passion and compassion

When I look at my lover, she blushes.

When I don't, my own heart is drained of blood.

The stars shine bright in the tears on her cheeks.

Without that light, my own tears turn to mud.

#584: From Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi

This morning, I've been trying to find any passage from sacred Islamic text (preferably Quran but maybe hadith) that justifies the Islamist view that any lands conquered for Islam remain Islamic forever. This Islamist view is often put forward in the context of Israel's legality but sometimes goes so far as claiming that Spain remains an Islamic territory. After some searching, I found instead an intriguing man quoting Quranic authority in favour of the current Jewish occupation of Israel. This man is Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi.

Way back in a 1998 article titled What the Qur'an really says, Palazzi argues that the Quran explicitly acknowledges Jewish rights to the land of Israel, including Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

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]

Therefore, from an Islamic point of view, there is NO fundamental reason which prohibits Muslims from recognizing Israel as a friendly State.

In 2000, he wrote:

Countries like SUDAN, IRAN and AFGHANISTAN are easily identified as radical, totalitarian and enemies of the Western world, but their contribution to the international network of pseudo-Islamic fundamentalism is insignificant. On the contrary, the powerful structure of the Muslim Brotherhood is mainly supported by those countries which are regarded as moderate or 'friends of the West': SAUDI ARABIA, KUWAIT and the ARAB EMIRATES.

source

In a recent (September 12, 2005) interview with Jamie Glazov: The Anti-Terror, Pro-Israel Sheikh, Palazzi had these astonishing words to say on the US war on terror:

To win a war, one must identify who the enemy is and neutralize the enemy's chain of command. World War Two was won when the German army was destroyed, Berlin was captured and Hitler removed from power. To win the War on Terror, it is necessary to understand that al-Qa'ida is a Saudi organization, created by the House of Sa'ud, funded with petro-dollar profits by the House of Sa'ud and used by the House of Sa'ud for acts of mass terror primarily against the West, and the rest of the world, as well.

Consequently, to really win the War on Terror it is necessary for the U.S. to invade Saudi Arabia, capture King Abdallah and the other 1,500 princes who constitute the House of Sa'ud, to freeze their assets, to remove them from power, and to send them to Guantanamo for life imprisonment.

Then it is necessary to replace the Saudi-Wahhabi terror-funding regime with a moderate, non-Wahhabi and pro-West regime, such as a Hashemite Sunni Muslim constitutional monarchy.

Unless all this is done, the War on Terror will never be won. It is possible to destroy al-Qa'ida, to capture or execute Bin Laden, al-Zarqawi, al-Zawahiri, etc., but this will not end the War. After some years, Saudi princes will again start funding many similar terror organizations. The Saudi regime can only survive by increasing its support for terror.

In that same article, Palazzi claims to have studied Sufism while in Cairo and in his current (Feb 2006) biography, he claims to be "Rome Khalifa (Representative), Tariqah al-Qadiriyyah (Qadiriyyah Sufi Order)". There is great deal of both charlatan and madman in this Palazzi, however I'm inclined to think there may be a curious grain of truth here worth chewing on.

Sheikh Palazzi @ IntelligenceSummit.org

And what of sweet Rumi today? In the first two lines, I see quite a frank erotic feeling expressed. It doesn't take much to imagine that the heart in the second line refers to an organ further down which needs the sight of this beautiful woman to remain engorged. In the second two lines, intense sadness and compassion are expressed. Without the light of compassion, sadness can easily leave the soul wallowing in the mud of depression and despair. Sexual and spiritual love are thus brought together in this little verse and a feeling of peace and hope reigns supreme.