Part 11
By Rifat Shafiq
In this continuing series on the traits of the Jews, we turn to yet another of their deeply troubling characteristics.
10. Mocking and Ridiculing the Sacred Symbols of Religion
Among the most evil traits of the Jews, historically and in the present, is their mockery and contempt for religious symbols and rites. Ridicule of religion is one of the most condemned behaviors in the Holy Quran, and Allah Almighty addresses it repeatedly and in the strongest terms. The Jews carried this trait throughout their history, driven by the disease of arrogance, and it was that same arrogance that pushed them to rebel against truth and treat divine commands with contempt.
Allah Almighty says:
{يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا دِينَكُمْ هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ وَالْكُفَّارَ أَوْلِيَاءَ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ} (المائدة: 57)
“O you who have believed, take not those who have taken your religion in ridicule and amusement among the ones who were given the Scripture before you nor the disbelievers as allies. And fear Allah, if you should [truly] be believers.” (Al-Ma’idah: 57)
In the very next verse, Allah Almighty says:
{وَإِذَا نَادَيْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ اتَّخَذُوهَا هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَعْقِلُونَ} (المائدة: 58)
“And when you call to prayer, they take it in ridicule and amusement. That is because they are a people who do not use reason.”
(Al-Ma’idah: 58)
In order for the meaning and purpose of the verse to be better clarified, we will turn to the background of its revelation (Shan-e-Nuzool). In his Tafsir, Allama al-Qurtubi (RH) narrates from Kalbi regarding the background of this verse’s revelation:
“قال الكلبي: كان إذا أذَّن المؤذِّن وقام المسلمون إلى الصلاة قالت اليهود: قد قاموا لا قاموا؛ وكانوا يضحكون إذا ركع المسلمون وسجدوا، وقالوا في حق الأذان: لقد ابتدعتَ شيئًا لم نسمع به في الأمم الماضية، فمن أين لك صياحٌ كصياح العير؟ فما أقبحه من صوت، وما أسمجه من أمر!”
Whenever the muezzin called the adhan and the Muslims rose for prayer, the Jews would say, “They have stood up, though we wish they had not.” When the Muslims bowed and prostrated, the Jews laughed at them. And of the adhan itself they said: “You have invented something we never heard among the nations of old. What is this braying like a donkey? What an ugly sound. What a revolting practice.”
Mockery of religion and sacred things is, in truth, a mark of the absence of reason, as Allah makes clear in the verse:
{ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَعْقِلُونَ}
“That is because they are a people who do not use reason.”
In the commentary of this verse, Allama al-Qurtubi (RH) writes:
“واسم الإشارة في قوله: ذٰلك بأنهم قوم لا يعقلون يعود إلى ما كان منهم من استهزاء وسخرية؛ أي أن سبب صدور هذا الاستهزاء والعبث عنهم أنهم قوم سفهاء جهلاء، لا يدركون الأمور على وجهها الصحيح، ولا يستجيبون للحق الذي ظهر لهم، بسبب عنادهم وأحقادهم.”
“In this phrase, the demonstrative pronoun (Dhalika / That) refers back to their mockery and ridicule, meaning that the cause of their contemptuous behavior was their foolishness and ignorance. They were people who could not perceive things correctly and who, out of spite and hatred, refused to accept the truth even when it stood plainly before them.”
It has been transmitted from the righteous predecessors:
«مَنِ اسْتَهْزَأَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ دِينِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ عَرَّضَ إِيمَانَهُ لِلْخَطَرِ»
“Whoever mocks anything of Allah’s religion has placed his faith in danger.”
In short, the verses above make clear that the Jews possessed this trait of mocking religious symbols and that they repeated it consistently. This was not something confined to Jews of the past. Their descendants today walk the same path. The world has witnessed it repeatedly: Jews entering Bait al-Maqdis wearing their shoes in a show of deliberate desecration, mosques and religious schools bombed again and again, the sanctity of places of worship treated as nothing. It has become plain for all to see that this trait remains alive among them to this day.