IT’S ABOUT RELIGION - The conflict in the Middle East and beyond is about the dominance of Islam
By: Joseph Puder
Friday, August 23, 2024
Last week I had the privilege of hearing the “Son of Hamas,” Mosab Hassan Yousef, address our community. What stood out was his passionate and, at times, frustrated tone when addressing the conflict between Islam and the West and, more specifically in the Middle East, between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran as being religious in nature. This conflict isn’t about self-determination or a territorial dispute, nor is it about a two-state solution or, even a Palestinian state. It is about Israel being a non-Muslim entity in a region that is viewed by the inhabitants as Dar-al-Islam - the Domain of Islam.
The major proponent of the ideology that seeks to make the world the domain of Islam is the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hassan al-Banna, a native of Egypt, founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, following Turkey’s abolishment of the Caliphate in 1924. Al-Banna preached a return of Muslims to the Quran and Hadith as guidelines for a healthy and modern society. His ideas spread rapidly throughout the Middle East including Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and North Africa.
Following in his footsteps was Sayyid Qutb, a teacher and writer, whose book Signposts in the Road (1964) outlined the ideological framework of the Muslim Brotherhood and serves as a template for Sunni-Muslim radicalism. Having studied in the United States (1948-1950), Qutb returned to his native Egypt where he militated against Western ideologies of secularism and materialism. And he sought to reverse the Western influences that had seeped into the Muslim world during the past 300 years.
Qutb declared that all human societies had entered a new cycle of paganism (what he called Jahiliya) by excluding "true religion" from their daily life and transactions. This state of affairs demanded the restitution of Islam as the only legitimate system capable of guiding humanity in all its endeavors. According to Qutb, nationalist and terror organizations such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization, contradicted Islam, albeit sharing the same goal of Islamic religious dominance and the ultimate liquidation of Israel. Qutb asserted that Muslims are one nation and must not be split into particular nation states. Consequently, the Islamic state must function the same way it functioned in the time of the First Caliphs (seventh century CE). War and peace, he believed, should be handled in the way the Prophet Mohammad dealt with those issues. Accordingly, Hamas should have and did kill Israeli prisoners, raped women, kidnapped children and the elderly and, used them as hostages. This, moreover, is the way the Muslim Brotherhood armies will act, if and when, enabled.
By and large, the Western world moved away from religion as a principal factor in the political arena after the European 30-Years War (1618-1648). The 21st century religion of the West is political correctness, equality, inclusion, diversity, and multiculturalism. It will be the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood who, by taking advantage of western freedom and inclusion, will bring about its downfall. Europe has, in large measure, already submitted to radical Islam and is far gone, and the US is not far behind.
Since October 7, 2023, we have seen mobs of protesters on campuses and in capital cities across the US and around the world, flying the flags of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The mainstream media has been on the scene providing them with a platform to express their antisemitism and intolerance, without any significant journalistic coverage questioning the rioters about what their chants really mean. We have seen similar embraces of radical Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood variety in the US Congress, almost exclusively among the growing “progressive wing” of the Democratic party. It is apparent that the West does not take the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood as serious. Nor does it recognize the Muslim Brotherhood waging a religious jihad against the West, albeit surreptitiously.
To speak of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, or of a two-state solution is to miss the whole point. A two-state solution, at this time, would be a “Final Solution” for the Jewish State. Hamas rule would prevail in the Palestinian areas, whether in a democratically arranged election or, by seizing power as happened in Gaza in 2007. Once Hamas prevails it is a certainty that more “October 7’s” will occur and, any chance for peace in the Middle East would evaporate. And a victory for Hamas would also empower the Muslim Brotherhood globally, with Europe and the US being the next targets for “October 7” massacres.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father was one of the founders of Hamas, and grew up with that cult of violence and murder and, escaped from his hellish experience, is a perfect witness and a voice to be heeded. He has made it clear that there can be no compromise with Palestinians -neither Fatah nor Hamas. The struggle for them is not about land or self -determination, which could have been achieved in 1937, 1947, with the 1993 Oslo Accords, etc. They refused to compromise as long as it meant a Jewish state would continue to exist.
Israel is on the front lines of a civilizational struggle. An Israeli victory against Hamas, and the elimination of its power base in the Palestinian areas might give a Middle East peace a chance. The defeat of Hamas would incentivize Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords and create a strong defensive bulwark against Iran and its proxies. Yet, the West, and the Biden administration are failing to grasp the simple reality that for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, it is a religious war against Israel, and ultimately against the Western world.