Muslim Zionist Speaks Out

Professor Khaleel Mohammed of San Diego State University is not afraid to speak out in favor of Israel - and he cites the following verse in the Koran for support:

"O my people! enter the land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." Koran 5:21 (al-Ma'ida)

According to this article in Ha'Aretz, Professor Mohammed stands by his controversial view that the land of Israel is ordained - "katab" in Arabic - for the Jews. ""If Allah katab the Holy Land to the Jews, then it is theirs unless stated otherwise - and it is not stated otherwise in the Koran," he says. In fact, Mohammed explains, the Koran goes on to record that the Jews were punished for their "cowardice" in failing to enter the land at Moses' call, and had to wander 40 years in the wilderness. But "They received punishment for their sins - a prohibition limited in time on their entry to the land. This makes no difference to the principle whereby the land was intended for them."

As for Israel and the Palestinians: "The establishment of the State of Israel is the expression of the fact that the Jews desired to return to their land. The State of Israel was established thanks to the `Jewish jihad,' and the acts of terror that are being carried out by Palestinians inside Israel are not jihad because this is not their land."

Go read the whole article at the link. Hat tip: Ocean Guy.

Muslim Liberals Call for Justice

Three leading Muslim liberals - Jawad Hashim, Shakir al-Nabulsi, and Lafif Lakhdar - have written an open letter to the United Nations calling for strong action against terrorists. The letter, now available in English translation, urges the UN Security Council to establish an "international tribunal to prosecute individuals, groups, or entities including, but not limited to, Muslim clerics, who issue religious edicts (fatwas) inciting terrorist acts."

Go visit Iraq the Model to find out more, and be sure to follow the e-mail link. Dr. Hashim welcomes signatures from people of all religions and nationalities; I've just added my own name - now it's your turn.

France Is a Great Country

... if you've just spent a week in Libya.

Michael J. Totten - agent extraordinaire of the Portland Mukhabarat - is on his way back to Stumptown after a week in the land of "North Africa's Caligula". Meanwhile, he's making the most of his unexpected two-day layover in Paris.

Let's blogroll!

Post-Thanksgiving special.

For that warm, fuzzy feeling, visit this post at Strangechord!

Dale is a special person with a special story. Read it at this post on Straight Up With Sherry.

Stuffed with stuffing, wintermelonsoup still needs time to decompress after a long and grueling tour in Iraq. Her girlfriend Beth has her own Thanksgiving thoughts. (Probably Beth can relate to Melissa's new single, "Christmas in America".)

And finally -

For a Halakhically correct Thanksgiving, you must study this. Hat tip: Ocan Guy. Next year at Plymouth Rock?

You say you want a revolution?

Ali at Iraq The Model tells about a revolution in Iraq.

Thanksgiving Day: Freedom and Responsibility

As Americans, we have much to be thankful for. Yes, it may be a trite sentiment, but it's still true. We need to acknowledge, individually and as a nation, our blessings; and for those of us who are religious, it goes without saying that this implies acknowledging how deeply we are beholden to the Creator.

I will argue here that thanksgiving is not merely a fair sentiment, nor even solely a spiritual experience; it is a moral duty. This is because our good fortune places a moral burden on us. If we have wealth, then we have the duty to spend it wisely and to donate to charity. If we have power, then we have the duty to use it in the service of justice. If we have freedom, then we have the duty to learn about the plight of those living under tyranny - to ask the questions they themselves are forbidden to ask - and to work to set them free.

If freedom brings responsibility, does oppression - or victimhood - bring absolution from responsibilty? No. If we lack the freedom to act, then we must learn from our experience and resolve to right such wrongs as we have endured as soon as we have the chance. My Islamic teacher, Imam Mamadou Toure, explained it this way: "Every person has a duty to fight oppression. If they are experiencing oppression, they have a duty to fight for freedom. If this is not possible - for example, if the person's family is threatened - then, at a very minimum, the person has a duty to hate the oppression in their heart, and to fight it when they do have the chance."

Jason Holliston has an excellent post on the subject of victimhood. The victim mentality is the greatest enemy of dignity, of responsibility, and ultimately of freedom.

