Muslim ‘counterterrorism expert’ falsely claims that hadith about Muslims killing Jews applies only to ‘last day’

People want so desperately to hear good news that they end up willing and even eager to be fooled. Noor Dahri claims that this hadith applies only to the “last day,” when that is obviously false. The hadith says: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.” — Sahih Muslim 6985

Read the beginning of the words attributed to Muhammad again: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight the Jews and the Muslims would kill them.”

So this is not a hadith about the “last day.” It is a hadith about the conditions under which the “last day” will come about, and how Muslims can bring about the “last day”: by killing Jews.

It’s good that Noor Dahri says that governments should stop appeasing Muslims, but his effort to explain away this hadith is pure deception. He goes on to claim that Qur’an 5:51 (“Do not take Jews or Christians as friends”) applies only to Muhammad’s time, and invokes the fact that Muslim men can marry Jewish women as an indication that it is not a blanket prohibition of Muslim-Jewish friendship. He does not, however, mention, much less explain, why Muslim women cannot likewise marry Jewish men. That would reveal the Islamic supremacist imperative he is trying to conceal: Muslim men can marry Jewish women because the woman will join the man’s household and thus the Muslim community will be increased at the expense of the Jewish community. And a Jewish man cannot marry a Muslim woman because the Muslim woman would then join the Jewish household, and the Jewish community would be increased, and that would never do as far as Islam is concerned.

But because Noor Dahri tells people falsehoods that they very much want to hear, he is prosperous and respected.

“Counterterrorism Expert Noor Dahri Says Muslim-Jewish Cooperation Key to Halting Spread of Antisemitism,” Combat Antisemitism Movement, May 20, 2023:

Noor Dahri is the executive director of the London-based Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism (ITCT) think tank. Recently, Dahri, who was born and raised in Pakistan, took to Twitter to speak out against a controversial “hadith” — or “saying of the Prophet” — that has long been a source of Muslim enmity toward Jews.

Dahri is currently putting together a educational seminar on antisemitism that can be broadcast to experts and students at online events.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) invited Noor for a conversation about the specific hadith he mentioned in his tweet, as well as the broader issue of Jew-hatred in the Muslim world.

A transcript of the discussion, edited for brevity and clarity, follows:

To start, tell us about the background of the hadith you tweeted about recently and how it has been used over the course of history.

There are a few things to mention about the hadith which I will do, but I will note it requires a very deep understanding and is a long debatable topic, and I’m not a hadith scholar. There are moderate Muslim scholars and experts, such as Sheikh Usama Hasan and Harris Rafiq, who can address it more wisely and in greater depth.

There is a huge chapter of “Last Day” predictions in the hadith books (“sayings of the Prophet”). Some scholars have classified this particular hadith as “hasan,” which means “good” (“good” is used to describe a hadith whose authenticity is not as well-established as that of a sahih, or “authentic,” hadith, but is sufficient to serve as supporting evidence), while other scholars have classified it as “da’if,” or “weak.”

So as I said, it is complicated to fully understand the precise background of this hadith.

And if we were to accept this hadith is “sahih,” as according to the narrations of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, then we should also believe it is meant for the “Day of Judgement,” and Muslims cannot use it in the current day to create a hateful atmosphere for any political or religious reasons.

There are many “Last Day” ahadith (plural of hadith) relevant to corruption of Muslims in Islamic states, and if we started applying these ahadith to contemporary times, there would be bloodshed all over the Islamic world in fighting between Muslims, just as there is ongoing strife between Shi’as and Sunnis in many countries over religious and jurisprudence differences.

Is this hadith commonly taught across the Muslim world? How accurately does it reflect Islamic theology on the issue of relations with Jews?

We all know that by spreading this hadith without providing its full context, Muslim scholars have created intense hatred of Jewish communities worldwide. The surprising thing is this that early Muslims, such as companions of the Prophet Muhammad and their descendants, did not use this hadith to incite against Jews. History shows that Jews flourished in the early Islamic era and Islam allowed Jews to remain in Muslim lands, where Jews were treated well and there was fruitful coexistence. Since then, however, Islam has been politicized, and Muslim scholars started using such ahadith against the Jews and Hindus, which has undermined the peaceful nature of Islam.

Are there Islamic governments or institutions that have taken steps to mitigate the impact of this Hadith on Muslim thinking?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has banned many Islamic literatures and texts that generated hate and extremism toward other religions and communities, and such types of sermons are also not permitted in the United Arab Emirates.

What can Western governments do to prevent this hadith from inciting hatred of Jews among Muslim populations in their countries?

Western governments should stop appeasing Muslims and devise and enforce strict rules where applicable to minimize extremism and stem hatred of other religious communities. Whenever I attend the Friday congregation prayer at mosque, I am sickened by listening to the hadith that “Jews have betrayed the Prophet of Islam,” and it really frustrates me when that they mention the hadith out of context — they mention as is, and full stop. They deliberately leave a gap for Muslims to succumb to hate by thinking that Jews were the enemies of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam….

To conclude, let me say that Islamic antisemitism can only be countered successfully with the help of moderate Muslim scholars and experts who know how to address the ideology effectively and offer solutions. Jewish organizations should reach out to such scholars and experts to work together to combat antisemitism. Cooperation with Muslims is vital if Jews want to halt the rapid growth of this hateful ideology in the Western world.