MOSLEM ZIONISM

According to Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, the antipathy shown by

so many Islamic leaders towards Israel is an inauthentic Islamic response

to Zionism - political rather than religious in origin. The Koran quotes

Moses (a prophet in the Islamic tradition) as commanding the newly freed

children of Jacob to conquer Israel: "Oh my people, enter the Holy Land

which God has assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for

then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin."

Even more surprising is the Koran's reference to the return of the

Jews to the Land of Israel before the Last Judgement: "And thereafter We

[Allah] said to the Children of Israel: Dwell securely in the Promised

Land."

Neither is there any Islamic justification for keeping Jews from

praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs or the Temple Mount. Mecca is the

only Islamic holy place off-limits for non-Moslems. "There is nothing in

Jewish worship that can be offensive for Moslems, and nothing in Islamic

law prevents Jews from praying in any place that is regarded as holy by

Moslems. Every time I meet those who say otherwise, I ask them to

identify a single authoritative Islamic source....None of them has ever

answered."

Prof. Palazzi holds that the historical record backs up his views.

Omar (Mohammad's successor) ended the Roman ban on Jews entering

Jerusalem. Saladin, after defeating the Crusaders, wrote to Jewish

leaders, "Your exile is over. Whoever wants to come back is welcome."

Prof. Palazzi lectures at the University of Velletri in Rome, and is

an ordained Imam of the Italian Islamic community. He holds a Ph.D. in

Islamic Sciences by decree of the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia.

(From _In Jerusalem_, 11 Feb 2000, p. 17)