The long and complex relations between Jews and Muslims could take a lifetime to fully comprehend on a deep level. It is one that goes back to the time Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan, and continues into modern times with Jewish advisors to the king of Morocco, leading to military actions by Arab states against the newly born Zionist state.
One could argue that the Arabian, and by extension Muslim people are inseparable from the Israelites as much as a son is inseparable from his mother. These relations are too complex for most Jews and Muslims to fully understand, let alone your average Western-educated politician.
The deepest connection Arabian, and later Muslim people, have with the modern Jews goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. “Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.” Ishmael, Abraham’s first son is considered to be the father of all Arabs both by Jews and according to Islamic tradition. Ishmael was born to Sarah’s slave, Hagar after Sarah felt the desire to provide her husband Abraham with a family despite her seeming infertility. Hagar, after running away from Sara due to mistreatment, was promised by an angel more descendants than any human can count, and indeed that promise came true.
Gen 15:18 from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
— The Holy Apostolic Bible (HAB) (@ApostolicBible1) May 5, 2021
Some say that the Jews never had dominion from River to River, but what they fail to understand is that the promise was to Abraham seed; Isaac, Ishmael and his other sons, (Arabs). Promise was kept pic.twitter.com/HeaY3xNbK6
Ishmael and his descendants, occasionally mentioned in the bible, became known as fierce, intimidating, and free-spirited people. Thousands of years later Muhammad, which according to both Jews and Arabs is a direct descendant of Abraham through Ishmael, began preaching what would become the fastest-growing religion in the world, Islam. His fast, thoughtful, peaceful yet occasionally violent rise is depicted through the Quran along with countless other scriptures from the 7th century AD. Jews are often mentioned in the Quran and are seen by Muhammad and the divine religion he was preaching as “people of the book”.
Abd Allah ibn Salam was a rabbi during the time of Islam’s rise in the Arabian peninsula. Abd has become a prominent figure in Muslim children's folklore for being a righteous man who saw Muhammad as a prophet sent by Allah to deliver the final godly advice to his followers. The rabbi who followed Muhammad went on to join the conquest of Syria along with Israel, before passing and being buried as a Muslim in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Do you realize WHY the hishtoric new peace accords in the Middle East are called the Abraham Peace Accords? Because they bring together the world that split under Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac,Jews and Arabs, separated by 2 different mothers. #GodsLoveChats pic.twitter.com/y3D16dsv6i
— Cheri Douglas (@CheriDouglas) September 17, 2020
Despite Abd Allah ibn Salam and other prominent Jews, like Mukhayriq, who is praised in Islam for recognizing “the truth” in Muhammad’s preachings, most local Arabian Jews refused to accept the new self-declared prophet. According to historians and scriptures, the local Jewish tribes were expecting a prophet to arrive and deliver Allah’s word, but Muhammad was not the one.
The resistance of Jews to join the new monotheistic religion caused Muslim literature, including the Quran itself, to describe the “people of the book” as stubborn people who refused to see what God is delivering to them. The second chapter of the Quran, Al-Baqara, reads the following: “And they say: Our hearts are covered. Nay, Allah has cursed them [Jews] on account of their unbelief; so little it is that they believe.” Like the early Christian movements that came before, early Islam has a hard time understanding why Jews refuse to accept a prophet preaching in the name of their God.
Yes during the “Nakba” Arabs displaced and/or murdered all the Jews in the West Bank & the Jewish Quarter in order to have a Jew-free Palestine. So claiming self-righteously there were “Palestinian Jews” is not only a bastardization of history but complete erasure of Arab goals pic.twitter.com/EbvNG5Cpm2
— Zionism is indigenous Jewish liberation (@leftofcool13) October 12, 2022
Nevertheless, Jews in the various Muslim kingdoms received respect and special status as the “people of the book” who were the original 'chosen people of Allah.' This status allowed Jews to get special tax breaks that many other minorities did not receive, allowing them to thrive and keep Jewish-Arab communities alive.
The bizarre and family-like relations between Jews and Muslims lasted well into the 20th century. Jews in Muslim countries led decent lives and maintained, generally, good relations with their Islam-practicing neighbors. Issues developed with the birth of the Jewish state in the land of Israel, an act that was seen by some Islamists as a conquering of land belonging to the “Uma” or followers of Islam.
THE IRONY OF HISTORY
— Sabba Sababa סבא סבבה (@SababaSabba) October 12, 2022
Ever notice how antizionists foist upon MENA Jews the ID of "Arab Jews"? Ok, that's fine. Since the maj. of 🇮🇱's Jews are "Arab Jews" (pushed out of their homes by 10 Arab govts) that makes Israel an "Arab" country.
That solves the conflict.
Wars broke out, some that continue. A new animosity developed between the Jewish people and surrounding Muslim nations, an animosity that has been largely misunderstood by European and American mediators who misinterpret it for hate and racial conflict, something not previously existent in Muslim-Jewish relations.
With the current news cycles and headlines, it is hard to picture how all of the above is connected to reality and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fact remains that Palestinian activists, as well as the leadership of their cause, have worked hard to change the narrative Muslims held about the Land of Israel. From removing Jews from the history of The Land in textbooks to looting the history from the ground underneath the Temple Mount to try and eliminate evidence of the temples and ancient Jewish life, the Palestinian people have tried to rewrite history to suit their own narrative.
On a street in sixth-century Babylon, when the city was at its most cosmopolitan (and most imperial), Egyptians, Persians, Jews, Arabs and Greeks could have lived side-by-side with “traditional” Babylonians.
— Hassan I. Hassan (@hxhassan) October 14, 2022
A history essay by @SophusHelle in @newlinesmag https://t.co/ACkDezohOu
There has been a long line of disagreements that the two sons of Abraham and their descendants have had from as far back as the bible records. Conflict and heated and occasionally violent dialogue is part of the air all descendants of Abraham breathe. It is not about race, hate, or simply unwanted bloodshed, but part of a shared heritage that goes back to two very different sons of Abraham and the promise of a glorious future their offspring will have.
Throughout this long line of affairs that took place in the lands inhabited by Jews, Arabs, and some Christian ancestors, the Western mediator between Israel and Palestinian-Arab neighbors is barely a dot at the very end of the line. It is not that the “White Man’s” help is not always necessary, but the approach and actual agenda the West offers time and time again are wrong.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be approached not by examining the historical facts of the past 75 years and fixing the most recent wrongdoing by both parties, but by observing the entire recorded timeline, and recognizing that the conflict is far larger than one barely lasting two-thirds of a century. Reconciliation between the eternal cousins, Arabs, and Jews, will lead to eternal peace between not only Israelis and Palestinians, but the entire region. The Abraham Accords has the potential of doing exactly that, bringing all Semite brothers and sisters back to their home, Abraham’s tent where strangers and friends alike are welcome.
