Israel
and the Euro-Arab Axis
(Signs of the Time - May 2005)
Several articles have recently appeared exploring the development of Muslim influence in Europe. Now a book entitled Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis has been published by Farleigh Dickinson University Press. The author is Bat Ye’or (a pen name) who has written in the past describing the plight of Jews and Christians who have lived through the centuries under Muslim rule. The term for such people was dhimmi - those who were legal inferiors. This earlier work was written to debunk the myth that non-Muslim people living in Arab countries enjoyed freedom and prosperity. They were, in fact, always just tolerated at best and treated as second-class citizens.
The new old Europe
The author’s concern today is how contemporary Europe is being transformed
under Muslim influence. In her view, it is becoming a dhimmi world. Observers
have noted for some time the heavy influx of Muslims into Europe, especially
Germany and France. We see this also in North America, but the Islamic
influence seems more effective in Europe. There the author sees a “new
civilization” which she calls Eurabia. It is built on acceptance
of the Palestinian cause and upon views of anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism.
One result is a fueling of the latent anti-Semitism that has always existed
in European culture.
Reviewing the theme of this book, Jonathan Tobin writes in Jewish
World Review (Feb. 22, 2005): “The creation of Eurabia
is the coming together of a number of diverse factors. Combine the persistence
of hatred for Jews on the far right, the animus of the left for Israel
and America, and a general refusal to see the rise of Islamism as a threat
– and what you get is a political and cultural snowball that is
overwhelming the ability of the West to defend itself.”
A columnist for the Washington Times, Diana West, has also reviewed this
book. She cites the author’s use of material generated by the Euro-Arab
Dialogue (EAD). Created some thirty years ago at the instigation of France
and the Arab League, this organization has provided underpinnings to a
Euro-Arab axis – Eurabia. It has fostered political, economic and
cultural bonds between Europe and the Arab world designed to create “a
global alternative to American power.” Fears of European conservatives
about the Islamization of Europe are dismissed.1
Bat Ye’or believes that as the inevitable result of this process,
Europe, during the next few decades, will fall more and more under the
control of the Islamic world. Her purpose in writing is to raise an alarm
with the hope of preventing the catastrophe she foresees. We are interested
in the situation she describes, but for different reasons.
The Jews in Europe
Anti-Semitism has a long history in both Europe and the Middle East. In
the latter case it is something of a misnomer since the Arabs are actually
Semitic – they are descendants of Shem and Abraham like their Jewish
cousins. In fact, both Muslims and Christians should feel some kindredship
with the Jews because of their (assumed) mutual regard for Israel’s
one God and the Bible. Historically the opposite has been the case.
Even before the Romans devastated the Jewish homeland, the children of
Israel were widely dispersed. Large numbers of them were scattered amongst
the nations of Europe and the Middle East. At first Christians treated
Jews with some respect, but in time this attitude diminished. Efforts
were made by the Catholic Church to forcibly convert them, and persecutions
resulted. By medieval times, the Jews lived under a shadow, ostracized
and forced into ghetto living with limited means of livelihood. There
were times when in one country or another there would be a measure of
relief and there would be a “Jewish golden age” of
some duration. It would happen sometimes that rulers would find their
Jewish subjects could be valuable to them. These factors led to the congregating
of Jews at different times in Spain, Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe.
The dhimmis
Although Jews were considered second-class citizens in Arab countries,
they often had better living conditions under Islam than did their brothers
in Europe. The Jewish culture that developed and flourished in Muslim
Spain was such a case. When, in 1492, their Catholic majesties, Ferdinand
and Isabella, drove the Muslim Moors from Spain, they also decreed that
all Jews in their realm would either convert or emigrate. (Those who converted
were always suspected of practicing Judaism in secret, which many actually
did.) As Columbus was setting forth from Spain for the New World, other
ships were transporting Spanish Jews away from Europe to North Africa
and the Middle East.
Jews and Christians living under Islamic rule, called dhimmis, were considered
unbelievers and just slightly better than idolaters. They had to pay a
poll tax, and the Koran (9:29) insists that this tax would be paid as
part of their humiliation.
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden
which had been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the
Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book2
until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves
subdued.
The Koran’s view of the Jews
“A few koranic verses consider the ‘Children of Israel’
the chosen nation. But the others refer to the Jews as deceivers, treacherous,
distorters of the truth, and – above all – infidels. The term
‘infidel’ means all those who do not embrace Islam, whether
Jews, Christians or pagans. The interest of the Koran in Jews, and its
reaction against them, its criticism and defamation, can be explained
in the light of Mohammed’s interaction with the Jews of Medina.
“The city of Medina [at first] had tribes of pagans and Jews. Within
a few years, the pagan tribes accepted Mohammed’s teachings and
embraced Islam while the Jews were expelled or massacred. When Mohammed
first came to the city he thought the Jews would join him, and he made
overtures towards them. He adopted the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur,
and he prayed facing Jerusalem as he saw Jews doing.
“Only after some 18 months, with no favorable response from the
Jews, did Mohammed begin to turn against them, first by changing the feast
day to the month-long Ramadan, then by changing the direction of prayer
from Jerusalem to Mecca, and later on by getting rid of the Jews, first
by expulsion and then by massacre. Within a few years, the Arab peninsula
was cleared of non-Muslims. Mohammed was able to abolish the presence
of any religion except Islam on the Arab peninsula.”3
Islam and territory
Islamic traditions instituted by Mohammed created an important, fundamental
rule about territory. Any land that comes under Islamic rule cannot be
de-Islamized. Even if others take over the territory that had been under
Islamic rule, it is considered to be perpetually Islamic. This rule makes
it impossible for Muslims ever to really accept a Jewish state in what
they consider Palestine.
Islam was created to be the army of Allah, and every single Muslim is
a soldier in this army. He dies in fighting for the spread of Islam and
is a shaheed (martyr). It is not a war that can ever end until its goal
is achieved -- because it was decreed by Allah. It has been correctly
pointed out by students of Islam, that the terms war and peace do not
have the same meaning for Muslims as they do for others. Any peace between
Muslim and Jew or Christian can only be temporary – until the end
can be achieved. An attempt to interpret the Koran or the teachings of
Mohammed according to western concepts is against reality.
The plan of God
We know, of course, that everything relating to developing world affairs
is under the Creator’s control, and He will direct the final outcome.
Our interest is in our effort to discern these times in the light of what
has been revealed in His word. The reawakening of anti-Semitism in Europe
should not surprise us. The time will come when the world will again cast
out the children of Israel, leading to their final and full restoration
in the land of promise.
The term “Eurabia” is significant. We know that we
are living in the last days – the time of the phase of the feet,
speaking of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. We have seen the
reality of this vision developing through time. The world’s great
empires have passed, one by one, until finally the iron Roman power has
been mingled in the feet with miry clay. The Euro-Arab axis may bring
a new dimension as this last phase of the prophecy is fulfilled.
Joseph Banta, Austin, Texas
Footnotes
1 “Explaining
the Euro-Arab axis,” Diana West, townhall.com
2 The Koran often uses the term
“People of the Book” to describe the Jews, but it is not intended
in a complimentary way. The idea was that their possession of the Old
Testament should have made them accepting of the Prophet Mohammed and
his message.
3 From “Jews in the Koran
and Early Islamic Traditions” by Dr. Leah Kinberg, Lecture delivered
in May, 2003, Monash University, Melbourne.