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The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism

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Tarek Fatah's latest book "The Jew is Not My Enemy" should be required reading for every Muslim and should be translated in Arabic, Urdu, Persian and Turkish so that the hatred against Jews in the Muslim world is challenged. Until I read this book, I had always believed that Prophet Muhammad had massacred 700 Jews in cold blood and this had always bothered me as inconceivable. Thank God for Tarek Fatah to expose this false bravado inserted in Muslim dogma by medieval Arab caliphates.

I was also intrigued by the dedication of this book. I Tarek Fatah does not follow conventional wisdom and dedicate the book to his wife, parents or family. Instead, he brings up a character from the Second World War that the world has largely forgotten: A Muslim Princess from India, Noor Inayat Khan, known in the West as Nora Baker. I had known about this young Muslim woman "who did not have to die, but chose to give her life to defeat the nazis and bring an end to the Holocaust." I did not know Muslims died in Auschwitz. How many Muslims or Jews know this? Almost none.

This work of scholarship should be widely read by both Muslim and Jew. It is breezy read and chapter one, where Fatah documents the attack on a Jewish centre of Mumbai by Pakistani jihadis, reads more like a thriller than history. When the Muslims and Jews finally bury the hatchet, they should both tank this book for triggering that process.

If you have not read Fatah's his first book "Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State," I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy as it is almost sold out. The Mirage is a treasure for anyone wishing to understand the difference between a Muslim and an Islamist and why Islam and Islamism are at odds with each other.

Tarek Fatah writes courageously and with clarity. He picks out the historical flaws in Middle East Islam and demands change from within his religion. His life long study reveals fascinating stories of history in the Islamic world within which he grew up. Very early in the book, Fatah outlines the al-Fatiha referring to it as the Islamic equivalent to the Lord's Prayer. His version is as follows:
"In the name of God, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds,
The beneficent, the merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment.
You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.
Guide us on the right path,
The path of those upon whom You have bestowed your bounty,
Not of those who have earned Your wrath, nor of those who go astray."

Fatah demonstrates how the Hadith, written some 200 years after the Quran, corrupts this beautiful passage to insert "Jews" and "Christians" into the last sentence. When I checked my own Quran text and checked his assertion on the internet, I grew to trust his research and assertions when it pertained to his religion and how it affects our present circumstances. Buy i: read it: and pass it on to a friend for a read. It is a must read.

Tarek Fatah latest book 'The Jew Is Not My Enemy' is the fascinating record and expose of the history of Palestinian people and their politics, and a truly goldmine of information for anybody who care to understand the tragic mess in Middle East. In this very personal and provocative book Tarek backs his opinion based on extensive research, and rightly question the authanticity of some so called historical records.
It is a must read for the Muslims and others who are intrested in the history of Middle East and Palistinians.

"O Allah, Completely Destroy and Shatter the Jews" , As a person(African) who visit mosques regularly I have never been comfortable of listening the above prayer when some imams say. Every Muslim should read this book and understand why Muslims mustn't hate Jews or any other people/group.

The only reason some Muslims hate the Jews is because some religious leaders/imams from middle east has brainwashed them. I had a friend who grew up in Kuwait, and he had some antisemitism feelings. One day I have asked him why he has that feelings towards the Jews, and if they have done anything wrong to him/family or his country or whether there is anything religious abut having anti antisemitism. He took a pause and frankly told me no they haven't done anything wrong to him and he has never seen anything antisemitism in either the Quran or the Hadith(Saying of the prophet, peace be upon him). He stated that his school books in Kuwait were full of hatred toward the Jews.

I just come back from middle east and have seen a lot of hatred towards the Jews, and believe me, all has to do with the conflict between the Israel and the Palestinians/Arabs, and nothing to do with the Muslims and the Jews.

As a Muslim, I really thank the author for putting this to light.

Congratulations! Alhumdulillah! Mazel Tov!This is a wonderful,long-needed exposé of a serious disease within the Islamic community.As a convert to Islam of some 33 years,of Jewish origins myself,I have come up against this anti-Semitism over and over again and it has often hurt my heart.I have,nevertheless,managed to preserve my faith because of the deeper and incontestable truths within the Islamic tradition something that Tarek Fatah appreciates as well.His analysis is well-researched and well thought-out and there is no doubt that Muslims, especially, have every interest in reading it.I hope it is translated into Arabic and Urdu and gets a a full hearing in those countries where there is so much misinformation and conspiracy theorizing on this subjec
I would like to add a couple of caveats however.Firstly,it is unfortunate that Tarek Fatah does not give enough attention to the spiritual wing of Islam-Sufism.It is somewhat ironic that he mentions Noor Inayat Khan and dedicates his book to her but forgets to mention that she is the daughter of Hazrat Inayat Khan who brought Sufism to the West and the sister of Pir Vilayat Khan who did so much work to spread Sufism in the West.I am the product of this tradition and it has been my path to and in Islam.As well,the Sufis have been combatting Islamic extremism well before the West even knew it existed.
Another point that would be very interesting for Muslims to consider is the timing logistics of the Quran-i.e.the Quran is revealed at the beginning of the Islamic tradition,by definition..God has 2500 years of Jewish history to commemt on and about 600 years of Christian hisatory.One can only imagine what He would say about Muslims now after 1500 years of Islamic history!In fact there is an authentic hadith of the Prophet sal in Bukhari which states the following"You(the Muslims) will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you(the Jews and Christians),span by span,cubit by cubit,until even were they to enter a lizard's hole,you would follow them."So the Muslims are forewarned.
I could say much more and have in some of my own writings but for now let me content myself with thanking the author for a remarkable contribution.Salaams,Joel Ibrahim Kreps

While I consider Tarek Fatah a genuinely decent, charming,and peaceful Muslim, I still get the impression, from his latest book, he is trying awfully hard to paint (true)Islam, the Quran,and Mohammad in the best possible light while at the same time openly admitting that there are sections in the Quran as disturbing. As a non-historian of early Islamic history, although I have read considerably on the life of Muhammad, I am fascinated to watch as good and nice Muslims still defend their so-called holy book and their so-called prophet of God as something admirable. Someone has said that one can know a tree by its fruit, and the fruit I see coming out of a fair portion of Islam is not righteousness. Yet, admittedly not all Muslims are terrorists, just as not all Christians killed abortion doctors. But all in all, I highly recommend The Jew Is Not My Enemy. The book should be on every home bookshelf in Canada. As for the future, I await to see book reviews of Tarek Fatah's book by such scholars as Robert Spencer.

This book is a total waste of money. It sounds like a rant of a 3 year old child. un-scholarly, narrow minded. I almost felt sick. I was expecting an analysis of the issues , as to why and why not. I do not even know how it got past the editors. We must be living in times where any buffoon that can type and has money--writes a book. You have to be drunk to like it. Waste of time and waste of money. STAY AWAY!!!!