Reading The Quran Backwards

I have selected a few verses from the Quran (Koran?) and I suggest the real meaning:

1)

And We conveyed to the Children of Israel in the Scripture that, "You will surely cause corruption on the earth twice, and you will surely reach [a degree of] great haughtiness.

Surat Al-'Isrā' (The Night Journey) - سورة الإسراء 17:4

Ask yourselves, if we Jews caused corruption twice, is that a reference to the existence of the two Temples in Jerusalem and the two exiles, by Babylon and Rome?  After all, Solomon is mentioned.

Does that mean that to deny the Temple Mount as the site of our Temple is anti-Koranic?

2)

And We said after Pharaoh to the Children of Israel, "Dwell in the land, and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering."

Surat Al-'Isrā' (The Night Journey) - 17:104  سورة الإسراء

Ask yourselves, where is that "Land"?  Could it be the Land of Israel?  "Palestine" didn't exist then, sorry, Filastin didn't exist.
 
Does that mean that the Israelites really did come out of Egypt, according to the Koran, form themselves into a nation and then enter the Land of Israel, there to establish the Jewish national home, which was "reconstituted" with the major approbation of all the civilized world via the Balfour Declaration, the Versailles Peace Conference, the Weizmann-Feisal Letter, the San Remo Conference, the Mandate decision of the League of Nations and the Anglo-American Convention and the UN Partition recommendation?
 

3)

O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant [upon you] that I will fulfill your covenant [from Me], and be afraid of [only] Me.

Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow) - 2:40  سورة البقرة

Does that mean that Jews were in a special covenental relationsip with God, one that assured them their residency rights in the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance?

And is that strenghtened by this verse, which also resources the Torah (!):

And [recall] when We took your covenant, [O Children of Israel, to abide by the Torah] and We raised over you the mount, [saying], "Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it that perhaps you may become righteous."

Oh, the "Mount" is Sinai - or Moriah?
 

One more verse:
 
4)

O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and that I preferred you over the worlds.

Jews had preferential treatment? Do accomplish what? To be a light unto the nations? To teach the moral values of the Ten Commandments? To spread the words of the Prophets? To demonstrate how a nation can live on the Land in the proper fashion?

Please, read the Koran carefully.

It can teach you something.

^

Lawfare To Target Jerusalem - As A Jewish City

(k/t = Danny Seidmann)

Seems there are moves afoot:- Experts prepare to take Jerusalem case to The Hague

Arab experts on Wednesday took the first steps towards taking international legal action against Israel for ongoing excavations near the old city of Jerusalem. Arab archaeologists, conservationists and heritage experts met in Amman yesterday to gather what they claim are documented impacts of ongoing Israeli projects altering the identity of the Holy City.

The two-day gathering of the committee of experts, held under the auspices of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) at the Department of Antiquities (DoA), aims to take Israel to task for violations ranging from changing historical street names to excavations underneath Al Aqsa Mosque.

Once the documentation is complete, the committee will draft a report and issue recommendations for a case to be brought before the International Court of Justice, according to DoA Director Ziad Saad.

..."Israel has used Biblical texts to support their national narrative and have disregarded Arab-Islamic heritage," he said...."Israeli archaeologists themselves have disproved that this tunnel belongs to the time of David. They are using the project to claim that Jerusalem is first and foremost a Jewish city," said Raef Nijem, a conservationist who has worked on the renovation of Al Aqsa Mosque...Ismail Tellawi, secretary general of the Palestinian National Committee for Education and Science, said the committee, in its report, will also demand an increased role for UNESCO, which has listed the old city of Jerusalem on its endangered heritage sites list...

We've already been through this. Back in 1930-1931.

I blogged about it here.

Only fools are doomed to repeat a losing historical narrative, as the Arabs have promoted and continue to do so.

Starting from zero-mention quotient of Jerusalem in the Koran to the policy adopted by the Arabs of 'Temple Denial' (here in 2007 and recently here), the Arabs cannot recall a basic Jewish text, the "three cities" Midrash, here:

Midrash Rabbah - Genesis LXXIX:7 AND HE BOUGHT THE PARCEL OF GROUND, etc. (XXXIII, 19). R. Judan b. R. Simon said: This is one of the three places regarding which the nations of the world cannot taunt Israel and say, ' Ye have stolen them.’ These are they: The cave of Machpelah, the [site of the] Temple, and the sepulcher of Yosef HaTzaddik . The cave of Machpelah: And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver (Gen. XXIII, 16). The Temple: So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold (I Chron. XXI, 25). And Yosef HaTzaddik’s sepulcher: AND HE BOUGHT THE PARCEL OF GROUND.

[In the original Hebrew:

ז

ויקן את חלקת השדה אשר נטה שם אהלו וגו' במאה קשיטה

אמר רבי יודן בר סימון: זה אחד משלושה מקומות, שאין אומות העולם יכולין להונות את ישראל לומר: "גזולים הן בידכם" ואלו הן: מערת המכפלה, ובית המקדש וקבורתו של יוסף

מערת המכפלה, דכתיב (בראשית כג): וישמע אברהם אל עפרון, וישקול אברהם לעפרון

בית המקדש, דכתיב (ד"ה א כא): ויתן דוד לארנן במקום וגו'

וקבורתו של יוסף, (בראשית לג) ויקן את חלקת השדה, יעקב קנה שכם

As noted:

How tragically ironic it is that it is in regard to these very areas: Hebron, Shechem, and the Temple Mount, we are forced to stand up against the world to defend our rights of ownership.

