Imagine if Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip destroyed two dozen mosques. There would be mass rallies in front of Israeli embassies around the world, and in America organizations like CAIR and MPAC would issue righteous condemnations calling on the American government to restrain Israel. However, as we've seen today, when Palestinians streaming into liberated Gaza set fire to synagogues there is deafening silence from most Muslims and certainly from the leadership of the American Muslim community.

Herein lies the sorry state of Islamic affairs. Muslims like to brag that when the Caliph Umar ibn Khatab entered the City of Jerusalem, he exhibited respect for Jews and Christians by refusing to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, because he was afraid that Muslims would take it over. Indeed, to this day, a Muslim family is entrusted with the key to the church. In contrast, this Islamic spirit has ceased to exist 1,400 years later. The Palestinian authority is incapable (or unwilling) to provide security for the abandoned synagogues, the Palestinian people lack the adhab to refrain from destroying a temple dedicated to the worship of Allah, and Muslims in America are indifferent to this destruction because it is occurring to Jewish property.

Of course, as the New York Times reported today, this was a set up orchestrated by the Israeli government. Originally the synagogues were to be bulldozed with the rest of the illegal settlements constructed by Israeli settlers during their withdrawal from the 38-year occupation of Palestinian land. However, prominent rabbis argued that Jews can't destroy synagogues, and Ariel Sharon "was left with two bad choices: tearing them down, or leaving them standing with the knowledge that they might be desecrated."

Yeah, right. More likely Sharon rejoiced at the opportunity. He knew that the Palestinian Authority would not act to prevent the destruction. As a consequence, pictures and headlines would be flashed around the world showing Palestinian Muslims destroying synagogues. Once again the familiar narrative would be reinforced: Palestinian Muslims are barbarians, and Israeli Jews are justified in their brutal methods, otherwise civilization would fall.

The wholesale destruction of the Jewish synagogues is yet another indication that Palestinians of all stripes, whether Fatah secularists or Islamic Hamas types, do not have the political maturity to construct a civil society. However, it is also a sign that Muslims in America lack the conviction of their religion to condemn sacrilege when it is committed by Muslims against others.

apparently this is also the case if Muslims destroy the house of the Prophet (saw)...

A bit of balance and a look behind the world of politics is required

http://www.islamic-village.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=751

It's not about whether the synagogues should go or not - they should clearly be removed as they are vestiges of the occupation and are no longer in use. It's about how they are removed. The PA should have dismantled them without fanfare so that they would not be desecrated, which is the same respect any house of worship should get.

The fact that Israelis have not shown the same respect to mosques dating before the creation of Israel should not be used to excuse this behavior. As Muslims, we do not get our values from those who abuse us - we get them from the teachings of the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad.

Even if 100 mosques were burned, we should not stoop to their level and do the same to other houses of worship. We are (or should be) better than that. For a deeper understanding of this concept, read Hina Azam's recently published article.

There are probably some mosques out there that SHOULD be destroyed. There are actually historical precedents for Muslims to support such things, as when one mad Egyptian ruler started razing churches everywhere. Afterwards, Muslims themselves contributed to their reconstruction.

palestinians have had their lands taken from them their houses bulldozed to rubble and their lives destroyed and watched their children die fighting for their deen and freedom and over all this they are refugees in their own land,,

now you are going to condemn them for ripping down the symbol of their oppressors??!! doesnt matter how they did it there is no correct way to do it,, im sure the jews themselves have torn down masjids all over palestine to make room for the "chosen people" coming there from all over the world and now you are going to say the muslims are committing a sacrilege against others???
masjids have been bulldozed, torn down, blown up all over the world but when you hear about a few synagouges being ripped down to make way for the muslims to move into their own land AGAIN youre going write an article???

the media will always portray the muslims as evil, backwards and killers,, we cant stop that it will always happen so stop trying to impress us with your political maturity you seem to have reached, the islamic ummah is one state but you seem to be in the sorry state that you describe them as being in.

ridhwaan, according to your logic, because serbs raped bosnian women, that makes serbian women fair game for rape by bosnian men.

sorry, but we disagree. the atrocities committed against us are not our qur'an.

thanks for your opinion.

