Day 1 to Heal Khalil takes us back to the very beginning of enmity/adversity between the Muslims and the Jews. This takes us back to the life of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings upon him. When the earliest Muslims were being persecuted, both free people and slaves, the Prophet had them seek refuge with the Grand Negus of Coptic Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia.
There is a reason why the Muslim Empire and, indeed, the Muslim World today, surrounds but does not include Ethiopia. It is because, from the very beginning of the Mission of the Prophet, he made peace with the Coptic Christians of Abyssinia.
Later, all remaining Muslims in Makkah, including the Prophet himself, were at threat of pogrom — yes, I use that word carefully — by the pagans of Makkah. The Jews of Yathrib, 500 km north of Makkah offered them sanctuary. Refuge.
THERE WOULD BE NO ISLAM TODAY WERE IT NOT FOR THE GRACIOUS HOSPITALITY OF THE JEWS OF YATHRIB!
The name of the city changed later to Madina, Madinatun-Nabi or Madinat al-Munawwara, whichever you prefer. Respectively, it means City, the City of the Prophet, or the City of Light. Regardless, it was where the Prophet was buried within the Masjid Nabawi: the Mosque of the Prophet. Before the Hajj, I visited and placed hand to heart as I passed his grave. Please understand that the Prophet was born, raised, received his first revelation and died in Makkah. Yet, it was his wish to be buried in Madinah along with his best friends: the first two Caliphs of Islam: Abu Bakr and Omar, may Allah be pleased with both of them. I feel supremely honored to have visited his grave.
Makkah today is a travesty. The Saudi leaders are rapidly returning to their pagan roots by building seven star hotels to “build the religious sector of their national economy”. Instead of building these seven star hotels in the desert, with ample land available that they could develop using petrodollars, they are destroying the antiquities of Makkah whose roots go back to the life of the Prophet! The Ka’aba itself is dwarfed by seven star hotels just outside of it, very expensive seven star hotels. They prove a distraction when one prays within the Grand Mosque, the most sacred mosque, the most sacred place in all Islam toward which all observant Muslims pray no fewer than five times a day.
The very first “pet peeve” of the Prophet was that Makkah was a place of commerce for the pagan pilgrimage trade. It was not so much a place of worship as it was a place of trade. It was almost identical to the “pet peeve” of Jesus (may Allah be pleased with him) when he engaged not so quietly the money lenders in the temples of Jerusalem. The Saudis are returning to what the Prophet railed most against!!
Madinah, formerly the Jewish town of Yathrib, is exactly the opposite. The town exudes love, is calm, and simply beautiful. It is inconceivable that the town is in the same country as Makkah! I am not as observant a Muslim as I would like to be, but I could seriously live in Madinah today. If you are a Muslim, you are commanded to perform the Hajj once in our life IF you are physically, financially, and logistically able. Though it is not part of the Hajj, definitely visit Madinah! If you go do ‘Umra (visit Makkah) outside of the Hajj season, you will not fulfill the requirement, but visiting Makkah (and Madinah) will be at 1/4 the price, courtesy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!
Islam grew in Madinah. The Message of the Prophet was heard and embraced. Islam continued to grow. The observant Jews of Madinah recognized that this Prophet was fulfilling prophecy from B’reshit (the Book of Genesis) even more directly than any prophecies presumably fulfilled by Jesus. “To the sons of Ishmael are promised twelve princes and a great nation.” This is written THREE times in B’reshit! The Prophet was well known to be an Ishmaelite! This was precisely why he was welcomed into Yathrib by the Jews. That persecuted man from Makkah in dire need of sanctuary fulfilled prophecy. JEWISH prophecy!!
My Muslim brothers and sisters, you will understand SO MUCH MORE about Islam if you read only the Book of Genesis, the first Book of the Torah. You will learn why the most sacred night in the Muslim calendar is Leilatul Qadr. It’s in Genesis!!
The more lay leaders of Yathrib were scared of the rapid growth of Islam though they had nothing to fear. Later in the life of the Prophet, he executed a treaty with the Christians of Najran of Yemen. The text is online for all to see. Toward the very end of the life of the Prophet, the Muslims re-entered Makkah and properly destroyed the 365 idols surrounding the Ka’aba. Everything else was spared. Not a drop of blood was spilled. No one was forced to convert to Islam. “Lakum deenakum wa liya deen.” (“To your religion and to my me religion.”) At the very end of the life of the Prophet, the Muslims and the pagans lived side by side in Makkah. No harm came to anyone. Today, both Makkah and Madinah remain cities closed to all but Muslims, but that happened AFTER the death of the Prophet, not during.
Purely out of fear with zero evidence of harm EVER coming to them, the Jews of Yathrib switched alliances and allied with the pagans. They attempted to assassinate the Prophet through poisoning his food. Like the story in B’reshit where Esau gave up his birthright because he was starving, a companion of the Prophet was literally starving. The Prophet offered his food provided by his Jewish friends, the companion gobbled it up, and right then and there…died.
Unlike Christians who are commanded to turn the other cheek, Muslims are taught to wage war in self-defense. The Jews were on the offense against the Muslims and the Muslims fought back. That is where our antipathy began. Even then, when Saladin the Kurd liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders, he issued a proclamation of the Jews of the World to return. Many did with zero resistance.
My beloveds (yes, I’m a card carrying Sufi!), the Jews did not attempt to assassinate the Prophet out of hatred, but out of fear. Every quote in the Qur’an with antipathy toward Jews comes from that singular event.
Now, today, this is the time for Muslims and Jews to remember that it was out of fear and not hatred that the attempted assassination occurred. The Jews did not reject Early Islam. They feared Early Islam. And they continue fear Islam today.
Most Muslim leaders are not acting in accordance to Muslim conduct as commanded in the Qur’an. The desecration of Makkah by the Saudi rulers was painful for me to witness up close. I arrived in Makkah exactly one week after that construction crane several years ago tipped over and killed 200 pilgrims. Those cranes are so big and tall that they scared me as a pilgrim! Hearing about people being pushed off of buildings is nowhere found in Scripture. Stoning people to death is in Jewish Law but nowhere to be found in the Qur’an.
Today, Maryam is the most common name given to Arab AND Muslim girls. The Qur’an describes her as the mother of the Messiah, yes Jesus, and preferred over all women. We have a chapter of the Qur’an named after her! The Tanakh is nowhere near as charitable to the same amazing woman, mentioned more than any other woman in the Qur’an.
Hasbara teaches that Islam is a religion of violence. Indeed, much violence is perpetrated in the name of Islam by leaders who call themselves Muslim. Though we Muslims strive for one Muslim ummah, one community, we are fractured. Because of the call to violence by several and not all Muslim leaders, I pray that Wasatia — the Middle Path — will embraced not only by Palestinians but also the entire World, whether Muslim or not. Wasatia is completely consistent with Tikkun Olam: healing the world.
References from the Book of Genesis (B’reshit) per the Orthodox Jewish Bible translated into English:
B’reshit 17:20: And as for Yishmael, I have heard thee; hinei, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve nasi’im (princes, rulers) shall he father, and I will make him a goy gadol (great nation).
B’reshit 21:13: And also of the ben haamah will I make a nation, because he is thy zera.
B’reshit 21:18: Arise, lift up the na’ar, and hold him in thine yad; for I will make him a goy gadol.
Aref N. Dajani 