(January 27th, 2017)
Presenter: We have a precious guest tonight. I would like to introduce him.
Our esteemed guest today is Dr. Omer Salem. He is a religious scholar from Egypt who is active in efforts for peace based on the Law on People of the Book. He is now living in the United States. He has written an important book titled, “The Missing Peace: The Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” Dr. Salem, studied Religion and Politics at Yale University in America, he also studied Old and New Testament at Yale Divinity School. Also, he has other degrees in the reputed universities in the United States including UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. Dr. Salem also received a doctorate degree with his study on the “Ideal Relationship Between Muslims and the People of the Book” at Al-Azhar University. Dr. Salem is also the Former President of the Ibn Rush Institute, and a Senior Research Fellow at Foundation for Religious Diplomacy. He has given various speeches in the US Congress and Israel Parliament, as well as cabinets of Palestine and Egypt, concerning the significance of religion in solving political issues. The reason why he has come to Turkey is to share his ideas with you in regard to the Law on the People of the Book.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Masha’Allah. Welcome, you have honored us.
Dr. Omer Salem: My Pleasure. Thank you.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: What a great duty you have, what a great objective! Such great studies, such a great knowledge! We’re proud of you. We would like to benefit from your beautiful ideas, please.
Dr. Omer Salem: My research areas, my studies have actually focused on developing the ideal relationships between Muslims and Ahl-Kitap. So, my studies are composed of the Torah, the Injil and the Qur’an. I am often asked the question by Americans specifically because I live there.- We have the Injil [Gospel] and we have the Torah; why do we need the Qur’an?
In the Torah, we have a promise of the Moshiach or a Christ and the Injil shows us that the Moshiach has come or Christ has come so it is a fulfillment of what is in the Torah so we do not need anything else. So my studies have focused on how to answer that question. Which is why Allah would have revealed the Qur'an after having revealed the Torah and the Injil?The answer to that question can be found in chapter number 16 verse number 64. It is actually chapter 16 is the Surat an- Nahl, and in the verse number 64 Allah SuphanAllah Teala answers that question.
Allah, SuphanAllah answers the question as why the Qur’an was revealed after we had the Torah and the Injil? Allah Subhanauteala said to his Prophet Mohammed, I would say in Arabic and then I will translate; Allah Subhanauteala said:
"Oh Mohammed we have given you this book, the Quran for the express purpose, for the sole purpose of showing to the people of the book those things which they are differing about which they are quarreling about and as a guidence and mercy to mankind."
So The Qur'an was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) to show ehlu kitap which is mainly Jews and Christians about those things which they are differing and quarreling about. The Qur'an goes to state many areas in which Jews have taken one position and Christians have taken an opposite position. The most important problem that Ahl-Kitap fell into and had a major problem with is Jesus Christ, what to do with Jesus.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Dissention, yes.
Dr. Omer Salem: So for the Jewish Rabbis who are standing fast with their tradition, they reject Jesus totally. For the Christian, you know people of religion, the priests, they not only accept Jesus but they elevate him to the status of Allah. So we have the Jews saying that Jesus is totally rejected to the extent where in the writings in the Talmud they say that he is the devil and he is now being burned in Hellfire. These are the writings in the Talmud and Christians saying, “No, he's God and should be worshipped.” So there's a huge rift, a huge separation between the two people who at one point were part of the same tribe, the Beni Israel, both Jews were Beni Israel Christians were Beni Israel and they both were belonging to the same family and now there is a split in that family. And that dispute between what Orthodox Jews believe and what Christians believe is so huge. This separation, this rift is best illustrated in the New Testament, “The Book of John” or “the Injil of John”, Chapter 8, where there's a conversation taking place between Jesus Christ and the rabbis at his time. In the dialogue - and it is documented it's there anybody can read it - in the dialogue the Jews are accusing Jesus of being the devil. And in that same dialogue, Jesus is accusing the Jews of being the devil. So each side is accusing the other side of something very derogatory. So back to the Qur'an, to the verse in chapter number 16 verse number 64, Allah resolve this dispute and says; "Oh Mohammed we have given you this book for the express purpose of showing Ahl- Kitap about those things they differ about mainly to tell the Jews that Jesus Christ is really not the devil, he is but a messenger of Allah and He is guided by the Spirit of Allah to promote mercy, promote kindness. And then it's also to tell the Christians on the other hand that Jesus was a human being and he should not be worshipped but God the Creator of Jesus and the Creator of Heaven and Earth is the One that should be worshipped. So the purpose of the Qur'an is to make amends between these two traditions, to bring them closer to each other, make them get along with each other.
