Bigotry: The Dark Danger

The Idea that Two Faiths Should Not Co-exist in Arab lands

The last statement that the Prophet (pbuh) made was: "O Lord, perish the Jews and Christians. ... There shall be no two faiths in Arabia." (Malik 511:1588)

This false hadith is again a terrible defamation of our Prophet (pbuh). Almighty God speaks of the existence of Christianity and Judaism in the Qur’an and reveals that the Qur’an was sent down in order to confirm these two true faiths. The Qur’an does not invalidate the tenets of these two faiths, but confirms them. This important information is given in several verses. One reads:

He has sent down the Book to you with truth, confirming what was there before it. And He sent down the Torah and the Gospel. (Qur’an, 3:3)

The Qur’an tells us that there will be Jews and Christians in this world and as set out in the lines above, some of these will be a sincere and select community made so by God. God makes it lawful in the Qur’an for Muslims to marry Christian and Jewish women and to eat at table with them (this will be set out in detail shortly). In addition, our Almighty Lord states that the closest people to Muslims in terms of love are “Christians.” Those people who spread the idea “May God perish the Jews and Christians,” as if these were the words of our Prophet (pbuh), when God actually praises and speaks of rewarding and the existence of these communities, are assuming responsibility for a terrible slander. The false hadith in question is totally refuted by the words of praise for the People of the Book in the Qur’an and by our Prophet’s (pbuh) behavior toward the People of the Book. We shall shortly be looking at verses of the Qur’an and the behavior of our Prophet (pbuh) on that very subject.

Arab lands are holy places where the three faiths co-existed and were protected by our Prophet (pbuh). It is obvious that our Prophet (pbuh) would never say that Jews and Christians, of whose existence God speaks and whom He praises, should be destroyed. Those fabricated hadiths are all slanders against our Prophet (pbuh).

The Idea that Calling Someone a Jew Is an Insult and that Cursing Jews Is a Source of Reward

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Prophet (pbuh) said, "When a man calls another a Jew give him twenty lashes.” (At-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1024)

Let he who does not have money to give to the poor curse a Jew instead, the reward he earns will be the same.  (Ad-Daylami, Ibn ‘Adiyy)

The intention in these fabricated hadiths is to portray the term “Jew” as an insult. Cursing a Jew is depicted as a source of reward, the idea being to spread hatred of Jews in this way. It is clear why the fanatics live by such a different faith; the Qur’an, which says that sincere Jews will be rewarded in the hereafter and that praises their sincerity, is far removed from these people’s world.

The source of the hatred for Jews and Christians is the intellectual bankruptcy spread by this superstition. This is the most important matter that those who seek to spread complaints about fanaticism in the form of opposition to Islam need to concentrate on. By lining themselves up against true Islam and sincere Muslims, they are trying to eliminate the one great weapon that could obliterate the mindset of the fanatics, and therefore preparing a disaster that will bounce back to strike them.

The Idea of Forcing Them onto the Narrow Part of the Road

Abu Huraira reported God's Messenger (pbuh) as saying: “Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 26, Hadith 5389)

This hadith, fabricated against the commandments of a true faith that commands love, kindness and, most especially, protection toward the People of the Book, represents severe violence and is also a defamation of our Prophet (pbuh). A way of thinking that totally conflicts with the actions of our Prophet (pbuh), who treated Jews and Christians with enormous love and affection, is described in this fabricated hadith as if it came from his own mouth.