Every now and then a non-Muslim stumbles upon Qur’an 5:21, which has Moses saying: “O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has prescribed for you, and turn not back in your traces, to turn about losers,” and starts saying that the Qur’an promises the land of Israel to the Jews, and that if only Islam were rightly understood, Muslims would recognize this and make peace with the State of Israel. Back in 2009 I wrote an article in the Middle East Quarterly showing that this was false, based on essentially the same argument that Ali Al-Siba’i makes here.
“Libyan Researcher Dr. Ali Al-Siba’i: Allah Took Jerusalem from the Jews Because of Their Sins and Gave It to the Muslims,” MEMRI, July 28, 2018:
Libyan researcher Dr. Ali Al-Siba’i said that Jerusalem had once belonged to the Jews, but “because they did what was forbidden to them, and they denied the signs of Allah, slayed the prophets, and committed offenses and mortal sins, and so on, Allah took this honor from them and gave it to the Muslims.” He said that the battle for Jerusalem had a “religious dimension” and pertained to the Muslims, not just to the Arabs. The interview with Al-Siba’i aired on Turkey’s TV Channel 9 on July 28, 2018.
Libyan Researcher Dr. Ali Al-Siba’i: It is true that Jerusalem belonged to the Jews, because the prophets of the Israelites and the Israelite people were indeed in that place. But because they did what was forbidden to them, and they denied the signs of Allah, slayed the prophets, and committed offenses and moral sins, and so on, Allah took this honor from them and gave it to the Muslims – not only to the Arabs. This is why the Arab [Caliph] Omar came and conquered [Jerusalem], and the Kurds, led by Saladin, came and fought there… What made Saladin go there, if it was a conflict between Arabs, as some try to portray it today? What made Saladin, and Nur Al-Din Al-Zengi before him, the Seljuks before him, and Mehmed the Conqueror before them, and the Ottomans before him, and the Ayyubids before them… Why did all these non-Arab Muslim nations put their lives on the line for the sake of Jerusalem? Because it has a religious dimension. Allah took this sacred place away [from the Jews] and gave it to the Muslims.