BESA.When Muslims Saved Jews
By Dina Rabie, IOL Staff
"They came in as guests. They were given Muslim names, they were living
with Muslim families," Gershman told IOL.
CAIRO - Norman Gershman has become accustomed to the reactions from people who
see his photos and read his stories about Muslims sheltering Jews and saving
their lives during the Holocaust.
"I had people say 'Muslims save Jews! How is that?'" the American Jewish fine
art photographer told IslamOnline.net in a telephone interview.
Gershman has been engaged in a 5-year project that honors stories of Albanian
Muslims' heroism in saving thousands of Jews, who either lived in Albania or
sought refugee there, during World War II.
The "BESA. a code of honor" project began when he was seeking out photographs
of righteous, non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust, in New York.
Gershman was amazed to find among them Muslim names that he was told belongs to
Albanians.
His quest then took him to Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum in Jerusalem, where
he found more Albanian names.
"I traveled all through Albania and Kosovo where I met the rescuers' children,
who are in their sixties or even older, the rescuers' widows, and in some cases
the rescuer himself."
After more than four years of collecting stories and shooting black and white
photos, Gershman's first exhibition was held last November at Yad Vashem.
The exhibition then went the UN headquarter in New York before starting a world
tour.
A full length documentary is in progress along with a fine art book of the
heroic profiles of Muslims saving Jews in Albania and Kosovo.
The premier of the film worldwide is expected in 2009.
"I am proud and happy to show this story to the world," Gershman says
Qur'anic BESA
Albanian Muslims saved Jews from the Nazis "to go to paradise."
People usually ask Gershman about the title he chose for the fruit of his
painstaking five-year efforts.
"BESA is a tribal Albanian culture that goes back to thousands of years," he
explains.
"What BESA says is that if some one knocks on your door you have an absolute
obligation - no matter who that person is - to save their lives."
There is no any evidence that any Jew was turned over to Nazis in
Muslim-majority Albania.
There were ten times more Jews in Albania after WWII than before.
"In fact, Albania is the only Nazi occupied country that sheltered Jews," says
Gershman. "They came in as guests. They were given Muslim names, they were
living with Muslim families."
>From the saviors' tales, Gershman found that Albanian Muslims considered BESA
>a manifestation of the Islamic teachings of keeping the promise and protecting
>the weak.
"I remember that some of them said 'there is no BESA without the Qur'an.'"
Gershman believes that to Muslim Albanians, the idea of not saving Jews from
the Nazis was inconceivable.
"They did this in the name of their religion. They absolutely had no prejudice
what so ever.
"I asked them 'why did you do this? What was in the Qur'an that you did this?'
They would only smile.
"Some of them said 'we have saved lives to go to paradise.'"
Message to West
Gershman believes the Albanian Muslim heroism is of extraordinary significance.
"In one way it's a small story because we are not talking about hundreds of
thousands of people being saved. But it's an important story," he insists.
"It says that there are good people in the world, and they come from every
religion."
Gershman says believes that the stories of Albanian religious tolerance left a
legacy that runs in the face of stereotyped portrayal of Muslims.
"My message to the Western world is that there are so many good people in the
world and so many of them are Muslims," he maintains.
"If you see my pictures and the stories, there is no question that these are
good people.
"I defy if anybody sees my pictures, especially in the West, and say that these
people are militants or supporters of violence."
The Jewish American, who has studied Sufism, says Islam is not what many
Westerners think.
"To me Islam is poetry, is science, is to be with the divine. Islam is beauty."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1218650239931&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Islamic world has sheltered Jewish people throughout history: rabbi
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN -- Israel must end its military occupation of Palestine because that is
the only way that there can be peaceful negotiations that will resolve the
longstanding dispute, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb said here last week.
Rabbi Gottlieb, one of the first ten women rabbis in the history of Judaism, on
May 10 visited the offices of the Tehran Times and the Mehr News Agency,
heading a delegation of 21 peace activists from the United States.
The interfaith delegation included people of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist,
Christian, and Indigenous religious confessions from 11 different U.S. states.
