A Jewish Lover of Islam is a very interesting article written by Hadar Cohen, a Jewish mystic. She talked about her love to Islam and what Islam meant to her. She touched on some intriguing points that I wanted to share with you.
She mentioned how in the apartheid state of I*rael, the Ashkenzai class, the Westerners, was seen as an educated group while Mizrahim, the Easterners, are perceived as uneducated and uncivilized people. She came to learn that this uneducated Eastern civilization actually spread knowledge to the West.
She elaborates on the idea of being rooted in your own belief and faith but at the same time, respect and love other religions, and be willing to learn about them and from them. She explains how understanding other beliefs, Islam in this case, helps her reinforce the understanding of her Judaism, through conversations and respect, not attacking and undermining. This is something we desperately need these days with all the hatred spreading around our world.
Every religion brought something beautiful to the world. Islam contributed to the world through knowledge and wisdom.
This is a quote I liked from the article:
God is not outside of the world but rather present through it—every piece of knowledge is a reflection of Divine wisdom. To know God is to know wisdom. (In fact, this is quite an Ancient Greek philosophical view, whose survival owes much to the Islamic and Jewish philosophers of Al-Andalus, who translated Greek texts into Arabic to preserve this knowledge).
Judaism and Islam have a lot in common. Both believe in God's oneness. Kosher and Halal are very similar dietary laws. Both have circumsicion but that's something that many might disagree with, even among Muslims and Jews themselves.
Another interesting point she highlighted was how colonialism worked on dividing religions from each other (Yes, colonialism over and over again!)
She added that Islam was able to integrate with the different cultures it interacted with; it wasn't threatened by them. Judaism and Islam interconnected with each other throughout history.
This is a quote from a different post, but it perfectly fits here:
In the colonial religious theocracy of political religious warfare, Christian imperialists need Jews and Muslims to hate each other so they can justify mistreatment and colonization of both.
Hate them or love them, religions are part of the lives of many, and they play a crucial role in how things are done. Brushing them off wouldn't be any good.
In my opinion, religions could be used as a tool to break out wars and can be a reason to emphasize coexistence and peace among us -- which way to walk, it's up to us. And I hope one day we will come to understand that refraining from the former is the only way to save ourselves and our world.
