Jordanian media last week quoted Egyptian clerics who declared that Jews are the descendants of pigs -- the only point of debate was whether they are direct descendants or not.
According to a report broadcast May 10 on the Al-Moheed Arab News Network and translated by the media watchdog group, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), "pigs in our time have their origins in Jews who angered Allah... and it is obligatory to kill and slaughter them."
The report quoted Sheikh Ahmed Ali Othman, supervisor of the Da'awa (Islamic Indoctrination) of the Egyptian Waqf (Authority of Islamic Holy Places), and head of its slaughtering division.
Othman based his ruling on a Koranic verse (Koran sura 5, verse 60) that refers to those that Allah (G-d) has cursed and "made into monkeys and pigs, and who have served abominations. Their place is worst of all, and their deviation is the greatest of all..." He added that this verse referred to the nation of the descendants of the prohet Moses.
An article published May 9 in the Jordanian newspaper Al-Hakika al-Dawliya also quoted the Egyptian cleric: "I personally tend towards the view that the pigs that exist now have their origins with the Jews, and therefore their consumption is forbidden..."
A second view, expressed by sheikh Ali Abu Al-Hassan, head of the Fatwa Committee (which issues rulings) at Al-Azhar [Sunni Islamic] University, does not draw a relationship between today's pigs and Jews.
Al-Hassan explained "when Allah punishes a group of people, He punishes only them. When Allah grew angry with the nation of Moses, He turned them into pigs and monkeys as an extraordinary punishment... but they died without leaving descendants."