Above is a picture of my daughter, from February 2020, taken at Kol Ami, Flower Mound, Texas. She stood there to view the Torah scroll, kept in the Ark at the front of the chapel. I was visiting with my family and the Daughters of Abraham group, at the synagogue Kol Ami, because there had been some type of a hate incident. My daughter was given the honor to stand in front of the scroll. Masha'Allah! This is not the first time I have visited a synagogue with my family and will not be the last - insha'Allah!
I read somewhere in a post about an exchange between a Jewish father with his son where he was responding to his kid's question about why 'Jews are hated'. Let me create a conversation about this post from several angles insha'Allah.
Angle 1: Teach your children the principles of Morality, Truth, and Justice more strongly than you teach them your political ambitions - it's being a gardener vs being the carpenter approach when you are a parent. You are not trying to create a clone of yourself. You are trying to develop a child who has solid principles to grow with but is not a cult member of a group of which you are the head. I don't know how many media images or gory news this Jewish father shared with his son, but let me tell you about my house. I never share any gory news or images. With all the conflict going on around us:
1) I don't want my children to be exposed to traumatic images
2) I don't want my children to become haters
3) I want my children to absorb everything about Islam but not 200% of my political opinions.
4) More on #3 - I want my children to be well-differentiated - insha'Allah- a very important psychological principle. I want them to develop their political identities based upon solid 100% Islamic principles but I don't want my children to embody or parrot all 200% of my political opinions. I am not trying to create a cult.
5) More on #3 - I saw a Jewish woman talking in favor of the idiotic "Dallas stands with Israel" resolution at the Dallas City Hall the other day. She proudly tells everyone how her two kids and her son's fiancé are serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. I wanted to shriek out to that woman - "YOUR CHILDREN ARE KILLERS". But, I restrained myself. I am not going to be bragging in a city hall meeting about my children serving in some foreign army and that too being a part of a killer army gone rogue. May Allah help us all. A'meen.
Angle 2: Discuss the problems with your own group as well! This Jewish father is pretty disingenuous to blame everything on 'Jew Hatred'. I am assuming that this particular father has not discussed how the Apartheid State of Israel has occupied, blockaded, stolen, and killed in the occupied territories. This Jewish father will probably disingenuously blame every GENUINE (following the principles of Just War) or DISINGENUOUS (defying the principles of Just War and/or conducting Terrorism) RESISTANCE MOVEMENT on Anti-Semitism. For such people, everyone that dislikes you must do it because of your race or religion or because of some demographic that you are in. You can't just be a murderous monster for people to hate you. So if anyone dislikes this this Jewish lady who has sent 3 of her kids to the Israeli Defense Forces to kill innocent civilians, it has to be because they are a hater of all Jews. I am not sure where such behavior comes from - Malicious Wickedness or some kind of Mental Health Delusional Disorder. I discuss with my children problems with Pakistanis, Pakistan, Saudis, and even this stupid organization - Hamas - whom I do not consider a true representative of Palestinians. In fact, today I asked 3 Palestinian acquaintances at my kids' school if they consider Hamas to be their representative. They said that they live in America and have no idea what the various supposedly Muslim factions are doing in occupied territories.
Coming back to how we talk about Bani Israel - the tribe of Yaqub/Jacob/ Israel - it is mentioned a lot in the Quran. God reminds them that they have been preferred above other nations:
Children of Israel! Recall My favor which I bestowed upon you, exalting you above all nations. [Quran 2:47]
But then they are reminded also to stop siding with the disbelievers against the believers.
You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve [Quran 5:80]
As much as the Quran chastises the Jews for killing messengers:
˹They were condemned˺ for breaking their covenant, rejecting Allah’s signs, killing the prophets unjustly, and for saying, “Our hearts are unreceptive!”—it is Allah Who has sealed their hearts for their disbelief, so they do not believe except for a few— [Quran 4:155]
...the Quran also tells us that a group of Jews is on the right:
Had the People of the Book observed the Torah and the Gospel, and all that had been revealed to them from their Lord, sustenance would have been showered over them from above and risen from beneath their feet. Some among them certainly keep to the right path, but many of them do things that are evil [Quran 5:66]
The Quran also reminds us that Jews, along with the believers, will have a reward in the hereafter:
Surely, those who believed in Allah, and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabians, -whosoever believes in Allah and in the Last Day, and does good deeds - all such people will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no reason for them to fear, nor shall they grieve. [Quran 2:62]
To me, that group of Jews on the right path from Quran 5:66 are the Jewish newspapers like Haaretz or organizations like J Street. I see the blind Israel supporters like that Jewish woman in the Dallas City Hall but it's the Jews on the right path from Quran 5:66 that I focus more on. That's how I keep my humanity alive and that of my children. I want my children to know right from wrong but I don't want to ever transfer any irrational hate, I have inside of me, to them. I want them to be able to think for themselves based on Islamic principles but not be clones of myself based upon the most negativist inside me. Insha'Allah!
May Allah guide us all - the believers, the Jews, the Christians, and everyone else to the One Straight Path - Sirat ul Mustaqeem. A'meen.
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