The purpose of the Quran is not to abrogate or cancel the Torah and Injil. The Quran’s purpose is to affirm the good morals and ethics that are embedded and found in the Injil and in the Torah. And just like the Injil, just like the Qur'an is Mercy and the guidance to mankind Allah Subhanauteale described the Torah and Injil as also mercy and guidance to mankind. Allah mentioned that in Surah Al- Imran verse number from 1-4 i will cite in Arabic and then I will go; Allah Subhanauteala said Allah says and I will translate that he has revealed The Torah and The Injil as guidance to mankind. So it’s very important for the Muslim Ulema not to say that the Torah and The Injil are abrogated or canceled and no longer valid. It’s very important not to say that. But what we say is what Allah says in the Qur'an that the Qur'an is affirming the books that preceded it and it’s not abrogating the books that preceded it. And the Qur'an has a special message to the People of the book, and that message is for the express purpose of showing them the things that have differed over and if we did that the Qur'an becomes a mercy and a guidance to Ahl-i Kitap. Then Allah Subhanauteala sets the relationship between this ummah, the ummah of Rasulallah Aleyhissalatu Vesselam and the ummah of Ahl- kitap in the chapter number 5 verse number 48.
Yes. Allah Subhanauteala sets the relationship between the ummah of Prophet Muhammad and the ummah of Ahl kitap, and that realitionship is revealed to Prophet Muhammad in chapter number 5 verse number 48. Okay, in that chapter, chapter 5 verse 48, Allah Subhanauteala says, “To each of you, we have given Sharia, to the Jews Sharia, Christian Sharia, to the Muslim Sharia and it is the will of Allah to create us as different ummah. And if Allah has willed it He would have made all of us as one, one people. But it is His intention, His plan is to have the different sharias. And why is He doing this? For the sole purpose of compete for righteousness. That’s the relationship in the Qur'an between the Muslim ummah and the ummah of Ahl kitap, compete for righteousness. To Allah you’ll all return and He will tell you about the things that you’re differing about.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Christian, Jew and Muslim, yes.
Dr. Omer Salem: So as we see from what I mentioned, the Qur'an is revealed to show both Jews and Christians those things that they’re differing about and it’s also commanding the Muslim people to compete with them in righteousness, in virtues.
And therefore if our ulema focus on these verses that I’ve just recited in the Qur'an, a lot of peaceful relationship will exist between both traditions and much of the conflicts in the Middle East that we’re seeing, specifically in Israel – Palestine would actually go by the wayside. The reason we have many of the conflicts we’re seeing today is because we introduced in the Islamic Corpus of Knowledge a science called nasih and mansuh, Science of abrogation. And that science of Nasih and Mansuh took the Quran, stripped many verses, meaning canceled many verses in the Qur'an, up to 250 verses. This science was developed by a Muslim scholar in Andalusia, in present-day Spain called Ibn-i Hazm, where he used verses in the Qur'an to cancel other verses and rendered the Qur'an as a Book of fighting, just fighting.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Because they told such a lie, exactly. Because they changed Allah’s commandments written in His Book, because they changed Allah’s Book. Because they disliked Allah’s decrees, exactly.
