Muslims blast Israel for reading kindness into the Koran

Headline News

Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Israel Today Staff

Arab media around the Middle East this week reacted hysterically after learning that a Jewish professor at Haifa University is using verses from the Koran to teach Arab Muslim psychology students how to treat their future Muslim patients.

Professor Ofer Grosbard developed the Quranet course using specially chosen verses from the Muslim holy book to help students reinforce in their patients concepts like respect, responsibility, honesty, dignity and kindness.

Grosbard realized the need for the special course after one of his Muslim students complained that traditional Western psychology would be ineffective on Muslim patients who hold tightly to superstitious beliefs.

Despite the fact that the Quranet course was developed together with 15 Muslim students and was reviewed by three Islamic clerical figures, Muslim authorities around the Middle East denounced the project because it was overseen by a Jew.

Speaking to Gulf News, Dr. Abdullah Al Mutlaq of the Senior Ulema Board in Saudi Arabia insisted that all Jews hate Islam, and that Prof. Grosbard's efforts to emphasize the Koran's few lessons in human dignity and kindness would give Muslims the wrong impression of their religion.

Dr. Manae Abdel-Halim Mahmoud, professor of Koranic sciences at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, told an Egyptian newspaper that the Israeli project "aims to tarnish the image of Islam by giving wrong interpretation of the noble Koran."

Palestinian Authority officials also blasted the project, stating that the current prevalent interpretation of Islam that has led to so much regional death and destruction is the correct interpretation, and that Prof. Grosbard's kinder, gentler selection of Koranic verses is misleading.

[via Elder of Ziyon]

FREE daily email updates. Sign up »

Be an Ambassador

Israel

for

Learn how »

Israel Today

Print Edition
or
Electronic Edition

Get more coverage »

Post your comment »

Name:
Subject:	*
Comment:
Send comment

[28] COMMENTS:

1 .

JUDAISM THE SMALLEST RELIGION

There is only one Jewish state in the world... Israel, and even there your government disgraces the trueness of your religion.

How many Muslim and Christian countries are there in the world... a hell of a lot more. Jesus exists, your religion is false and you only have a microscopic number of believers compared to those who will wait for Jesus to bring about the day of judgement. Tell me why there is no other country where the primary faith is Judaism... because it was not strong enough to spread and convince.

Zionism is not true Jewry just like you are not true Jews and Judaism is not the religion of God.

Henrik

1/3/2009 2:40 PM

2 .

Islam''s open admission that it is violent

Prof. Grosbard''s efforts to emphasize the Koran''s few lessons in human dignity and kindness would give Muslims the wrong impression of their religion.
...Palestinian Authority officials also blasted the project, stating that the current prevalent interpretation of Islam that has led to so much regional death and destruction is the correct interpretation...

I would say that is an open, public admission that Islam is an ideology of violence by the Muslims themselves. How many in the free world are listening? Better wake up and realize that we ARE at war with Islam, whether you believe it or not, and whether you WANT to believe it or not. Refusing to believe reality will not change reality.

Robert

9/19/2008 11:39 PM

3 .

Book Of Hate?

Sounds like the Muslim expert authorities from the Middle East are saying that the Koran is a book of hate and not of peace. That really says a lot about Islam being a religion of peace. We in the West must be wrong.

Michiel USA

8/10/2008 12:28 AM

4 .

Islam...kind? They are the new Nazis!

The Islamists are a direct threat to every country and Western Civilization, what remains of it.

They are the new Nazis. Under the name of a false god, they desire to
control or kill anyone who refuses to observe their perverted false god.
How do I know?
Open your eyes. Look what they do,
look what they require of the people, of the governments they control, of the countries they seek to destroy.
They seek to enslave the human race. I, a woman, should wear a literal tent when I go outside because perverted Islamic men can not control themselves? NEVER.
I am not a Jew.
I am a Catholic and whenever the leaders of any religious body, including my own, allow their human fallen selves to pervert the very body of truth, they should be removed.
I ask all Jewish People to pray to the God of your forefathers and to mine
for my country. Pray that the Spirit of Truth falls down up the voters here to see the absolute danger and fraud of Barack Obama. Pray my Jewish brothers and sisters

Patty, USA

8/7/2008 4:31 PM

5 .

Sorry Leon, that was meant for Thnik about it

Forgive me, I sometimes do this. So sorry.

