Tareq Baddar, a Kuwaiti writer and film producer for Nawras Media, published an article criticizing preachers who incite against Jews in mosques and speak at length about their lowliness and evil, while ignoring the acts of tyrannical Muslims throughout history, such as Arab leaders or members of ISIS. According to Baddar, these preachers earn a living by preaching submissiveness and passivity. He added that even if Israel was wiped from the map, Muslims would continue to fight each other.
The following are excerpts from the article:
Tareq Baddar (image: twitter.com/tareqbaddar)
"Our filming [of the piece we are currently working on] began last Friday at around 10 am, and by Friday evening prayers, we had finished half of our work... My colleagues and I went to the nearest mosque... I sat there for half an hour and listened to a sermon that originated in ancient history. Most of the sermon [was dedicated] to warning of the Jews - their evil, deceit, cunning, backwardness, and lowliness. [It claimed] that the world was in its current state because of the Jews - that the Jews undoubtedly played a part in all wars and disasters, big and small, and that Jews are behind every transgression, ever murder, and every act of corruption. Naturally, the sermon ended with [the phrase]: 'Oh Allah, glorify Islam and the Muslims.'
"I left the sermon in a bad mood, and in order to rid myself of it, I must dissect this matter:
"The sheikh forgot that my religion - and his - permits marriage to a Jewish woman, which means a Jewish woman could be a wife, a maternal aunt, a paternal aunt, even a mother. How many Jews live in Yemen, Iraq, and Morocco? How nice for me to be in your mosque while my Jewish mother sits at home and hears me say 'amen' when you curse her.
"The sheikh forgot that, in the miserable sermons he delivers from his pulpit, he has been calling 'oh Allah, glorify Islam and the Muslims' for decades, but to no avail. He never asked himself why [this glory never materialized], since he had a clear answer: Because the Jews have taken everything we ever had.
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"The sheikh forgot that Qadhafi, Saddam, Mubarak, and Bashar Al-Assad... and the group [of leaders] who succeed them, as well as Yazid, Djemal Pasha, Abu Muslim Al-Khurasani, Al-Hajjaj[1] and their ilk from history - were [all] Muslim tyrants, blood-letters, and criminals.
"The sheikh forgot that thousands of evil, cruel Muslims established and run the so-called 'Islamic State organization' and joined it, and that they exported to the world models of unimaginable murder, abuse, and expert extermination.
"The sheikh forgot that the greatest of the Arab seductress singers is Muslim [likely a reference to Haifa Wehbe], that the owners of shows on dance and seduction channels are Muslims, and that pornographic websites, chatrooms, and apps were made and are run by Muslims.
"The sheikh forgot that the people in charge of torture in our country are Muslim.
"And perhaps the sheikh does not know that 'Abdallah bin Saba the Jew is a fictional character, [2] though he certainly fits his image of the quintessential Jew.
"How can people allow themselves to stand atop pulpits and deliver sermons for many years using the same expressions, stories, and quotes... The best among them memorize their sermons and teach their followers to memorize them by recitation. The worst among them carry notes, and if they drop them, then 'there goes the sermon.' Both kinds earn a living doing this work...
"There are numerous religious proofs, whether quotes or deeds, that I could think of to argue with the preacher, interrupt him, or correct him, but I made do with knitting my brow and leaving the mosque quickly after the prayer. [Apparently I am either] very lazy or just a coward...
"The prophecies regarding the end of the Jews (or of Israel) are soothing prophecies that preach submissiveness, just like the cry: "Oh, Allah, destroy the oppressors at the hands of [other] oppressors, and deliver us unscathed from their midst." True, the world is sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes up and sometimes down - [while] we Muslims sit in our chairs and wait for everything to calm down, so we can take it all. [But even if] Israel vanishes, we will return to our glorious old habit: fighting each other, of course..."[3]
Endnotes:
[1] Referencing a series of historical Muslim rulers who were known for their cruelty. Yazid bin Mu'awiya ibn Abu Sufyan aka Yazid I (647 - 683 CE) was the second Umayyad caliph; Djemal Pasha (1872-1922) was the Ottoman ruler who played a part in the Armenian genocide; Abu Muslim Al-Khurasani (c718 - 755 CE) was an Abbasid general who helped topple the Umayyad dynasty; and Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf Al-Thaqafi (661 - 714 CE) was a governor of Iraq in the Umayyad Caliphate.
[2] According to some accounts, 'Abdallah bin Saba was a Jewish convert to Islam who became a disciple of the fourth Caliph, 'Ali bin Abu Talib, whom he considered to be divine, and therefore incited against the third Caliph, 'Othman bin 'Affan, bringing about his murder. Some consider bin Saba to be a historic figure and attribute to him the foundations of the Shi'ite faith', while others claim that he is a legendary figure invented by enemies of Shi'ites.
[3] Huffpostarabi.com, May 24, 2016.
