The North Coast times-eagle., January 01, 1995, Page 7, Image 7

PAGE 7
ERNST ABEL
THE SORROW
OF IBRAHIM
BY HASSAN KHALIFA
How many times on television have you heard the news
depicting life in the Middle east? Whenever the Middle East is
mentioned the average American's mind echoes with the words
"rival waning Jewish and Muslim factions" resulting from the
continuous bombardment of these words from newscasters on
every major channel in the U S. But how many see something
beyond the faces and have the intelligence to refrain from the
nuke 'em till they glow and shoot 'em in the dark theorem that
seems to characterize American thinking in the 1990s The
Hebrew/Arab/Jewish/Muslim conflicts reach farther back in
history than most would want to acknowledge. The conflicts
between the two tribes is not some monolithic ignition switch
that was turned on when the suggestion of Israel was made in
the 1940s nor was it that both races decided to do battle just for
the sheer euphoria of it as the news often insinuates.
The racial front of Hebrews and Arabs is both historical
and has a mystical tinge to it. The Hebrew and Arab race both
draw their roots to a race called Semites, which is a word drawn
from Shem who was one of Noah’s sons in the Tanakh. Shem
later had children and farther down the line of descendants a
man named Ibrahim was bom and was told he would be a father
of nations. (Genesis 11:27-25:11) Now Ibrahim's w fe Sarah
was barren so she gave him her maidservant Hagar so he might
have a family line through her.From Ibrahim and Hagar, Ishmael
(’God Hears') was bom and jealousy and internal differences
began that were present up to the birth of Ibrahim's second son
(by Sarah) Isaac ('He Laughs').
The two children remain in the same household until
again strife develops in the way of Hagar and Sarah, only this
time Ibrahim by order of his w fe takes Hagar and Ishmael into
the desert with food and bids them farewell. That desert was to
become one of the most influential cities of its time and who
would have believed that its first citizens were Hagar and
Ishmael. Some refer to it as the holiest of all holy cities but
everyone knows it as Makkah (or Mecca) This division in the
house of Ibrahim would profoundly affect the rest of the world. It
must also be mentioned that there were Arabs and Hebrews w4io
were not Semitic because of their existence before Ibrahim's
children with Hagar and Sarah, but since they were later circum-
sized they were welcomed to the "House of Shem." And those
vtfio were not? It is hard to say whether they still exist. In the
later stages their brotherhood is referred to but nothing special,
which leaves the door open for dissension.
Now we take a step into the 20th century and we can
still find Ishmaelites (Arabs) and Isaacites (Hebrews) more
numerous than ever before, but instead of the "House of Shem"
you see a deep rift that might be comparable to the one impres­
sed upon the Red Sea in times past. Now there exists a racial
bamer. There exists the fear that an Arab might walk into a
Jewish market, plant a bomb and leave the store smiling sardon­
ically as it is reduced to rubble. On the Arab side there is a fear
of the Hebrew who is so bored w th himself he waddles about
cities and towns eager to start trouble and then blame events on
those who can't accept his "Hebrewness", and this goes for
soldiers and police brutality against Arabs also. To each other
the member of the other tribe is revolting and definitely unac­
ceptable and the jokes, stigmas, stereotypes and terrorism
testify to the chasm of separation between them. The revulsion
to Arabic or Hebraic literature displayed to rival members
induces a kind of facial, emotional and probably in some cases
physical opposition - all this just by seeing rival writings.
As much as I wish it might have been, this is not a one
layer issue. This breaks down not only racially but in terms of
service to God The tribes have brought faith attacks into play,
speaking about none other than Jewish (Hebrews) and Muslims
(Arabs). The argument stems from the very basis of the Semitic
father Ibrahim. There exists wáthin the Jewish a minority that
holds that Ibrahim was Jewish and that Ishmael (Arabs) was
cursed since he was removed from the house of Ibrahim, and
since Sarah's distress was answered by a son, Isaac, the
covenant of God was through her line only, not Hagar's. The
agitation of this statement to Muslims is well understood and the
counteraction is that Ibrahim was a Muslim and the line of Isaac
is cursed. The Muslims later refer to the fact Ibrahim was neither
Jew or Christian but a Muslim. The Muslim extremists also go so
far as to say that God cursed the Jews for scorning Muhammed,
whom the Muslims uphold as the last prophet sent by God.
