By Dr. Nayyer Ali

Muslim Perspectives on Zionism


March 03, 2006

 

What is the Muslim perspective on Zionism? On its face, this is a rather odd question given that, and I am sure it comes as no great shock, Muslims are not Zionists. By this I mean that essentially no Muslims accept the basic premises and tenets of Zionism as an ideology. This does however beg the question, why aren’t there Muslim Zionists?
To take it from the other side, given that Muslims have great reverence for the Hebrew prophets, that the central human figure in the Qur’an is Moses, and that the Qur’an affirms there was a covenant granting the land of Israel to the Hebrews in exchange for obedience to God’s laws, it would seem that Muslims should be, if not actually Zionists, then at least sympathetic.
So what then is the Muslim critique of Zionism? Well, there is no single critique; in fact, there are at least three, with perhaps some additional variants on the core critiques. I would label these three critiques as the theological, the chauvinistic, and the justice critique. Each one of these has significant adherents, and some Muslims may subscribe to some combination of the three. Let me briefly touch on each one.
The theological critique is based on religious dogma. The Qur’an has many verses that deal with the Hebrews and their history, and with Jews as members of a religious community. Some are laudatory while others are critical. Read in totality, the Qur’an essentially commends Jews when they are faithful to God’s commands, and condemns them when they are not. Now recall that the Qur’anic revelation dates from the early 7th century CE, and for the new Muslims, the question was not why did the Jews get Israel, but why did they lose it over 600 years earlier. The long and short of it was that the Hebrews did not fulfill their part of the covenant, and so lost the land. The new covenant is through the Islamic revelation, and therefore the Jewish religious claim to Palestine is not valid.
The chauvinistic critique is one that is espoused by Wahhabism and the Jihadis, but is also widespread among many Muslims. It essentially sees the Muslim community or Ummah as a sort of super tribe, and Muslims are obligated to defend the tribe and maintain its power and prestige. As such, any entity which seeks to reduce the Muslim Ummah, geographically, culturally, politically, militarily, or otherwise, should be opposed. Sixty years ago, the only Muslims not living in European colonies were the Turks and the Saudis. This legacy of weakness is one that still resonates among Muslims. The Muslim chauvinist is hard to distinguish in his worldview from the rabid nationalists that have plagued humanity in the last 100 years. The difference though is that instead of focusing his loyalty on his nation or ethnic group, the focus is on the community of believers. The secular corollary of Muslim chauvinism was Arab nationalism, which had its heyday 40 years ago, but has been diminished by its visible failures. The chauvinistic critique views Zionism as just one more assault on the Muslim Ummah. Israel is a latter-day version of the Crusades, during which Palestine was under European rule for over 100 years before finally succumbing to Muslim power. The occupation of the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is particularly grating, though all Muslims do want those shrines to be part of Palestine.
The justice critique is based on the perceived rights of the Palestinian people themselves. Proponents of this view argue that Zionism, while not necessary inherently wrong, in practice was a direct assault on the Palestinian people, and therefore is morally unacceptable. This view argues that regardless of how benighted, ignorant, sparsely populated, illiterate, or uncouth the inhabitants of Palestine were in 1900, and no matter how poorly developed their sense of national identity may have been, they had inherently the right to refuse the Zionist project, and neither the British government nor Europe’s Jews could override that. Simply put, to use a medical analogy, Zionists were obligated to get informed consent from the Palestinians themselves before embarking on their project. Some Muslims would also argue that the dispossession of the Palestinians was an inherent feature of Zionism, and that there was no other way in the real world to realize the goal of a Jewish state, even though that was not explicit intent of all Zionists.
Given these critiques, what does this imply for Zionism and the future of Israel? Is implacable opposition by the Muslim world the only possible outcome? Conversely, must Muslims somehow be convinced about the rightness of Zionism for there to be a resolution of the conflict? I have no definite answers to this question, but I would point out a similar situation that exists in South Asia.
Pakistan was carved out of British India by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League party that he headed. Jinnah espoused a view called the “two-nation theory”, which claimed that South Asia contained two nations, one Hindu and the other Muslim, and therefore the Muslims of South Asia were entitled to a state of their own. On the back of this theory, which incidentally was opposed by religious leaders while supported by secular ones, he rallied the Muslims of British India to the cause of Pakistan. This movement was strongly opposed by the Congress Party and the Hindu majority, which had a “one-nation” theory that posited that all the inhabitants of India were a single nation, and should be granted independence as a single state.
Ever since partition, no Indian leader has accepted the validity of the two- nation theory, and most Indians continue to view the partition as wrong and an historical calamity. Among Pakistanis there remains a lingering suspicion that India would undo the partition if it ever could. Despite this India recognizes Pakistan as a reality and deals with it as a legitimate nation.
I think this model, one in which the Muslim world accepts the reality of Israel, while not becoming Zionist, would be a route toward a final peace. Such a model would not work too well with Muslims who have strong theological or chauvinistic view, but will work with Muslims whose critique of Zionism is justice based. But to get there, those Muslims must perceive that the legitimate justice issues have been resolved in an acceptable fashion. This would mean an end to the occupation, a truly sovereign and viable Palestinian state, and a just resolution of the refugee issue. Comments can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com.

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