Muslims & Jews in the middle east

I just read a tragic story on CNN about a man attempting to bomb a synagogue in Egypt. Thankfully the synangogue was mostly empty and no one was hurt, but this reminds me of how much we need to work on relations between the abrahamic faiths: especially Muslims and Jews.

This reminds me of a very important article by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf about holocaust deniers. In this article he emphasizes the importance of believability and using reason when it comes to analyzing faith, religion and current events.

A great quote from his article is below:

Much of what we know about the world and what we accept as truth comes from multiply-transmitted accounts. Let’s say I claim that Australia doesn’t exist and is merely a figment of our imagination, that its origins lie in a whimsical cartographer in the Middle Ages who decided that such a large ocean needed a land mass. And, when confronted with people who claim to be from Australia and can prove it, I dismiss them as part of a conspiracy of cartographers who wish to perpetuate the myth of their forbearer. I would be laughed at, or ignored, or deemed “certifiable.” While this example seems absurd, many people actually believe things just as fatuous and far-fetched.

Holocaust denial is one such example.

There are many reasons, most of them political, for why there is such mistrust between ethnic/faith communities in the middle east. But those of us who claim to derive our moral/ethical system from our faith should stand alert and question the attitudes and views we hold about people of different faiths.

Specifically when it comes to relations between Muslims and Jews, we Muslims should know there is important bridge-building/repairing that needs to be done. This becomes harder, indeed almost impossible, if we don’t question and reject un-Islamic attitudes about Jews. Holocaust denail is one example of an un-Islamic attitude.