"It is important to remember that the Islamic world has sheltered the Jewish
people throughout our long history," Rabbi Gottlieb said in an interview with
MNA.
Following are some excerpts of the interview:
Q: You have visited many Iranian Jews during your trip. Do they like living in
Iran? What is your view of them?
A: I am the first woman rabbi to visit Iran. I had the opportunity to visit and
attend religious services at Tehran's synagogue, with the rest of the members
of this delegation as well, to visit the Jewish hospital, and to hear from
(outgoing Jewish MP) Morris Motamed and Siamak Mursadeq, who is the future
parliamentarian. Several of us also visited the Jewish community in Shiraz and
we also met a Jewish shop owner and his son in Isfahan, and we also shared a
meal with Mr. Mursadeq in his home and had a lengthy conversation. And as well,
we have visited the Armenian (Orthodox Christian) religious community. For me
personally, that was very moving and very exciting.
It's important for us to know about this ancient Jewish community (in Iran),
which is the oldest community outside of Israel that exists in the world, and
has preserved the traditional ways of Jewish people, and everyone that we have
spoken to, whether they have visited Israel or not, has affirmed that they have
in Iran only some minor challenges, such as the inheritance law. But we know
that there is openness in the parliament and with the Supreme Leader, and among
the population, to resolve those challenges. They are of Middle Eastern origin
and have a unique perspective to offer us in maintaining a good relationship
with their Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters and have been living in
peace with their neighbors for 30 centuries.
For much of the world Jewish community, whose history often reflects the
difficult times they have had in Europe, it is important to remember that the
Islamic world has sheltered the Jewish people throughout our long history.
(Here) we have eaten well, we have been graciously hosted, we have loved the
people of Iran, and we have had wonderful conversations. This is a community
that expresses many different views within the context of a tremendous spirit
of hospitality, which we have so appreciated. And that is the tradition we
share. Abraham was known for his great hospitality, and in Jewish tradition
this is the reason that he is known as a prophet among us not only for his
revelation of tawhid (monotheism), but also because his revelation of tawhid
and unity came with his extensive hospitality to strangers. We also learned
that it was Cyrus who returned the Jews first to the land of Israel after they
were first exiled and helped us rebuild our temple there. He also wrote the
first declaration of human rights in human history. We honor the people of Iran
for this advanced understanding that human rights must be the heart of any
religious expression.
And in my innocence and youth, I didn't know the history of the Middle East. At
that time I was anxious to learn, because from my own history, both the
Holocaust and knowing the loss of human lives there, and the civil rights
movement in Israel, and the struggle of African Americans to attain human
rights, and the genocide of Native American people in the United States, which
is an ongoing issue. Anyway, I went to see Mansour, the Palestinian journalist.
I went to his house, by myself, with my Israeli host, who was my age. We
knocked on his door, we were invited in, he served tea, and I said, "I am here
to interview Mansour." I had no appointment. He was very shocked, but he
granted me the interview. He said, "Why do you want to interview me?" And I
said, "Mr. Mansour, can you tell me what it's like to be an Israeli Arab?" That
was the term I used. And he looked at me and he said to me, "Young woman, if
you want to know my story, I will tell you, but if I tell you my story, then
you will have responsibility for that knowledge." I said, "I want to know your
story." And he told me the story of the Nakba, of the expulsion of 750,000
Palestinians from their homes, the destruction of over 400 villages at that
time in 1948. I was 17.
Since that time, 41 years ago, I have been working constantly on raising up, in
my own community and in the Christian community in the United States, the
desire of Palestinians for national sovereignty in their own land. And in this
period of time, earlier it was calling for negotiations between the PLO and
Israel, just as this delegation is calling. and in this current time, calling
for an end to Israel's military occupation of Palestine as the only way that
will allow peaceful negotiations and a settlement between our peoples.
We as a delegation travel together in an interfaith context to promote the role
of interfaith dialogue as an invaluable resource in promoting peace. If we can
travel together, sit together, eat together, talk together, get to know each
other, maintain our unity, and learn from each other, this can be an example of
the peace that is possible, and we found this very much reflected in Iran.
There is freedom of religion here; we have discovered it in our travels.
more @ http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168816
