The God of the Quran in revealing to his Prophet Muhammad Surah 5, Al-Ma’idah, ratified the covenants which 1) Yahweh of the Hebrew Scriptures had made with Abraham that his descendants by his son Isaac would be a great people and 2) through his chosen agent Moses with the Children of Israel that they would live in the “Holy Land”.
Verses 20 and 21 of the Surah confirm for the God of Muhammad that:
“… Moses said to his people, “O my people, remember God’s blessings upon you, when He placed prophets among you, and made you kings, and gave you what He never gave any other people.”
“O my people, enter the Holy Land (al-Ard al-Muqaddas) which God has assigned for you, and do not turn back, lest you return as losers.”
Inexplicitly, the 1988 Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) does not reference this Quranic Divine Guidance. That covenant ignores and overlooks a divine right of the Children of Israel to live in the “Holy Land”. Therefore, the HAMAS war against the Jews of Israel has no divine sanction from the God of Muhammad.
More verses of the Quran affirm the right of Jews to live in what is now Israel, and perhaps also in the West Bank.
Surah 7, Al-A’raf, at verse137 affirms for Muhammad’s God that “And We made the people who were considered weak (the Israelites) to inherit the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which we have blessed. And the fair word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because of their endurance.”
Surah 10, Yunus, at verse 93 affirms for Muhammad’s God that “And indeed We settled the Children of Israel in an honorable dwelling place and provided them with good things”.
Surah17, Al-Isra’, at verse104 affirms for Muhammad’s God that “… We said to the children of Israel … Dwell in the land, then when the final and the last promise comes true, We shall bring you together as a mixed crowd (gathered out of various nations).”
The religious war (Jihad) now being waged by HAMAS against the Jews of Israel violates the ordinances of Islam’s God as they were revealed in the Quran.
The 1988 Covenant which founded HAMAS makes no claim that the Quran approves and legitimates its war against the Jews of Israel. The best it can do is base the legitimacy of its Jihad on the law of conquest.
Article 11 of the HAMAS Covenant says only that:
It happened like this: When the leaders of the Islamic armies conquered Syria and Iraq, they sent to the Caliph of the Moslems, Umar bin-el-Khatab, asking for his advice concerning the conquered land - whether they should divide it among the soldiers, or leave it for its owners, or what? After consultations and discussions between the Caliph of the Moslems, Omar bin-el-Khatab and companions of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, it was decided that the land should be left with its owners who could benefit by its fruit. As for the real ownership of the land and the land itself, it should be consecrated for Moslem generations till Judgement Day
Thus, Muslim rights to rule the Holy Land were created by men not by the God of the Quran.
Article 11 of the HAMAS Covenant further asserts that: “the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”
The article continues: “the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement. …This Waqf remains as long as earth and heaven remain. Any procedure in contradiction to Islamic Sharia, where Palestine is concerned, is null and void.”
The HAMAS Covenant further asserts that ”There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.” … “The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Articles 13, 15)
According to Muslim belief and practice, nothing we mortals do can supersede God’s will. Attempting to do so is called out in the Quran as Shirk – trying to act in the place of God or setting ourselves up as an alternative to him. Committing Shirk is a great sin in Islam. Therefore, we may rightly ask whether the Jihad of HAMAS and other Palestinians against the Jews of Israel is an ongoing commission of Shirk?
Does the Quran provide any formula by which Jews and Muslims can live together in peace and harmony?
Yes.
In Surah 3, Al-Imran, verse 112, the Quran stipulates that any “indignity” associated with Jews or Christians will disappear if such Jews or Christians “have a covenant with (have a rope from) God or men”.
And so did the Prophet Muhammad in his lifetime give covenants of respect, succor, and protection to the “Children of Israel”, the Jews of Khabar and Maqna, the Christians of Najran, and the monks of the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai.
Stephen B. Young is the Global Executive Director of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism (CRT). Young was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He served as an Assistant Dean at the Harvard Law School and as the third Dean of the Hamline University School of Law. His new book is Kissinger's Betrayal: How America Lost the Vietnam War.
