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In a February 22, 2019 Friday sermon at the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, New Jersey, Imam Baker Assaf warned his followers not to joke about Hitler “not finishing the job,” and said that hate should be directed toward the "theology and practice" that is Zionism rather than the Jewish religion. Imam Assaf said that the IDF Chief Rabbi had issued a religious verdict instructing soldiers to rape Palestinian women to boost morale and that a chief rabbi at Ben Gurion University had made statements to the same effect. Imam Assaf said that the few Muslims – no more than “a portion of a fraction” – who carry out terrorist attacks may be “psychologically messed up” because of some trauma, such as witnessing their sister being gang-raped. He further said that while homosexuality would never be accepted in Islam, "we are not kicking anybody off the Empire State Building," since Muslims are living in a non-Muslim country that does not follow shari'a law. The sermon was streamed live on ICPC Pateron's YouTube channel. Baker Assaf teaches classes regularly at the Muslim Student Association of New Jersey Institute of Technology, and he served as the president of the NJ chapter of the AlMaghrib Institute.
Following are excerpts:
Baker Assaf: We were sitting down during lunch break with some of my co-workers – and they are not Muslim. Something appeared in the news that morning. There was a Muslim sister who was a medical doctor, and she had written all over her social media, in Arabic, how frustrated she was with the condition of the world. She said: "If I could, as a medical practicing doctor in the United States, I would give the yahud…" – which is the Arabic word for Jewish people – "I would give them incorrect medication, so that they can suffer and die for what they have done to the Muslims in Palestine."
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And then [the non-Muslims] said: "Is it true? I also heard that you Muslims hate gay people – that you are supposed to take them to the Empire State Building, stone them, and then kick them off."
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Where did this confusion happen, amongst the Muslims – that we all of a sudden hate Jewish people? Where did that come from? Where did this practice of if something goes wrong… There is a statement that a lot of Arabs say: May Allah curse the Jewish people. Where does it come from? It is not in the Quran. It is in certain instances, because of certain things that had happened in that situation. When somebody wants to say: "God might be cheap." Oh, excuse me.
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Where did [the Muslim doctor] get this from? Where did this [expression], "may Allah curse the Jews" come from? I will tell you where it came from. There is a misunderstanding of where to direct that hate, and it is towards Zionism – not the Jewish religion.
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Then you might say: "Wow, that is where it comes from." And I said: If you think that Muslims don't have a right to be upset with Zionism, then just look at the quotes that you get from this kind of theology and practice. You have the Chief Rabbi of the IDF having a statement that says the following… He issued a religious verdict, a fatwa. He said that if you wanted to boost the morale of the soldiers – you find it down a little bit… He said: "Have them rape the Palestinian women to boost morale." That is a fatwa from the high priest, the high rabbi. That's Christians and Jews alike. You have one of the chief rabbis in Ben Gurion University saying: "If you want to control the Palestinian people"… He said: "Go after their women, because they are very sensitive to that." He said: "Rape their women."
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Yes, we should not be joking as any Muslim, Palestinian, or anyone who has suffered by these kind of tyrants, about "Oh, [Hitler] didn't finish the job, he let them live because he wanted to show the world why he did that with them."
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The Prophet told us: "Do not curse their god. Do not curse who they worship. Do not make fun of them." Why? Because then they will curse Allah. What is more hurtful? That they are going to respond like that. So you have to think a little bit more wisely, as a Muslim.
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If a billion plus people are following [Islam], and when you add up the people who are carrying out these plots and plans – it doesn't even hit a portion of a fraction. Couldn't you ask: Maybe something is wrong with these people? Maybe you ought to ask that. What happened with them? Maybe they became psychologically messed up? Maybe somebody witnessed his sister get gang-raped by 30 people, and then all he wanted to do was kill as many people as he could the rest of his life?
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I said: "[Regarding] homosexuality, you are right." Homosexuality will never be accepted in our religion. That is a fact.
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We live in a non-Muslim country that does not practice shari'a law, and Allah instructed us to follow the law of the country we live in. Very simply put. So we are not kicking anybody off the Empire State Building.
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