At that time some of the Jews in the Middle East were
idol worshippers They worshipped Ezra as the son of god and
many other idols that were currently captivating at that period
To help support more of the "Jews are cursed" stigma, Muslim
extremists refer to the Old Testament and Lot's daughters
having sex with him as a sign of how unclean Jews were and
are.
Unfortunately the prejudice doesn't end here There are
fanatical Jews who have their own interpretation of the Old Test­
ament in the eyes of what is called the "true Jews." They claim
that due to the fact of Ishmael being mentioned in the Old Test­
ament very rarely that God cursed Ishmael by exclusion. It is
also affirmed by these disgruntled Jews that Ishmael will be a
nuisance to the Jews because he will be a wild donkey of a man
and his hand will be against all his brothers. (Genesis 16:11-12)
All the evil traits of Ibrahim passed through and were discarded
by him through Ishmael. Just listening to Genesis 16:11-12
helps to reinforce the image of the angry, violent Muslim who is
cursed by God. As one can well see, the hate is racial and
religious and the two are usually intermingled into the fabric of
the whole world view of the opposing sides
When Israel became a nation in 1948, things began to
rebound against each other with a velocity unknown in recent
history (though the struggle between Serbs, Croats and Muslims
in the former Yugoslavia is an exception). In an area that
brought civilization and regular dietary and bathing habits to the
western world, bombings are now commonplace. The area of
the world that brought the Tanakh, Torah and Qu'ran to a large
tribe of diseased people in the West is now split with religious
and racial hatred In the 1990s hope is bleak and children look
to adults for encouragement and receive nothing but orders in
regards of wrfiat to do to this Jew or that Muslim (and who is
human and who is not)
The largest question of all asked when the racial and
religious bigotries of the two tribes is looked over is What
Happened? One thing I find fascinating is I can find plenty of
hate between the two tribes but I am unable to find a genesis of
the whole skirmish Many theologians on both sides state that
the rift between Hagar and Sarah widened the gulf between the
two tribes rather than the covenant of Ibrahim bringing them
together It is also a subject of the Jewish extremists not
acknowledging Muhammed as a prophet and the Muslims not
recognizing the promise of Israel to the Jewish by ward of God
in the Tanakh For those who take a more secular route in
dealing with these problems, the problem is politics.
There are a number of Arabs who despise the West and
see nothing of Israel but the expansion of western imperialism
that has to be curbed before the cancer of America manifests
itself. There are however a number of Jews vho look to America
in reverence for voting yes on Israel's statehood as the deciding
vote. They feel a deep allegiance to America must be upheld
since Israel is the third largest arms supplier in the world and
receives most of its economic aid, if not nearly all, from
America. Political stances like this can make or break you in
extremist situations and the ultimatum is either you are in or out
Most stay out but some feel the pressure of fanaticism and
plunge in headlong without second thoughts.
It is difficult not to look at the Middle East as the land
of peace and war simultaneously but within that chaos order is
for the most part prevailing. The negotiations and televised
embrace of King Hussein of Jordan and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel
brought Semites in view of each other. The embassies of each
country are now running more smoothly even if fanatics are
present. The true spark behind the uprising of Semites is
uncertain but everyone recognizes the war the two wage against
each other. What is certain is that the years of this war cannot
be counted on anyone's fingers
The negativity expressed in the western press is not the
true reflection of Middle Eastern living in the ancient cities in
vsAiich an even older people battle against each other tenacious­
ly. Most young Arab and Hebrew children leam three languages
growing up and are studious examples of jurisprudent authority
Within this fighting circle there are bending points Muslim and
Jews make use of the same crowded streets side by side and in
the wee hours of morning, about an hour before dawn, one can
hear Hebraic and Arabic collide as each calls its followers
together. It is quite safe to say that the people who fight together
pray together and some hope will stay together. The act of
getting Muslims and Jewish together already exists but they do
not see each other as they stumble about alley ways and
avenues They must acknowledge the existence of one another.
