Dear Walid,
I read your book "Dear Muslim, Let Me Tell
You Why I Believed", and to be
honest, it's a great book! It really influenced me a lot.
You see, about a year ago I renounced Islam and was searching for
the truth. In my search I went to Answering Islam
and I found your book. To be honest, the things I read in your book
regarding the Jews and your general attitude towards them and the
Modern State of Israel really upset me, they even made me almost
dismiss Christianity as a valid way to God for a while. But then
I asked some (Arab) Christian friends about their opinion on the
Jews and the modern State of Israel, and they helped me out. As
for me now as a Christian, I disagree with you on many issues.
The only reason I'm writing this email is because I want other
seekers (as I was about a year ago) to know two sides of how
(Arab) Christians view the Jews and the Modern Stae of Israel. My
aim is not to convince you and I won't try to. Each is entitled
to his/her own opinion.
You wrote:-
As I lived in Palestine
everyone I knew could trace there heritage back to the original
country their great grandparents came from. Everyone knew his
origins was not from the Canaanites, but ironically, that is the
kind of stuff our education included in the Middle East.
Well, it is true that many genealogies are traced to Arab tribes
from the (Persian) Gulf to the (Atlantic) Ocean. But many other
genealogies are lost. As you know, Arabs usually keep genealogies
that would make them proud! i.e. most of those who trace back to
Mohammad still have their family tree to prove it. Thus no Arab
would be proud of a genealogy which traces his origin back to the
Canaanites, so it was lost (or modified sometimes).
The thing now is, what happened to the Canaanites? We know that
there wasn't any Canaanite holocaust or something. What happened
to their descendents? I guess that they (among others who are
aboriginal Palestinians) are the modern-day Palestinians.
In an interview between
Zola Levit and Mr. Husseni, a right hand man to Yasser Arafat, in
a Zola Levit Television program, Mr. Husseni bluntly claims that
the Palestinians originated from the Jebusites before Abraham
moved to Israel, he clearly changed the historic fact to an
American audience who lacks in Eastern History to the fact that
today's Palestinians are immigrants from the surrounding nations.
I grew up well knowing the history and origins of today's
Palestinians as being from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco,
Christian from Greece, Muslim Sherkas from Russia, Muslims from
Bosnia, and the Jordanians next door. The well known civil and
tribal wars between the Yemmenite (from Yemen) and Kessites (from
Banu Kais of Saudi Arabia) was ignored by Mr. Husseni which is a
well known amongst the Palestinians.
As I said, many immigrated to Palestine, but many were natives
there - and both intermarried. I see nothing to disprove that the
Palestinians couldn't have been Jebusites. i.e. Can you prove
that I am not originally Turkish if you don't have my
genealogy? You can neither prove nor disprove it.
Most of the groups you mentioned such as the Moroccans, Greek,
Circassians (Sherkas), and Bosnians all together make up a small
minority of the Palestinians. You will find that most
Palestinians don't have their genealogies and don't really know
who/where they originated from - they only "assume".
Some may say that they are from the tribe of Quraysh (Mohammad's
tribe), and that they migrated like a thousand years ago, but if
they can't prove it then we have no solid evidence.
Now you may ask, what proof do I have that the Palestinians today
are largely descendents of the Canaanites and/or the surrounding
nations? Well,since we don't have any preserved genealogies, we
cannot tell. All I can say is what happened to the Canaanites?
Did they simply disappear? I don't think so.
Now, and just for the sake of argument, I want to assume that the
Modern-Day Palestinians are all immigrants (just for the sake of
argument). And assuming that the Jews were there (in Palestine)
first. Does that give them the right to kick out all Modern-Day
Palestinians?
Consider this scenario. It is a well-known undebated fact that
the Native Americans (Red Indians) were in the US loooong before
the white man, the black man, or any other race for that matter.
Does that give them the right to expel all non-Native Americans
and reclaim their land? After all, they were in America first,
and the land most definitely did belong to them.
The Jewish nation, as a
political entity, started at the great exodus of Israel from
Egypt about 1,500 B.C. Israel was a land promised by God.
I agree. God promised Israel the Land of Canaan. But tell me,
will God kill innocent people in order to deliver his promise?
