Joseph Cohen, Mantan Anggota Kelompok Radikal Yahudi yang Jadi Mualaf
Senin, 26 April 2010, 11:48 WIB
NEW YORK--Ketika kartun South Park edisi ke-200 yang menjadikan Rasulullah SAW
bahan guyonan dengan mengenakan kostum beruang, ada seorang pemuda yang sangat
marah, Yousef al-Khattab. Ia bahkan secara spontan melontarkan pernyataan agar
orang-orang di balik kartun itu berhati-hati, karena bisa jadi mereka akan
menjadi sasaran kemarahan umat Islam seperti halnya sutradara Theo Van Gogh di
Belanda yang tewas ditikam. Ucapannya kemudian ditulis di berbagai media
sebagai "bentuk ancaman kelompok radikal Islam terhadap para kreator South
Park". Bahkan karena berita ini pula, produser kartun menghapus edisi
"konyol-konyolan" itu.
Siapa Yousef al-Khattab? Tak banyak yang tahu. Orang hanya melihatnya sebagai
Muslim taat yang "gampang tersulut" jika Nabinya dilecehkan.
Yang sebenarnya, Yousef adalah mualaf bernama asli Joseph Cohen. Sebelum
kembali tinggal di Amerika Serikat, dia adalah anggota kelompok garis keras
Yahudi di Tepi Barat. Dia pindah ke Israel karena doronagn keyakinannya yang
kuat pada ajaran Yahudi.
Di sana, ia aktif memperjuangkan perluasan permukiman Yahudi di negara itu. Dia
secara rutin mengikuti kelas yang diselenggarakan oleh seorang rabi ortodoks di
kotanya.
Suatu hari, dia seperti biasa berselancar di internet. Di sebuah ruang chat
(chatroom), dia bertemu teman diskusi yang adalah seorang Muslim. Keduanya
saling bertukar pendapat soal pemikiran masing-masing.
Perbincangan itu membekas di hati Cohen. Belakangan, ia yang kemudian hijrah
kembali ke Amerika Serikat dan menemukan banyak pencerahan. Akhirnya, ia
bersyahadat dan menjadi Muslim. Tak lama setelah ia mengucapkan syahadat, istri
dan empat anak Yousef mengikuti jejaknya menjadi Muslim. Sekarang, Yousef
al-Khattab aktif berdakwah di kalangan orang-orang Yahudi, meski ia sendiri
tidak diakui lagi oleh keluarganya yang tidak suka melihatnya masuk Islam.
Ia mengakui, berdakwah tentang Islam di kalangan orang-orang Yahudi bukan
pekerjaan yang mudah. Menurutnya, yang pertama kali harus dilakukan dalam
mengenalkan Islam adalah, bahwa hanya ada satu manhaj dalam Islam yaitu manhaj
yang dibawa oleh Rasululullah SAW yang kemudian diteruskan oleh para
sahabat-sahabat dan penerusnya hingga sekarang. Di negara itu, ia mendirikan
organisasi bagi para pemuda Muslim yang sebagian anggotanya adalah mualaf.
Namun, organisasinya kadung dicap sebagai kelompok garis keras. "Ini adalah
risiko lain berdakwah," ujarnya.
Republika OnLine » Dunia Islam » Islam Mancanegara
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Joseph Cohen’s becoming Yousef al Khattab
JERUSALEM - Joseph Cohen moved from the United States to Israel as a devout Jew
in 1998, but within three years he had converted to Islam and become Yosef
Mohammed Khatib, a supporter of the militant Hamas, according to a report
broadcast Thursday on Israel TV.
Now he refuses to say the word Israel, choosing instead to call the area
“Palestine.” His four children study the Quran, the Muslim holy book, instead
of the Torah, its Jewish counterpart.
It was while living in the desert town of Netivot that Khatib met a sheik from
the United Arab Emirates through an Internet chat about Israel. Khatib said he
spent hours corresponding with the sheik, discussing theology. Gradually he
began to see Judaism as racist and turned toward Islam after reading the Quran,
he told Channel 10 TV. The report did not say where he lived in the United
States or give his age.
Last year he told his wife of 10 years, Luna, also a devout Jew from the United
States, that he wanted to convert to Islam.
“I said, `Listen, I love you very much ... and I have to be honest with you,’”
Khatib said in the TV interview. “I read the Quran and I agree with everything
it says in the Quran, and if I continue saying that I’m a religious Jew, I
would be a liar.”
The family converted together and moved from Netivot to an Arab neighborhood in
east Jerusalem. The children went from being top in their classes on Judaism
studies to being well-versed in Islam, he said.
Instead of supporting the Israeli Orthodox Jewish political party Shas, Khatib
now supports the radical Islamic Hamas and believes an Islamic state should be
set up where Israel and the Palestinian areas are now located.
He praised Hamas for setting up social services for Palestinians but dodged
questions about the other side of the Islamic group — suicide bombings and
other attacks against Israelis. The United States has declared Hamas a terror
group.
Khatib differed from most Israelis and Americans in his views about Osama bin
Laden, the top suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and
Washington.
“I think that he’s number one, Muslim number one,” Khatib said with a strong
New York accent about bin Laden. “But I don’t think that he’s responsible for
the World Trade Center (attacks).”
Wearing the white skullcap and robes of a religious Muslim, Khatib denied his
Jewish past, insisting that he is 100 percent Muslim. He made a parody of a
blessing that observant Jews say every morning, in which they thank God for not
making them gentiles.
“Blessed are Thou, Lord Our God,” Khatib began in the traditional Jewish
blessing, but ended it with, “for not making me a Jew.”
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
