Bigotry: The Dark Danger

The Error of the Jews Being Cursed

First and foremost, to say that “all Jews are cursed” is totally incompatible with the justice of God and the faith created by Him. Firstly, Judaism is a true faith and was revealed to the Prophet Moses (pbuh), who is also a prophet for Muslims. God speaks of Jews and Judaism in the Qur’an. He praises sincere Jews. According to the Qur’an, Muslims have a responsibility to love and protect the People of the Book. Some verses of the Qur’an are directly addressed to the Children of Israel and the People of the Book. This means that there will be Jews and Christians who read – and heed – the Qur’an. Yet according to the fanatics, it is unacceptable for a Jew even to hold the Qur’an in his hand.

Second, everyone comes to this world to be tested. Their positions in the hereafter will be determined according to the results of that test. God reveals that this world is a place of testing as follows:

He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving.(Qur’an, 67:2)

Therefore, a Muslim is subjected to the same test as a Jew. To suggest that a child born to a Jewish family, totally unaware of the world, is cursed flies in the face of the justice of God; to imagine that a child who has not yet been tested is irrevocably cursed, and to expect such injustice from God (surely God is beyond that), means that one has failed to understand His justice, compassion and mercy. Those who claim that “the Jews are cursed” are capable of using this perverse way of thinking against all Jews, making no allowance for whether they are children or adults. But how do the fanatics look to the Qur’an for evidence for the idea that “all Jews are cursed”?

An Examination of Verse 88 of Surat al-Baqara:

They say, “Our hearts are uncircumcised.” Rather, God has cursed them for their denial. What little faith they have! (Qur'an, 2:88)

A look at the preceding verses shows that the people being addressed here are a community from among the people of the Prophet Moses (pbuh), from among the Jews. The reason for that community being cursed is made perfectly clear: “their denial”... The community here is a community of deniers who have betrayed Judaism and even gone to such extremes as to try to kill their prophet, as shown by the above verses. In the same way that aggressive deniers from among Muslims are cursed in the Qur’an, so are those who emerge from among the Jews. It is therefore rebellious deniers who are cursed, not Jews or Muslims.