Jewish American Converts to Islam
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, 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."
Wednesday : 30/07/2008
PoEtEsS
"Prayer, wisdom, knowledge and faith are the best gifts that I have……"Zohra
Moosa (Deaf Poet)
------------------------------------
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom
(i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue
with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone
astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy
Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in
His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites
(men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I
am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if
Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of
camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever
calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who
follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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