In classrooms with mixed amounts of students from both tribes,
heated debates always erupt in classroom discussion. One
might wind up arguing Muslim/Jew relations in a home econo­
mics class because of such tensions. Some classes operate
rather orderly and students greet each other warmly and speak
courteously but there is always a barrier that remains as a result
of the differences between both peoples. Student textbooks
have at times had the potential to "steer students in the right
direction" as supposed by the bigots who write them, which
narrows their world view. Some books merely intimate at who is
wrong and who is the master race, but others contain enough
savagery and condemnation of "inferiors'' that Hitler's mustache
would have bristled after reading them Fortunately, most
students reject these fanatic teachings and press on to be quite
liberal minded in the atmosphere of all these occurrences.
Who is the wolf in this story? Who is the frail sheep who
was sodomized by the shepherd? While still young I fanatically
studied this subject to find if maybe someone was at fault so we
could blame it on them, demand restitution and move on from
there. But I found inscrutable error on both sides of what is
supposed to be one house instead of two. It is the Jews' fault for
making bomb threats against the Dome of the Rock, and it is the
Muslims' fault for making bomb threats against the Wailing Wall.
The Muslim bigots uphold that in the holy Qu'ran it states
Ibrahim was neither Jew nor Christian but a Muslim (House of
Ibrahim, verse 67). This is true in the sense of the Qu'ran using
the word hanif (one who worships only one God) because that is
what Ibrahim was and hanif or Muslim in that sense meant
monotheism practiced in its truest form. This does not however
convey Ibrahim being a Muslim as what is practiced today
because Ibrahim's period of existence was before monotheistic
faith impacted the world by way of God through the Tanakh, the
Qu'ran and the Gospels.
It is a monstrous falsehood to declare Isaac accursed, or
Lot. As for narrowminded Jews who are no better than their
Muslim counterparts, Ibrahim was not a Jew. Some assert he
was a Hebrew and thus a Jew, which is incorrect I am an
Egyptian Arab but that does not automatically make me a
Muslim. Arab is my race, Muslim is my faith in God. So goes the
Hebrew race and Jewish faith. Now the frailty of this argument
shines through Some say that a scripture that mentions Ishmael
as "a wild donkey of a man" makes him an abomination but this
is a gross error in judgment Wild donkey of a man in that period
stresses freedom, wisdom and growth of a great nation as sym­
bolized by the donkey. "His hands being against his brothers”
merely points out his stubbornness vtfiich is inherent in the
donkey (his I know I'm right! attitude) not that he is unreformable
or an abomination to God Those vho think Isaac is above
Ishmael and doubt the true unity of the house and rights of a
firstborn such as Ishmael should refer to Deuteronomy 21:15-17,
and to the Jews who condemn Muhummad and say he is an
abomination to the world. I recommend Deuter 18:18-19, Deuter
33, Genesis 49:1-11, Isaiah 21:7, Isaiah 42:1-8 and 11-13
Many of my Semitic brothers and sisters ask what is the
use of it and why even bring up points like these "No one will
listen No one cares,” the voices groan I am not concentrating
on CNN or the other commercial throat-slash networks that show
our candle of hope being blown out I cry tears for the house of
Ibrahim and the brothers who feel so caged-in that violence
seems the only answer to the atrocities heaped on them To all
the extremists who believe that extremism is the only wisdom, I
want to know if they even know vhy they are fighting, or if they
are in the middle of a war not Space Invaders on Atari I would
like to thank King Hussein of Jordan and Yitzhak Rabin of Israel
making the impossible seem graspable. So maybe one day, I,
Hassan Khalifa, can sit down with the Abdur Rahmans, Joshua
Ben Israels and David Ben Shlomos of the world without
gunplay or school buses exploded from what could have been
avoided by changing the subject, leaving the room, walkjng
away or speaking courteously.
Hassan Khalifa lives in Astoria