Dear Yossi, 

Thank you so much for sharing this marvelous literary work with me. Without getting into too many details, reading the book stirred my emotions and brought up a lot of old memories, sorrows, moments of happiness and pain and, at the same time, gratitude to God. I hope we meet one day so that I can elaborate and share more details in person.

I highly value the thoughts you shared in the book and I can understand where you are coming from historically and religious-wise. I also understand your current reality. While reading the book I genuinely felt that I could read behind the lines and listen to the music behind your words. Having said that, I don’t want you to feel that my critique comes from a bad place; on the contrary, I hope you take it as a constructive criticism.

As a staunch supporter of normalizing relations with Israel in all fields and aspects and as a supporter of the historical (and realistic) Jewish right on the land of Israel, I felt that you, as a writer, were dying to create a balance in the Islamic point of view. For example, you were praising Muhammad and accepted the behavior of his followers. But the worst was when you used a rhetoric that paved the road to admitting in and deepening the concept of the Israeli occupation! Do you think, my friend, that by doing so and by suggesting this kind of compromise the Arabs and Muslims will truly accept you, the Jewish nation and the modern state of Israel? I completely disagree with this approach. There is a verse in the Quran that tells us in AlbaQarah, verse 120 that “Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion”. And I want to tell  you that the opposite is true: the Muslims will never be satisfied with you even if you followed their form of religion.  

I am sure that you know that the roots of the Arab (Palestinian)- Jewish conflict are merely religious, not political. To be more precise, the origins are rooted deeply in Islam and the way that Muhammad dealt with the Jewish tribes, Banu Qurayda, Banu AnNadir and Banu QaynuQaA, in Yathrib (What is known today as Almadina in Saudi Arabia). 

Haven’t you ever heard the slogan “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahoud, jaishu Muhammad sawfa yaoud” which means “Hey the tribe of Kaybar, hey Jews, the army of Muhammad will return”?
Have you ever heard Safwat Hegazi’s statements and plans regarding United Arab Emirates with Jerusalem as its capital?
Haven’t you heard the statement “A’al Quds raiheen shuhadaa bilmalayeen”, meaning “to Jerusalem here we go with millions of martyrs”? 

These are only a few out of endless examples that span in between Muhammad’s times and Safwat Hegazi’s current time and reveal the Islamic hostility towards Jews, Christians, Kurds and other minorities in the Middle East. 

My friend, I am sorry to tell you that the Muslim mindset makes it a zero-sum game. What you wrote in your book may not benefit your cause and your side. I hope we get to meet each other one day in America’s East Coast, where I reside, so that we can discuss these topics in detail. 

 

Be well,

My best regards,

Salaam from Egypt