Bigotry: The Dark Danger

The Gharqad, the Tree of the Jews

If someone who regards himself as a Muslim shoots a Jew behind a tree on the grounds that “the tree told me to do it,” on the basis of what the false hadiths say, the Jew who is killed may go to paradise, but unless that Muslim repents, he will be punished in the hereafter for having committed murder.

Abu Huraira reported God's Messenger (pbuh) as saying: “... the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: ‘Muslim, or the servant of God, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;’ but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 6985)

Perhaps the most frequently employed hadith in the context of enmity toward the Jews is this false hadith about the Gharqad tree. According to this hadith, a Jew must be killed when he hides behind a rock or tree. It makes no difference in this logically impoverished way of thinking if the Jew in question is innocent and free of any sin. The Jew may be a child, devout or someone full of love. Again according to this false hadith, when a Jew hides behind a tree, no matter what his personal qualities, the rocks and trees will tell a Muslim of this, and that Jew must be killed, without exception, even if he is a little child.

However, this is murder in the view of the Qur’an. If someone who regards himself as a Muslim believes these fabricated hadiths and kills a Jew hiding behind a tree on the grounds that “the tree told me to do it,” the Jew may go to paradise, but the Muslim will be punished for the sin of murder in the hereafter unless he repents of his action. This is also such a dreadful system that those who believe in it could easily make false statements that “the tree told me” or “the rock told me,” and commit murder on that basis. When asked why, they may cite the command issuing from the rock and there will not be anyone who holds them to account under such a system. They in any case do not operate their system on the basis of the Qur’an. Theirs is a system that regards killing, humiliation and forcing people onto the narrow part of the road as legitimate. Yet the Qur’an despises these false systems:

What is the matter with you? How do you reach your judgment?

Will you not pay heed?

Or do you have some clear authority?

Bring your Book, then, if you are telling the truth!(Qur'an, 37:154-157)

Let us now see how these fabricated hadiths concerning Jews and Christians are refuted by the Qur’an and the practices of our Prophet (pbuh):