Carol

8/6/2008 11:00 PM

6 .

Leon, Leon, Leon!!!

Whtever in the world are we todo with you??? Are you an authority on all the translations of the Bible now? I rather doubt it. While I do agree that there are some translations (and Iuse the term loosely) that are by no means even close to correct, there are some good ones. The NASB is a wonderful translation, and actually CLOSER to the original languages than is the KJV, simpley because the modern english language has expanded. Also the english language iwas far different in the actual days or King James, and if we were to hear it spoken today, we would not understand it. you really need to research these things before you start stating your opinions. No, Jesus was not pharasiac, not by any means, he did speak against them. Other translations of the Bible also support this. And further, the JEWS did NOT alter any Bibles!!! Really!!!

Carol

8/6/2008 10:59 PM

7 .

Leon

The anonymous poster who authored "think about it" and "think about it some more" is an antisemite named Soozie. Soozie hates Israel and spends her waking hours attempting to turn people''s hearts away from Israel. It will not work. She uses several aliases, or anonymous posts because Israel Today removes her posts under the name Soozie.

Jim Borge

8/6/2008 4:39 PM

8 .

Jesus

To "Think about it some more"

Jesus was a Pharisaic Jew.
He would have been horrified by your superstitious, ignorant, arrogant, evil mentality and utterances.

Leon

8/6/2008 12:10 PM

9 .

PS to no-name

Not all Jews were condemned, There were over a hundred people in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came and that day over three thousand were added to their number. Each day after that more wer added. These were all Jews. God destroyed the nation of Israel over and over again in the Old Testiment, but he always kept a remanent. Yes there may be a lot of bad Jews, but there are also a lot of bad gentiles. Who are we to say who God has chosen to come to Him. Bad can change their ways. Jesus said many are called but only a few chosen.

Eugene

8/6/2008 6:32 AM

10 .

Cont. to no-name

. Should we Just quite trying to bring them to the Lord because they are doomed? We were in the same boat before we accepted Christ as our Lord.

By the way please use some kind of name. It seems that a lot of people don''t use there name or any name. It would be nice to be able to refer to them by name.

Still praying

Eugene

8/6/2008 6:03 AM

11 .

to no-name 5:20 AM &5:26 AM

Yes Jesus did say these things, and Paul also said what you wrote. Both of them also said more. Such as that those who were invited to the wedding feast would not taste it and the branches of the vine would be cut off. Also Paul talked about the branches of the olive tree being cut off and the wild olive branches being grafted in. But Paul also said how much easier it would be to graft back in the natural olive branches. Paul also said that we should be sent to the Jews to show them the way.

Jesus in Revelation said not to open the first bowl untill the 144,000 had received God''s mark, these 144,000 would come from Israel, 12,000 from each tribe. This can''t mean from the gentiles. There is no way that you or I could be claimed by any tribe in Israel. These 144,000 will lead the remainder of the Jews into the knowledge of their Messiah.

Yes, all the Jews that die in their disbelief will suffer eternal seporation from God. But daily there are more Jews recognizing their Messiah. Should we Just

Eugene

8/6/2008 5:59 AM

12 .

Think About It Some More

Jesus Christ the Messiah of Israel denounced the Jews for rejecting Him when He said, “Behold your house is left unto you desolate. Therefore, you shall not see Me until you say, Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord.” (St Matthew 23)

How then can the Jews whose house is now desolate be the “Chosen People?” When the Jews cast in their teeth that they were the seed of Abraham, Jesus replied, “You are of your father of the devil who was a murderer from the beginning.” (St John 8:44).

8/6/2008 5:26 AM

13 .

Think About It

Did not St Paul the Hebrew of Hebrews say that the Jews are the enemies of the Cross? (Philipians 3 ).

When St Paul said, “The Jews killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets they please not God but are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath of God is come unto them to the uttermost,” did he not make it crystal clear that the Jews are not the “Chosen People?”

And did not Jesus Christ Himself reveal that the Jews are of the Synagogue of Satan? (Revelations 2). Jesus Christ also revealed that the Jews are not true Jews when He said to the Christians of Asia Minor, “I will make them who say they are Jews but are not, but do lie, to come and worship before thy feet.” (Revelations 3).

How then can the so-called Jews who are now the enemies of the Cross and of the Synagogue of Satan, and who must worship at the feet of Christians, be the “Chosen People?”

