Excerpt from Rabbi Ben Abrahamson's meeting with Mr. Adnan Oktar (March 10, 2010)
RABBI BEN ABRAHAMSON: There is a political side to all the events that are happening in the world today. And there is also another side, and that is the teachings that we have been taught from the time we were very young as children growing up in Jewish homes, how to relate to non-Jews, and how to relate to believers, and how to relate to Bnai Noah. I have some quotes here which are things that we have learnt. One is that Maimonides has taught that Islam, the religion of Islam, is a return to the monotheism of Abraham. (Teshuvot ha-Rambam 2, no. 293)
We are taught that the purpose of Islam is to make straight the path to the Messiah to come and to help prepare the whole world to serve Hashem together. As it is said in the book of the Prophet Zephania that when the Messiah comes, Hashem will make the speech of all the people into a pure speech, and all of them will come and call the name of Hashem and serve Him with one accord.(Zephaniah 3:9)
Some people try to say that there are things that are incorrect in Islam, that for instance in the Hajj, the throwing of the stones , they say they are some remnants of some pagan origin. But we are taught that there isn't a Muslim in the world who performs any aspect of the Hajj for any wrong reason, not in word and not in thought. But that their hearts are completely surrendered to Heaven. (Teshuvot ha-Rambam, no. 448)
So the devout Jews are taught to have the greatest respect for the devout among the Muslims, what we call the followers of the teachings of B'nai Noah. And based on the foundations of this respect, we sincerely desire to share our faith and our prayers and work together for the common good with all our Muslim neighbors in Turkey and the entire Middle East.
