Muslim spokesmen and Islamic apologists in the West love to trot out the “shared Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage and values” line, insinuating that Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians, and also revere their prophets and scriptures. For example, Dr. John Esposito, director of the Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown, asserted in his 1992 book Islam and the Straight Path that “Media images of Islam have often obscured the fact that Muslims, Jews and Christians share much in common. … Like Jews and Christians, Muslims worship the God of Abraham and Moses, [and] believe in God’s revelation and prophets…” Statements like these are carefully crafted to assuage Jewish and Christian misgivings about some of Islam’s violent and intolerant teachings. Unfortunately these statements have no basis in Islamic doctrine. When high-ranking Islamic clerics speak candidly on these same topics in Arabic, when they don’t think the West is listening, an entirely different picture emerges.
For example, Shaykh Faysal al-Mawlawi, the Deputy Chairman of the European Council of Fatwa and Research, in a 2002 fatwa accused Jews and Christians of purposely corrupting the Bible, in order to remove all mention of Muhammad:
Allah Almighty sent down the Torah and the Gospel, and charged the Jews and Christians with guarding them. They (however) distorted and changed them. … The Qur’an is overflowing with verses (which) reveal the reasons for the distortion and change, among which was wiping out the description of the Messenger (peace be upon him) which (the Christians and Jews) could find written in the Torah and the Gospel… [see Qur’an 4:46 and 5:41].
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh ‘Abd-al-‘Aziz Al al-Shaykh, ruled that it was not permissible for Muslims to read the Bible because “The stories in the Qur’an are more valuable than any others–we don’t need the Torah, or Gospels, or any other book. … their role has ended, and there is no longer any place for them. … The Qur’an has become dominant over them, and a substitute for all of them” [see Qur’an 3:62; 11:49; and 12:1-3].
Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh 'Abd-al-'Aziz Al al-Shaykh
Later in 2006, when issuing a fatwa about whether women should be allowed to vote, the Grand Mufti went further:
…when Almighty Allah sent the Prophet (peace be upon him) from the Arabs, the enemies of Allah from among the Jews and Christians laid traps for him, with their knowledge that Allah would send a prophet at that time, and with their knowledge of his name and description, as they saw him with their own eyes. … They were even waiting for him, and knew the time of his emergence, and his description, but they were hoping he would be from the tribe of Israel. When Allah Almighty sent him, and he was an Arab, they disbelieved in him… For they disbelieved in our Prophet (peace be upon him), arrogantly and jealously. But it goes even further than that: they envied the house of Islam for this true religion–and they know that it is true. Despite that, they did not follow it… [emphasis added] [see Qur’an 2:89, 146; 7:157; and 61:6].
Shaykh ‘Abd-al-Rahman al-Barrak, a senior Saudi cleric, explained in a fatwa that both Christians and Jews have been guilty of shirk, or associating other gods with Allah, which made it permissible for Muslims to wage jihad against them:
He then stated the reason that made it obligatory to fight them, which was their disbelief in Allaah and their shirk – which included their speaking ill of Allaah by attributing a son to Him, when He is the One, the Self-Sufficient Master, He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him. The Jews said that ‘Uzayr is a son of Allaah, and the Christians said that the Messiah was a son of Allaah [emphasis added] [see Qur’an 9:29-30].
From these fatwas, we can see that Islam in reality does not respect Jewish and Christian scriptures at all, viewing them as distorted and worthless. We also note that Islam teaches that Jews and Christians envy Muslims because they secretly know Islam is true, and that both Jews and Christians are polytheists because they associate other gods with Allah.
In light of all this, it’s hard to give any credence to those who speak soothing words about the “shared Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage.” But more importantly, it is precisely this anti-Jewish and anti-Christian attitude in Islam that provides the atmosphere in which Jews and Christians can be persecuted and killed by Muslims for the slightest offenses (and even imaginary ones), as we’re seeing currently in Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, and even ‘moderate’ Indonesia.
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