And this teaching as an example of the intensity of Rabbinic literature regarding the value of Eretz-Yisrael:

“Pirkei Derabi Eliezer”(Chap. 36) serves as a basis for this teaching:

Abraham advised the Jebusites of his wish to buy the Cave of the Machpela, at a good price, for gold and a legal deed to the place that would be a burial site.

Were they Jebusites? Weren’t they Hittites?--but they were named Jebusites because of their proximity to Jebusite city.

They did not agree. He (Abraham) began kneeling and bowing to them, as it is said: ”And Abraham bowed in front of the people of the land”. They said to him: We know that the All-Mighty will give all of these lands to you and your descendants; enter into an oath with us that the sons of Israel will inherit the city of Jebus only with the consent of the Jebusite people.

Later he purchased the Cave of the Machpela with gold and an everlasting deed. When the people of Israel came into the Land of Israel, they wanted to enter into the Jebusite city. However, they were unable to do so because of Abraham’s oath and covenant with the Jebusites, as it is said: ”And the Jebusite-the settlers of Jerusalem, they (The people of Israel) did not inherit it. (Judges 1:21)

This Midrash comes to teach us, not that Avraham really relinquished Jerusalem, but that he saw Hebron as the foundation of the Jewish People in Israel, without which, we would never reach the holiness of Jerusalem.

And as for that Jebusite reference, see here and also here.

Well, will we see them at court?

^

Temple Mount Sacred to Muslims?

Good resource:

...For Muslims, Jerusalem is thought to be sacred for two reasons: First, Muslims were initially commanded to pray toward Jerusalem. But when the Jews refused to convert to Islam, Muhammad changed the prayer direction toward Mecca. Second, Muslims believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven and back from "the Rock" which much later after his death was interpreted to mean what is today the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Interestingly, Islamic sources from the first 50 years or so after Muhammad's death make clear that Jerusalem had absolutely no holy status for Muslims.

Some centuries later, Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) another important Muslim cleric with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Koran and Hadith, wrote extensively about Jerusalem, and how there were only two holy cities in Islam – Mecca and Medina...

Ibn Taymiyya went to great lengths to explain that the veneration of Jerusalem in nothing more than the "Judaization" of Islam...

Later, Ibn Taymiyya discussed the first caliphs and showed that when they ruled over today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, neither they nor any of the early governors nor any clerics made any attempt to build any structure over the Rock on the Temple Mount...How then, Ibn Taymiyya reasoned, could we who never knew them nor Muhammad have the right to disagree? There is no way we could know more about Islam than they. We therefore have no right to sanctity al-Aqsa because they did not do so.

In order to further strengthen his argument against Jerusalem's sanctity, Ibn Taymiyya wrote that during Muhammad's night journey to heaven from Jerusalem, there is no mention of the (Temple) Rock in the story. Therefore, since the Rock is not even mentioned, it has no importance in Islamic tradition.

...So how did Jerusalem become holy in Islam?

Read on.

Amazing Islamic Statement

This statement made by Hussein Mubarak, Consul General of Egypt, New York, in his letter to the NYTimes today:-

A Muslim cannot exist without a belief in Christianity and Judaism. The Bible and the Koran have several common convictions, including the irrefutable belief in a monotheistic God, Judgment Day and the existence of heaven and hell. Therefore, Muslims believe that Islam, Christianity and Judaism do not need to confront one another.

Well, what about this Koranic conviction that I posted a while ago:

THE QUR'AN SAYS THAT ALLAH GAVE THE LAND OF ISRAEL TO THE JEWS AND WILL RESTORE THEM TO IT AT THE END OF DAYS

THE QUR'AN SAYS:

"Pharoah sought to scare them [the Israelites] out of the land [of Israel]: but We [Allah] drowned him [Pharoah] together with all who were with him. Then We [Allah] said to the Israelites: 'Dwell in this land [the Land of Israel]. When the promise of the hereafter [End of Days] comes to be fulfilled, We [Allah] shall assemble you [the Israelites] all together [in the Land of Israel]." [Qur'an, "Night Journey," chapter 17:100-104]

SHAYKH PROF. PALAZZI COMMENTS:

God wanted to give Avraham a double blessing, through Ishmael and through Isaac, and ordered that Ishmael's descendents should live in the desert of Arabia and Isaac's in Canaan.The Qur'an recognizes the Land of Israel as the heritage of the Jews and it explains that, before the Last Judgment, Jews will return to dwell there. This prophecy has already been fulfilled. The fundamentalist Muslim program to use Islam as an instrument for political warfare against Jews finds a major obstacle in the Qur'an itself.

Both the Bible and the Qur'an state quite clearly that the right of the Israelites to the Land of Israel does not depend on conquest and colonization. This right flows from the will of almighty God Himself. Both the Jewish and Islamic Scriptures teach that God, through His chosen servant Moses, decided to free the offspring of Jacob from slavery in Egypt and to constitute them as heirs of the Promised Land. Whoever claims that Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel is something new and rooted in human politics denies divine revelation and divine prophecy as explicitly expressed in our Holy Books (the Bible and Koran).

The Qur'an relates the words by which Moses ordered the Israelites to conquer the Land:"And [remember] when Moses said to his people: 'O my people, call in remembrance the favour of God unto you, when he produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave to you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.'" [Qur'an 5:20-21]

Moreover - and those who try to use Islam as a weapon against Israel always conveniently ignore this point - the Holy Qur'an explicitly refers to the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel before the Last Judgment - where it says: "And thereafter We [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd.'" [Qur'an 17:104]

And see the original Arabic here (at the end of the post).

Did He "Throw It" or "Throw It Up"?

Brooklyn Man Accused of Throwing Quran in Toilet

NEW YORK -- A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions.

Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn, was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes. It's unclear if he was a student at the school.