Manifest Destiny and Religion
By Leonard H. Berman
The conflict in the Middle East finds its origins in religion and in the concept of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is a philosophical imperative by which a nation gives itself permission to expand itself because of its own perceived virtue and greatness, or by virtue of Divine Will. A religious imperative is a mandate a group perceives is given to them by the deity they worship and is legitimized in their holy scripture. The Arab/Israeli conflict is, at its heart, a Muslim/Jewish conflict and the animosity towards Israel and toward Jews that exists in the world of Muslim fundamentalism, stems from these two concepts. Religion and nationalistic perceptions have more to do with the conflict than disputed boundaries and settlements.
Fundamentalist Muslim Arabs believe that the land upon which the legitimately created nation of Israel exists, belongs to them. According to their own concept of manifest destiny, all lands that were ever Muslim are still Muslim and must ultimately be returned to Muslims. This idea comes from the Islamic political/theological imperative which teaches that it is the duty of Muslims to re-establish a global Islamic state called the Caliphate, and that entity is to be ruled by Islamic law. Jihid, or holy war, is waged to achieve that end.
Jewish manifest destiny comes from that section of the Genesis where God gives to the Jewish people the particular piece of property in question. But if you don’t believe in biblical manifest destiny, there have been legally recognized bodies over the years such as the United Nations in 1948, the British Balfour Declaration, and the support at the League of Nations earlier in that century, that have called for, supported, and created a homeland for the Jews in what was once a section of the Ottoman Empire called Palestine. There never existed at any time in ancient or in modern times an independent entity called Palestine. Palestine was a section of the Ottoman Empire much the way New Jersey is a section of the United States. There were Palestinian Jews living in that section of the Ottoman Empire and Palestinian Arabs living there as well. Both were given the option of a state of their own by the U.N. in 1948.. The Arab Palestinians and the Arab nations around them, acting on their concept of manifest destiny, chose not to accept the partition and the creation of two legal entities called Israel and Palestine. Wars followed and Israel was victorious, thrived, and dominated, much to the disgust of those Arabs who have not given up their hope to destroy the Jewish state. Now the questions to be asked are: Why do Arabs want to destroy Israel? Arab manifest destiny is certainly a piece of the answer, but the answer can also be found in the Koran, the Muslim bible.
One can easily see that the real issue for Arabs is Israel’s very existence and Jewish dominance on that piece of property. If one looks into the Koran one finds mandates which state that Jews and Christians must be kept in perpetual servitude. The Suras that make that demand are further expanded upon by the Pact of Umar, the Muslim legal code written in the seventh century, which delineates what that servitude must look like. Both these absolute theistic works are discredited by the fact that Jews are dominant in Israel and Israel exist. So the question remains: Are Israel’s borders or disputed settlements really the cause of the problems between the Jews and the Arabs, or is the problem for the fundamentalist Muslims ultimately that Israel exists on what the Arabs perceive as their land by virtue of their concept of manifest destiny, and by virtue of the fact that Israel’s dominance gives the lie to their holy book and legal code? When you canonize hatred in your holy books and believe that every word is God given or God inspired, the fundamentalist has only the option to believe.
It is the Jew’s refusal to accept an unequal, inferior status that irks the Arab nations. This is what really lies at the heart of the Arab-Muslim hatred for Israel. The existence of the Jews was not a provocation to Islam as long as Jews were subordinate or degraded as they were throughout the centuries that they were living in Arab lands. But a Jewish state is incompatible with the view of Jews as the “humiliated and wretched” beings they are called in the Koran. The call for a Palestinian Arab state in place of Israel is the call for a state where Islam dominates and is not dominated.
Muslim fundamentalist end sentences with: If Allah is willing.” Perhaps it is time to conclude that after sixty years of trying to destroy the Jewish state, one might conclude that Allah is willing for Israel to exist.
By Leonard H. Berman
The conflict in the Middle East finds its origins in religion and in the concept of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny is a philosophical imperative by which a nation gives itself permission to expand itself because of its own perceived virtue and greatness, or by virtue of Divine Will. A religious imperative is a mandate a group perceives is given to them by the deity they worship and is legitimized in their holy scripture. The Arab/Israeli conflict is, at its heart, a Muslim/Jewish conflict and the animosity towards Israel and toward Jews that exists in the world of Muslim fundamentalism, stems from these two concepts. Religion and nationalistic perceptions have more to do with the conflict than disputed boundaries and settlements.
Fundamentalist Muslim Arabs believe that the land upon which the legitimately created nation of Israel exists, belongs to them. According to their own concept of manifest destiny, all lands that were ever Muslim are still Muslim and must ultimately be returned to Muslims. This idea comes from the Islamic political/theological imperative which teaches that it is the duty of Muslims to re-establish a global Islamic state called the Caliphate, and that entity is to be ruled by Islamic law. Jihid, or holy war, is waged to achieve that end.
Jewish manifest destiny comes from that section of the Genesis where God gives to the Jewish people the particular piece of property in question. But if you don’t believe in biblical manifest destiny, there have been legally recognized bodies over the years such as the United Nations in 1948, the British Balfour Declaration, and the support at the League of Nations earlier in that century, that have called for, supported, and created a homeland for the Jews in what was once a section of the Ottoman Empire called Palestine. There never existed at any time in ancient or in modern times an independent entity called Palestine. Palestine was a section of the Ottoman Empire much the way New Jersey is a section of the United States. There were Palestinian Jews living in that section of the Ottoman Empire and Palestinian Arabs living there as well. Both were given the option of a state of their own by the U.N. in 1948.. The Arab Palestinians and the Arab nations around them, acting on their concept of manifest destiny, chose not to accept the partition and the creation of two legal entities called Israel and Palestine. Wars followed and Israel was victorious, thrived, and dominated, much to the disgust of those Arabs who have not given up their hope to destroy the Jewish state. Now the questions to be asked are: Why do Arabs want to destroy Israel? Arab manifest destiny is certainly a piece of the answer, but the answer can also be found in the Koran, the Muslim bible.
One can easily see that the real issue for Arabs is Israel’s very existence and Jewish dominance on that piece of property. If one looks into the Koran one finds mandates which state that Jews and Christians must be kept in perpetual servitude. The Suras that make that demand are further expanded upon by the Pact of Umar, the Muslim legal code written in the seventh century, which delineates what that servitude must look like. Both these absolute theistic works are discredited by the fact that Jews are dominant in Israel and Israel exist. So the question remains: Are Israel’s borders or disputed settlements really the cause of the problems between the Jews and the Arabs, or is the problem for the fundamentalist Muslims ultimately that Israel exists on what the Arabs perceive as their land by virtue of their concept of manifest destiny, and by virtue of the fact that Israel’s dominance gives the lie to their holy book and legal code? When you canonize hatred in your holy books and believe that every word is God given or God inspired, the fundamentalist has only the option to believe.
It is the Jew’s refusal to accept an unequal, inferior status that irks the Arab nations. This is what really lies at the heart of the Arab-Muslim hatred for Israel. The existence of the Jews was not a provocation to Islam as long as Jews were subordinate or degraded as they were throughout the centuries that they were living in Arab lands. But a Jewish state is incompatible with the view of Jews as the “humiliated and wretched” beings they are called in the Koran. The call for a Palestinian Arab state in place of Israel is the call for a state where Islam dominates and is not dominated.
Muslim fundamentalist end sentences with: If Allah is willing.” Perhaps it is time to conclude that after sixty years of trying to destroy the Jewish state, one might conclude that Allah is willing for Israel to exist.