Different Opinions Are Blessings For Us

Contrary to the practice of authoritarian regimes in Muslims lands, Islam stands for unfettered freedom of expression. The ultimate goal of all speech, according to Qur’an and Sunnah, is to vindicate truth and protect human dignity. Muslims have the right to protest, accept or reject ideas, and even contest the Islamic teachings. The Prophet encouraged it by saying, “Differences in my Ummah are a blessing”, and our predecessors openly discussed and debated their affairs without any fear or restrictions, whatsoever.

The Qur’an calls freedom a sacred human right bestowed by God, as expressly stated in the following verse: “Say, “The Truth is from your Lord”: Let him who will, believe, and let him who will, reject (it)” (Al Kahf 18:29). So, even when we know something is true and it is from the One on-high, it is not imposed on us and we are given the right to freely accept or reject it.

It does not allow compulsion in any form or shape, and belief must remain completely one’s own choice: “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error, whoever rejects Evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And God hears and knows all.” (Al Baqarah 2:256).

One of God’s attributes is Al-Haq – The True and Right One. Muslims should follow this attribute, stand by the truth, and work for the causes of truth in order to attain good: “O You who believe! Fear God, and (always) say a word directed to the Right: That He may make your conduct whole and sound and forgive your sins: He that obeys God and His Messenger, has already attained the highest Achievement.” (Al Ahzab 33:71).

The Qur’an instructs us to be with those who are truthful and uphold truth: “O You who believe! Fear God and be with those who are true (in word and deed).” (Al Tawbah 9: 119).

And it warns us against speaking ignorantly on a subject without any knowledge: “And pursue not that of which you have no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing, or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the day of reckoning).” (Al Isra’ 17:36).

We should avoid suspecting others, not to spy on anyone, and not to backbite: “O You who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is sin: and spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, you would abhor it …But fear God: For God is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.” ( Al Hujurat 49:12).

However, freedoms are tempered by moral and legal constraints, except in cases where injustice is committed, such as told in the following verse: “God loves not that evil should be noised abroad in public speech, except where injustice has been done; for God is He who hears and knows all things.”(Al Nisa’ 4:148). Thus what may spread evil should be avoided, except in a situation when a person is seeking justice.

I think that in today’s world of fanaticism and extremism the words of Al-Ghazali, a 12th century Persian Muslim theologian, need to be repeated by all the world’s religious and political leaders: “Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see – Egoism, Arrogance, Conceit, Selfishness, Greed, Lust, Intolerance, Anger, Lying, Cheating, Gossiping and Slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be ready to fight the enemy you can see.”

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.” So I say we can make it truly aspirational by making it focus on both people first and on the land second. “From the river to the sea Palestinians and Israelis should be freed of hatred and suffering by ‘a two state for two peoples sharing of the land peacefully.’”

But the Hamas’ 2017 charter states that in principle, it “rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.” Hamas opposes a two state solution, wants all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, and violently opposed the Oslo peace accords negotiated by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the mid-1990s. If the war ends with Hamas weakened, and with a new Israeli government elected; there is the hope that the miracle of the Yom Kippur War may be repeated.

On October 27, 1978, only five years after Egypt started the Yom Kippur War with a surprise  attack on Israel, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord. The Yom Kippur War was followed six years later by a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Could the same process follow the defeat of Hamas, and its opposition to a two state solution?  The only possible chance for avoiding more wars is the two state solution. To establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel. That will not be possible with the current leaders on either side. Extremists, both Israeli and Palestinian, will do all they can to sink the idea, as they have done since the 1990s.

If two years of war does not deliver enough shock to break deeply-held prejudices and to make the idea of two states viable, nothing will. And without a mutually-acceptable way of ending the conflict, more generations of Palestinians and Israelis will be sentenced to more wars and deaths.

Although it might seem impossible now, I do believe that within a decade or two Muslims will visit Jerusalem and pray together with Jews as Prophet Zechariah predicts: “Then everyone who survives from all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.” (Zechariah 14:16)

Dr. Mohamed Chtatou, a Professor at a university in Rabat, Morocco writes: “After the current (Hamas-Israel) war, Israel’s ultra-nationalist coalition will undoubtedly be undermined by public opinion, and probably by a commission of inquiry. If the Palestinian Authority were to agree to take over Gaza – backed by the international reconstruction aid that would inevitably arrive – and if a centrist coalition government were to emerge in Israel, everything would once again be possible. Two difficult “ifs”? Perhaps, but there is no serious alternative.”

The Qur’an refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: “Abraham was a nation-community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the polytheists.” (16:120)

If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah; then fighting between the descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be avoided.

And prior to the 20th century Arabs and Jews almost never did make war with each other. Even the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria of the Yom Kippur War was followed six years later by a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. Could the same process follow the weakening of Hamas?

Prophet Muhammad said: “Should I not tell you what is better in degree than prayer, fasting, and charity.” They (the companions) said: “Yes.” He said: “Reconciling people, because grudges and disputes are a razor (that shaves off faith).” (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, and At-Tirmithi)

This is an excellent guide to dealing with the three-generation old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather than focusing mostly on what the other side did to us, we all should focus on how the conflict has hurt all of us, and how much better our future would be if we could live next to each other in peace. If the descendants of Prophet Isaac and Prophet Ishmael negotiate a settlement that reflects the religious policy that “…there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them – and settlement [reconciliation and peace] is best.” (Quran 4:128)

The Nakba (catastrophe), the displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel and the War of Independence, could have been totally avoided if the Palestinian leadership had accepted the British offer of a two state solution. Indeed, if the Palestinian leadership had accepted the British 1937 two state solution; millions of Jews would have been able to escape the Holocaust (catastrophe). Hopefully, the Palestinians will not make an all or nothing mistake again.

If we all can live up to the ideal of following the will of God we will help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel  will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”…(Isaiah 19:23-5)