Whilst in Saudi Arabia, I was doing a TV show with the Minister of Islamic Affairs for the Kingdom. This is a very senior Islamic scholar who was a highly educated and intelligent man.
During our discussion before going on air, I asked him several questions:
Q. Was The Prophet Mohammed actually the founder of Islam?
A. Technically yes, however Allah always existed, he just used The Prophet Mohammed to interpret His word for man.
Q. So before he became the interpreter, he could not actually be Muslim as it didn't exist until then?
A. Yes
Q. So what religion was he before that?
A. Ah....er...this is a difficult question...
Q. How is it difficult? He must have been brought up in a religious environment?
A. Actually he was raised as a Coptic Christian!
Q. So he would have been exposed to the Bible then, the early unabridged version?
A. Yes, he would have learned it by hearing it told to him as he could not read or write.
Q. Have you read the Bible yourself?
A. Yes, I studied it at University as part of my overall religious education.
Q. So do you not find the similarities between the stories, parables and tales told in the Kor'an and those in the Bible to be more than a matter of chance?
A. Allah told The Prophet Mohammed these stories as they are a part of His word to man. Obviously they have similar origins.
Q. But surely these tales are about Jewish people in Palestine, not Christians, not Muslims because Christianity only came into being after the 'prophet' Jesus and Islam only came into existence after the Prophet Mohammed? So Islam is only in existence because of the Jews?
A. Er...if you look at it this way, yes.
Q. So how can you deny the existence of Israel, the Jewish homeland, which is actually Palestine as defined in the Bible, when your religion and your Kor'an is actually based directly on Judaiism?
A. We have no problem with the Jewish religion, only with the state of Israel.
Q. Why? The Jews have a legitimate claim to it by your own admission!
I never got an answer to that!
The political reasons given for the hatred of Israel are non defensible in a theological argument. They are purely ones of petty jealousy, bigotry political chicanery and anti semitism.
Anyone who wants to give me a SOUND argument can take it to the Philosophy and Religion Forum. I would be interested to hear open, fair debate from both sides without any jingoiistic tub thumping. Don't just spurt peurile religious hatred and dogma as I will ignore it!
Knight