Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, spiritual head of al-Azhar University and the leading Sunni imam in Egypt, has convened al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Academy, which issued a new fatwa, or edict, regarding use of the descriptor “monkeys and pigs” in reference to Jews. According to the new ruling, it is now forbidden to describe “present day Jews as ‘monkeys and pigs’,” reports Albawaba.com, the Arab news web portal.
This ruling would seem to represent a major shift in Tantawi’s view: last year, he delivered a sermon - like so many others delivered by various religious leaders throughout the Middle East - wherein he called Jews “the enemies of Allah, sons of pigs and apes.” The apparent shift, however, may be explained as a public relations maneuver. According to Albawaba.com, the International Islamic News Agency reported that the ruling “was adopted following a request by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that indicated that the embassy in Washington had learnt that there was objection among Americans to the use of this description of the Jews in sermons....”
While the new fatwa may forbid insulting Jews, it does nothing to forbid killing them in terrorist attacks. In April 2002, Tantawi preached that suicide bombings (“martyrdom”) carried out against Jews are the highest degree of jihad asked for in Islam and the Koran. He explained that anyone who blows himself up and an Israeli Jew is a martyr who will go to Paradise. That statement has yet to be reversed.
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This ruling would seem to represent a major shift in Tantawi’s view: last year, he delivered a sermon - like so many others delivered by various religious leaders throughout the Middle East - wherein he called Jews “the enemies of Allah, sons of pigs and apes.” The apparent shift, however, may be explained as a public relations maneuver. According to Albawaba.com, the International Islamic News Agency reported that the ruling “was adopted following a request by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that indicated that the embassy in Washington had learnt that there was objection among Americans to the use of this description of the Jews in sermons....”
While the new fatwa may forbid insulting Jews, it does nothing to forbid killing them in terrorist attacks. In April 2002, Tantawi preached that suicide bombings (“martyrdom”) carried out against Jews are the highest degree of jihad asked for in Islam and the Koran. He explained that anyone who blows himself up and an Israeli Jew is a martyr who will go to Paradise. That statement has yet to be reversed.
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Spend Passover with Arutz Sheva at a resort in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or Kfar Pines (near Hadera). Click here for info.