Survival Of Palestine Threatened By Zionists

By Ismail Amsyar Mohd Said This is the third of four features on the Palestinian issue in conjunction with the recent seminar on 'Saving The Al-Aqsa Mosque From Zionist Threat'. KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- Palestine has never been free from unrest, except during the 1,300 years under the rule of Muslims. "During the Muslim rule, Christians and Jews lived peacefully. However, when they were in control, Muslims were brutally victimised and slaughtered," says Dr Zainur Rashid Zainuddin, the consultant at 'Aman Palestin'. According to historical accounts, when the Crusaders ruled Palestine in 1099, they slaughtered some 70,000 Muslims. "But when Solahuddin Al-Ayubi wrested back Palestine, he refrained from carrying out mass slaughter. He even arranged for transport to send the old and sick back to Europe," he explains. Solahuddin was a Kurdish warrior who liberated Palestine from the grip of Crusaders. To the Crusaders, he was known as 'Saladin'. Dr Zainur, who is the consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital in Seremban says that the act by Solahuddin and other Muslim rulers had shown their fairness to other religions when the Muslims ruled Palestine. WHY PALESTINE IS IMPORTANT? In an interview with Bernama, Sheikh Raed Solah who is the founder of 'Palestine 48' says that there are several reasons why Palestine is so important to Muslims. Baitulmuqadis was the Prophet's stopover during the Isra' and Mi'raj and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is mentioned numerous times in the Quran. Palestine is also the final resting place for hundreds of Muslim martyrs, right from the Prophet's time to the Uthmaniyyah era and it is the responsibility of all Muslims to defend and preserve the sanctity of this land. There were also many 'hadith' and hundreds of Muslim martyrs buried here, right from the Prophet's time till the era of Uthmaniyyah making it the responsibility of Muslims to defend this land. There are also many Hadith on Baitulmuqadis. The Hadith is the record of the sayings of the Prophet. (The Hadith has come to supplement the Holy Quran as a source of the Islamic religious law). JEWS, ZINONISTS The Jews are the people who believe in the 'kitab' or holy books. According to Sheikh Raed Solah, Muslims have no issues with the Jews as they are not the real enemy. According to the Quran, Muslim men can wed Jewish women and the food of the 'believers' is 'halal' for Muslims. The real enemies are the Zionists, who committed atrocities against Muslims in Palestine. Dr Zainur concurs with the views of the 'Palestine 48' founder on this issue. "We, as Muslims, have no quarrel with the Jews. We are not against Judaism. There bound to be issues when staying together in one state but the actual trouble originated from (land) seizures and atrocities committed by the Zionist-Jewish regime," he says. According to Dr Zainur, not only Muslims but the Christians in Palestine were also against the Zionists, adding that even the believers of 'Neturei Karta' (orthodox Jews) rejected the oppression. JEWS, JUDAISM, ZIONISTS Dr Zainur says that Muslims should understand the difference between 'Jews', 'Judaism' and 'Zionism'. Jews are a race of people while Judaism is the original Jewish religion, but not all Jews believe in Judaism as many were non-believers of religious faith. "Even Theodore Herzl who was the founder of Israel was an 'atheist'," says Dr Zainur. According to him, the real issue behind the Palestinian conflict is politics. "Zionism is the political belief aimed at creating a state for the Jews bordering the Nile in Egypt and Euphrates in Iraq. "They want to make Baitulmaqdis or Jerusalem the capital and rebuild the Solomon Temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he says. He concludes by saying that the Muslims and Orthodox Jews are against the ideology and political movement of the Zionists, not the Jewish race. -- BERNAMA