Saudi Cleric Mamdouh Al-Harbi: Muslims' War Is with the Jews, Not Just Zionists

In a lecture titled "Who Will Liberate Al-Aqsa," Saudi cleric Sheikh Mamdouh Al-Harbi said that the Muslims' war is with the Jews, not just with Zionists, adding that saying otherwise "constitutes a denial of the words of Allah and of the Prophet Muhammad." The lecture was posted on Al-Harbi's YouTube channel on July 26.

In a previous MEMRI TV clip, dated May 22, 2015, Al-Harbi said that "the concept of terrorism is a blessed one" and that it is "required by the Shari'a." He further said that the only meaning of jihad is fighting the infidels, stressing that the term "jihad," which "lies in the magnificent Quran," "does not apply to anything other than fighting."

Sheikh Al-Harbi (b. 1966) is an independent researcher examining sects, religions, and civilizations. He has authored several books; at least two of them were anti-Shi'ite and called for killing apostates.[i

Sheikh Mamdouh Al-Harbi: "The Prophet Muhammad foretold that we would kill the Jews. He foretold that we would kill the Jews. Let nobody claim [that the Prophet talked] about us killing the Zionists. Anyone who claims that our war is with the Zionists rather than the Jews is mistaken. This constitutes a denial of the words of Allah and of the Prophet Muhammad. Our war is with the Jews, not [just] with the Zionists, even though the Zionists are among the most dangerous kind of Jews. But the war is with the Jews. What Allah said in the Quran, and what the Prophet Muhammad said in the true Sunna... The Prophet did not say: 'the Zionists.' He said: 'the Jews' – even though the Zionists are among the worst of them. So I say: Our war on Judgement Day will be with the Jews.

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"The Prophet Muhammad said: 'Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims will kill them, and the Jews will hide behind stones and trees.'

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"'The stones and trees will say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah..."' Pay attention now: '"Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him."' The Prophet said: 'Except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews.' The Gharqad tree is an ugly tree, full of thorns. That tree will not speak because it is with the Jews."