Just because the Israelis had no respect for mosques does not mean that Palestinians should pay back in kind.

Based on my reading of how the prophet (S) treated those who hated him, I cannot believe he would counsel what you propose, Ridhwaan. If you do, that's your business.

I think you forget that these buildings were built on land that did not belong to them. The article I posted above shows that the Israelis understand these buildings need to be demolished and wanted these scenes of destructions to be shown on t.v to make the Muslims look bad.

The buildings had to go, be it by the people or by the authorities.

p.s. the reason i came to this site was an israeli newspaper pointed out what Muslims where saying about their fellow brothers and sisters.

Salaam aleikum,

seems like perspective is lost on this issue:

1. of proportionality, best seen here:

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-09/15/article06.shtml

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/printer_32.shtml

http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/oaw99/quds-cleans.htm

and secondly and

2. more importantly, that Islamically speaking, the Abbas govt. nor the PLO, Arab league, etc. has any sanction or legal right islamically (under the shariah) to negotiate nor administer the lands which Omar bin Khattab (RA) was given the keys and took possession of from the Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Safronius in 638 A.D. the *terms* of which *specified* that NO JEW was EVER allowed to own property there (the Eastern rite Christians thought that this would forestall the coming of the Antichrist and Day of Judgment). This belief holds until today, when a Greek Orthodox priest was removed and discovered to be selling land in Jerusalem to the state of Israel illegally.

There is a lot of power struggles going on actually among Eastern rite/ Orthodox Christians (Arab Chrisitans vs. Greek Orhtodox) over this issue

http://www.jerusalemites.org/jerusalem/christianity/55.htm

3. This did NOT however remove the covenant which Omar (RA) made with the people of Jerusalem and which Muslims would be bound by should Palestine be liberated and ruled by Islam (and not paid secular clowns like Arafat/Abbas, etc). Even Arab Christians and Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Palestine see this as a reference point. the covenant, part of which can be found here:

http://anwary-islam.com/companion/umar-bin-khatab.htm

rest has been translated and studied over by both Jews (opposed to Israel) and Muslims, a book makes the case here:

http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/book99/qudsbk.htm

It should be said that, these could be just empty words on paper. However what is rarely mentioned is that when the crusaders came killing (much like today) in the name of Christ centuries later, it was Arab Christians and Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Palestine who formed the front lines in defense and who were fighting alongside Salahudin to liberate Palestine...that is, they preferrred to live under the terms of the covenant under Islamic law rather than the whims of their own "Chrisitian"/Vatican sponsored comrades.
Something to ponder over.

Enough said.

salaam aleikum,
g

Poorly written with a faulty premise. What do you mean "if Jews destoyed mosques"? They've been at it since 1948! Pick up a history book.
It is a matter of historical fact that Omar bin Khatteb had a masjid demolished after Muslim illegally built it on the property of a non-Muslim. So why should synangogues built by criminal settler thugs be allowed to stand ?

Destruction of non-muslim religious artifacts is nothing new.
http://www.calguard.ca.gov/ia/Taliban/Taliban Most statues destroyed.htm

"earl" you dont care the Taliban's destruction of the buddhist statues. Its just a talking point for you. Never mind the fact the Muslim worldwide condemned this.
I wonder if you feel the same way about the destruction of historical sites in Iraq by US bombing. No, I didnt think so.

seriously retarded ideaologies some people have is what i think when i talk about destroying synagouges that are on muslims land and here one of you starts talking about rape and other atrocities,,,, and zahed a reply to your smart assumption if a kafir rapes a muslim women we dont go and rape their women and no i dont believe in that. we are muslims we go by what Allah says "an eye for an eye" and follow what the prophet alaihi asalaam said as well, not just go like animals with no morals,,
i was explaining a palestinians point of view,, author was your land and property taken from you, were you made a refugee in your own land, was your house bulldozed down, did you see your family and friends killed in front of you ????
i dont think so,, so you dont have any right to even talk about this issue youd probably love it if palestinians shook the jews hands and said thanks for giving our land back to us after you all screwed us over for decades....
and if the jews wanted the scenes of palestinians destroying their temples on tv for sympathy then let it be jews are pathetic that way.. and earl go give pat robertson some money or something ,,, idols are to be smashed and taken down ,, in islam we do not believe in statues that are worshipped or once were worshipped,, doesnt matter whether they were 1 day old or 1000 years old.
there are enough kafirs condemning muslims already,,, no we have muslims condemning themselves,,,

>>Its just a talking point for you. Never mind the fact the Muslim worldwide condemned this.