Answer this for me if you will, when God started his promise to
Abram (Abraham) he said,
"In the fourth
generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of
the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." Genesis 15:16 [NIV]
The sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. The
Pagan wicked Amorites were spared and the promise delayed in
spite of all their iniquity because their sin "has not yet
reached its full measure"! They were idolatrous Pagans, and
God's love delayed the promise until their sin reaches "its
full measure".
The Palestinians are Christians and Muslims who worship One God -
The God of Israel. God spared the idolatrous Amorites and delayed
the promise for them because their sin wasn't yet up to "its
full measure", wouldn't have he delayed his promise for the
sake of the Monotheistic Palestinians who definitely worship God
more truthfully than the Pagan idolatrous Amorites?
Many of my Christian
friends advised not to mention Israel in this writing, but I must
warn my beloved people, whom I always pray for.
You should have taken heed of their advice.
The Jew has been an
object of extermination in one country after the another, and
many times they have been on the verge of annihilation. Several
attempts in history has ended with absolute failure, as God has
promised to preserve them. An unconditional agreement between God
and Abraham.
The Jews were persecuted a lot. One of the most persecuted
peoples on earth. But they are not the only ones. Take the Native
Americans, the Armenians, the Gypsies, etc... But all of this is
irrelevant. Persecution is irrelevant to the Jews and Palestine.
Islam teaches a form of
replacement theology unlike the West has ever known. Some believe
that the Church is the Israel the Bible was speaking about. The
replacement of all the promises that God gave to Israel is now
forwarded to the Church.
To the replacement
theology followers, there was no need for Israel anymore.
"A man is not a Jew if
he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and
physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by
the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from
God." Romans 2:28,29 [NIV]
I myself don't believe in any replacements, but according to
Paul, a Jew isn't a person who is circumcised, but a true
believer in God. Do you - as a Christian - believe that the Jews
nowadays are following YHVH truthfully?
If you want to take it from a Christian perspective, only the
Messianic Jews would be classified as Jews according to the above
verse because only the Messianic Jews believe that Jesus is the
Messiah.
From a Jewish perspective, the Modern State of Israel is
definitely not a biblical one. They are secular,
they do not follow the word of YHVH.
The world pressure
against Israel who divided the land to a Palestinian state and a
Jewish state is temporal, it is not without repercussions as it
angers God.
If it were the Biblical Israel , I would have agreed. But it
isn't. It is just named Israel, but what's in a name? The content
is what's important.
Personally, I think that the killing of the Monotheistic
Palestinians, taking their rights away, treating them like
animals, and exiling them from their land is what angers God.
[From your testimony] My name
is Walid, I was born in Bethlehem, Israel.
It is officially Bethlehem, the West Bank (Palestine), and it
would always be Palestine (not Israel) to me until the true
Israel comes.
[From your testimony] Yes I
say it to the whole world, I love Jews, I love them because of
their Messiah, I love them because they brought light to the
world, and through them came the light and the truth, for that I
love Jews.
I love the Jews too, as much as I love the Americans, the
Germans, the British, the Africans, the Asians, the Arabs, and my
fellow man in general.
The Jews weren't the ones who "brought light to the
world" as you said at first, but it is God who brought it through
them. God and not the Jews. God is not a Jew. The man
Jesus is, but YHVH isn't.
You can call me anti-Semitic. But since I'm an Arab (Ishmaelite -
Semite), that statement would be self-contradictory. I have no
problem with the Jews. I don't believe that they should be kicked
out of Palestine (not Israel yet), they have human rights. The
Arabs have rights too. The Israelis (not the Jews) are definitely
not giving the Palestinians their rights.
I myself am not Palestinian by decent. Most my friends are, and I
have a Palestinian root. I am simply a Human Being, of the tribe
of Ishmael.
A dear brother of mine is a Palestinian, he is a believer. Five
members of his immeadiate family (Christian) were killed by the
Israelis. Is that what God wants the Jews to do? It is definitely
his will (since everything is his will - good or bad), but is
that how he delivers his promises?
You may have noticed that I'm a bit emotional in this email, and
that it (the email) isn't very scholarly written. But my aim is
not to convince anyone of anything. The matter I'm trying to
conclude in one short email has been debated in many looong
debates and still not resolved. All I want to do is to let the
others out there know that your view (which is a view I totally
respect) isn't the only view held by a Christian.
In the end I would like to thank you brother for a book well
written. It has lots of valuable information that has really
helped me in my quest. May the Lord bless you.
Yours in Christ,
MaSeeHi