Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

This is a review of a Jewish book entitled Monotheistic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, written by a Jewish freelance writer living in Philadelphia. The writer tackles the origin of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, explaining some differences between the three religions in issues related to the Prophet Isma‘il, his mother Hāgar and the episode of his sacrifice. While Christians and Jews believe that Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, Muslims believe that the sacrifice was with Ismail as mentioned in the Holy Koran.

 

This is a very important point since according to the book, Jews believe, that they are God's chosen people as long as they keep their covenant with Him; while Muslims believe that their covenant with God depends on faith and not by descent or ethnic parentage (genealogy), contrary to the Jews.

 

As for the Christian doctrine which believes that Jesus is God, the book says that the issue was considered by the Jews as a "heresy" because it is inconsistent with the principle of uniformity, and thus the Jews agree with the Muslims in this matter.

The book also said that the world was turned upside down following the emergence of Islam in the seventh century and appearance of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) amidst a corrupted culture where the tribe of Quraish was not interested in spiritual matters as much as its interest in profiting from the status of Mecca as a spiritual centre; and therefore strayed away from helping the poor and vulnerable. Moreover, women didn't have any rights, and violence was prevalent among the tribes.

 

Then came the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with a strong message of spiritual reform and social justice in a new religion that treats all followers equally.

 

Another book entitled Islam in America was written by an American author working in the Israeli International Research Centre for World Affairs. "Gloria," tackles the history of Islam in America since the migrations of the first Muslims to America. It also tackled the immigration laws of America endorsed in the years 1921,1924 and 1953 and curbed the migration of Muslims to the United States after the Congress put specific quotas for each country to accept its citizens who wish to immigrate to the “land of dreams” (defined as 100 migrants each from Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Turkey). These laws were in place until Lyndon Johnson came to the White House and cancelled the quota system of immigration on the basis of the original home in 1965.

 

The author said that many Muslims abandoned their religion and even converted to Christianity, so it would be easy for them to integrate into American society, which did not welcome them as was the case with some  Christian immigrants.