Dr. Omer Salem: Exactly. So they somehow developed a parallel religion of Islam that is not the intended religion of Islam, that Prophet Muhammad, he is a mercy to mankind, and they turned that mercy where they canceled all the verses that have to do with kindness, mercy, being gentle with your neighbor, all of that. Those verses were rendered as invalid including verses like … religious verses like be kind to other people, they canceled all these verses.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: This is such a great cruelty! A great persecution. We will insha’Allah resolve this.
Dr. Omer Salem: Yes, we definitely need to work on that together, eradicate that, restore Islam to its mercy, to mankind, as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad and to let those who want to believe and those who don’t want to believe not believe.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Master, right now the number of people watching you is very high, which indicates the importance of the issue you are speaking about. The rating is much higher than normal ratings.
Yes millions of people are watching you, by which you earn many rewards in Allah’s Sight. The issues you dwell on are very vital, very important. You annihilate the tactics employed by the dajjal. This is a very blessed service.
Dr. Omer Salem: Alhamdulillah, I thank Allah for this opportunity to be here with you and I know that as we have make effort to restore our Muslim people back to the Qur'an and away from the parallel religion that was developed by certain ulema that had what we called in Islam inclination or have to serve certain worldly gains, we as Muslims will actually succeed.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Yes, my master we are at your service; hundreds of young people, thousands of them are under your service.
Dr. Omer Salem: That would be pleasure to me because I definitely need these people to work together, so that we insha’Allah resolve this, what I called evil conflict in the Middle East, specifically in Israel – Palestine, which once that conflict is resolved and it can be resolved. Because the solution exists in our book. And we can resolve it based on Islamic values. The whole region will prosper. We will have a train line going from Istanbul to Damascus, to Cairo and you can ride on the train and go there.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Yet the time has come.
Dr. Omer Salem: The time has come for that we like to envision, developing this region; Mosul, Sham, Turkey, Hejaz, Iraq, all these region, so that we can all prosper. There will be no restriction on travel. People would be safe wherever they travel and we’ll get to enjoy life the way Allah Subhanauteala intended it.
Mr. Oktar: You are a very auspicious, a very blessed person. Your duty is also blessed. May Allah give a long life to you and make it instrumental for many other blessings. You have a profound knowledge. You are a beloved person. You carry out a very important duty in the End Times. We are at your side to the end. We will accomplish [our goals] together, insha’Allah. Let’s be in constant contact.
Dr. Omer Salem: Absolutely, you’ll have my e-mail, my contact. So even if I’m in America, we can hold the conference like this, by video conference. And I can answer and address any questions from the audience. For example some people might come back with questions saying okay, how to solve this problem from the Quran, okay. And give The Jews their full rights and give the Palestinians their full rights and have lasting peace and I personally think that Turkey can play a pivotal role, a very important role in making this problem go away.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Very nice.
Very nice. Indeed our friends can also go to the USA. We can hold conferences there. We can also hold conferences in Turkey. We can publish books, magazines, produce CD's and make television programs. In brief, we can make enormous impact.
Yes the hadith also indicate the same.
Dr. Omer Salem: Yes, I wish for that to happen. In fact I wish to take the West, the United States, out of this problem. And just have the Palestinians and the Israelis sitting and solving their issues without involvement of the International Community and without involvement of anybody from outside. Because they only serve to complicate this problem.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Yes, there are many knowledgeable people like you who are sincere and reasonable. Let’s all come together; we can carry out very good studies. There are so many positive people in the world; they are a dominant power. We can obtain results easily, insha’Allah.
Dr. Omer Salem: I look forward to that.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Insha’Allah. We thank you very much. May Allah be pleased with you. May Allah deepen your knowledge. Insha’Allah, we would like to host you again here.
Dr. Omer Salem: Thank you very much.
Mr. Adnan Oktar: Let’s take a break.
Presenter: We thank our guest for his participation. Our program will proceed with some short videos.
