOPLE appear to believe that the Jews and the
Muslims have no points of convergence for them to stop the bloodshed
in Palestine’s Gaza Strip. Reader Cizar Canlas even erroneously
observes that every Muslim in Gaza has been indoctrinated by the
Hamas organization to view the Jewish people as enemies to be
exterminated, which means that all Muslims in Gaza Strip are threats
to the life, liberty and security of every Jew. Canlas thus absurdly
concludes that there is no other solution to the Jewish and Muslim
Conflict in the Middle East except for the withdrawal of the Hamas
and Iran, which is allegedly propagating the rift among Jews and
Hamas by proxy, from the conflict or the absolute extermination of
the Muslims in Gaza Strip. Canlas is wrong. With his macabre and
senseless proposals for the genocidal massacre of the Muslim peoples
of the Gaza Strip, it appears that there is no longer any hope for
peace and progress in the conflict-riven Palestinian region. More
than the audacity of hopelessness posed by Canlas, the audacity of
hope must prevail for world peace to be achieved. People must
appreciate historical events wherein Jews lived harmoniously with
Muslims in avoiding an apocalyptic world war.
Centuries before Prophet Muhammad’s
birth, Jews were actually living in the lands now known as Saudi
Arabia and the other Middle East countries. One Arabian King Dhu
Nuwas, in fact, was a convert to Judaism. Arabian Jews were also
indistinguishable from other Arab tribes, as harsh realities of
desert life recognized no distinctions among cultural communities or
religious creeds. They spoke Arabic dialects and traded with the
Quraysh and other leading Arab tribes. Having descended from the
sons of Abraham, Jews and Arabs were familiar to one another in
language, attire and culture, except for their distinct religious
practices and rites. Thus, the Arabian Jews were more familiar than
alien to Muhammad as explained by Arab historian Zachary Karabell in
“People of the Book: The Forgotten History of Islam and the
West.”
In fact, in 622, Prophet Muhammad
moved from Mecca to Medina with most of his followers from the
prominent Quraysh tribe in one of the defining moments of Islamic
history called the Hijra. For some period, with Muhammad’s
arrival, Medina became a unified Jewish-Muslim community as it had
three powerful Jewish tribes, more particularly the Banu Qaynuqa,
the Bau Nadir and the Banu Qurayza. The Constitution of Medina
recognized the two religions as separate and distinct from each
other, and recognized that the followers of the two religions could
live side by side as equals and supported each other when and where
support was needed. It created a precedent for peaceful and cordial
coexistence as a hybrid community of Jews and Muslims. Muhammad has
seen himself as the last in a series of Jewish prophets, and even
instructed his Muslim followers to face Jerusalem when they prayed,
thus gaining respect even among the Jews, who saw him as a first
among equals and an arbiter of disputes. Clearly, the Constitution
of Medina, which Muhammad established with the non-Jewish tribes,
the three Jewish tribes and the Islamic community was a model of
ecumenism.
Like any prejudice as exemplified
by reader Canlas’ selective memory of the history in the
long-drawn Jewish-Muslim conflict, the mutual animosity between
Islam and Israel is merely fueled by ignorance and intolerance.
Hatred, scorn, hostilities and offensive personalities and notorious
historical events should not be emphasized because its continuous
proposal and replay merely enflames the social prejudices of one
religion against the other rather than searching for commonalities
to bind together the peoples in the conflict. Islam is not a
religion of jihadist violence and suicide bombings. Islam, in its
literal definition is a religion of submission to the will of God.
Islam is a religion of personal struggle towards divinity, of
striving to be godly, within a community of believers in the same
God. Islam is a community of the “People of the Book” as
Muhammad had seen the Quran as some continuation, or a replication
with its own unique variations, of the writings inspired by Allah,
which includes the Torah, the Old Testament, and the Christian
Bible.
Thus, the commonalities among
different religions must be explored in binding people in peace,
common understanding, and progress. The five pillars of Islam, which
involve prayer, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage and charity, are
non-violent, morally righteous activities that are also themselves
observed among Christians and Jews alike.
The legacy of religious
coexistence and cultural harmony must be reclaimed. Albeit there
will be tension among the variations of religious philosophies,
these beliefs should not constitute the basis for a bloodbath among
people descended from a common ancestor. But when Israel continues
its conflict against the children of Gaza Strip with excessive
aggression, it will definitely fuel the already heightened tensions
in the Middle East among the Muslim peoples identifying themselves
with the civilians of Gaza Strip, dangerously inviting an
apocalyptic war beyond its borders.
ericfmallonga@yahoo.com
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