That's cute, but not a single Muslim lifted a damn finger to stop it, eh? And the other postings smack of the same religious-nationalism epitomized by Zionism. I suppose the tribalism of jahiliyyah has never died out...the fairness of right dealing in the Quran is trampled by materialistic and tribal feelings. Thanks a bunch for illustrating it all too well ridhwan and gambina!

PA, the Palestinians *are* in a crappy situation, but time and again we've seen that an eye for an eye doesn't fix anything. It just gives people a short-term sense that vengence was satisfied and nothing more...until the next round in the downward spiral. Other oppressed peoples have taken the higher moral road and won great victories (Ghandi and his pashtun contemporary Abdul-Ghaffur, MLK, etc...)

Think about it: If 60 years of an eye for an eye violence hasn't improved a DAMN THING, maybe its time to change strategies! In your heart, you know its true, and I'm hopeful that this tribalistic Muslim nationalism won't blind people to it.

Nice to see human garbage back on here....

".the fairness of right dealing in the Quran is trampled by materialistic and tribal feelings. Thanks a bunch for illustrating it all too well ridhwan and gambina!"

As always contributing nothing to the discussion and attempting to cheapen an argument to bring it down to your low remedial level IQ. Very nice, especially coming from someone who was part of an institution kiling and murdering Muslims in Iraq (the U.S. army) and whose familiarty of Islam is as in depth as that of Ann Coulter, Fox News, etc.
u wouldn't know what a quran nor islam was even if it hit you square in the head.
So please don't mention a book that you obviously care little for nor know anything about.

Well put Gambino. If the troll in question is indeed a member of the US army, then he has clearly contradicted himself being part of a criminal enterprise which has wrecked havoc on Iraq's heritage. His fuming at the Taliban's behavior is facile and a ploy to illicit crocadile tears and fake outrage.

Well, well, I can't say that I agree with many of the assertions and opinions presented here, but this is not the time and place to refute them. I will think deeply, then post a suitable (or unsuitable, depending on your p.o.v.) entry in my blog.

I just find it completely shameful when such atrocities are committed by Palestinians and the only response received from Muslims worldwide are accusations sent at Jews. For once, please, admit fault and face the reality that the PA has no control over their people, and if they did it would not be used to protect anything having to do with Jews. The arguments that have been made on this site are contradictions within themselves, as Muslims cry out of how this land was stolen from them (despite the fact that it was won in wars which Israel found itself hopelessly outnumbered) and of all the human right violations (the vast majority of which were completely necessary for Israel to guarantee its safety from the mass number of terrorists they allow to live within Palestinian communities which, let me remind you, the Israeli government allows to live on their land. Yet, somehow, after taking these humanitarian stances, and after witnessing a truly humanitarian act, that of an Israeli people and government, which has all the right to be bitter and cynical, still expressing hope and giving the PA another change to show some credibility after that snake Arafat has thankfully passed out of the picture, choosing to give land to a people that has done nothing but fight for the bloody end of the existence of all Jews for, at the very least, hundreds of years. Yet, somehow, in the face of all this good will, with the entire world watching, the Muslim community has chosen to not only provide excuses for, but embrace, this type of disgusting immorality that pervades the Palestinian culture and seemingly, sadly, stands in the way of any future progress or hope that Israel will one day be able to peacefully coexist with a stable, progressive, civilized (ha, a stable, progressive muslim country....) Palestinian state.

Now that I have said my piece, I will eagerly await the tired responses citing Jewish conspiracies that hold back Muslims from attaining progress in their own, completely Muslim run, states.

mike its not worth it for me to even reply to your suptid comment ,, but i will anyways,,
jews never had any land they were and still are squatters and one day will come when not one synagouge will be left standing in Palestine and i really hope that by the will of ALLAH you will live to see that day crying and wringing the tears from your yarmaluke,, or you could beome a muslim now and rejoice on that day... choice is yours,,,