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Egyptian-German scholar Dr. Hamed Abdel-Samad discussed the treatment of the Jews in the Quran, and said that an entire tribe was punished for what the Prophet Muhammad perceived to be the intentions of one man. "Either he just invented this, or else he was hearing voices in his paranoid head and was hallucinating," Abdel-Samad said of the Prophet Muhammad, and asked: "Is this the divine logic of God, who proclaimed Himself to be Merciful?" In his lecture, which was posted on the Internet on November 7, 2016, Abdel-Samad further said: "Our Lord gives His blessing to theft, the holy theft upon which the entire Islamic economy was based."
Hamed Abdel-Samad: "The Quran says: 'Do not argue with the People of the Book except in the best manner.' The Quran set the principle for dialogue, and then failed to abide by it. The Quran determined that 'the best manner' is the principle for dialogue, but then started cursing the Jews, calling them 'apes and pigs.' It had no problem referring to the Jews as 'the worst of living creatures.' Where did the etiquette of dialogue go?
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"The Jews were the role model [for the Prophet Muhammad], to the point that he was praying in the direction of Jerusalem. But when he said to them: 'I am a prophet, as is written in the Torah,' they said to him: 'We checked in the Torah, but couldn't find your name.' The same thing happened with the Christians.
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"This is when conspiracy theory comes into play: 'The Christians and the Jews saw my name in their [scriptures], so they distorted the Torah and the New Testament, so that my name would not appear there.'
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"A vision came upon [Muhammad] when he was talking with [the Jews] of the Nadhir tribe. He was discussing regular daily matters with them. That's when he had this vision of Gabriel, who told him that a Jew was about to throw a rock on him from a rooftop and kill him. Either he just invented this, or else he was hearing voices in his paranoid head and was hallucinating. He didn't get only the man who supposedly had intended to... The law does not hold people accountable for intentions, but only for actions. Did anyone throw a rock? No. All the Islamic sources say so. But Gabriel told him that someone had intended to throw a rock. Okay, grab that individual and hold him accountable. Kill him. Fine, whatever. But to round up the entire tribe and to cut down their palm trees, and to take over their fields and their homes... And the Quran celebrates this.
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"This is what 'corruption upon the land' should mean: Cutting down the palm trees of the Jews and driving them from their homes, just because of a vision he had, just because he dreamt that one of them would throw a rock at him. Is this the divine logic of God, who proclaimed Himself to be Merciful?
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"'Then because of their violation of their covenant, their disbelief in the revelations of Allah, and their wrongful slaying of the prophets...' Did any of the Jews in Medina kill a prophet? Can you tell me the name of the prophet and of the Jew who killed him?
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"'So you see those in whose hearts is disease hastening into association with them, saying: 'We are afraid a misfortune may strike us.' The believers, the Muslims, might have a Jewish or a Christian friend. They say that they have joint interests, and so on... No. These ties must be severed. Terrorism begins here – when you think that our Lord tells you not to trust this one or that one... Let's say that your son is in a European country, or even in a country like Egypt, Syria, or Lebanon. He goes to school and all around him are Christians, Jews, and even atheists. How can he live with them and trust them? How can he coexist with them in a healthy environment? How can they cooperate or work together in the same company? The Quran aims to isolate [the Muslims] from the rest of humankind. It distances them from everyone else. You should be only with people who love the Prophet Muhammad, wage Jihad with him, and pay him money. Anyone else should be renounced.
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"The last Jewish tribe [in Medina] were Banu Qurayza. They were the last Jewish group and the richest among them, and their fortress was impregnable.
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"[The Prophet Muhammad] laid siege to them, until the children came out because they had nothing left to eat. They surrendered and gave themselves up. What did he do with them? He cut off their heads. Why? Because they did not help him and did not pay him anything. The Quran celebrates this event: 'He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Book from their fortresses, and cast terror into their hearts. Some you killed and some you made prisoners. He made you heirs of their lands, their homes, and their good, a land that you did not tread before. And Allah has power over all things.' Our Lord gives His blessing to stealing and plundering. 'He made you heirs of their lands and their homes...' Why? They did not work for it. Who built them? Was any of the Muslims a builder, who could build a house? Was any of them a farmer, who could sow a field? Why should they take their fields, their lands, and their property? It is a lie. It is theft. In the Quran, our Lord gives his blessing to theft, the holy theft upon which the entire Islamic economy was based. This is how the Quran deals with the Jews."
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