We are often tempted to believe that "suffering ennobles". It does not. As liberals, we are sometimes taught that "oppressed people understand the suffering of others". This is a dangerous myth. To be dealt with cruelly by others is not, in and of itself, either uplifting or enlightening; it is an opportunity to understand the pain of injustice, but it is no more than that. How we grow from our experiences, whether pleasant or painful, is our choice as individuals - and our responsibilty.

The Torah teaches this principle unequivocally:

"You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." - Exodus 22:29

"You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor, nor show deference to the rich..." - Leviticus 19:15

"You shall not subvert the rights of the stranger ... Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment." - Deuteronomy 24:17-18

On this Thanksgiving holiday, let us remember our blessings and acknowledge them; let us also give thanks for the moral burden they place on us. For that, too, is a blessing.


Biblical quotes are from the Jewish Publication Society translation.

Postscript: Please read this recent post by the Ten O'clock Scholar.

Let's blogroll!

Thanksgiving Day special. I'll be posting a Thanksgiving piece (a bit more serious than my previous post) a little later on today. Meanwhile, check out these holiday-themed pieces:

Sherri, a new member of our blogroll, might have been thinking of Captain John Smith's famous admonition to the settlers - "he that will not work, will not eat" - when she wrote this Thanksgiving Day post on Straight Up With Sherri.

Kat at The Middle Ground keeps it short and sweet today, with this message. While you're there, be sure to check out the TMG main page. Kat, who apparently works about 40 hours a day, is posting a very informative series on Middle East history ... while holding down a day job (and I mean a REAL job)!

Jane at Armies of Liberation has some thoughts for Thanksgiving from the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first centuries. Read it all here.

LaShawn Barber shares some passages from the Gospels and a few thoughts of her own, here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pilgrims

As Americans reach for the stuffing and turkey basters, it is well to reflect on the meaning and origins of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

William Bradford, in his classic Of Plymouth Plantation, records that in 1621:

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strenth and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came firest (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.

A letter by Edward Winslow, dated December 11, 1621, relates:

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labours. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king, Massasoit with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted.

And so the Pilgrims embarked on their task of founding a new nation, a new culture, a new world. Sustained by their courage and their faith in Providence, they persevered through good times and bad.

But all was not perfect among these early pioneers. For all their virtues and their ideals, they, too, had human failings. Life in the settlements was harsh, and sometimes, despite the Pilgrims' heroic efforts towards virtue, the more unpleasant aspects of human nature emerged. And so we read, in chapter 32 of Bradford, the unfortunate case of a young man who was brought to trial for unnatural acts involving

a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves, and a turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Morning Report: November 23, 2004

Yankunovich declared winner in disputed Ukraine election. The Russian-leaning incumbent, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, was declared the winner in the recent election, defeating the pro-Western challenger Viktor Yushchenko. Recent news reports indicate massive protests by Yushchenko's supporters. Dreams Into Lightning will be following this situation as it develops.

Second "Islamic Scholars" leader assassinated in two days. Another high-ranking member of Iraq's Islamic Scholars Association was murdered Monday. "Sheikh al-Zuheir killed by gunmen in Miqdadiya near Baqouba day after assassination by drive-by shooter of Sheikh al-Feydhi in Mosul", according to the latest Debka bulletin. The anti-Western Islamic Scholars Association had threatened to boycott the upcoming Iraqi elections.

Iran Regime Arrests Feminist Bloggers

Ampersand at Alas, a Blog reports that more than 25 internet activists for women's rights and human rights have been summarily arrested in Iran. Two Iranian women leaders, Fereshteh Ghazi and Mahoubeh Abbasgholizadeh, are among those arrested by the regime. Please go read the post, which contains e-mail links to Iranian and international officials. These folks need to hear from you.

This letter from the International Women's Media Foundation might give you some ideas.

Also, please support Iranian freedom organizations like these:

Free Iran

SOS Iran: Iran of Tomorrow Movement

NCRI: Iran-e-Azad

Marze Por Gohar: Iranians for a Secular Republic

Thanks!

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