8/6/2008 5:20 AM

14 .

A Reader

Some of those names, maybe, others of them admit that they are still learning. That is always a good sign. Even at my age I still have a lot to learn. As far a Christ goes I hope I never stop learning. Even the ones that already know it all still deserve our love and prayers. I don''t know If you are a believer in Christ, but if you are I think you will agree.

Eugene

8/6/2008 5:11 AM

15 .

Jim Borge

It must be nice to know it all. I sure wish I did.

Eugene

8/6/2008 3:14 AM

16 .

Koran and the Bible.

The Bible is the only Word of God. The Koran does not contain "the same" stories we find in the Old Testament, but perversions of them! The theme of the Koran is this: "There is no God but allah and allah has no SON." Enough said of these heresies.

Jim Borge

8/6/2008 2:48 AM

17 .

Koran controversy

The Muslim clerics are correct to object about the kinder, gentler view of Islam. As noted below, those are the Early Writings of Mohammad which were abrogated by the violent, vicious, vindictive stuff he spewed out later. Those Early Writings still occupy space in their book, but they have no meaning or credence at all. The vicious, violent content is what constitutes Islam today and the Mullahs know that it is not proper to try to sugar coat it.

Richard, USA

8/5/2008 11:50 PM

18 .

Kindness in the Qu''ran

This attitude explains 60 years of war with Israel, it explains why the Islamic leaders have forced the Palestinian Arabs into a refugee status, it explains why they blew a number of people up on trains and a bus three years ago here in London. I could go on. I praise God for every Moslem who finds Jesus Christ ans his/her Saviour and Lord and is freed from all this awful bondage.

Hannah Sealey

8/5/2008 9:57 PM

19 .

The quran

I have not read the whole quran, but I have read a lot of it. Part of the quran is the same stories we find in the Old Testiment. The same commandments. The same creation. The same God we worship. Mohamid changed all that. God changed on a daily basis with him. Whatever Mohamid decided on a daily basis was what God''s new law was. Changing God from day to day into a god.

Eugene

8/5/2008 8:01 PM

20 .

satan''s verses

The Koran or Quran, what ever. Mohammed was a demon possessed man who was given the verses either by satan or one of his demon''s. Nothing satan does is good, he was a liar and murderer from the beginning. I know there are a lot of nuts out there who would like to say this was said about the Jews but, they are all wrong. This saying from Gods Word was talking about the religious leaders in the time of Jesus/Yeshua who should have known who He was and didn''t because they followed man made rules rather then the Word of God.

BENFOX

8/5/2008 6:46 PM

21 .

Kindness in the qur''an

Are there gentler verses in the qur''an? And if so aren''t these the abrogated ones?

Non muslim

8/5/2008 5:36 PM

22 .

Moral Unity?

If there would be an interpertative unique character to the Holy Quran and it would then be an Unequivocal Basis of Islam, there would be no Shia-Sunni split and Hammas would not be fighting against Fatah! The fact that Musslims disagree on interpretation of the Quran, makes a Jewish opinion a valid annalitical point of view and evidence of a Great-Tower-of-Babylon effect now occurring in Islam, since the Quran has been an evolved variation of previous great books writen by prophets not unique only to Islam!

David Rabinovich

8/5/2008 4:51 PM

23 .

Jim Borge-Qurän

Have you in the past told us that you never read the Koran??
Then how would you know?

8/5/2008 4:09 PM

24 .

muslims blast Israel

Shalom Alechem:
There is no way to please the evil muslims and their demonic koran.

Milton J. Evans

8/5/2008 3:25 PM

25 .

Koran lessons

Maybe the Koran isn''t a "book of peace" after all, as followed by those who practice "the religion of peace"

Frankly Speaking

8/5/2008 2:13 PM

26 .

Good = less jihad, more kindness , love , Jesus<Yeshua>

Good article

augustine e johnson-usa

8/5/2008 1:29 PM

27 .

Dhimmitude

What else do you expect? The world will not be "right" with these people until all of us become dhimmis and pay the hizya.

Homer

8/5/2008 11:22 AM

28 .

Koran

In the few places they occur, it is doubtful virtues such as kindness, respect, and dignity are practiced toward non-muslims by followers of Mohammed and his satanic verses.

Jim Borge

8/5/2008 11:05 AM